Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/56

 ;S A History of Art in Sardinia and Jun.i a. presented at all times difficulties of ascension. 1 From the earliest ages, and in countries the most diverse, the primary condition in public or domestic buildings has been that they should be provided with easy approaches, and as commodious inner distribu- tion as circumstances would permit. Now, very few miraghs can be said to fulfil the first of these conditions, whilst the other is realized by none. However far removed from the multiplicity of our requirements and fastidious tastes, it is impossible to admit that these natives, even supposing them to have been mere savages, can have sub- mitted to live in houses, deprived of air and light, where fires were FlG. 30. — Stela and Talayot, in the Balearic Islands. La Marmora. Atlas, Plate XL., fig. 3. not to be had with any comfort, since the smoke could only escape, as in Greek huts, through the interstices left by the beams ; where, summer or winter, no viands could be cooked, and where every time they passed in or out of the doorway, they must have done so on all fours. The tower-builders, like their descendants at the present day, lived in huts, made with piese or stones loosely put together, in the immediate vicinity of miraghs. These could be used as fortresses, general repositories for weapons, provisions, valuables, and shelters in troublous times. From the commanding position of the terrace, the eye could travel over the whole country. At the least sign of danger fires were lighted as signals, which 1 La Marmora, Voyage en Sardci'gne, pp. 52-64.