Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/423

Rh Alcamo is gloriously situated on a height, at a tolerable distance from a bay of the sea. The magnificence of the country quite enchanted us. Lofty rocks, with deep valleys at their feet, but withal wide open spaces, and great variety. Beyond Mon Reale you look upon a beautiful double valley, in the centre of which a hilly ridge again raises itself. The fruitful fields lie green and quiet: but on the broad roadway the wild bushes and shrubs are brilliant with flowers,—the broom, one mass of yellow, covered with its papilionaceous blossoms, and not a single green leaf to be seen; the white thorn, cluster on cluster; the aloes are rising high, and promising to flower; a rich tapestry of an amaranthine-red clover, of orchids, and the little Alpine roses; hyacinths, with unopened bells; asphodels, and other wild flowers.

The streams which descend from Mount Segeste leave deposits, not only of limestone, but also of pebbles of hornstone. They are very compact, dark blue, yellow, red, and brown, of various shades. I also found complete loads of horn, or firestone, in the limestone rocks, edged with lime. Of such gravel one fijids whole hills just before one gets to Alcamo.

, April 20, 1787. The temple of Segeste was never finished. The ground around it was never even levelled, the space only being smoothed on which the peristyle was to stand. For, in several places, the steps are from nine to ten feet in the ground; and there is no hill near, from which the stone or mould could have fallen. Besides, the stones lie in their natural position, and no ruins are found near them.

The columns are all standing: two which had fallen, have very recently been raised again. How far the columns rested on a socle is hard to say; and, without an engraving, it is difficult to give an idea of their