Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/249

Rh of pottery and traces of ancient buildings. The country seems to have been much disturbed by earthquakes. At a quarter of an hour from the village of Monolithos is a castle of the Knights, perched on the top of an isolated rock overlooking the sea. The name of the village,, "all marble," is derived from this rock.$88$ The situation of this fortress and its name reminded me of the village in Mytilene called Petra, from being perched in like manner on the top of a rock. The walls of this castle are roughly built. Within it is a chapel, in which I found a number of frescoes covered with cobwebs, which appeared to be Italian of the 15th century. They contained many figures of saints and armorial bearings of the Knights. Outside this chapel were two saucers of Lindos ware let into the south wall, a fashion very common in Italy. The arms of the Grand Master D'Aubusson appear among the decorations.

On a hill a little N. of the village, are the ruins of a square Hellenic tower, built of unwrought stones, with hewn lintels and door-jambs. We could trace out the foundations: the door-jambs with holes for the bolts are still standing. The length of the W. wall is 43 feet. On the S. side, the wall can be traced for 33 feet. North-east of this tower are the remains of another building. The W. wall of this measured 47 feet 8 inches, the N. side 39 feet 9 inches. These walls are built of large blocks of stone. One of the largest blocks is 6 feet 5 inches in length by 1 foot 10 inches in thickness.