Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/34

12 ponies; the women standing bare-legged under a gigantic plane tree, trampling on and bleaching the linen in the fresh springs which burst forth from the shore close to the sea. This primitive mode of washing seems unchanged from the time of Nausicaa. The plane-tree measures more than 40 feet in girth. Vostitza is the site of the ancient Ægium, which, when Pausanias visited Greece, contained a number of temples and statues, nearly all trace of which has disappeared. It is probable, as Leake supposes, that much of the architecture was of brick, as the fields near the town are strewn with fragments of brick and painted tile. In the house of one of Mr. Wood's agents, called Aristides Georgios, I saw two fine statues of white marble, and some fragments of a third, found in the garden attached to the house. One of these statues appeared to be a Mercury, very similar to the celebrated one in the Vatican; the other a female figure, with a head-dress like that of the younger Faustina, probably an empress in the character of some goddess. These statues are well preserved and are good specimens of art of the Roman period. Of the third figure there remain only the head and the right hand, which has held a small vase.

Some years ago a tessellated pavement was found in the town, but is now nearly destroyed. A little to the east of Vostitza, in a field overlooking the sea, I noticed part of a fluted column and some remains of buildings which had just been dug up; near them was a piece of massive wall. The column was of travertine covered with stucco.