New-York tribune., 1895-12-22
"
WONDERFUL CISTERNS.

While the last Of the baths Of antiquity has
thus been closed to sight the still more wonder
full system Of cisterns which would have sup
piled the ancient walled city for an indefinite
period in case Of need. still be seem some.
indeed, empty and dry, but others as useful to
the people as they were. They were the prod
uct Of necessity. In siege or drOuth the whole
population might have perished without the
aid Of some such device. 80. with stra ategic
skill, cistern. like fortress. was planted on
every hill. all interconnected and arranged for
mutual support. They were watched with the
assduous care which their Importance de-
mandcd BY a wise economy they were kept
always full. though In constant use. Some, the
more prodigious in extent. 'resembled lakes or
seas. and were open TO the sky. Others. hardly
less stupendous, were covered with vauted roofs.
which hundreds of great columns upheld, and
above which hundreds of human beings dwet.
Many Of these colossal. subterranean structures
have disappeared: few still convey the life
giving liquid as Of old: some are utilized by silk
spinners. VINO. In emaciated procession wind
their threads among the mighty columns which
rise amid the gloom like gigantic moveless
ghosts some have fallen in. and their walls Of
cement and their prostrate pillars look up pite-
ousy TO the day
These vast colonnaded cavities have exercised
the curiosity Of the antiquarian and the fancy
OF the romance. The two greatest, one dry
and useless, the other still an underground lake
lie near each other The latter. the Royal Cis-
term or Basilike has been made familiar to mod
ern readers by more than one novelist and par
ticu,arly by General Wallace in THE Prince Of
India" This wonderful artificial cavern loses
nothing in the more constrained and accurate
description of Professor Grosvenor.
The neighboring cistern, that of Philoxenos a
Senator who came with Constantine from Rome,
dry az it IL. furnishes a better subject for the
antiquarian. The Turks call 1t the Place of
Thousand and One Columns. Their arithmetic
is considerably exaggerated. The cavity has
been so filled with earth that only the upper parts
Of the columns a e visible But in it's original
state the vaulted ceiling was sixty feet above
the floor, which was about equal in extent to
that Of Nore Dame. The contributors to the
fund for constructing the cistern were many
and the shafts sockets or entire columns
marked with the names Of those who paid for
setting them up In their places Amid all these
memorials of busy and glorious past civiliza-
ton, the long files Of silk spinners labor daily.
They are happier than their comrades in some
other places; or at all events. they are pleased
with the sound Of their own laughter. which
echoes almost demoniac along the marshalled
columns and rounded arches" Professor Gros-
veror confesses that he grew sick and weary
longing for the light of day. He never entered
the place but that he was at once impatient 10
be gone The study Of the inscriptions is diff
cult because OF the gloom which pervades the
interior and the oily mould and earth that
cover the lines. But precious harvest Of
information. and perhaps OF fame. is sure" he
declares. Ito the antiquarian scholar who solves
and makes known all the meaning those gro
tesque, uncouth monograms conceal. Those pill
Jared records, never so far read. may throw light
on imperfect chapters Of Constantnc's Byzan-
tine reign. and even on the origins Of Imperial
Christianity"