The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-09
THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA.
4 PARADISE FOR SPORTSMEN AND
 ANGLERS.
Curious Monu m ents That arc Believed to Ante-Date the Pyrami Ids -- -GaribsI- dis Home i'm Exile.

curious MOnuments That are Believed
 to Ante-Date the Pyramids -GaribaI
 dt's Home i'm Exile.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journa,
 and Courier)
 Caprera, Sardinia, April 3.-It is ar
 unaccountable fact that while scientists
 and antiquarians have for centuries
 been searching far and digging deep for
 curious things, they have passed almost
 unnotioed this easily accessible island
 with it's prehistoric monuments and
 ''Tombs of the Giants'' Scattered all
 over Sardinia are thousands of Nuraghi,
 or aboriginal sepulchres, which are un-
 questionably among the oldest struc-
 lures in the world-the work of races
 which vanished from the earth so long
 ago that even their names are forgotten.
 That this insignificant island in the
 Mediterranean should possess a class of
 monuments peculiar to itself is an il-
 lustration of the fragmentary nature of society in the ancient world. The Taly-
 ots of the nearby Balearic Islands, the
 aboriginal monuments of nearer Malta
 foiSAiyJ ltolyJ XCillt lGiliaiiio eI
 Stonehenge and Aveburg, and other rel ics of early European races--all differ ing from each other, but bearing some points of resemblance-are none of
 them in the least like the Nurags of Sardinia. They crown the summits of natural hills and artificial mounds, hundreds upon hundreds of them; and to describe one is to describe them all, as, except in size, they vary in no sin gular particular. A Nurag is always a roung tower, in the shape of an i'm mense beehive, or truncated cone, with sides sloping at an angle of ten degrees to the horizon. It's dimensions very from twenty to one hundred feet in height, with precisely the same meas urement in diameter It is composed of rough masses of the large stones pecu- liar to the locality, placed in regular horizontal layers, the largest boulders at the bottom, and gradually diminish ing in size as they mount upward. The stones bear no marks of the chsel, but they appear to have been rudely wrought by some heavy blunt instru- ment (perhaps another stone), which served the ancients for a hammer. The Inside is always occupied by circular chambers, one above another according to the number of stories, constructed of projecting stones, forming a dome, with the section of an arch. The chambers occupy only third of the interior space, the rest being taken up with double walls, between which a ramp staircase ascends to the top of the tow er. Each Nurang was originally sur- rounded by high wall, of which now only fragments remain. Generally it stands alone; but occasionally they are 'ound in groups, in which case they are attached together under one platform. Q which access is gained by doorway n the central tower. They are abso- utely without any architectural orna- nent, or image, sculpture or inscription 0 indicate their origin and purpose. | Unlike the Pyramids, whose mysteries ! Ire partially unveiled, the Nuraghi fur fish not single hint by which their age ,r history may be discovered. It is cer- ain, however, that they are of great because in several places the iers of Roman acqueducts and bridges, themselves now in ruins, rest upon the | jumps of desecrated Nuraghi, and the arlieet classical writers allude to them s 'unguessable mysteries even in their lay. Some of the stones in the lower purses weigh many tons each yet are ranged with perfect accuracy. Sar- inians believe them to have been the york of giants, who are said to have f, nee inhabited the island; but more robably the monumentsar the results f afyv,y1uf6 1oh io | hiefs, or instigated by religious devo- lon At any rate their rude but mas i've cones have survived those shocks time and vicissitudes of empire which estroyed the magnificent edif1ces of 'abylon and Nineveh, Tyge and Thebes. { There are good many of these Mar ] gf1i in the neighborhood of Sassar and 'e prolonged our visit another day in rder to explore the most perfect speci- len, which stands, mute and solitary . sntirel, on it's mound about four miles :, 'om the city The method of transit i as a Sardinian carrlage-a ponderous { ,rt of Black Maria, drawn by three I ules harnessed abreast and wonderful f bedizzened with gaudy tassels and I ngling bells. The well-kept road inds between olive groves and the best fields of the island. Nowhere f
 Sardinia are the native costumes f. .en in all their original picturesque r ass as in the suburbs of Sassari. The | irsets of the women are bright with T. linbow colors, gold embroidery and f lver buttons; and the men wear a fl ack jacket over long waist-coat a aching to the knees, white trousers, 1 h ack gaiters and long hanging cap like n l exaggerated Phrygian bonnet. n We found the tomb rising out of S ,nse thicket of shrubs, with tufts of f, ass growing in the chinks and cram F es of it's old, old walls. Its entrance s so low that one is obliged to almost n awl in on hands and knees; the, lintel n ing single stone weighing at least S 70 tons, supported by protruding lc mbs This Nuraghi is only one story fl renty-five feet high. tapering upwards if it's apex is formed by single stone. n le interior is in perpetual shadow, no S, Int being admitted except through the " passage in the double walls. a, ound the sides of the chamber four a, cesses are worked in the solid mason ts
 each about five feet high, three feet r- CD and three feet wide Not a vestige ii bone or dust remain to show that the \ b, ad slept in those gloomy cells before Q, } dawn of history. How strange it is B at the work of man endures ages af- M fhe handa that wrought are turned | n,