El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-11

where baggy trousered peasants are
pruning the vines and working the
fields. They dig about the trees with
three tined hoes, and till their crops
with donkeys and bul1ocks. The plows
are one handled and about the same as
those used in ancient days We go
over the plains which must have fed
the Ephesus. wind our way in and out
through the hills and finally come to
little station where we get horses
which carry US out over the valley to
Ephesus.
Now Mud Puddle.
The site of the temple is surrounded
by hills. 1T lies in the valley not far
above the level of the Mediterranean,
which we can see shining in the sun not
more than five miles away. History
says 1t was swampy and that the great
structure was erected upon columns
This statement is borne out by the
present The excavation made in re-
moving the ruins is now filled with
water. 1t is a mud puddle or miniature
lake filled with broken pillars and cap
itals lying half in and half out of the
water. We stand on the banks beside
fluted columns of snow-white marble.
and see broken marble every where near.
That man who plows on the southern
ridge of the sand turns UP marble bits
at every step OF his bullocks, and the
girls behind him, who are planting I'M
cover stones from the temple at almost
every. stroke Of their hoes.
As we look we see no sign of the ac-
tivity which prevailed here 1000 years
ago Birds fly across the lake and sing
in the trees, which bend over it. A
stork sleepily sits on marble rock in
its midst and frog croaks out a well
come. A red COW is grazing there on
the edge of the water, and at my right
a hog is roofing the debris.
A Theater which Seated $4,000.
Now let us take horses and ride on
down the valley to visit the theater.
This has been so uncovered by the Aus
trians that we can sit on the marble
benches and look at the stage which
once held the actors of the chief play
house OF Asia Think of a theater which
would seat 10000. We have nothing
like that IN the UniES States, and there
is none that 1 know Of in any part Of
the world. The wigwams of our ma
tional conventions, thrown up for the
time, have accommodated that many,
but this great open air structure was
built largely Of marble and altogether
of stone. The entrance to the stage
was by tunnels, and the stage was up
held by marble columns. The seats
were built of common stone, covered
with arb1e, and they ran around the
stage, or rather the pit in the shape
Of half moon, rising high up the hills
at the back 1 should say there were
200 feet Of such seats. They were in
three stories and contained Sc rows.
1 measured the outline tof the stage.
It was about Is feet wide and six or
seven feet high. There are long IN
foreground passages leading to it, and
It had eight two-storied rooms which
were probably used as dressing rooms
by the actors. walked through the
pit, which is now filled with marble
columns and blocks Of marble beauu-
fully carved, and then climbed up the
seats from tier to tier, sitting down
now and then and trying to imagine
the audience and the acting as going
on upon the marble stage far below.
In Ancient Ephesus
Leaving the theater, having tied my |
horse to bush, I strolled about |
through the wide streets OF marble, !
which have been partially uncovered |
and made photographs Of bits of the |
ruins. There is enough marble here to |
build structure equal to our national |
capitol at Washington. and this is ]
mixed with mosaic and the broken |
statues Of the palaces of the past. |
There are pieces of friezes. columns and |
capitals lying out in the open; there |
are torsos of statues, the heads and |
feet of which have been broken off |
and carried away; and also exquisite |
which would be treasures to |
any museus. Here lies q piece of marble /