Shape A Solid
Mound Of Hard-Pressed Sand, And Then, From The Height Of A Foot Or
Two, Let Water Trickle Down Upon It; The Perpendicular Ridges And
Furrows Thus Formed Upon The Miniature Hill Represent Exactly What I
Saw Here On A Larger Scale.
Moreover, all the face of the ground is
minutely cracked and wrinkled; a square foot includes an
incalculable multitude of such meshes.
Evidently this is the work of
hot sun on moisture; but when was it done? For they tell me that it
rains very little at Cotrone, and only a deluge could moisten this
iron soil. Here and there I came upon yet more striking evidence of
waterpower; great holes on the hillside, generally funnel-shaped,
and often deep enough to be dangerous to the careless walker. The
hills are round-topped, and parted one from another by gully or
ravine, shaped, one cannot but think, by furious torrents. A
desolate landscape, and scarcely bettered when one turned to look
over the level which spreads north of the town; one discovers
patches of foliage, indeed, the dark perennial verdure of the south;
but no kindly herb clothes the soil. In springtime, it seems, there
is a growth of grass, very brief, but luxuriant. That can only be on
the lower ground; these furrowed heights declare a perpetual
sterility.
What has become of the ruins of Croton? This squalid little town of
to-day has nothing left from antiquity. Yet a city bounded with a
wall of twelve miles circumference is not easily swept from the face
of the earth.
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