Árdís - 01.01.1964, Blaðsíða 30

28
ÁRDÍS
in the northeast extremity and in the mountains. The one we saw
and explored to some extent, was about thirty feet above ground
and many feet underground. It consisted of many chambers used
for different purposes. The sleeping quarters seemed to indicate
that the occupants had been short of stature.
Surrounding this central structure, which the leaders evidently
occupied was a whole village of workers’ quarters. All this was
enclosed by an outer fort. We ended with a picnic lunch, satisfied in
every way. This had been a most interesting day. A few days later
all of us left on a trip around the island. Bill owns a station wagon
car and though there were four adults and three children, we
were comfortable. We drove north along the west coast and were
fascinated by many things: the incredible colors, inactive vol-
canos, plains, richly cultivated hillsides, villages and castles clinging
precariously to rock formations or lying among marshes which at
one time were infested with fatal fevers. Against this background
of unusual and varied scenery—move the Sardinian people, silent
and industrious, their personality a mixture of profound melan-
choly and fierce passions, harmonizing well with the nature sur-
rounding them. One can understand better the inhabitants of any
country by studying their history. I am not going into any detail
about it here. Suffice it to say that plainly visible are the char-
acteristics of conquering races. The fauna and flora are quite
different from those we are accustomed to seeing. For instance the
beautiful flowering bougainvillea bush which grows in profusion
along the way and the quick moving lizard and the wild boar. We
saw shepherds tending their flocks and the huts where they can
take refuge from the hot sun or a rainstorm. It was not unusual to
meet a native woman barefoot and carrying her burden on her
head. We passed through many villages. How different they are
from our own! There are no sidewalks and the streets are so
narrow that one could easily have reached through the window
and touched a native. In one such village I saw natives get up
from their seats and press up against the wall to make room for our
car to pass through. Many of the buildings are built from mud
bricks and every home has a closed in courtyard. Sometimes the
door of the courtyard was open and we caught glimpses of their
animals, donkeys, goats, pigs, etc.