eBooks Base 2000

The copper ball at the summit looked hardly bigger than a man
could lift; and yet, a little while afterwards, U----, J-----, and I
stood all together in that ball, which could have contained a dozen more
along with us. The esplanade of the roof is, of course, very extensive;
and along the front of it are ranged the statues which we see from below,
and which, on nearer examination, prove to be roughly hewn giants. There
is a small house on the roof, where, probably, the custodes of this part
of the edifice reside; and there is a fountain gushing abundantly into a
stone trough, that looked like an old sarcophagus. It is strange where
the water comes from at such a height. The children tasted it, and
pronounced it very warm and disagreeable. After taking in the prospect
on all sides we rang a bell, which summoned a man, who directed us
towards a door in the side of the dome, where a custode was waiting to
admit us. Hitherto the ascent had been easy, along a slope without
stairs, up which, I believe, people sometimes ride on donkeys.


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