Perceiving on the shore, and around the port, the ruins of a city, which I could distinguish by the columns and the size of the stones to be of no modern date, my impatience would scarcely allow me to wait until the vessel was moored, when I was put on shore; and the fruits of my observations during this and the following day were as follows: premising that I discovered afterwards that these were the ruins of the city of Cnidus.
The ground is strewed with hewn stones, chiefly of the same materials as the rock on which they lie, but here and there of marble: the former seeming to be of a date more recent than the latter. In general, time and other circumstances have so entirely demolished the structures that it is impossible to trace out many of them with exactness. What I clearly ascertained were these:—
1. A portion of the city wall, passing at the back of the ruins to the south, parallel with the mole of the harbour: it had towers at certain distances, and bears marks of being the work of later ages.
2. A temple of the Doric order, the columns fluted and about three feet in diameter: of these none were standing. I could not make out the outline of the foundations of this temple sufficiently to ascertain its dimensions: neither could I discover any inscription that might throw light upon it.
3. A theatre in tolerable preservation, the benches being nearly all perfect, and only here and there overgrown with bushes. I counted thirty-six rows from the bottom to the top: there were two entrances, one at each wing, arched, and opening into the theatre about half the height of the benches. Within, close to the entrance on the right side (looking from the proscenium), there is a broad pedestal of marble somewhat mutilated, but for what purpose designed I know not. Four alleys, about two feet broad, facilitated the passage of the spectators to the several benches. The whole is of an indifferently white marble. There were two doors in front, with a few steps, the traces of which are yet visible.
4. Adjoining to the theatre, the outline of a stadium may likewise (I think) be traced: but, as it was not very evident, I give this as a conjecture only.
5. At some distance from the theatre, and about halfway up the mountain, (for the site of the city is on a rocky soil, which comes down with a gradual slope to the harbour,) in prying among some bushes almost so thick as to be impenetrable, I discovered the ruins of another temple, the columns of which were much smaller than those above mentioned, and fragments of the capitals showed that they were of the Corinthian order. Portions of the entablature lay on the ground in the same disposition that they had occupied when upright.
A person versed in antiquities would have been able to distinguish many other interesting things. For instance, near the last mentioned temple is a structure which I knew not what to call. Its dimensions are too small to constitute it a theatre: it represented the segment of a circle, less than a semicircle: it had benches, beneath which ran a vaulted passage which served as an entrance.
After having finished my examination of the ruins, I climbed up the rock at the back of the city wall; but it was barren, and I found nothing to repay the fatigue.
The 26th, during the night, we had a tremendous storm, which continued until the noon of the 27th. On the 28th the weather set in fine. We weighed anchor, and, quitting our snug little port with a fine and favourable breeze, we were not long before we saw Rhodes, which we entered at sunset. It being too late to land, I deferred my disembarkation until the following morning, when the cases were all safely conveyed to the Frank quarter.