Deák Antal András: A Duna fölfedezése
Tartalom - III.A DANUBIUS PANNONICO-MYSICUS, 1726
T II E DISCOVERY OF THE DANUBE resembling the morning mist in the fields and if a living creature enters this vapour and inhales the air it will be dazed, and if it stays there longer, it will die. However, he thought it only a popular belief that those who were poisoned by this effluvium revived and regained their health after repeated immersion in the healing waters of the lake. In Zólyom county, he went on, he had encountered a similar phenomenon: There is another hole 24 feet wide and 10 feet deep north of the village of Rivari not far from the banks of the Garam river. A small oak stands on its brim. Once I descended into the deep hole and found common hard ground on its bottom, while on the northern side vapour burst forth with constant murmur as if water was bubbling down in the depths. When I had the ground loosened by a hoe hoping that water would surface I felt some ill-smelling vapour, which caused quick death to animals and young plants in the vicinity similarly to the circumstances near Naples except that the vapour could barely be seen here. Herders said that they often found dead birds on the bottom of the hole and, a few months before Marsigli's visit, a cow had the bad luck to wander there. It inhaled the vapour and as the cowherds were not there to help, it died. He described a simple chemical experiment to discover the chemical constitution of the vapour, one which would easily convince anybody about the correctness of his idea. He dedicated the closing chapter of the hydrographical part to the baths of Buda. He had sketched them on the occasion of the siege in 1686. Beside the 21 large maps already discussed, more than 50 illustrations enrich the volume. VOLUME II. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES The volume is extremely rich in original discoveries and observations, 28 2 and the numerous drawings makes it especially important for local historians. Although he constantly referred back to the maps in volume I where the Roman antiquities are indicated on the sections, he found it necessary to localise them on the drawings of the sites. To help provide a better view he started once more with a map, which resembles the hydrographical map and contains the provenances of Roman remains in Hungary. 28 3 He used separate markers for the forts, the shapes of which could still be discerned, and for those that had been totally destroyed. The same method was used for ramparts and ditches. He included the larger part of the Italian peninsula as well to show how the roads beginning in Rome joined the paved Roman roads he found in the Carpathian Basin. He used distinctive marks for mounds raised by the Romans and for the places where he found inscriptions or other remains. Emperor Trajan's bridge was especially emphasised in his introduction. He was deservedly proud of its discovery, similarly to the RömerSchanz known as Csörsz's trench in Hungary. He followed this latter one from the south at Kastolatz on the Danube continuing north. The trench passes by Arad and runs until Tokaj, where it turns to the northwest on the other side of the Tisza, then runs westward from Eger to the upper tip of Szentendre Island. The legend for its picture reads: Vila Iarca fossa et aggere constructa. 284 Sámuel Timon described it again more than 30 years after Marsigli, although he knew only a short section of it but it was so large that blocked the path of the travellers, who could IMAGE No. 22 on page 65: The first illustration in the volume on Roman relics depicting the construction ofTrajan's bridge on the Lower Danube discovered by Marsigli. In the foreground can be seen the figure of the emperor as the ruler who ordered the technical wonder to be built IMAGE No. 23 on page 66: Roman relics in hungary 28 2 For a more intimate knowledge of the volume BUB Mss di Marsigli Vol. 6. Co. Aloysii Ferdinandi Marsiii Diario geographica in itinere limitaneo, cum antiquitaribus Romanis circa Danubium can be useful. 283 documents described above tell us that it was drawn by J. C. Müller. 28 4 In word-by-word translation: Iarca road built from a trench and a rampart. This probably means that it was built on a rampart in the plains. The earth for the rampart came from next to it creating a ditch. 146
