EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY.

Evening Star, Issue 4200, 12 August 1876, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY.

A SUBTERRANEAN PALACE.

Recent proceeding's dh the Hungarian. Parl^^ent, a, most remark-! able dfecovery, which, were it: not so. (Conclusively authenticated, would bei altoost impossible to believe. The! •Story, as condensed from the official reports, is that two peasants, or? rather > shepherds, - from the island of: Iran 1 Egerzegj near the.ancient city of Veseprim, ahd not for from the Lake J^lstsl,-fiem# to Pesth, and: to a . jewelj ler offered some broken fragments ot what evidently psr&s some very old for female wear—rpfo4 bably a bracelet or band for the upper ■ ttia. answers being um he had the.j'meu arrested iguspipion qf «r being ‘ thieves.' -s ®|jr i c-Jw.e which; was so astonishing that it WW opmmunicated' to the Minister of Ihterior, and this' functionary Ordered an-, investigation by scientific fit The information of the shep..lsrsß,was that in the woods, skirting JVan-Egerzeg, where they bad some '•fitite *fov shelter when out at night, they ’Rad been digging at a little hill, wanting th» * earth for building purposes. Suddenly they came upon what appeared to be a square structure of brick walls, with a. stone covering the aperture. Removing. this stone, they found -titot-theso walls inclosed an opening mto the earth, and resolved to sound its depth, Lowering a stone tied to a rppe, they ascertained that the shaft, : «bout three feet in diameter, or nine feet square, descended perpendicularly to a depth of over a hundred feet. 5 --The. pebble they had lowered reached ' what seemed like a s.tone flohr beneath, and from the sound itself, they judged .that this iopening must lead to some large subterranean cavern or hall. They -agrt ;ed to keep ; their diseovery a . secret, and to explore the mystery. A day or two afterwards the Shepherds were again at work. They .prepared a small square board, freighted with:atones, and in the centre of it they

placed three lighted candles. This they let down through the shaft, and by the light of the candles they saw distinctly Shat the inner sides of the shaft were

smooth, and apparently ended, t in some large apartment. As the candles con-

tinued to burn all the way down, they barhe to the conclusion that the air would not be vitiated, and that it Would be safe to go down. They next prepared a rope-ladder of the requisite length, secured several lanterns, and then one’ of them let himself down the

<Shaft. At the bottom .he stood in Wonder as he gazed upon a large square hall, the walls covered with faded

paintings, chairs, benches and tables •tending around, ornamented with gold?; and ivory, and, large heavy doors, hung on golden hinges, leading to other rooms. The shepherd gllmbed the ladder and told his oompanion of the discovery. Both of them went down together, and, walking about, found themselves in-a succession

of rooms abounding with elaborately aarred furniture of a style they had merer seen before. In some of them were low, large stands/ evidently once used for beds. There were also closets, taining armlets, rings, medals, jfipins, daggers, chains, swords, shields, and helmets. There were

also breastplates of leather, . covered with iron and studded with- ornaments in‘gold. Some’ of the arm-lots they took away, broke them up, and carried them to Pesth for sale, in which transaction they were arrested, as above stated. The officers of the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior began their investigation under the ancient Jaw, which makes all such discoveries the property of the Crown, and their report, as communicated to Parliament, is still more Startling. Their researches clearly establish as a fact that this subterranean structure was undoubtedly an old Roman castle, built many centuries before the Huns.and Magyars left their Asiatic .homes to invade this part of Europe. This section of Hungary was the province of Pannonia, of the Roman .Empire, and in the vicinity of Lake . Balatol there was a large permanent Roman camp, the agricultural and mi.lifery settlements of the Romans extending for many miles, and traces of thid Roman occupation, which continued down to the sixth century of the Christian era, have repeatedly been found. r ; But how this vast structure, which is said to cover t\yo acres, and built two stories high, with masssive walls of stone and brick, was covered with earth to the depth of more than60ft., over which a forest of heavy timber had grown up —a forest, too, that ia mentioned as existing in the oldest

preserved chronicles of the kingdom, the officers have so far found, is impossible to account for. In one room several skeletons of human beings have been found, but the bones were too much- decayed to indicate with certainty the race to which they belong. The shaft through which the first discovery was made is believed to have-flbeeij either a chimney (?) or an observatory, or a lookout, as iron hooks were found fastened to the walls inside, to ' "v?hich means of asccrit "and descent were probably attached. The Minister of the Interior has asked for a ■preliminary appropriation of 100,000 florins to make a more full examination, and also demanded authority to commence work at once, digging out ,the . whole earth burying Che place, and

thus bringing to the eyes of the nineteenth cml'ury'evidence of Roman proviiusiah'Hfo-, hidden-from .the light of day poshly for fifteen centuries. ‘