But curious and interesting as Guimarães is, I was not drawn thither
mainly to see the town, but to examine in the Sarmento museum the
objects discovered in the excavation of Citania. The collection is at
present in a state of chaos, which may possibly be remedied when the
reconstruction of the house is completed by the authorities. The number
of objects is immense, though by far the greater part of them came from
other places in the neighbourhood than Citania, and are mainly
attributable to the Roman period, though many of them are very early and
ante-Christian. The few purely Roman objects, however, found at Citania
are neither peculiar to the place nor of special interest. What is far
more attractive to the student are the relics that exist of the real and
original Celtiberian makers of the hill town.
First of all is the famous _Pedra Formosa_, to which reference has been
made. It stands at present in the open at the back of the Sarmento
house, but protected from the weather by a low roof which unfortunately
prevents a photograph being secured of it. It is a thick slab of
granite, seven feet long by nine feet wide, and notwithstanding the
contention of Dr. Hübner, who has not seen it, I am convinced that,
whatever may have been its purpose, its position was intended to be
horizontal, and that it is not a sepulchral stone to be set on edge. At
present it is mounted on four low posts or pillars, like a table, and
the elaborate carving upon it can be consequently seen plainly. At the
top of its shorter diameter in the centre is a hollow, ending in a
point, the outer circumference of the hollow being about the size of a
human head. From this, extending downwards about six feet to a
semicircular gap cut into the stone, at the foot is a raised cord-like
pattern cut out of the thickness of the stone, beneath which is bored a
tunnel, or channel, leading from the point of the hollow cone at the top
down to a hole through the stone at the bottom, a few inches from the
semicircular gap. From the base of the hollow at the top, leading
obliquely to the sides, are two other raised cord-like ridges similar to
that from top to bottom; the main design being roughly that of a human
being with the hollow for the head, the straight cord from top to bottom
for the body and legs, and the oblique cords for the arms. The whole of
the spaces between the cords are filled with a most intricate series of
designs, beautifully incised in the stone, concentric whorls, curves,
and scrolls being in each case the main motive.