me as the dwelling itself,
sometimes added later. Those of Aiga, Losa, and s'Aspru are among the
most famous of this type. All the _nuraghi_ stand in commanding
situations overlooking large tracts of country, and the more important a
position is from the strategical point of view the stronger will be the
_nuraghe_ which defends it. All are situated close to streams and
springs of good water, and some, as for instance that of Abbameiga, are
actually built over a natural spring. At Nossiu is a building which can
only be described as a fortress. It consists of a rhomboidal enclosure
with _nuraghe_-like towers at its corners and four narrow gateways in
its walls. It is surrounded by the ruins of a village of stone huts.
There cannot be the least doubt that in time of danger the inhabitants
drove their cattle into the fortified enclosure, entered it themselves,
and then closed the gates.

Each _nuraghe_ formed the centre of a group of stone huts. Mackenzie has
described such a village at Serucci, where the circular plan of the
huts was still visible. The walls in one case stood high enough to
show, from the corbelling of their upper courses, that the huts were
roofed in the same fashion as the _nuraghi_ themselves. Another village,
that which surrounds the _nuraghe_ of Su Chiai, was protected by a wall
of huge stones.

It is thus clear that the _nuraghi_ were the fortified centres of the
various villages of Sardinia. Probably each formed the residence of the
local chieftain; that they were actually inhabited is clear from the
remains of everyday life found in them, and from the polish which
continual use has set on the side-walls of some of the staircases. In
general appearance and design the _nuraghi_ recall the modern _truddhi_,
hundreds of which dot the surface of Apulia and help to beguile the
tedium of the railway journey from Brindisi to Foggia. The _truddhi_,
however, are built in steps or terraces and have no upper chamber.

Who were the foes against whom such elaborate preparations for defence
were made? Two alternatives are possible. Either Sardinia was a
continual prey to some piratical Mediterranean people, or she was
divided against herself through the rivalry of the local chieftains.

The second explanation is perhaps the more probable. Mackenzie seems to
adopt it, and fancies that in the growth of the largest _nuraghi_ we may
trace the rise to power of some of these local dynasts at the expense of
their ne