THE MODERN TOWN.

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of Cara, the lower and adjacent, wooded to their tops, the higher and more distant, tower into the regions of eternal snow.

At the distance of more than a mile from the shore, the southern hills present a remarkable appearance, as if studded with rows of yellowish white spots, which, upon a nearer inspection, develope the contour of porticos, and the facades of temples, but which, on examination, prove to be the celebrated rock-carved sepulchres of this ancient Doric colony. The modern town is a collection of miserable houses, huddled together without even an attempt at regularity; it stands upon a low point of rock, and is, in fact, partly surrounded by the ancient walls. It is well supplied with pure water, which springs out of the rocks in several places, and is distributed through the town. Macri is included in the Bashalic of Rhodes; it is governed by an Aga, and its inhabitants are now mostly Greeks. Some of the females whom we met, were noble looking, but had the sallow aspect produced by the unhealthy situation of the place. The only peculiarity in their dress, consisted in three large silver clasps, which confined the boddice over the bosom. This ornament is common all over the country, and is a remnant of the ancient Greek costume. Salt is procured here by enclosing sheets of shallow sea-water, which, in dry weather evaporates, leaving a crust of salt on the sand similar to that at lake Mareotis. In one of these ponds, at

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UNHEALTHY SITUATION.

the period of our visit, were innumerable grey mullet, which the natives spear with great dexterity; and thousands of water-fowl abound on these lagoons.

For many years past, this place has been the southern point of communication between the Porte and her colonies in Egypt and Syria; couriers are always in readiness to transmit dispatches, and camels and horses can be always procured for travelling. Owing to this constant intercourse with Constantinople, the village has been seldom free from disease for six months at a time. Plague generally lurks within it, or in its neighbourhood; and it suffers periodically from intermittent fever, which generally breaks out in the month of May.

Since Egypt and Syria have changed masters, Macri has continued to decrease in every respect except in disease. A few months ago, plague was introduced by some Turkish soldiers, and, although no case had occurred lately within the town itself, a small village, about four hours' journey from it, had been nearly depopulated. The place had a most forsaken look at the time of our visit; and the extreme quiet that prevailed, with the surrounding tombs and ruins, and the paucity of its inhabitants gave to it a most dreary and desolate appearance. Its exports are inconsiderable, and at present consist of timber, tar, salt, and honey; but even these have decreased very much of late.

TOMBS OF TELMESSUS.

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Around Macri on all sides are the remains of the ancient Telmessus; we commence with the most remarkable-its tombs.

These here present a mixture of the Asiatic and Egyptian, the Persepolitan and modern Grecian. The greater number of them extend over a rugged valley to the east of the town, but numerous detached soroi are scattered on all sides. History records no spot that contains so many different forms of tombs, or that affords such opportunities of studying the modes of burial practised by the ancients; for, with the exception of the pyramidal we have here nearly every species of sepul

chre, from the simple mound of earth or barrow to the elaborately wrought mausoleum carved in the living rock. They may all be classed under four heads. First, we have the simple grave or barrow, formed by a mound of earth heaped over the body of one or more persons. That this primitive form of interment was that adopted by man I think there can be little doubt. When man was expelled from Eden, and the curse passed upon his posterity, it was said that he should return to the ground from whence he was taken; and the first written record of a grave is that erected over Deborah, whom Jacob buried under an oak in Bethel. Among many of the early nations, especially the Greeks and Romans, a certain degree of disgrace was attached to the exposure of a dead body; and when such was found it was incumbent on the passers-by to handfuls of earth upon it, and by tumulus or barrow was formed. able that this custom has been preserved even up to the present day in Ireland, where in cases of murder, sudden or unnatural death, the peasant stops, crosses himself, and throws three stones upon the spot; which in a short time is accumulated

throw three

this means a It is remark

* So rooted is this superstition among our peasantry, that on a murder taking place some years ago near a small market town in the west of Ireland, a police force had to be placed on the spot to prevent the demesne wall of a clergyman from being levelled to furnish the necessary material.

into a tumulus, thousands of which still exist in different parts of that country.

Of the ancient barrow mode of burial we have numerous instances in Greece, Siberia, Russia, Malabar, the British isles, in North America, the Steppes of Tartary, and particularly wherever the Celtic nations settled, as well as in the lava mounds of Grand Canary, and upon a large scale in the memorable monument of Marathon. Although none such exist here, yet, under this head may be placed the Cairn, of which so many instances occur in almost every country of the world.

The second kind is the stele or pillar, placed either as an addition over the barrow, or without any mound or elevation of the ground; these are numerous and without ornaments or inscriptions. The headstones in our graveyards are such, and as it is a sepulchral monument in most extensive use every where, some inquiry as to its nature and origin may not be irrelevant to our present subject. If we believe the authority of Josephus, the children of Seth, the son of Adam, were the original constructors of these pillars, two of which were formed by them; one of brick, the other of stone, on which they inscribed their own discoveries in astronomy, &c., and the predictions of Adam as to a deluge and a conflagration. Both of these, the historian says, were emblematical-that of brick being removable by water-while the one of stone would only yield to the power of flame. This last was