POSSIBILITY OF ITS REMOVAL.

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a square platform, but it now leans very much to one side, having been shaken by an earthquake, which has shifted some of its parts out of their place. This monument, which was certainly erected on the shore, is now upwards of thirty yards from it, and the sea covers at least two feet of its base! Beside it, to the west, ran the ancient city wall, part of which, of a quadrangular form, still exists.

There are two subjects connected with this monument that also claim our attention; the first is the positive proof that it affords of land and water having changed their relative positions in this part of the Mediterranean, but whether this change is caused by the rising and encroachment of the one, or the sinking of the other, is a question that will be considered when discussing that interesting topic in connection with the ruins of ancient Tyre. The second subject is the possibility of having the monument removed to England. From its being composed of many pieces; and being placed within the reach of a boat, it could be with great safety carried out to one of our men-of-war that make a summer cruise to these parts, and thus conveyed to England. This is well worthy the attention of those who have the power to do so; and so very little labour and expense would attend it, that I feel assured it could be placed within the walls of the British Museum for £20. But to return from this digression-the fourth and most magnificent form of tombs are those hollowed out

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ROCK-CARVED SEPULCHRES.

in the face of the rocks, that form the base of the mountain that completes the back ground of this picture to the south-east; and which form such conspicuous objects entering the harbour, owing to the lime-stone, in which they are hewn, being stained yellow by a fluid of that colour, which exudes out of the rocks above. Some of these tombs are carved with consummate art into the resemblance of the fronts of houses, having panelled doors and bearing a striking similarity to those of Petra. They are found in groups or clusters, and were probably appropriated to particular families. Each has before it a square platform approached by a flight of steps, and, at the entrance to which, originally stood a small gate. In some of those cut in the detached rocks upon the plain of the necropolis, there was an anteroom for the mourning visitors; and also in the top of the sepulchral chamber was an aperture through which to pour the libation. On the panels were inscriptions; and on one I found a tragic mask, probably indicating the occupation of the owner. Terraces led from one set of tombs to another. Three of these mausolea so far exceed the rest in splendour, that I am led to believe they must have been those of the Telmessian kings; and for elaborate workmanship and beauty of effect, they are acknowledged by all who have seen them, to be among the most extraordinary specimens of their kind. These are placed in the most inaccessible

places on the face of the mountain, and are now entered with some difficulty. The front of each is a portico, consisting of two Ionic pillars and two pilasters twenty feet high, supporting a pediment. Behind this is carved a handsome door of the same height as the pillars, and composed of four panels, the stiles and cross-bars studded with large headed bolts. The entrance was through the lower right hand panel, which moved in a groove at the top and bottom; but the present entrance to most of these, is by one of the other panels which has been broken through long since. With such accuracy was this door fitted in, that you cannot distinguish in which compartment it was placed. The interior is a square apartment, with a raised bench, on which the bodies were placed, running round three sides of it, measuring ten feet by eight in length, and six feet six in height. The fronts of these tombs were evidently made to resemble temples; many of the simplest of the Grecian temples being fronted by a similar portico, or what is termed in technical language "in antœ." These temple-faced tombs bear a close analogy to the Indian, the Persepolitan, and the Syrian, while those without porticos partake more of the Egyptian and the Edomite character, of which the type is found in the cave of Machpelah, although some of the mausolea in Idumea are temple-faced, as mentioned by Job, who was probably a contemporary of Abraham. A first view of some of the facades is curious; the lower

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end of some of the pillars have been broken off to supply a neighbouring lime-kiln, but being an integral portion of the rock, the upper part hangs from the architrave like an enormous stalactite, as shown in the wood-cut above.

The light gray lime-stone, out of which all these

AN ANCIENT TEMPLE.

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excavations are formed, is similar to that in the bay of Symi; and some portions of it being hard and others soft, the atmosphere and sea air have acted on the latter, and given the whole a rough, and if I may be allowed the expression, a pockmarked appearance. It is these that have caused the obliteration of many of the carvings, inscriptions, and embellishments, of the many hundred sepulchres in this vast city of the dead, whose streets and squares are only tombs. I could not discover a single sepulchre which had not been broken into and rifled.

Clarke has drawn attention to a singular ruin, presenting externally the form of a solid cube, and standing on a sloping bank near to the shore. This my friends and I examined with great care. In his (Clarke's) time, this quadrangular building, the stones of which are of immense size, was only entered by a narrow chasm produced by an earthquake. It has since, however, undergone considerable dilapidation, evidently from a similar cause, and now affords a better opportunity for examining its structure. From out to out, it is twenty-five feet four inches square; the walls being four feet five inches in thickness. The stones of which it is composed are of great size, bound together with cement. I state this because Clarke supposes no such building material was used in its construction, and his mistake arose from the cement being washed out of the joinings, but the