402 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



allowed to cool suddenly. It resembles the district El-Lejah in the 

 Hauran. The direction of the Safah is nearly north and south. 

 There is not a single tree on its surface ; but a chain of hills of forty 

 miles in length runs through it, nearly in the same direction, varying 

 slightly to the north-west. Mr. Graham did not venture to cross 

 this " volcanic island," but he coasted it towards the south, and passed 

 it on that side to the western plain, to seek for the ruined cities of 

 which he had heard. Soon after, his attention was attracted by a 

 large stone, having an inscription upon it, in an unknown character, 

 which he carefully copied. He began then to imagine that the stones 

 he had found had been set up to mark the distance from some impor- 

 tant town ; that, in fact, they were mile-stones. While reflecting 

 upon this fact, he came suddenly upon a ruined town, built of white 

 stone, of a kind of which no specimens whatever were seen by him on 

 the plain, the whole of which consisted of a dark-colored lava. Four 

 similar towns exist around the Safah, but in none could he find any 

 inscriptions, though many curious and rude sculptures were lying 

 about. From this place Mr. Graham continued to proceed a few 

 days' journey further westward ; and in several places he found small 

 areas of three hundred or four hundred yards in circumference, in 

 which almost every stone had upon it the rude representation of 

 camels, gazelles, apes, horses, horsemen, etc., always accompanied by 

 inscriptions. Of these about twenty were laid upon the society's 

 table. Many of them were from a wadi called El-Nemarch, south- 

 cast of the Safah, w T herc there were many thousands of inscribed 

 stones. Others were taken from another wadi further to the east, 

 called Warran. It was on this spot that a singular relic of red stone, 

 or of a very compact kind of pottery, was found. The relic is a sort 

 of baton, of about eighteen inches in length, and perfectly smooth. 

 The inscriptions copied were in a very small proportion to the great 

 numbers scattered about ; but the fear of the Arabs of their enemies, 

 the Anezi, who were in the neighborhood, and the want of water, 

 prevented a longer stay in the place. The Arabs had no traditions re- 

 garding these inscriptions, or the people who had executed them, but 

 they agreed that all the inhabitants had been driven away by Tamer- 

 lane ! The inscriptions are in a rude character, which has analogies 

 with the oldest Greek and Phoenician alphabets ; and it is not impossi- 

 ble that they may have been old enough for a time when the two 

 alphabets were nearer to the one original than we find in any other 

 case. No serious attempt has yet been made to read them ; but 

 should they be either in Greek or Hebrew, no great difficulty is appre- 

 hended in doing it. Some read from right to left, and others from 

 left to right. They are, unfortunately, very short. 



OPENING OF A TOMB OF THE ANCIENT ETRUSCANS. 



The following is a description of the opening of a subterranean 

 tomb of the date of the Etruscans, recently discovered near the site 

 of the ancient Vulsino, and about five miles from the present town 

 of Bolseua : 



" About eleven metres from the surface was the gateway, formed 

 of basalt stone, but so displaced as to show that in very remote times 



