386 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



to, but on a much larger scale than the descent into the arched tombs. As 

 the hill was removed, platforms were scarped on the sides, on which the 

 earth was thrown up, a man being placed on each platform: and as I 

 descended into the shaft, similar platforms of wood were slung from above. 

 On the twelfth day we reached a depth of 16 feet in the shaft, the portion of 

 the hill removed being 38 feet in length, 20 in depth, and 12 in breadth. 

 The mouth of the shaft hewn out of the rock, 3 feet in thickness, was 18 feet 

 long by 12 broad. It then took on a bell shape, the diameter of which was 

 22 feet, cut out in dark consistent clay, a depth of nearly 7 feet. Beyond 

 this the size of the shaft became a square of 7 feet, cut out of successive 

 layers of sandstone and calcareous clay. A few feet beyond the bones 

 of the horse, and exactly in the centre of the shaft, the skeleton of an adult 

 female appeared enveloped in sea- weed. Under the neck was a lacrymatory, 

 and on the middle finger of the right hand a key-ring. Three feet further we 

 met a layer of human skeletons, laid head to feet, the bones being here in 

 excellent preservation, as, indeed, we found them to be in all places where 

 the calcareous clay came into immediate contact with them. There were 

 10 adult male skeletons on this spot, and separated by a foot of clay between 

 each. Five similar layers were found, being 50 in all. I may state that 

 toads in large numbers were found alive in this part of the pit. "We had 

 now reached a depth of 42 feet in the shaft, the bones of another horse were 

 turned out, and then we came on loose sand to a depth of 5 feet. Six more 

 skeletons were here again exposed. The sides of the shaft were regular and 

 smooth, the mark of the chisel on the rock being as fresh as when first 

 formed. Six feet more of the loose sand being now taken away, hard 

 bottom could be felt by the steel rod, and there lay two skeletons, male and 

 female, enveloped in sea- weed ; and hi a large amphora? at the corner, which 

 was unfortunately found crushed, were the bones of a child. Some beautiful 

 specimens of pottery, an electrine urn, much broken, lacrymatories, beads, 

 and a few coins, were all that I got to repay my labors on this spot. I 

 examined well on every side, and in the rock below, for a trap-door or con- 

 cealed passage, and an abrupt perpendicular division in the natural strata or 

 layers of calcareous clay appeared to indicate the existence of such, but 

 I found none. Everything during the descent had promised so favorably, 

 that I fully expected to have found a large chamber leading on from the ter- 

 mination of the shaft; but if such does exist, the discovery of the passage to 

 it utterly baffled all my researches. When the corns I discovered are 

 cleaned, I shall probably be able to fix a date to this wonderful place. The 

 deep fosse, the mode in which the skeletons were found at the bottom, the 

 five discovered immediately above these, the 50 about the centre, and the 

 bones of the horses, are exactly in harmony with the description of Herodo- 

 tus of the mode in which the Scythian kings were buried. There was now 

 no tune to enter upon fresh explorations. 



DR. LIVINGSTON'S RESEARCHES IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 



The detail of the journey of the Rev. Henry Livingston, across the con- 

 tinent of Southern Africa, is a record of human energy which has frequently 



