THE 1'ALACE OF MINOS. 429 



These blocks had already arrested the attention of Schliemann and 

 others, but the difficulties raised by the native proprietors had defeated 

 all efforts at scientific exploration. In 1895 I succeeded in acquiring 

 a quarter of the site from one of the joint owners. But the obstruc- 

 tion continued, and I was beset by difficulties of a more serious kind. 

 The circumstances of the time were not favorable. The insurrection 

 had broken out, half the villages in Crete were in ashes, and in the 

 neighboring town of Candia the most fanatical part of the Mohammedan 

 population were collected together from the whole of the island. The 

 faithful Herakles, who was at that time my "guide, philosopher, and 

 muleteer," was seized by the Turks and thrown into a loathsome dun- 

 geon, from which he was with difficulty rescued. Soon afterwards 

 the inevitable massacre took place, of which the nominal British "occu- 

 pants " of Candia were in part themselves the victims. Then at last 

 the sleeping lion was aroused. Under the guns of Admiral Noel the 

 Turkish commander evacuated the Government buildings at ten min- 

 utes' notice and shipped off the Sultan's troops. Crete once more was 

 free. 



At the beginning of this year I was at last able to secure the remain- 

 ing part of the site of Kephala, and with the consent of Prince George's 

 Government at once set about the work of excavation. I received 

 some pecuniary help from the recently started Cretan exploration 

 fund, and was fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Duncan Mac- 

 kenzie, who had done good work for the British school in Melos, to 

 assist me in directing the works. From about 80 to 150 men were 

 employed in the excavation, which continued till the heat and fevers of 

 June put an end to it for this season. 



The result has been to uncover a large part of a vast prehistoric 

 building a palace with its numerous dependencies, but a palace on a 

 far larger scale than those of Tiryns and Mycenae. About '2 acres of 

 this has been unearthed, for, by an extraordinary piece of good for- 

 tune, the remains of walls began to appear only a foot or so. often 

 only a few inches, below the surface. This dwelling of prehistoric 

 kings had been overwhelmed by a great catastrophe. Everywhere on 

 the hilltop were traces of a mighty conflagration: burnt beams and 

 charred wooden columns lay within the rooms and corridors. There 

 was here no gradual decay. The civilization represented on this spot 

 had been cut short in the fullness of its bloom. Nothing later than 

 remains of the good Mycenaean period was found over the whole site; 

 nothing even so late as the last period illustrated by the remains of 

 Mycenae itself. From the day of destruction to this the site has been 

 left entirely desolate. For three thousand years or more not a tree 

 seems to have been planned here; over a part of the area not even a 

 plowshare had passed. At the time of the great overthrow, no 

 doubt, the place had been methodically plundered for metal objects, 



