290 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



date, but Egyptians and Christians were opposed to 

 this manner of disposing of the dead, on the ground 

 that it was contrary to their ideas of a resurrection of 

 the body. The Catacombs of Callistus, now visited by 

 tourists, are dismal underground excavations, which 

 have been pillaged of jewels and objects of art. At 

 one period it was common to rifle burial places. Many 

 bones were carried away and sold as those of saints. 

 Paintings of merit exposed in chapels adjacent to cata- 

 combs usually represent biblical traditions, most of 

 them having reference to a future state. 



