MONUMENTAL REMAINS. 5(79 



scriptions. The famous barrow of the Athenians in the plain of 

 Marathon, described by Pausanias, is an instance of the latter usage. 

 An ancient monument in Italy by the Appian-way, called without 

 reason the sepulchre of the Curiatii, has the same number of ter- 

 mini as remained on the harrow of Alyattes ; the basement which 

 is square, supporting five round pyramids. Of the barrow of 

 Alyattes the original magnitude is described by travellers as now 

 much diminished, and the bottom rendered wider and less distinct 

 than' before, by the gradual increase of the soil below. It stands 

 in the midst of others by the lake Gygaeus; where the burying- 

 place of the Lydian princes was situated. The barrows are of 

 various sizes, the smaller made perhaps for children of the younger 

 branches of the royal family. Four or five are distinguished by 

 their superior magnitude, and are visible as hills at a great distance. 

 That of Alyattes is greatly supereminent. The lake it is likely 

 furnished the soil. All of them are covered with green turf; and 

 all retain their conical form without any sinking in of the top. 



Barrows, or similar tumuli, are also found in great numbers in 

 America. These are of different sizess, according to Mr. Jeffer- 

 son's account ; some of them constructed of earth, and some of 

 loose stones. That they were repositories of the dead has been 

 obvious to all ; but on what particular occasion constructed, was 

 matter of doubt. Some have thought they covered the bones of 

 those who have fallen in battles fought on the spot of interment. 

 Some ascribed them to the custom said to prevail among the In- 

 dians, of collecting at certain periods the bones of all their dead, 

 wheresoever deposited at the time of death. Others again sup. 

 posed them the general sepulchres for towns, conjectured to have 

 been on or near these grounds ; and this opinion was supported 

 by the quality of the lands in which they are found (those con- 

 structed of earth being generally in the softest and most fertile 

 meadow grounds on river sides), and by a tradition, said to be 

 handed down from the aboriginal Indians, that when they settled 

 In a town, the first person who died was placed erect, and earth 

 put about him, so as to cover and support him ; that when another 

 died, a narrow passage was dug to the first, the second reclined 

 against him, and the cover of the earth replaced, and so on. 

 * 4 There being one of these barrows in my neighbourhood (says 

 Mr. Jefferson), I wished to satisfy myself whether any, and which 

 of these opinions were just. For this purpose I determined to 

 open and examine it thoroughly. It was situated on the low 



