DI CESNOLAS DISCOVERIES AT CURIUM. 73- 



three pounds; but great was my pleasure when I saw upon each of them, 

 beautifully engraved, an inscription in Cypriote characters. I ascended to 

 the surface to examine them more carefully, and I found that both armlets 

 had the same inscription. 



"The Cypriote inscriptions found hitherto in the western part of the 

 island are read from left to right, while all the others are read vice versa.- 

 The inscription on the armlets consists of thirteen letters, divided by a 

 point into two groups, of which the first is the name of a king of Paphos,. 

 who seemingly offered the armlets to this shrine of Curium. In the present 

 stage of Cyprian paleography, it would be hazardous to fix a date to this- 

 inscription, but from the character of other objects found with them, I am 

 inclined to believe that the inscription on the armlets belongs to an epoch 

 not later than the Persian expedition against Cyprus chronicled by Herodo- 

 tus. This inscription, which clearly shows that the armlets were the 'votive 

 offering,' or a present of a king of Paphos, eonfirmed me in my opinion 

 that the building above with the mosaic pavement had been a temple of 

 some importance. During the several days employed in searching room 

 'C,' I remained continually inside of it. Of the three persons therein I was 

 the least excited, though there was a good excuse for it. At every moment 

 gold ornaments were exhumed, and nothing else, Anaong them there were 

 many signet-rings, with a movable scarabeus finely cut either in agate, car- 

 nelian, jasper, onyx, or other hard stones. Most of the representations en- 

 graved upon these scarabei are Egyptian and Assyrian. It would be too 

 tedious were I to describe here one by one all the fine and valuable gold 

 objects I found in room 'C 



"■ Suffice to say that, with the exception of three little amphorae in crys. 

 tal (as rare and as precious as gold), all the other objects found in said room 

 were of gold. In room 'D ' the objects found therein were all silver, and 

 they consist in vases, cups, bowls, paterae, armlets, bracelets, rings, and ear- 

 rings. Also a few Babylonian and Assyrian cylinders, three or four of 

 which, with inscrijations in cuneiform characters. Eoom ' E ' contained with 

 the excejDtion of a bronze lamp and a fine chariot in calcareous stone, many 

 fine vases, with statuettes in relief, or with birds painted upon, and also two 

 or three of the so-called Etruscan kind — one Kills especially, and a Kalpis, 

 are intact, and very fine specimens. 



" Eoom ' E,' which is somewhat smaller than the others, has a doorway 

 on its western wall, which leads to a narrow passage or tunnel, the end of 

 which has been an impossibility for me to find. The foul air inside, the 

 earth percolated through the roof, its narrowness, which does not permit to 

 stand or to turn backward, render the thorough exploration of it a matter 

 of utter impossibility. I entered it with the chief digger, each of us hold- 

 ing a light ; but beyond 130 feet the lights went out, and, crab-like, we were 

 obliged to come back, very lucky not to have remained suffocated inside. 



"I have mentioned this tunnel before describing the contents of room 

 * F,' for the reason that the latter was filled with earth removed from the 



