1834.] Antiquities of Afghanistan. 397 



a generic type, as we should expect, if the mausolea represented 

 the offspring of a single and original dynasty ; however much its 

 character might he altered by the interchange of successive genera- 

 tions, deriving new ties of consanguinity, in the same manner as Alex- 

 ander did, intermarrying with the conquered, which he considered a 

 link of union in a government, that was to become dependent upon its 

 natural resources, though perhaps the only apology that he could offer 

 for the sudden transport of love which wedded him to Roxana. 



The contents of the thirty or more topes excavated by Mr. Honig- 

 berger are of the highest interest. Many of them were indeed unproduc- 

 tive of any insignia by which we can identify their original design, or 

 connect them with their founders : a circumstance the less remarkable, 

 when we consider the surreptitious interests of the workmen often em- 

 ployed remote from any control, but even where control embraced the 

 entire operations the labour often ended in inanity. Many of the sepul- 

 chres (perhaps most of them) are comparatively small* ; from 30 to 45 

 or 50 feet high, with a circumference of 80 to 110 feet ; and not one of 

 them presented the structure of Manikydla, or a hollow shaft penetrat- 

 ing from the top, filled up however with the materials of the building, 

 and discovering deposits of coins at various intervals, which continued 

 beyond the limit of the shaft or 25 feet, to the base where the excavat- 

 ed stone reservoir was found, thatproved so fruitful of reliquiae. Nothing 

 answering to the above has accrued to Mr. Honigberger, if we 

 except a single gold coin, I believe of Sotereagus-t, which was found in 

 one tope lodged within a silver cup, but a similar cup yet unopened, 

 would seem to argue the prototype of that acquired by General Ven- 

 tura. The exterior is a hard metal, containing a fluid which is perhaps 

 inclosed within a golden casket like that of Manikydla ; on perceiving 

 which Mr. Honigberger with pro visionary care cemented the whole 

 cylinder, till he should lay it before his countrymen at Vienna. With 

 the above solitary exception, I do not think any coins were elicited from 

 the tombs, nor any other device indicative of the object of their erec- 

 tion, though it would be an extreme supposition to entertain, that such 

 fabrics should be raised as mementos to posterity without a single trait 



* In the gorge of the Khybar Pass which penetrates the country from Pesha- 

 wer, stands a most magnificent edifice, equal to or exceeding that of Manikydla, 

 and if I am not mistaken, there are others. Mr. Honigberger sent a servant to 

 explore the antiquities of this district, habited as a faqir or mendicant, his best 

 or only passport among people who live by pillage. He tempted the Khyberis 

 to dig by the prospect of treasure, but they would do nothing without pay, and the 

 object was thus (fortunately) abandoned. 



t Soter-megas, see Mr. Masson's Memoir, page 168. — En. 



