ADVANCEMENT 0E SCIENCE. 123 



to, but on a much smaller scale, than that large descent which I had just abandoned. 

 Clearing the surface, I found that the rock was hewn out 3 feet in width and 12 

 in length, the intervening space being filled with sand, similar in all respects to the 

 other into which the steel rod sunk with ease. Fifteen feet of this sand being re- 

 moved, I came upon the skeleton of a horse. A few feet further on, an upright 

 flag, four feet high, and the breadth of the shaft, was placed over the entrance o* 

 a tomb cut out of the calcareous clay. The opening faced the east by an arched 

 door, 24 inches wide and 32 high. The tomb was of a semi-circular form, arched, 

 10 feet by 12 in diameter, and 8 feet high in the centre. Above the doorway a 

 lintel-stone was placed, on which the slab which closed it rested. The cavity was 

 cut out of the natural calcareous clay, which was firm and consistent, the form and 

 s hap« of the instrument by which it had been removed being very distinct. The 

 candle burnt brightly on entering. The floor was covered with beautiful pebbles 

 and shells, such as ar» now found on the shores of the Sea of Azov. A niche was 

 cut out of the walls on three sides, in which lay the dust of what once was human. 

 It was a sight replete with interest to survey this chamber — to examine each article 

 as it had been originally placed more than 2,000 years ago — to contemplate its use> 

 and to behold the effect of 20 centuries upon us proud mortals. There lay the dust 

 of the human frame, possessing still the form of man. The bones had also crum" 

 bled into dust; the space once occupied by the head did not exceed the size of the 

 palm of the hand, but in the undisturbed dust, the position of the features could 

 still be traced. The mode in which the garments enveloped the body, and the 

 knots and fastenings by which these were bound, being also distinct. On each niche 

 a body had been placed, and the coffins, crumbled into powder, had fallen in. At 

 the head were glass bottles — one of these contained a little wine. A cup and a 

 lacrymatory of the same material and a lamp were placed in a small niche above* 

 A coin and a few enamelled beads wer« in the left hand, and in the right a number 

 of walnuts — the wine and nuts being doubtless placed there to cheer and support 

 the soul in its passage to Paradise. Some fibula? and common ornaments, valuable 

 only on account of their antiquity, were also found. Continuing my researches in 

 the same locality, I came upon other sirnila* shafts, at the end of which were the 

 bones of a horse, and then the large flagstone closed the mouth of tombs similar to 

 the last. I now resolved to made another attempt to explore the great shaft : the 

 only mode of effecting this being to remove entirely that portion of the hill above 

 it, I brought all my labourers to the spot, although the few days that remained 

 of our sojourn in Kertch would hardly enable me, I feared, to complete the work. 

 Placing my men in two gangs, each were made to work half an-hour without ceasing. 

 On the third day we struck on two large anaphoras, containing each the skeleton of 

 a child between four and six years of age. Underneath these were the tombs of 

 two adults, and then came the skeleton of % horse. There was now every indication 

 that a great feast or sacrifice had been held, for a few feet further on we came 

 uponimmense heaps of broken amphora, fragments of wine jars, theinside of which 

 were still encrusted with wine lees* broken drinking cups, flat tiles which may have 

 served the purpose of plates, beef and mutton bones, fragments of cooking pots still 

 black from the smoke, and quantities of charcoal. Descending still further, we came 

 upon what appeared to have been a workshop— portions of crucibles in which copper 

 had been smelted, corroded iron, lumps of vitreous glass, broken glass vessels, moulds, 

 and other things being found. Fire feet deeper we exposed the excavation in the 

 rock, and a shaft exactly similar to, but on much larger scale than the descent into 



