Scientific Travellers: — Mr. Forbes. 



241 



but it really is quite as exciting as the hunting of new plants and 

 animals. If I lived in this neighbourhood I should turn antiquary 

 before three months had rolled away. The ruined cities of Lycia are 

 wonderfully beautiful ; situated in the midst of the grandest alpine 

 scenery, amid mountains rising almost from the sea-level to the great 

 elevation of 10,000 feet, with stupendous precipices towering on 

 all sides, and great forests and extended plains of infinite variety ; 

 every cliff carved into temple-tombs, such as you read of in ac- 

 counts of Petra, and every hill- side covered with ruins of great 

 theatres and temples. You may easily picture to yourself the in- 

 terest and delight of travelling in such a country — one, too, almost 

 unexplored, having been only made known to us within the last 

 four years by Fellows.* 



" I mean to complete the exploration of Lycia, and to add to it 

 Pamphylia, Phrygia, and Caria. I hope to discover Derbe, Lystra, 

 and some other missing cities." 



Extracts from a letter dated Xanthus, Asia Minor, February 28, 

 1842 :— 



" I am now en route into the interior, with a view to the explora- 

 tion of the antiquities, geography, and natural history of the unex- 

 plored parts of Asia Minor. I shall return to meet the Beacon in 

 May, and I hope then to proceed to Candia. In autumn I shall pro- 

 bably go to Egypt before returning to Edinburgh. 



" I shall not trouble you with an itinerary of my travels ; suffice 

 to say, that I have rambled, or rather cruised, in the Beacon's Ten- 

 ders through the Archipelago, and last autumn I accompanied one 

 of our surveyors on his cruise to complete the survey of the Lycian 

 coast. In January the Beacon found us here, having been sent 

 down by Government to remove the marbles discovered here by 

 Fellows. For the last three months we have been excavating mar- 

 bles ; some splendid things have turned up, which will greatly de- 

 light you when you see them. One set, representing the wars of 

 the Amazons, is especially beautiful, and, to my mind, equal to the 

 Elgin marbles both in the design and execution. Another frieze, of 

 many pieces, is also of great interest and beauty ; it represents the 

 siege of a city, and, independent of the beauty and spirit of the 

 combatants (in very high relief), includes representations of the most 

 curious kind, of the fortifications and buildings of an ancient Lycian 

 city. Some statues of great merit (but headless) have also been 

 dug up. The crowning sculptures, however, are a set of bas-relief 

 of exquisite beauty, in which the peculiar art of the Persians, as 

 seen in Persepolitan sculptures, is combined with the freedom and 

 execution of the Greeks. In all there is a ship-load, and the only 

 difficulty to be overcome now is the shipping of them. 



" This country is delightful, and is covered with ruins of the 

 grandest kind. Every little excursion any of us have made into the 

 interior has ended in the discovery of some lost ancient city. The 



* We are happy to state that Mr. Fellows has just returned, enriched 

 with new stores of information upon the antiquities of the interesting coun- 

 try which he has visited for the third time. 



