By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



165 



adopted the same mode of burial. 1 But whoever were the founders, 

 whether Cimmerians, Scythians or Greeks, the height and grandeur 

 of these sepulchres of the ancients excite astounding ideas of the 

 wealth and power of the people who formed therm In circum- 

 ference they sometimes exceed 400 feet, and in altitude 150 feet, 

 and they are formed from surface soil, heaps of stone confusedly 

 thrown together, with debris of every sort, each successive layer 

 being distinctly traced, either by a difference of colour in the sub- 

 soil, or by a layer of sea-weed or rushes, which had been laid on 

 the surface, probably with the view of preventing the moisture of 

 the fresh earth pressing into, and displacing that immediately 

 under it. It would occupy too much space to follow Dr. Mac Pherson 

 through the details of his discoveries, deeply interesting though 

 they are : sufficient for our purpose that he " drove tunnels into 

 the centre of seven of these huge mounds," the greater part of 

 which proved to have been previously explored : enough however 

 remained amply to prove their sepulchral character. Moreover he 

 was fortunate in his selection, inasmuch as each of the large mounds 

 opened presented distinct varieties either in the construction of the 

 tomb, or the mode of sepulture. Thus in the first, measuring 80 

 feet in height, though nothing was found on arriving at the centre, 

 but a few amphorae, yet branching off a little to the left, an oblong 

 space was discovered, containing among other things, human and 

 animal bones. In another, a stone sarcophagus was found in the 

 centre of the mound, considerably beneath the natural surface. In 

 another, a stone tomb was found, also below the natural surface of 

 the ground. The fourth was quite a mountain, and contained two 

 chambers of hewn stone. In another enormous tumulus examined? 

 the earth was merely heaped up on a natural peak of coral rag, 

 formed by huge boulders of stone, and here too human bones were 

 found : while the last tumulus explored was composed entirely of 

 sand. And in addition to these which have been examined, mention 

 is made of a " large artificial hill (at the extreme West of the 



1 "When Darius advanced against the Scythians, he came upon barrows of a 

 larger size and better material than common, which Herodotus says he built, 

 and calls them forts ; but which Dahlmann shows to have been most unlikely : 

 (life, p. 120, E.T.) But barrows covered then without doubt, as they still 

 cover, the whole country. [Rawlinson's Herodotus, hi., 104 — 106, notes.] 



