PHELLUS. 75 



our entreaties and questions respecting the ruins, 

 we received only an uncivil and repulsive com- 

 mand to be off, which was conveyed in a very 

 expressive word in their language, and one often 

 used to dogs, — Highdey ! highdey ! 



Finding the fair one so inflexible, we made 

 the best of our way towards the ruins. A little 

 above the village, we passed a small obelisk 

 like the one at Saaret. It was hollow at the 

 top and had apparently never been inscribed. 

 An ascent of three or four hundred feet brought 

 us to the ruins on the top of the hill. We first 

 came to three sarcophagi and a rock tomb, 

 all of w 7 hich were uninscribed and much injured 

 by time, the limestone being of a bad quality. 

 The city extended along the brow of a ridge 

 not more than one hundred and fifty yards broad, 

 over which the buildings are widely scattered. 

 None appeared of any great importance, or 

 possessing any beauty of architecture. A few 

 broken columns were, however, found near the 

 upper part of the city, which may have belonged 

 to a temple. It does not appear to have been 

 originally defended by a wall, although detached 

 portions of both Hellenic and Cyclopoean walls 

 were here and there met with. But during 



