SITE OF CANDYBA. 



93 



the tomb, and extending his arms to cover as 

 many of the letters as he possibly could, he 

 demanded another bakshish for the privilege 

 of copying. With this we of course had no 

 intention to comply, after the previous bargain ; 

 and the scamp perceiving that no more pi- 

 astres were likely to fall into his pocket, quiet- 

 ly sneaked off, leaving us to find out the re- 

 maining tombs ourselves, and the good impression 

 we had conceived of his being an honest Turk 

 as quickly to evaporate. The inscription proved 

 to be a very perfect one, in the Lycian cha- 

 racter; but several letters were hid under a 

 stalactitic incrustation, deposited by water drip- 

 ping over the surface of the rock. This had 

 occurred in former cases, when we had ascer- 

 tained it could frequently be completely re- 

 moved by carefully hammering the part. A 

 geological hammer was consequently a necessary 

 companion when we went in quest of inscriptions; 

 and, in this instance, after half an hour's labour, 

 the deficient letters were restored as perfect as 

 the day they were cut, their cavities filled with 

 a soft coloured pigment, alternately red and 

 blue, and as fresh as if painted but a few hours. 

 We found in all ten of these rock-tombs : 



