SURA. 135 



inquiry, as he had repeatedly said he knew of no 

 other ruins than those we had already seen, 

 and those at Phineka, whither we proposed next 

 to proceed. We were consequently no less 

 pleased than surprised to hear him say that he 

 knew of a place of that name with a Paleo 

 Kastro, Nemata, and Grammata. We instantly 

 engaged his only son, a remarkably shrewd lad 

 twelve years old, as our guide. 



March 23rd. We start for the ruins of Sura . 

 In twenty minutes we reached the village of Ka- 

 rabajakkeui at the south-west angle of the plain. 

 Behind it, a rocky ravine leads to Sura; at its 

 entrance we passed close to a small but beau- 

 tiful rectangular building, the posterns of its 

 doorway chastely carved, and the cornice orna- 

 mented with capitals of the Composite order. 

 It seems to have had but one room and wants 

 only the roof to be perfect. Whether it had 

 been a tomb or temple we could not determine; 

 but from its proximity to the ruins of a Christian 

 church, we were inclined to regard it as the latter. 

 Ascending by the rocky ravine for half an hour 

 we reached the little plain of Sura, passing two 

 or three sarcophagi buried in a thicket by the 

 roadside. About a dozen others were visible, scat- 



