422 
MERGE TO GYRENE. 
tombs which are evei7 where scattered over its neighbourhood. 
They are all of stone, either constructed on the surface, or excavated 
in the rocky soil of the district ; and as most of them have been 
defiiced, or laid in ruins, (for there is not one of them which has not 
been opened,) the wreck of material with which the soil is encum- 
bered may be more easily imagined than described. The road, when 
we had descended into the plain of Cyrene, continued to wind through 
the tombs and sarcophagi, and along the edges of the (juarries in 
which the subterranean tombs have been excavated, for more than a 
mile and a half ; we observed that it was occasionally cut through 
the rocky soil, and that marks of chariot wheels were still very 
evident in many parts of its stony surface. 
These approaches to the town, for there are several of them, as 
will be seen by the plan, have the appearance of ruined and deserted 
streets ; the tombs ranged on each side of them supi^lying the places 
of houses. The solemnity, we can scarcely say the gloom, of this 
effect is, however, enlivened by the variety of style which charac- 
terises the architecture, as well as by the difference in the plans 
and sizes of the tombs, and in the degrees of labour and finish 
bestowed upon them. The earlier tombs may be distinguished 
by their simplicity and good taste, the later by a more orna- 
mented and a more vitiated style. A similar difference of style 
may be observed in the busts and statues, which are scattered about 
among the tombs ; some of which have the Greek and some the 
Roman cast of countenance and costume, portrayed in the several 
manners peculiar to each nation, according to the age of the perfor- 
mance. 
