458 
MERGE TO GYRENE. 
the marble bust of a female figure, from which the head had been 
recently broken, lying in front of one of the excavated tombs ; and 
on inquiring of some straggling Arabs, who had preceded us, what 
was become of the remainder, they at first pleaded ignorance on the 
point altogether ; but on our proving to them, from the whiteness of 
the fractured parts, that we were certain the head must have been 
very lately broken off, they asked us what we would give them if they 
should find it. A bargain was now made that if the head were at aU 
perfect, so as to be worth our taking it away, they should have a 
Spanish dollar for bringing it ; but if we left it in their possession they 
were only to have the head for their pains. The words were no sooner 
uttered than one of the fellows scrambled into a tomb close at hand, 
and brought out with him the relic in question ; which was, however, 
so much defaced by the process which had been employed in severing 
it from the body, as to be wholly unworthy of removal, and it was left 
by the side of the trunk with the full and free consent of both 
parties. We are sorry to say that the practice of breaking heads 
from the figures has been very general at Cyrene ; and has been occa- 
sioned in many instances by the inability of the Arabs to carry off a 
whole statue to Bengazi or Tripoly (where they might have a chance 
of disposing of it to advantage) and their eagerness to secure the 
profits which might result to them from the transport and sale of a 
part of it. We took care to make it generally understood, after this 
discovery, that we would never purchase anything that had been 
recently mutilated ; and that we should certainly complain to Bey 
