4G4 
MERGE TO GYRENE. 
stone, hollowed out roughly for the reception of the body ; and its 
cover consisted of another single stone shaped into the form repre- 
sented in the plate, without any great attention to finish, but 
always with considerable regularity. 
This form of sarcophagus was common among the ancients in 
other parts of the world, and continued in very general use to a late 
period of the Eoman empire. In the plain below the city (to the 
northward) there is a considerable number of handsome tombs, 
both excavated and constructed (those of the latter sort naturally 
preponderating) ; and among these there must be many (we are 
sorry to say) which we never had an opportunity of examining : our 
route over this tract of country having chiefly been confined to the 
road from Cyrene to Apollonia (now Marsa Susa) its port ; situated 
at the foot of the range of high land the summit of which forms 
the plain in question : and as the ground in this part is thickly 
wooded, and crossed by ravines in different directions, the buildings 
which might still exist upon it would not be seen by passengers 
unless they lay immediately in their track. There are also many to 
the southward of the town which we had no leisure to examine ; our 
researches among the tombs having for the most part been limited 
to the more immediate neighbourhood of the city, where there is still 
a very ample field for inquiry, without trespassing on the ground we 
have just mentioned. 
The summit of the mountain on which Cyrene is built has been 
cleared of the wood which no doubt once incumbered it, and we 
easily found a convenient place for our tents, which were pitched, on 
