542 
MERGE TO GYRENE. 
which they are inscrihed, have been coated with a thick and very hard 
cement, which still remains perfect in a great many places. We may 
add that these cisterns, which are three in number, one at right angles 
with the two others, are partly built, and partly excavated in the rock, 
as Signor Della Celia very truly observes. The roofs are arched with 
stone and beautifully turned ; indeed, the whole construction of these 
vaulted chambers, in which large and very regularly-shaped stones 
have been employed, is excellent in the highest degree. Externally, 
the roofs are built up on the sides, and form at the top long plat- 
forms, or terraces, each of more than a hundred and fifty feet in 
length, along which we have often walked with pleasure admiring 
the beauty of their structure. 
The south-eastern part of the city appears to be that which was 
most thickly inhabited, and the number of small buildings crowded 
closely together are, in their present state, likely to exercise the 
patience of those who may endeavour to make out their ]fians. We 
gave up the task as a hopeless undertaking after a few days’ attentive 
examination of these remains ; and it seems probable, that if we had 
even succeeded in giving all the details which can now be procured 
of them, little interesting matter would have resulted from the col- 
lection. Those in the centre of the town (in the neighbourhood of 
the theatres) are of much more importance ; and the remains in the 
space between the theatres and the aqueduct have very consi- 
derable interest. We do not think, however, that satisfactory plans 
could be given of either without a great deal of excavation, and we 
should certainly hesitate in giving names to any which we have not 
