372 
BENGAZI. 
them, was the proof which they afford of the Egyptian names of 
months having been in general use in this part of the Cyrenaica. 
Many of the tombs, and it is probable also most of the earliest, are 
now buried under a mass of drifted sand ; and among these it is not 
unlikely that dates might be found of very considerable antiquity. 
From the wreck of materials, also, which encumber the city, some 
valuable inscriptions might possibly be obtained, but the labour of 
clearing the ground to search for them would perhaps be too great 
to be undertaken with propriety, on the mere chance of such disco- 
veries. 
Of the tombs at Teuchira into which we were able to penetrate, 
(we mean such as are not buried in sand,) there are none, that we 
could find, of any particular interest. They appear to have been at 
all times very rude, compared with those of Egypt and Gyrene, and 
the inscriptions upon them are in many instances very rudely cut. 
Most of them have only one chamber, three sides of which are some- 
times occupied by places cut into the wall for the reception of bodies. 
Some have only two, and others again only one of these places, in 
which case (we mean the latter) it is usually found opposite to the 
door. In several of the tombs there are no places discernible for 
bodies, and rudely-cut columbaria are all that can be perceived in 
them ; in others again we find both, but seldom placed in the same 
position with regard to each other. 
W e may infer from these circumstances, that some of the bodies 
were burnt, the ashes only being deposited in the tomb, and that 
others were buried entire after being, most probably, embalmed : 
