MYCENAE. 493 
Bosporus, the door is in the side of the sepulchre: 
and there are steps in front of it. A small 
aperture in the vertex of the cone has also 
been rendered visible, by the removal of the 
soil; but this, as well as the entrance in the 
side, was once closed, when the mound was 
entire, and the Tumulus remained inviolate. All 
the rest of the external part is a covering of 
earth and turf; such as we see in every country 
where the Tumuli appear. We ascended along 
the outside to the top : and had it not been for 
the circumstances now mentioned, we should 
have considered it in all respects similar to the 
Tombs in the Plain of Troy, or in the South of 
Russia, or in any of the Northern countries of 
Europe. But this Sepulchre, among modern tra- 
vellers, has received the appellation of The brazen 
Treasury of Atreus and his Sons ; an assumption not the 
requiring more of historical evidence in its 
support, than has yet been adduced to sub- 
stantiate the fact. In the first place, it may 
be asked, What document can be urged to 
prove, either that the treasury of Atreus was 
brazen, or that this was the treasury ? The 
whole seems to rest upon the discovery of a 
few bronze nails within the Sepulchre ; used evi- 
dently for the purpose of fastening on something 
