ELEUSIS TO ATHENS. 611 
the left, we entered a narrow valley by a gentle CHAP. 
A* 
ascent, which is the entrance to the defile of > / 
Daphne. We perceived, that the perpendicular 
face of the rock, upon this side of the road, had 
been artificially planed, and contained niches 
for votive tablets, as they have been before 
described in this work. Such appearances are 
always of importance in the eyes of the literary 
traveller, because they afford indisputable proofs 
of the former sanctity of the spot : and although 
it may be difficult to state precisely what the 
nature of the Hieron was where the original vows 
were offered, it will, perhaps, be easy to explain 
why these testimonies of Pagan piety distin- 
guish this particular part, of the Sacred Way: 
the niches being situate near the spot where 
the first view of Eleusis presented itself to the 
Athenian devotees, in their annual procession 
to the city. This seems to have been the rock 
which is mentioned by Pausanias, under the ap- 
pellation of Pozci L E : in his Journey from Aliens, 
J called 
he mentions its occurrence before his arrival Facile. 
Rheti, and at this extremity of the 
After this we came to a wall, which 
(3) To n*/X *a>.iv/tit Sass, x. r.X. Vid. Paasan. -fails. c.37. p. 
ed- Kuhnii. 
R R 2 
