202 DISTRICT OF TROAS. 
CHAP. The characters of this Inscriptioji cover one 
V. .y-i-./ side of the Soros at Erkessi/, precisely as the 
hieroglyphical characters cover those of the 
^Alexandrian. Both one and the other have been 
used by the moderns as cisterns; and it may rea- 
sonably be presumed, the repugnance of a very 
few of our Englisli antiquaries, to admit that 
such cisterns were originally designed as recep- 
tacles for the dead, will, in the view of satisfac- 
tory evidence, be done away. 
Sigmni. We were one hour and a quarter going from 
Erkessy to Sigeum, or, as it is now called, Yeny 
Cheyr. The promontory on which the present 
village is situate bears the name of Cape Janis- 
sary. Its inhabitants are all Greeks, living with 
great cleanliness in their little cottages, and 
retaining the manners of their forefathers, in 
Antfqui- their hospitality to strangers. Many valuable 
antiquities have, at difterent times, been disco- 
vered here by the inhabitants. They brought 
to us an extremely rare bronze medal of Sigeum ; 
on this the letters CITE, with the square Sigma, 
were very perfect. The stone with the famous 
Sigean Inscription had been removed, a short time 
before, by the British ambassador ; and more 
recently a marble had been found at Koumkeuy, 
a village in the neighbourhood, with an inscrip- 
tion of the age of the Seleucidcr: this they 
lies. 
