24 PLAIN OF MARATHON. 
changed: but this is explained by their situation, 
being at a considerable depth in the earth, 
where they had been protected from the action 
of the atmosphere, which would have altered 
their appearance, and given to them a whiter 
colour in a short time, had they remained 
exposed upon the surface of the soil. The 
recent section that has been effected, with a 
view to ransack the other hidden contents of 
this Tumulus, although it presents to the spec- 
tator a chasm which is visible even from the 
villaofc of Marathon, at the distance of two miles 
and a quarter, has been of little consequence. 
The work was very ignorantly conducted, as 
the operation does not extend below the visible 
base of the Mound and the present level of the 
Plain ; whereas it must be evident, that, during 
so many centuries, the pressure of such an 
enormous cone (which of course w^as much 
larger, and more lofty, when it was first raised, 
than it now is) must have caused the base of it 
to sink very considerably beneath the surface of 
the soil. In order to find the conditory of the 
Sepulchre, if the bodies were not promiscuously 
heaped towards the centre of the Mound, it 
would be necessary to carry the excavation 
much lower. Various opinions prevail concern- 
ing it. Some have believed it to be the Tomb 
