CLARKE'S TRAVELS.' 
of feature and association not likely to occur elsewhere; al¬ 
though such as any accurate description of the country might 
well be expected to include : and if the poems of Homer, with 
reference to the Plain of Troy, have similarly associated an 
artificial tumulus and a natural mound, a conclusion seems 
warranted, that these are the objects to which he alludes. 
This appears to be the case in the account he has given of the 
tomb of Ilus and the mound of ike plain.* 
Upon the surface of the tomb itself, in several small chan¬ 
nels caused by rain, we found fragments of the vases of ancient 
Greece.f I know not any other cause to assign for their ap¬ 
pearance, than the superstitious veneration paid to the tombs 
of Troas in all the ages of history, until the introduction of 
Christianity. Whether they be considered as the remains of 
offerings and libations made by Greeks or Romans, they are 
indisputably not of modern origin. The antiquity of earthen¬ 
ware, from the wheel of a Grecian potter, is as easily cogni¬ 
zable as any work left for modern observation ; and, as a ves¬ 
tige of that people, denoting the site of their cities, towns, and 
publfb monuments, may be deemed perhaps equal in importance 
to medals and inscriptions. 
From this tomb we rode along the top of the mound of the 
plain, in a southwestern direction, toward Callifat. After we 
had proceeded about half its length, its inclination became 
southward. Having attained its extremity in that direction, 
we descended into the plain, when our guides brought us to 
the western side of it, near its southern termination, to notice a 
tumulus, less considerable than the last described, about three 
hundred paces from the mound, almost concealed from observa¬ 
tion by being continually overflowed, upon whose top two 
small oak trees were then growing. This tumulus will not be 
easily discerned by future travellers, from the uniformity of 
its appearance at a distance with the rest of the vast plain in 
which it is situated, being either covered with corn, or fur- 
The Trojans were encamped (Irr Opcocruw 7r«5(oio) upon, or near, the mound Qf 
the plain (II K. 160.) ; and Hector holds his'council with the chiefs, apart from the 
camp, at the tomb of Ilus (II. K. 415.); which was therefore near the mound Their 
coincidence of situation induced Mr. Chevalier to conclude they were one and the 
same. Descript, of the Plain of Troy, p. 113. Mr. Bryant combated this opinion. 
Observations upon a Treatise, See. p. 9. Mr. Morritt very properly derides the ab¬ 
surdity of supposing the council to be held at a distance from the army. Vindicat. of 
Homer, p. 96. 
t These are still in our possession, and resemble the beautiful earthenware found 
:in the sepulchres of Athens, and at Kola in Italy. The durability of such a substance 
Js known to all persons conversant in the arts , it is known to have resisted the ik- 
tacks of Water and air, at least two thousand years. 
