338 Clarke's travels* 
over the door, or hy the side, of the sepulchres* Upon , the 
first we observed these characters : 
+ -THC A P 1 A C 
Cl WN 
OF ■ THE • HOLY 
SION 
Having entered by the door of this sepulchre, we found a 
spacious chamber cut in the rock, connected with a series of 
other subterranean apartments, one leading into another, and 
containing an extensive range of receptacles for the dead, as 
Id those excavations before alluded to, (but which appear of 
more recent date,) lying into the north of Jerusalem* at a 
more considerable distance from the city; and also as in the 
Cryptce of the Necropolis near Alexandria in Egypt. Op¬ 
posite to the entrance, but lower down in the rock, a second, 
and a similar aperture, led to another chamber beyond the 
first. Over the entrance to this, also, we observed an in¬ 
scription, nearly obliterated, but differing from the first, by 
the addition of two letters: 
+ H N_ . < . ;T H C 
A rIACCiWN 
Having reached the extremity of this second chamber) we 
could proceed no farther, owing to the rubbish which obstruct¬ 
ed our passage. Perhaps the removal of this may, at some 
future period, lead to other discoveries. It was evident that 
we had not attained the remotest part of these caverns. There 
were others with similar Greek inscriptions, and one which 
particularly attracted our notice, from its extraordinary coin¬ 
cidence with all the circumstances attaching to the history of 
our Saviour’s tomb. The large stone that once closed its 
mouth had been, perhaps for ages, rolled away. Stooping 
down to look into it, w ? e observed, within, a fair sepulchre, 
containing a repository, upon one sideordy, for a single body; 
whereas, in most of the others, there w ere two, and in many 
of them more than two. It is placed exactly opposite to that 
which is now called Mount Sion. As we viewed this sepal- 
dire* and read upon the spot the description given of Mary 
