OTHER TOMBS. 
523 
four feet, its height nine; each catacomb containing the deepened 
cavity for the body, is also nine feet from the top of its arch to 
the bottom of the cavity; the length of the sarcophagus cavity 
is eight feet three inches by five feet, its depth four feet four 
inches ; the rest of the height being contained in the bend of 
the arch. The open space of the chamber, between the catacombs 
and the door, is about five feet; the entrance had originally 
been closed by a block, or blocks of stone, the deep holes being 
visible on each side which received their pivots. I observed some 
vestiges within of the mode of hanging so ponderous a security; 
but the avidity of the spoilers for lead and iron has injured every 
part where the objects of their cupidity could be rent away. 
The surface of the door, as it appears without, which will be seen 
in the drawing, is divided into four compartments ; the lower 
one is entirely taken away, being now quite open to the air, 
with a small part also of the second division broken off, which 
probably happened when the passage was forced. When we 
look on these violences, committed on the last resting-places of 
the great, we cannot but be sensible that the humblest graves 
are the securest. The actual door of entrance, from every mark 
that remains of its former position, could not have been more 
than four feet in height, but the space is now six inches higher, 
since that much was broken away from the compartment above. 
Having examined to the utmost of my ability every thing 
that could be seen in this curious monument of the most ancient 
times, I was lowered down on the level ground, and thence 
viewed the succeeding interesting objects of the rock. 
Amongst the three remaining tombs, that which lies farthest 
to the eastward of the one I had explored, is cut in a receding 
angle of the mountain, and therefore faces the west; from which 
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