Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/225

Rh of the basement; and as there is no sign that the tomb has ever been opened in any other part, it is possible that, if the ruins round the base were cleared away, other chambers might be disclosed. The upper part of this monument is now covered with earth, on which trees are growing, and it is possible that an earthen mound may have been originally heaped over it; but from the analogy of similar monuments, I am inclined to think that it was surmounted by a pyramid.

With regard to the age of this monument, there is no sure evidence to guide us. Ross thinks that it may be a work of the later Hellenic period; at the same time he observes with truth that its design has more affinity with Oriental, and especially with Phœnician, than with purely Greek types.

Between this tomb and St. Stephen's hill, and for a considerable distance to the south of Symbidli, are a succession of low table-lands, formed of tertiary limestone and sandstone, out of which vast quantities of building materials have been quarried by the ancients; and all through this district tombs are to be met with—mostly plain sepulchral chambers, long since rifled of their contents. Ross thinks that the walls of the ancient city enclosed much of this waste land, and he met with traces of them in several places at the distance of an hour and a half from the modern town. The massive materials of which these walls were composed have long since disappeared, and were probably employed by the Knights to build their fortress with. On the other hand, the form of the ground