Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/30

8 The enclosures at Krendi are very similar to the remains at Gozo, known by the name, Torre dei Giganti; but these latter present certain differences in plan, which have been carefully noted by Dr. Barth. Two heads from female figures discovered within the enclosures at Gozo, have been published by Delia Marmora, and seem to be no less barbarous than those at Krendi.4 On the whole, it may, I think, be inferred that the remains in both islands are the work of some race much lower in the scale of civilization than the Phoenicians as we know them in ancient history. I am disposed to regard these temples as the work of some indigenous people, who having; been brought into contact with Phoenician settlers at some time or other, imbibed from this source some scanty tradition of the arts of civilization; whether, however, these remains should be assigned to a remote or to a late period of pagan antiquity, can only be determined by further evidence.

The day before I left Malta, Mr. Lushington, the chief Secretary of the Government, invited me to be present at the opening of some tombs, at a place called Santi, near Bengemma. These are all cut in the solid rock, on the slope of a hill facing the north, and commanding a beautiful view of the sea. Our party was accompanied by a Maltese gentleman. Dr. Onofrio, who found a tomb when required, with as much sagacity as a pointer finds a partridge.

Each tomb is entered by an oblong aperture cut in the rock, about six feet deep and twice as broad as an English grave, in the side of which is a flight