Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/385

Rh his manner that it had contained gold ornaments. It would appear, then, that, being interrupted before he had finished his work, he left the few inches of soil at the bottom of the grave unexplored, and thus missed the prize which I found. Such are the chances of excavation.

On leaving Calymnos in the Turkish steamer, I took the opportunity of crossing over to the opposite coast, for the purpose of visiting Budrum, which I had long wished to explore.

The steamer took us rapidly across to the Asiatic shore; and after having been so long accustomed to the noisy streets of Calymnos, thronged with Greeks and pigs, it seemed strange to find myself in the stillness and seclusion of the picturesque old Turkish town, which stands on the site of Halicarnassus. I was very kindly received by the authorities at Budinmi, and an application to see the interior of the castle was instantly assented to.

This castle stands on a peninsula forming one side of the harbour, and is a fine specimen of military architecture in the 15th century.

It is well known that it was built by the Knights of St. John out of the ruins of the Mausoleum; and that twelve slabs of frieze from that famous monument were extracted from its walls and sent to the British Museum in 1846, an acquisition for which the public is indebted to the influence of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe with the Porte, and not less to the zeal and enthusiasm with which he has always promoted archæological researches in the Levant for the benefit of the National Collection of Sculpture and Antiquities.