372 BENGAZI.

them, was the proof which they afford of the Egyptian names of months having been in general use in this part of the Cyrenaica.

Many of the tombs, and it is probable also most of the earliest, are now buried under a mass of drifted sand ; and among these it is not unlikely that dates might be found of very considerable antiquity.

From the wreck of materials, also, which encumber the city, some valuable inscriptions might possibly be obtained, but the labour of clearing the ground to search for them would perhaps be too great to be undertaken with propriety, on the mere chance of such discoveries.

Of the tombs at Teuchira into which we were able to penetrate, (we mean such as are not buried in sand,) there are none, that we could find, of any particular interest. They appear to have been at all times very rude, compared with those of Egypt and Gyrene, and the inscriptions upon them are in many instances very rudely cut.

Most of them have only one chamber, three sides of which are sometimes occupied by places cut into the wall for the reception of bodies.

Some have only two, and others again only one of these places, in which case (we mean the latter) it is usually found opposite to the door. In several of the tombs there are no places discernible for bodies, and rudely-cut columbaria are all that can be perceived in them ; in others again we find both, but seldom placed in the same position with regard to each other.

W e may infer from these circumstances, that some of the bodies were burnt, the ashes only being deposited in the tomb, and that others were buried entire after being, most probably, embalmed :