374 BENGAZI.

easily be lost as well of the bodies themselves, as of the vases and urns which contained the ashes. There appears to have been no difference whatever in the mode of burial practised by the Greeks and Eomans of Teuchira, since many of the tombs, which are similar within, have on them the names of one and the other nation indiscriminately, and they are often seen mingled together on the same.

It is probable that the early tombs would be interesting, and that they would be found at the same time more perfect than the rest ; for the sand has accumulated about them in such heaps as to have blocked up all access to them for ages. Those most buried are the tombs which are nearest the town, and they are also, we should imagine, the oldest ; but we had no time to employ in excavating any of them, although we very much wished to do so.

There is one example of a painted tomb at Teuchira, in very bad taste, and this was the only one we could perceive that was so ; it is probable, however, that most of them have been originally painted, and that what we see at present are the mere skeletons of the originals*.

Of the buildings contained within the walls of the city, the most interesting of those whose plans were distinguishable, appeared to us to be the two Christian churches which will be found, with all the details we could procure of them, in the plate, page 367. In both *' Plans and sections of some of the tombs will be found in page 367, and we think the reader will not be able to trace so much resemblance between the style of Teuchira and that of Gyrene as Signor Della Celia has discovered, when he tells us that “ II fabricate di Tochira, dello stessissimo stile di quello di Cirene, la stessa copia, e struttura di tombi, conferma ciocche di questa citta lascid scritto Erodoto, che usava le stesse leggi de’ Cirenei, — (Page 199.)