422 MERGE TO GYRENE.

tombs which are evei7 where scattered over its neighbourhood.

They are all of stone, either constructed on the surface, or excavated in the rocky soil of the district ; and as most of them have been defiiced, or laid in ruins, (for there is not one of them which has not been opened,) the wreck of material with which the soil is encumbered may be more easily imagined than described. The road, when we had descended into the plain of Cyrene, continued to wind through the tombs and sarcophagi, and along the edges of the (juarries in which the subterranean tombs have been excavated, for more than a mile and a half ; we observed that it was occasionally cut through the rocky soil, and that marks of chariot wheels were still very evident in many parts of its stony surface.

These approaches to the town, for there are several of them, as will be seen by the plan, have the appearance of ruined and deserted streets ; the tombs ranged on each side of them supilying the places of houses. The solemnity, we can scarcely say the gloom, of this effect is, however, enlivened by the variety of style which characterises the architecture, as well as by the difference in the plans and sizes of the tombs, and in the degrees of labour and finish bestowed upon them. The earlier tombs may be distinguished by their simplicity and good taste, the later by a more ornamented and a more vitiated style. A similar difference of style may be observed in the busts and statues, which are scattered about among the tombs ; some of which have the Greek and some the Roman cast of countenance and costume, portrayed in the several manners peculiar to each nation, according to the age of the performance.