MERGE TO GYRENE. 553 which we should scarcely have thought it worth while to examine, had we not been a little curious to know w'hat Europeans had visited the place before us ; we knew of none besides Signor Della Celia, who does not appear from his own account to have penetrated more than a few steps beyond the entrance * — probably to the first turning, as far as which the light from without would guide him. Our first conclusion was, that some of our own party had taken this method of writing their names on the wall, — a practice which John Bull seldom neglects in any part of the world which he visits ; or that some intrepid Arab had allowed his curiosity to prevail over his fear of evil spirits, and penetrated thus far into the subterranean channel f : it never, in effect, for a moment occurred to us, that the characters (whatever they were,), which might be traced on so perishable a surface, were of more than very recent formation.

Our surprise may in consequence be readily imagined when we found, on a closer examination, that the walls of the place were covered with Greek inscriptions; some of which, from their dates, must have remained on the wet clay for more than fifteen hundred years, whatever might have been the periods at which others had been written : the preservation of these may certainly be accounted for, by * Scavato ad arte e lo sbocco di questa fonte, e questo incavo ben oltre si prolunga attraverso la montagna, ove io per qualche tratto volli penetrare, a malgrado le minaccie delle roie guide, che credono quella cavita oi'dinaria stanza di spiriti nialevoli.

t The Arabs of the present day whom we met with at Gyrene, would on no account be persuaded to enter the passage in question, which they believe (as Dr. Della Gella truly observes) to be the abode of evil spirits.

4 r.