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were good and distinguished foreigners; and that he felt sure we would not deal hardly by the poor man. We answered that we had felt sure, from the first moment of gazing into the countenance of the youth, that he was a good man, but that his goodness had for once forsaken him; that as he was young there was time for him to make amends for his faults; that we should not press him hard; and that, if he would fulfil his contract on the next day, we would, if satisfied with him, give him a handsome present in addition to the pay we had agreed upon for the first journey. By this time the whole party were in good humor, the coachman himself humbly begged our pardon for his too emphatic insistence upon what he had erroneously conceived to

mails for Eretria had not been forwarded for more than a week, and so we insisted upon carrying the mails with us, among which we afterward found several letters written by us more than a week before, and which our friends were anxiously awaiting. The judge, joined by the chief officers of the city, came to our aid, and that evening insisted upon showing us great attention in the chief café.

The next morning our coachman arrived in good time and good spirits, and, having loaded the mails, our packages, instruments, and a large demijohn of good Chalcis wine upon our vehicle, we again drove through the fertile Lelanthian plain to the scene of the wrangle on the previous day. We walked to the bank

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WHITE LEKYTHOI, GREEK FUNERAL VASES, OF FIFTH CENTURY B. C., FOUND IN GREEK GRAVE AT ERETRIA.

be his rights, and they all wanted to take us to the nearest café and to stand us drinks. This we refused, and, having sent a telegram to the demarch of Eretria to meet us next noon by the river near Vasilico, we arranged to make an early start the next morning. At the post-office we ascertained that the

of the river (where the two large piers of a very fine bridge which had been waiting for two years for the iron girders that are to span the river, and to make the new road between Chalcis, Eretria, and Batheia practicable, were still gaping in imposing solidity, but affording no help to us), and shouted and

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shouted for half an hour for the man with horses or carts whom we expected to be there from Eretria, but with no success. Our coachman then hunted about for horses on the near bank, and assured us that he would procure them; but after wasting another half-hour he succeeded in finding only one little white horse that looked like an over-grown dog, and we were left with Hobson's choice. The sturdy lad who owned the horse said he could take us and our luggage over one by one on this poor beast. Each one of the party taking as much as he could carry, we packed the remainder of our baggage on the horse, and proceeded along the slippery and muddy fields to that part of the river-bank where there was a chance of fording. But even in this short distance we were not free from accident. Every member of the party slipped and fell with his load, and at last the poor little white horse rolled over on its side (fortunately not upon the demijohn), and stuck fast in the mud. Unloading what he had on him, the lad caught him by the tail, and two of us got him by the head, and we literally lifted the poor beast out of the mud. But it was out of the question that, with the rapid stream, we could trust either ourselves or our baggage to the precarious legs of the poor animal; and we at last had to accept the proposal of our sturdy guide that he should take each one of us in turn on his shoulders and carry us across the stream. And this he did successfully, bold Christopher that he was.

Proceeding up to the village, we there found, staying with the doctor, the coachman of the demarch of Eretria, who had insisted upon sending his own horse and coachman and a European-looking wagonette to meet us. We left our luggage to be brought by a cart, and as the day was drawing to an end, and was growing more and more chilly, we all huddled together in the wagonette and drove along the muddy road to Eretria, which we reached in two hours. Mr. Fossum and the anti-mayor had walked some way out of the town to meet us, and in the town itself the mayor and nearly all the inhabitants came to give us a hearty greeting. Immediately upon returning from my first visit to Eretria, I had sent to Mr. Fossum our trusty cook and master of all trades, Nikolaki, who had accompanied us on two of our previous campaigns. He was a carpenter by trade, but was, as most Greeks are, an excellent cook, and in every way a man of many resources. He had brought with him wood and tools, a store of provisions, camp-beds, and all the necessaries we could think of; had taken in hand one of the deserted houses; had cleaned it thoroughly, repairing the fireplace, so that wood could be burned therein, though it smoked vigorously; had constructed a long table and benches with the boards he had brought, and now stood grinning at the door of the hut, telling us he had prepared a vasilico geuma, a royal feast. We at once invited the mayor and his opponent, who stood scowling at each

other, and the Greek government inspector, who was there to watch our excavations in the interest of the Government; and, packed like herrings, we proceeded to a very jovial meal. It was the 22d of February, and we at once informed our guests that it was Washington's Birthday. We made a series of after dinner speeches, in which we enumerated the causes we had for being justly proud, ending by recalling the motto of our republic, which we had lived up to in being the only people who could ever boast of having united at their board those distinguished and noble gentlemen-the mayor and the anti-mayor. It looked as if fortune were really smiling upon us, for the rain and snow which for some days had prevented Mr. Fossum from continuing his work at the theater gave way to bright sunshine on the next morning, and we at once continued our work there with an increased staff of workmen.

On my previous visit I had decided upon beginning excavations on a site about half an hour's walk from the walls of Eretria toward Batheia, because of a fragment of beautifully worked marble molding which I had seen there, and of the traces of a marble wall immediately below the surface. It looked as if somebody else had made a tentative excavation on this spot some years before, as in the whole neighborhood, which is filled with ancient graves, the inhabitants for a long time past have been carrying on their secret digging, and value very highly the sites likely to contain ancient graves. I was informed by our friend the prospective mayor that this property belonged to his kinsman the late mayor, and another part to one of his brothers, who lived at Corfu. The part possessor had promised to communicate at once with his brother, and to obtain for me permission to dig on his ground. But I now found to my disappointment that the distant brother had not yet communicated his assent. While discussing the possibility of beginning excavations at this spot, I was informed that one half of the ground upon which I meant to excavate really belonged to one of the workmen engaged at our excavation at the theater, who willingly undertook to accompany us thither, and to

DRAWN BY W. TABER.

join the party of workmen to be employed there. I also persuaded the previous mayor to take the responsibility upon himself as regarded his brother, since he and his brother would be the gainers, inasmuch as by law the Government would have to compensate him to half the value of the objects which we found, and which would be housed in their museums. At the theater we had thirty-two men at work, with wheelbarrows, baskets, and two carts. Our friend the would-be mayor also urged me to begin work on some of his property, where he had every reason to believe there were a number of ancient graves. I readily came to a private agreement with him, and decided also to dig on this spot. It was here that we discovered, besides numerous objects of smaller interest and value, the beautiful gold ear-rings in the shape of doves, which are, to my knowledge, the finest specimens of ancient jewelry, and also beautiful specimens of the slender white vases, with graceful figures in outline and color, commonly known as Attic lekythoi.

On Tuesday, February 24, accompanied by Professor Richardson, I began excavating at the site with the marble molding. We followed up and laid bare a beautifully worked marble wall built of the best Greek masonry, with evenly worked blocks, each about a me

THE EXCAVATION OF A TOMB.

ter and a half long, and below the exquisitely worked molding two further layers of marble blocks, all of the same dimensions, resting upon two layers of well-worked calcareous stone called poros. The whole formed a foundation for a structure which is no longer extant, the foundation being two and a half meters high. But this wall continued for thir

DRAWN BY W. TABER.

ing. He then informed us that it did not belong to him, but to his wife, and that his wife had not given her consent. This information served to alter the tone of the dispute, and I attempted to turn the whole into a jest. But he only grew more obstinate. The comic element reached its height when, pick in hand, he sat down upon one of the blocks, which we then hoped might be the cover of a tomb, and said that it was his grave, and that nobody should open it. It was now time for us to show indignation; and I informed him that by taking part in the work there, and receiving our pay, he had given his consent beyond all doubt, and dig there we would; and I requested him to go back to the town and to bring his wife, saying that I would arrange the matter with her. Amid the jeers of the workmen he left in great wrath, and we at once proceeded with all haste to remove the block, to find-another one. And when the mutinous workman returned, looking rather sheepish, and saw that we had not come upon a grave, he was very anxious to continue his work; but he was dismissed, at least for that day. In the evening we had reached the fourth layer of these blocks, which appeared to be the last, and then our expert grave-digger drove his crowbar down into the earth, and, upon examining what adhered to the point, pronounced it virgin soil. And so we again decided to give it up. It now appears to me not impossible that the workmen were in sympathy with the owner of the land, if not conspiring with him, and I certainly believe that they would have continued the excavations after we had left, during the night.

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THE TOMB OF ARISTOTLE AT THE ANGLE, TOGETHER WITH THE
TOMB OF BIOTE, BOTH WITHIN THE FAMILY INCLOSURE.

teen meters only, and then returned at right an-
gles at each end, the sides being only a meter
and a half in length. On the inner side this
marble structure was backed by large blocks
of poros, and in the inner angles we came
upon, and had with much labor to break up
and remove, two layers of such blocks super-
imposed at right angles one upon the other.
We were much puzzled as to what this build-
ing could have been. Temple or house it cer-
tainly was not. It might have been a portico
facing the sacred road which ran along its front;
but this was unlikely. After two days' work
our skilled grave-digger assured us that it could
not be a grave, and, discouraged by evening,
and having many other sites that were wait-
ing our examination, we followed the advice
of the experts, and stopped work. But in
the night I was kept awake by the thought
of what this curious structure might have
been; and remembering the aphorisms al-
ready quoted, again set to work there the next
morning, digging in the interior and breaking
up the huge blocks of poros which impeded
our progress downward.

Here began a new difficulty. At one moment it did appear as if it was a grave, and then our workman who owned this half of the site refused to allow to dig any further. There was much wrangling and shout

Again I was kept awake puzzling over this curious structure, and by morning I had decided to lay bare and to see with my own eyes how the virgin soil within this wall looked, and to clear the place, if it took a fortnight of futile labor. On this Saturday the weather looked threatening. It was very cold and dark. The faithful and skilled Morakis, a hardy Spartan, now had charge of the workmen, and it was he who throughout sided with me in maintaining that it was a grave. I increased the staff, and we began to dig with energy at the southwest end of the inclosure. At three o'clock in the afternoon we came upon some blocks of poros which lay at a different angle to those which we had removed above them, and soon we saw clear before us a rectangular space formed of three huge blocks, the customary shape of one of those stone coffins which are let deep down into the ground. There were two huge blocks

seven feet long joined together at each end by smaller ones three feet long, and covered with two or three well-cut stones. It had now begun to snow, and the sky looked black. I shall never forget the moment when the men raised the huge covering slabs, and from the stone coffin there gleamed through the earth, which had fallen in, the shimmer of gold, while the tops of vases just peeped out at head and foot.

The excitement was intense. Morakis danced and shouted; and in less than an hour the mayor and the anti-mayor, and a large number of both parties, with coats and cloaks and umbrellas, came tramping out to where we were digging. They were very much in our way, and it was hard for us to move about. But great was the excitement when, carefully working on with knife and finger, one gold leaf after another was extracted, to about 150 in number, which filled a large square handkerchief-leaves of all shapes, and of pure solid gold. And when at last the signet-ring of the ancient noble Greek who was here interred, upon which was a rampant lion with a star above his head and at his feet a thunderbolt, was pulled out of the earth, where there were some bones of the fingers, there was a shout of wonder, and each wanted to see and handle what was at once put in security by the officer in charge. In spite of the snow and the cold wind, which grew thicker and intenser that night, we had a merry supper; for at the theater and the other graves it had also been a lucky day, with many interesting finds.

DRAWN BY W. H. DRAKE.

with moisture, seated on our camp-beds, capes and ulsters and shawls could not make us feel really warm. So we sat the entire Sunday, each endeavoring to deceive the others and himself into good spirits. But it continued to snow all day, and it snowed and rained all night. This was unheard of in Greece, and we felt confident that in the morning the southern sun would soon melt away the snow and allow us to begin work anew. It will easily be understood how eager we were to continue our work at the tombs; for it was now evident that the marble inclosure was one of the many family graves, and that there must be several other stone coffins within it; and being the finest structure of the kind within the whole neighborhood of Eretria, and within the experience of any of our grave-diggers, we felt convinced that it must be the grave of some distinguished family, which might tell us a story of surpassing interest.

But Monday morning it continued to snow, and by the afternoon there was a foot and a half of snow lying on the ground. By even

TWO STYLI, WITH PEN IN CENTER, FROM THE TOMB OF ARISTOTLE.

Though in the interior of Greece, in the mountains of Boeotia and Thessaly, there are severe winters and much snow, I have never on the sea-coast and at Athens seen snow lie for more than a few hours, and I therefore confidently hoped that by the next day, Sunday, the weather would improve. It was not only for the digging that we looked forward to such a change, but because of the extreme discomfort we endured in our houses. It was impossible to go out, as the roads were full of slush, with large pools and clinging mud, and we were huddled together, four in one small room and two in another (Mr. Pickard of Dartmouth College, and Mr. Gilbert of Brown University, both members of the School, had also joined our party, and were busily engaged in surveying the district). With a smoking fire which gave no warmth, with no glass in our windows to keep out the cold winds and the damp, with walls clammy

ing our impatience almost reached despair. But surely the next day would bring us sunshine, and we could at all events begin work in the afternoon. But the next morning again brought snow and rain. The rain, it is true, melted some of the snow, but the winds were cold, and there seemed no hope. My impatience gained the mastery over me. I called Professor Richardson, and begged him to tell the students that, as they were all full-grown men, it was for them to consider their health, for which I could take no responsibility; but that I could wait no longer, and was determined to dig with my own hands, and that whosoever would join of his own free will was welcome. Professor Richardson started at once to call the students, but at the door he turned back and, picking a line from Schiller's "Wallenstein" out of his wonderful memory, cried gaily:

Nacht muss es sein wenn Waldstein's Sterne

leuchten.

(Night must it be when Waldstein's stars are shining.)

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