tant mountains of the south coast of Caria, raising their snowy peaks into the sky. Our guide in these mountain excursions is generally any peasant whom we meet by chance in the woods. The man now attending us has his gun, and seems to live by it, or rather it appears his only occupation; he professes to know every hole in the mountains, having long pursued his sportsman's life in the neighbourhood, and offers to accompany us as far as Macry; his pay is a present of about sixpence a day, and he eats with the men. I have observed a striking feature in the character of these men: on being hired, they always say, by way of showing their independence, “I have no mother; I can go anywhere with you; no one depends upon me." These anecdotes serve to mark the devotional respect to parents, which I noticed so often on my former visit. Our present guide, who wears sandals exactly like those seen in the antique figures, led us high into the crags which we had seen above us, where we found the greatest collected number of cave tombs. Here, between two ridges of rocks, was the commanding site of an ancient city. Many large squared stones lie in heaps down the slope facing the east, and the valley is guarded by walls of a very early date of Greek workmanship. Huge irregular masses of rock form the lower parts of these early Cyclopean fabrics, and are piled into the face of the protruding rocks below; while the upper part, of smaller unwrought stones, is packed in with still smaller. This mode of construction is doubtless of earlier date than the Pelasgic walls, so generally seen in the cities of this district. The crown of the high mountain peaks on the south had been also surrounded by walls of the same kind, and in some instances the gothic-formed sarcophagi were carved out of the protruding peaks of the rock; the heavy top alone added to form the sepulchre. In my former rambles in Asia Minor I observed that each district had a peculiarity in the architecture of its tombs, and that none was more distinctly marked than that of the ancient Lycia. The four kinds of tombs represented in the annexed Plate, I have found, are peculiar to Lycia, and may serve in part as tests of the extent of that country. I shall call these the Obelisk, the Gothic, and the Elizabethan forms; the first from its appearance, and the latter as strongly resembling the architectural styles so named. With these forms I have generally found the Lycian language connected, and two or more of them appear in every ancient city found in that district*. Applying this architectural test, I at once determined this to be a city within the confines of Lycia, and as such could be none else but the ancient Calynda, which, according to Herodotus†, was beyond the boundaries * The tombs selected for this plate are from Antiphellus, Tlos, and Xanthus. + Clio, 172. of Caria, the early inhabitants of which district are represented as pursuing and expelling the foreign gods from their country, and "stopping not until they came to the mountains of Calynda." This range must have been the one down whose beautiful valleys we had for some hours been travelling. Calynda, if this was the site of the city, was high up in the mountains, but not far from the sea, where it probably had its port, as we know that it supplied ships to the fleet of Xerxes. From the situation and remains of the city, I conclude that it cannot have been very large, but, from its remaining tombs, it may have existed for many generations, and probably at an early period. To feel surprised at the ordinary occurrences in nature may often bespeak my ignorance, but for the information of those who do not study natural history, I shall nevertheless mention as I proceed whatever may strike me as unusual or curious. Some weeks ago, at Naslee, I mentioned having seen a small green frog* sitting on a sunny bank of sand, and apparently deserting the water; I here saw another of the same kind, some feet above the ground, sitting against the stem of a dead shrub, as thick as my little finger. I called to my companions to come and see a frog in a tree, as a fish out of water. On being noticed, the little fellow, to our surprise, leaped upon a thinner and higher branch, and again upon the point of a twig not thicker than a crow-quill, and sat there swinging, with all his legs together, like the goats on the pointed rocks above us, or as the bears sit upon their pole at the Zoological Gardens in London. On inquiry I find that this description of frog always frequents the trees; it is seldom in the water, and enjoys basking in the hottest places. Some fine moths and butterflies are coming out, and I regret the impossibility of collecting insects on an equestrian tour in so rough a country; it affords *Rana arborea. |