The news of a discovery of antiquities at Sidon published.
in the Times three months ago, proves, now that the details are known, in no way to have truly represented their beauty or interest. Four sepulchral chambers were found, each containing white marble tombs, some of which were covered with the richest sculpture. Around one of the chambers was an arcade "adorned with eighteen mourning figures in relief, dressed. in Greek costume, each in a different pose." The most fascinating part of the find, however, was a secret burial-chamber. All the other tombs had been previously violated by breaking a corner off the coffin-lid. The secret chamber had never been entered in all the long series of sieges, sack, and plunder which has fallen on Sidon. The floor of a burial-chamber discovered. in removing the sarcophagi was found to be formed of a bed of great stones laid with the utmost care. Deep below was a huge single stone, covering a deep chamber hewn in the rock, and within the chamber a black sarcophagus, with an inscription in Phoonician. Of all pleasures of the imaginative kind, none can be greater than that of such a discovery. It is a strange irony that it so often falls to perfectly uneducated workmen, who can feel little or no delight in their discovery.
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