or four men were weeding
in the garden, and the owner came up and welcomed us. A fountain of
ice-cold water gushed into a stone trough at the door, making a tempting
spot for our breakfast, but we were bent on reaching the tombs. There were
convenient out-houses for fowls, sheep, and cattle. The herds were out,
grazing along the edges of the forest, and we heard the shrill, joyous
melodies of the flutes blown by the herd-boys.

We now reached a ridge, whence we looked down through the forest upon a
long valley, nearly half a mile wide, and bordered on the opposite side by
ranges of broken sandstone crags. This was the place we sought--the Valley
of the Phrygian Tombs. Already we could distinguish the hewn faces of the
rocks, and the dark apertures to the chambers within. The bottom of the
valley was a bed of glorious grass, blazoned with flowers, and redolent of
all vernal smells. Several peasants, finding it too hot to mow, had thrown
their scythes along the swarths, and were lying in the shade of an oak. We
rode over the new-cut hay, up the opposite side, and dismounted at the
face of the crags. As we approached them, the number of chambers hewn in
the rock, the doors and niches now open to the day, surmounted by
shattered spires and turrets, gave the whole mass the appearance of a
grand fortress in ruins. The crags, which are of a very soft, reddish-gray
sandstone, rise a hundred and fifty feet from their base, and their
summits are worn by the weather into the most remarkable forms.

The principal monument is a broad, projecting cliff, one side of which has
been cut so as to resemble the facade of a temple. The sculptured part is
about sixty feet high by sixty in breadth, and represents a solid wall
with two pilasters at the ends, upholding an architrave and pediment,
which is surmounted by two large volutes. The whole face of the wall is
covered with ornaments resembling panel-work, not in regular squares, but
a labyrinth of intricate designs. In the centre, at the bottom, is a
shallow square recess, surrounded by an elegant, though plain moulding,
but there is no appearance of an entrance to the sepulchral chamber, which
may be hidden in the heart of the rock. There is an inscription in Greek
running up one side, but it is of a later date than the work itself. On
one of the tombs there is an inscription: "To King Midas." These relics
are supposed to date from the period of the Gordian Dynasty, about seven
centuri