as of greek invention. This now serves as the basin of a fountain,
called the Lover’s, it being a popular persuasion firmly credited,
that it’s water possesses the virtue of extinguishing love.
Neither must we omit to mention the stone coffins, in which
mummies have been enclosed; sometimes with a human figure
sculptured on the lid, inclining to one side, in the posture in which
a person usually sleeps.
The catacombs of Alexandria, of which we have given a representation,
are on the south of the old port, their present entrance
being a small irregular hole, a few paces from the edge of
a basin, that communicates with it. This hole is so narrow, that
you are obliged to creep in feet foremost. Having passed it, you
find yourself in a chamber of a moderate size, but so filled with
earth, that a man can barely stand upright in it. Three sides of
this chamber have each another cut out of it only eight feet square,
and in three of the sides of each of these are square recesses, the
fronts of which are ornamented with a kind of tuscan pilasters,
supporting a segment of an arch. From the first chamber you
pass into various others. One is a parallelogram, about fifteen
feet wide, the cieling of which is a very flat segment of an arch;
and at the farther end of it are two tuscan pilasters, supporting an
architrave, cornice, and pediment, forming a large door, on each
side of which is a small door ornamented in the same manner,
only without the pediment. These three doors lead into a circular
chamber of the same width, it’s roof a very flat dome resting
on an architrave; and from this chamber you enter three
smaller square chambers, with three recesses in each, exactly as
CHF 3BA&A3LTES. CAUL.EP T H E L O V E R S TFOOTTXAIN