n the wall before being colored they were easily
defined, and were similar to those we had found in the mausoleum two
days before. This room was so filled with rubbish, among which were the
dried bones and decayed carcasses of animals, that we were on the point
of quitting the disagreeable vicinity, when Campbell called our
attention to a stairway that descended to some place below. Descending
the steps with care--for the slabs of granite which composed them were
loosened and seemed ready to tumble down--we found ourselves in a room
entirely empty about eighteen feet square, the walls of which were
covered with figures in bas-relief and colored elaborately, the tints
being still vivid and quite fresh.

"We discovered on examination that we were on a level with the street,
and that time had accumulated a soil to the depth of many feet, hiding
the exterior of what had been, originally, the first floor, from view.
This room was also strewn with rubbish, but we saw enough of it to
suppose that the structure had been an imposing one when in the
possession of its builders. Leaving this structure, we followed some
fallen and shapeless masses of ruins until we came to a range of hills,
where we found a curious opening in them, which we soon ascertained to
be artificial, with the rock hewn away so as to give free egress from
within. Providing ourselves with torches, we penetrated this cavern,
and discovered it to be an ancient mine, with the implements of the
miners scattered around, as if the artisans had been suddenly
interrupted in their labors. There were crowbars quite like our own,
though not of iron, chisels, hammers, and a kind of axe more wieldy
than ours, but not unlike it. These implements of mining were black,
and all of the same kind of metal, but what metal it was, we could not
determine. We found also here vessels of pottery, beautiful in shape
and highly colored.[16]

[16] Since the above was written, a gentleman who became
acquainted with the above facts from the Curate, visited the spot
and made other discoveries of importance, which he communicated
to the Maryland Historical Society in an important document, to
which the reader is referred.

"Returning from the hills, we came to a large building, which must have
been five or six stories high, of which half of the walls were thrown
down. On clambering over the blocks of granite, we found, by what
remained that it had been a guar