which reaches nearly to the top of the cliff. The
reader will appreciate the importance of the deposit from the fact
that the mine has been exploited ever since the time of Alexander VII.
(1655-1667); and in the spring of 1889, when the most recent
excavations were made, by the late empress Theresa of Brazil, the mass
of terra-cottas brought to the surface was such that work had to be
given up after a few days, because there was no more space in the
farmhouse for the storage of the booty. Pietro Sante Bartoli left an
account of the excavations made on the same spot by cardinal Chigi,
during the pontificate of Alexander VII. Modern topographers do not
seem to be aware of this fact; it is not mentioned by Dennis, or Gell,
or Nibby, although it is the only evidence left of the discovery of
the famous sanctuary. "Not far from the Isola Farnese a hill [the
Piazza d' Armi], rises from the valley of the Cremera, on the plateau
of which cardinal Chigi has discovered a beautiful temple with fluted
columns of the Ionic order. The frieze is carved with trophies and
panoplies of various kinds; the reliefs of the pediment represent the
emperor Antoninus[?] sacrificing a ram and a sow, and although the
panels lie scattered around the temple, and the figures are broken,
apparently no important piece is missing. There is also an altar four
feet high, with figures of Etruscan type, which was removed to the
Palazzo Chigi [now Odescalchi]. The columns and marbles of the temple
were bought by cardinal Falconieri to build and ornament a chapel in
the church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini.... Not far from the temple a
stratum of ex-votos has been found, so rich that the whole of Rome is
now overrun with terra-cottas. Every part of the human body is
represented,--heads, hands, feet, fingers, eyes, noses, mouths,
tongues, entrails, lungs, symbols of fecundity, whole figures of men
and women, horses, oxen, sheep, pigs,--in such quantities as to make
several hundred cartloads. There were also bronze statuettes, sacred
utensils, and mirror-cases, which were all stolen or destroyed. I have
known of one workman breaking marvellous objects (_cose insigni_) into
small fragments to melt them into handles for knives."

When the farms of Isola Farnese and Vaccareccia, in which the remains
of Veii and of its extensive cemeteries are situated, were sold, a few
years ago, by the empress of Brazil to the marchese Ferraioli, the
parties concerned agreed that