nd two
beautiful small silver vases of most exquisite workmanship. The larger
one, which has two rings on either side for hanging up by strings, is
nearly eight inches high with its hat-shaped lid, and three and
one-half inches in diameter across the bulge. The smaller silver vase,
with a ring on either side for suspension by a string, is about six
and three-fourths inches high, with its lid, and above three inches
broad.

"I now perceive that the cutting which I made in April was exactly at
the proper point, and that if I had only continued it I should in a
few weeks have uncovered the most remarkable buildings in Troy,
namely, the Palace of King Priam, the Scaean Gate, the Great
Surrounding Wall, and the Great Tower of Ilium; whereas, in
consequence of abandoning this cutting, I had to make colossal
excavations from east to west and from north to south through the
entire hill in order to find those most interesting buildings.

"In the upper strata of the north western and western excavations we
came upon another great quantity of heads of beautiful terra-cotta
figures of the best Hellenic period, and at a depth of twenty-three
feet upon some idols, as well as the upper portion of a vase with the
owl's face and a lid in the form of a helmet. Lids of this kind, upon
the edge of which female hair is indicated by incisions, are
frequently found in all the strata between thirteen and thirty-three
feet deep, and as they belong to vases with owls' faces, the number of
lids gives us an idea of the number of the vases with the figure of
the owl-headed Athene, which existed here in Troy.

"Homer rarely mentions temples, and, although he speaks of the Temple
of Athene, yet, considering the smallness of the city, it is very
doubtful whether it actually existed. It is probable that the tutelar
goddess at that time possessed only the sacrificial altar which I
discovered, and the crescent form of which greatly resembles the upper
portion of the ivory idol found in the lowest strata as well as the
one end of the six talents contained among the Treasure.

"Valuable stones, such as those large flags which cover the road
leading from the Scaean Gate to the Plain, as well as the stones of the
enclosing wall and of the Great Tower, have been left untouched, and
not a single stone of the Scaean Gate is wanting. Nay, with the
exception of the houses which I myself destroyed, it would be quite
possible to uncover the 'carcasses' of all