NEW DISCOVERIES AT POMPEII.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1493, 26 February 1887, Page 3

NEW DISCOVERIES AT POMPEII.

The Naples correspondent of the London Daily Ncivs, writing on 25th November, says :— ln the year 1720 the digging of a well revealed the existence of the ancient oity of Hercnlaneum beneath the modern towns of Poeina and Portiol, The same operation on the part of the owner of a vineyard situated some distanoe to the east of the Amphitheatre of Pompeii led to the discovery, about six weeks ago, of a street of tombs running In a dlreot line from Pompeii to Nocera. Taking advantage of the visit 1 of an arclifologlcal friend of mine, who had just* returned from a scientific tour to Pergamon. I yesterday accompanied him and Professor Sagliano, director of the exoavatlons, to visit the newly discovered xulns.

The little space at present dug out has bronght to light, deep below the surface of the ground, a tolerably wide and well made ancient road, of a kind of macadam construction, slightly arched m the centre bo as to allow the rain water to run off, and with a low earthy bank on either side, on the top of which are the seven tombs recently excavated, four on one aide and three on the other. This road runs nearly due east m the direction from Pompeii to Nocera, the portion now excavated lying about 1000 feet from the Pompelan amphitheatre ; and it 's supposed that when it Is all exoavated baok to Poropell a city gate will b% found at its commencement It i* also not Improbable that near the oity it will be found to be paved with lava, like the celebrated street of tomba on the western side. Should the whole be found to be as closely lined with tombs as le the portion laid bare, it will ba one of the moit Important discoveries lately made In this part of the world. Unfortunately money Is wanted, and the excavation is going on bat slowly. The ancient level of the street here being low, the road is firat covered to the depth of 10 or 15 feet with pumice atones ejected from Vesuvius daring the great eruption nf 1872. Then comes a thin layer of aßheß ; then again a stratum of pumice about 10 Inches thick, another thin line of ashes, and over all earth several feet deep. Just below this upper earth were found several large statues, which had evidently surmoun ted the tombs beneath . On the road itself can be seen the alight depressions or tats caused by the wheels of passing Tehioles. The tombß are ereoted m a straight line on either side, and where one is set rather back it has a low stone balustrade, whioh keeps the line and ex tends beyond the tomb, probably enclosing a spacepurcbaaed for subsequent tombs, and then the next tomb is again built forward on the original line. Thua this little portion of excavated street has a neat and symmetrical appearance. The four beat preserved tombs lie on the north aide of the road, and are pretty much of the same general siz ), though each has a different atrangement of architecture They are separated from each other by about a foot and a half ; they are all built of alternate layers of brick and lime, and covered with stucco, while some of the pillars and pilasters are of tuff-stone, with Corinthian or lonic capitals, Some of the tombs have a vault beneath, and are provided with niohes for the reception of the cinerary urns. They very much remind one of the little chapels m a modern OathoHo cuneteiy, such as the Naples Camj)o Scudo. The first tomb excavated, being the one nearest to Pompeii on the north side of the road, Is covered with rode insorip tlons painted m red, and of whioh one is notable ; It is an advertisement apprising the prssers-by jthan a runaway horse has been found of such a sfza and oolor, and that the owner may have It by applying to a smith from Nocera, at the bridge over the Sarno towards the Stabio. In facb, unch inscriptions are found on all the tombs, which have evidently served as a- public newspaper on the thlokly frequented toad. There are beoides many graphlteß. One person has scratched his name, with the word "Remember" beneath. In one the letter V is very Interesting from the face that It is marked with a dot m the fork of the V, whioh is a reminiecene of the Oacan cbarfctor, oanaIng the V to be pronounced more like O. Nearly all the rudely traced Inscriptions (which of course bave nothing to do with the true Inscriptions on marble slabs that denote the name and qualities of the deceased) relate to Nocera, showing the Irjflaance of that neighboring town on Pompeii. One of the marble inscriptions gives 10 Nooera the surname of Gonstantia, m relation to its faithfulness — a surname, I believe) seen he? a m this connec bn for the first time. One of the tomba had been surmounted on Us four corners with ■tone pins apples, interesting as suggestive of this style of decoration aB noticed m the Immense single pine apple s*id to have orowned Hadrian's trmb iv Rome. It is curious that m the niches of one of the ttmbs stand two Bmall headstones, instead of urns.

The statueß, cinerary urns, loose marble tablets, skulls and boneß have been deposited m the room of a country cottage bard by, all except one statue, which lies prone on the ground near the excavation, and serveß by a string passed round its neok, to hold fast the end of a ragged canvas stretched on a small treo as a shelter from the sun - a menial office. to which, no doubt, the man who was of sufficient consideration to have a statue never dreamed that his effigy would be degraded. Tho full length statues •re all portraits, and evidently very good ones, for eaoh of the faces is highly characteristic. One elderly male figure has a fine head and the mouth of an orator; another is a handsome young man of Grecian type ; one is a dignified old woman, grave with years and honors, with deep lines at the corners of the very peculiar and firmly pressed lips, and a style of dressing the hair which reminds one of the states of Livia. Then there are, betides, a middle aged and a young woman of smoother countenances, Ihe latter with small, rather, pointed and pinched features. On tho hair of one of the male statues there are traces of color, and as the figures are sculptured rather roughly m stone, the style reBembHng that of Capau, it is possible that the whole figure was once covered with paint. I forgot to say that all the tombs are those of freedmen.

Ranged m the receßs of a wall of the room, or lying on the ground, were ■everel skulls, one of magnificent sisss and breadth. One had still a ooin covered with v.erdigrle, stuck between Its broken teeth ; while m another, from some cause or other, the whole jaw and lower part of the ekull weire destroyed, and the cavity filled with hardened ashes. In which, about where tho throat would have been, stuck a coin, A few [oinerary nrns and amphorae of terra cotta have been also found, one of the former double, with a lid furnish with % pipe, through which to ponr libations. The exact period of these tomb?, the details of the Inscriptions etc, have not yet been scientifically ascertained, but my friend told me that they are probably of the periods of Julius Cajjar and Tiberius It is very likely that when this street of tombs Is exoavated back to Pompeii, older and perhapti more sumptuous tombs will be found, it being generally, though not always the case, that the ereotlng of tombs Is began olose to the city and extended further into the oountry a? occasion requires; Only a few hundred thousand franca would be needed to prosecute speedily the laying free of thfa part of Pompeii, but it is difficult to obtain money for such a parpoae from the Government. The sums destined for the eioivatlon and preservation of Pompeii are almost all absorbed m the latter objeot, and the late cfyolerti years have sadly lessened* the revonue "'from foreign visitors, to the

buried city. It was interesting to hear what my friend said of Pergamon, which more than double the siza of Pompeii, hai a'l been laid clear within eight years thanks to the ruanificence and energy of the Prussian Government.