Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-01-10
TEE SETR OF OLD TROI..

1t is cheering in this age of critical skepti-
csm, when the cherished traditions of his
tory are one after another exploded, when
even William Tell is no longer allowed to
shoot the apple from his sons head, for the
reason Il at neither of them ever existed,
and when Shakespeare is shown to have
been several other persons-n such times,
we say, it is pleasant to find some ingenious
minds engaged, like "Old Mortality" in
retouching the faded legends of the past
and confirming the charms of ancient poe
try with the certainties of modern science
One of these men is DIR. Henry Schliemann
"a German, we presume, from his name,
as well as from his indefatigible persever-
ance. His studies had convinced him that
what the learned world in general had
fixed upon as the site of ancient Troy was
not such, but that the true place was to be
sought at an elevation about four miles dis
tant, and about hat that distance from the
Hellespont and also from the Egean Sea.
He wished to test the matter by excava-
tions, bat as the ground belonged to two
Turkish gentlemen who drove an exorbi-
tant bargain the Sublime Porte stepped in,
compelled the owners to sell to the Govern
ment, which kindly gave DIR. Schliemann
all the privileges he wished-a very CRATE
full turn to an arbitrary act.
Thus favored the explorer, with nearly a
hundred men, went to work, and il was
not long before his theoretical opinions
were most amply confirmed. He struck
upon immense quantities of rubbish, indi-
eating the ruins of an old city, and after
while he came upon massive wall, built
OF large stones joined with clay. Separate
from this was next found colossal struc-
ture of solid masonry II metres or 40 feet
in thickness, and of perpendicular height
of 6 metres GO feet, built on the primitive
rock. DIR. Schliemann thinks that this was
a tower in the wall, and it may have been
the great tower of Illum Uliad, vi :, 1867,
to which Andromache went up to scan the
plain in search of Hector. In the course of
these excavations innuunerable fragments
of pottery were found, differing in shape
and ornamentatiOn from those discovered
hitherto in any other place. Copper nails
were also found, and DIR. Schliemann says
there was no trace of metal weapons or i'm
plements, but the nails are a sufficient evil
dence that the people knew and worked
the metal copper, and of course weapons
existed. lie asserts that the objects found
attest the opulence, the fine taste and the
art of their possessors.
The Doctor also seems to have lighted
upon some of the contemporaries of the
ancient Trojans, for he says at the depth of
between forty and fifty feet he found a
small viper and several large toads. II
was impossible that the latter could have
burrowod down to that depth from the sur
face, and so the Doctor remarks: at is
with n strange sensation that one looks up
ON living creatures who were the contem-
pOraries of Hectorand Andromache, though
they be only tOads." Methuselah was but
an infant to these three thousand years old
creatures. II is also very singular that a
particular form of the cross was found
among the sculptures taken out of these ex-
pressed upon DR.. Schliemann were that,
after the Troy of lIomer's song was de-
stroyed, the site was occupied by at least
two successive peoples of different habits
and customs. He is still in the midst of
his explorations, though interrupted by
winter rains, and the whole civilized world
will he interested in their result. Boston
Journal