Lincoln County advocate. (Canton, Dakota Territory, [S.D.]) 1876-1877, 1877-01-10
THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON.


-. censc, A
We extract the following from the
New York Herald's account OF "
schliemann's discoveries at Mycena:
I then turned to the treasury OF aga.
memnon, commonly called "fomo OF
Apamemnon," which lies about three
charters of mile from the citadel
Il is dug in the side Of little bill
facing deem ravine. "A passage ~
faot long and about 80 wide, formed o.
two parallel walls, each 81 feet mgr
and built Of hewn stones OF about
| feet by 2, leads TO the grand entrance
which il 13 feet high, and at the top, {
wide but its width gradually increases
and it is 8 feet at the base. This gat.e
il covered with one block of beautlful
" hewn stone, q feet long and 4 high
above which there is triangular open
ing of 70 teet high and the same WIDTH
at the base. Curiosity having, made
me climb this gate I found in the trl
angular opening some traces which
,1vinced me that statues or little col
CO. were placed there. There wal
urtit,s m each side of the great gait
formerly Vi base and capital, an'
a column H,.s 'egant sculptured or
encircled with, .. riding to Speake
naments, which, asee. ny other sculp
had no reseMblaice 70 \. It which ap
lures of ancient ,arescg, b., at Per
preached The style Of catving. ark
sepolis. In the great entry .shs +, g
on the bolts and hinges Of the dee.s
are visible, and on the same line WITH
these marks a series Of little round
holes of about an inch aid half in
diameter and half an inch deep, apd
at the bottoms of these two little holes
which evidently held nails of bronze.
The treasury contains two chambers,
the first of which is shaped like cone,
of 81 feet diameter and about the same
height. 1t communicates by door
with an interior chamber of quadran-
guiar shape, which is only 81 feet in
length and width, and is roughly dug
into the rock.
This last was entirely dark, and, I'm.
fortunately, l had brought no matches
with me. 1 told the b y who had come
with me from Charvati to go and get
some, but he assured me there was
not such thing in the village. Being
convinced that, even in the house Of
the Peloponnesus, there must be some
matches, l told him I would give him q
half drachma (eigLt cents) for three
matches. The boy stood stupefied and
aghast at such liberality, but could not
bring himself to believe it at first
Three times over he asked me if l
would truly give him " fifty lefta" if he
would seek some matches; twice Igave
him simple affirmative answer, but
the third time swore on the ashes Of
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Scarce
had I calculated this oath than the
youngest made off at full speed toward
Charvati, though more than a mile
distant from the treasury of Agamem.
non, and came back in hot haste with q
bundle of brambles in one hand and
ten matches in the other. I asked him
why he had brought three times the
number of matches l had told him to.
First he gave me evasive answers, but,
being pressed on the point, at last adj
mitted that he was afraid that some of
the matches would be bad. and that he
had brought ten instead of three in Or
der to guarantee himself against all
chances and to carry off the promised
recompense when he arrived. He soon
kindled o fine fire in the chamber,
making light enough to scare the
thousands of bats which had establish
ed their dwellings there, and which
made loud noise in their endeavors
to escape. But, blinded by the bright.
ness of the blze, they failed to
find the door, and flew rest.
lessly from side to side of the room,
annoying US much, flying in our faces
and hanging to our clothes. The great
hall or dome is built of hewn stones Of
from thirteen to thirty inches long, and
eleven to,twenty-6ve thick, laid on each
other without cement. In each of
these stones there are two little holes
containing the remains Of bronze nails,
which have been set in there, and, even
yet, some entire nails may be seen in
the upper stones of this dome. These
nails can only have served to support q
lining which extended over the whole
interior of the edifce, for, while we
might admit that those below, say to q
height of twelve feet, served to suspend
arms and other objects, it is utterly out
OF the question that those which we
see in the stones at the top of the dome
could have been employed for the
same purpose. Besides the construc-
ton of this edifce shows, even in the
smallest details, wonderful care and
art. After having defed the ravages
OF time for thirty-one centuries, it is
still IN state of preservation as perfect
as though it were just built. There is,
therefore, but little reason to doubt
that it was adorned il a most splendid
manner. So, l am perfectly sure that
the whole interior Of the great hall was
lined with polished plates of bronze or
brass. l believe this the more, as we
see In several ancient authors, that the
Greeks had, at d very early period,
adorned their houses in this manner:
tor we can in no other way explain the
brazen houses and chambers of which
the ancient poets and historians speak.
Her Long. Lost Uncle. .,
From the Detroit Free Press.
Z vas nan ,sii. with bbzesz ze. features ssssttares
stoop shoulders, and long hair, and, as
be walked up Fifth street, any one
could have told that he had made A
pile OF money in some faroff country.
and had come home to live with some
Of his almost forgotten relatives. He
finally found the house he was looking
for, knocked at the door, and that was
the last the boys saw of him. The rest
OF the story was yesterday told to a 20
liceman by Mrs. Mccarthy. Said she.
Il was Washing me dishes when I
heard knock at the door, and ran
and opened it. 1t was stranger on
the step, and he smiled like a duck and