Here, in ancient times, was the site of a burial-place, but for what people, or at what age, is now unknown; and here it is that archæologists should commence their labours, that in the result they may not be disappointed. In some of the tombs which have been recently entered in this vicinity, fragments of linen cloth have been seen, in which bodies were enveloped at the time of their burial; in others glass, and earthen candlesticks, and jars, hollow throughout and of a curious shape; while in a few were earrings and finger-rings made of the purest gold, but they are rarely found. {82} There cannot be a doubt that many valuable antiquities will yet be discovered, and in support of this presumption I would only refer to those now known to exist; the Giant's Tower at Gozo, the huge tombs in the Bengemma Hills, and those extensive and remarkable ruins at Krendi, which were excavated by order of the late Sir Henry Bouverie, and remain as a lasting and honourable memento of his rule, being among the number. An antiquary, being at Malta, cannot pass a portion of an idle day more agreeably than in visiting some singular sepulchral chambers not far from Notabile, which are built in a rocky eminence, and with entrances several feet from the ground. These are very possibly the tombs of the earliest Christians, who tried in their erection "to imitate that of our Saviour, by building them in the form of caves, and closing their portals with marble or stone." When looking at these tombs from a terrace near the Cathedral, we were strongly reminded of those which were seen by our lately deceased friend Mr. John L. Stephens, and so well described by him in his _Incidents of Travel_ in eastern lands. Had we time or space, we should more particularly refer to several other interesting remains now scattered over the island, and, among them, to that curious sepulchre not a long time ago discovered in a garden at Rabato. We might write of the inscription on its walls, "In pace posita sunt," and of the figures of a dove and hare which were near it, to show that the ashes of those whom they buried there were left in peace. We might also make mention, more at length, of a tomb which was found at the point Beni Isa in 1761, having on its face a Phoenician inscription, which Sir William Drummond thus translates: "The interior room of the tomb of Ænnibal, illustrious in the consummation of calamity. He was beloved. The people, when they are drawn up in order of battle, weep for Ænnibal the son of Bar Malek." Sir Grenville Temple remarks, that the great Carthaginian general is supposed, by the Maltese, to have been a native of their island, and one of the Barchina family, once known to have been established in Malta; while some writers have stated that his remains were brought from Bithynia to this island, to be placed in the tomb of his ancestors; and this supposition, from what we have read, may be easily credited.