Nothing[26], however, which remains in the vicinity of Alexandria attests its greatness more satisfactorily than the catacombs on the coast, near the Necropolis. Their size, although remarkable, is not so striking as the elegant symmetry, and proportion of the architecture in the first chamber, which is of the best Greek style, and not to be equalled in any other part of Egypt.[27] They are at a short distance from the canal, and are galleries, penetrating a prodigious way under ground, or rather into the rock. They are supposed to have been at first the quarries, which furnished stones for the construction of the edifices of Alexandria; and, after having supplied the men of that country with the materials of their habitations, while they lived, are themselves become their last abode after death. Most of these subterraneous alleys are in a ruinous state. In the small number of those which it is possible to penetrate, are seen, on both sides, three rows of coffins, piled on each other. At the entrance of some of these galleries there are separate apartments, with their coffins; reserved, no doubt, for the sepulture of particular families, or of a peculiar order of citizens. These catacombs frequently serve as retreats for the jackals, which abound in this part of Egypt, prowling in numerous squadrons, and roaming around the habitations of man. These pernicious animals are not afraid of advancing close up to the walls of the city. Nay, more; they traverse its enclosure during the night; they frequently spring over it by the breaches made in the walls; they enter the city itself in quest of their prey, and fill it with howlings and cries. Dr. Clarke says, that nothing so marvellous ever fell within his observation[28]. Of the singular suburb styled the Necropolis or "city of the dead," nothing remains. But about sixty yards east of some excavations called the "Baths of Cleopatra," there is a little bay, about sixty yards deep, with an entrance so nearly blocked up by two rocks, that a boat only can obtain access[29]. At the bottom of this bay, in the steep slope of the shore, there is a small hole, through which it is difficult to pass: a passage of about thirty feet leads to the first hall, in which the visitor can stand upright; on the right and left are small square chambers, much filled up with sand, the ceiling and cornice supported by pilasters. The former is vaulted, and covered with a crystalized cement, on which are traced, in red, lines obviously forming geometrical configurations on the subject of astronomy. A sun is represented in the middle of the vault. The upright sides contain vaulted niches; the hall is about twenty yards square. From this a door, in the opposite side, leads to a larger hall, but the sand fills it up from the floor to the ceiling at the further end, so that its dimensions cannot be ascertained. Two small chambers, as before, are excavated on two sides of this also; in the right-hand one there is an opening in the