The above sketch represents a chamber which was discovered in a barrow, situated near Paradis, in the parish of the Vale, in the island of Guernsey. On digging into the mound, a large flat stone was soon discovered; this formed the top, or cap-stone, of the tomb, and on removing it, the upper part of two human skulls were exposed to view. One was facing the north, the other the south, but both disposed in a line from east to west. The chamber was filled up with earth mixed with limpet-shells, and as it was gradually removed, while the examination was proceeding downwards into the interior, the bones of the extremities became exposed to view, and were seen to greater advantage. They were less decomposed than those of the upper part; and the teeth and jaws, which were well preserved, denoted that they were the skeletons of adults, and not of old men. The reason why the skeletons were found in this extraordinary position it is impossible to determine. Probably the persons who were thus interred were prisoners, slaves, or other subordinates, who were slain—perhaps buried alive—on occasion of the funeral of some great or renowned personage, who was placed in the larger chamber at the end of the passage; and this view of the case is considerably strengthened by the fact that the total absence of arms, weapons, or vases, in the smaller chamber, denotes that the quality of the persons within it was of less dignity or estimation.
WAR CHARIOT OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
This chariot, which is mentioned in various parts of Scripture, and more especially in the description of the pursuit of the Israelites by Pharaoh, and of his overthrow in the Red Sea, was a very light structure, consisting of a wooden framework strengthened and adorned with metal, and leather binding, answering to the descriptions which Homer has given of those engaged in the Trojan war.
The sides were partly, and the back wholly open; and it was so low that a man could easily step into it from behind; for there was no seat, the rider always standing in war or hunting, though when wearied he might occasionally sit on the sides, or squat, in eastern fashion, on his heels. The body of the car was not hung on the axle in equilibrio, but considerably forward, so that the weight was thrown more upon the horses. Its lightness, however, would prevent this from being very fatiguing to them, and this mode of placing it had the advantage of rendering the motion more easy to the driver. To contribute further to this end, the bottom or floor consisted of a network of interlaced thongs, the elasticity of which in some measure answered the purpose of modern springs.
The Egyptian chariots were invariably drawn by two horses abreast, which were richly caparisoned; it is, perhaps, to the extreme elegance and magnificence of their trappings, no less than to their own beauty, that allusion is made in the Song of Songs (1-9), where the royal bridegroom addresses his spouse thus: "I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots." The chariot of Egypt ordinarily carried two persons, one of whom acted as the warrior, the other as the charioteer. Occasionally we find three persons in a chariot, as when two princes of the blood, each bearing the royal sceptre, or flabellum, accompanying the king in a state procession, requiring a charioteer to manage the reins.
PEACOCKS.
India, says Mr. Pennant, gave us peacocks, and we are assured by Knox, in his "History of Ceylon," that they are still found in the wild state, in vast flocks, in that island and in Java. So beautiful a bird could not be permitted to be a stranger in the more distant parts; for so early as the days of Solomon (1 Kings, x. 22) we find among the articles imported in his Tarshish navies, apes and peacocks. A monarch so conversant in all branches of natural history, would certainly not neglect furnishing his officers with instructions for collecting every curiosity in the country to which they made voyages, which gave him a knowledge that distinguished him from all the princes of his time. Ælian relates that they were brought into Greece from some barbarous country, and that they were held in such high estimation that a male and female were valued at Athens at 1,000 drachmæ, or £32 5s. 10d. Their next step might be to Samos, where they were preserved about the temple of Juno, being the birds sacred to that goddess; and Gellius, in his "Noctes Atticæ" commends the excellency of the Samian peacocks. It is, therefore probable that they were brought there originally for the purposes of superstition, and afterwards cultivated for the uses of luxury. We are also told, when Alexander was in India, he found vast numbers of wild ones on the banks of the Hyarotis, and was so struck with their beauty as to appoint a severe punishment on any person that killed them.