I have visited all the chief points where the destructive genius of the Muscovite archaeologists has been exercised; but it would be impossible for me to describe the grief I felt at the sight of such horrible devastation. They have not contented themselves with destroying the form of the monuments; the inner chambers and the mortal remains within them have been no more respected than the earth and stones that had protected them for so many ages from all profanation. The bones have everywhere been taken out of the tombs, and exposed on the surface of the ground to the inclemency of the weather. M. Menestrier, of whom I have spoken above, and whose generous indignation has not spared the directors of these operations, had one day to bury with his own hands the still entire skeleton of a young woman. I have myself seen soldiers warming themselves at large fires which they fed with the precious fragments of wooden sarcophagi they had just discovered.
Among the various tumuli, that situated near the quarantine establishment north of the town, unquestionably deserved especial attention on the part of the local administration. Considering the gigantic dimensions of its central chamber and gallery, both having corbelled ceilings, it was a truly unique monument, which the government should have been solicitous to transmit unimpaired to future generations. The entrance gallery is 36.25 metres long, 2.80 wide, and 7.50 high. The five lower courses forming the basement are each 0.45 thick. Then come twelve other courses, only 0.40 high, and rising in corbels so as to form a series of regular projections on the interior of 0.12. The two upper courses, which have an interval of 0.25 between them, instead of being joined by keystones, are merely covered with large flags laid flat in mortar. The stability of such ceilings is evidently contrary to all the rules of art, and it is probable that in erecting them the builders must have used numerous wooden props and trusts, until the whole structure was consolidated by a sufficient load of earth. A rectangular opening at the end of the gallery three metres high and 2.35 wide, gives admission into the interior of the central chamber or cupola.
The base of the cupola consists of four courses, of 0.40 to 0.45 in thickness, forming a total height of 1.85. The ground plan of this part is an irregular square, the sides of which are 4.50, 4.40, 4.45 and 4.30. Above the fifth course the four angles are filled in by stones forming a circular projection of 0.30 in the line of the diagonal. The same thing is repeated in the succeeding courses. The curved portions thus gradually increase in extent, until at the ninth course they form together a complete circle, the diameter of which diminishes with each succeeding course, until at top there is only a circular opening of 0.70 diameter, which is closed in the same manner as the upper part of the entrance gallery. The total height of the cupola is 9.10. The material is tertiary shell limestone, large quarries of which exist in the neighbourhood. Of all the tombs recently explored by the Russians, that of the quarantine is the only one which had been previously opened. It was found completely empty. The first examination appears to have occurred at a very early date; perhaps at the time when the Genoese possessed the small fort of Cerco, at the foot of the mountain of Panticapea.
Of the tombs with semi-circular arches, that discovered in the summer of 1841 is among the most remarkable. It consists of two distinct chambers communicating with each other. In the centre of the inner one was found a wooden sarcophagus with a male skeleton having a crown of dead gold on the skull. It was from this sarcophagus that the wooden target was taken representing a fight between a stag and a griffin, which I have presented to the Cabinet of Antiquities of the Bibliotheque du Roi. Another coffin found in the centre of the outer chamber contained a female skeleton in a wonderful state of preservation. The smallest bones of the fingers and toes were perfect, and where the skull lay was seen a large quantity of light brown hair. The garments even retained their form and colour, but they fell to pieces at the least touch. In this chamber, to the right on entering, there was a small niche, in which had been deposited the body of a child, with a bronze lamp and two lacrymatories, one of them of glass, beside it. I have the last two in my possession.