Feet long,
and three feet broad; their depth is generally about five feet. In the
greater part of them there is on one side a curved recess, cut in the
rock, about four feet in length, and two feet in breadth. All these
coffins had originally stone lids of a single block of stone, exactly
covering the aperture of the coffin. Only a small proportion of these
now remain entire, but there are some quite uninjured. I saw only two or
three in which a sculptured frieze or cornice was carried along the
whole length of the cover; the generality have only a few ornaments on
the two ends; they are all of the annexed shape.
The apertures of the coffins are invariably even with the surface of the
ground, and the lids only are seen from without, as if lying upon the
surface.
[p.127]The sepulchral caves vary in their sizes and construction; the
entrance is generally through a low door, sometimes ornamented by short
pilasters, into a vaulted room cut in the rock, the size of which varies
from six to fifteen feet in length, and from four to ten feet in
breadth; the height of the vault is about six feet; but sometimes the
cave terminates in a flat roof.
