Page:Troja by Heinrich Schliemann.djvu/294

therefore very well to the indications of Homer.^[1] "Then we the holy host of Argive warriors piled over them (thy bones) a great and goodly tomb on a jutting headland upon the wide Hellespont, that it might be visible far off from the sea, to men who now are, and to those that shall hereafter be born."

In the spring of 1879 the proprietors of these tumuli asked me £100 for permission to explore the tomb of Achilles, and as much for that of Patroclus, but now they had considerably modified their pretensions and asked only £20 for each, whilst I offered only £1. Happily the civil governor of the Dardanelles, Hamid Pasha, came out in April to see my works, and I profited by this opportunity to explain the matter to him, and to convince him that the demand of the proprietors was exorbitant and ridiculous. He thereupon decided that I should at once commence the exploration of the two tumuli, with or without the consent of the proprietors; and that, in case they were not satisfied with £2, or at the utmost £3, he would, after the exploration had been finished, send out an expert to get the damage estimated and ascertain the indemnity the two proprietors were entitled to. Being afraid to come off second best by waiting, the two men now eagerly accepted £3 in full settlement of their claim. But as by the Turkish law they were entitled to one-third of any treasure-trove that might be discovered, they watched the progress of the excavation most vigilantly, and never left it for a moment. But they were greatly disappointed, not I; for, having found no gold or silver in the six tumuli which I had explored before, I had not the slightest hope of discovering any now. All I expected to find was pottery,