396 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



and Elisha, spoke their tremendous warnings in the ears of their 

 incorrigible rulers, and wrought their miracles in the sight of all 

 the people. 



* From this lofty eminence we descended to the south side of 

 the hill, where we saw the remains of a stately colonnade that 

 stretches along this beautiful exposure from east to west. Sixty 

 columns are still standing in one row. The shafts are plain, and 

 fragments of Ionic volutes, that lie scattered about, testify the 

 order to which they belonged. These are probably the relics of 

 some of the magnificent structures with which Herod the Great 

 adorned Samaria. None of the walls remain.' 



Mr. Buckingham mentions a current tradition, that the avenue 

 of columns formed a part of Herod's palace. According to his 

 account, there were eighty-three of these columns erect in 1816, 

 besides others prostrate; all without capitals. Josephus states, 

 that, about the middle of the city, Herod built 'a sacred place, of a 

 furlong and a half in circuit, and adorned it with all sorts of deco- 

 rations ; and therein erected a temple, illustrious for both its large- 

 ness and beauty.' It is probable that these columns belonged to it. 

 On the eastern side of the same summit are the remains, Mr. 

 Buckingham states, of another building, 'of which eight large and 

 eight small columns are still standing, with many others fallen 

 near them. These also are without capitals, and are of a smaller 

 size and of an inferior stone to the others.' 'In the walls of the 

 humble dwellings forming the modern village, portions of sculptur- 

 ed blocks of stone are perceived, and even fragments of granite 

 pillars have been worked into the masonry.' The Gothic convent 

 referred to by Dr. Richardson, is the ruined cathedral, attributed, 

 like every thing else of the kind in Palestine, to the Empress 

 Helena. It stands east and west, and is about 100 feet in length, 

 by 50 in breadth. ' On the south side are high, slender buttresses; 

 and on a piece of building without this, is a sloping pyramidal 

 mole, constructed of exceedingly large stones. The northern wall 

 is quite plain; the eastern front is semi-circular, with three open 

 and two closed windows each, contained in arches divided from 

 each other by three Corinthian columns. The interior of the east- 

 ern front has a pointed arch, and columns of no known order; 

 though the capitals approach nearer to the Corinthian than any 

 other. The eight small arches which go round the tops of the 

 windows within, are semicircular, and have each at their spring the 

 capital of a column, but no shalt attached to it ; the great arch of 

 the recess is pointed, and the moulding that passes round it is fan- 

 tastic in the extreme. Among other things seen there, are the 

 representations of scaly armor, an owl, an eagle, a human figure, 

 and an angel, all occupying separate compartments, and all distinct 

 from each other. 



' The exterior of the eastern front presents a still more singular 

 mixture of style, as the pointed and the round arch are both used 

 in the same range, and the ornaments of each are varied. In the 



