SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 397 



lower cornice are human heads, perhaps in allusion to the severed 

 head of the Baptist ; and there are here as fantastic figures as on the 

 inside, the whole presenting a strange assemblage of incongruous 

 ornaments in the most wretched taste. 



' The masonry appears in some parts to have been exceedingly 

 solid, in others only moderately good, and in some places weak and 

 paltry ; and at the west end, in a piece of building, apparently add- 

 ed since the original construction of the church itself, are seen sev- 

 eral blocks of sculptured stone, apparently taken from the ruins, 

 and worked into the present masonry there. 



' On the inside of this ruined edifice is a small mosque, erected 

 over the supposed dungeon in which St. John was executed ; and 

 an Arab family, who claim the guardianship of this sanctuary, have 

 pitched their dwelling on the south-west angle of the great church, 

 where it has the appearance of a pigeon-house. On learning that 

 I was a Moslem, we were all admitted into this mosque, which we 

 entered with becoming reverence. They have collected here the 

 white marble slabs, found amid the ruins of the church, to form a 

 pavement; and in one part we noticed three large pieces, with 

 sculptured circles and bands on them, which were set up in the 

 wall as tablets. 



' The mosque itself is a small oblong room, with steps ascending 

 to an oratory, and its only furniture is a few simple lamps and some 

 clean straw mats for prayer, the recess of the Caaba being in the 

 southern wall. From the mosque, we descended by a narrow 

 flight of steps to the subterranean chamber or dungeon of St. John, 

 which had all the appearance of having been an ancient sepulchre. 

 It was not more than ten feet square ; and had niches, as if for the 

 reception of corpses, in arched recesses on each side. There was 

 here, too, one of those remarkable stone doors, which seem to have 

 been exclusively appropriated to tombs, resembling exactly in form 

 and size those described in the Roman sepulchres at Oorn Kais. 

 The pannelling, the lower pivot, and the sill in the ledge for receiv- 

 ing the bolt, were all still perfect ; but the door was now unhung, 

 and lay on its side against the wall.' 



In the court at the west end of the church are ' two apertures 

 leading down to a large subterranean reservoir for water, well stuc- 

 coed on the inside, and during the rains often filled to the brim.' 



The modern Sebaste is governed by its own sheikh, who is him- 

 self a husbandman : the natives pronounce the name of the place 

 Subusta. 



The route taken by Dr. Richardson now passes over the moun- 

 tain to the east of Sebaste, and then descends to a ruined building 

 called by the natives Beit Emireen (the house of the two princes), 

 near a village of the same name, by a stream of water. ' Leaving 

 this valley,' he continues, * we crossed the mountain to the left, and 

 after travelling about an hour along a very rough and stony ravine, 

 we came to the village of Gibba, which is surrounded with olive and 

 pomegranate trees, the latter of which were in full blow, and occu- 

 35 



