ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



across the top. The west niche is occupied by a 

 horizontal table or slab (e) supported at its centre 

 by a stone pillar 39 inches in height, of circular 

 section narrowing in the centre (visible through 

 the doorway in PL II, Fig. 1). The southern 

 niche contains an ordinary trilithon table (/) : 

 the northern niche is damaged, but apparently 

 held a table like that of the western. 



The area / consists of only half an ellipse, the 

 southern half being replaced by the area H, which 

 we have already described. It has a rectangular 

 niche to the west containing a fine trilithon with 

 a cover-slab nearly 10 feet long. 



The whole of the southern half of the Mnaidra 

 temple is surrounded by a wall of huge rough 

 blocks of stone, presenting a great contrast to 

 the dressed slabs of which the inner walls are 

 formed. They are placed alternately with their 

 broad faces and their narrow edges outwards. 

 The roughness of this enclosure wall gives the 

 structure a remarkably wild and craggy appearance 

 from a distance. The northern half of Mnaidra 

 is clearly a later addition. 



There is no doubt as to the way in which the 

 areas were roofed. In the apse-like ends of the 

 elliptical rooms the horizontal courses are cor- 

 belled, i.e. each course projects slightly forward 

 over the last. Thus the space narrows as the 

 walls rise, until the aperture is small enough to 

 be roofed by great slabs laid across. The cor- 



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