where, in all probability, it was occasioned by violence ; 

 for if two or more letters were actually destroyed by 

 decomposition, we have reason to believe that the 

 whole inscription would have suffered alike : but it 

 appears that this is not the case ; on the contrary, they 

 are represented as having few or no marks of decom- 

 position. The columns and sculptured ornaments 

 which adorn their fronts, or sides, are described as 

 possessing a peculiar freshness. 



" In those that were almost plain," says l)r. Clarke, 

 " the hewn stone was as smooth, as if the artist had 

 been employed upon wood, or any other soft substance. 

 The exterior form of almost every one of them, cannot, 

 perhaps, be better described, than by comparing them 

 with a familiar article of household furniture, to which 

 they have a great resemblance ; namely, the book-cases 

 with glass doors, seen upon bureaus, surmounted by 

 ornamental rail-work over the front and sides."* 



Not only were the ornaments and inscriptions free 

 from marks of decomposition, but the grooves, which 

 were cut with the greatest precision in the stones for 

 the reception of the slabs, that constituted the doors, 

 and which closed the entrances into those sepulchres, 

 were almost as entire as when first executed. 



Leaving this, let us take a superficial view of the 

 ruins of some of the cities of Palestine ; such as Jeru- 

 salem, Galilee, and Napolose. 



Here again we find the ancient ruins of Jewish tem- 

 ples and other works, of granite and lime stone, exc- 



* Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. If, page 136. 



