BOZRAH. S5 



admission, and a practicable passage having been found 

 for tbe mules, we pitched our tents on a level plot in the 

 interior of the Roman theatre. The ruins at Bozrah having 

 been lately and well described, I shall make but a short 

 reference to our rambles through the deserted city. 



Having first visited a graceful group of columns, we 

 followed one of the principal streets, which was easily 

 traced by a colonnade of Roman date, filled in with the 

 remains of later buildings, to the Great Mosque. This 

 must have been a noble structure, though, like so many 

 other of the Saracenic masterpieces, it is built mainly 

 with the materials of older edifices. The marble monolithic 

 columns, some of which have Roman inscriptions on 

 them, are superb. There is a good general view from the 

 top of the tower attached to the mosque ; I nearly got 

 shut up there, owing to the swinging-to of a stone door, 

 which it required all our united strength to reopen. On the 

 opposite side of the street was a bath, the walls of which are 

 decorated tastefully with inlaid squares of Grreek pattern. 

 In this quarter are the principal Christian churches. 

 The cathedral must have been a fine building, and is ex- 

 ceedingly interesting, as a specimen of the way in which 

 classical architecture adapted itself to the new religion. 

 The external wall is square, the corners being occupied 

 by four chapels ; internally the building is circular, with a 

 lofty dome. Frescoes are still traceable in the aisle. 

 The other two churches are of smaller dimensions, and of 

 that unlovely style of architecture which has been rendered 

 familiar by the London churches of sixty years ago, of 

 which they at once reminded us. In one of these build- 

 ings, however, the roof was supported by a pair of noble 

 arches. Passing through the part of the town where 

 the modern population burrows miserably among the 

 ruins of ancient splendour, we came upon a second fine 



