MISMIYEII. 57 



statues. The most striking feature of tlie interior was, 

 however, a beautiful fansheli apse, in very good preserva- 

 tion. Prom the roof there is a wonderful panorama, more 

 extensive, but resembling the view already described : on 

 one side the green plain and hills, backed by snowy 

 Hermon ; on the other, the black Lejah, the most deso- 

 late portion of which is here visible, with the summits of 

 Jebel Hauran rising in the distance behind Tell-Ahmar, 

 which was easily distinguished by its white ' wely.' 



A further ramble was rewarded by several discoveries, the 

 most important being a large house in the Bashan style of 

 architecture, but evidently of Roman date. An arched 

 gateway led into a courtyard, from which staircases gave 

 access to the first-floor, which contained one noble room — 

 the ceiling decorated with a fine cornice, and supported 

 by an arch eighteen feet in height, from the fioor to the 

 keystone. The fact of all the roofs being constructed of 

 stone renders some such support necessary in every room 

 of too large size, to admit of the heavy blocks stretching 

 from wall to wall. We noticed curious recesses in the 

 walls, which may perhaps have been intended for the Pe- 

 nates. This fine building may have been the residence of 

 the Roman governors of Trachonitis, as Mismiyeh was, we 

 know, the capital town of that province. We saw some 

 well-executed stone-carving, such as twisted snakes, and 

 a double Greek pattern, and encountered numerous stone 

 doors. We found one pair eight feet high, and saw six m 

 situ in one courtyard. All that we observed confirmed our 

 opinion that the stone houses — which, from their peculiar 

 construction, and especially from the rude massiveness of 

 their stone doors, window- shutters, and rafters, have been 

 represented as of extreme antiquity — are of comparatively 

 modern date. Surely no one without a preconceived 

 theory to support, will maintain that where every jjublio 



