41 8 DIARY OF A JOURNEY 



breaches quite through may be observed, from seven 

 to eight feet, all through of the same stone, with lit- 

 tle, if any, cement: the number and disposition of 

 the towers the same as in the other ; but in this, where 

 the towers rise above the wall, they are more orna- 

 mented ; two circles or bands of sculpture at equal 

 distances appear relieved from the body of each tower; 

 but as all the tops are broken off, I could not guess 

 how they had been closed. The sculpture on the in- 

 side of the great arch of entrance, and on many of 

 the fragments of prostrated pillars, appear like those of 

 Mr. Wood's plates of the ruins of Palmyra, Over the 

 entrance-arch on the inside, are some remains of an 

 inscription in Arabic ; but so defaced^ that our Shaikh^ 

 who reads and writes Arabic y could not make out one 

 word. All along the inside of this square, arches 

 formed of the finest brick are constructed; they project 

 from the wall about thirty feet, and are about twenty 

 feet high over the arches ; and close up to the w T all is a 

 platform of earth perfectly level, and now covered 

 with rich and verdant herbage. No vestige of builcU 

 ings appear in the hollow of this square, but many 

 fragments of pillars lie in ruins; some are of brick* 

 and so cemented, that it must be as difficult to se- 

 parate their parts as if they were solid blocks of stone. 

 There are no openings in the walls from which any 

 thing could have been discharged ; in the towers there 

 are openings, at regular distances, which seem to have 

 been designed to admit light only : not for any hos- 

 tile purpose. Equidistant from each of the squares 

 is a building of the same sort of stonc^ about fifteen 



feet 



