416 THE ARCH OF DEMETRIUS. 



whilst a long string of donkeys descended, coming 

 from the storehouses above, where they had been 

 delivering grain and berberah for the use of 

 the palace. A long irregular series of wooden 

 steps in a winding curve along the side of the 

 hill, brought us to the last enclosure upon 

 the summit. Here a little wicket leads to a high 

 terrace-walk, having on one side a long row of 

 pallisades, and on the other, a clear and open view 

 of the broad and deep valley of the Airahra, whilst 

 before the visitor, stands a rude stone arch, but of 

 what character, its architect, Demetrius, would be 

 at a loss to say ; this occupies the whole width of 

 the terrace-walk, or about eighteen feet wide, and is 

 from twelve to fifteen feet high. The gateway is 

 about six feet wide and about nine feet high, and 

 is closed by one large door, in which a lesser one 

 for ordinary purposes is cut. After staying a short 

 time in a little shed near the first wicket, and 

 in which the porter is sheltered from the weather, 

 Tinta appeared at the gate of Demetrius, and 

 called me to come immediately, and in a very 

 few moments I was introduced into a small room, 

 where, upon a raised iron hearth, a good fire was 

 burning. Here, on his usual throne, a white cloth 

 covered alga, the Negoos was reclining, and in 

 close conversation with the monk Bethlehem, who, 

 sitting cross-legged on an ox-skin below, seemed to 

 have been giving his opinion upon four or five 

 rifles that lay before him upon the floor. 



