304 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



on each side by a building with sculptured front, 

 and having three doorways, each leading to apart- 

 ments within. 



The height of this building to the upper cornice 

 is twenty-five feet. It has thirteen doorways, over 

 each of which rose a perpendicular wall ten feet 

 wide and seventeen feet high above the cornice, 

 making the whole height forty-two feet from the 

 ground. These lofty structures were no doubt 

 erected to give grandeur and effect to the building, 

 and at a distance they appear to be turrets, but only 

 four of them now remain. The whole great facade, 

 including the turrets, is crowded with complicated 

 and elaborate sculpture, among which are human 

 figures rudely executed : two are represented as 

 playing on musical instruments, one being not un- 

 like a small harp, and the other in the nature of a 

 guitar ; a third is in a sitting posture, with his 

 hands across his breast, and tied by cords, the ends 

 of which pass over his shoulders. Of the rest there 

 is nothing which stands out distinct and intelligible 

 like the serpent, and the whole, loaded as it is with 

 ornament, conveys the idea of vastness and magnifi- 

 cence rather than that of taste and refinement. 



This building has one curious feature. It is 

 erected over, and completely encloses, a smaller one 

 of older date. The doorways, walls, and wooden 

 lintels of the latter are all seen, and where the outer 

 building is fallen, the ornamented cornice of the 

 inner one is visible. 



