PATARA. 31 



terranea with its ultramarine suckers. An upset 

 or two in consequence of our horses plunging 

 in the quicksands diversified the journey, and 

 a fierce but momentary storm varied the day. 

 At Patara we visited all the lions, which have 

 been admirably described, long ago, by Captain 

 Beaufort. Here are the triple arch, which form- 

 ed the gate of the city, the baths, and the 

 theatre. The latter is scooped out of the side 

 of a hill, and is remarkable for the completeness 

 of the proscenium and the steepness and narrow- 

 ness of its marble seats. Above it is the singular 

 pit, excavated on the summit of the same hill, 

 with its central square column, conjectured, with 

 probability, by Captain Beaufort to have been 

 the seat of the oracle of Apollo Patareus. The 

 stones of which the column is built are dis- 

 placed from each other in a singular manner, 

 as if by a revolving motion of an earthquake. 

 A fine group of palm-trees rises among the ruins, 

 and the aspect of the city when it was flourish- 

 ing must have been very beautiful. Now its 

 port is an inland marsh, generating poisonous 

 malaria, and the mariner sailing along the coast 

 would never guess that the sand-hills before him 

 blocked up the harbour into which St. Paul 



