216 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
We took an Arab boy of the village with us as a guide, and 
made a thorough exploration of the ruins. I have an imper¬ 
fect recollection of long subterranean passages, arched over 
with tremendous stones, very dark, and full of niches and 
queer places at the sides, with broken busts of old kings, and 
ruined ornaments, and dim flashes of light through the open¬ 
ings, and a very strong smell of goats; and this is all that I 
can tell you of the palace. It was, no doubt, a wonderful 
place once, and is yet; but it is hard to get all the bearings 
of it in a day or two. There are hundreds of intricate pas¬ 
sages to explore above and below, grand old chambers to see, 
stairs of solid marble, inscriptions in Homan, marble tombs of 
old kings or emperors, grand old columns, cornices, and friezes; 
and I don’t know how many other things, to crowd the brain 
with and confuse the memory. 
The broken columns on the outside are scattered about in 
melancholy profusion. Some of the best have been taken 
away to ornament the mosque of Sultan Soliman in Constanti¬ 
nople ; but there is still enough to astonish the beholder. 
The Doric and the Corinthian orders of architecture are ap¬ 
parent throughout the ruins ; the pure and elegant taste of 
the Greeks prevailing in some parts, and the profuse magnifi¬ 
cence of the Homans in others; but always with such an 
admirable disposition of the parts as to preserve the tone of 
harmony, and still afford a pleasing variety. 
The entrance into the Temple of the Sun is one of the 
grandest things imaginable. It is almost incredible the 
amount of labor bestowed upon this single part; the curious 
carving, the basso-relievos, the intricacy and ingenuity of 
design, and the wonderful delicacy of finish. Over head is 
an immense block of stone displaced by some convulsion of 
nature, and it hangs by a few inches on each side, forming a 
remarkable feature in the ruin. The carving is minute and 
beautiful; the eagle and the Cupids are universally admired. 
Chief of all, however, is the frontispiece, consisting of an im¬ 
mense number of figures in basso-relievo, representing the mys¬ 
teries and sacrifices of Paganism. There is a mass of men 
and animals, in most Paganistic confusion, very well exe- 
