KASR, OR PALACE. 
357 
decyphering the original design of this mound ; as in search of 
them, the workmen pierce into it in every direction, hollowing 
out deep ravines and pits, and throwing up the rubbish in heaps 
on the surface. In some places they have bored into the solid 
mass, forming winding caverns and subterranean passages; 
which, from their being left without adequate support, fre¬ 
quently bury the workmen in the rubbish. In all these excava¬ 
tions, walls of burnt brick laid in lime-mortar of a very good 
quality, are seen ; and in addition to the substances generally 
strewed on the surfaces of these mounds, we here find fragments 
of alabaster vessels, fine earthen ware, marble, and great quan¬ 
tities of varnished tiles, the glazing and colouring of which are 
surprisingly fresh. In a hollow near the southern part, I found 
a sepulchral urn of earthen ware, which had been broken in 
digging, and near it some human bones which pulverised at the 
touch. To be more particular in my description of this mound, 
not more than two hundred yards from its present northern 
extremity is a ravine, hollowed out by those who dig for bricks, 
in length near 100 yards, and 30 feet wide, by 40 or 50 deep. 
On one side of it, a few yards of wall remain standing, the face 
of which is very clean and perfect; and it appears to have been 
the front of some building. Under the foundations at the 
southern end an opening is made, which discovers a subter¬ 
ranean passage, floored and walled with large bricks laid in 
bitumen, and covered over with pieces of sand-stone a yard 
thick, and several yards long; on which, the whole weight 
being so great, has given a considerable degree of obliquity to 
the side walls of the passage. It is half full of brackish water, 
(probably rain water, impregnated with nitre in filtering through 
the ruins, which are all very productive of it:) and the work- 
