558 
RUINS OF A CITY, 
foot of a long line of mountains, where, at the base of one of them, 
rises an extensive elevation of rather an oval form; and on the 
summit of that minor hill the chief part of the city has formerly 
been erected. The remains of walls and towers still extend 
along its brow. They are built of hewn stone, and towards 
the south, and eastern faces of the rock, are yet very lofty. The 
towers are all solid , and stand at unusually short distances from 
each other. Four gates lead into the place; each formed by a 
small circular arch, flanked by massive turrets. No writing, nor 
remnant of a tablet is perceptible on any of them; a date, 
therefore, cannot be traced that way; but from the style of these 
gate-ways and their whole connecting line of defence, I should 
assign the character of this city’s military architecture to an age 
much anterior to many of the ruins within the walls. In the 
very centre of this embattled hill, lies a small oval lake of most 
singular appearance, and which the people declare to be un¬ 
fathomable in the middle. Its length is sixty yards, its breadth 
thirty. The water, from its great depth and clearness, presents 
a surface of the most beautiful emerald green. It is known to 
overflow, but no one near me could say whether that occurred 
periodically. A small channel opens from it to the eastward, along 
which it constantly issues, trickling over the hill-side down into 
the valley below. The water is very cold, strongly impregnated 
with mineral, yet pleasant to the taste, and not heavy. From 
certain petrified deposits, it seems to have flowed through many 
such little courses, till time, and its own self-consolidating pro¬ 
perties, have transformed these channels into long serpentine 
ridges, running not only down the hill, but to a considerable 
distance along the valley, and there standing nearly three feet 
high above the level of the ground. So petrescent is the quality 
