486 
RUINS AT MOURG-AUB. 
at the top, with different-sized pieces of the native rock, a dark 
lime-stone. The marble must have been brought from some con¬ 
siderable distance, there being none certainly in the neighbourhood; 
and the nearest I could hear of, is that of the mountains of Yezd. 
I remarked on every block a peculiar figure, probably to guide 
their situations on the spot of erection; a proof the stones were 
adapted for their places at the quarry. I have sketched one or 
two; and it is not unlikely that these characters were the 
numeral signs in use at the time this building was constructed; 
and not, as some suppose, mere arbitrary scratches, at the whim 
of the workmen. The added marks on the several stones, seem 
throughout to agree with their relative situations, and are com¬ 
monly placed near one of the corners. Great depredations have 
been made on this, as well as on all the other ancient buildings 
of the plain, by the rapacity of the natives of some former period, 
tearing away the masonry to obtain the iron by which it was 
bound. Wherever this has been effected, large holes are left; 
which the people of the present day attribute to the footsteps of 
the devils, who of old, they say, kept their court in its vicinity. 
The top of the platform is now strewed over with fragments of 
the hill, and very much sunk in the center. I examined it closely, 
in order to discover some trace of columns, but could find none; 
and not even the smallest bit of broken marble. However, that 
is no conclusive reason against the possibility of a superstructure 
having once existed there ; though of what kind,—palace, temple, 
or fortress,— it might be difficult to conjecture. From its position 
amongst the heights, and the ease with which it is ascendable on 
all sides, the idea of its ever having been a place of strength, 
could not be tenable. Besides, its general appearance is rather that 
of extending the horizontal surface of the rock above, than to 
