Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/409

Rh passage to the fortress above, and through a covered way to the river. The upper area appears to have been lined on the eastern side with a double row of apartments surmounted by a strong parapet which extended round the entire fortress. Underneath these buildings are two tiers of galleries, the lower of which is cut out of the solid rock, and pierced with loop-holes for archery. There are several chambers on the southern side in a good state of preservation: one of these contains the tomb of a Mohammedan covered with parti-coloured rags,—the tokens of vows made by pious visitors to the sacred shrine. An old padded cap, the remains of a green turban, and a leathern sling three feet long, are placed at the head of the grave, and we also remarked numerous small stones stuck on the walls around, which on inquiry I learned to be another mode common among the Mussulmans of commemorating their religious visits to places reputed to be holy. But one of the most curious relics now extant is a bas-relief occupying the end of one of the arched apartments in the northern part of the castle. The accompanying sketch conveys a correct idea of the original, which has been considerably defaced by some bigoted Moslems. The centre piece, enclosed within a figure resembling a crescent, is what some persons have taken for a crusader's cross; but after carefully washing the sculpture I could not trace any such design. The style, moreover, and the costume are at variance with that notion, and remind one more of the later Persian engraving. The ground is painted with ochre, and the portraits of a dark dingy colour with occasional variegations in the dress. The original inscription has been erased, and an Arabic one substituted in its stead, which in its turn has been so destroyed as to be quite illegible.

Among the débris we saw the capital of a Corinthian column, and a few ancient friezes, the only remains now extant of Roman skill and sovereignty, if we except the subterranean galleries. These are covered with round arches, whereas all the upper buildings have the pointed Saracen arch. In the lower yard of the castle we found three other sculptures, cut in basaltic rock, of which the annexed are correct copies. Fig. 1, I was informed, was brought from Mumbej, the ancient Hierapolis, and Nos. 2 and 3, which are separate slabs, from some village north of