Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/208

166 the ground slopes down to the S.E. into a hollow, which may have been a ravine.

Proceeding eastward from this point, I came to a series of terraces and ravines so intersected by the walls of fields and gardens that it is exceedingly difficult to discern the vestiges of the ancient city; still more so to indicate their position in such a manner as to enable subsequent travellers to find them. Everywhere I met with inscribed altars and bases of statues, and fragments of architecture, and especially in the courtyards of the ruined Turkish houses, which abound on the site. Many large tombs cut in the rock occur at intervals, and the beds to receive the foundations of temples were still to be traced in several places. It would be impossible to indicate with accompany the position of these remains unless a plan were made of the whole site on a large scale. In the absence of such a plan I noted down my observations as much as possible in connection with several roads by which the hill is traversed and which may be considered as fixed points. In exploring this ground, I was accompanied by Mr. Alfred Biliotti, the cancelliere of the Consulate, whose great local knowledge enabled me to see much which I should otherwise have missed. On crossing the Turkish cemetery about half-way between the Amboise gate and the bastion of St. George, we come to the commencement of a road which points to the N.W., leading to the summit of St. Stephen's hill. For some yards from its commencement the rock is hewn on each side, showing the Une of an ancient way.