PARTY OF HORSEMEN.

47

made of baked clay, and appeared painted over: we had to delve with our hands for two feet deep, previous to extracting it. That there were several more I am convinced, as they are never found singly, but in long rows nearly touching each other, and fronting east and west. By this time the sun had gone down, and having to walk the same distance back to regain the bank of the river, we reluctantly left the spot.

Returning, I saw a great number of gazelles and several hares started from the brushwood. On reaching the river and looking towards the place we had recently quitted, I descried a party of horsemen crossing the plain, and felt extremely happy at having escaped their notice; otherwise we might have been

considerable annoyance by the

subjected to

meeting. * I

* "The manner in which the Arabs make war and pillage the caravans, is by keeping at the side of them, or following them in the rear, at a greater or smaller distance, according to their forces, which may be easily done in Arabia, on account of its being one great plain; and in the night they fall silently upon the camp, and carry off one part before the rest are under arms.' -Sir John Chardin.

should not omit to mention here, that the above noticed mounds are among the few for which the Arabs have no name; nor is any ridiculous tale attached to the spot.

NOVEMBER 2nd.----As the sun rose above the distant mountains, I pursued my route in a westerly direction along the right bank, with four of my escort armed with swords and matchlocks. Towards noon we arrived at a solitary insulated pile, to which my Arabs gave the appellation of Shejur: it was a heap of argillaceous earth extending one hundred yards north and south, its elevation varying from ten to fifteen feet; it was bounded on all sides by the same barren desert, without a tree or any sign of cultivation. The surface of this mound was strewed with tile, kiln-burnt brick, a few small stones, glass, and several blocks of grey marble, thickly coated on one side with bitumen, as hard as the stone to which it was attached, and requiring our united strength to break off the smallest portion, so tenaciously did it adhere to the marble. This heap ap

CURIOUS COLUMN.

49

peared to have lost all its perfect bricks, being particularly soft and unpleasant to walk over. After digging round its base for two hours, without perceiving any remains of building, we crossed over to the left bank, and proceeded on a bearing of west for five-and-twenty minutes, when we reached a column situated on a gentle declivity, constructed of the finest kiln-burnt material, fastened together horizontally and perpendicularly by thin layers of cement, joining the whole together with great delicacy. The hand of Time had corroded it to such a degree, that the periphery of its base, which is only sixteen feet, supports the upper portion, the circumference of which is sixty-two feet, and its height is twenty; its vertex was terribly shattered, and irregularly torn by the elements.

Hence extensive ridges of mounds, varying in height and extent, are seen branching in every direction. At a hundred yards to the right of the column, I dug into a heap of ruins, (evidently the largest on the plain,) and

E

discovered the remains of a wall, (the bricks of which measured a square of nine inches,) likewise steps and the subverted portion of another column, corresponding, in dimensions and the materials of its composition, with the standing one already mentioned. This pile

was extremely solid, and would have taken a considerable number of men to lay it open, by clearing away the accumulated earth and rubbish.

On a mound at some distance to the northeast, I observed the bases of walls that have been razed to the ground. The bricks of which they were composed must have been removed, or thrown down and buried beneath the shapeless and dilapidated ruin; for I could not discover any traces of them. The surface of all the hillocks was covered with broken bricks, varnished tile, pottery, shells, and vitrified stones and glass. I computed their circumference at eight miles, as I was two hours and a half walking round them.

Three hours after the sun went down, by

EARTHEN VASES.

51

the light of the lovely moon and starry sky, I was hurried from this interesting spot; my Arabs would remain no longer in the desert, wondering what there possibly could be in a heap of confused rubbish to engross so much of my time and attention.

Proceeding W. N.W. we almost immediately reached the river's bank, where some elevated hillocks attracted my curiosity, exhibiting fragments of brickwork and pottery. The river appears to have encroached; I met with several earthenware vases, * containing human