a place of deposit and safekeeping for bullion and other valuables in
the care of the state treasurer.

[Illustration: BAS RELIEF OF THE GODS (FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON).]

Having examined the great temple, and tested the curvature of
its seemingly horizontal lines by sighting along the unencumbered
platform, and having stopped at several points of the grand portico
to admire the fine views of the city and surrounding country, the
traveler picks his way northward, across a thick layer of fragments
of columns, statues and blocks of marble, toward the low-placed,
irregular but elegant Erechtheum, the temple of the most ancient
worship and statue of the patron-goddess of the city. This building
sits close by the northern as the Parthenon does by the southern wall
of the enclosure. It has suffered equally with the other from the
ravages of time, and its ruins, though less grand, are more beautiful.
Most of the graceful Ionic columns are still standing, but large
portions of the roof and entablature have fallen. Fragments of
decorated cornice strew the ground, some of them of considerable
length, and afford a near view of that delicate ornamentation and
exquisite finish so rare outside the limits of Greece. The elevated
porch of the Caryatides, lately restored by the substitution of a
new figure in place of the missing statue now in the British Museum,
attracts attention as a unique specimen of Greek art, and also as
showing how far a skillful treatment will overcome the inherent
difficulties of a subject. The row of fair maidens looking out toward
the Parthenon do not seem much oppressed by the burden which rests
upon them, while their graceful forms lend a pleasing variety to the
scene. Passing out by the northern wing of the Propylaea, a survey is
had of the numerous fragments of sculpture discovered among the ruins