which _F_ is entered was evidently intended to be closed with a slab of
stone from the inside of _F_, for it was rebated on that side, and there
are holes to be used in securing the slab. When the entrance was thus
blocked _F_ still communicated with _E_ by means of a small rectangular
window 16 inches by 12 in one of the adjacent slabs (visible in Pl.
III).

[Illustration: PLATE III TEMPLE OF MNAIDRA, MALTA. APSE OF CHIEF ROOM
To face p. 100]

Returning to the area _E_ we find in the south-west wall an elaborate
doorway (Pl. II, Fig. I, p. 82) leading to a rectangular room _H_. The
doorway consists of two tall pillars with a great lintel laid across the
top. The space between the pillars is closed by a fixed vertical slab in
which is a window-like aperture similar to that which gives access to
Room _F_. All the stones in this doorway are ornamented with pit-marks.
The rectangular room _H_ has niches in its walls to the north, south,
and west. Each niche is formed by a pair of uprights with a block laid
across the top. The west niche is occupied by a horizontal table or
slab (_e_) supported at its centre by a stone pillar 39 inches in
height, of circular section narrowing in the centre (visible through the
doorway in Pl. II, Fig. I). The southern niche contains an ordinary
trilithon table (_f_): the northern niche is damaged, but apparently
held a table like that of the western.

The area _I_ consists of only half an ellipse, the southern half being
replaced by the area _H_, which we have already described. It has a
rectangular niche to the west containing a fine trilithon with a
cover-slab nearly 10 feet long.