"Dear Columns, what do you here?
'Not knowing, can't say, Mynheer!'"

And this incongruous bit of Greece or Rome, in the Arabian wild,
kept its mystery to the last: the more we looked at it, the less
we could explain its presence. Not a line of inscription, not
even a mason's mark--all dark as the grave; deaf-dumb as "the
olden gods."

The site of the Gasr is in north lat. 25 55' 15";[EN#70] and the
centre of the Libn block bears from it 339 (mag.). It stands
upon the very edge of its Wady's left bank, a clifflet some
twenty-five feet high, sloping inland with the usual dark metal
disposed upon loose yellow sand. Thus it commands a glorious view
of the tree-grown valley, or rather valleys, beneath it; and of
the picturesque peaks of the Tihamat-Balawiyyah in the
background. The distance from the sea is now a little over three
miles--in ancient days it may have been much less.

The condition of the digging proves that the remains have not
long been opened: the Baliyy state less than half a century ago;
but exactly when or by whom is apparently unknown to them. Before
that time the locale must have shown a mere tumulus, a mound
somewhat larger than the many which pimple the raised valley-bank
behind the building. A wall is said to have projected above
ground, as at Uriconium near the Wrekin.[EN#71] This may have
suggested excavation, besides supplying material for the Bedawi
cemetery to the south-west. The torrent waters have swept away
the whole of the northern wall, and the treasure-seeker has left
his mark upon the interior. Columns and pilasters and bevelled