building, supposed by Seetzen to have been a mausoleum, and, after a hasty glance at it, hurried up the glen in search of the principal ruins, which we found much more extensive and interesting than we expected,-not, certainly, in such good preservation as those of Jerash, but designed on a much grander scale. Storks were perched in every direction on the tops of the different buildings; others soared at an immense height above us.

We examined the ruins more in detail the following morning. The Mausoleum, externally, is a very handsome square edifice, ornamented with Corinthian pilasters, and an elegant cornice, the greater part of which is lying broken on the ground; the interior is circular, an arched window, elegantly carved with roses and fretwork on the suffit, opening on the river, under an ornamented frieze,-and a smaller, in the adjacent wall of the building, surmounted by a sculptured shell. The corresponding windows and walls of the edifice are quite destroyed. The first ruin we came to beyond it, (the valley bending eastwards), was a large well-built Christian Church, with a steeple, which we ascended by thirty-three steps, in excellent preservation. Beyond it, alongside

the river, are the remains of a lofty portico, consisting of a central arched recess, from which wings, with smaller recesses, seem originally to have branched, curving irregularly according to the bend of the river, and ornamented in front with lofty Corinthian columns, of which four, much injured, and without their capitals, are still standing. Viewed from the other side of the water, the back of this portico, (if it really was one), has the appearance of a fortress, being supported by two lofty round towers, united by a bastion, projecting angularly. At the time of the floods, the water of the river was conveyed by an arch under this building through the town.

The river, throughout the valley, has been confined, and, in many places, still flows within a channel of masonry, as a safeguard against inundation. From this artificial bank a handsome bridge, of one broad arch, still quite entire, is thrown across the stream beyond the portico. We crossed it to the southern bank, there being nothing more on the northern worth seeing, except the remains of a temple of florid Corinthian architecture and sculpture, sadly injured by time and wind. A few moments, and we reached the

noblest ruin at Ammon, a most magnificent theatre, built in the hollow of the southern hill. A quadrangular colonnade, of the Corinthian order, extended in front of it,-twelve of the pillars, forming the south-western angle, are still standing; eight perfect, with their entablature, in front of the theatre, and four, without capitals, running towards the river. Between the colonnade and the south-west horn of the theatre, the ancient pavement remains very perfect; the raised pavement of the proscenium, or platform behind the stage, is also in good preservation, but this part of the building is much ruined. Many Corinthian capitals are lying on the ground, and traces of modern Arab houses are discernible in the area. Bones and skulls of camels were mouldering there, and in the vaulted galleries of this immense structure. We counted forty-three tiers of very high seats, divided by three galleries; but several more, probably, are covered by the accumulated earth. Behind the highest gallery, a wall is built up against the rock, in the centre of which a doorway, receding rather more than three feet, with a semicircular recess on each side, gives access to a square vaulted apartment,-the whole

and

inside and outside overgrown with creepers, the architectural decorations very chaste-it produces a beautiful effect from below, the mountain craigs towering over it. This, according to Arab tradition, was the summer-seat of the Prince of Ammon in Solomon's time-the theatre his palace.*

Beyond the theatre-and the last building in that direction, is a curious nondescript pile, — vaulted galleries and arched entrances from without, and a mass of ruins within; I could not tell what to make of it. Nearly opposite the theatre, on the northern hill, stands the large building, called by Burckhardt the Castle; I did not visit it,-Dr. Mac Lennan did, and discovered moreover very extensive ruins on a table-land at the summit.

There are many other ruins in the valley of Ammon, but in such utter decay, that it is difficult to say what they have been. Near the Corinthian temple, on the north side of the river, stands the broken shaft of a very noble column, larger in its diameter than any at Jerash-as are also the columns in front of the supposed Portico.

* See Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes East of the Jordan, p. 95.

Such are the relics of ancient Ammon, or, rather, of Philadelphia, for no building there can boast of a prior date to that of the change of name. -It was a bright cheerful morning, but still the valley is a very dreary spot, even when the sun shines brightest. Vultures were garbaging on a camel, as we slowly rode back through the glen, and reascended the akiba, by which we approached it. Ammon is now quite deserted, except by the Bedouins, who water their flocks at its little river, descending to it by a Wady, nearly opposite the theatre, (in which Dr. Mac Lennan saw great herds and flocks, (and, if I recollect right, considerable ruins,) and by the akiba. Reascending it, we met sheep and goats by thousands, and camels by hundreds, coming down to drink,—all in beautiful condition. How-let me again cite the prophecy -how runs it?—“ Ammon shall be a desolation ! -Rabbah of the Ammonites... shall be a desolate heap!—I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching-place for flocks, and ye shall know that I am the Lord!" (")

Godfrey of Boulogne's last expedition was a raid into this country of the Ammonites; he was driving home an immense booty, when a Saracen