ABSTRACT
To me the most interesting part of the palace is the suite of inner rooms, lying behind the halls of audience, for some of these are quite perfect and in such " habitable repair" that, with a little sweeping out and clearing away of rubbish, one might go in at once and take possession. One room in particular would pass without much comment in London as a dining-room, with its coved ceiling, Corinthian cornice, and handsome architraves. One can see that the walls were intended for tapestry, for below a certain height the stones have been left rough, while above it the surfaces are nicely polished. The whole, palace is built of a handsome red sandstone,* which is so well preserved, especially in these inner rooms, that the masons' marks are still perfectly distinct. They look like the letters of an alphabet —but what alphabet ? On one of the walls there is an inscription in Arabic, and another in a character similar to the masons' marks. The building is admirably finished-each stone beautifully fitted to its neighbours, without flaws or spaces, or any " scamping " of the work. Here we have wandered about all day drawing and taking measurements; but it is impossible to give a correct idea on paper of the beauty of all that Ave have seen. Nobody here knows anything of the history of El Haddr, neither do we.f
We were driyen from our meditations in the palace, by an invasion of the youth and fashion of Smeyr's camp. They had finished their work for the day, the work of pitching tents and unpacking household furniture, and were now at liberty to spend an idle afternoon in the noisy fun which Bedouins love. At first they left us unmolested, and merely ran about the ruins laughing and shouting, but by degrees they gathered round us, and, as it is not the custom to refuse one's company to any who wish to share it, we soon found ourselves in the midst of a rather uproarious mob.
