nts by means of arches. The lower courses of
the walls, to the height of several feet, are of squared stones, while
the upper portions and the roofs are of rubble work, which was covered
with a heavy coating of plaster. The threshold of one has been exposed,
which is 6 feet in the clear, and the sides of the doorway show
excellent work.

Among the ruins there are two sections of marble columns, each 33 inches
in diameter. Three large cisterns have been found, two of which were
nearly full of water; the mouths of these, which were closed, were many
feet below the surface of the ground before the excavations began, hence
no one knows how old the water in them may be. Some of the slabs with
which the church was paved were 6 feet long by 21/2 feet wide. In the
church two pieces of cornice were found, each 8 feet in length. One is
entire and quite plain, while the other is broken in the middle. It is
upon this that the figures of Christ and his twelve apostles were
painted. They can still be traced, although exposure has nearly
obliterated the colors. Pottery and a considerable quantity of broken
glass have been found and some small articles in marble of no great
value. The top of a certain block of marble has been formed into a
basin, and a hole drilled the entire length of the block for the water
to run off.

South of the mosaic floor and of the east end of the main building there
is a large underground chamber with seven openings (each the size of a
man's body) to the surface. The chamber is 12 feet wide and nearly 20
feet long, but the depth is not yet ascertained, owing to the
accumulation of _debris_ on the bottom. On the west and north sides a
wall of solid rock appears to a depth of 6 feet, showing that the
chamber was excavated in part at least in the solid rock. The use of
this chamber does not appear evident, unless it may have been a store
room. The place within the city shown as "Peter's Prison" consists of a
similar chamber (not dug in the solid rock, however), with similar
openings in the ceiling or roof. The ruins extend underground some
distance to the east of the mosaic floor, and efforts are being made to
purchase the land in that direction, in order to allow of the
excavations being extended there. It is almost equally certain that the
buildings extended to the south and southeast of the present plat of
ground. But the owners of the land are jealous, and everybody is
superstitious; consequently, excavat