cular pilasters some 17 inches in diameter, without
bases, capitals, or even a moulding, but placed side by side like so
many tree-trunks or posts forming a palisade.

[Illustration: 251.jpg DECORATION OF COLOURED CONES ON THE FACADE AT URUK]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sketch by Loftus.

Various schemes of decoration succeed each other in progressive
sequence, less ornate and at greater distances apart, the further
they recede from the central block and the nearer they approach to the
extremities of the facade. They stop short at the southern angle, and
the two sides of the edifice running from south to west, and again from
west to north, are flat, bare surfaces, unbroken by projection or groove
to relieve the poverty and monotony of their appearance. The decoration
reappears on the north-east front, where the arrangement of the
principal facade is partly reproduced. The grooved divisions here start
from the angles, and the engaged columns are wanting, or rather they
are transferred to the central projection, and from a distance have the
effect of a row of gigantic organ-pipes. We may well ask if this squat
and heavy mass of building, which must have attracted the eye from all
parts of the town, had nothing to relieve the dull and dismal colour of
its component bricks.

[Illustration: 252.jpg PILASTERS OF THE FACADE OF GUDEA'S PALACE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Heuzey-Sarzec

The idea might not have occurred to us had we not found elsewhere an
attempt to lessen the gloomy appearance of the architecture by coloured
plastering. At Uruk, the walls of the palace are decorated by means of
terra-cotta cones, fixed deep into the solid plaster and painted red,
black, or yellow, forming interlaced or diaper patterns of chevrons,
spirals, lozenges, and triangles, with a very fair result: this mosaic
of coloured plaster covered all the surfaces, both flat and curved,
giving to the building a cheerful aspect entirely wanting in that of
Lagash.

A long narrow trough of yellowish limestone stood in front of the
palace, and was raised on two steps: it was carved in relief on the
outside with figures of women standing with outstretched hands, passing
to each other vases from which gushed forth two streams of water. This
trough formed a reservoir, which was filled every morning for the use of
the men and beasts, and those whom some business or a command brought to
the palace could refresh themselves there whil