and the edge of the descent was here, as in front of the fountain,
skirted by a wall running along the whole line of the cliff, till it
joined that which enclosed Cyrene to the westward. From this
portion of the mountain descend five large ravines, once thickly •
wooded with pine and other trees, which have been cleared for the
use of the town, and to disencumber the ground appropriated to the
tombs. Some of the ravines are, however, still partially wooded, in
many places very thickly,'and springs of excellent water are found in
various parts of them.
The north side of the town, from its present appearance, does
not seem to have been ever much inhabited, and very few remains
of dwelling-houses are observable there. The buildings which still
exist are however of an interesting character, and excavation would
be particularly desirable in this part. Two eminences which rise
conspicuously above the general level of the summit are occupied by
the ruins of spacious temples, and close to the western wall of the
city is all that remains of the stadium. The largest of the temples
(we mean the aedes, without the columns) is a hundred and sixty-nine
English feet in length, and its breadth sixty-one feet. I t is of the
Doric order, in its early style; and the capitals, which with the
columns are lying on the ground, still exhibit marks of excellent
taste and execution, though very much defaced by time; they
measure nine feet across, and the capital and abacus are of one
piece. The form of this building is peripteral; but the columns on
the sides appear to have been twelve in number, which is one more
than is allowed to temples of that class by Vitruvius, supposing the
edifice to he hexastyle; for in peripteral temples the number of
intercolumniations on the flanks should, according to this author,
be only double those of the front. That there were twelve columns,
however, appeared evident on the first inspection, from the existing
number of capitals lying on one of the sides of the temple ; and on
adding two spaces, and the diameters of two columns to the length
of the aedes (or body of the temple), which is, as we have stated from
actual measurement, a hundred and sixty-nine English feet, and
comparing this measurement with that of twelve columns and eleven
spaces, the first number given was two hundred and five, and the
latter two hundred and four, which result was quite near enough
to be conclusive of the fact. In this calculation we have taken the
diameter of the columns, as they measured within an inch or two, at
six feet; and supposed the intercolumniation to be systyle, that is
two diameters of the columns. The same calculation applies equally
to the breadth of the temple, which would seem to prove that the
intercolumniation assumed was correct,—six columns and five spaces
giving ninety-six,—and the breadth of the aedes, with two spaces, and
the diameters of two columns added, ninety-seven; bringing the
results within one of each other, as in the instance just given with
regard to the length. Traces are still remaining of a pronaos and
posticus; but one of the walls of the pronaos (the only one remaining)
has a very decided return of two feet (at its central
extremity) in the direction of the cella. The depth of the posticus
is at the same time much greater than that of the pronaos, and
rather, more than half as much as that of the cella : this distribution