672 or A.D. 1273. The language is Arabic prose. Although the appearance of the kumbet does not suggest size, the dimensions are about the largest of all these tombs. The upper and circular chamber has a diameter of 22 feet; and each side of the square base which supports the structure is close upon 30 feet long. Although the floor of the lower chamber is partially silted up, it has a height of 16 feet. Beneath the deep cornice runs a frieze of white marble, with an inscription from the Koran. The body of the building is composed of the usual pink volcanic lava. The interior displays no trace of plaster, nor is it ornamented in any way. Between the isolated tomb and the ravine of the ancient city, the ground is covered by the headstones of an extensive cemetery, a kind of Kensal Green or Père Lachaise. But our European pattern of marble slabs, with thin incisions, are pale and paltry when compared with these. The fact that a majority of these headstones are still erect attests their extraordinary solidity. In all, or almost all, cases they have the form of a pilaster, surmounted by a honeycomb frieze. The silhouettes of these friezes are extremely picturesque against the lights of the sky. The stone has weathered brown and carries a little lichen. The head of the dead man is placed towards Mecca, turned upon his right shoulder. The headstone faces the feet and the rising sun. The face bears the inscription in Arabic character; on the reverse the ornament, which forms the subject of the accompanying illustration (Fig. 183), is an almost universal feature. Some of these graves are of the same date as the kumbets, or even earlier, while some are rather later. They represent a comparatively high standard of civilisation, in which the arts were cherished and extensively practised.