built on the same mountain top, and again seven more on a neighbouring mountain top. Then, as to the absence of such monuments in Judea and Samaria, Conder suggests that they may very probably have once existed, and may have been purposely destroyed. Israel was commanded to “smash” the _menhirs_ of the Canaanites, to “upset” their altars, and to destroy their images. These commands Josiah, the zealous king of Judah, is recorded to have carried into practice. Who built these structures? They are very likely the surviving work of Canaanite tribes. Herr Schumacher assigns those of the Hauran to the same period as the subterranean cities. There is a curious archæological note in Deuteronomy, which speaks of the bedstead of Og, the king of Bashan, a bedstead 9 cubits long by 4 cubits wide. The passage had very much exercised the ingenuity of commentators, and some of them supposed it to refer to a sarcophagus of basalt. The Bible indeed speaks of a bedstead of iron; but basalt is a material which resembles iron in appearance, and which is actually known by the name of iron among the Arabs, while a stone coffin might allowably be spoken of as a bed or bedstead. But Conder says there is no basalt at Rabbath, and thinks it doubtful if Og was likely to be buried in a sarcophagus at all. He is disposed to render the words as Og’s _strong throne_, instead of “iron bedstead.” A memory of Irish dolmens suggested to him a possible connection between Og’s throne and some rude stone monument which tradition might have indicated as a giant’s seat, just as in Ireland dolmens are the “beds of Grain and Diarmed,” and connected with legends of giants. It was, therefore, very striking to find a single enormous dolmen standing alone in a conspicuous position near Rabbath Ammon, and yet more striking that the top stone measured 13 feet (or very nearly 9 cubits of 16 inches) by 11 feet in extreme breadth. If we look for a coffin or a bedstead rather than a dolmen, it is very striking to find that parallels exist both for bedsteads and coffins of the same gigantic dimensions. Dr Erasmus Wilson, describing the coffins and mummies found at _Deir-el-Bahari_, says that, “the coffin of Queen Nefertari is gigantic in stature, measuring with its feathered crest 13 feet long. It is made of cloth-board and modelled into the shape of a statue, resembling, with arms crossed upon the chest, one of those architectural columns which are denominated Caryatides.” Still more remarkable is the bedstead of the Babylonian god Bel, described by Mr George Smith in his account of the “Temple of Bel.” After some description of the principal buildings, he says, “In these western chambers stood the couch of the god, and the throne of gold mentioned by Herodotus, besides other furniture of great value. The couch is stated to have been 9 cubits long and 4 cubits broad (15 feet by 6 feet 8 inches).” These are exactly the dimensions assigned to Og’s bedstead.