_Holes in walls other than drains._—This peculiar feature of ancient architecture is especially prominent at the Acropolis, also in East Ruins, and in almost all the ruins in the Valley of Ruins. There are holes, generally square, in the lower parts of the walls at two or three feet above any ancient floor. They are found only on the inside faces of walls, not one as yet having been discovered on the outer face. That they are intentionally made is a matter of ocular demonstration, for many have lintels either of large granite slabs or of slate beams. The blocks of the side framings are all built flush with each other. Their peculiarity is that they do not extend back into the wall for more than the length of a block, in one case of two blocks, and the internal packing blocks in the wall are seen inside. One such recess on the Acropolis shows traces of having once been lined with granite cement. The bottom portion of a similar recess in Upper Passage also has remains of cement lining. The largest recess is to be seen on the west side of a divisional wall in East Ruins. This is 3 ft. high and 1 ft. 10 in. wide. No such recess has so far been discovered in the Elliptical Temple, but at least fifty have been found elsewhere among the ruins. • • • • • _Blind steps and platforms._—In several enclosures in the principal ruins at Zimbabwe, but mainly at the Elliptical Temple, and in the angles formed by the meeting of side walls of the enclosures, are to be seen small raised platforms approached by two or three steps. These steps could not have led to higher positions than the small platforms, that is, they could not have been intended for mounting to the summit of the wall, for the bottom steps are at far too short a distance from the walls in comparison with their heights, besides which, the steps and platforms are perfect in themselves, and their summits, judging by the condition of the cement floor, terminated as is seen to-day. Nor are there any signs on the faces of the walls above such platforms of any steps, or that the blocks in the angles of the walls were at any time protected from the weather by any higher structure. These blind steps surmounted by miniature platforms are made of blocks thickly covered with granite cement similar to that found on the lowest floors of the temple—the steps being large and deep and boldly rounded off. The shape of these erections reminds one of the steps and raised platforms which are frequently seen in stableyards at home, and were once very generally used as mounting blocks.