In the west wall of this court a vestibule is excavated with remarkable skill, the roof of which was formerly supported by two columns, also hewn out of the rock: these have now disappeared, owing to the effects of individual Vandalism, and the injuries of the earthquake in 1837. M. de Saulcy[829] has given the following excellent description of this monument: "Above the porch, on the face of the rock itself, runs a long frieze, carved with exquisite taste and delicacy. The centre of the frieze is occupied by a bunch of grapes, an emblem of the promised land, and the habitual type of the Asmonæan coinage. To the right and left of this bunch are placed symmetrically a triple palm, carved with the greatest elegance, a crown and triglyphs, alternating with pateræ, or round shields, three times repeated[830]. Below this runs a rich garland of foliage and fruit, falling down at right angles on each side of the opening of the porch. The left-hand portion of this garland has been much more injured by time than that on the right. Above the line of the triglyphs a fine cornice begins, formed of elegant mouldings, unfortunately much damaged, and rising up to the top of the rock, that is to say, nearly to the level of the surrounding country." The left-hand portion of this cornice is almost destroyed, not only by the Arabs, but also by the Americans; among whom a certain Mr Jones has especially distinguished himself by breaking off all the ornaments that could be carried away. Beyrout and Jaffa have been the chief centres of his destructive industry, so that he has destroyed the few monuments of Phoenicia and of Palestine that remained in their original positions. Hammer in hand, and dead to every sense of artistic beauty, he chops off fragments from the inscriptions of Sesostris, from the columns of Baalbek, and from the monuments of Jerusalem. The Tombs of the Kings have suffered more at his hands than from all the hostile invasions that have devastated Palestine.