outer wall then turns slightly to the south of east and passes close to the south-east corner of the detached northern building, beyond which point it is almost obliterated. Between the Ḥammâm and the north-east angle of the outer wall there are some low sandy mounds wherein the Arabs say that they have dug and found brackish water. When I first visited Ukhaiḍir in March 1909 it was occupied by Arabs from Djôf in Nedjd who were anxious to establish themselves there permanently. To this end they wished to receive official recognition from the Government, and they proposed to earn a livelihood by supplying Baghdâd with camels bought from the tribes of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. When I returned in 1911 they were gone, and Sheikh Ṣukhail, of the Zaqârît, who was camped under the walls, could give me no account of their departure, except that it had taken place some months previously. Possibly they found Ukhaiḍir an unsatisfactory centre for commercial enterprise, and there can be no question but that their project would have been ill looked upon by the Beduin, who regard the sweet waters of the Wâdi al-Ubaiḍ as their peculiar property. Whatever may have driven them forth, the Djôfîyîn had left no memorial of their residence save heaps of filth and refuse in the halls and courts of the palace, new stonework round the well in the Wâdi al-Ubaiḍ, a meagre plantation of half-withered palm-shoots close by it, and evidences of an equally unsuccessful attempt to establish a few palm-trees within the palace walls near the west gate, where there is a small deep well of brackish water. And we, finding Ukhaiḍir untenanted, took possession of it and pitched our tents in the central court. The towered wall of the palace encloses a yard and a quadrangular block of building which covers an area measuring 111·40 metres from north to south and 68·50 metres from east to west (Plate 1). On three sides of this block, rounded towers project 1·75 metres from the face of the wall, while the north side is connected with the main wall. The northern part of the building is three stories high, the upper story being on a level with the chemin de ronde which runs round the main wall. The rest of the building, 73·95 metres from north to south, is one story high. The palace yard runs round three sides of the building. To the west and south it is unoccupied by any structure; north of the west gate lies a well of brackish water, and it was there that the Djôfîyîn had planted their palm-shoots. This well I believe to be modern; it bears no mark of antiquity. To the east, north of the east gate, the yard is blocked by an edifice, a single story high, the chambers of which are numbered on the plan 140-152. It is a later addition, as will be seen, to the original scheme of the palace.