On the assumption that the building was a cloth market, it is clear that the colonnade would naturally be open at all times, the corridor only during business hours; after business hours the corridor would be closed for the protection of the goods left there over night. The windows may have been closed with shutters as in the Oriental bazaars. Other peculiarities of arrangement also are cleared up by this explanation, but we cannot present them in detail. It is not possible, however, to make out what the purpose was of certain remains of masonry found on the south side of the court (18) which have now disappeared, or of two rectangular elevations at the rear (17), or, finally, of a large stone in the middle of the court in which a movable iron ring is fastened (15). Our information is so scanty that we are unable to determine in all particulars what the requirements of a fuller's exchange might have been. At the time of the eruption men were still engaged in rebuilding the parts of the edifice that had suffered in the earthquake of 63. The front wall at the rear of the portico was finished and had received its veneering of marble; as shown by the existing remains, it conformed to the plan of the earlier structure. The columns and entablature of the portico had not yet been set in place; considerable portions of them were found in the area of the Forum. The wall at the rear of the court, with the three apses, had been rebuilt, and the workmen had begun to add the marble covering. The other walls had remained standing at the time of the earthquake; but the colonnade had been thrown down and was now in process of erection. The remains of the colonnade were removed in ancient times, probably soon after the destruction of the city; yet from the parts that remain, both of the old building and of the restorations, we can determine the architectural character with certainty. We give two reconstructions of the interior, one showing the front (Fig. 48), the other the rear (Fig. 49).