In the west side of the piazza are several apertures for gates, into the court of the palace. Each of these is adorned with four porphyry pillars; not standing in a line with those of the wall, but placed by couples in the front of the gate facing the palace, on each side. Two of these only remain, and but one standing in its place. These are thirty feet long, and nine in circumference. “We sometimes find a palace,” says Volney, “of which nothing remains but the courts and walls; sometimes a temple, whose peristyle is half thrown down; and now a portico, a gallery, or a triumphant arch. Here stand groups of columns, whose symmetry is destroyed by the fall of many of them; these we see ranged in rows of such length, that, similar to rows of trees, they deceive the sight, and assume the appearance of continued walls. On which side soever we look, the earth is strewed with vast stones, half buried, with broken entablatures, damaged capitals, mutilated friezes, disfigured reliefs, effaced sculptures, violated tombs, and altars defiled with mud.” “In their ruined courts,” says another traveller, “and amid the crumbling walls of their cottages, may be seen, here and there, portions of the ancient pavement of the area; while all around the inclosure extend groups of columns, with pedestals for statues, and walls ornamented with handsome architectural decorations, the ruins of the majestic portico and double colonnade, which once inclosed the whole of the vast area. Portions of a frieze, or the fragments of a cornice, upon whose decoration was expended the labour of years, are now used by the poor villagers to bake their bread upon, or are hollowed out as hand-mills, in which to grind their corn.” Among the walls and rubbish are a vast number of lizards and serpents; and that circumstance led to the celebrated poetic picture painted by Darwin. Lo! where PALMYRA, ’mid her wasted plains, Her shattered aqueducts, and prostrate fanes, As the bright orb of breezy midnight pours Long threads of silver through her gaping towers, O’er mouldering tombs, and tottering columns gleams, And frosts her deserts with diffusive beams, Sad o’er the mighty wreck in silence bends, Lifts her wet eyes, her tremulous hands extends. If from lone cliffs a bursting rill expands Its transient course, and sinks into the sands; O’er the moist rock the fell hyena prowls, The serpent hisses, and the panther growls; On quivering wings the famished vulture screams, Dips his dry beak, and sweeps the gushing streams. With foaming jaws beneath, and sanguine tongue, Laps the lean wolf, and pants, and runs along; Stern stalks the lion, on the rustling brinks Hears the dread snake, and trembles as he drinks. Quick darts the scaly monster o’er the plain, Fold after fold his undulating train; And, bending o’er the lake his crested brow, Starts at the crocodile that gapes below.—DARWIN.