_Ummebeda_ (the name given to the site of those ruins by the natives) lies near a village called _Scharkie_ or _Agrmie_, between that place and an isolated mountain, on which a copious spring of fresh water is said to rise. The buildings are in such a state of delapidation, that a plain observer, who forms an opinion only from what he sees, and does not accommodate the object in application and conjecture to preconceived notions of a particular structure which he is to look for, and trace out, could scarcely, (I think) from these rude heaps, and mouldered and disjointed walls, suggest the precise form or original purpose of the building when first raised. Its materials might suggest, that it was built in the rudest ages, and when the Troglodytæ[7] of these parts first left their caves, and in their first attempt of building, took their scheme and plan of architecture from their old mansions, heaping rock on rock, in imitation of the dwelling places which nature had before furnished. I ascertained the general bearings of the building by my compass, and found the outward walls constructed with aspects facing the four cardinal points, the aberration being only of twelve degrees, and which might have occurred from variation of the needle. The total circumference may be several hundred yards, and is to be traced out and followed by the foundations of a wall, in most parts visible, and which, from the masses remaining, appears to have been _very strong_. The outward wall, in most places, has been thrown down, and the materials carried away, and the interior ground has been every where turned up, and dug, in search of treasure. In the centre of this extensive area, are seen the remains of an edifice, which perhaps may be regarded as the principal building,[8] and to which all around may have been mere appendage, and subordinate.