structure is the doing away of the elevated living platform in the room reached by stairs that command the doorway. [Illustration: EL-BIREH (FROM THE SOUTH)] CHAPTER X OTHER VILLAGES AND ENVIRONS About a mile northwest of Râm Allâh on the Jânyeh road is a region which goes by the name of eṭ-Ṭîreh, a name commonly met in Syria. There is a question as to what it may mean. If the localities thus named were always, as they more usually are, lofty places, the suggestion has been made that eṭ-Ṭîreh might be derived from the root meaning _to fly_, and so such a place might be dubbed _The Flyer_, in the sense of a _high place_, but Prof. E. H. Palmer derives the name from a root meaning _fort_.[201] At this eṭ-Ṭîreh there are many remains of former buildings, the central one being the Ṣalâ‛t eṭ-Ṭîreh, the ruin of a Christian church. A large tract of ground including it has been walled in by the ecclesiastical owners. The oil of the olive-trees in the enclosure is said to be used for church purposes. The remains of the old church are very scanty compared with those at el-Bîreh, Burj Baytîn, eṭ-Ṭayyibeh or even at Khurbet el-Moḳâṭir. Some of the remaining stones have been reset in an attempt to restore the line of the wall, and the result is a smaller space enclosed than originally. At present the main enclosure is roughly fifty-two feet long by twenty-six feet wide. The line of the apse is marked by one course of stones standing loosely together. Plenty of tiny white cubes, remains of tessellated pavement, are scattered around. There are bases of four columns, many blocks and some pieces of columns. ----- ----- Northeast of the ruin is a little inclined path that leads underground, where there is a fine old olive-press. It is of the kind generally used, though recently some screw-presses have been introduced into Râm Allâh.