up a considerable space about half-way up the hillside, and below it, stretching to the harbour, was a large tract of tilth and orchard, well sprinkled with tiny white cottages and long low barns that were presumably used by the labourers and other servants of the palace. The royal residence itself was an immense rambling structure, built without plan and at various periods, though it was hard to classify its many architectural features or to guess which were the older or more recent portions of the fabric. Above the palace and its adjacent enclosures could be seen hanging-gardens traversed by immense flights of broad shallow steps, beyond which was another conspicuous group of buildings situated at different levels. This pile I rightly concluded to be the chief--it was the only--temple of the city, both from its more ornate style of architecture and from a circular tower which crowned the main edifice. On this tower upreared a tall column whereon rested a gilded copper representation of the sun in splendour, making a brilliant mass of golden light under the fierce rays of its great original, and offering a prominent landmark for many miles around. Of the residential districts of Tamarida on the two flanking slopes I have omitted to mention that two main streets or arteries for traffic could be distinctly traced by me, running irregularly through the crowded quarters and parks alike, and ending in the broad quays alongside the waters of the harbour. Many ships of various shapes and sizes, but mostly appearing to be fishing vessels, lined these quays and were also visible in numbers on the placid surface of the circular harbour itself, which was contained by two outlying rocky promontories crowned on either tip by a low light-house. [Illustration: CITY & HARBOUR OF TAMARIDA]