The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-19

O fthe upper floor levels are well pre- | served and bench is still in it's place against the wall of one of the upper roms. The innermost of this group of chambers have as yet been incompletely eXCavated, but the work here has al- ready been productive of some import
 ant results. At one point are remains
 of what appears to have been wooden ! staircase, the upper part of which was
 found literally choked with broken seal | impressions, from what must certainly have been a secretary's office on the up- per floor One of these impressions, though only a fragment, is of great ln- terast as bearing part of the impress or late Babylonian cylinder thus sup | plying direct proof of correspondence | with the east. A very remarkable feat ure of this quarter of the palace is the elaborate drainage system, The well paved floors are underlaid by quite a network of stone channels, in places | crossing each other at different levels, and roomy enough to allow man to crawl along them A succession of stone shafts leads down to these from the up- per story, in one case apparently con- neCted with a latrine, of which cu- rious and in some respects very modern example also occurs on the ground floor. In another part of the palace
 sections of a terra cotta drain pipe have been found of a most advanced form, provided with stop ridges.
 "On the eastern slope of the hill the
 limits of the palace have extended
 themselves beyond all anticipation.
 good deal of denudation has here taken
 place, but among the finds are remains
 of large architectural fresco with real
 istic imitation of veined marble, and
 store jars more capacious than any yet
 brought to light. A stone spout jut-
 ting out from a neighboring wall and
 connected by conduit with an oil press
 above explained at once their contents
 and means of filling, Further down,
 and here forming the outer boundary of
 the palace, are massive lines of sup
 porting walls; at one place five are
 within another at intervals of only
 foot or so, and a bastion with ascend
 ing flights of steps flanked by curious
 water tunnels.
 ''The remains already brought to light cover an area of about five acres and their exploration may be said to have opened to the eyes of history a new world, already ancient when Homer sang, but presenting a civilization in some respects strangely modern. It would seem, indeed, as if the brilliant and unexpected character of the finds was likely to maintain itself to the last. The exploration, now proceeding of the baement spaces within the upper East ern Terrace has brought to light, below the level of the later palace walls be- longing to a still earlier royal dwelling, Within these were fine painted vases of the older class the decorative designs and elegant contour of which sufficient ly attest the high artistic development attained here in this still more archaic period. In this early stratum was also found a miniature vase of gold and the thimblelike receptacle of which may have contained some per- fume as precious as altar of roses
 Here, too, as if it illustrate the con- tinuity of the local cult were remains | of ami mature pillar shrine of painted | terra cotta with doves perched on its | roof But one of the late palace base ments, at a slightly higher level than | this, contained an architectural record | of still more universal interest. This is the remains of mosaic, consisting of | small porcelain plaques, which in it's orignal form seems to have represented scenes disposed in various zones recall ing the subjects of Achilles shield the walls and houses of a city, a river, 3 vine and other trees, warriors with bows, spears and throwing sticks, be- segers and defenders and various ani- nals. But the most surprising part of all are the houses of which the city is Fragmentary as are their it has been possible to recon- ;titute about a couple of score of these The varying character of the structure timber and plastered rubble- S accurately reproduced, and the walls, overs and gateways--a whole street of !, Minoan city rises before us much as t originally stood But what is even more surprising than the fact that the elevations of these prehistoric struc- ures should be thus recovered for us intact from the guifs of time is the al- ogether modern character of some of heir features. Here are three storied houses (some of the semi detached
 lass showing two contiguous door vays), with windows of four panes, or ouble windows of three panes each which seem to show that the inmates of he houses had actually some substitute