The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-19

have been placed upon the walls at
 distance of 30 or more feet from the
 ground, and they are so accurately laid
 that knife blade cannot be driven in be- tween them.
 As to the size of these blocks I got an
 idea by visiting the quarries. Just outside
 that from which the stones came Is one
 which was cut out of the rock, but for some reason or other was not carried to the structure. It was dragged only a
 few feet away from the quarry and to- day 1t lies there on It's side, half sunk in
 the earth. I crawled upon It's top and took a run over 1t. It Is so wide that you could drive two motor cars abreast upon 1t without risk of falling over the edges, and an English traveller here says
 that a cricket match might be played upon its face, putting the stakes at the
 right distance apart and giving the bowler at least two feet at the end for his
 run. This stone is one solid block as smooth as marble column and accurate ly square. Each side of 1t measures 14 feet, and 1t is about 70 feet long. Stand ! 1t on end inside modern 10-story flat and it would fill 10 rooms one above the other each room 14 feet square and z feet high. It has been estimated to weigh 1500 tons, and It. would be fair-sized load for 90 freight cars on the modern railroad track.
 Think of moving stones like that out of the mountains and up and down hill for a mile without the aid of iron and steel machinery or electricity or steam. That Is the kind of work the Romans did 1900 years ago. All through the temples you may see examples of
 how they lifted great masses intc place and that of masses of carvings l more beautiful than those of our build- ingsj today. On some of the blocks still in the structure l. saw punches of
 grapes no bigger than my thumb as beautifully cut as though. made by | nature. There were also Cupids and churbim, .exauisitely carved. It was saii of the artist who built the great Tenn ples of Delhi and Agra in India that
 they worked like TitAns and finished l like jewellers. The same was true of
 the Romans of the reigns of Antonius, Caracalla and Nero.
 | I have taken photographs of some of the broken columns with myself
 standing beside them to give an idea of their thickness. I measure 5 feet 8 inches and the large columns are fully
 two feet more in diameter. Among the wonderful carvings are those which
 form the frieze above the great pill lars two or three hundred feet high up
 in the air. Among them are the heads of gigantic lions. each head as big as
 flour barrel. but polished like fine | marble mantel It was through the
 mouths of these lions that the roof was
 drained. Defacing the Ruins
 1 The beauties of the temples will be preserved from now on. They are
 guarded by Turkish officials. and tick
 cts which cost s1 apiece are required
 of all who go in. was shown through by pr. Michel Alouf. an arch eologist,
 who was here with the Germans, and
 who could explain just how the tenn
 ples looked In the pest. He showed
 me whore the early Christians had
 erected church inside the temple, de-
 facing the carvings end breaking the
 noses of the beautiful statues. They
 took pleasure in destroying the gods
 of the heather. After them came the
 Arabs. who used the place as . fort.
 throwing great round ohunke of marble
 as big as football. There are piles
 of these marble balls inside the temple today They were probably cut from
 the columns. The Arabs made mosque
 in the temple. They wiped out all the
 traces of the Christtan rsligion and l used . part of the church for . bath