r to have been fifteen columns on each side of the centre aisle,
and two at the end opposite the altar, which in this instance I believe
is at the west end. The roof over the part of the east end, which has
been fitted up as a church, is supported by four square modern piers of
plastered brick or rubble work. On the side walls, above the altar,
there are some circular compartments containing paintings of the saints;
and near these are two tablets with inscriptions in black on a white
ground. That on the left appeared to be in Abyssinian: the one on the
other side was either Coptic or uncial Greek; but it was too dark, and
the tablet was too high, to enable me to make it out There is also a
long Greek inscription in red letters on one of the modern square piers,
which looks as if it was of considerable antiquity; and the whole
interior of the building bears traces of having been repaired and
altered, more than once, in ancient times. The richly ornamented
recesses of the three apsides have been smeared over with plaster, on
which some tremendously grim saints have been portrayed, whose present
threadbare appearance shows that they have disfigured the walls for
several centuries. Some comparatively modern capitals, of bad design,
have been placed upon two or three of the granite columns of the nave;
and others, which were broken, have been patched with brick, plastered
and painted to look like granite. The principal entrance was formerly at
the west end; where there is a small vestibule, immediately within the
door of which, on the left hand, is a small chapel, perhaps the
baptistery, about twenty-five feet long, and still in tolerable
preservation. It is a splendid specimen of the richest Roman
architecture of the latter empire, and is truly an imperial little room.
The arched ceiling is of stone; and there are three beautifully
ornamented niches on each side. The upper end is semicircular, and has
been entirely covered with a profusion of sculpture in panels,
cornices, and every kind of architectural enrichment When it was entire,
and covered with gilding, painting, or mosaic, it must have been most
gorgeous. The altar on such a chapel as this was probably of gold, set
full of gems; or if it was the baptistery, as I suppose, it most likely
contained a bath, of the most precious jasper, or of some of the more
rare kinds of marble, for the immersion of the converted heathen, whose
entrance into the church was not permitted