Page 418 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XIX.] SOUTHERN ARABIA. 391

various calibre were formerly ranged here,
but they now lie dismounted and neglected
near their former embrasures. The iron m
guns have fallen to pieces from age, and
the brass pieces only are in a condition to
be used. Of the spacious and commodious
baths, lined with jasper, and surmounted with
domes, which are described in the voyage
edited by Monsieur de la Roche, in 1707, not
a vestige, as far as I could learn, now re­
M
mains ; nor have the oldest inhabitants any
recollection of them. The natives conducted

me to some reservoirs, constructed with much
y:
labour, at the lower termination of the valleys
which lead from the neighbouring mountains,
and which, in the winter season, form the
beds of mountain torrents. They are of a
semi-elliptical form, the largest measuring
sixty-eight feet in length, and twenty feet
deep. They arc of solid masonry, supported
on the outer side by buttresses, and lined
within by flights of steps, in the same man­
ner as may be observed in those of India,
which are built on the banks of rivers. I was
assured some of these edifices were formerly