rich gilding of the capitals and cornice rivalled the sun in the glare it produced.
To the east were a few heaps of ruins, a few pillars standing about, and many lying on the ground, the only relics of the old town.
You can hardly conceive the furnace- like heat of the city, every wall under a vertical sun yielding no cool shadow, but rather a vivid glare of heat. The cisterns were dried up now, with nothing at the bottom but a heap of sand and a few dead eels.
The Marnon was the coolest place, with its wide porticoes and groves of white pillars almost creating a draught. The nave of the temple was somewhat after the Egyptian type, quite open in front, so that between the pillars which were painted beautifully with a profusion of white and blue, one could look up to the altar which sent up clouds of incense, and beyond to great Marnas himself, a huge idol gorgeously arrayed in purple sprinkled over with gold stars, having an eagle's head, the beak gilded and the eyes sparkling like precious stones, the right hand holding a bunch of gold darts, and the feet like those of a leopard.
In this temple continual sacrifice was being made, that Marnas might send showers on the parched soil, for the inhabitants of the city were dying in numbers from want of water, the little pasture fields and gardens on the hill slopes were burned to a brown hue, and beasts as well as men were perishing; moreover, a disease had broken out in the place, arising from the want
