Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

1 68 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
There we drank and were refreshed. Then I said
to the gardener, '
This is such a beautiful garden,
that Paradise itself cannot be fairer ; may
we eat
as well as drink here ? we have our noonday meal
without.' He readily agreed, and we lunched under
the welcome shade of the palm-trees. Afterwards, as
we were smoking with our host, I professed astonishment
and admiration at the unusual size of the garden.
He was flattered, and said there was none like it.
' What
'
'
do you suppose is the ? length
Quite seventy or eighty yards/ he said.
'
I asked.
Not more
than that ? why, I am sure it is at least one hundred.
Will you let me measure?' 'Certainly.' 'Very
well; we will measure that wall over there' which
I had from the first moment identified as the Roman
wall I was in search of. So we measured and
proved it to be more than one hundred yards in
length ; discovered traces of another bastion ; and
well content with the success of our little
departed
stratagem. Something of the kind was rendered
necessary by the inveterate suspicion which the
natives entertain of strangers coming with strange
instruments
'
uncanny machines which devour' their
court uniform had
houses, as it. they put And my
rise to the rumour that I was an official sent
given
by the divan or government.
At the far end of the palm-garden projects a
bastion, the ruined walls of which have been built
up
with Arab brickwork and crowned with a circlet
of pots, like those at Mari Mina. This bastion,
however, is better viewed from inside the dair,
and is reached by a visit to the Jewish synagogue,
behind which it stands. The interior is filled with
fallen bricks and stones, but it is possible to get