The columns are of slender proportions, and remarkable fin. extraordinary lightness and variety of form. Their shafts are sometimes plain, but often ornamented with carving, being sometimes surrounded W ith a spiral groove round the shaft, at others grooved perpendicularly. The capitals are of various forms, usually carved into clus tered foliage, being sometimes imitations of the classic orders, and sometimes designs of their own ; the cap is covered with a plain abacus. Columns were very frequent in Arabian edifices, disposed in clusters or rows, and supporting IOW arcades; they add considerably to the light appearance of their buildings.
Corbelling, which consists in the projection of stones or bricks at regular distances from the main wall, is of exten sive use in Arabian architecture, and was probably intro duced into Europe by them. The practice seems to have originated in the East, for it is seen in Eastern edifices of very early date, and prevails to a great extent in the archi tecture both of India and China. The Arabians employed corbels in all their structures, but more especially in their fortresses, to throw out the parapets for machicolations.
Amongst the many peculiarities of Arabian art, perhaps none is more worthy of mention than that method of taint mentatit in which has been designated under the title of arabesques, although the term, as applied by the moderns, does nut exactly describe the peculiar ornament alluded to with us. the term includes a wider range of de'c'oration. The law of the :Nlehanonetlan faith prohibited all representations of human or animal figures, as bordering too closely on the practices of Christianity and paganism, and this precept was at first very strictly adhered to. Their arabesques therefore, excluding all forms of animal life, consisted entirely of repre sentations of fal.ciful plants, stalks, mid foliage, treated in an artistic manner, and tra•efully entwined in mi endless yai iety of form ; these were introduced on the walls, sometimes in colour only, but very often in stucco, the pattern standing out from the wall in high relief.
Another style of decoration, very similar to the last, con sists of panels or compartments filled with lines or bands, dill used in an infinite diversity of geometrical figures, and interlacing one with another in such a manner as to foi to a sort of labyrinth, where arrangement and combination was unintelligible, except by close observation. Of this method of decoration, a writer on the subject very justly observes " Their geometrical patterns exhibit singular beauty and complexity, inexhaustible variety of combinations, and a wonderful degree of harmonious intricacy, arising out of very simple elements ; to which must be added the variety produced by colour also, m hereby the same arrangements of lines and figui.es could be greatly diversified. hence, though
apparently quite unmeaning. and intended only to gratify the eve, such embellishment must have powerfully recom menUed itself to a people both imaginative and contemplative, and whose fancy would find occupation in patiently tracing and unravelling the manifold intricacies and involvements, the nlazes of what at first sight looks like a mere labyrinth, until its scheme unfolds itself; but merely momentarily. as it were, being again lost w hen attention is diverted from it to particular parts.
Another method of decoration, which was very prevalent, and is to some extent a characteristic. consists in the appli cation ()rinse' iptions as a means of enrichment. This custom was in all probability borrowed front the Egyptian practice of inscribing hieroidyphics on their walls; although the idea is somewhat differently :Tidied. A nearer approach to the Arabian system, is seen in that adopted by the Gothic ar•hi tects, the application in both instances being almost identical. The most usual position for such inscriptions was round their doors and windows, or on the surthce of bands. archi traves, and friezes ; they were usually raised in relief from the surthee of tile wall, and oftentimes inlaid similarly to mosaic work. and richly illuminated with precious stones; in almost all eases, they were enriched with gilding and colour, and the characters rendered as calligraphle as possible. The inscriptions which mostly prevailed, were sentences from the Koran, sometimes other moral and religious precepts, and occasionally passages of Oriental poetry, the nature of the inscription varying in accordance with the requirements of the place or building they enriched.
Another addition to the decorative character of the style, is seen in the open trellis-work employed to close apertures— a happy contrivance for excluding the rays of the sun at the same time that it admitted freely both light and air ; a matter of great importance in a warm climate. The idea is supposed to have been derived from network, suspended before aper tures for the same purposes, as well as for the exclusion of insects; it is decidedly of Oriental origin. This fret-work is composed of bands interlaced, and tb•ining an infinite variety of figures, and is very similar to the geometrical patterns we alluded to above.