On the summit of the hill is an area, once sur rounded by limestone columns, of which fifteen are still standing and two prostrate. These col umns form two rows, thirty-two paces apart, while less than two paces intervene between the columns. They measure seven feet nine inches in circumference; but there is no trace of the order of their architecture, nor are there any foun dations to indicate the nature of the edifice to which they belonged. Some refer them to Her od's temple to Augustus, others to a Greek church which seems to have once occupied the summit of the hill. The descent of the hill on the W.S.W. side brings the traveler to a very remarkable col onnade, which is easily traceable by a great number of columns, erect or prostrate, along the side of the hill for at least of a mile, where it terminates at a heap of ruins, near the eastern extremity of the ancient site. The columns are sixteen feet high, two feet in diameter at the base, and one foot eight inches at the top. The cap itals have disappeared; but the shafts retain their polish, and, when not broken, are in good preser vation. Eighty-two of these columns are still erect, and the number of those fallen and broken must be much greater. Most of them are of the limestone common to the region; but some are of white marble, and some of granite. The mass of ruins in which this colonnade terminates toward the west is composed of blocks of hewn stone, cov ering no great area on the slope of the hill, many feet lower than the summit. Neither the situa tion nor extent of this pile favors the notion of its having been a palace; nor is it easy to con jecture the design of the edifice. The colonnade, the remains of which now stand solitary and mournful in the midst of ploughed fields, may, however, with little hesitation, be referred to the time of Herod the Great, and must be regarded as belonging to some one of the splendid struc tures with which he adorned the city.
(4) The Samaria of Rev. J. L. Por ter in Giant Cities of Basilan, 1891, thus describes the Samaria of to-day: "We halted at the western gate of Samaria, waiting for one or two stragglers, and to take a last look at the place. The gate is a shapeless heap of ruins. forming the termination of the well-known colonnade. I was never more deeply impressed with the minute accuracy of prophetic description, and the literal fulfillment of every detail, than when standing on that spot. Samaria occupied one of the finest sites in Palestine—a low, rounded hill, in the center of a rich valley. encircled by picturesque mountains. Temples and palaces once adorned it, famed throughout the East for the splendor of their architecture. But the destroyer has passed over it. I saw that long line of broken shafts with the vines growing lux uriantly round their bases—I saw a group of col umns in a corn-field on the hill-top—I saw hewn and sculptured blocks of marble and limestone in the rude walls of the terraced vineyards—I saw great heaps of stones and rubbish among the olive groves in the bottom of the valley far below—but I saw no other trace of the city founded by Omri and adorned by Herod. One would think the prophet Micah had seen that desolate site as I saw it, his description is so graphic :—/ will make Samaria as an heap of time field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof" (Micah i :6).