2.] In front of the pillar bases, at the distance of about twenty-three feet from the nearest, is a square column, still upright, on which is sculptured a curious mythological figure, together with the same curt legend, which appears on the larger building--"I am Cyrus, the King, the Achaemenian." [Illustration: PLATE XLIX.] There are two other buildings at Murgab remarkable for their masonry.
One is a square tower, with slightly projecting corners, built of hewn blocks of stone, very regularly laid, and carried to a height of forty-two feet.

The other is a platform, exceedingly massive and handsome, composed entirely of squared stone, and faced with blocks often eight or ten feet long, laid in horizontal courses, and rusticated throughout in a manner that is highly ornamental.

[PLATE L.Fig.

3.] The style resembles that of the substructions of the Temple of Jerusalem.
It occurs occasionally, though somewhat rarely, in Greece; but there is said to exist nowhere so extensive and beautiful a specimen of it as that of the platform at this ancient site.

[PLATE L., Fig.