the  pendentives  of  the  interior,  hut  do  not  correspond  with  them  if
position.  The  architects,  however,  doubtless  intended  to  suggest
some  such  connection  between  the  internal  and  external  orna-
mentation. The  domes  are  constructed  partly  of  stone  and  partly
of  brick,  the  pendents  being  of  stone,  or  of  plaster  and  lath-work,
and  they  are  sometimes  of  considerable  length.  The  finest  arc
probably  those  of  the  Khalifs'  Tombs.  The  greatly  elongated  domes
of  the  Mameluke  tombs  have  a  second  dome  structure  in  their  in-
terior. The  latter,  lying  much  lower,  supports  walls  placed  in  a
radiating  form,  which  bear  the  upper  dome.  One  of  these  dilapi-
dated tombs  (p.  327)  affords  a  good  opportunity  of  examining  this
mode  of  construction.  Near  it  there  is  also  a  dome  with  a  lantern,  a
form  quite  foreign  to  the  customary  style  of  Arabian  dome  building.
It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  joints  are  not  cut  in  a  straight
direction,  but  were  formed  in  curved  or  broken  lines  which  re-
quired each  stone  to  be  an  exact  counterpart  of  its  neighbour.
This  arrangement  is  occasionally  seen  in  the  case  of  straight  or
fiat  segment-shaped  plinths,  but  even  there  this  kind  of  con-
struction is  often  merely  simulated  by  means  of  inlaid  marble  of
different  coloi..
