I should have
said, and did say, that it was quite impossible such a wall could
have been penetrated by earth-worms."
In almost all the rooms the pavement has sunk considerably,
especially towards the middle; and this is shown in the three
following sections. The measurements were made by stretching a
string tightly and horizontally over the floor. The section, Fig.
13, was taken from north to south across a room, 18 feet 4 inches
in length, with a nearly perfect pavement, next to the "Red Wooden
Hut." In the northern half, the subsidence amounted to 5.75 inches
beneath the level of the floor as it now stands close to the walls;
and it was greater in the northern than in the southern half; but,
according to Mr. Joyce, the entire pavement has obviously subsided.
In several places, the tesserae appeared as if drawn a little away
from the walls; whilst in other places they were still in close
contact with them.
In Fig. 14, we see a section across the paved floor of the southern
corridor or ambulatory of a quadrangle, in an excavation made near
"The Spring." The floor is 7 feet 9 inches wide, and the broken-
down walls now project only 0.75 of an inch above its level. The
field, which was in pasture, here sloped from north to south, at an
angle of 30 degrees, 40 seconds.
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