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wall turns to the west, and here a certain quarter of the old city which was called Ophel has been shut out of the modern town. Captain Warren made several excavations on this ground, and succeeded in uncovering a large section of the ancient wall of Ophel❘ with its flanking towers, but unfortunately the points at which it turned and crossed the Tyropcon valley were not found. The present wall passes the valley, now almost filled with rubbish, some distance higher up, and then crosses the western hill to the south-west angle of the town, whence it runs in a direct line to the Jaffa gate. The ancient city extended over the southern portion of the western hill far beyond the modern walls, bnt no clue has yet been found to its limits in this direction; the wall was probably not far down the southern slope, and perhaps included part of the aqueduct which brought water from Solomon's Pools; on the western side there is at one point, the Protestant cemetery, a valuable indication of the course of the wall in a rock cutting which can be followed some distance towards the north, but terminates abruptly on the south at the most interesting point. The rock here presents the appearance of a perpendicular cliff which has been cut to give additional security to the wall built upon it, and at one place there is a narrow rock-hewn flight of steps to enable the inhabitants to reach the valley below. On the accompanying plan (page 277), the approximate course which we suppose the third wall to have followed is indicated.

The first wall ran, according to Josephus, from the Tower Hippicus to the Temple, and there is no doubt that it followed the right bank of the small branch of the Tyropoon previously mentioned, and crossed the central ravine at what is called the Causeway, or Wilson's Arch; its general direction, therefore, would be that of David Street. The second wall is said to have commenced at the gate called Gennath of the first wall, and, circling round to the north, joined the Tower of Antonia. Our own belief is that it passed along the eastern side of the Pool of Hezekiah, and, including the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre, turned eastward to the barracks near the Ecce Homo Arch, where M. Ganneau has recently proved the existence of a rockhewn ditch. Many writers, however, suppose that the second wall commenced at an old arch now called the Gate Gennath, and passed along the line of the bazaars to the east of the church, in which case the reputed Sepulchre would have been without the city walls at the date of the crucifixion. It will be sufficient to state here that no certain trace of the second wall has yet been found, and that Captain Warren's excavations have shown conclusively that the so-called Gennath gate is a comparatively modern structure, unconnected with any masonry of the character of a city wall. The presumed courses of the first and second walls are shown on the map (page 277).

The Haram esh Sherif is one of the most sacred and ancient of all holy places; within its area was the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on which David set up his altar; there, too, were the Temples of

Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod, and the fortress of Antonia; and there at the present day is the great mosque which is esteemed so sacred by the followers of Mahomet. The exact positions of the Temple and of its altar are still matter of dispute, but we can at any rate feel that the hill is the same Mount Moriah round which cluster so many memories connected with Jewish history, with the earlier and later years of our Lord's life, and with the ministry of the apostles; and that somewhere on the broad level surface stood the building which excited the admiration and astonishment of the queen of Sheba. The Haram, or Sanctuary, is enclosed by a massive wall, perhaps the finest specimen of mural masonry in the world, which runs very nearly all round it; and before attempting to describe the interior, we will take a survey of the wall itself, commencing at the south-west angle. We may state here that the masonry is of varied character, due to the numerous reconstructions which have taken place at different epochs. The lowest portions, and therefore the oldest, are built of what have been called "bevelled stones," a term which has led to much confusion; the stones really have a "draft" from one quarter to three-eighths of an inch deep, and two to five inches wide, chiselled round their margins, the faces being left rough, finely picked, or chiselled according to the taste of the time or to the labour that could be spared upon them. Above these stones, and often mixed with them, are those used during the first reconstruction, large blocks scarcely inferior in size, but having plain chiselled faces, without a marginal draft; this gradually changes into another style, similar in character, but with a marked difference in the size of the stones, and above are the later Turkish additions. The stones are from three to four feet high, and the largest stone that has yet been noticed is one at the south-west angle, which is 38 feet 9 inches long, 4 feet high, and 10 feet deep; this enormous block is built into the wall at a height of eighty-five feet above the surface of the ground, and when noticing the great quarries at the Damascus gate, we will attempt to give an explanation of the manner in which it was placed in position.

The south-west angle and the wall for some distance on either side contain some of the finest masonry in the enclosure, and it is interesting to notice that this angle is a right angle, whilst the other angles of the enclosure are not, a fact which has an important bearing on the site of the Temple, which is described as being square. Proceeding up the western wall, we find at a distance of thirty-nine feet the remains of an old arch which were first brought to notice by Dr. Robinson, and are now known as "Robinson's Arch;" the arch is fifty feet wide, and has a span of 41 feet 6 inches, and there is no doubt that a road passed over it to the centre aisle of the royal cloisters, "Stoa Basilica," which Herod built along the southern wall of the Temple. Captain Warren's excavations showed that the springing of the arch was forty-two feet above the ground, but whether it was continued westward by a series of arches, or whether there was an ascent by a grand staircase, is not known.

At the same place Captain Warren found a remarkable aqueduct cut in the rock, which is perhaps one of the oldest remains hitherto discovered at Jerusalem, for it was in existence before the great wall was built by Herod the Great, and was cut through in laying the foundations. At 270 feet from the angle we reach an enormous lintel, over a closed entrance now called "Barclay's Gateway;" this gateway formerly gave access to a large vaulted passage, which, after running sixty-nine feet in a direction perpendicular to the west

cealed by Jeremiah. Beyond the Wailing Place is "Wilson's Arch," one of the most perfect and magnifi. cent remains in Jerusalem, dating from the same period as the construction of the Haram wall; it has a span of 41 feet 6 inches, exactly the same as that of Robinson's Arch, and formed part of a grand viaduct which crossed the valley towards the palace of Herod on the western hill. In this respect it corresponds exactly with the description given by Josephus of one of the approaches to the Temple, which "led to the king's palace and went to

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wall, entered a chamber covered by a well-built dome, and then, turning at right angles to the south, ascended by a ramp, or steps, and reached the surface of the Temple area in the Stoa Basilica. Portions of this passage may still be seen in the Mosque of Burak, and in one of the Haram cisterns, and there can be no doubt about its being one of the approaches to the Temple of Herod, which Josephus describes as leading thence to the suburbs.

North of Barclay's Gateway is the fine section of the wall known as the Jews' Wailing Place, from the fact that every Friday, the day before the Sabbath, the Jews come in large numbers to kiss the sacred stones and weep outside the precincts which their rabbis forbid them to enter, lest by any chance they should tread over the spot where the ark is supposed to have been con

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a passage over the intermediate valley." To the west Captain Warren found three additional arches of the viaduct, of smaller size, and an ancient passage running towards the west, which may have been a secret means of communication between Herod's palace and the Temple, as it certainly is the subterranean gallery mentioned by the old Arab writer, Mejr ed Din, "which David caused to be made from the gate of the chain to the citadel," and of which portions were occasionally found in his day. From Wilson's Arch to the northwest corner the ground is so covered by buildings and rubbish that the wall of the Sanctuary cannot be seen; but at one point an old entrance to the area has been found in a cistern, which pierces the massive wall and is perpendicular to it; this may be the second gate mentioned by Josephus as leading to the suburbs.

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THE JEWS' WAILING PLACE. (From a Photograph taken for the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem.)

At the north-west angle the rock rises to the surface and there is no wall, but we find traces of the ditch which separated Bezetha from Mount Moriah, and protected the northern face of the enclosure. The presence of this ditch had long been supposed from certain indications in two remarkable subterranean passages, but the verification of its existence is due to the recent labours of M. Ganneau. A fine aqueduct coming from the north, but of which the source has not yet been found, passed through one of the subterranean passages, and entered the area at the northwest angle through a passage cut in the rock, thirty feet high, and covered by large stones laid horizontally across. Nothing can be seen of the north wall of the Sanctuary until we reach the Birket Israil, the traditional Pool of Bethesda, a large reservoir constructed in the bed of the fourth valley, to which we have already alluded; the pool is upwards of eighty feet deep, but filled up to an average height of thirtyfive feet by rubbish and sewage. This pool was partially excavated in the rock, and had an overflow to the Kedron valley, which shows that in its original form the reservoir was only twenty-five feet deep, and there are indications that this state of affairs existed during the early Christian period; it follows, therefore, that the north wall of the Sanctuary at this point, which is also the south wall of the pool, is of comparatively recent date, a fact previously inferred from the character of the masonry. No trace has yet been found of the system of conduits by which the reservoir was supplied with water.

Passing out of the city at the St. Stephen's gate, and turning to the south, we reach a large tower at the north-east angle of the Sanctuary, called the Tower of Antonia, which is built of fine massive masonry. The natural rock falls very rapidly here, as the tower stands on the northern slope of the fourth valley, and there is an accumulation of rubbish no less than 110 feet deep; the original height of the wall was 150 feet, and we may remark that the character of the masonry is quite different to that met with at the south-east angle and other portions of the enclosing wall. Proceeding southwards, we reach the Golden Gate, which has been found to stand from thirty to forty feet above the surface of the rock, and to have in front of it a massive wall, which may perhaps have been the retaining wall of a terrace running from north to south above the Kedron valley. The Golden Gate has long been closed, in consequence of a tradition that when the Christians take Jerusalem, they will make their triumphal entry through it. The ground in front is occupied by a Moslem cemetery, making excavation impossible; but when we reach the south-east angle, there is no such difficulty, and here Captain Warren made one of his most interesting excavations. The rubbish has accumulated at this point to a depth of eighty-two feet, and the height of the Sanctuary wall must originally have been as much as 150 feet; the corner-stone was let into the rock about two feet, and carefully dressed with a four-inch marginal "draft;" and in a small

hole in the rock near it a little earthenware jar was found which looked as if it had been purposely placed there. On several of the stones in the wall there were characters in red paint apparently put on with a brush, and about five inches high; Mr. Deutsch at once pronounced them to be Phoenician characters, and Captain Warren believes them to be quarry marks put on before the stones were placed in situ. If this be the case, the stones must have been dressed before they were brought from the quarry, a curious commentary on the passage in 1 Kings vi. 7, "And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building." At the foot of the wall there is a layer of fat mould from eight to ten feet deep, and on the top of this a layer of broken pottery about two inches thick, with several handles of jars, on two of which Phoenician inscriptions were found, with the royal crest of an eagle; the words on one are "Le Melek Zepha"--belonging to King Zepha. At first sight it would appear that we have here traces of the Phoenician workmen employed by Solomon in the building of the Temple; but the style of the masonry is similar to that of the Herodian period, and we know that the Phœnician character was used for certain purposes quite as late as the reign of Herod, and it may have been retained for masons' marks, potters' stamps, &c.

Turning the south-east angle, we find in the south wall a closed entrance called the Single Gateway, beneath which, at a considerably lower level, Captain Warren discovered a fine passage three feet wide, about sixty feet long, and eighteen feet high, the object of which could not be ascertained. Further west are three closed entrances known as the Triple Gateway, which formerly gave access to three covered passages in the interior of the Sanctuary, and here M. de Sauley discovered two remarkable rock-hewn passages, which may have had some connection with the overflow from the cisterns of the Temple. At this point the rock rises to the surface, and we are able to ascertain the top of this portion of the ridge of Moriah. Still more to the west is the Double Gateway, which will be more conveniently described when examining the interior; it is sufficient to say here that it is undoubtedly a relic of the Temple of Herod. Not far from it is an inscription of Hadrian built into the wall upside down, which some writers suppose belonged to the statue of Hadrian that was erected in the Temple area. From this gateway to the south-west angle the wall presents no features of particular interest.

The discoveries of Captain Warren have been fre quently mentioned, and here we may give in his own words a description of one of the shafts by which he penetrated through the enormous accumulations of rubbish which conceal the foundations of the Temple. "The shaft mouth," he says, "is on the south side of the Sanctuary wall. Near the south-west angle beside it, to the east, is a large mass of rubbish that has been brought up; while over the mouth itself is a triangular

would indicate that when the Temple was standing the ravine still preserved to a great extent its natural form.

In the north-west corner a large mass of rock has been removed, and the effect of this has been to leave a scarp or perpendicular cliff some twenty-three feet high beneath the barracks on the north wall, and a smaller

gin of iron with iron wheel attached, with guy for running up the excavated soil. Looking down the shaft, the Haram wall is seen, and a man standing at what appears to be the bottom. An order is given to this man, who repeats it, and then, faintly, is heard a sepulchral voice answering, as it were, from another world. Reaching down to the man who is visible is a thirty-one of about three feet at the north-west angle of the four-feet rope ladder, and on descending by it, one finds he is standing on a ledge which the ladder does not touch by four feet. This ledge is the top of a wall running north and south, and abutting on the Sanctuary wall. On peering down from it, one sees the Sanctuary wall with its projecting courses until they are lost in the darkness below, observing also at the same time that two sides of the shaft are cut through the soil, and are self-supporting. Now, to descend this second drop, the ladder is again required. Accordingly, having told the man at the bottom to get under cover, it is lowered to the ledge, whence it is found that it does not reach the bottom by several feet. It is therefore lowered the required distance, and one has to reach it by climbing down hand over hand for about twelve feet. On passing along, one notes the marvellous joints of the Sanctuary wall-stones, and also probably gets a few blows on skull and knuckles from falling pebbles. On reaching the bottom, one is at a depth of seventy-nine feet from the surface, and from here we commence the exploring of the 'bottomless pit.' After dropping a rope down, we found that it was only six feet deep, though it looked black enough for anything. Climbing down, we found ourselves in a passage running south from the Sanctuary, four feet high by two feet wide."

We may now turn to the interior of the Sanctuary, which presents many points of interest, and is to a certain extent made ground. Hollows have been filled in with rubbish, supporting vaults have been built, and masses of rock cut away, so that now, with the exception of a deep hollow in front of the Golden Gate, a slight rise towards the north-west angle, and the raised platform in the centre, the surface is almost level. As no excavation is allowed within the sacred area, it is difficult to form an idea of the original form of Mount Moriah; but by careful observation of the points at which the rock is visible in cisterns and other places, Captain Warren has been able to make an approximate restoration of the ridge. At the north-east corner, as we have already seen, the fourth valley, in which the Pool of Bethesda lies, runs across the Sanctuary, to fall into the Kedron north of the Golden Gate; and here we are at once struck by the fact that the bed of the ravine is no less than 110 feet below the present surface of the ground, and that all traces of the valley have been completely obliterated. Whether the ravine has been filled with rubbish or arched over by tiers of vaults is still uncertain, but we have a guide to the date of the work in the fact that the Pool of Bethesda was, during the early Christian period, only twenty-five feet deep, and that, for a height of twenty-six feet, the northern side of the Golden Gate is concealed by rubbish: this

platform. Between these two places the rock is visible on the surface, except at one point where a ditch has been cut, which would limit the extent of the Temple area in this direction. On the platform stands the great mosque, Kubbet es Sakhrah (Dome of the Rock), which covers the sacred rock whence Mahomet is said to have ascended into heaven. The rock rises 4 feet 9 inches above the platform, and much has been written on its isolated position; but if the ground were restored to its original form, we should see nothing remarkable, the sacred rock being on the line of greatest elevation or back-bone of the ridge of Moriah. At the south-east corner the floor of the area is supported by a series of vaults known as Solomon's Stables, the age of which has been matter of some dispute: in their present state they are certainly a re-construction; but whether an earlier system of vaults existed, is not known. The floor of the vaults is 107 feet above the rock, and the manner in which this space is filled up is still a matter of speculation. The south-west corner is also made ground, but here we have no indication of its character.

The principal buildings in the Sanctuary are the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque el Aksa; the former is a very beautiful, octagonal building, ornamented with rich stained-glass windows, mosaics of varied pattern, marble, and tiles. According to Mr. Fergusson, it is the church built by Constantine over the sepulchre of our Lord, which he places in this position, but according to other writers it was erected by Abd-el-Melik, 684 A.D.; by the Crusaders, who used it as a church, it was called the Templum Domini. The Mosque el Aksa, at the south end of the Sanctuary, is not so remarkable for the beauty of its architectural details, but it is interesting as being the Templum Solomonis of the Crusaders, from which the Templars derived their name, and the façade dates from the period of the Christian occupation of the city. Beneath the mosque is a double passage leading up to the area from the Double Gateway mentioned above as being certainly a portion of Herod's Temple, and the character of the masonry of the passage, and of the vestibule within the gateway, fully bears out this view; it has generally been identified with the "Huldah " gate of the Temple.

So much water was used in the ceremonies connected with the Temple service, that we should naturally expect to find some special arrangements for its storage, and these, in fact, exist at the present day in a series of rock-hewn cisterns, varying from twenty-five to fifty feet in height, and of peculiar form. One of these cisterns, called "the great sea," would hold more than 2,000,000 gallons, so that the whole series would contain about 12,000,000 gallons. The older ones have been formed by, so to speak, mining out the soft rock (malaki), and

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