travellers the writer among the number-in 1842, and afforded ample opportunity to a clever artist to make accurate drawings and measurements of the whole.

Between the small Mosk of Omar and the southeast angle of the Haram, at the distance of 223 feet from the former, is a small oratory called the Altar of David1; and at a further distance of 71 feet is a double oratory supported by eight piers, which is called the Mart of Science'. This extends nearly to the angle, where is the descent to a small square subterranean chamber, called the "Grotto of the Lord Jesus," in which is a limestone sarcophagus, called "the Cradle of Jesus." The ground-plan of this chamber, Mr. Catherwood remarked, has much the appearance of a tower. Hence is another descent to those extensive substructions that support this part of the platform, called by the Moslems, "the Pool, or Stable of Solomon"." These vaults at present consist of fifteen rows of square pillars, from which spring arches supporting the platform: they extend about 330 feet towards the West, while Northward their width varies from 100 to 300

4 Mejr-ed-din 1. c. p. 83, 86. It is 24 feet square, according to Catherwood.

Ibid. p. 86. He confesses not to know the meaning of this name. It was in his day appropriated to the Hanbelites, as also in Dr. Richardson's time. Travels, Vol. 11. p. 309. The dimensions are 73 feet 6 inches long, by 29 feet wide.

• These substructions are described by Richardson, Vol. 11. pp. 308-311; and by Catherwood in Bartlett's Walks, p. 370. See also Mejr-ed-din, Vol. 11. p. 95. This author names it "the

Stable of Solomon ;" Dr. Richardson,
Berca Solymon," "the Pool," &c.

The following dimensions are from Mr. Catherwood. Thickness of east wall of the Haram, 8ft. 4 in.; length of substructions from East to West, 329 ft. 6 in., of which the gateway and its portals occupy 51 ft. 6 in. at the westernmost extremity. The westernmost passage extends northward from the gate 267 ft., including the south wall. The intercolumniation varies from 15ft. to 30 ft.

feet; but they are closed up both on the West and on the North by walls of more modern date than the architecture of the pillars and arches; and I have no doubt that if the masonry on the West were removed, the passage of communication between this vault and the door in the east wall of the vestibule would be recovered. The roots of the olive-trees on the platform above have struck through the arches, and in some instances taken root again below. The ground rises rapidly from the South-east towards the North and West, so that the height of the southern arches is 35 feet, while the northern ones are but 10 feet high. The whole substruction appears to be of Roman origin. And this is confirmed by a large gateway with two portals, now blocked up with very thick walls, but still marked, as we shall find, in the exterior wall by three Roman arches, which formerly gave entrance to what are now the three Westernmost series of the vaults. Dr. Richardson remarks, that the columns of these substructions are about four feet and a half square, and consist of three stones each. Each stone is bevelled at the end and at the corners, so that the joints appear like those in revealed rustic. The stones, he adds, have been remarkably well cut, but they are much more disintegrated than they are likely to have been in the station that they at present occupy, during the period of eleven hundred years, and have a much older appearance than the arches which they support. The workmanship of the columns he thinks is decidedly Jewish. These vaults abound in Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan legends, some of which are reported by Dr. Richardson. His attendants informed him that there are 3000 such columns under El-Aksa;

and even the large limits that must be allowed to Oriental hyperbole, will scarcely permit us to understand this of the few that are found in the subterranean passages above described, which he was not permitted

to enter.

In passing from these vaults towards the Golden Gate on the North, Dr. Richardson saw "in two places where the ground had been turned up, several fragments of marble columns, and wherever the sward was broken, the ground below exhibited a conglomeration of rubbish of former buildings'."

It

The last building that demands notice within the area is the Golden Gateway, now used as a Mosk. stands at the distance of 1024 feet North of the southeast angle, and exhibits many of the architectural features of the Mosk of Omar, but with some important variations in its constructive principles, which will scarcely allow us to assign it to the same date. Two columns with corresponding pilasters attached to the walls, support a series of arches on which rest dome-vaults with pendentives, similar in construction to those of the subterranean vestibule on the South, and apparently of the same period. The capitals of the columns are bastard Corinthian, not nearly so pure as those of the pilasters2.

Between this Golden Gate and the Gate of the Tribes, is a sacred place of the Moslems on the western wall, named Coursi Suliman, in which they profess to shew the Royal Throne of the Son of David3.

I must now proceed to a survey of the exterior walls of the Haram which I shall commence at the North-east angle, and pass round in order to the East, South, West, and North sides. The Eastern and Southern walls have been constantly measured within these few last years, with strangely different results'. I follow the scientific survey of the Engineering Officers, to whose Field-Book I have had access, comparing the careful observations of Mr. Tipping, which, if not conducted on the most approved principles, yet descend to the minutest particulars. Its extreme length is 1533 feet 3. Courses of massive, ancient masonry may be traced almost in a continuous line along the whole of the eastern side, on the brow of the steep Valley of Jehoshaphat, rising sometimes nearly to the height of the modern walls, in other places scarcely protruding above the soil. This may be accounted for in part by the inequality of the ground and the unequal accumulation of débris, in part also by the ruin of the wall, more complete in some parts than in others. At the N. E. angle of the Haram, e. g. several courses of ancient masonry form a corner tower, projecting slightly from the general face of the wall along a length of 81 feet. Many of the stones measure from 17 to 19 feet in length, while a few exceed 24 feet. They vary from 3 to 4 feet in depth, and from 5 to 8 in

Viz. by Dr. Robinson in 1838. By Lieutenants Aldrich and Symonds, of the Royal Engineers, in 1841. By Messrs. Wolcott and Tipping in 1842. By Mr. Eli Smith, (at Dr. Robinson's request,) early in 1844.

2 Mr. Tipping's measurements and observations are given in Traill's Jo

sephus, pp. xlii-xlvii. His views of these interesting remains are of great value from their extreme accuracy.

3 So the Officers' Field-Book; Mr. Tipping makes it 1525 ft., nearly agreeing with Dr. Robinson and Eli Smith, Catherwood, (in Bartlett's Walks, p. 174,) makes it 1520 ft.

width. At a distance of 375 feet from the point where the southern angle of the N. E. tower recedes, the Golden Gateway projects six feet from the wall, along a frontage of 53 feet. It consists of a double circular archway of Roman construction, but the details of its architectural features are much disfigured by time, and by the process of blocking up the gateway, which was probably first done by Christians from devotional feeling. It was opened only on Palm Sunday, in commemoration of our Lord's triumphant Entry into the Temple through that identical gate, as the Christians of that day were persuaded; and on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, because it was through this gate that the Emperor Heraclius entered the city, bearing the Cross recovered from the Persians'. The Moslems continued the obstruction, apparently to add to the security of the city against the wild Bedawîn of the eastern desert", and not from superstitious forebodings of a Christian enemy, as is sometimes represented. Forty feet South of the Golden Gate is a small Saracenic portal, now closed, which owes it origin to the period of the Frank kingdom, when it was called "the Gate of Josaphat." It was pierced for convenience of entrance to the enclosure when the Golden Gate had been walled up.

See Gesta Francorum Expug. Hierus. in Bongar, Tom. 1. p. 572, and the citations in Quaresmius, Tom. II. p. 336, &c., and the Norman writer, cited by Beugnot, Assise de Jérusalem, Tom. 11. p. 531. In Schultz, p. 111.

This is the only reason stated by Arabian writers. Mejr-ed-din, in Mines d'Orient, Tom. 11. p. 96. He

says, however, that they were closed by Omar, and shall never again be opened until the end of the world.

6 It is spoken of by Parchi (a. D. 1322,) as the Gate Shushan, closed by large square stones. See more particulars below. Mejr-ed-din, Tome II. p. 96, places it near the Gates of Mercy, opposite to the ascent to the platform, named the Stairs of Borak.