one of their large leathern buckets, which they let down and filled, to serve in part as a counterpoise. Having prepared myself and adjusted the rope, I lighted one of my candles, and commenced the descent. The entrance is not quite two feet square, and so continues for a few feet, when it suddenly expands, and the remainder of the passage I should judge to be twelve feet square. I was let down too rapidly to scrutinize closely; but all that I could distinguish appeared to be solid rock, and the faces were hewn square. On meeting the bucket, I found it streaming at a dozen apertures, and for the rest of the way was under a cold shower-bath, and could with difficulty keep my light without the circle of it. Several feet above the water, I observed four arched recesses in the rock, opposite one another, each about two feet deep, six high and four wide. A little lower, six feet above the water, I noticed a door-way in the rock. On reaching the surface of the water, by the vibrations of the rope before I could gain a footing, my light was extinguished, and I was left in total darkness. I had previously remarked beneath the door-way a shelving shallow side of the well, which I had reached before disengaging myself. My matches were yet dry, and I now lighted other candles, which I had brought. "I first mounted to the door-way, which was small and led to an arched chamber excavated in the rock, about fifteen feet in length and ten in breadth. Its height was but three or four feet; and its floor was uneven and covered with loose fragments of rock. The ceiling or curvelinear arch, running lengthwise, was very regular and overlaid with stucco. As I turned to descend, I noticed that the excavation below, forming the water-basin, was more irregular than above. There were no steps leading down; and the chamber did not seem to be constructed with any reference to the

water.

“On the other side, directly opposite, was the passage or channel for the water. These were the only two openings from the well. I wished to ascertain their directions, and had brought a delicate pocket-compass, which was unfortunately injured in the descent, and I now found it to be useless. I regret this accident, as I could myself form no conjecture on the point; and I think that any data which the natives can have, must be very uncertain. "I now descended into the water, the temperature of which was

much milder than I expected to find it at this season. The bottom of the well was uneven and gravelly. The average depth of the water was four and a half feet, and it was about the same in the passage. The entrance of the passage was more than ten feet high. I had just passed into it, when I came to an irregular opening, twenty feet high, and perhaps as long and broad. It had once been covered, in the direction of the passage, with an arch of hewn stone; the lower parts of which remained, though their base was higher than the top of the present water-channel. I climbed up on the right, and looked over the portion of the wall remaining there ; but saw here, as above, nothing but the natural rock, within which the wall had been laid. Beyond this opening, the passage, which was two or three feet wide, was covered with stones laid transversely, leaving it about five feet high. It was not straight, though its general course was direct. The bottom was not flat, but terminated in a groove. The cutting was so uneven as to suggest the thought, that advantage might have been taken of a natural seam or fissure in the rock. The covering of the passage was laid without order, with occasional breaches running up three or four feet; and was evidently composed of the ruins of some other structure. There were ordinary hewn stones; and then there was a section of polished marble shafts, half a foot in diameter, some of them square and fluted. In one place, the end of a granite column, a foot or more in diameter, had sunk obliquely into the passage; and at that stage of the water could with difficulty be passed. I came at length to a well or basin in the passage, and could proceed no further.

"There had been all the way but a few inches from the surface of the water to the top of the passage, barely enough to keep my head and carry my light between them. I had taken an Indiarubber life-preserver, which I found serviceable; without it, indeed, especially as I was alone, I should hardly have ventured so far. The opposite wall of the basin, which was apparently square and of the same width as the passage, now shut down before me; and there was not here space enough above the water to allow me to reach and explore it thoroughly. Above, I could see only the face of the rock, and below, could only reach with my foot the rim of the basin, on a level with the bottom of the passage. One would naturally have inferred this was the fountain-head. If it be a

mere descent to a lower gallery extending further, it can evidently be traversed only when the water is very low. I now measured with a rule the distance back to the well and found it to be eighty feet. I may add, that this is the only actual measurement I took. I was prepared to make careful observations, but situated as I was, it was impossible.

"I had taken five or six candles with me, anticipating a longer exploration. Reserving one of them, I now illuminated the passage with the others; and having taken my last view of it, leaving them burning there, I emerged into the well and prepared for the last stage to be hauled up eighty-one feet by these Arabs. I gave the signal, and was started; and had just reached the recesses above mentioned, when my light was again extinguished. My descent had been uniform, but I was necessarily drawn up at intervals, which caused a greater vibration. I spun around the dark vault, striking against one side and another, but so gently as to receive no injury. The excursion was soon finished; and though I had not penetrated so far as I had hoped, yet I was happy to find myself again above ground, beneath the open heaven.

"The impression which I have brought from the visit is, that this excavation was not originally a well. What connexion with a mere well have artificial recesses and chambers in a rock ? It has a more general resemblance to some of the spacious sepulchral excavations without the city. The wall, whose remains I noticed in the larger opening, I supposed at the time had been only a covering for the passage; but I am now inclined to the belief, that here was formerly a chamber arched and stuccoed like the one opposite; that its floor and door-way have been cut down to make a passage for the water, and perhaps a portion of its arch with its pillars used to form the present irregular covering of the channel; and that the area between the chambers has been hollowed into a basin for the water. This thought did not occur to me during the examination; and I do not submit the opinion with confidence. And if the passage extends further, it must be fully explored before any just conclusion can be come at.

Yet the well of Job, far down in the valley below, has traces of ornamental arches in its masonry; and an Arabian writer describes it

as having in its lower part a grotto or chamber walled up, from which the water strictly issues. See Bibl. Res. I. pp. 491, 492.—ED.

"I am sorry thus to increase doubt, where I had hoped to throw light. The principal thing that I conceive I have done, is to demonstrate the impossibility of a satisfactory examination, except when the water is at the lowest point, near the close of the dry season."

Thus far Mr. Wolcott. It is indeed greatly to be regretted, that an enterprise so intrepidly undertaken, should not have been crowned with more success. The result is, unquestionably, to increase our doubt and perplexity. If the excavation were originally a well, how are we to account for the chambers and the later walls of masonry and the ceiling of columns, which certainly could not have been laid when there was water in the passage? Or if it were not originally a well, whence comes the present copious volume of water? Future researches may perhaps decide the question, if made in the month of September or October.

The distance of the well from the adjacent entrance of the Haram, Mr. W. found, by measurement, to be one hundred and twenty-four feet; instead of one hundred and thirty-five feet, as given in the Researches. This error was mine; and probably arose from the fact that the distance was measured only by paces; which ought indeed to have been mentioned. If then Mr. Wolcott reached the end of the passage at the distance of eighty feet from the well; it follows, that this fountain is not under the Haram at all, and apparently had nothing to do with the Jewish temple; being outside of the enclosure and more than forty feet distant from the wall.

In this connexion I may add, that when in Jerusalem it was spoken of as a common report among the natives, that there is a spot near the Damascus gate, without the city, where in a still time, by putting the ear near to the ground, the trickling or murmur of a subterranean water-course can be heard. Mr. Wolcott also met with the same report, with the addition, that the sound could be heard only at night. Now this spot is in the depression or valley which extends down from the Damascus gate along the west side of the Haram; in or near which same hollow is also the fountain above described. Whether this report, if established, would have any bearing on this fountain or on Siloam, must be left to future investigations.

1 Vol. I. p. 509.

Fortress Antonia. A new view was taken of this fortress in the Biblical Researches,' making it coextensive from W. to E. with the area of the temple; from which it was separated by a massive wall, while it was bounded on the north by the deep fosse now known as Bethesda. At that time I had the strong impression, that the eastern wall of the present enclosure of the Haram, towards its northern part, projected beyond the rest, and thereby afforded a corroboration of the same theory; presenting probably the foundations of the southeastern tower described by Josephus. But as I had no note of the circumstance, and did not wish to build on mere impressions, nothing was said respecting it. The following notice of Mr. Wolcott supplies the omission:

"The foundations of the N. E. corner of the area of the Haram, appear to have been those of a tower. The stones are ancient and massive; and on the east side for the length of eighty-four feet, project several feet from the line of the Haram wall. Those on the north side, between the corner and the fosse, are of the same age and size. The appearance indicates a tower, forming a part of the ancient fortress Antonia."

Ancient Second Wall. Of this wall, which, according to Josephus, ran from the gate of Gennath in a circular course to the fortress Antonia, we were able to find no traces except probably the two massive ancient towers adjacent to the Damascus gate.2 Further search was made by Messrs. Wolcott and Tipping, and with better success; as appears from the following extract:

"We thought that we discovered other traces [of the second wall]; particularly in the angle which the present wall makes, near the Latin convent. Here are the remains of a wall, built of large hewn and bevelled stones; and near by are blocks so large that we at first took them to be the natural rock, but which on closer examination appear to have been bevelled, though now dislocated. These, with the large amount of foundation rubbish lying within the wall at this point, might mark this as the site of one of the ancient towers in the second wall; built, according to Josephus, with immense stones and solid. An unusual proportion of the stones in the present wall between the northwest corner of the city and the Damascus gate, and also of those in the adjacent buildings, are ancient and bevelled; and we could hardly resist 2 Ibid. pp. 461-4.

Vol. I. p. 431 sq.