DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0074
JERUSALEM. 5i
straddles across it. Then can be seen that one course in the Sanctuary wall, near the bottom,
is quite smooth all over, the stone being finely dressed, all other courses being only well
dressed round the drafts. One also sees two stout boards lying against the Sanctuary wall,
under which the men retire whenever an accidental shower of stones renders their position
dangerous. One is now 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, and we explored this passage. It is of rough rubble masonry, with flat stones at top
similar to the aqueduct from Triple Gate, but not so carefully constructed. The floor and
sides are very muddy, as if water gathers there during the rainy season.
" It struck me that it might be an overflow aqueduct from the Temple, and that there
might be a water-conduit underneath. We scrambled along for a long way on our feet, our
skulls and spines coming in unhappy contact with the passage roof. After about two hundred
feet we found that the mud reached higher up, and we had to crawl by means of elbows and
toes. Gradually the passage got more and more filled up, and our bodies could barely
squeeze through, and there did not appear sufficient air to support us for any length of time,
so that, having advanced four hundred feet, we commenced a difficult retrograde movement,
having to get back half-way before we could turn our heads round. . . . This passage is
on a level with the foundations of the Haram wall, eighty-five feet below the surface of the
ground. . . . We have sunk a shaft three hundred and fifty feet to the south of the
Sanctuary wall, and have had the good fortune, at a depth of sixty feet, to drop directly upon
our passage. . . . The passage was cleared out for a total distance of six hundred feet
from the Sanctuary wall and was then abandoned. . . . This aqueduct appears to have
existed before the south-west angle of the Sanctuary, and to have been cut across and
rendered useless when the wall was built."
The Haram esh Sherif has a general elevation of two thousand four hundred and nineteen
feet above the Mediterranean, and its surface is almost level, if we except the raised platform
in the centre, a deep hollow in front of the Golden Gate, and a slight rise towards the north-
west corner. It has been formed by cutting the rock away in some places, by building
supporting vaults in others, and by filling in hollows with large stones and rubbish. The
dimensions are—north side, one thousand and forty-two feet; east side, one thousand five
hundred and thirty feet ; south side, nine hundred and twenty-two feet; and west side, one
thousand six hundred and one feet. The enclosure contains thirty-five acres, and is nearly
one mile in circuit.
In the north-west corner the natural rock is either visible or but slightly covered with
earth over some extent of ground, and the surface has been artificially formed by cutting down
the rock under the Turkish barrack, and then entirely removing the upper strata as far as the
north-west angle of the raised platform, where the rock is scarped, and rises nearly to the
straddles across it. Then can be seen that one course in the Sanctuary wall, near the bottom,
is quite smooth all over, the stone being finely dressed, all other courses being only well
dressed round the drafts. One also sees two stout boards lying against the Sanctuary wall,
under which the men retire whenever an accidental shower of stones renders their position
dangerous. One is now 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, and we explored this passage. It is of rough rubble masonry, with flat stones at top
similar to the aqueduct from Triple Gate, but not so carefully constructed. The floor and
sides are very muddy, as if water gathers there during the rainy season.
" It struck me that it might be an overflow aqueduct from the Temple, and that there
might be a water-conduit underneath. We scrambled along for a long way on our feet, our
skulls and spines coming in unhappy contact with the passage roof. After about two hundred
feet we found that the mud reached higher up, and we had to crawl by means of elbows and
toes. Gradually the passage got more and more filled up, and our bodies could barely
squeeze through, and there did not appear sufficient air to support us for any length of time,
so that, having advanced four hundred feet, we commenced a difficult retrograde movement,
having to get back half-way before we could turn our heads round. . . . This passage is
on a level with the foundations of the Haram wall, eighty-five feet below the surface of the
ground. . . . We have sunk a shaft three hundred and fifty feet to the south of the
Sanctuary wall, and have had the good fortune, at a depth of sixty feet, to drop directly upon
our passage. . . . The passage was cleared out for a total distance of six hundred feet
from the Sanctuary wall and was then abandoned. . . . This aqueduct appears to have
existed before the south-west angle of the Sanctuary, and to have been cut across and
rendered useless when the wall was built."
The Haram esh Sherif has a general elevation of two thousand four hundred and nineteen
feet above the Mediterranean, and its surface is almost level, if we except the raised platform
in the centre, a deep hollow in front of the Golden Gate, and a slight rise towards the north-
west corner. It has been formed by cutting the rock away in some places, by building
supporting vaults in others, and by filling in hollows with large stones and rubbish. The
dimensions are—north side, one thousand and forty-two feet; east side, one thousand five
hundred and thirty feet ; south side, nine hundred and twenty-two feet; and west side, one
thousand six hundred and one feet. The enclosure contains thirty-five acres, and is nearly
one mile in circuit.
In the north-west corner the natural rock is either visible or but slightly covered with
earth over some extent of ground, and the surface has been artificially formed by cutting down
the rock under the Turkish barrack, and then entirely removing the upper strata as far as the
north-west angle of the raised platform, where the rock is scarped, and rises nearly to the