somewhat more open; for here lies the Plain of Rephaim, commencing just at the southern brink of the Valley of Hinnom, and stretching off south-west, where it runs to the western sea.
This rough sketch of the terrain of Jerusalem, which I take mainly from Sir George Grove, will enable the reader to appreciate the two great advantages of its position. On the one hand the ravines which entrench it on the west, south, and east—out of which the rock slopes of the city rose almost like the walls of a fortress out of its ditches, must have rendered it impregnable on those quarters to the warfare of the old world. On the other hand its junction with the more level ground on its north and north-east sides afforded an opportunity of expansion, of which we know advantage was taken, and which gave it a remarkable superiority over other cities of Palestine, and especially of Judah, which, though secure on their hill-tops, were unable to expand beyond them.
The western side of the city is more than 100 feet higher than the eastern; but the Mount of Olives overtops even the highest part of the city by more than 150 feet.
The Walls and Streets of the City.—Jerusalem is surrounded by walls some 40 to 50 feet high, imposing in appearance but far from strong. For the most part they were erected as they now stand by Sultan Suleiman, in the year 1542, and they appear to occupy the site of the walls of the middle ages, from the ruins of which they are mostly constructed. On the eastern side, along the brow of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the section of the wall south of St Stephen's Gate is of far earlier date, and is constructed in part of massive bevelled stones. A great stone at the south-eastern corner is estimated to weigh more than one hundred tons; and this block is one of a course of stones, 6 feet in thickness, which extends along the south wall for 600 feet, though not without gaps. The walls
