part of the wall. But further reflection warns us that it is not of itself sufficient; the old alphabet might be but little changed in the days when Herod rebuilt the Temple, and the forms of masons' marks might be the same with Phœnicians and with Romans. As, however, they appear to be quarry signs, they seem to imply that the stones were shaped at the quarry, and not upon the ground, and thus support the Scripture statement that the Temple was erected without sound of axe or hammer. The same may be said of the marginal drafts or bevels, which on some stones are carried all round, on some round three sides, or only two, and exhibit no pattern or design when we look at the wall as a whole. The quarry whence the stones appear to have been brought is called the Cotton Cavern; its entrance is outside the walls, east of Damascus Gate, and it extends under the north-eastern part of the city for more than a quarter of a mile. The cavern was not unknown in the time of the Sultans, but it was afterwards lost sight of, until in the year 1852, a dog scratching away the earth and stones, again uncovered the mouth of it. In this quarry we go over ground covered with chips, we see some blocks of stone in the rough, and others cut, and some only partially severed from the rock. We see also the places where lamps rested to give light to the workers. But in the fat mould at the angle of the wall we do not find any stone chippings.
In the Kedron Valley there is an accumulation of nearly 100 feet of loose stone chippings and other debris, lying against the wall of the Sanctuary, covering all the western side of the valley, and resting at its eastern part upon the slope of Olivet. The true bed of the Kedron is 40 feet west of its present surface bed. On the west side of the true bed was found a masonry wall, 3 feet thick; and at intervals, as the rock rises other walls are encountered, built apparently for supporting terraces.
