wall of the reservoir is rock, and the east wall is partly rock and partly masonry; while the south wall of the pool is at the same time the north wall of the Sanctuary.
The excavations on all sides of the Sanctuary, and the examination of the cisterns within the enclosure, show that Mount Moriah was originally somewhat pear-shaped in contour, the rock shelving off on all sides from the summit, which is now under the Dome of the Rock. At the north-western corner, however, the rock was high, and there was a narrow neck which joined this hill to Bezetha and made it a sort of peninsula in form. This neck has been artificially cut through.
The Tunnels from the Virgin's Fountain.—From the Virgin's Fountain, about 320 yards south of the Triple Gate, and on the eastern side of Ophel, a tunnel has been excavated through the hill to the Pool of Siloam. The distance between these two places is not much more than 300 yards, but the tunnel winds about and its length is 1708 feet (or 569 yards). Robinson and others had been through it, and found it difficult to traverse, for it is necessary to go part of the way crawling on hands and feet. Colonel Warren, accompanied by Serjeant Birtles and a fellah, patiently explored it, taking compass bearings at every turn, and giving us at last an accurate plan of it. It was no easy work crawling in three or four inches of water, recording observations with pencil and paper, and carrying candles at the same time. Nor was the business unattended with danger, for the flow of water being intermittent, and an unexpected flow occurring while they were in the tunnel, it proved very difficult to keep their mouths above water.
An inscription within this tunnel escaped the notice of all explorers until lately, and was not detected even by Warren.
The present Pool of Siloam measures about 55 feet,
