Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/173

Description of Mount Moriah. 155 Towards the centre, east and west of the plateau, were two parallel walls ; of which the intervening space and the hollows of the ground had been filled up ; to the north the platform had been lowered, whilst to the south it had been raised so as to bring it to a level. The whole space marked ABCD (Fig. 109), had been cleared, the north-west angle scooped out of the rock, and the court hemmed in by a natural wall ; the north portion of which is full eight metres high. The soil at the north-east angle, on the other hand, consisted almost entirely of detritus. De Vogué erroneously supposed that the Birket-Israil had its outlet into the Kedron beyond the haram ; but the English diggings have proved that the ravine which at this point forms the pool, slants under the north-east angle of the high terrace, where was found the greatest accumulation- of rubbish. A gallery, I, was driven along the eastern wall, and a shaft sunk through the shingle, when a small cistern for collecting the rain water which drains into a canal running along the sanctuary wall was reached at a depth of 38 m. 10 c. below the present surface. 1 Was it formerly roofed over ? Sir C. Warren thinks it highly probable ; but as he was not permitted to prosecute his investigations within the precincts of the sanctuary, absolute certainty is impossible. An artificial ground had been made to the south, supported by a whole series of vaults or arches forming the square, EFGH. The English explorers ascertained that the platform was almost level, except at angle A, which crumbled away and could not be thoroughly cleared. The platform was laid out in terraces ; the Kubbet-es-Sakhra occupying the upper, whilst the courts of the temple formed the lower 5 m. below ; but still sufficiently high to overlook the surrounding ground. The highest apparent rise is seen at the south-east angle, where it reaches 14 m. above the surface ; the bottom of the ravine to the north-east, however, is buried under 100 feet of accumulated rubbish; and throughout galleries were driven, shafts were sunk at great depth to reach the wall which rests on the rock. 2 As was stated earlier, the north side of the haram was on a level with the surrounding country. To guard against this incon- 1 Recovery, p. 186. 2 The depth of the detritus was found as follows : the base of the wall at south- west angle, is 20 m. 60 c. below the present level of the valley ; facing the west gate, 22 m. 19 c. ; and at south-east angle, 24 m. ^2 c.