the rock. Deep loculi are ranged along the sides, "their mouths, closed by neatly dressed stone slabs, fitting closely into reveals made to receive them. The entrance to the chamber is by a low square opening, fitted with a slab in the same manner, or with a stone door, turning on a sockethinge, and secured by bolts on the inside. In this kind of tomb there is usually a bench, running in front of the loculi, and elevated from a foot and a half to three feet above the floor of the excavation."-(Palestine Exploration, i. 67.) There are tombs on Mount Ebal with benches without loculi, the benches being the resting-place for the corpse.

3. Those in which one entrance leads into a number of chambers. The Tombs of the Judges (p. 181), the Tombs of the Prophets (170), and the Tombs of the Kings are all of this class.

"The Tombs of the Kings are the most interesting of all these remains. They lie to the north of Jerusalem, about half a mile beyond the Damascus Gate. It was a pleasant afternoon when I walked towards them, and found myself at length on the edge of a large square excavation sunk in the earth, with a marble façade on the face of the rock to the west. This excavation in front was sufficiently large to enable me to have a good view of the façade, and the place derived an additionally romantic appearance from the picturesque ferns and plants which draped and dappled the side. The architecture of the façade, according to Fergusson, exhibits the same ill-understood Roman-Doric arrangements as are found in all these tombs. They are ornamented with bunches of grapes, which first appear on Maccabean coins, and foliage which is local and peculiar, and so far as anything is known elsewhere, might be of any age. On the left side, at the end of the portico formed by the architectural façade, there is a very low door,

which one must stoop to enter, and by it is a large stone, which may be rolled so as to close the opening. It reminded me of a large mill-stone, and would certainly require a good deal of strength to move it along the groove cut for its reception. Having entered within the low door, I found myself in a spacious chamber forming a square, whence passages led into other square chambers, round which were numerous deep loculi, with inner and very small chambers beyond them, or at their side. Turning out of the large principal ante-chamber to the west, and passing through a second chamber, I ascended a flight of steps which led to a higher chamber on the north. There lies the broken lid of a sarcophagus, and a sarcophagus taken from this chamber is now preserved in the Louvre at Paris. I noticed, connected with the loculi, ledges to support slabs for closing them in, after the dead should be deposited there. What I have said as to the architecture of tombs will apply in this instance; where, though the tombs are true and proper rock tombs, yet they are externally adorned by architectural work. The architecture points to Roman times, and it seems pretty clear that the catacombs bearing the name of the kings, never could have been prepared for the ancient princes of Judah. Not here are we to look for the Tomb of David and his descendants. Mr. Fergusson considers that they belong to the time of Herod."—(Dr. Stoughton.)

The opinion is now very generally entertained that this is the Tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene, a convert to Judaism, 48 A.D., and who, according to Josephus, was buried here.

About a quarter of an hour to the north-west are the so-called Tombs of the Judges, which have in front an architectural façade with an ornamental pediment, and in the angular space beneath is a pedimented doorway.

Through this you enter into spacious Catacombs, with deep loculi ranged along the sides in three stories; the upper stories with ledges in front, to facilitate the introduction of bodies into the narrow cells, and to support the stones which close up the cells. This arrangement may be regarded as characteristically a Jewish one.

Returning towards Jerusalem, there is, a little before reaching the Tombs of the Kings, a road to the right, which leads past the Hills of Ashes and the Russian Buildings (p. 184) to the Jaffa Gate.

We will continue, however, by a road between that to the right just referred to, and the one by which we came from the south-eastern corner of the city. This middle road leads direct to the Damascus Gate.

Near the Damascus Gate (p. 116), is the Grotto of Jeremiah, where a tradition, dating from the fourteenth century, says the Prophet wrote the Book of Lamentations, and was subsequently buried. The rocky tombs, cisterns, and other excavations are extremely interesting. The place belongs to the Muslims, and the traveller need not hesitate to drive a hard bargain with the custodian, who sometimes demands absurdly high fees for admission.

Opposite the Grotto of Jeremiah, and close to the Damascus Gate, are the

Subterranean Quarries.

The entrance is through a hole, only large enough to creep through. Then a vast succession of mighty aisles and mammoth chambers are reached, and the traveller can journey on through cavern after cavern, and aisle after aisle, till he seems to have gone the whole length and breadth of the city. The exploration should not be attempted without a guide, or a reliable compass, and a large ball of twine to be

fastened as a clue. It is not yet known how far these quarries extend. That they are of very ancient date is certain; and there is great probability that they yielded the stones used in the building of the Temple; for "the house when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building" (1 Kings vi. 7).

Many a poetical passage has been written by travellers who have explored this underground Jerusalem, discovered in 1852 by Dr. Barclay.

The author of On Holy Ground says: "There was a strange feeling of awe in walking through these subterranean caverns, for there in the rock we could make out the marks of chisellings just as they were left centuries and centuries ago. There was the hole where once a spring of water trickled, and at which the weary workmen slaked their thirst; there were the niches for the lamps of the quarrymen, and there were huge blocks partially cut from the rocks, and pillars partially shaped and left unfinished. And for ages and ages the darkness and silence have dwelt together in these dreary caverns, while overhead, in the city, generations have come and gone; its streets have been deluged with blood, and its glories have been levelled with the dust. And here silence and darkness dwelt when the cry of Crucify Him, crucify Him!' rang through the busy streets above, and a shudder ran through these gloomy regions when the cry went forth, 'It is finished!', and a great earthquake shook the solid earth, while darkness enfolded the land."

From the Damascus Gate, the finest in Jerusalem, the traveller can return by the Street of the Gate of the Columns to the Mediterranean Hotel, or continue round the walls to

the Jaffa Gate. We continue, in this description, by the latter route, so as to complete the circuit of the city.

North of the Jaffa Gate-the busiest in Jerusalem-on the road to Jaffa (p. 90), are the Russian Buildings, very ugly, but doubtless very useful, including a capital hospital, schools, cathedral, accommodation for a thousand pilgrims, etc. There is a fine view from the Church, and on the west side near the door is an immense column, perhaps intended for the Temple, and broken in the endeavour to raise it.

In this neighbourhood are two very interesting and deserving philanthropic institutions, the Talitha-Kumi (" which is, being interpreted, Damsel I say unto thee, Arise," Mark v. 41); an orphanage for girls, founded by the deservedly popular Rhenish - Westphalian deaconesses; Schneller's Orphanage for Boys, where over seventy boys are well educated and taught some useful branch of industry.

Near here is the Mamilla Pool, or Upper Pool of Gihon (p. 164).

FROM JERUSALEM TO THE MONASTERY OF THE CROSS AND 'AIN KARIM.

This is an easy and pleasant journey; passing through the Jaffa Gate we proceed as far as what was the Leper Quarter (p. 149). Then descend the valley, and in half an hour from this point the Monastery of the Cross is reached; it is supposed to have been built by the Empress Helena upon the site where grew the tree from which the Cross was made. It is an enormous building, and belongs to the Orthodox Greeks. There is a good library, and a seminary in which languages, ancient and modern, are taught.

In about an hour and a quarter from the Monastery the village of 'Ain Kârim is reached. It is supposed to have