Masonic Notes And Queries.

if , even by this means , I have created an interest in the subject , and given rise to new ideas and a better knowledge of the archaeology of Jerusalem . " M . Pierotfci ' s inA'estigations in the vaults and sewers with which Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are honeycombed brought to light a variety of curious

points ; but much is still needed to connect one point with another into a consistent and intelligible whole . In Jerusalem itself , his most remarkable discovery was of a great underground gallery , running from the city into the north-west angle of the Haram , not far from tbe point where Antonia must haffe stood .

Along it , but made long after the gallery , ran one of the numerous sewers of the city , and connected with it , M . Pierotti considers that lie found what is a rarity in Jerusalem , a spring of water . But this discovery remains for the present a fragment ; it would have been important to follow this gallery

to Avhere it ended in the Haram , but this M . Pierotti could not do . Iu his vieivs of the topography of the Temple Mount , be coincides on the whole Avith Mr . "Williams against Dr . Robinson and later writers like Mr . Fergusson and Mr . Lewin . He supposes that the Mosque of Omar stands over the

site of the Altar of Burnt-Offering , and that the famous Rock is the threshing-floor of Araunah . " We naturally look to what light he throws on the architecture of the mosque on which Mr . Fergusson lays so much stress . He does not notice Mr . Fergussoii ' s statements -. but the following are his remarks on the architectural character ofthe columns ofthe mosque . He states that he follows on the whole , with additions and omissions , M . de Yogiie's account : —

" It is divided into three concentric spaces by two arcades , the inner circular , the outer octagonal in plan . The first , which supports the drum of the dome , is formed by four large quadrangular piers and twelve columns ; the second , by eight piers and sixteen columns The shafts of the columns are

made of valuable marbles , the majority of verd antique . I think that they have been taken from Constantino ' s Church of the Resurrection , when it was lying in ruins , after its destruction by Chosroes , for many of them have been broken , and are united again by iron hoops ; other show chips and bruises , apparently produced by a fall ; besides they do not

correspond one with another , either in diameter or in height . The history of the other Chrstian edifices in Jerusalem supplies us with not a few instances of a similar spoliation ; Avhile we have no record in the Mohammedan chronicles that valuable foreign marbles were brought bthem to the citas was done by

y y , Constantino according to Eusebius . The bases of the columns in the inner range are Attic , those in the second are different and of a debased style .- very frequently the shaft rests on a cubical plinth of white marble Avithout any base moulding . Their capitals are Byzantine , that is , resemble more or less closely

an order Avhich is a coarse copy of the Corinthian . The arches of fche inner arcade spring directly from the capitals of the columns , but the arrangement of tbe outer one is very peculiar . On the capitals is placed a large block , resembling a truncated pyramid ( base square ) supporting a horizontal entablature , from which springs a series of slightly pointed arches ; their form and ornamentation are thoroughly Saracenic , as is the mosaic Avork over the arches . The

quasi capitals of the piers are formed by an arcade in low relief , enclosing a series of palm trees , rudely executed . The drum is inlaid with mosaic and various leaf patterns . The upper part of the dome is profusely adorned with gilded arabesques on different coloured grounds . The shape of tbe building , its ornamention in carved woodmosaicicturesand

, , p , gilding , in a word , its whole appearance bears a Turco-Arabian character of various periods , more especially from that of Saladiu to that of Solyman . " The most curious part of the book is his account of his explorations of tbe conduits and reservoirs of the Temple Mount . It was neither safe nor easy

work ; and it seems to have been pursued with indefatigable perseverance . We may not feel convinced that M . Pierotti is always right in his identifications ; and ho ignores too summarily what was done and knoAvn before his investigations . But his additions to our knowledge of the underground arrangements of the Temple platform are of the highest interest . The cave beneath the " Rock" in the Mosque of

Omar has been visited by various travellers , Avho have been shown the stone in its floor , covering another cavity , the " "Well of Souls " of the Moslems . Into this lower cavity M . Pierotti made his way by an underground passage , aud found that it was connected with other cisterns to the north and south by conduits . This cistern he supposes to have received the

blood of the victims offeree ! on the altar above , aud to have been flushed by a stream of Avater running from a great reservoir in the south-east of the Haram , of which he traced the supply to a source outside the Temple , the aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon . He followed the conduits , and was able to make out

with the greatest probability the line of their course to a channel outside the Temple wall , leading down to the "Fountain ofthe Virgin" at Siloam , to which be also traced a conduit from the great south-east reservoir , and from whence the flow of water from , the Temple found its way into the Kidron . We will give in his own words bis account of his finding bis way into the cistern beneath the " Rock" : —•

" The water in the Birlcet-es-Sultan ( Prince ' s Pool ) was , at the time of my visit , a foot deep ; the sides and vaulting , with the piers supporting it , have been hewn Avith great pains out of the rock . It is thirtytwo feet in height . In the Avail near the opening from the fountain are notches cut in the rock ,

obviously to be used as steps . ... On the south is another opening ( now closed with Arab masonry ) , three feet above the floor , 3 i feet wide , and S . f feet high ; the beginning of a conduit mainly excavated and vaulted in the rock , but traced with difficulty and labour along its whole course quite close to the

Fountain of the Virgin . At certain points it is five feet wide and 3-: } high . It bears the mark of a A'ery remote antiquity , and is , in my opinion , contemporaneous Avith the building ofthe first Temple . After discovering this , I found out the Bedouin peasant Avho had on a former occasion told me of its

existence , and he now did not refuse to be my guide along it , and , to tell the truth , I should not have been able to get on without him at some places , either from the accumulation of rubbish , or the earth , which threatened every moment to fall in , besides the great number of rats , reptiles , insects , and a thousand other nuisances which I encountered . I have traversed