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The first stone is more than ten feet long, with an ordinary draft at the bottom, but a narrow draft of one inch at top; it is very "roughly dressed within the drafts." The second stone, about five feet long, has a broad draft of about nine inches at the top, but only a narrow draft at bottom. It has a well-dressed face, and near the centre was found an incised character, cut about half an inch deep, resembling our letter H. On the south side

HH

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Incised Characters.

near the lower angle of the stone there is another incised character, somewhat like our English letter J. On the face were noticed several flourishes with red paint, which may be intended for monograms, but more probably they are only fantastic forms.

The third stone of the course has proved to be most interesting, from the numerous marks on its face. It has no draft at top, but a very broad draft of about seventeen inches at bottom. On it are seven letters or characters, some of them five inches long. They are painted with red paint, apparently vermilion, and they seem to have been put on with a brush. They are

irregularly distributed over the stone, and easily rubbed off with wetted fingers. There are also "a few red splashes here and there, as if the paint had dropped from the brush." The lower gallery exposed the whole of the second course.

At forty-one feet from the south-east angle northwards the rock rises abruptly, and here the first course ceases, while the second course becomes partially

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imbedded in the rock. The third course is above four feet high, and is set back four inches. The corner stone has no draft at top, but near the angle where the draft ought to exist was found a mark in red paint, bearing the likeness of the numeral 4 inverted. There is an ordinary draft of four inches at bottom, and this draft seems to be continued throughout the course. second stone "is cut in a very superior style." Stones three, four, and five have a few red paint marks on them, and the sixth has another mark like H engraved near the lower south angle, which resembles the engraved character on the second stone of course two. The fourth course is three and a half feet in height, with a shallow draft of nine inches above. In other respects the stones are like those above ground It is thought that the first four courses were buried in rich loam, and were never exposed to view after being laid in their deep foundations.

The fifth course was examined from the upper gallery driven along the wall at a depth of fifty-three feet below the surface. The stones are laid with greater regularity,

and are "similar in every respect to the best specimens of stones found at the south-east angle above the surface." On the second stone from the angle were found three red painted marks. The sixth course is three and a half feet high. It was seen on the south face, and the corner stone was found to be twenty feet long from east to west. Its western end is let into the rock, which rises abruptly westwards from the south-east angle, and cuts the upper edge of this great block eighteen feet from the

corner.

The courses above are for the most part similar to those described; but more extensive excavations might furnish us with very valuable information.

There is often a want of uniformity in the marginal drafts, and rough-faced stones are found side by side with those finely dressed. The dressing, however, has been executed by cunning workmen, and the stones are "in most excellent preservation, as perfect as if they had been cut yesterday." The drafts seem to have been worked with an eight-toothed chisel, one inch wide, and the long channels have been intersected by means of a single-pointed chisel, the whole forming a fine specimen of a "criss-cross pattern." The buried masonry, reaching down through the rubbish to a depth of eighty feet, is equal in quality to that above ground, and it is not surprising that the Engineers were struck with admiration at the vastness of the blocks and the general excellence of the workmanship.

On the polished surface of the stones they noticed

with considerable interest the incised marks and red painted characters; but the workmen were neither able to decipher these strange figures, nor could they tell to what language they belonged.

viii. Emanuel Deutsch's Report.

These underground discoveries were promptly communicated to the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the Committee at once sought for some student of Semitic literature, whom they hoped might prove competent to interpret the mysterious signs. Such a student was found in Emanuel Deutsch, an Oriental scholar of Jewish extraction, then an official in the British Museum.

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Marks on Stones at the South-east Angle.

At the request of the Society he examined the excavations then in progress at Jerusalem. On descending

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the shaft, and being led to the massive foundations, he examined by means of a taper and magnesium light the hitherto undeciphered signs painted on the stones, The learned student at once recognised most of them as familiar forms, and without hesitation pronounced them to be the marks or quarry signs of Phoenician masons.

Mr. Deutsch's report to the Palestine Exploration Fund is full of valuable information. He thus writes :"I must now speak somewhat fully on a subject which has engaged public attention for some time, and has already given rise to many conjectures, namely, the 'writings,' either painted on or cut into the stones, discovered lately on the bottom rows of the wall, at the south-east corner of the Haram, at a depth of about eighty feet there, where the foundations lie on the live rock itself. I have examined them carefully in their places-by no means an easy task. The ventilation at that depth is unfavourable to free breathing; nor is the pale glimmer of the taper or the sudden glare of the magnesium wire calculated materially to assist epigraphical studies. To add to the difficulty, some of the characters are partly hidden by the framework, which, let me add by the way, is about to be removed to some other shaft, in order to save expense-a process whereby the whole of these graffiti will be buried again, if not totally destroyed. I have come to the following conclusions First. The signs cut or painted were on the stones when they were first laid in the present places. Secondly. They do not represent any inscription.

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