ng when Jesus was on earth, and continued to
stand until the awful destruction of the city by the Roman army in A.D.
70.

The modern visitor to this fine structure would have no thought of the
ancient temple of God if he depended upon what he sees here to suggest
it. All trace of that house has disappeared. The Dome of the Rock, said
to be "the most beautiful piece of architecture in Jerusalem," belongs
to the Turks. It has eight sides, each about sixty-six and a half feet
long, and is partly covered with marble, but it is, to some extent, in a
state of decay. Between the destruction of the temple and the erection
of this building a heathen temple and a church had been built on the
spot.

The Mosque El Aksa was also visited, but it is noted more for its size
than the beauty of its architecture. The Turkish Governor of Palestine
comes here every Friday to worship at the time the Sultan is engaged
in like manner in Constantinople. Solomon's Stables next engaged our
attention. We crossed the Temple Area to the wall on the southeastern
border, and went down a stairway to these underground chambers, which
were made by building about a hundred columns and arching them over and
laying a pavement on the top, thereby bringing it up on a level with
the rest of the hill. The vaults are two hundred and seventy-three feet
long, one hundred and ninety-eight feet wide, and about thirty feet
high. They were not made for stables, but were used for that purpose in
the middle ages, and the holes through the corners of the square stone
columns show where the horses were tied. A large portion of these
chambers has been made into a cistern or reservoir.

After a visit to what is called the Pool of Bethesda and the Church of
St. Anne, we went outside the city wall on the north side and entered
what looks like a cave, but upon investigation proves to be an extensive
underground quarry. These excavations, called Solomon's Quarries,
extend, according to one authority, seven hundred feet under the hill
Bezetha, which is north of Mt. Moriah. The rock is very white, and will
take some polish. Loose portions of it are lying around on the floor
of the cavern, and there are distinct marks along the sides where the
ancient stone-cutters were at work. In one part of the quarries we were
shown the place where visiting Masons are said to hold lodge meetings
sometimes. Vast quantities of the rock have been taken out, and this is
probably the source from