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one of the former, which is called the Cave of S. James, is a more pure specimen of the Doric order. This excavation occupies a middle place between the monolithic monuments; it consists of an ante-chamber, with two columns in the front, giving entrance to the sepulchral vault, which is reported to have afforded a hiding-place to the Apostle S. James, during the period that intervened between the betrayal and resurrection of our Lord'. The monument to the South is now commonly marked as the Tomb of Zachariah, that to the North as the Pillar or Tomb of Absalom. The entrance to the fourth-the Tomb of Jehoshaphat-is from the passage which surrounds the last-named monument. It now only exhibits a handsome pediment, above the surface of the ground.

Various are the conjectures as to the date of these monuments, and conflicting the traditions as to whom they are to be assigned. I was struck, at the first sight of them, by their resemblance to some of the excavations in Wadi Mûsa, as represented in illustrations; and the fact of this resemblance is confirmed by travellers who have examined both. But in the uncertainty that at present exists as to the date of the latter, this does not throw much light upon the subject. I have no theory to propose, but I should be glad, if it were in

1 Quaresmius, Lib. 1v. capp. x, xi. | Perig. vii. Tome 11. p. 258, &c. S. Gregory of Tours, de Gloria Mart. Lib. 1. cap. xxvii. says that S. James was buried on Mount Olivet in a monument which he had formed, and wherein he had buried Zachariah and Simeon.

These will be more fully given in the Memoir accompanying the Plan. VOL. II.

3 Dr Robinson remarks this; and his testimony has been confirmed to me by many travellers. He attempts to connect them by an ingenious hypothesis. Compare Dr Schultz, p. 41. Mr Bartlett is disposed to consider these at Jerusalem "as far more ancient." Walks, p. 123.

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any way possible to connect one of these monuments with him whose name it bears.

In the sacred narrative of the death of the favourite, but rebellious son of David, we read: "Now Absalom in his life-time had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance; and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called unto this day, Absalom's Place'." The king's dale has been identified with that part of the Valley of Jeshoshaphat near which the king's gardens were situated, not without sufficient warrant. It is probable that a monument erected with the design here mentioned would be constructed in the most substantial manner, to render it as durable as possible; and it would appear that this pillar was in existence when Josephus wrote his Antiquities; for in his account of the same event he speaks of it as "a pillar of marble in the king's dale, two furlongs distant from Jerusalem;" language which infers a definite knowledge of the spot. Whether Absalom intended it as a sepulchral monument, is not clear. The Jews, who from the time of Benjamin of Tudela3

at least, have regarded this monument as the Pillar of Absalom, have been in the habit, from time immemorial, of casting a stone and spitting as they pass by it, in order to shew their horror at the rebellious conduct of this unnatural son. If I may not be permitted to believe that the orders of architecture' exhibited on this monument may possibly have been known in the East ages before they were introduced into Greece, may I be allowed to submit whether the character and ornament of this mass of rock may not have been altered at a later period, in conformity to the taste of the time? and whether it may not originally have formed the pedestal of Absalom's Pillar?

An incident connected with the excavated Tomb of Jehoshaphat, which I cannot connect with that king", may close the notice of these remarkable antiquities. An intelligent member of the United Chaldean Church, who had been educated in the Propaganda at Rome, visited Jerusalem, on his return to his native country as a missionary of that Society, in the winter of 1842--3. In exploring the inner chamber of this Tomb he lighted upon a Hebrew roll containing the Pentateuch. It was very beautifully written on skins, and reminded me much of the Synagogue Roll, found among the Jews of Cochin, and presented by Dr Buchanan to the Cambridge University Library. The MS. had been injured by damp, which may have had the effect of reducing the parchment to its original state of leather, as it had disunited the various skins. I only saw some damaged

Described by Professor Willis | above, pp. 157-160. See also Plates 5 and 6 for drawings and details by Mr Scoles.

5 Because he "was buried with his fathers, in the city of David his father." 1 Kings xxii. 50, and 2 Chron. xxi. 1.