Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-04-07
NUMBER l22.
From the Boston Evening Traveller.
Extensive Quarry under the City of Jerusa.

/ The letter hom your Syrian correspondent
published in last Thursdays Traveller concernin.
the recent discoveries made in Sidon, reminds MI
that have never seen any account of an exten
sive quarry under the city ofJcrusaiem, which
though not unknown, was, till last winter, unex
plored. Perhaps a sketch of an excursion which
made to 1t last season, in company with some ten
or twelve others, may not be unnteresting to your
readers
fthey will examine map of Jerusalem and
vicinity, they will see spot just without the walls.
Grotto
II has long been more than suspected that n
gallery OF this quarry extended under the wall of
the city ITSELF but nothing was positively known
! regarding it, as II has been kept carefully closed
by the successive governors Of Jerusalem. Tho
mouth OF the cavern was probably walled up, at
least as early as the time of the Crusades to pre-
vent its falling into the hands Of the besiegng ar
| my earth was then thrown up against this wall
80 as effectualy to conceal II from view and It Il
only upon the closest scrutiny that the present
| entrance can be perceived
| Drs Smith and Robertson, during their tour
through Palestine, made an effort to effect an en-
trance, but in vain; and, so far as know, MI other
attempts have been equally unsuccessful till about
year ago, when the dog of an American gentle
man, resident OF Jerusalem, attracted by tho
smell OF some animal, scratched holo lust az Thu
surface of the ground, and suddenly disappeared
lie soon came back, and his master attempted M,
exploration, but owing to the want of candles, he
was Obliged to give up the attempt. He returned,
however, with his sons and servant Just about sun
set and, allowing themselves to be locked out of
the city, they succeeded without attracting obse,
vation, in descending and making survey Of Ill,
whole extent The report of this was sson bruite,I
abroad, and before the authorities took any actio,,
IN the matter, 1t was visited by several parties and
by ours among the number
me passage was some ten feet in length md
from the top of the wall to the loam upon which
we stood, was some six feet At first ali was utter
darkness, but my eyes soon became accustomed to
the obscurty, and, lighting my candle was ready
for a start by the time the last of the party had
joined us.
For a few rods the descent was very rapid down
slope OF rich loan, but soon we began to ascend
over immense heaps of rnbble and the chipppry
OF hewn stone. The turnings were frequent b,,t
not abrupt, the main direction being southeast.
we TOOK the precaution to fasten clue at the en-
trance, which an Arab unwound as we advanced.
ana az every turn we stopped to examine the bear
ings OF our compasses, so that our progress was
slow. We labored on, however now running
against some OF the huge pillars left for the sup
port OF the roof and again stumbling over some
massive block, which we could not see in the Oh
scurtty. We followed up the different galleries
ana examined them all thoroughly, in the hope Of
nhuing some other outlet, but were stopped in
every direction by the solid rock
Suddenly there was a cry of take care bere,sa
precipice!" We all pressed forward to the snot 10
nit some TEL and found ourselves on the edge of
dred feet across The hoort wa, and about a hun
but extremely uneven the inequalities being cause
by breaking off the blocks at the bottom, instead
Of cutting them away the roof too, presented
smilar appearance. Near this, at the end of a
lous gallery, was fountain, supplied by water
dropping from the roof 1t was delightfully."- cool,
but unpleasant to the taste, being strongly npreg-
mated with lime.
Our advance was, in one or two places, obstruct-
ed by the heaps of broken stone, which reached so
near the roof that we obliged to creep on our
hands and knees. / could understand well what a
grievous penance ii must be, to walk with ones
shoes full of peas, for crawling cobble stones is
near akin to It. At the end Of the chambers was
a criyice In the rock, through which one or two of
us squeezed, and looking up, we thought we had
discovered an old SHAFT but on climbing thirty feet
or more we found that II was a natural fssure, and
had no outlet above as we hoped. Our dsappoint-
ment was lessened, however, upon discovering that
| the sides of the fssure were covered with staac-
tites of a rose color and we Immediately availei
ourselves Of hammer, produced by one Of tho
party, to break off specimens, with which VIC filed
| our pockets.
But the most interesting portion was the extreme
end Of the last chamber. Here were blocks Of
stone but half quarried and still attached by one
| side to the rock. The work Of quarrying was ap-
parently effected by an instrument resembling a
pckaxe, with a broad chisel-shaped end, as tho
spaces between the blocks we're not more than four
iuches wide in which II would be impossible for a
man to work with chisel and mallet The spaces
we're many of them four feet deep, and ten feet in
height, and the distance between them was about
four feet After being cut away at each side, and
| at the bottom, lever was probably inserted, and
the combined force Of three or four men could
easily pry the block away from the rock behind |;
| the stone was extremely soft and pliable, nearly
white, and very easily worked but like the stone
Of Malta and Paris, hardening on exposure. The
marks Of the cutting instrument were as plain and
well defined as IL the workman had but just ceased
from his labor.
Having thoroughly examined every nook and
corner, we turned back toward the entrance, e1.
amining the ground as VIC went Near pillar in
about the centre we found a quantity of bones,
brought in by the jackals, the smell of which had
first attracted the dog. We then looked along
the surface Of the wall which closed tho entrance,
/ but though the light streamed in at one or two
/ cracks there was no other hole large enough To
admit even dog, and, satisfied that we had come
in at the only possible entrance, we one after an.
| other climbed up, and worked our way out.
Upon comparing a subsequent measurment Of
our guiding line, and the time spent In returning
from the extreme end, VIC judged the length of tho
| quarry to be rather more than quarter Of mile,
and its greatest breadth less than half that dis
| tance.
/ There had been some doubt expressed by one
or two Of the party who had made previous visit,
as to its being quarry; but we all agreed that
though Il might originally have been grotto, il
had been worked, and then the question arose,
"By whom 2" The answer was, King Solomon,
and for this opinion there seemed to be many rea-
sons The stone Is the same as that Of the por-
tons Of the temple wall still remaining and re-
ferred TO by Dr. Robinson to the period Of the first
building. The mouth Of the quarry is but little
below the level Of the platform on which the tenn
pie stood making the transportation Of the I'M.
mense blocks OF stone comparatively easy task
The heaps of clippings which lie about show that
the stone dressed on the spot, which accords
with the account Of the building of the temple
"And the house, when II was in building was
built of stone, made ready before il was brought
thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor
axe, nor any tool Of iron heard in the house while
| il was building The extent Of the quarry, the
amount Of stone which must have been worked
out there, and the size Of some of the blocks them