Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-11-30

p!oIaCloH una nave been made at great
cost Of money and labor, and no little
danger, by sinking shafts one hundred
feet deep and running galleries at right
angles TO these shafts, the explorers feel
ing their way underground, burning
magnetism wire, and 50 throwing light
upon stones and pavements which have
been buried two thousand ard three
thousand years from human sight.
Mount Moriah has been found To be a
sharp crag or ridge, with so little space
upon the top as scarcely to afford room
for temple O.! small dimensions On all
sides i fell of rapidly and very steeply,
except from northwest 10 southeast, the
direction in which the ridge ran The
area on the summit was enlarged by
walls built along the decl:v:t;cS, BE out
side walls deep down the valleys, from
one hundred to one hundred and fifty
feet below the area on which the temple
buildings stood. One hundred feet again
below this ,ay thc original .hed 81 the
brook hedron. The foundations Of the
temple, therefore, were two hundred and
nifty feet above the deep detiies around,
+ This area, originally built by Solomon,
/ and enlarged by Hcrod, still exists, ram
/ ming on the south along the valley Of Hin
d
/ Kedron fifteen hundred feet
! This enclosure YVES originally covered
with splendid editices. First were the
4 porticoes or covered walks, buiit along
4 the outer walls, and overlooking the
Hebron and Hinnom. They were magniti-
cent structures, resembling the nave and
alsiea Of Gothic cathedraIs. The middle
walk, or nave, was torty-five feet broad,
and the two aisles thirty feet The aisles
were fifty feet high and the nave, rising
/ like clcVe-story between the two, was
/ more than one hundred feet high.
Ado now terrace-Walls TO the height
OF the poTticoes, and we have
solid and continuous wall Of masonry
two hundred and fifty feet high. But
these were only the Outer buildings Of
the temple area. The porticoes opened
/ lnwardly upon a court paved with mar
bic, and open TO the sky Steps led up
to a second court. Beyond this, again,
through beautiful gatcWays, was third,
and rising above them all was a fourth,
in which stood the temple proper, as
cending story above story, and said to
have been one hundred or even one hun
dred and fifty feet high.
/ These horizontal measurements have
been verified OF course, we cannot
vouch for the correctness of the reputed
| height of these immense structures. We
! have the less reason, however, TO doubt
the last, as we have established the first
/ If one looked upon Mount Moriah from
/ the Mount Of Olives opposite coming
round the brow of Olivct on the way
/ from Bethany, as our Lord did when be-
/ holding the city, it must have been
sight which, for architectural beauty and
grandeur, perhaps, has never been
, eoualed, certainly not surpassed. twas
an artificial mountain from the deep
ravjnos below, we'll, column, roof, pima
Gle, eliminating in The temple within and
/ above all, and probably measuring be-
tween five and six hundred feet.
The palace Of Solomon, too, added to
the impressivcness of the sight. 1t is
settled by recent discoveries, that this
pile OF buildings was on the southeast
| corner of the area, joining on the House
of the Lord above, and extending below
to the kings gardens where the two val
lcys met, and "tle waters OF Siloah go
softly"
James Ferguson, ESQ, the distinguish
ed architect, writes: The triple temple
of Jerusalem, the lower court standing
on its magnificent terraces, the inner
court raised On its platform in the centre,
and the temple itself rising out OF the
group and browning the whole-must
have formed, when combined with the
beauty of the situation, one of the most
splendid architectural combinations OF
the ancient world"
,Josephus wrote: "if any one looked
down from the top of the battlcmcnts
he would be giddy, while his sight could
not reach 10 such an immense depth,
This passed for foolish exaggeratlon till
recent explorations vindicated the state
ment
All these buildings, pOrticoes, columns,
pinnacles, altar, and temple, nave per-
ished. Not one stone remains upon
another which has not been thrown
down" The area alone remains, ana the
massive substructurcs that Tor thrce
thousand years have been sleeping IN
their courses. The preservation ms oeeh
due to the ruin. Buildings so vast nave
been toppled down the slopes OF inc
Moriah that the original denies ana
valleys have been almost obiiterated.
What had been regarded as Tue
original surface, has been found 10 DC
debris from seventy to ninety leel deep
With pickaxe and shower, BRUSH ca
I nt0rGrS
| foundations, Fallen columns have been
met with, and avoided, or way blasted
through them. The cinders OF burnt
Jerusalem have been cut through and
turned up to the light rich mouids de-
posted by the treasures OF jewish prlae.
The seal of Haggai, in ancient Hebrew
characters, was picked mp, GU. o 0, sns
! strings Of this deposit. The first courses
Of stones, deposited by PhGnician build
ers. have been reached, lying on the nv
ING rock Quarry marks, put on in yer r.
1 milton. have been copied-known TO De
auarry-marks by the trucking drops Of Of
the paint, still visible-only they are
above the letters, showing that when
they were written the stones iay VIII .no
under side uppern1ost. - !Appietons
Journal.
Fattening Mich Cows.