south. Close by was the great heap of salt, from which every sacrifice must be salted

with salt. 17

On the altar, which at the top was only 36 feet wide, three fires burned, one (east) for the

offerings, the second (south) for the incense, the third (north) to supply the means for

kindling the other two. The four 'horns' of the altar were straight, square, hollow

prominences, that at the south-west with two openings, into whose silver funnels the

drink-offerings, and, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the water from the Pool of Siloam, were

poured. A red line all round the middle of the altar marked that above it the blood of

sacrifices intended to be eaten, below it that of sacrifices wholly consumed, was to be

sprinkled. The system of drainage into chambers below and canals, all of which could be

flushed at will, was perfect; the blood and refuse being swept down into Kedron and

towards the royal gardens. Finally, north of the altar were all requisites for the

sacrifices --six rows, with four rings each, of ingenious mechanism, for fastening the

sacrifices; eight marble tables for the flesh, fat, and cleaned 'inwards'; eight low columns,

each with three hooks, for hanging up the pieces; a marble table for laying them out, and

one of silver for the gold and silver vessels of the service.

Between the altar and porch of the Temple, but placed towards the south, was the

immense laver of brass, supported by twelve colossal lions, which was drained every

evening, and filled every morning by machinery, and where twelve priests could wash at

the same time. Indeed, the water supply to the Sanctuary is among the most wonderful

of its arrangements. That of the Temple is designated by Captain Wilson as the 'low-

level supply,' in contradistinction to the 'high-level aqueduct,' which collected the water

in a rock-hewn tunnel four miles long, on the road to Hebron, and then wound along so

as to deliver water to the upper portion of the city. The 'low-level' aqueduct, which

supplied the Temple, derived its waters from three sources --from the hills about

Hebron, from Etham, and from the three pools of Solomon. Its total length was over forty

miles. The amount of water it conveyed may be gathered from the fact that the

surplusage of the waters of Etham is calculated, when drained into the lower pool of

Gihon, to have presented when full, 'an area of nearly four acres of water.' And, as if this

had not been sufficient, 'the ground is perfectly honeycombed with a series of

remarkable rock-hewn cisterns, in which the water brought by an aqueduct form

Solomon's Pools, near Bethlehem, was stored. The cisterns appear to have been

connected by a system of channels cut out of the rock; so that when one was full the

surplus water ran into the next, and so on, till the final overflow was carried off by a

channel into the Kedron. One of the cisterns--that known as the Great Sea--would

contain two million gallons; and the total number of gallons which could be stored

probably exceeded ten millions.' There seems little doubt that the drainage of Jerusalem

was 'as well managed as the water supply; the mouth of the main drain being in the

valley of the Kedron, where the sewerage was probably used as manure for the gardens.'

The mind becomes bewildered at numbers, the accuracy of which we should hesitate to

receive if they were not confirmed by modern investigations. We feel almost the same in

speaking of the proportions of the Holy House itself. It was built on immense

foundations of solid blocks of white marble covered with gold, each block measuring,

according to Josephus, 67 1/2 by 9 feet. Mounting by a flight of twelve steps to the

'Porch,' we notice that it projected 30 feet on each side beyond the Temple itself.

Including these projections, the buildings of the Temple were 150 feet long, and as many

broad. Without them the breadth was only 90, and the length 120 feet. Of these 60 feet in

length, from east to west, and 30 feet in breadth, belonged to the Holy Place; while the