Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/355

 Domestic Architecture. 325 the hopes and fears of the framers of the work as to its ultimate success, cannot be known at this dis- tance of time. But we can easily im- agine them, as we can understand their jubilant cries when they found only a few feet of rocky wall interpos- ing between them. Thus in a country not much larger than one of the divisions of Great Britain, under the petty kings of Judah three thousand years ago, engineer- ing works were achieved which we had deemed the boast of our own times — the two par- ties of men meeting yield a total length of 630 metres. It is pos- sible, however, that a shorter metre, answering to the Egyptian measure, may have been used, or that it was a mere eye- estimate, a rourid number being given much above reality, from incorrect- ness of eye or eagerness to make the work they had accomplished seem more important. A translation of the Siloam tablet, by Professor W. Wright, was published in the "Proceedings" of the Soc. Bib. Archœ., iv. p. 68, with an admirable illustration from the cast, by the secretary, M. H. Rylands.