Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/28

16 No. 1 was done four years ago, and my report on it was published in the Quarterly Statement, 1890, p. 12, so it is not necessary to repeat anything here.

No. 2 was done afterwards. It is some 60 feet west of the first, and higher up the hill. My report on this was published in the Quarterly Statement, 1891, p. 19. Now I give a plan of all, with sections. A few feet north-west from the Mosaic—as already mentioned in my former reports—the remains of a Roman bath were found, of which I give now a plan and section. It is the lower part or fireplace. Already existing walls on four sides (remainders of a former room) were used, and lined with bricks round about; and in the centre a number of small piers were made, built also of bricks. One row was still standing, the others had tumbled over. On these brick piers of only a few feet high, the flooring rested, and the fire underneath could circulate between the piers and so warm the floor. The walls had side openings for the entrance of air, and on the north side, near the corner, was the door. The channel and the bricks of the bath mentioned were removed in subsequent excavations, and some older masonry laid bare, but of no special interest. South of the little house built up, in order to preserve the Mosaic (Quarterly Statement, 1891, p. 19), was found one of the very ancient small cisterns with steps leading down, all cut in rock, as shown on the drawings.

No. 3. Situated close to the southern road which goes down to Siloah (see Plan of Jerusalem, Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 62). There the rock (scarped down) looked out from the ground, showing an opening, and hence, in the Ordnance Survey plan, scale $1⁄2500$ is put the word "cave." This cave was cleared from all earth, &c., and proved to have been once a room (not a cistern or a tomb), hewn entirely in the rock. On its west side a door leads into another room of great interest. Three sides of it are formed of rock walls; the fourth or northern side is built up with masonry of very nicely hewn and squared stones. The roof also is formed of a semi-circular vault of nicely hewn stones, thirteen in each row, put together without mortar (unless this has been washed away). The room is now $8 1⁄2$ feet wide and 12 feet long, and in the centre 12 feet high. It seems that the place was once longer, and that when the arching was made, the northern closing-up wall was made. On the south side there is, hewn into the rock, an apse-like niche, in the centre of which is standing a round pillar 3 feet high, giving the impression that the place was once used as a chapel. This apse or recess takes up more than half the southern wall, and on the western or remaining portion of this wall is cut into the rock, at its upper part, another but much smaller recess of a similar kind, its bottom being about 5 feet above the flooring of the room, which is of rock. This smaller recess, if I am not mistaken, ends above as a sky-hole. Over this room the earth was removed and a strong wall of hewn stone of moderate size was found, built good and strong and parallel with the line of the western side of the room below, as may be seen on the plan. There is some other masonry, but I could not make much of it. This wall was laid bare for a length of about