proof, it would have been easy for the Saviour to stand in the ante-chamber, and after the stone had been moved, to call the words: "Lazarus, come forth!" down the remaining steps by which it is separated from the grave. But as to the exact locality none can speak with sureness, although it cannot have been far away.

We visited also the ruins of the house of Mary and Martha. From the remnants of carved marbles and the fine quality of the stone used in its walls, I imagine that this dwelling must have belonged to some one of wealth and importance. Whether Martha or Mary ever crossed its threshold is a different matter; probably it was built in an after generation.

Between Bethany and Jerusalem once more we passed the slaughter-place. At this hour of the day there were no butchers and no victims, but the aspect of the spot was horrible. Bloated-looking pariah dogs slunk away from it to sleep in the shade, while on the dying olive-trees about sat scores of full-gorged kites. "Where the carcase is there shall the eagles be gathered together." As I gazed it was borne in upon my mind that thus must the courts of the Temple have appeared upon the morrow of the Roman

massacre.

One of the most interesting of the many sights we saw after our return to Jerusalem was that of the ancient quarries, called of Solomon, whence he is said to have drawn the stone for the building of the Temple. I can well believe that this was so, and as the blocks were prepared in the bowels of the earth thus it came about that no sound of saw or hammer could be heard above. Probably Herod and others after his day made use of them also, drawing the hewn stone up into the Temple area, since, although the present entry to the caves is not far from the Damascus gate, they are reported to extend to beneath the Harem enclosure.

Few travellers, or comparatively few, visit that gloomy place. Perhaps it was on this account, and because he was determined not to miss one of the rare chances which came his way, that the Turk in charge of the quarries, hearing that we desired to see them, did not wait for us to arrive, but appeared at the hotel to fetch us. He was a very strange-looking person, who gave us the idea of having lived for years underground, although, of course, the connection between his appearance and his office may have been accidental. Tall, thin, bandy-legged, and cadaverous, he was clothed in a rusty European overcoat and a bright red fez, above which, although it did not rain and there was little sun, he held up an enormous white umbrella With his back bent and his head thrust forward beneath the umbrella, notwithstanding his limp and crooked legs, our guide threaded the crowded bazaars at a pace which I found it difficult to equal. But as the white umbrella always floated ahead, like the famed helmet of Navarre, there was no fear of losing him; indeed, not having been paid in advance certainly he would have guarded against any such catastrophe.

Opening a rickety door in the face of the rocky slope, old Troglodytes, to whom now added themselves certain myrmidons, produced long tapers which we lit. Then off he went again down the steep stones with the activity of a great black beetle, and after him we followed, till at length the doorway behind us became but a star of light that soon vanished altogether.

It was a strange and awesome place in which we found ourselves, a vast, many-branching cavern, filled with darkness and with silence, whereof the ends and recesses have never been explored. The air clung thick and heavy, the heat was such as in the tropics precedes a hurricane; the only sounds came from the occasional dripping of water condensed upon the ragged roof and the echo of our

X

footsteps, while in that breathless calm the tapers burnt steadily as stars. All about lay tumbled heaps of rock loosened centuries ago. Also there were many half-cut squares and rough hewn masses, embryo pillars perhaps never moved from the spot where they had fallen. The extent of these caves, now so fearfully still, but that must once have resounded with the voices and hammers of thousands of workmen, seems to be enormous, and their ramifications are endless. How our friend Troglodytes found his way about them was to me a marvel; certainly I should have been hopelessly lost within five minutes. But he scrambled on, waving the white umbrella, a tiny figure in that dwarfing vastness, and we scrambled after over thousands of tons of débris. Above us as we went hung threatening blocks of stone that seemed to be suspended from the roof, for wherever it was possible the ancient workmen detached them in such fashion that they fell down from above.

At length, having gone as far as was safe and the air could be breathed with any comfort, we turned, although at the time I was not aware of the fact, and ten minutes later once more saw the star of light shining at the door. In fact, I was quite glad to reach it, being hot and tried, soaked, too, with perspiration induced by the stifling closeness of the place. Moreover, the candles softened with the heat, and bent over the hand in a way that made them very difficult and uncomfortable to hold.

I should like to know all the history of those vaults. What tragedies may they not have witnessed during the many terrible sieges and sacks through which Jerusalem has passed! Often fugitives must have refuged here; often doubtless they perished here. Perhaps they were starved; perhaps these rugged walls have echoed to the cries of massacre, and this darkness has been illumined

with the red torches of Romans, or of Saracens, seeking their helpless prey even in the bowels of the earth Perhaps, also-let us hope it-some more fortunate hid here until the danger was done with, and thence escaped to light and life again.

CHAPTER XXI

GORDON'S TOMB AND GOLGOTHA

ANOTHER place in Jerusalem, of which, so far as I am aware, the guide-books take no notice, but that to me was fascinating and suggestive, is the sepulchre known as Gordon's Tomb, with the garden whereby it is surrounded. This name has been given to the spot because that great and single-minded man General Gordon, when he was in Jerusalem, made it his custom to come here for prayer and meditation. As for the tomb I do not understand that he ever asserted it to be that in which the body of our Lord was laid, although he was inclined to believe this might be so. My information on the point, however, is of a hearsay order, gathered only from what was told me in Jerusalem.

This, at least, is sure, that if the true Calvary was where many believe it to have been, among them myself, on the traditional site of the Place of Stoning, of which I shall speak presently, few resting-places could have been more convenient for the entombment of the divine Body. Also the resemblance between this garden with its grave and those described in the Gospels is remarkable. It may be, however, that the facts that the place is still a garden, and that the tomb is much what it must have been when it was hollowed out so many, many centuries ago, give more weight to this similarity than the circumstances warrant.

Yet it would not be too much to say that here the scriptural description seems entirely fulfilled. The tomb