THE Q UA RR ) -( '. 1 1 r E8 OF JER V SALEM. 5 4 7 



methods of quarrying. Dr. Cyrus Adler, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, upon the occasion of his visit there, was so fortunate as to discover 

 a perfect lamp and a damaged water bottle, which he has deposited in 

 the U. S. National Museum. The little niches cut out of the face of 

 the rock to receive the lamps are still there, and far within the cave 

 there is a small spring, the clear water of which now fills the little basin 

 which was cut in the rocky floor centuries ago to receive it. Although 

 it is not probable that any stone has been quarried in this cave since 

 a period at least as remote as the beginning of the Christian era, so 

 little has time affected the wrought surfaces of the rock since the last 

 quarrying was done there, one might almost expect to see the old 

 masons return to their work at any time, to hear at high noon the call 

 from labor to refreshment and, in the dim light of their tiny lamps, 

 to see them gather around the spring for their mid-day meal. Per- 

 haps it was just here that, according to the legend, the grand master 

 was murdered when he came to inspect the quarry work. The thought 

 startled me, and I looked around half expecting to see hostile faces 

 peering at us out of the darkness. 



The principal method of quarrying that was practised in this cave 

 was laborious but effective, and the same method is known to have been 

 practised in other ancient quarries. It is a hand method, the effect 

 of which is much like that of one now employed by aid of machinery 

 in quarrying marble and massive limestones. A perpendicidar face 

 of the rock was prepared and the outlines of the desired ashlars drawn 

 upon it. The principal tool used for the shaping and removal of such 

 stones was a long slender chisel, a little more than an inch wide, which 

 was struck on end with a hammer or mallet. A narrow groove or slot 

 was thus cut on all the drawn lines and of sufficient depth for the full 

 thickness of the ashlar. The latter was then removed by driving 

 wooden wedges into the slots, the impact of which split the ashlar off 

 at its back face and allowed it to fall upon the quarry floor. The split 

 face was usually nearly even, because of the uniform texture of the 

 stone, but any defect in that part of it would cause it to split unevenly. 

 We saw one large ashlar lying where it had fallen, 'rejected of the 

 builders,' because its back face had broken off obliquely. 



In most places the quarrying of the Eoyal stratum appears to have 

 been prosecuted as far as was intended, and the stones were all removed, 

 but in one place, at least, the work was for same reason left unfinished. 

 Some of the ashlars were only outlined and some partially cut out, the 

 great stones still remaining in their original places. Perhaps the 

 work was interrupted by a strike of the quarrymen and never resumed 

 because of failure to obtain compliance with their demands. But work- 

 men had few rights in those days, and that suspension of quarry work 



