486 
Proceedings of the Boyal Society 
highest interest may perhaps still await us. It is known that the 
pavement of the platform round the Dome of the Eock is partly 
supported on vaults as yet unexplored, and that there are rocky 
scarps still to he examined in other parts of the same area. It 
seems quite possible that the rocky foundations of Herod’s Temple 
may still lie hidden beneath the modern pavement ; and the progress 
of exploration during the last twenty years has been so steady and 
rapid, that it is perhaps not unreasonable to hope that the secrets of 
this hidden portion of the sacred area may yet he unfolded, and 
the position of the Holy House and the Court of the Priests fixed by 
the actual recovery of the foundations at present covered by a 
modern pavement. 
While residing at Jerusalem I entered every chamber and cistern 
which could he reached in the immediate vicinity of the Holy 
Eock. I was fortunate in the discovery of a rock scarp pre- 
viously unnoticed, hut there is no doubt that substructures remain 
still to he explored especially towards the east of the present plat- 
form. 
Such seems to he the general result of the successive explorations 
of the High Sanctuary at Jerusalem, so far as Jewish antiquities 
are concerned. It is now proposed to consider the results of explora- 
tion in the city itself, in special connection with the question of 
the true sites of Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre. 
The first requisite for a satisfactory restoration of the ancient 
topography of the city is a clear understanding of the natural site 
on which it was built. The hills and valleys have been rendered 
almost indistinguishable through the accumulation of rubbish ; and 
modern explorers have therefore agreed that the first and most 
important object to he kept in view is the determination of the 
level of the rock-surface in all parts of the city. 
The Ordnance Survey of Colonel Wilson not only gave the means 
of easily determining such levels by reference to fixed bench marks 
above the surface, but also laid the foundation of the inquiry by 
marking the rock wherever it occurred on the surface. The number 
of observations added by Colonel Warren and by others, including 
my own measurements, has given a total of 265 observations within 
an area of about 250 acres occupied by the ancient city ; and we 
are thus able to run contours and draw sections which approxi- 
