In the first chapter of this book I gave what seemed to me at the time the wonderful correspondence between the prophetical descriptions of the twelve tribeships and the present aspects and conditions of those twelve sections, as to climate, physical features, soil, cultivation, and natural products, and the recent surveys more than confirm this correspondence. It is now apparent that the boundaries of the tribal possessions were rivers, ravines, ridges, and the watershed lines of the country, and, above all, the fertility of the soil was in accordance with the density of population, and this density is now indicated by the larger number of ancient ruins. While excavations have been made with more or less success in all the notable sections of the land, those of chief interest to the biblical scholar are in and about the holy city. There shafts have been sunk through the _débris_ one hundred and twenty-five feet below the present surface of the ground. In those researches the foundation stones of the walls of the temple area were laid bare; Phœnician jars were found, on which are Phœnician characters; a subterranean passage was uncovered, a secret passage for troops from the citadel to the temple in times of danger; old aqueducts were brought to light; the ancient wall on Mount Ophel was traced hundreds of feet; the first wall on Mount Zion, and the probable site of the second wall, on which so much depends touching both the Temple and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, were discovered. The explorer has confirmed the historical statement of the glories of the temple of God, one thousand feet long and two hundred feet high, the grandest structure ever dedicated to divinity. In their explorations they found fragments of earthenware at a depth of ninety feet, belonging to the city of the Jebusites, B.C. 1500; they uncovered pavements, one of mezzah stone, and between the pavements rubbish twenty feet deep, and under a second pavement was found Haggai’s seal, bearing the Hebrew inscription, “Haggai, son of Shebaniah,” B.C. 500. And in those depths of the ages were found lamps, dishes, stone weights, and a Phœnician jar, standing upright where the workmen of King Hiram of Tyre left it 3,000 years ago, and beautiful vases of black ware covered with crimson glaze. They were rewarded for their patient toil by uncovering immense columns, broken arches, vast vaults, the bases of great towers, and large water tanks, four hundred feet long, subterranean passageways, with their steps _in situ_, and strong triple gates; they exhumed the lower courses of Solomon’s city wall, seven hundred feet long and whereon are painted Phœnician characters in red paint, still bright, and they brought to light a stone cross inscribed, “The light of Christ shines forth for all.” For these magnificent results we are indebted to two Americans, Robinson and Barclay, and to two Englishmen, Warren and Conder.