steps on which the sarcophagi were found. Round each of the three rooms communicating with the vaults runs a small foot-path, raised above the general level of the floor, so that a kind of basin is formed at the bottom of the chamber. Into this I suppose the moisture escaping from the bodies during putrefaction flowed; perhaps there were holes in the sides to admit water, or allow of the escape of fluids; but this I could not ascertain, as the floor was covered with rubbish. Each chamber was closed by a stone door, which worked on pivots fixed in two holes. At the present time the doors lie on the ground broken to pieces, and though every one must admire their workmanship, no one has attempted to preserve them from total ruin by conveying them away to some European museum. Many authors have endeavoured to explain how they were made[834]; but I think they were brought from some other place, when completed, and then set up. I am led to this conclusion by observing that they are of a different kind of stone to that seen in the walls of the chambers; that is, of a more compact limestone without veins. All the workmanship in the excavation is admirable, and the angles are formed with the greatest accuracy. Chisels, hooks, and the revolving cutters, appear to have been the instruments used. There have been many controversies about the origin and use of these tombs: some consider them to have been the monument of Helena of Adiabene; but in that case it would be difficult to explain for what purpose the thirty-three receptacles were made, as Josephus says that she and her son alone were buried there. M. de Saulcy endeavours to prove them to be the Tombs of the Kings; but I have already shewn[835] that this is contrary to the Bible, Josephus, and tradition. From the Books of Maccabees and Josephus, we are enabled to determine the Tombs of many Asmonæan princes. With regard to the family of Herod, we know that Herod the Ascalonite was buried in Herodium; his sons, Alexander, Aristobulus, and others, in Alexandrium near to Shiloh; Agrippa in the valley of Gihon; Antipas died in Gaul; consequently none of these can lie here. We know that when Aristobulus was poisoned by the partizans of Pompeius, his body was preserved in honey, and sent to Jerusalem by Antonius[836]. He may therefore be one of those who were buried in these tombs, in which other members of the royal family, especially women and children, may have been interred. The monument being of the Doric order does not allow us to assign it to an earlier period. The Jews visit these tombs with reverence, and the Arabs exact from them a payment on entrance, to which they patiently submit. They do not, however, consider these to be the burial-places of their first Kings, but of the last; so that here tradition agrees with the architectural evidence furnished by the monument.