From this position we ascend in a north-westerly direction, and then turn southward towards an ash-coloured mound. All along our course we observe numbers of ruined and broken tombs, and can readily comprehend the account given by Josephus[842] of the levelling executed by Titus' army, between Scopus and the city. The small mound mentioned above has been examined by Liebig, who considers it to be composed of the ashes of bones and animal remains. This might be true of the specimen submitted to him, but I am of opinion that it chiefly consists of ashes from the soap-works of Jerusalem, mingled with soil and broken stones, with bones of dogs and other carrion, that have been cast out there. I have arrived at this conclusion, after making large excavations in the heap, and availing myself of its materials to mix with lime in making a strong cement, which I used in building and repairing terrace-roofs, and in conduits and cisterns. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the proprietors of the soap-works themselves, have assured me that the greater part of this deposit was formed during the time of Ibrahim Pasha, by whose orders the refuse of their manufactories was conveyed outside the city. By following the road, which leads in a north-westerly direction to Gibeon, we find on the left-hand side, at a distance of about two hundred yards from the above mound, a tomb which differs in form from all those already described. It has an antechamber, and from it three doors lead into three small chambers, in which there are no biers. At the first glance I was inclined to consider it as an incomplete work, but from the perfect execution of its interior and its frontispiece[843], I came to a different conclusion after I had had many opportunities of examining both finished and unfinished sepulchres.