Starting from the Aksa the city wall goes to the south, and then turns again to the west down to the Dung Gate. Throughout the whole of this angle the lower part of the wall is Roman work, the upper Saracenic, of the time of Solyman. Although this gate is evidently only a few hundred years old, it is usually pointed out by the guides as that entered by our Saviour, when he was brought from the garden of Gethsemane to the house of Caiaphas. Ignorance of architecture and of the plan of the ancient city has allowed this tradition to exist[310]. Entering, and forcing our way through a thicket of cactus, we regain the south wall of the Temple enclosure, whose lower parts date from the reign of Solomon. An excavation made at the south-west angle gave, first the masonry of Solomon, secondly that of the Crusaders, and above these that of Solyman[311]. The ruins south of the Aksa belong to the choir of Justinian's basilica, which was thrown down by an earthquake between the years A.D. 775 and 785. They now await the last stroke of the hand of Time to bring them to the ground, when they evidently must injure in their fall the south wall of the mosque; but the Mohammedan fatalists never think of averting this by timely repairs. The whole of the space between the walls of the city and the _Haram_ was probably, at the time of Herod the Great, covered by the amphitheatre erected by that king[312]. Near the south-west angle is a very remarkable fragment of an arch and its pier, built into the _Haram_ wall. Nearly all the learned writers who have noticed it, with the exception of the Rev. G. Williams, have considered these remains to belong to the age either of Solomon or Herod; I however venture to differ from them, and attribute it to Justinian; who, when building the neighbouring basilica, may have contemplated throwing a bridge over the valley between Moriah and Sion to facilitate the communication between the two sanctuaries on these hills. The work may have been left unfinished, because the plan was either changed or found impracticable. The blocks shew none of the characteristics of the work of Solomon or Herod, nor have they the same marked appearance of antiquity; nor does the masonry in any respect resemble the Jewish; the stones being laid with mortar. I cannot but think that if either of these kings had executed a work of such importance, the Bible and Josephus would not have passed it over in silence. We can scarcely imagine that so vast an arch, 375 feet in span, could have been built in those times; and if we suppose that the bridge crossed the valley with a series of arches, then traces of the piers, or at least of the stones that composed them, ought to be found among the rubbish below; also there should be some remains of it on the eastern slope of Sion; where nothing of the kind occurs. On this point I can speak with confidence, because when the Pasha requested me to inspect