Before arriving at the Jews' wailing place, we come to the Gate _el-Mogarba_, leading to the mosque of the Mogarabins; a few yards to the north of which is a little rectangular plot of ground, surrounded by a low wall: after passing this I entered a dark chamber, in which was a doorway almost buried. M. Isambert[316] has attempted to identify this with one of the four western gates mentioned by Josephus[317]; but not having tested his theory on the spot, he is unaware that the difference of level between the outside and inside of the _Haram_ renders this impossible; moreover, the gate has evidently been made at a date long after the building of the wall. The Jews' wailing place is a small open plot; where a piece of Herod's wall is still seen between the outer wall of the _Mekhemeh_ and that of a private house (belonging to Abu-Saud): it is called in Arabic _Haï el-Mogharibeh_ (the wall of the Mogarabins). M. de Saulcy says of it: "Up to a height of more than 12 metres (about 39 feet) the original building has remained entire; regular courses of fine stones, perfectly squared, but with an even border standing out as a kind of framework, enclosing the joints, rise over each other to within two or three yards from the top of the wall. A moment's inspection is enough to ascertain, without any doubt, that the Jewish tradition is positively correct; a wall like this has never been constructed either by Greeks or Romans. We have evidently here a sample of original Hebraic architecture[318]. In the inferior courses the stones are on the average twice as wide as they are high; now and then, however, some square blocks happen to be laid between the long ones. The four inferior courses nearest the ground are formed of square blocks, with the exception of the last but one, which is composed of blocks three times as long as they are high. As the courses successively rise above the ground, the dimensions of the blocks decrease, and, lastly, every course recedes about one fifth of an English inch behind the surface of the one immediately below it. Beyond these walls (bounding the space on each side) the ancient construction extends about 38 feet to the right, and 36 to the left, or in the direction of the _Mekhemeh_. Again, the primitive wall is crowned towards the summit by several courses of hewn stones regularly disposed, but of small dimensions. These upper courses are of comparatively recent date, and their age cannot be referred to a period anterior to the Mohammedan conquest. On the face of the ancient wall appear large notches, which have been made at some undeterminable period, for the purpose of fixing a pediment over this part of the enclosure; these notches, hollowed out in the shape of a niche, that is to say, round at the top with a rectangular basis, are of different dimensions, perhaps they may have been made at the period of the rebuilding of the Temple by Herod[319]." From its delicacy of execution I consider this wall