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THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM LIBRARY

PALESTINE
EXPLORATION FUND

Patron— THE QUEEN.

Quart erly Statement

FOR 1889.

LONDON:
SOCIETY'S OFFICE, i, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI,

AND BY

ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C.

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XONDON :
llAhRTSOX AND SON?, PEINTEBS IN OEDINABY TO HER MAJESTY,

ST. maetin's lane.

THE J. PAUL GETTY CENTER

.—vi * rvKJ

NAMES OF THR AUTHORS AND OF THE PAPERS
CONTRIBUTED BY THEM.

Annual General Meeting
Birch, Eev. W. ¥. -

Waters of Sliiloali that go Softly
Valleys and Waters of Jerusalem
En-Eogel, and the Brook that Overflowed
Nehemiah's Wall
Chaplin, Dr. T.—

Some Jerusalem Notes . .
Chester, Rev. G. J. —

Note on a Coin . .
Conder, Major C. R. —

Alphabet, The . .
Asia Minor Words, Note on
Essebu, Note on . .
Hebrew Months . .

Hittite Hat, So-called

Hittite Monuments

Hittites, Recent Notes on the . .

Holy Sepulchre, Note on

House of the Holy Ghost

Jerash Text, Note on . .

King Orry's Stone, Note on

Lycian Language. .

Lydian Language

Mejarkon, Note on

Norman Fiefs in Palestine

Norman Palestine

Notes on Nomenclature. .

Peasant Language in Palestine. .

Phoenician Notes

Phrygian Language

Report on the Answers to the " Questions^

Sayce, Professor, Note on the Hittites

So-called Hittite Monuments of Keller

South Wall of Jerusalem, The. .

Speech of Lyeaonia

Stone Zoheleth . .

Tarku, Note on . .

Tell Amarna Tablets, Note on the

Tell es Salahiyeh Monument . .

Vannie Language

Was there a word Ko, " King "

PAGE.

165

3S
45
9-

158

204

14S

148

201

195

146

133

142

148

120

145

147

203

IIS

Q.^v^'^.'ibr

Finn, Mrs. E. A. — PAGE.

Note on Mr. Gruy le Strange's Paper on Antiocli . . , . . . 154

Tlie Rock (Sakhrah) 156

Note on an old Wall of Jerusalem . . . . . , . . . . 205

Grlaisher, James, F.R.S. —

Meteorological Observations taken at Sai'ona, near Jaffa, 1882 to 1885

11, 79, 117, 192
Hanauer, Eev. J. E. —

Cave, Curious, at Saris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Inscription at Beit el Kliulil .. .. .. .. .. .. 185

Hull, Professor Edward- -

The Jordan Arabali and the Dead Sea . . . . . . . . 32

Merrill, Dr. Selah —

Tell es Salahiyeh Monument . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Notes and News 1, 53, 104, 159

Notes on the Plan of Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

St. Clair, George —

Nehemiah's South Wall, and the Locality of the Royal Sepulchres 90

The " Broad Wall " at Jerusalem 99

Twin Sacred Mounts at Jerusalem .. .. .. .. .. 99

Moabite Stone, The Form of, and the Extent of the Missing Parts 150

Sayce, Rev. Professor —

The Accadian Word for King . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Schick, Herr Conrad —

Crusading Ruins on Mount Scopus .. .. ,. .. .. 114

Discoveries North of the Damascus Grate .. .. .. .. 116

Large Cistern under the new Greek Building south-east of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre .. .. .. .. ..Ill

Mount of Olives, The 174

Muristan, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Notes on the Plans and the Cave east of the Church of the Holy

Sepulchre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Recent Discoveries in Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . 172

Remains of an old Wall outside the present northern wall of the

City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Remains of an old Wall near the north-east Corner of the City , . 65

Road Improvements in Palestine . . . . . . . . . . 8

Tell Tunis 7

Schumacher, Herr G.—

Discoveries in Galilee . . . . . . . . . . . . 68, 187

The "Via Maris" 78,152

Simpson, William —

The Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock .. .. .. 14

The Holy Places of Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Weld, A. G.—

Tell es Salahiyeh Monument .. .. .. .. .. .. 152

Wilson, Colonel Sir Charles W. —

Tell es Salaluyeh Monument . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

PACK

Alphabet Tables .. .. .. .. •• •• •• •• 1*^

Beit el 'Arab-
Plan of Ruin. . . . . . . . . . . . • . • • 74

Base of Pillar . . . . . . . . . . . • • • 74

Cave or Tomb, Section of . . . • • • • . • • • • • ■ 77

Copper Bracelet . . . . . . . . • • • • • • • • ' '

„ Coin.. .. .. .. .. >• •• •• •• v7

„ Instruments. . . . . . . . . • • • • • • • '7

Figure and Inscription found in Cave near Saris . . . . . . 185

Hittite Monuments . . . . . . . . . . • • • • 86, 87, 88

Inscription at Beit el Khulil . . . . . . • • • • • • 18(5

Ummel'Alak 102

Jerusalem —

Sections of three Shafts . . . . . . • • • • • • -^4

Aqueducts, Plan of the . . . . . . • • • • • • 35

City of David, Plan of 37

Jerusalem, Plan of (large) . . . . . . . . • . ■ . 62

„ (small) 39

Old Wall, Plan and Section of 65

Nehemiah's Soutli Wall, Plan of 90

Large Cistern, Plan of .. .. .. .. •• •• HO

„ „ Section and Plans of . . . . • • ■ . 210

Old CInirch opposite the Barracks . . . . . . . . 172

Meteorological Tables 11,79,117,193

El Mdkadi, cut Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . • • '5

Mount Olivet —

Plan of Range . . . . . . . . . . • ■ • • 1 ' 4

Catacombs . . . . . . . . . . . . ■ • • • 180

Antiquities found on . . . . . . . . . . . • 183

Nazareth —

Large Cave, Plan and Sections of - . . . . . ■ • • • 68

Conical Stones of Vault . . . . . . . • ■ • • • 69

Capital and Cornices . . . . . . . . • • • • '1

Statuette . . . . . . . . . . . . • • • • '2

Lamps, Pottery .. .. .. .. .. •• •• '2

Bone Instrument . . . . . . . . • • • • • • '2

Tomb at Shefa 'Amr 188

"Wasm" Marks 190,191

GENERAL INDEX.

Abtiin, 190.

Accadian word for King, 210.

'Ain Abu Werideli, 34.

'Ain es Susafeh, 189.

'Akka, 191.

Alphabet, The, and Tablet of Letters,

17.
Altar Tables and Candles, 154.
Annual Groneral Meeting, 165.
Answers to the Questions, Eeport

on, 120.
Antioch, Notes on, 154.
Antiquities found near Akka, 191.
„ ,, Haifa, 187-

„ „ on Mount of Olives,

183.
Aqueduct, from the Virgin's Fount, 35.
Asia Minor Words, 26.
Assyrian Calendar, 22.
Athaliah, Death of, 96.
'Aujeh, River, 24.

Bab el Amud, 61.
Balance Sheet for 1888, 169.
Bedu, The, 131.
Beit el 'Arab, 74.
Bethesda, Pool of, 115, 160.
Biblical Illustrations, 133.
Broad Wall, 93.

,, Jerusalem, 99.

Brook Kidron, 38.
Brook that Overilowed, 40.

Campo Santo, or Christian Burial
Place, 179.

Catacombs, 180.

Cave, East of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, 67.

Cave, Large, at Nazareth, 68.

Cave at Saris, with Figures and In-
scription, 184.

Chapel of the Flagellation, 10.

Christians, The, 132.

Chvirch, Ancient, 172.

Church of St. Ann, 10.

Church of St. Gilles, 10.
„ St. James, 10.

Church, or Convent, of St. Thomas, 1 0.

„ Stones of an Ancient, 73.
Churches, Eastern and Western, 154.
Cistern, Large, 111.
City of David, 92.
Coin, 77.

Coin, Note on a, 153.
Columbarium, 182.
Copper Instruments, 77.
Crusading Ruins on Mount Scopus,
114.

David's Flight and Exile, 96.

Dead Sea and the Jordan. Arabah,

32.
Deir Hania, 78.
Discoveries North of the Damascus

Gate, 116.
Dome of the Rock, and the Holy

Sepulchre, 14.
Dragon's Well, 4t.
Druzes, The, 120.
Dung Gate, 92,95.
Dustrey, 191.

Emek, the Dale, 42.
Kn-rogel, 44.

En-rogel, and the Brook that Over-
flowed, 45.
Essebu, 27.

Gate, East, 94.
Gate of Ephraim, 93.
Gate, Golden, 94.

„ Horse, 94.

„ Old, 93.
Gate of Potsherds, 42.
Gate. Triple, 94, 99.

„ Water, 94, 95, 99.
Ge, or the Valley of Hinnom, 41.
Gihon, the Virgin's Fount, 208.
Gravel of the Arabah, 33.
Greek Navel of the World, 102.

Gutter, The, 51.

"Hand" on Phoenician Tombstones,

144.
Hebrew Months, The. 21 .
Hittite Hat, So-called, 89.
„ Monuments, 145.

of KeUer, 85.
Hittites, Conder and Sajre, 82.

„ Kecent Notes on the, 30.
Holy Places of Jerusalem, 61.
Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the

Eock, 14.
Holy Sepulchre, Note on the, 204.
House of Annas, 9.
House of the Holy Ghost, 9, 90.

Inscription, 192.

Inscription at Biet el Khulil, 185.

Jam'a Abd es Samad, 72.

Ja'uni, 74.

Jebel Usdum, 33.

Jerash Texts, 28.

Jei'emiah's Prophecy, 98.

Jerusalem, Taking of, by David, 96.

Jews, Ancient Families of, 10.

Joash, Assassination of, 97.

Jordan, Ajabab and the Dead Sea, 32.

King Orry's Stone, 26.

Ko " King," Was there a word ?, 149.

Latron Hotel, 9.
Lepers' G-ate, 64.
Lycian Words, 148.
Lydian Words, 148.

EI Mahrakah, 152.

Malawiye, Mosque of, 10.

El Meidan, 10.

Mejarkon, 24.

Metawileh, The, 126.

Meteorological Observations at Sarona,

10, 79, 117, 192.
Middle of the World, 102.
Moabite Stone, 150.
El Mokadi, 76.
Mosque at Damascus, 14.

,, of Omar, 61.
Mother of Pearl, its use, 154.
MountofOffenceor Corruption, 174,175.
Mount of Obves, 174.

,, „ New Buildings on, 178.

Mount Scopus, 174, 175.

>> „ Crusading Euins on, 114.

Mugharet Eaba' Jessas, 188.
Muristan, The, 113.

Nachal, or the Brook Kidron, 39.
Neby Yiinis, at Hiilhiil, 8.
„ „ south of Jaffa, 8.

„ ,, at el Meshed, 8.

,, ,, at SarejDta, 8.

Nehemiah's Night ride, 92.
W^all, 206.
South Wall, 90.
„ Workers, 95.

Nomenclature, Notes on, 146.
Norman Fiefs in Palestine, 201.
Norman Palestine, Index of Names,

195.
Notes on the Plan of Jerusalem, 62.

Old Wall, Eemains of, 63, 65, 205.
Ophel, the City of David, 37.
„ Wall of, 91.

Peasant Language of Palestine, 133.
Phoenician Calendar, 23.

Notes, 142.
Phrygian W' ords, 148.
PcolofBethesda, 61.

„ of Shiloh, 92.
Proverbs, 1 39.

Eishy, er, 33.

Eoad Improvements, 8.

J, from Jaffa to NabMs, 9.

,, „ Jerusalem to Hebron, 9.
Eock (Sakhrah), 156.
Eoman Eoads, paved, 79.
Eujm el Haraik, 76.

St. Magdalen 10.

St Peter ad Vincula, 10.

Saknet el Jebaliyeh, 7.

Sepulchres of David, 206.

Sepulchres, The Eoyal, 90, 92.

Sheep Gate, 92.

Shefa 'Amr, Tomb at, 188.

Esh Shejara, 75.

Solomon's Palace, 91.

South Wall of Jerusalem, 145.

Speech of Lycaonia, 147.

Stairs of David, 95.

Stone Circle, 76.

Suk el Khan, 78.

Tantnra, 191.

Tarku, 25.

Tell Amarna Tablets, 28.

Tell es Salahiyeh Monument, 87, 144.

152, 210.
Tell Yunis, Euins on, 7.
Temple Courts, 91.

Till

Tomb or Cave near 'Akka, 187.
Tombs near Jeremiali's Giotto, 117-

„ Eock-bewn, 180.
Tophetb, 42.

Tunnel from near Bir Eyub, 48.
Twin Sacred Mounts, 99.

Fmm el 'Alak, 192.

Valley Gate, 42, 92.

,, of Emek, or tbe Dale, 39.

„ of Hinnom, 39.

„ of Slaugbter, 42.
Valleys and Waters of Jerusalem, 48.
"N'aniiic Language, 203.

Via Maris, 78, 152.
Virgin's Fount, Gihou, 208.
Viri Galilaa;, 177.

Wady Arabab Watersbed, 33.

Walls and Gates, Kebuilding of the,

92.
Wasm or Tribe Marks, 190, 191.
Waters of Sbiloali, 35.
Wells of Saline Water in Jerusalem,

10.
Well of Souls, 100.

Zedekiab, Fligbt of, 98.
Zcbeletb, Tbe Stone, 44, 90.

Quarterly Stateajent, January, 1889.] .

i ' ' ' '

7 (• ■ ■

» «. I t " 1 '► II »

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

LAST YEAR AND THIS.

The year 1888 has not been fruitful of discoveries. On the other hand, it lias
been a vear of veiy good work, and one tliat has enriched the bibliography of
Palestine Research with much that is yaluable and endurins.

(1) Herr Conrad Schick has followed vxp and completed his account of the very

interesting discoveries made in the Russian property to the east of the
Cluu'ch of the Holy Sepulchre. We have been in communication with
the Russian Exploration Society, and have received from them the most
gratifying assurances of assistance. It is possible tliat some of tlje
opinions first advanced by Herr Schick npon this discovery may have
to be mochfied. For example, he thinks that the granite columns
fomid in the street Khan er-Zeit formed part of Constantine's Propy-
la?um. Sir Charles Wilson, however, is of opinion that these columns
probably belonged to the main street of ^Elia Capitolina, which was
decorated with columns as in the case of Samaria and other cities.

(2) The line of the Second Wall has received no fm-ther investigation. But

Herr Schick was absent on leave during the summer, and it is hoped
that he may be able to resume his search dui'ing the present year.

(3) As regards the Sidon Sarcophagi, we are still awaiting the promised work

of Hamdi Bey upon tliem.

(4) The great discovery of the year has been that of the Pool of Bethesda, and

fully described in the Quarterly Statement for July, 1888. There seems
to be very little doubt that we have here the ancient Pool itself.

(5) A cave has been found in Jerusalem, at a depth of 49 feet 6 inches below

the surface. It lies south-east of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The cave is to be cleared out and thoroughly examined.
(G) Russian excavations at Jericho have proved the existence of former exten-
sive builings, on the site capitals, pillars, lintels, wea;)ons, lamps, and
jars, rings, &c., have been found.

(7) Herr Schumacher has surveyed and planned the ruins of Abll, the Abila

of the Decapolis, situated on the south bank of the Yarmuk. We shall
give this Report to our Subscribers with the April or July number of the
Quarterhi Statement.

(8) The narrative of the Botanical Expedition of Dr. Post to the Trans-

Jordanic regions in the year 1886 was published in the October number
of the Quarterly Statement for last year. The list of plants colleeU'd
is a most valuable contribution to the Botany of the countrv.

(9) Her • Schick ]i:is discovei'ed a somewhat remarkable ruin on one of the

sand dunes on the coast south of Jaffa. It is called Tell Yunis. and is
described in this member.

2 ; LAST YEAR AND THIS.

r <

\ ' T?ie (^pir.TnifctJc are .pleaded to announce that a sufficient iiuniber of names
lias heea.o'eeftiyod: .ccir tlic three works — Conder's "Eastern Survey," Ganneau's
""ArciuKoldgical Drawings," and Hart's "Flora and Fauna of the Wady Arabah,"
to justify the connnencement of the work. Major Conder's drawings are
already executed and a portion of the work has been set up. Tlie volume will
probably be ready in March or April. Names should be sent in as soon as
possible. No more than 500 will be printed, and the price, after 250 names
have been received, will be raised from seven to twelve guineas.

The Committee have added to their list of publications during the year
Schumacher's " Survey of Jaulan." Upwards of 150 plans and sketches of the
country were made for the work ; the map which aceoinpanies it contains 000
names as compared with 150 in the previous maps. The book is full of new
and valuable information on the people and the country.

The Committee have al»o to announce that by arrangement with Messrs.
Bentley and Son, the new edition of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter
Besant and E. H. Palmer, can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for
OS. 6d., by application to the Head Office only. The whole set (sep below) of the
Society's works, including this book, can be obtained by application to Mr. George
Armstrong, for 37s. 6d., carriage paid. The " History of Jerusalem," which was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later works on llie same subject.
It begins with the siege bv Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-knowu
episodes in the history of the city and the country.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on tlie researches coikIih ted in the country,
winch can be found in' no other publications. It must never be forgotten that
no single traveller, however well equipped by pfevious knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in tlie periods required, and pro-
vided with all tlie instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following : —

By Major Conder, R.E.—
(1) " Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular nccount of fhe survey of Western
Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a coutiiuious narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
ii]U)ii a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
(raveller ha-! enjoyed tlie same advantages as Mnjor Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

LAST YEAR AND THIS. 3

(2) " Heth and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder providts a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Eastern Falesthie. How the party began by a flying visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesh— of the
chilch-en of Hetli ; how. they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Conder's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

Major Conder's works, is, perhaps, the most valuable. It attempts a task
never before approached — the reconstruction of Palestine from its monu-
ments. It shows what we should know of Syria if there were no Bible,
and it illustrates the Bible from the monuments.

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — This is a popular accoimt of the Geolo-

gical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fimd. The part which deals with the Valley of Arabah
will be fomid entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

tion of Major Conder's works issued as instalments of the unpublisliod
" Survey of Eastern Palestme." They are full of drawings, sketches, and
plans, and contain many valuable remarks upon manners and customs.

(8) The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work. — A copy of this book is presented

to every subscriber to the Fund who applies for it. The work is a
popular account of the researches conducted by the Society during the
past twenty-one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by this Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's Kh. Fahil. The ancient Pella(?), the first retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
Quarterly Statements. »

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described on p. 2.

The Questions for making an inquiry into the manners and customs of the
various peoples and tribes in Syria and the Desert, which were carefully pre-
pared three years ago, and sent out to Palestine, have now begun to furnish
the expected replies. They were interrupted by the absence of Dr. Post
from Beyrout ; he has now returned and has begun to send the answers.

Tlie translation, classification, and publication of these will form a great
part of the work for the next year.

The publications for the year 1889, besides those already mentioned, will
include Schumaclier's "Abila" and liis "Southern Ajlun." These will be
presented to subscribers.

LAST YEAR AND THIS.

We also hope to publish in the autumn Mr. Guy le Strange's new book on
Palestine according to the Ai-abic Geographers.

Work at Jerusalem and elsewhere will be continued as opportunity may
offer. Should the long-hoped for Firman be granted, the survey of Eastern
Palestine will be renewed.

It will be evident from the above tliat the Society is vigorous and full of
work. At no time has the reputation of the Palestine Exploration Fvind stood
higher : its publications are in demand over the whole world ; its achievements
in the illustration of the Bible rise beyond comparison with those of any other
institutioia or private traveller; and it has still an immense quantity of work
before it. In those lands whose chief treasures are below the surface it is
impossible to say what may be discovered, and at any moment. The Com-
mittee can only, however, make general plans, subject to alteration, from
motives of expediency and necessity. The management of the Society is con-
ducted on the most economical lines possible, and where there is extrava-
girce of expenditure it is in the presentation to subscribers of the results
obtained by their money.

The Committee have resolved that Branch Associptions of the Bible Society,
all Sunday Schools in union with the Sunday School Institute, the Smiday
School Union, and the Wesleyan Sunday School Institute, shall be treated as
subscribers and be allowed to purchase the books and maps (by application
only to the Secretary) at i-educed price.

The friends of the Society are earnestly requested to use the "Memoirs
of Twenty-one Years' Work " as a means of showing what the work has been,
and what remains to be done.

Subscribers are very earnestly asked : — (1) To pay their subscriptions early
in the year — say in January. (2) To pay them direct to Coutts and Co. by a
banker's order. (3) If they would rather choose their own time, to send up
their subscriptions without being reminded. The Clerical Staff of the Society
is small ; it is most desirable not to increase it ; and if these simple requests arc
attended to a great saving of clerical labour, postage, and stationery is effected.
For instance, there are, say, 3,000 subscribers. If every one of these waits to
be reminded, and has to have a receipt sent to him, the Society has to spend
£25 a year additional in postage, and to write 6,000 letters, merely to ask
for and to acknowledge the receijjt of the subscriptions.

It has come to the knowledge of the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of the Society. The Committee have to
caution subscribers tliat they have no book hawkers in their employ, and that
none of their works are sold by any itinerant agents.

LAST YEAR AND THIS. 5

Mr. Armstrong has prepared a list of the photographs belonging to the Society,
arranged alphabetically according to those Bible names which are illustrated by
views. This list is now ready. Those wlio wish for a copy may send in their names.

The income of the Society, from September 19th to December 20th,
inclusive, was — from subscriptions and donations, £318 19*. Of^. ; from all
sources, X'],011 13*. 8d. This amount includes a legacy of £500 from the
late Mr. Eobert Mackay Smith, of 4, Bellvue Crescent, Edinburgh. The
expenditure during the same period was £769 6s. 6d. On December 20th,
the balance in the Bank was £460 17*. 7d.

Subscribers who do not receive the Quarterly Statement regularly are asked
to send a note to the Secretary. Great care is taken to forward each number
to all who are entitled to receive it, but changes of address and other causes
give rise occasionally to omissions.

It does not seem generally known that cases for binding the Quarterly
Statement can be had by subscribers, on application to the office.

The Committee have resolved upon issuing single sheets of the Great Map
(Scale, one inc]a = one mile) at 2s. Qd. each to Subscribers.

Subscribers ai'C begged to note the following : —

1. Index to the Quarterly Statement, 1869-1880.

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan."

3. Cases for the Quarterty Statement.

Each of these can be had by application to the office at Is. each.

Early numbers of the Quarterly Statement are very rare. In order to make
up complete sets the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
numbers in the following years : — •

1869, 1870. These are numbered I to VII.
1871-1876, 1881, 1883, 1885.
Odd numbers are worth little or nothing. Complete sets of the Quarterly
Statement are priced in second-hand catalogues from £7 to £10 each.

While desiring to give every publicity to proposed identifications and other
theories advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of the
Quarterly Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanction nor adopt
them.

LAST YEAR AND THIS.

The onlj authorised lecturers for the Society are —

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, F.G.S., Member of the Authropological Institute

aud of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

His subjects are : —

(1) The General Exploration of Palestine.

(2) Jerusalem Buried and Recovered.

(3) Buried Cities, Egypt and Palestine.

(4) Buried Cities of Mesopotamia, with some account of the

Hittites.

(5) Tke Moahite Stone and the Pedigree of the English Alphabet.

Address : Geo. St. Clair, Bristol Road, Birmingham, or at the Office of
the Fund.

(2) Tlie Rev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His

lectures are on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving views :" —

The Stirvey of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem E.vcavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(3) The Rev. James King, Vicar of St. Mary's, Berwick. His subjects are

as follows : —

The Survey of Western Palestine.
Jerusalem.
The Hittites.
The Moabite Stone and other monuments,

(4) The Rev. Tl\omas Harrison, F.R G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archseology, 38, Melrose Gardens, \\ est Kensington I'ark, \\'.
His subjects are as follows -. —

(1) Research and Discorery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Track of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

"TELL YUNLS."

The Gardens at Jaffa extend 14 miles south of the town, where a tract
of sand hills begin, 7 miles long and nearly 4 miles broad.

This tract is a blank, bearing only the names of two tribes of wander-
ing Arabs oa the large Map of the Palestine Exploration Fund, sheets
xiii and xvi.

In making an excursion close to the sea-shore to the south of Jaffa,
my attention was arrested by a remarkable knoll named " Tell Ylinis,"
worthy of insertion in the maps.

In going there one follows the road leiding from Jaffa southwards,
between the Gardens, having houses on both sides, some of which are
old, but the greater number new, to the Saknet el-Jebaliyeh settle-
ment on the hill.

About eight minutes further on, the I'oad descends between sand
hills to the sea-shore, and then for 3 miles further along the beach,
having on the one side the sea, and on the other steep cliff's about 150 feet
high, with a rocky creist in a straight line and uniform height, sometimes
broken by small ravines. The road approaches a remarkable hill, having
a steep slope in a straight line towards the sea ; wide at the basement
;uid narrow at the top, thus forming a regular pyramid. It stands isolated,
as north of it is a deep depression, going down nearly to the level of the
beach ; and on the south there is a regular glen, with a kind of water-
course.

As I had no instruments with me I was unable to take regular
measurements, but made the notes simply by counting the paces. Its
height is about 200 feet, and the top is of comparatively small extent, and
is crowned with ruins almost buried in the sand ; the line of the walls is,
however, still recognisable.

The top was a platform, surrounded by walls of about 70 feet long and
nearly 70 feet broad. A building once stood in the middle of it, measur-
ing 45 feet fi'om west to east in length, and 40 feet from north to south
in bi'eadth.

This building was divided into three apartments, the middle one
being wider than the outer two, and very much resembling a small
Basilica. A smaller platform, having ruins also, is in front of the east
side of the platform, but on a lower level, which I consider to have been
the entrance, having a tower with gate, &c., as from these ruins a kind
of road descends through a small ravine, tirst in a northerly and then in
a north-westerly direction to the foot of the hill.

Many fragments of coloured stones— some of which are polished,
and of exceedingly white marble — besides many jiieces of bricks and
pottery, are lying about on the top and round the brow of the hill, giving
the impression that the ruins were those of a costly building, and that
excavations woidd give good results.

8 IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS IN PALESTINE.

I hoped to find many interesting things, but did not see cany htnvn
stones of any size, whicli were, perliajjs, already taken away or buried in
the sau<l. Tliose stones which once belonged to the walls were not hewn
like those which are in the neighbourhood of Jaffa, but broken fi'om the
cliffs. Behind the hill is a kind of plain, the height of which is not
many feet above the beach, and as thei'e are indications that the sea once
came nearer to the cliffs, and even to the foot of the hill, it is 2)robable
tha,t the plain was a little bay or creek, and that the hill in question was
at that time a peninsula..

The question now arises : what site is this, or what stood on the top
of this hill ? Its name being " Tell Yiinis," Hill of Jonas, reminds one
of the Prophet Jonas, who met with his fate in this neighbourhood.

That a temple, church, or any other monument may have been erected
to his memory, we cannot say. There are several sites dedicated to this
prophet, leaving out the one at the Euphrates. Major Conder, in the
Memoirs ("Special Papers," p. 2.95), speaks of four in this country : one
in Meshed, where his tomb was shown at an earlier period ; one south
of Jaffa, on the south bank of the Eiver Sukereir, near the sea, and
13 miles to the south of the hill in question, or 17 miles south of Jaffa
(about which Major Conder remarks, "probably, the traditional spot
where the projihet was left by the whale"); the third at HiilhiU, near
Hebron ; and the fourth at Sarepta, near Tyre. The one now found
would be the fifth.

This new]}- discovered liill is the property of a native at Jaffa, who
wishes to sell it. Several Europeans went there, but hitherto no j)ur-
chase was effected.

C. Schick.
Jerusalem^ November 29th, 1888.

IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS IN PALESTINE.

Much zeal on the part of the Government may be observed in the last
two or three years for making roads in Palestine.

The existing one, from Jaffa to Jerusalem, has been much improved
lately, and the work is still going on.

Not only the line itself is improved, but in many places new and
better lines have been made. There are three chief places especially in
which such improvements were made :—

1st. Tlie Serpentine line, going down the steep descent into the
Kulonieh Valley, west of Jerusalem, was abandoned, and an entirely new
line made north of it, on the northern brow of the large valley of
" W. Beit Hannlna" and "Kulonieh." The descent now begins at the
second watch-tower, and passes near the village of Lifta, in a regular
descent of 5 in a 100, along the brow of these barren hills to where it
joins the old road, near the new and handsome bridge at Kulonieh. It is

SOME JERUSALEM NOTES. 9

a pity tliis road was made too narrow, as in the event of two carriages
meeting at full speed, collisions would probably ensue.

On this account they are about to widen it, breaking away the rocks,
and building parapet walls on the outer edge wherever it is necessary.
The distance traversed is somewhat longer, but is proportionally easier.

Some alterations were made on the right side of the valley towards
"Kustfil," bxit of minor importance, but at the ridge the bad jiart will
still remain unless a tunnel about 800 feet long is made.

2nd. The second improvement is at Kuryet el-'Enab, where the
ascent was always hard work, and driving down it dangerous. It is in
some degree longer, but with a gentle descent ; also on the other side of
the ridge, towards " Saris," it was made better and with more skill even
at Saris itself.

3rd. The third is at " Latron : " the old line went over the ridce of
the Latron Hill itself. The new road follows the valley without any
rise, and at the same time no longer than the other.

It joins the old road one mile west of the Latron Hotel — a misfortune
for that establishment — the new road not approaching it. The proprietor
must do something to attract travellers.

In the Plain Country several improvements were made, but unhappily
the steep ascent at Kubab is still remaining and not improved.

One of the decaying watch-towers near Ramleh was removed and put
nearer the road. Through the Gardens at Jaifa the road was made much
wider.

The road from Jerusalem to Hebron is finished so that carriages
ai-e now going there. At some places the old route was abandoned,
and new and better ones made.

The road from Jati'a to Nablus will also be made ; some parts being
already done.

At Jerusalem the road outside the City, from its north-western
corner eastwards along the northern town wall down to the Garden of
Gethsemane is now in course of reconstruction, and, when finished, will
be carried on to Jericho and the Joidan.

C. Schick.
Jerusalem, December bth, 1888.

SOME JERUSALEM NOTES.

On the plan of Jerusalem, a.d. 1187, which is given in Professor Hayter
Lewis's recent work on the holy places of that city, the " House of the
Holy Ghost " is marked. It may not be generally known that a house
called by that name still occupies the same position. It is in the western
part of the Jewish quarter, and is, or was, inhabited by Jews. The
House of Annas ajipears to be now included in the j^recincts of the
Armenian Convent, and is probably part of the Nunnery and Girls'
School known as Deir ez Zeit<\ny. The Church of St. James is rej^re-

10 SOME JERUSALEM NOTES.

sented by the niagnificeut Cathedral of the Arnieniaus, and St. James the
Less still exists, in a tolerable state of preservation, in premises adjoining
those of the EnoHsh Church. The Church or Convent of St. Thomas was
somewhere near the site now occupied by the Synagogues of the Spanish
.Tews. I have often searched tor Christian lemains in that locality under
the impression that these buildings, perhaps, occupy an ancient Christian
site, but without success, and can only suppose that the chapel or oratory,
the apse of which still exists in perfect preservation, in tlie Street of the
Meidan, is part of the establishment of St. Thomas. At the bottom of
this street, turning a little to the left, we come to the open space called
El Meidau, in which are extensive I'emains of the ancient Hospice of the
German Knights. The ruins of the ])rincipal buildings have been turned
into dwelling-houses, inhabited by Jews and Moslems, and one part is
known as casa derocada, the " ruined house." It occupies a prominent
and striking position opposite the establishment of tlie Templars on
Mount Moriah, with only the deep central valley (Tyrojjoeon) between.
On the western side of the Meidan a well of slightly saline water exists,
and there is another two or three hundred yards further west, making
three (or four) known to me in the Holy City. The Church of St. Gilles
is on this plan ])laced on the southern side of the street leading to the
Temple, but the author of the "Citez de Jerusalem" states that (he
street of the Germans was on the right-hand side of a person going
towards the Temple, and the Monastery of St. Gilles on the left. On the
left-hand side of the stee]) descent leading to the Valley street which
comes down from the Damascus Gate is a house belonging to Moham-
medans, but now tenanted by Jews, in which are columns and capitals
which iiulicate that a Christian building formerly stood on the spot ; and
this could be no other than St. Gilles. The Church of St. Ann is well
known to everyone under the same name at the present day. St. Mag-
dalen is indicated by the ruins existing to the north-west of St. Ann, in
the place called Mamuniyeh, as pointed out by Sir Charles Wilson in his
notes to the Ordnance Survey. The Chapel of the Flagellation still
lemains and is called by its old name, whilst St. Peter ad Vincula, from
the situation indicated on the plan, can hardly be other than the Deir el
'Adas now in possession of the Greek Church. The chapel marked to the
east of St. Stejjhen's (Damascus) Gate is apparently that now turned into
a mosque under the name Malawiye. The Church at the south-west
corner of the Hospital of St. John still exists, and of course the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, so that the sites of all the ecclesiastical buildings
marked in this plan may be readily identified at the present day.

I think it is a mistake to suppose that there are no ancient families of
Jews in Jerusalem. Jews were there for centuries before the expulsion
from Spain, and some sLill possess, or did a few years ago jjossess, heredi-
tary freehold property in the north-east quarter of the city, the ancient
Juiverie, which they allege to have come down to them from their remote
ancestors. It is hard to make out when the Jews began to dwell beyond
the limits of the medi;ieval Jewry. It is not likely they could have left

-etc '

r c c <

Y he:

' 50 FI
I Sy

[ Mean B

[

52°-l

52-2

62-8 1

66-3

71-5
76-6

81
83

69
60

39-7

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 11

it until after tlie Mohammedan reocciipation, when many Christian
dwellings were already become ruinous and deserted ; yet Benjamin of
Tudela, ciVca 1165, found two hundred dwelling "in one corner of the
city, under the Tower of David." Perhaps tliese were only a jjortion of
the Jewish population, allowed to live in that locality for the convenience
of carrying on their occupation of dyeing. The origin of the singular
custom of handing over to the Jews the keys of the city for a fav hours on
the accession of a new Sultan is also shi'ouded in much obscurity. It is
said to be connected with the Rabbinic laws relating to the Sabbath
boundary 3,^^, Erub, and the opinion of the Rabbis of Jerusalem is that it
dates from " the time of the Talmud." They affirm that after the Baby-
lonian Captivity (!) the Jews of Jerusalem always endeavoured to obtain
the keys of the city gate when a new monarch came to the throne, and
to place them in the liands of the Chief Rabbi for a short time, the object
being to acquire 2JOSseasion of the city by right of purchase, as it were (for
they always had to pay for the privilege), in order that the}^ might legally*
allow their })eople to pass and carry objects on the Sabbath from house to
house and street to street without infringing the law of Exod. xvi, 29. A
friend informs me that on the accession of the present Sultan the Jews
ai^plied to the Pasha for the keys and were refused, that they then
succeeded in obtaining them from the military authorities who have them
in charge, and that the Pasha, who was very angry when he found out
what had occurred, was pacified on its being explained that the custom
was merely a religious ceremony. Probably the usage arose after the
expulsion of the (haisaders, and when tlie Jews began to spread beyond
the limits of their old confined quarter. Modern Eastern Rabbis, like the
Rabbis who wrote the Talmud, frequently display a lofty disdain of
historical accuracy, and by "after the Babylonian Captivity' we may
understand the nuich later period when Jews of the dispersion began to
turn from Babylon westward, and many doubtless took up their residence
in Jerusalem.

Thomas Chaplin, M.D.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona 1882.

The numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; of these, the highest are in winter, and
the lowest in the summer months The maximum for the year was in
February, viz., 30-249 ins. ; in both the years 1880 and 1881 the maximum
was in January. In column 2, the lowest in each month are shown ;
the minimum, 29-545 in.s.,was in July ; in 1880 the minimum was in April,
and in 1881 in J^ebruary ; the range of readings in the year was 0-704 inch,
being about the same as in the two preceding years. The numbers in the
3rd column show the range of reading in each month ; the smallest was in

12 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

August, v^iz., 0"171 inch, and the largest in February, being somewhat
more than half an inch, the least and greatest ranges in the two |)receding
years being about the same values. The numbers in the 4th column show
the mean monthly pressure of the atmosphere ; the greatest, 30'060 ius.,
was in January, and the smallest, 29'689 ins. in July ; in the years 1880
and 1881 the greatest was in January, as in this year, the smallest in 1880
was in July, and in 1881 in August.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in column
5. The highest in the year was 93°, but which high i^oint was not
reached till November 1st; in 1880, the maximum temperature of the year
was 103°, on May 23rd, and in 1881 the maximum tempei-ature was 106°,
on August 27th. The first day in the year 1882 the temperature exceeded
90° was on the 24th of September, and only on one other day in the
month it rose to 90° ; in October there were four days when the tempera-
ture reached and exceeded 90° ; and in November two such days, the highest
93°, took place on the 1st ; therefore the temperature reached and ex-
ceeded 90° on only eight days in the year ; in the year 1880 the temperature
exceeded 90° on 36 days, and in 1881 the temiDerature rose to and exceeded
90° on 27 days.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature of the air in
each month ; in January it was as low as 34° on the 30th, and below 40°
on eight other nights in the month ; in February it was below 40° on four
different nights, and in March on one night ; therefore the temperature
was below 40' on 14 nights in the year ; in the year 1880 the temperature
was as low as 32° on two nights in January and one in February ; and
below 40° on 13 other nights, and in 1881 it was below 40° on only two
nights ; the lowest experienced was 39° on the 6th and 7th of December.
The yearly range of temperature was 59°, the range in 1880 was 71°, and
in 1881 was 67°. The range of temperature in each month is shown in
column 7, and these numbers vary from 25° in August to 47° in November;
in 1880 tliese numbers vary from 25° in August to 53° in both April and
May, and in 1881 from 29° in July and September to 51° in May.

The mean of all the highest by day, of the lowest by night, and of the
average daily ranges of temperature, are shown in columns 8, 9, and 10,
respectively. Of the high day temperature, the lowest was in February,
65°7 ; and the highest in September, 87°"2. Of the low night temperature
the coldest, 43°"7, took place in January, and the warmest, 68°-7, in
August. Both the high day temperature and the low night temperature
were very low throughout the year. The mean daily range of temperature
in each month are shown in column 10, the smallest was in February,
ll°-7, and the largest in October 22°-7.

In column 11, the mean temperature of each month, as found from
observations of the maximum and minimum thermometers only are given,
the month of the lowest temperature was February, 49°'8 ; in 1880 the
month of the lowest temperature was January, 50°'7; and in 1881 was
February, 56°-2. The highest was August, 78°-6 ; in 1880 and 1881 the
months of the highest was also in August, as in this year, and the numbers

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 13

were 79'^ and 80'''1 i-esjiectively. The mean temperature for the year was
65°-5, ami of the preceding years, viz., 1880 and 1881, were 66''-4 and 66°-7
respectively ; the year was cold, and the months of January, February,
May, and June were remarkably cold.

The numbers in columns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a dry
and wet bulb-thermometer, taken daily at 9 a.m., and in column 14 the
monthly temperature of the dew-point, or tliat of the temperature at
which dew would have been dej^osited. The elastic force of vapour is
shown in column 15, and in column 16 the water jjresent in a cubic foot
of air ; in January and February this was as small as Sg grains, whilst
in July, August, and September it was as large as 7^ grains. The
numbers in column 18 show the degree of humidity, saturation being
considered 100 ; the smallest number in this column w^as in Octobei',
and the largest in February. The weight of a cvibic foot of air
under its pressure, temperature, and Immidity, at 9 a.m., is shown in
column 19.

The most prevalent wind in January was S., and the least prevalent
winds were N. and W. In February the most prevalent was S., and the
least were W. and N.W. The most prevalent in March was S., and
the least were N., N.E., and N.W. In April the most prevalent was
S.W., and the least prevalent were N.E. and E. In May the most
prevalent were S.W., and W., and the least prevalent were N.E. and S.E.
In June the most prevalent were S.W. and W., and the least were
N.E. and S.E. In July the most prevalent was S.W., and the least were
S., S.E., N., and its compounds. In August the most prevalent was W.,
and the least E. and N.E. In September the most prevalent was S.E.,
and the least was E. and its compounds. In October the most prevalent
was S.W., and the least was N.E. In November the most prevalent was
S.W., and the least were N. and N.W., and in December the most
prevalent was S.W., and the least were S. and S.W.

The most prevalent wind for the year was S.W., which occurred on
119 times during the year ; of which 24 were in July, 15 in November,
and 14 in September ; and the least prevalent wind for the year was
N.E., which occurred on only 12 times during the year, of which 4 were
in January, 3 in both February and November, and 2 in December.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m. ;
the month with the smallest amount is June, and the largest February.
Of the cumulus, or fine weather cloud, there wei'e 81 instances in the year ;
of these there were 18 in July, 16 in August, and 15 in September, and
3 only both in January and Februar3^ Of the nimbus, or rain cloud,
there was 90 instances in the year, of which 16 took, place in February,
13 in January, and 12 in both May and December, and 4 only from July
to October. Of the cirrus, there were 44 instances in the year. Of the
stratus there were 40 instances. Of the cirro-cumulus there were 32
instances. Of the cirro-stratus there were 21 instances in the year, and
there were 57 instances of cloudless skies, of which 11 were in October,
and 8 in both January and June.

14 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND THE DOME OF THE ROCK.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was in February,
7-22 ins., of which l-()2 inch fell on the 5th, 0-92 inch on the 10th, and
0-89 inch on the 4th. No rain fell from May 25th till October 20th, with the
exception of one day, which was August 10th, when 0-35 inch fell, and so
making two periods of 76 and 70 consecutive days without rain. In the
year 1880, no rain fell from the 2nd of May till the 18th of October,
making a period of 168 consecutive days without rain ; and in 1881 no
rain fell from April 20th to November 6th, making a period of 189 con-
secutive days without rain. The fall of rain in the year was 22-09 ins.,
beiuo- G-59 ins. less than in 1880, and 4-60 ins. more than in 1881. The
number of days on which rain fell was 62, while in 1880 rain fell on 66
days, and in 1881 on 48 days during the year.

James Glaisher.

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND THE DOME OE

THE ROCK.

The value of the "Palestine Pilgrims' Texts" are already becoming
evident in many ways, and the intentions of those avIio projected their
jmblication are being fully realised. Whoever reads Professor Hayter
Lewis' admirable work on "The Holy Places of Jerusalem," will
see the advantages to be derived from the material they contain. I
wish here to acknowledge my indebtedness to them upon a point of
some importance connected with the topography of Jerusalem. ^.s
far back as January, 1879, a short article of mine appeared in the
quarterly Statement entitled "Transference of Sites." In that article will
be found described what seemed to me to be some very marked points of
resemblance between the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Ptock,
and the strong probability that the one structure was copied from
the other. In Mukatldasi, an Arabic author, whose ilate is given as
about 985 a.d., lately published by the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society,'
I find the following passage. The author is describing the Mosque at
Damascus—" Now one day I said, speaking to my father's brother, ' O,
my uncle, verily it was not well of the Khalif al Walid to expend so
much of the wealth of the Muslims on the Mosque at Damascus. Had
he expentled the same on making roads, or for making caravanserais, or
in the restoration of the fortresses, it would have been more fitting and
more excellent of him.' But my uncle said to me in answer, ' O, my little
son, you have not understanding ! Verily Al Walid was right, and he
was prompted to do a wortliy work. For he l)eheld Syria to be a country
that had long been occupied by the Christians, and he noted herein the
beautiful churches still belonging to them, so enchantingly fair, and so

1 Translated from the Arabic and annotated by Griiy Le Strange.

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND THE DOME OF THE ROCK. 15

renowned for their splendour : even as are the Kuuiamah' [the cliurch of
the Holy Sei^ulchre] and the churches of Lydda and Edessa. So he
souo-ht to build for the Muslims a mosque that should prevent their
reo-arding these, and that should be unique and a wonder to the world.
And in like manner is it not evident how the Khalif, 'Abd al Malik,
noting the greatness of the Dome of the Kumamah and its magnificence^
was moved lest it should dazzle the minds of the Muslims, and hence
erected, above the rock, the Dome which now is seen there.'"- The italics in
the above are here given to show the words which apply to the case in

point.

Mr. Fergusson's theory was that the Dome of Rock was the original
Holy Sepulchre, and that its transference to its present site took place
in the eleventh century ; Mukaddasi writes in the tenth century, and
says that the Dome of the Rock was built as a rival to the Holy
Sepulchre.

The quotation from Mukaddasi disposes at once of this part of Mr.
Fergusson's theory.

Mukaddasi's words do not affirm that the one building was copied
from the others, but they permit of that inference. This inference is
justified, I think, from the resemblance between the two monuments.
Before the marble was built round the Holy Sepulchre, to form the
chapel as we see it now, the rock must have stood up under the dome,
thus presenting a striking resemblance to the Sakhra. Having realised
this identihcation, it appeared to me, from the arrangement of the pillars
supporting the dome of the sepulchre, of which we have the original
design still remaining on the western side, that the number was probably
twelve, the same as there is under the Dome of the Rock. This was a lucky
gutss on my part, but I am able now to confirm it by a number of refer-
ences. The earliest is from Eusebius ; he mentions the " rock standing
out erect and alone on a level land, and having only one cavern within
it ; "^ and also that the dome "was encircled by twelve columns [accord-

' Al Kumamah, literally " The Dunghill." This is a designed corruption
on the part of the Muslims of "Al Kayamah " — "anastasis," the name given
to the Church of the Kesm'rection (the Holy Sepulchre) by the Christian Arabs.

2 Page 22.

* Willibald describes the rock at the time of his visit, a.d. 722 : " The
rock is now above ground, square at the bottom, but tapering above, with a cross
on the summit." Arculf. who is about the same date as Willibald, says that
" the whole is covered with choice marble to the very top of the roof, which is
adorned with gold, and supports a large golden cross." Arculf may possibly
have meant that it was the inside that was covered with mai*ble, otherwise it
is difficult to reconcile these two authorities. Antonius Martyr, date 560-570,
describes — " The tomb itself, in which the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ was
laid, is cut out of the natural rock." These all indicate that the rock was
visible in these early days. In the present day the whole tomb outside and
inside is so covered with marble that no ordinary pilgrim would be aware of the
existence of the rock.

in THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND THE DO:\IE OF THE ROCK.

iiii;- to the number of the Apostles of our Saviour], liavin,2;' tlieir capitals
embellished with silver bowls of great size, which the Emperor himself
presented as a splendid offering to his God." Following this we have
Arculf's testimony — " the round church of our Saviour's Resurrection,
encompassed with three walls, and supported by twelve columns." In the
Palestine Pilgrims' Texts we have now the account by the Abbot Daniel,'
who visited Jerusalem 1106-7, and he mentions the "twelve monolithic
columns." In addition to th°se authorities we have evidence that these
columns still exist ; in 1867, while some repairs were being made, the
Austrian Consul saw one of them ; it was nnich damaged by the action
of fire, which was probably the I'eason that they were all built up, and
now present the form of square piers.

For the present, or at least till better evidence may be found, Mukad-
dasi's testimony has to be accejited. Still, the knowledge we obtain from
him leaves much unexjjlained. A natural question at once presents itself
as to why Abd al Malik, or his architects, selected a tomb as their model
for the Dome of the Eock. More than one guess jiresents itself to the
mind, but data is wanting to support them. There is a faint tradition
which locates the tomb of Solomou at the spot ; this could scarcely have
been the motive, because if it had the name of such a celebrity would
have in all probaljility come down to us, in a very prominent form, con-
nected with the building. It might have been that as there was a Sacred
Rock to build over, Abd al Malik's architects merely copied the Holy
Sepulchre, because it also had a rock. The notion that I feel most
inclined to regard as having produced the influence was that, the Holy
Sepulchre being looked upon as the " centre of the world," and as the
Mohammedans considered the Sakhra as the centre, they com^tructed a
rival dome to eclipse the other. Much might be said in favour of this
explanation, and yet, after all that could be brought forward, I confess
that it would lead to nothing more than a theory.

The resemblance between the two buildings is most striking ; in both
cases there is a rock with a cave in each ; over this each has a dome, sup-
ported by twelve columns. The columns of the Dome of the Rock are said
to represent the twelve sons of Jacob ; those in the Holy Sepulchre are
according to the twelve Apostles. The architecture of the two is very
ditferent ; it is only in the arrangement of the two buildings that simi-
larity is found. This similarity harmonises with the statement of
Mukaddasi. It also confirms one of Mr. Fergusson's conclusions,
which he insisted strongly upon— namely, that the Dome of the Rock
was a structure in, the form of an Oriental tomb. That it was a
tomb we have as yet no evidence ; no tradition has as yet turned
uj) that anyone has been buried in the cave. The position of Solomon's
tomb is not located in the cave, but at a jaoint near to the north
doorway.

Dr. Chaplin has called my attention to the Church of the Ascension on
the Mount of Olives, which, he points out, is also built on exactly the

1 " Palestine Pilgrims' Texts."

THE ALPHABET. 17

same plan as the Anastasis.' It should also be recalled that the Holy
Sepulchre has been the model for a large number of churches in all parts
of the Cliristian world, -which are round in form, our Temple Church being
one of the well-known examples.

"William Simpson.

THE ALPHABET.

The derivation of all modern alphabets of Asia and Europe, from the
early script of Syria and of Asia Minor, and the derivation of the
earliest script from a hieroglyphic system, are facts generally accepted by
scholars. That the hieroglyphic system in question was the Egyj^tian is
a very generally received opinion, but objections have been raised to it
for several reasons. First, it is urged that the origin of the alphabet
should be sought in Asia, where it first appears. Secondly, that the pro-
posed Egyptian equivalents do not resemble the Phoenician or Greek
letters, and bear no reference to the names of these letters ; and, third,
that De Rouge's comparisons are in several cases arbitrary and deficient
in principle.

Dr. Isaac Taylor, while developing De Eouge's theory on this subject,
has nevertheless stated that a derivation from the so-called Hittite is not
perhaps impossible. There is a very strong reason for supposing such a
derivation, which briefly is as follows : — The Greek alphabet and the
earliest alphabet of Italy contain letters in addition to those of the
Phoenician. The Asia Minor alphabets contain even more letters than
the Greek. Thus, in Phcenicia, we have only 22 letters, in Greece 27,
and among the Carians and Lycians about 30 and 33 letters respec-
tively.

Dr. Sayce has suggested that these additional letters come from the
«)ld syllabary, which survived in Cyprus and in Egypt down to the days
of Alexander the Great. But, generally speaking, antiquaries do not
admit the possibility of a system of writing being made ujj from ditferent
sources. Thus we do not use Hebrew letters interspersed with the Latin,
or even running hand with Roman. If then part of the alphabet came
from the old syllabary of Asia Minor, it seems most probable that in this
syllabary we should seek for the origin of the whole alphabet.

In addition to this consideration there are others which tend to a
similar result. The Greeks in the southern islands took, it is true, 20 of
the 22 Phoenician letters, and as a rule preserved the Semitic name of the
letter and preserved the Semitic order. The Italian tribes, however
(Etruscans, Oscans, Umbrians, &c.), did not apparently use these names,

' This Church is round, or, to be more exact, it is octagonal, and wants the
twelve pillars ; but it has a rock, with a footprint on it — said to be that of the
Saviour. The Sakhra has also a footprint on it — said to be that of Mohammed's,
and made by him when he ascended upwards on his celebrated night joiu-ney.

18 THE ALPHABET.

but called the letters Be, Ce, De, &c., and the additional Greek letters in
like manner have the names Chi, Phi, Psi, names which suggest a deriva-
tion from a syllabary, and from those syllables of the syllabary which
had a short vowel sound.

Now, in the Cypriote, although the writing is syllabic, we find that
the syllables with a short vowel sound are already beginning to be used
as consonants. Thus, in the word Basileus, the final S is represented by
Se, and in other cases N'e stands for N, and so on. Here, then, we see a
possible means of evolution for an alphabet, and if the Greek and the
Phoenician letters are found to be comparable to the syllables with weak
vowel sound used in the Asianic syllabary, we have, I think, the most
natural origin possible for the alphabet, and may trace it through the
syllabary to the original hieroglyphics of Asia Minor. In this case the
larger alphabets of Asia Minor, Greece, and pre- Aryan Italy are to be
regarded not as the children but as the sisters of the Phoenician, and we
see that the Turanians of Asia Minor (Carians, Caunians, Lycians, &c.)
did not abandon their original script, as is now sujjposed, in favour of
Greek letters, but always possessed those letters either as letters or in an
earlier stage as syllables.^

In the Hittite system (so called) there appear to be two classes of
signs, just as in Chinese or as in Cuneiform. The one class is the picture
or ideogram (the Chinese Kei/ or Radical)^ the other class — apparently
represented as a rule by smaller emblems — is the weak root or gram-
matical compliment (the Chinese phonetic), which is used for its sound
value and not for i ts picture value. It is, I think, among these phonetics
(which are by far the commonest signs on the Hittite texts) that we
must search for the original emblems as a rule, while in the syllabary we
must confine our comparisons to those syllables which have a short vowel
sound, a, e, i, and which we find to have been used as letters in the
Cypriote.

The attached plate shows the comparison of the Asia Minor, Greek,
Italic, and Phoenician letters with the Cypriote syllables of short vowel
sound, and in some cases with the original hieroglyphic. It is possible
that in some cases the comparison may be improved, but I do not think
that the principles here laid down, can be considered unscientific.

The question of the names of the letters is more difficult. The
meaning of the Semitic names is, in many cases uncertain. These names
were only used within the sphere of the Phoenician influence, yet in
several cases it seems to me that the sound belongs to the original hiero-
glyjjhic object, although, with the change from a Turanian to a Semitic
language, the name has either been chanced or the sound has received a
new value, as will appear from a detailed examination.

1. Aleph. Possibly an ox head (Accad. av, " bull ").

^ The Ionian Alphabet which finally survived in Greece was Asiatic, and
perhaps used by the Turanians of Phrygia, Caria, Lydia, and Lycia before the
Aryans used it. From Lydia also it woidd have gone to the Pelasgi and the
Etruscans.

HITTITE

CYPRIOTE

CARIAN

PHOENICIAN

GREEK

ETRUSCAN
• •«•••• •*, • ••

• •• •

<IEROQ'-yPH.

SYLLABLE.

LETfER.

LETTER.

. . •: teEi'Teit :

•

• •
•

;

^>^^

A ! =

• •• •• • ••

• • •

: a.

4 S he

1 7. ^"'

• ••• ••••• ••••

\'b

q »

)

c r<

ft •••• •»* •• r«*

• •

<=\r V ?

!Ej )^ ^

e B

^ B

^ E

-x: "^ vf

:^ P

/=■

^=1

S ?.f'?

3: t

-6l t^ AVI6J

^ w

B H

c ^£

X I

K he

A ^

/V\

>V\ »,/

oflo

h]. ^i ne

v\ \A

(5e>

^ f^ ..

"¥ E

'ft?

o C

O i^

<^ PS

r n

/v\

/t- -6b

A^ '^

/vN M

^f^ -

p v^

<\<i

^ /^l^ .vr

^7- i.

.s*

l"2

T t /^

t )C

T r

^ T

'JJ

/v\^ V^f/

V ^/

•< V

(£>

(P »<;

ii> tjj

li» 4»

U> tj'

L\f

A <

24i

y H-

/'?

SOK;. LIttl. i MAKTI'J'j

lAl-t.WC

but c
like 1
tion
had !

the s
as CO
;S'e, ai
possi
Phoei

VOW€

natui
syllal
large
regar
see t
did 1
GreeJ
earli(
Ii
signs

or ic

reprt

matic
value

(■whi(

must *"

must

soum

Cypr
T

Italic

scum

that _ „

that l^

T . ■

mear

were
sever

glypl ; -^^ Y' t^

langi ~

new . , ., , ^*,

pert a
Aryai
Etrus

THE ALPHABET. 19

2. Beth. Cypriote he is nearest to the early Greek (Melos and
Corinth) forms.

3. Gimel. Cypriote ga (" crook " in Altaic speech).

4. Daleth. See what is said below.

5. Heh. The closed form is the oldest, perhaps from a hieroglyphic
representing a house {E).

6. Vau. The Greek Digamma. Perhaps the Cypriote ve. The
Cypriote u is, however, nearer to the Phoenician form. {See No. 27.)

7. Zain. Perhaps from a Cypriote Ze.

8. Cheth appears to be the Cypriote Che.

9. Tetk does not appear to be known as yet in Cypriote.

10. Yod, " hand," seems to be the Cypriote 7/e, perhaps from an old
hieroglyphic hand {a,^a, &c., in Altaic speech — "the right hand.") The
Greek form is a single stroke. In Altaic speech a, ei, yat are words for
"number one." The Greek and Phceniciau letters may perhaps have
different derivations.

11. Caph appears to be the Cypriote ke. The word is rendered
" hollow of the hand."

12. Lamed. See what is said below.

13. Mim. The Greek and Carian forms suggest a connection with
Cypriote mi or me.

14. 2i%n seems to be a degraded form of the Cypriote ne.

15. Samech. Apparently the Cypriote si, from an emblem for " eye,"
{si, " eye," " see " in Altaic speech). The Pelasgic S would have the same
origin.

16. Ain. Cypriote ya, Carian a— a pot in the original hieroglyph
(Altaic a, ya, &c., " water ").

17. Pe. Perhaps a variation of Be (No. 2).

18. Tsade. A letter soon lost in the west.

19. Koph. See what is said below.

20. Resh. The Cypriote Ra is tolerably close.

2\. Shin. Some forms of the Cypriote se are similar.

22. Tau. In some forms recalls the Cypriote ti.

23. Upsilon appears to be the Cypriote u.

24. Phi. Apparently the Cypriote vo (or mo).

25. Khi. See what is said below.

26. Psi. Apparently the Cypriote se.

27. Omega. The Carian o.

In this comparison it will be noted that out of 27 letters 20 can be
traced in Cypriote syllables having short vowel sounds. The compaiison
is not quite complete, but our knowledge of the syllabary is perhaps not
yet complete either. In 10 cases, the original hieroglyph may be
suggested.

The Cypriote signs compared are the commoner or normal forms. As
regards the names of the Phoenician letters it is only in 15 cases that any
Semitic meaning is known to attach to the names, and in many of these
there is much doubt. Aleph " ox," Beth " door," Gimel " camel," Vau

20 THE ALPHABET.

"hook," Cheth "fence," Yod "hand," Caph "hollow of hand," Mim
"water," Am "eye," Pe "mouth," Eesh "hook," Shm "teeth," are
Semitic words, but it is only in the cases of Aleph, Gimel, Vau, Cheth,
Yod, and Ain, that any resemblance is supposed to exist between the name
and the form.

It is certain that the Greeks knew and adopted the 22 Phoenician
letters found in the early alphabets of Thera and Melos, with the exception
of the Phtenician Samech and Tsadi.

On the other hand the early alphabets of Abu Simbil and of Ionia and
Corinth already include the letters $4>x'^^ about 620 b.c., omitting
Samech and Tsadi, and Digamma. A century later the Greek alphabet
was complete, having lost Koppa and Digamma. The Italic alphabets
I'etained Digamma as F, with Kojipa as Q, and Samech occurs in
Pelasgic. These Italic alphabets never used the Semitic names. The
Greek names Alpha, Beta, Delta, &c., seem to be of Aramean, rather than
of Phoenician origin.

The Phoenicians wrote only from right to left. In Cypriote, the texts
run both from right to left and left to right. The Greeks (and the
Pelasgi) wrote Boustrophedou-wise, or in alternate lines, right to left and
left to right, just as did the Hittites. Thus the mode of writing as well as
the characters connect Greek epigraphy with Hittite hieroglyphics.

It is to be noted that in the cases of Teth, Tsadi, and Kojjh, there is a
good reason for not finding them in Cypriote. They are Semitic letters,
which naturally do not represent sounds of the Greek dialect of Cyprus.
Chi and Oinega are late additions to the Greek alphabet, and these not
unnaturally do not appear in Cypriote. The only two others not accounted
for are Delta, the "d and r not being distinguished in Cypriote, and Lambda,
which may be the Cypriote le or re.

The present opinion of some antiquaries that the Greek alphabet has
a double origin, appears highly unsatisfactory in view of the manner in
which the letters may, in so many other cases, be traced in Cypriote, and
nothing could be more natural than a Cypriote derivation for Greek
letters, since we know that the Greeks used this character about 400 b.c.
The fact that Etruscans, Pelasgi, and the Lycians,^ Carians, and Phrygians,
used the same characters with the Greeks is also easily explained by the
Turanian and Asiatic origin of the letters.

C. E. CONDER.

^ The Lycian included five otber vowels of doubtful sound not here shown,
four of which compare with Cypriote ; two of them occur in Carian and one in
Phrygian ; another vowel, common to Phrygian and Lycian, is to be added,
making 33 letters in all. In other respects Lycian is like Carian, though not
known to have possessed letters 8, 15, 18, 19, 24, of the table.

THE HEBREW MONTHS.

The calendar' used by the Jews after captivity was that of the land of
their captivity, but the month names belonging to this calendar are only
mentioned in the later books : Ezra i, 7, viii, 19 ; Neh. i, 1, vi, 15 ;
Esther ii, 16, iii, 7, viii, 9, ix, 26 ; Zechariah i, 7, viii, 19. Here we find
the months—

10. Tebeth....

.... December January.

11. Sebat ....

.... January February.

12. Adar ....

.... February March.

1. Nisan ....

.... March April.

2. — ....

.... April May (Ijar 1).

3. Sivan ....

.... May June.

4. — ....

.... June July (Tammuz ?)..

5. — ....

.... July August (Ab ?)•

6. Elul ....

.... August September.

7. — ....

.... September October (Tisri ?).

8. — ....

.... October November (Marchesvan ?),

9. Chisleu

.... November December.

In the cases marked in brackets the month is only mentioned in these
books by its number.

In the book of Kings, however, we find the names of three months
(1 Kings vi, 1, 38, viii, 2)—

" in the month Zif, which is the second month."
" in the month Bui, which is the eighth month."
" in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month."

These are the old Hebrew month names which do not occur in the
Aramaic calendar, and which already, when the Book of Kings was
penned, seem to have required a note to explain when they occurred in
the year.

When we turn back to the Pentateuch we find notices of the first
month (Exodus xii, 2, xiii, 4, xxiii, 15, xxxiv, 18 ; Deut. xvi, 1). Hence
we learn that up to the time of the Captivity —

A bib = Nizan the first month.

Zif = Sebat „ second „

Ethanim = Ti.sri „ seventh „

Bui = Marchesvan ,, eighth „

But we have no other means of knowing what were the names of the
other eight Hebrew months before the Aramaic calendar came into use.
It is usual to suppose that the Aramaic names of the other months

22 THE HEBREW MONTHS.

were used by the early Hebrews. Tliis idea arose at a time when the
month names had not been recovered in cuneiform records, but were
only known from the Bible, and from later Jewish literature. There is
not, as far as T can find, a shadow of foundation for this view.

The Assyrian calendar compares with that used after the Captivity, as
follows : —

Jewish. Assyrian.

Nisan. Nisannu (" beginning ").

Ijar. Airu ("light").

Sivan. Sivanu (" bricks").

Tammuz. Dumzu (" sun ").

Ab, Abu.

Elul. Ululu.

Tisri. Tasritu ("beginning ").

Marchesvan. Arab Samna ("8th month").

Chisleu. Kisilivu (" giant ").

Tebeth. Tebituv (« rain ").

Sebat. Sabatu (" storm").

Adar. Addaru (" dark ").

These names occur also in the calendars of Palmyra, of Heliopolis, and
of the old Sabeans in South Arabia (with certain exceptions), and are
said to have been Babylonian in origin ; but none of these calendars in-
clude the names Abib, Zif, Ethanim, Bui.

When, however, we turn to the Phoenician monuments we find the
following notices of months.

On the coffin of Eshmuuazar we read : " In the month Bui, in the
fourteenth year . . ."

On a Phoenician text from Larnaca : " In the new moon of Ethanim."

It is clear from these cases that in all probability the Phoenicians and
the Hebrews, before the Captivity, used the same calendar, and that this
calendar differed from that of the Babylonians. The Phoenicians con-
tinued to use this calendar in Persian times, and apparently after the
Jews adopted the Assyrian calendar.

As regards the meanings of the names, we are informed by Gesenius
that Abib means " green ear of corn," being the month of corn ripening,
but the meaning of Zif seems doubtful, as also Ethanim. Bui he renders
" showers," which is equivalent to the Aramaic Tebeth, " rain," the later
name of the tenth month. October November is the month of " showers "
still in Palestine, and November December of "rain."

The reason why special importance attaches to these month names is
that they serve to show, to a certain extent, the age of the books in
which they occur. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Zechariah are late books
belonging to the period of Persian rule. Here it is natural to find the
Aramaic calendar, but if we found this calendar used in the Pentateuch
it would be a critical argument in favour of late date. On the contrary,

THE HEBREW MONTHS. 23

we find in both Exodus and Deuteronomy not only the okl name Abib,
but in Kin<js the okl names used with an explanation, as if already
archaic terms requiring some explanation — the Book of Kings being
later tlian the Pentateuch.

Whether the Phoenician calendar was throughout the same as the old
Hebrew, whether any names of months were common to the Babylonian
and Phoenician systems, and whether every month had a name in the
earlier calendar, are questions which, as far as my information goes,
remain still unanswered. The " third month " is mentioned in Exodus
only by its number (xix, 1) ; Ezekiel (i, 1) speaks only of the "fourth
month " {(■/. 2 Kings xxv, 3) ; the " fifth month" (2 Kings xxv, 8 ; Ezek.
XX, 1), the "sixth month" (Ezek. viii, 1), the "twelfth month" (2 Kings
xxv, 27), are only mentioned by their numbers before the Captivity.

We possess the names of four other Phoenician months on inscriptions
as follows.' On a text from Larnaca, in Cyprus, we read "^TOXZ^n^.f
YVy^i "the month of sacrifices of the sun." On another Larnaca text
we find ^Q"^^ HT') which was known at Carthage as D^Q"^72) showing
that the Carthagenian calendar was probably the same as that of Cyprus.
This word means " healing," " refreshing," " tranquil." There was a
Phoenician God called Baal Merafe. On one of the Dali inscriptions we
find "^"^3 nn['']) ^1^6 month of " going in a circle," or " dancing."

We have, therefore, apparently names for eight out of the twelve
Phoenician months, though in three cases we do not know which month
of the year is intended. The eighth is Faaloth, mentioned on the text
from Larnaca, which notices Ethanim, and supposed by Kenan to be the
sixth month. Tv)V^ means " work," " preparation," and if the sixth
month be really intended, the reference would no doubt be to the plough-
ing, which began in September. The sacrifices of the sun may be
supposed to have occurred at the time of the summer solstice, and the
dances of the ancients frequently took place at the autumnal equinox, or
at the winter solstice. The month of " refreshing " or " healing " may
have been a cool month, perhaps February March, which would well bear
such a designation in Palestine.

Distinguishing these three months by a query, we obtain the following
calendar for Phoenicia from the monuments. It is to be observed that
these months are lunar. The word for month is j-f^l, " moon," and so
also at Sidon, on the mutilated inscription of Bodashtoreth, the same
word occurs.

Phcenician Calendar.

L (Abib ?), " green ears." Vernal equinox.

2. (Zif 0.

4. (?) Zebakh Shamash, " sun sacrifice." Solstice.

^ See Eenan, " Corpus of Semitic Inscriptions," I.

24 NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER.

6. Faalot, " work."

7. Ethanim. Autumnal equinox.

8. Bui, "showers."
9.

10. (?) Carar, " dance." Solstice.

11.

12. (?) Merpa, " refreshment."

It seems more than probable that this Phoenician calendar may have
been that of the Hebrews in the days of Solomon.

In the remarks made by critics like "VVellhausen on the calendar, I
find no reference to this monumental evidence. He regards the fixation
of feasts by phases of the moon as a later alteration. But the Hebrews
and the Phoenicians had no word for month save " moon," and only saved
their calendar from becoming vague, like that of the Moslems, by the
interpolation of an additional month. There is no evidence at aU that
they ever used a true solar year such as the Egyptians possessed. The
latter had 12 months of 30 days, and five epagomense, or odd days. Even
in the days of Ptolemy Euergetes (Decree of Canopus), no allowance is
made for the diff"erence of the solar anil sidereal year since the rising of
Sirius is said to advance one day in four years, although Dr. Birch
believed the fixed year to be as old as the days of Eameses II. There is,
however, I believe, no known evidence of the use of a true solar, or of a
sidereal year, by Semitic people.

C. E. CONDER.

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER.

MEJARKON.

" The yellow water," Josh, xix, 46, in the territory of Dan, near Rakkon
(Tell-er-Rakkeit), I have proposed to identify with the 'Aujeh river, on
account of its turbid waters which wash down sand. I find the following
note in Pausanias iv, xxxv.

" The country of the Hebrews, too, not far from the city loppa, affords
a yellow water which is perfectly similar to the colour of blood. This
water is near the sea ; and they report that Perseus, when he slew the
whale to which the daughter of Cepheus was exposed, washed himself from
the blood in this fovmtain."

This applies clearly to the 'Aujeh river, near Jaffa, where the story
of Perseus was localised.

C. R. C.

NOTES BY MAJOK CONDER. 2o

II.
TARKU.

On the Hittite bilingual the first word is Tarku "y*" ^^ ^, according
to Mr. Pinches' def^iphernient.' This I have already compared with the
Turkic tarkhan (Uigur), targan (Tchuwash), to which I may now add the
Mongolian darga or dargo, " chief," and the Cossack turughna having the
same meaning.

The corresponding Hittite sign is the head of a goat or deer, or
similar horned animal, which, it is agreed, should have the same sound.
In cuneiform we find the ideogram for deer to be ""H^II, originally
perhaps a deer's head, which is syllabically represented by 5i:| j t:^| h
da-ra in Akkadian, and in Assyrian by '-^^f ^C]\ '-^A' tu-ra-kJm.
Probably this word still survives in the Hungarian zerge, " antelope,"
and perhaps it may be connected with the Mongolian turgun, meaning
" swift."

I find, however, that Dr. Hommel (" Zeitschrift fur Keilschrift-
forschung," 1, 2), gives the sound daragh, as well as dara, for the Akkadian
of the ideogram, and regards the Assyrian turakhu as a loan word of
Akkadian origin.* I find, moreover (1, 4), that he has already, in 1884,
compared the Hittite Tarku with the Cossack turughna, though he does
not mention the Turkic and Mongol words.

1 have already mentioned that the same word occurs in the Etruscan
Tarquin, known in inscriptions as Tarchi, Tarchu, Tarchnas, Tarcnal,
in proper names (Dennis, "Etruria," 1st edition, vol. ii, p. 41).

It will surely be allowed that the Akkadian word for deer, darag,
gives a close approximation to the word for " chief " used in so many
Altaic languages, so that the deer's head in Akkadian may stand for
"chief."

C. E. C.

' Preceded by ), showing it to be a man's name.

2 The head on the Hittite bilingual is usually taken for a goat. In Greek
we have rpayoQ for " goat," perhaps not an Aryan word, the common Aryan
word being represented by the Sanskrit agd. It is also worth notice that in
Hvmgarian Turkohii and TiirTcdzni mean "to butt" like a goat (Bizonfy's
"Dictionary"). It occurs also in Esthonian torkan, "to thrust," torgin, "to
pierce," Finnic turJcin, tnrkkdn. It seems, therefore, not improbable that
the radical meaning of these words is "that which pierces with its horns,"
hence stag, goat, &c. Mr. Ball has proposed to compare the Greek dopKag, a
gazelle.

26 NOTES BY MAJOK CONDEll.

III.

ASIA MINOR WORDS.

To the words mentioned in the Quarterly Statement, July, 1888, a few
may be added from the same lists.

Mocravj' is said to have been a Moschian word for a " wooden house,"
and Mvaos a Lydian word for the " beech." Compare the old Turkic Mas,
" tree," " wood " (in Yakut), and Manchu mtok, " tree." In this case the
first word will be Mos-itn, " tree house," un being Turkic for a dwelling
(Akkadian umi).

TeyoOj/, Lydian for a "robber," might be compared with the Yakut
Tilokun, " a cheater ; " and the Lydian | /3 u, " much," might comjjare
with Turkish ^ j^, " much." The Lydian KoaKaheiv, " king," may com-
pare with the Yakut ^0^060, Eussian AWo6«, "chief." naX/xu?, Lydian
for " king," may be connected with the Akkadian Pal, " chief ; " Hun-
garian/efem, "to elevate;" Turkish ^\j, ^aZa, "high." In Chagatai, a
very ancient Turkic language, we have the verb Bailamak, " to govern."

C. R. C.

IV.

KING ORRY'S STONE.

Any correction, even of a passing allusion, should be welcome to an
author, and I therefore wish to note one which has been pointed out by
three Manx gentlemen for " Heth and Moab."

On page 199 I have written —

" In the Isle of Man the laws are read annually by the stone of King
Orry, to whom grass is offered."

This is given as one instance of the well-known fact that corn, fruits,
and other objects were oifered, to a very late period, at holy stones.
Cesnola sjseaks of the practice in Cyprus, and I have gathered other
instances. But some inaccuracy seems to have crept into my alkision.

The laws are not, I find, read at King Orry's stone, for the Tynwald
mound, near the church of St. John, is on the other side of the island.
The stone is shown near Laxey, but the name of King Orry seems much
mixed up with controversies, as was evident at the British Association,
1888, when his name, attached to his supposed grave, was stated to repre-
sent a quite modern antiquarian joke.

The more correct form of the statement concerning grass appears to
be that a mythical earliest King of Man exacted a bundle of meadow
grass as tribute on Midsummer Eve, for all the lands of the island. This
is stated in a Manx ballad of the 16tli century, and is regarded by my
correspondents as simply a manorial custom.

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER. 27

In Brown's " Guide to the Isle of Man," p. 200, I find mentioned " the
monolith known as King Orry's stone." It is sliown on the Ordnance
Survey as a " standing stone," near what seems to be popularly known as
"King Orry's grave," some 2 miles from Laxey. On p. 315 of the same
guide I find mention of Mannanan " as a Paynim and a necromancer, the
first who held the enchanted island. . , . The same ballad informs
us that the rent paid to this wizard king was a bundle of coarse meadow
grass from each landholder yearly at midsummer, brought by some to the
top of the movmtain of Barrule, and by others deposited with Mannanan
himself at Keamool" — Barrule being on the north-east. The same guide
book attributes the Tynwald Mount to King Orry, and regards the
rushes there strewn at the annual midsummer ceremony of reading the
laws, as "in lieu of a rent charge from the small estate of Cronk." My
present correspondents regard it as simply the old custom of carpeting
the ground with rushes.

This instance shows in an interesting manner that the Palestine Ex-
ploration publications are widely known at home, and any correction,
even of a sentence which is not directly connected with Palestine matters,
is welcome.

C. R. C.

ESSEBU.

This word appears to connect the Akkadian, in which it is usually
rendered " prince," with the Hittite, in the names of the Hittite kings —

Tartisebu,
Akatisebu,

and perhaps occurs in the name of Ispuinis, King of Van, It is interest-
ing in this connection to note that in the language of the Ostiaks of the
Nartim, Essep still occurs with the meaning " father ; " other words in
Akkadian and in Turkic speech (such as Ai, Aga, Ata) mean both
" father " and " chief." In the dialect of the Ostiaks of Wasynga, we get
Essem for Essep (Klaproth, " Asia Polyglotta "). In the Egyptian the word

is spelt ^ I J ^. It niay be the near relation of the common Mongolian
Esega, " father." The Mongolian eke, " mother," occurs in Akkadian, as
well as the Turkic Ama or Ana.

C. E. C.

28 NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER.

VI.

JERASH TEXTS.

Having had occasion to refer again to the longest of the texts in
hexameter at Jerash (P. E. F. Quarterly Statement, 1870, September), it
appears to me that the writer refers not to a slaughter house, but to the
Pagan temple, beside which the church rose.

As churches were not built before the reign of Constantine (at least
not such buildings as that at Jerash), the text is probably not older than
the 4th century. I did not see this longer text, but copied the shorter
one, also in hexameter, concerning a wrestler named Theodorus, whose
body is in earth, and his soul in the wide heaven. The forms of the
letters on thi.s latter agree with the Greek cross in giving a date not
earlier than 3.30 a.d. I attach a hexameter translation of the longer
text in support of my view as to its meaning.

Wonder and awe together the passer by have encountered
Clouds of error are gone and now in place of the darkness
Which was aforetime here the Grace of God is around me.
And when the sound of the groans of the four-footed victims is

silenced
Formerly falling here — and dire was the stench that arose :
So that the way faring man must stop his nostrils in passing
Yea and strive to escape the evil smell on the breezes.
Now on the sweet-smelling plain the wandering travellers journey
Lifting up as they go the palm of the right to their faces
Making the honoured sign of the cross as a deed that is holy.

And if you further would ask this also that you may know it
Eneas' to me has given this excellent gloiy
^neas the all-wise priest well instructed in worship.

C. E. C.

VII,

THE TELL AMARNA TABLETS.

The recent find of Babylonian Cuneiform tablets between Memphis and
Thebes, in Egypt, appears likely to be important in reference to Palestine.
The date is believed to be about 1430 b.c., which, according to Usher's
" Chronology," would represent the time of Joshua, but perhaps more pro-
bably preceded the Hebrew conquest of Palestine. It is not our oldest monu-
mental information, since we have much information about Palestine in
the days of Thothmes III, a century and a half earlier, but it is a century

' .ZEneas is a name which occurs in Palestine in the time of Herod as that
of a Nabathean ruler in Petra.

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER. 29

before Eameses II. From these tablets it appears that the kings of
Mesopotamia were allied to those of Egypt ; that trading and political
relations existed ; that royal intermarriages occurred ; that the art work
of the East was prized in Egypt ; and probably that the Semitic race had
occupied Northern Syria, mingling with the Hittite population. We have
a notice of Tyre nearly a century earlier than those previously obtained
from Egyptian documents ; and Cuneiform tablets were sent, we see, to
Eo'ypt, though it does not seem certain that the script was there readable,
since ambassadors accompanied the letters, who may alone have been able
to read them, just as British official letters are not always in the language
or character of the recipients, or understood by them.

The city Tunep {Tennih) is mentioned in connection with the Hittites,
and Tunep appears as a Hittite city in later Egyjitian records. Towns
called Gimti (1 Gimzo), near Ashdod, Kilti, and Rahhah, are mentioned ;
and Zumurimma (of. Zemarites -^^^J Gen. x, 18, the Simyra of Strabo, xvi,
and Zemaraim, Josh, xviii, 22), and ,Sardit (perhaps Sardis) : the Serru,
" at the entrance of the land of Egypt," recall the Shasu tribe called Saaru,
whose name has been connected with Mount Seir. The city Abes recalls

Abez (Josh, xix, 20, t^^i»^ now probably \.^^\ el Beida, on the north

edge of the Plain of Esdraelon) ; Asi (or Cyprus ?) is also mentioned, and
Tsumura (Simyra) ; also the land Akharra, " the west " (or Plioenicia).

One of these letters appears to have been sealed in Egypt on arrival
with a royal seal. The city Tsurri (perhaps Tyre) occurs wdth Zidima, or
Sidon. The land of the Khatti or Hittites is also noticed. One letter
comes from the king of part of Mesopotamia, east of the Hittite country.
This king, who says that his father was at peace with Egypt, asks for an
Egyptian princess for his nephew, and sends presents of gold jars, gold
plates, and precious stones. In this letter an early notice of the Assyrians
as allies is found.

The king of another country, not yet well fixed, but clearly with
Semitic rulers, and probably Mesopotamian, sends his ambassador with a
letter and with five bronze vessels. These seem not to have been at that
time manufactured in Egypt. The Kharu, more than a century before
brought such vessels as tribute to Egypt. Trees are also sent ; and
Thothmes III took trees from Syria as part of his spoils. This monarch
also asks the King of Egypt not to make any treaty with the King of the
Hittites, or with the King of Shinar. This is an interesting political
note, in presence of the fact that Eameses II and his predecessor, as we
know from Egyptian records, actually allied themselves with the Hittite
Princes.

When we remember how'-the merchants from Midian took Joseph to
Egypt in one of their ordinary trading journeys, these further revelations
of the early civilisation of Palestine become highly interesting ; and the
period appears to be intermediate between the two dates (1600 b.c. and
1340 B.C.) to which our information was formerly confined, when only
Egyptian records were known. The existence of a Semitic race in

30 NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER.

Pha^nicia itself, with rulers from the East, seems to be indicated ; thus
contirming the traditional view as to the derivation of the Semitic
Phoenicians from Chaldea. We hear nothing of the Hebrews, for they
were as yet not a power in Palestine, but we hear perhaps of the " Sons
of Seir," who were organised under a king when Israel came from Egypt
to Edom.

There are other tablets of this series still to be read, which may
give us other interesting notes as to Palestine. The find is one of the
most important yet made in connection with the monumental history of

Syria.

C. E. C.

VIII.
RECENT NOTES ON THE HITTITES.

The recently-published Proceedings, Biblical Archaeological Society, con-
tain papers in which some useful notes on the Hittites appear. We should
not reproach the author (Rev. C. J. Ball) for his conversion from the
belief that the Hittites were Semitic, and in many respects he appears to
have profited by recent publications. Armenian, on which he in great
measure relies, is not a safe guide, since it is known to be a very mixed
language, with a large Turanian vocabulary. Questions of etymology are
generally very vexed, but while regarding the Hittites and other tribes
as Aryan, he has come to see that some of their names are comparable
with Etruscan and other Turanian words. That he does not acknowledge
the prior publication of these facts by the Palestine Exploration Fund is
of little importance, in view of the furtherance of truth by the acceptance
of their work. That he is right in regarding some of the tribes encoun-
tered at a late period by the Assyrians as Aryan will probably prove to
be the case. This does not touch the question of the Hittite nationality
a thousand years earlier. It is to be regretted, however, that he has not
treated of words of known meaning, such as have been enumeratea in the
last number of the P. E. F. Quarterly Statement.

At the British Association at Bath Prof. Sayce allowed that it was
now the general opinion that the Hittites were Mongolic. Dr. Isaac
Taylor has published his belief in this view, and I believe I might
mention two other authorities who consent. Mr. Ball, however, has not
called attention to the existence of some of the words he notices (such as
Tarku and Sarj in Turkic and Mongolic dialects. He compares Tutamu
with Homer's Pelasgian Teutamus (" Iliad," ii, 843), but assumes the
Pelasgi to have been Aryans. He discovers the survival of the Hittite
name Saplel in a Syriac account of an Armenian King Saplul (as Halevy
has previously noted), which is very interesting, but not a safe indication
of Aryan origin for the name. He compares Tarku with the Etruscan
name Tarcho (" ^n." viii, 500', 603), and Lara with the Etruscan Lar, in
both of which remarks he is preceded by my papers in the Quarterly)

NOTES BY jMAJOll COKDER. 31

Statement. Etruscan comparisons show, however, a Turanian and not an
Aryan athnity. The comparison with the Scythian Targitaus also pro-
bably tends in the direction of Turanian origin. The Parthian torkis,
" king," which he also compares, is, according to Spiegel, not an Iranian
{i.e., Aryan) word. Eamni, a word he takes to mean house, does not occur
in Hittite records.

As regards the inscriptions, he follows " Altaic Hieroglyplis " in
comparing the deer's head with Tar, Dara, and Darag (or Tark) in
Akkadian, but Akkadian is not an Aryan language. He also compares
the Dim of the bilingual with the Cuneiform Dim, as I have previously
done in " Altaic Hieroglyphs." He adds an interesting note that the
amulet (Hittite, Ra) which, as I have noted, was used in Phoenicia and
at Carthage, also occurs on Sassanian coins as the emblem of the Fravashi
or guardian spirit. He accepts the first emblem of the Hamath stones as
meaning " speech," comparing it with the Egyptian determinative, as I
have already done in 1883 ; and he accepts ray value Ne for the
Hittite pronoun emblem. The following principles, which he lays down,
are all strictly adhered to in my decipherment, but were, in cases 2 and 3,
disregarded by Mr. Ball, when he attempted to read the Hamath stones
as Hebrew in 1887.'

(1.) The inscriptions are to be read towards the faces (meaning from
the end, towards which the faces look).

(2.) Symbols placed one above the other are to be read vertically
downwards from top to bottom, and this order is invariable. This is
true, and is the case in the Akkadian texts of Tel-lo. Mr. Ball formerly
read without regard to this law.

(3.) Like the Egyptian the character is partly ideographic, partly
phonetic. This has been pointed out clearly in my previous papers, but
I think Mr. Pall hardly gives enough attention to the ideographic value.

(4.) The text J. 1 reads A. B. C. D. This is clear when the original
is inspected. Prof. Sayce, reading from a photograph, has unfortunately
been misled into reading A. C. B. D.

^ As showing the vague results of etymology from single unknown sounds
we may instance Antar. Mr. Ball renders " forest " from Armenian. In
Etruscan, antar means " eagle." Thamima, " sea," he compares with Tdmara.
Surely it is as near Tiamat, the Akkadian "ocean." If the Aryan qara means
" head," " leader," so does the Turanian Tsar. If Bag is to be compai-ed with
the Aryan Bagha, it equally compares with the Turanian Bak. These facts
are in some cases explained by the Aryan and Turanian roots being the same,
but if exception be taken to comparing Hittite with the earliest languages of
Western Asia, which are not Semitic, that objection is tenfold stronger when
modern languages of mixed character, like Armenian or Georgian are used.
The same applies to comparing Cypriote direct with Cuneiform. Mr. Ball
gives twenty-six cases, of which I believe three are correct. As to his proposals
for translating a few groups on the monuments, the arguments do not appear to
be very strong, and further study of the symbols may lead him to see that the
proposed values are untenable.

32 JORDAN ARABAH AND THE DEAD SEA.

The objections in principle which, it seems to me, will be raised to
Mr. Ball's system are, 1st, that he has paid no attention to words of known
meaning, but relies on etymologies of names which he compares without
distinction with Aryan and Turanian languages, and with mixed languages
like Armenian. 2nd, that in comparing Cypriote and Cuneiform he
compares late forms, which are always misleading, and does not adhere
to one epoch (which should be the oldest known), and places his Cuneiform
emblems erect or prostrate, as suits the comparison, instead of adhering
to the oldest erect forms. 3rd, that when emblems which diifer occur in
groups with emblems the same in the groups compared, the different
emblems are regarded as equivalent. Prof. Sayce has done the same,
but there is no safe ground for such a supposition any more than if we
were to lind C. A. B. on one text and C. O. B. on another, and should
aro-ue that therefore A. is the same as 0. There are only about 130 known
Hittite emblems, of which about 50 (probably phonetics) are very common.
The presumption, therefore, is that these (as in Medic and other syllaba-
ries) had each a distinct sound, and not that two or more had the same
sound and were used as equivalents. 4th, that he has made no exhaus-
tive study of any single emblem as regards its position in the texts ; and
5th, which is also a matter of principle, that he reproduces in many cases
the work of others without any acknowledgment.

C. E. C.

NOTE ON MR. I. C. RUSSELL'S PAPER ON THE
JORDAN ARABAH AND THE DEAD SEA.

By Professor Edward Hull, LL.D., F.R.S.

[Extracted from the Geol. Mag. Dec. III. Vol. V. No. 11, 1888.]

I HAVE been very much interested in reading Mr. Eussell's two
communications published in the " Geological Magazine " for August and
September last.^ The analogy which he di^aws between the history of the
Dead Sea valley and that of some of the lake valleys in the western part
of North America is instructive as showing how similar jjhysical features
can be accounted for on similar princij^les of interpretation over all parts
of the world. Mr. Russell very properly draws attention to the paper by
his colleague Mr. G. K. Gilbert on " The Topographical Features of Lake
Shores," in which principles of interpretation of physical phenomena are
laid down applicable to lakes both of America and the Jordan- Arabah
valley.^ With some of Mr. Russell's inferences regarding special epochs
in the history of this valley I am very much disposed to agree ; more
particularly in reference to the mode of formation of the Salt Mountain,

^ " The Jordan- Arabah Depression and the Dead Sea," " Geol. Mag." Aug.
and Sept. 1888, pp. 337-344 and 387-3fl5.

2 Gilbert, Fifth Annual Eeport U.S. Geological Survey (1883-84).

JORDAN ARABAH AND THE DEAD SEA. 33

Jebel Usdum ; or rather, of tlie salt-rock wliich forms the lower part of
its mass. If this interpretation be correct, it removes the ditticulty of
understanding why the rock-salt is confined to one small corner of the
lake, which, at the time the salt was in course of formation, was vastly
more extensive than at present.

The case of the arm of the Caspian known as Kara Bughaz, which Mr.
Russell cites, seems remarkably apposite to that of the Southern bay of
the Dead Sea ; and I feel obliged to the author for his suggestion. In
reference to Mr. Russell's statement that " we ought to look for an
unconformity between the upper and lower lake beds due to the erosion
of the lower member," I wish to take this opportunity of referring again
to the peculiar structure in the rock-salt near the northern end of Jebel
Usdum, where the white laminated marls, forming the upper part of this
plateau, are seen resting horizontally on a mass of rock-salt, having an
oblique structure ; that is, traversed by planes sloping southwards at an
angle of about 20°-25°. I made a sketch of this part of the cliff in my
note-book, but from inability, through lack of time, to examine into the
phenomena with more care than can be done from horseback, I thought
it prudent not to refer to the matter in the " Geological Memoir,"' further
than to notice it.

My special pur^jose in this communication is to oflfer some additional
information to that already given on the question whether or not the
Jordan-Arabah valley originally communicated with the ocean through
the Gulf of Akabah. Mr. Russell is not satisfied with the information
already before him regarding the nature of the watershed of the
Arabah. I have, therefore, referred back to my notes, which are
rather full on this very subject, though I did not consider it necessary
to give them in extenso in the "Geological Memoir," or in "Mount
Seir." On referring to the large Map of the Arabah Valley
in the "Memoir" (facing p. 137), it will be seen that the water-
shed (Lat. 30° 10' N.) is formed partly of a limestone ridge
called Er Rishy, and partly of "gravel of the Arabah." This gravel
extends for several miles down both slopes of the watershed, and is some-
times overspread by blown sand, or else by alluvium. On the west side
it is bounded by the steep, often precipitous, clilf of the rocks forming the
eastern border of the Desert of the Tih (Badiet et Tih), and on the east by
those of the Edomite hills and escarpments ; and at its lowest part rises
about 700 feet above the level of the Mediterranean and Red Seas,^ and
therefore nearly 2,000 feet above the present surface of the Dead Sea. On
api^roaching the watershed, or saddle, from the south, it appeal's as a
level line stretching from the northern end of Er Rishy to the foot of the
rugged hills of Edom, and about half a mile in length. It is foimed of

* " Memoir on the Physical Geology of Arabia-Petrsea and Palestine," p. 84
(1886).

^ M. Vignes' determination is 787 feet (240 metres) ; tbat of Major, now
Colonel Kitchener, is 660 feet ; and that of Mr. Reginald Laurence by aneroid
650 feet.

34 JORDAN ARAB AH AND THE DEAD SEA.

sand and gravel of considerable thickness overlying the limestone which
rises from beneath on the eastern side, and which is broken off by the
great Jordan-Arabah fault against the granitoid and other crystalline
rocks, which here form the base of the Edomite range. This gravel has
all the appearance of a fliuviatile, or alluvial, deposit, formed by the
streams which in flood time descend fi'om the hills to the east ; and it is
well laid open to view in one of these streams, which ultimately joins the
River Jeib. Between this watershed and the first of the terraces which
can, with any degree of certainty, be referred to a lacustrine origin, there
is a distance of over twenty miles, and a vertical fall of about 700 or 650
feet ; and as our party was scattered over the valley, we could not have
failed to detect remains of such lacustrine deposits, if any such existed,
above the level of those we encountered at our camp of the 12th Decem-
ber, 1883, at Ain Abu Werideh : at a level approximately that of the
Mediterranean, and 1,292 feet above that of the Dead Sea.' These hori-
zontal beds of white marl with shells, sand, and shingle, was an entirely
new feature to us all ; and no doubt remains on my mind that they
indicate the highest level to which the waters of the ancient Jordan-
valley Lake formerly rose.

An admission on my part that the waters of the Jordan valley ever
were in connection with those of the outer ocean through the Gulf of
Akabah can only be made from the point of view that, during the forma-
tion of the Jordan-Arabah line of depression by the displacement of the
strata along the great fault, and when the whole region was rising from
beneath the waters of the ocean in Miocene times, some such connec-
tion existed for a limited period of time ; but this epoch in the history of
the valley was separated by a long interval from that of the present Dead
Sea, even when standing at a level of 1,300 feet above its present surface.
From the time that the outer waters of the ocean were dissevered from
those of the Jordan-Arabah lake by the vip-rise of the land, there is no
evidence that there was ever any subsequent connection by means of a
stream flowin" down from the North into the Gulf of Akabah. The
closest approximation which, according to my view, these inner and
outer waters ever made towards each other is represented in the sketch-
map of that whole region in page 72 of the " Geological Memoir," where
a tract of ground of about 40 miles in length, and rising to 700
feet in height, is represented as intervening between their respective
borders.

1 " Mount Seir," p. 99 ; " aeological Memoir," p. 80.

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THE WATEIIS OF SHILOAH THAT GO SOFTLY.

(Isaiala viii, 6.)

Five years ago, relying upon the topographical and historical accuracy
of the Bible, I predicted with the utmost confidence {Qxiarterly ^StatemiMt,
1884, 70, 76), that a careful search on the eastern side of Ophel would
result in the discovery of an aqueduct which, in the time of Ahaz, con-
veyed water from the Virgin's Foinit (Gilion) to the mouth of the
Tyropoeon vallej. I added that it would be "at a level of about 2,087
feet (but on plan about 2,085), pi'obably a foot or two broad, cut in the
rock, perhaps 3 feet deep, and covered with slabs of stone ; " and, further,
that " as possibly the aqueduct might in some places be destroyed, when
it fell into disuse on the completion of the Siloam tunnel, if no result
(^.e., successful result) attended the first attempt, a second or even a third
ought to be made at some other part of its course." Taking Sir Charles
Warren's rock-contours as my guide, I also indicated its course on a plan ;
and on a later plan of March 19, 1886, marked several spots for exami-
nation.

The Executive Committee very kindly took up the proposal that a
search should be made, put the matter into Mr. Schick's hands, and in
Quarterly Statement^ 1886, 197, printed his report of the comiJlete success
of his excavations.

He states that he sunk three shafts. At the first (A on his plan),
he found that " at a height of 2,064 feet above the sea there is no rock."
The results of the second shaft, B., seem to me ambiguous. He next
made a third shaft, C, hopiug to strike the well-known aqueduct to
Siloam, at some point where he thought the roof was not solid rock, bvit
covei'ed with stones. In this opinion I cannot agree. However, all
ended well.

He says (1886, 199) : "At 20 feet the rock was found, and to our
joy, the rock-hewn channel also (i.e., the conjectural, not the known one).
It is 1 foot 10 inches wide, 4 feet 3 inches deep, both sides cut down
perpendicularly, and the bottom round, at a level 2,088 feet above the
sea. On the top of the sides there were gi^ooves, 7 inches deep and Sc-
inches broad, to take the covering slab, which was no longer in its place,
and hence the conduit was full of earth."

Even after two years I must own to being extremely pleased at this
discovery, especially as I had informed Mr. Besant that if the aqueduct
were honestly Inoked for and not found, I would give up the Jerusalem
controversy. This true solution of the Shiloah difficulty has taken much
time and trouble. To Vitringa, as Thrupp points out ("Jerusalem," 140),
we owe the correct interpretation of Isaiah viii, 6 ; and besides these and
others, Major Conder (1883, 139 ; 1884, 241, 243) ; and Professor Sayce
(1883,211; 1884, 174), have assisted by their very objections; for in
answering them (1885, 60), I saw the more clearly that I had got hold
of the truth, and therefore again pressed for the search to be made.

c 2

36 THE WATERS OF SHILOAH.

Let me now dispose of some further objections which the former has
thought good to oifer, and next point out the value of this discovery.

Major Couder (1887, 104), says: "The investigations of the sup-
posed second aqueduct to the Virgin's Pool do not seem to have led to
the proof of its existence, nor do I think it at all likely that a second
aqueduct would have been cut, as there could not have been any apparent

use for it Shaft C. showed a surface channel, of which there

used to be many on this hill, but it is not shown to have gone to the
Virgin's Pool."

Here I would ask — •

1. If the remains described above do not prove the existence of an
aqueduct, what possible remains woiild ?

2. A.S the present use of the present rock-hewn tunnel is to convey
water from the Virgin's Pool to the Tyropoeon Valley, so the past use of
the newly-found aqueduct was to do the same, before the rock-hewn
tunnel was made or ever thought of.

3. The next objection about " surface " seems to me more superficial
than the aqueduct, which is buried quite 20 feet. If Major Couder means
that the channel had not a roof of solid rock, I reply. Of course not, for
that is just what was not wanted (1884, 76) ; but if he means it is still
so near the surface (only 20 feet below !), that it cannot be as ancient as
the time of Ahaz, then I must ask why would he attribute (1887, 106 ;
1884, 26) to Hezekiah the aqueduct named in his very next paragraph,
on p. 101, 1887. Is that aqueduct 20 feet below the surface ? And if
so, how much more depth is required for Ahaz than for Hezekiah. To
me, 20 feet seems depth enough of soil for any antiquity in this part of
Ophel ?

But, before dismissing his aqueduct, I would ask, would it not be
absurd in Hezekiah first to stop the upper outlet of Gihon (Virgin's
Fount), and to bring the waters, with immense labour, beyond the reach
of the enemy, through the Ophel Hill to the Pool of Siloam, and then to
convey them onwards, outside the walls, and so not beyond his reach, in
a surface channel (his is such as much as mine) covered with slabs,
having slits (1882, 130) here and there giving access to the waters— a
channel, be it noted, miming east and west according to Major Conder's
plan (1884, 21), but north and south on Mr. Schick's (1886, 199;. In
other words. Major Conder makes Hezekiah's object to have been to
prevent Sennacherib tasting the waters of Gihon merely before they
reached Siloam ; after that he might drink ad libitum. This absurdity
inevitably follows his interpretation of 2 Chron. xxxii, 30, in which he
makes the city of David to be the Upper City on the south-western hill.

4. While the aqueduct has not been actually traced to the Virgin's
Fount, it must, like the Siloam tunnel, have led from it, as " there is
nothing to lead us to suppose that any other supply of living water
existed a,t a former period " at Jerusalem (Conder's " Handbook," 334).
I hope, however, these objections will lead the Committee to trace the
conduit to its end in both directions.

Y ntarhs
^ the. probable^
"^ position of th&
■^ SepvJjchres of

The
CITY OF DAVID

RoC'lv Contours
Sir C. Warrerv It. E.

LIHOSELll ANDREW, UTM, 87,CHANCERV L«NE,WC-

THE WATERS OF SHILOAH. 37

The discovery of this aqueduct seems to be most valuable, because —

1. It gives us a glimpse of the wonderful accuracy of the sacred
records, since a brief notice in Isaiah has enabled us to recover an
aqueduct disused for 2,600 years, whose very existence was denied by
historical critics.

2. The terms Shiloah, Siloah, and Siloam can now, without any diffi-
culty whatever, be applied to one spot, at the south of Ophel.

3. Once more Ophel, west of the Virgin's Fount, is found to be the
site of the city of David, for the waters of Shiloah (i.e., aqueduct) must,
as Thrupp pointed out, have flowed from the city of David, and this
(Schick's) aqueduct can only have led from the very same source as the
Siloam tunnel does at the present day, viz., from the Virgin's Fount, i.e.,
Gihon (2 Chron. xxxii, 30).

4. There is no longer any room whatever for doubt as to the date of
the Siloam tunnel. Every diificulty has been removed. It was certainly
Hezekiah's work (1883, 106). The same may also be said of the in-
scription.

5. In my opinion Schick's aqueduct is to be attributed to Solomon.

6. By this discovery an impetus ought to be given to excavation work
at Jerusalem.

We have not now to dig at a venture. Calculations may be made to a
nicety beforehand. An unknown quantity, too, has been eliminated from
the problem of discovering the sepulchres of David, or, rather, its value
has been found. Eeaders of these pages may remember how uncertainty
as to the position of " the Pool of Siloam" (1883, 155) and " the pool that
was made " has more than once marred my conjectures as to the approxi-
mate position of David's tomb on the part south of the Haram area.

Now, however, a doubtful \-)oh\t finally settled, gives saxotheY fi.ved and
known point from which to make a further advance towards solving the
great question of the precise position of the Boyal Sepulchres.

Encouraged, therefore, by the successful find of "the waters of
Shiloah," I would again put before the Executive Committee of the
Palestine Exploi'ation Fund a proposal that a search should be made for
the sepulchres of David. I do not ask them to believe me, and I cannot
in this matter speak, as in the former case, with " the utmost confidence "
of succeeding ; but, after two years' reflection, I see no change that I
should wish to make in the plan and explanation given in Quarterly
8tateinent, 1886, 33. A search (on a line east and west) on the eastern
side of Ophel must, in my opinion, reveal traces of the city wall, and a
further search based on this would, I believe, be rewarded by most
astonishing results, viz., the discovery of ancient tombs which must be
royal.

Perseverance, however, and money, too, will probably be needed to
recover the sepulchre where David's dust " rests in hope " (if Matt, xxvii,
53, admits of it), the magnificent catacombs where Solomon " lies in his
glory," the loculus (bed) of Asa, " filled with divers kinds of spices "—in
short, the one intact monument of the kings of Judah. I would not for

38 THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OF JERUSALEM.

a moment ignore any proposed bond fide site for the sepulchres of David,
adverse to my own. It is however needless to consider Mr. St. Clair's
(1888, 49, 288) site with all the details of his plan, until he draws his
southern wall, not on the line of the present wall, but so as (1) to take in
the towers discovered by Mr. Maudslay at the south-west corner of the
upper city, (2) to pass close to the Virgin's Fount, and (3) to be sufficiently
near to the Pool of Siloam as to defend it. According to Mr. St. Clair's
plan, the elaborate works connected with the two latter had nothing to
do with Jerusalem, and were useless. This is incredible.

W. F. Birch.
October 2bth, 1888.

THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OE JERUSALEM.

The Hebrew language furnishes a most useful key to the topography of
Jerusalem, inasmuch as it possesses diiferent words to describe valleys of
different kinds, and also invariably applies the same word to the same
valley. The ti'anslators of the Bible apparently overlooked this pecu-
liarity; but it is strange that the Revisers shoiild have strayed still
further by translating identicalh'' the same words in one place " the king's
dale," and in another " the king's vale."

Thus the reader of the English translation, by being deprived of the
topographical light which the original contains, is led blindfold among the
three valleys of Jerusalem, with two chances to one of his mistaking
where he is.

At the suggestion of one of the Executive Committee, I propose to
lay before the reader a simple statement as to these valleys and the
passages in the Bible where they are named.

To those who will condescend to use this key instead of their own
fancy, Jerusalem topography will lose most of its difficulties, and points
which may still escajae me may become clear to others.

Jerusalem is bounded on the east by a valley running from north to
south. This is universally admitted to be that named in the Bible as the
brook Kidron.

On the west and south it is bounded by an L-shaped valley, joining
the former at its southern end, whence the two form one valley leading
to the Dead Sea.

The space enclosed between these two, forming the site of Jerusalem,
is further divided by a central bifurcated or Y-sha2:)ed valley, of which
the lowest limb joins the point of contact of the two former valleys,
while the left branch of the Y runs almost east and west, and the right
branch northwards. Further, Jerusalem is divided in such a way that
the area to the right of the Y is only about one-quarter of the whole.

The first, or eastern, valley is in Hebrew called Nachal, or the brook
its full title being the brook Kidron.

PLAN OF
^ JERFSALEM

,< C * ( c c

THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OF JERUSALEM. 39

The second, or south-western, valley is called Eniek, or the Dale, with
various additions.

The third valley (t.e., the left and lowest limb of the Y) is called Ge,
or the valley of Hinnom, the last word, Hinnom, being very seldom
omitted.

If the reader asks, as he has a right to ask, " Do all writers on Jeru-
salem believe all this about the valleys 1 " then I must reply, " Certainly
not."

Theories have been formed and advocated in ignorance of the above-
named key, and, as General Gordon rightly observed {Quarterly Statement,
1885, 81), " A man, under his own name, cannot go right-about-face all at
once." My experience is that he will hardly go at all sooner or later. I
have explained in Quarterly Statement (1878, 178 ; 1882, 56) how I got
into the light, or rather how light got into me, by a mere accident, and
how the Jerusalem fog which still envelops so many lifted and the great
outlines of Jerusalem burst upon my view in wonderful distinctness, as
soon as ever I admitted that Nachal = eastern valley, Ge = central valley,
Emek --= south-western valley. My faith in this key was confirmed
beyond a shadow of a doubt when, by the use of it, I found that Jer.
xxi, 13, 14, " I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley [emek] and
of the rock of the plain [mishor], saith the Lord : ye which say who
shall come down against us," had nothing whatever to do with Jerusalem,
as hitherto universally supposed.

The people of Jerusalem did not live in the emek, and the word mishor
is technically applied to the upland dovvns on the east side of the Jordan.
The very expression used by Rabbath-Ammon in Jer. xlix, 3, 4," Who shall
come unto me," answering so closely to '" Who shall come down against
us," is enough to show to the unprepossessed reader that the cajjital of the
Ammonites is addressed in Jer. xxi, 13, just as Jerusalem is in the
twelfth verse ; while Ezek. xxi, 20, throws further light on the question.

Here, again, I must confess with sadness that writers, learned and
unlearned alike, still go on in error, preferring to do violence to Hebrew
usage rather than to revise what they have once written (1878, 189 ;
1882, 59). T must also add that I first learned from Mr. Schick (1884,
185) that I had been forestalled by Schwarz in perceiving that the central,
i.e., the Tyropoeon valley, was the valley {ge) of Hinnom. Possibly his
discovery was rejected by others because he went on to say that the
south-western valley, emek (still, I grieve to say, commonly taken to be
the ge, or valley of Hinnom) was the valley of Rephaim. Anybody could
see that it was not, and that the Philistines could never have spread
themselves in such a small place (2 Sam. v, 18, 22 ; xxiii, 13).

Now as to the valleys.

Nachal, or the Brook Kidron.

2 Sam. XV, 23. The king passed over the brook Kidron.
St. John, xviii, 1. Jesus went forth with his disciples over the brook
Kidron.

40 THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OF JERUSALEM.

1 Kings, ii, 37. Passest over the brook Kidroii.

1 Kings, XV, 13. Asa burnt her image at the brook Kidron.

2 Kings, xxiii, 4. Josiah burned them without Jerusalem in the fields
of Kidron.

2 Kinffs, xxiii, 6. Unto the brook Kidron and at the brook Kidron.
2 Kings, xxiii, 12. Cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
Jer. xxxi, 40. All the fields unto tlie brook Kidron.
Sometimes Kidron is omitted, and Nachal only used.
Nehemiah (ii, 14, 15), after passing the King's pool, says, "Then went
I up in the night by the brook."

2 Chron. xxxiii, 14, R. V. After this Manasseh built an outer wall to
the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley {nachal, i.e.,
brook).

Here the original contained light, while a vague translation has pro-
duced darkness, in which writers on Jerusalem are still groping. This
verse by itself showed that Gihon was on the east of Jerusalem, and the
city of David close to it, on the west side of Gihon ; but because the
A. V. gave valley instead of hrook (and the R. V. does just the same),
Dr. Robinson was led astray, and Sir Charles Warren triumphantly
claims that his north-westerly site for Zion "is the oidy site which will
render intelligible " this verse (" Temple," 35). Put hrook for valley, and
the verse is seen at once to be diametrically opposed to his view. He has
long admitted that the Book of Nehemiah seems to place the city of
David on Ophel, but here we have his favourite passage in Chronicles
doing the very same thing. It would have been most unsatisfactory if
Nehemiah had not been consistent with Chronicles.

On the invasion of Sennacherib, Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxxii, 4) gathered
much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the hrook
{nachal) that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, why should
the kings of Assyria come and find much water. Here the A. V. is
better than the R. V., for the former gives the marginal reading, " over-
flowed."

What then was the hrook that overflowed ? Heavy rain would make a
stream in any valley. But in this case why stop only one ? Now the
Virgin's Fount in the Kidron valley is partly an intermittent spring. It
seemed, therefore, to me ten years ago {Quarterly Statement, 1878, 181)
that this spring was referred to, since it is in the nachal, and overfloios at
irregular intervals. The recent discovery of Schick's aqueduct, which
carried these waters to the mouth of the Tyropceon valley, showed, how-
ever that the waters from Gihon, even in the time of Ahaz, were not
allowed to overflow down the Kidron, while the flowing along the
aqueduct certainly did not answer to flowing "through the midst of the
land."

We (writers) have been for fifty years needlessly indulging in conjec-
tures when all along any ragged urchin at Jerusalem could answer
off"-hand the question, " Where is the brook that overflows through the
midst of the land '\ " Dr. Robinson thought it flowed down the south-

THE VALLEYS AND WATEKS OF JERUSALEM. 41

western valley ; Sir C. Warren, writing of the central valley, exclaims
("Underground Jerusalem," 70, 322, 331), "How tantalising to have
found the brook, but to be debarred pursuing it up to its source ! "
Nevertheless the brook has been overflowing almost every year. Dr.
Eobinson notes it and Sir C. Warren saw it, and I also ; and yet no one
has recognised it. What is more, its periodical flow is actually tabulated
in these very pages {see 1883, 33), and as no one should overlook it, it
is headed " TABLE IX. The overflow of Beer Aytib." Yet it has
taken me ten years to find it out and this while the " Land and Book,"
656, etc., and " Jerusalem Eecovered," 258, have brought closely together
the mention of the brook that overflowed, and the overflow of Joab's
well and the long tunnel, so that one ought long ago to have perceived
the connection between them.

Major Conder says, " The rising of the waters is held as a reast by
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who may be seen walking beside the water
or sitting in the valley in numbers on a bright winter day when the
water is flowing. Men, women, and children here picnic all day"
(" Memoirs, Jerusalem," 371, and " Land and Book," 658).

After heavy rains the water from the lower strata of rock finds an
outlet up the shaft of the well. I do not know the age of the well, and,
therefore, do not say it existed in the time of Hezekiah. Sir Charles
Warren, however, discovered one entrance to three staircases a little
north of the well— one of them leading to a semi-natural cistern in the
rock, where a natural cleft was also visible. This staircase had evidently
been cut into at a later date, but in its original form it had once been
built up by a cross wall, and at the bottom of the wall a hole or duct
was left 6f by 4 inches, and on the northern side a stone plug to fit and
12 inches long, was found in it. Why ? here is the very phig Hezekiah
put in (I don't mean with his own hand) when Sennacherib invaded
Judah. Talk of the Bible not bearing historical criticism ! It is the
critic who cannot bear criticism. Afterwards the plug was no longer
needed, when the 1,800 feet aqueduct from the cistern was made down
the Kidron.

It seems to me that the above staircases must have been made by the
Jebusites, and that this source of water is to be identified with En-rogel
(Josh. XV, 7, xviii, 16), just as in Gen. xxiv, 11, 20, mention is made of a
well {beer), and of Kebekah going doimi to the spring {ain. 16, 13). What
an excellent hiding-place Jonathan and Ahimaaz (2 Sam. xvii, 17) must
have had here in these staircases and cleft, the reader may learn for
himself from Sir Charles Warren's Letters, pp. 140, 152, and the " Jeru-
salem Memoirs," 372.

Ge, OR THE Valley of Hinnom.

Josh. XV, 8 (from En-rogel). The border went up by the valley of the
son of Hinnom.

Josh, xviii, 16. The border went down to the uttermost part of the
mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in

42 THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OF JERUSALEM.

the vale of Eephaim northward ; and it went down to the valley of
Hinnom, to the side of the Jehusite southward, and went down to Eii-
rogel.

Neh. xi, 30. From Beersheba imto the valley of Hinnom.

2 Chron. xxviii, 3. Ahaz burnt incense in the valley of the son of
Hinnom.

2 Chron. xxxiii, 6. Pass through the fire in the valley of the son of
Hinnom.

2 Kings xxiii, 10. Josiah defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of
the children of Hinnom.

Jer. xxxii 35. High places of Baal, which are in the valley of the
son of Hinnom.

Jer. vii, 31, 32. Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of
Hinnom. — Behold the days come, that it shall no more be called To-
pheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter,
for they shall bury in Topheth till [or because] there shall be no place
to bury.

Also xix, 6.

Jer. xix, 2. Go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is
by the entiy of the gate Harsith (Margin, the gate of Potsherds).

The A. V. unfortunately renders Harsith by east. An east gate at
Jerusalem must lead to the nachal (brook Kidron), and as the valley {ge)
of Hinnom is said to be near the above wrongly styled east gate. Sir
Charles Warren, taking the nachal and ge to be one and the same, has
in a mistake of the Authorised Version, found support for his wrong
position of Zion, the city of David (1870, 344). This is much to be
regretted, as it is hard to go right-about-face.

Occasionally the valley of Hinnom is simply described as the valley
{ge), and serves as a title for a gate near it.

Neh. ii, 13. I went out by night by the valley gate,

Neh. iji, 13. The valley gate repaired Hanun, &c.
2 Chron. xxvi, 9. Uzziah built towers at the valley gate.
From the valley {ge) we have in the N. T. the term Gehenna as a
place of torment.

The lowest limb of the Y is the Tyropoeon valley of Josephus, dividing
the upper city on the hill {gibeah) of Jerusalem (Is. x, 32, xxxi, 4) on the
west from the lower city or Acra on Ophel (so called) on the east. On
part of the latter stood Zion, the city of David, while the high part of the
hill on the north was called the Mount {har) of Zion (Is. x, 32, xxxi, 4),
Mount Moriah, and later, the Mount of the House (2 Chron. xxxiii, 15).
At times, however, in the Psalms and Prophets, Mount Zion, Zion, and
Jerusalem seem to be used as equivalent terms for the whole city.

Emek — The Dale.

Gen. xiv, 17, Pt. V. The king of Sodom went out to meet him
(Abram) at the vale of Shaveh (the same is the King's Vale). And
Melchizedek, &c.

THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OF JERUSALEM. 43

2 Sam. xviii, 18. Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up
for himself the pillar which is in the king's dale.

This gratuitous variation in R. V. is reprehensible.

Josephus, with better judgment, says that Melchizedek was king of
Jerusalem, and that Absalom's pillar was two furlongs from Jerusalem.
It seems to me absurd to think either that these two valleys are not
identical, or that Absalom had prepared his tomb on the east side of
the Jordan, or near Shechem, where some learned people wrongly think
Abram met Melchizedek. Abram's natural road was, as at present, past
Jerusalem, and that city was the obvious place at which the king of
Sodom would meet him.

Jar. xxxi, 40. The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes
and all the fields unto the brook Kidron.

The valley thus described has been taken to be the south-western
valley, commonly called the valley {ge) of Hinnom. When, however, I
took the central valley to be the valley {ge) of Hinnom, and then came
to examine this passage in the Hebrew, and found that as this south-
western valley ought not to be called ge, so actually it was not called
ge but emek, I saw hovv many difficulties ignorance makes for itself,
and that while the original is very distinct and precise, the laxity of
translations has jaroduced confusion and difficulties which once seemed
insuperable.

Joel, iii, 2, 12. I will bring them down into the valley of Jeho-
shaphat .... Come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat (Margin, the Lord
judgeth).

If the reference here is to any valley at Jerusalem, it is certainly not
to the eastern valley or naclxal, commonly but wrongly named the valley
of Jehoshaphat. The use of emek shows that only the south-western
valley can be referred to. Thrupp ("Jerusalem" 214) says, " the allusion in
this chapter to the winepresses points to where the king's winepresses
stood (south-east of Jerusalem), and the metaphor of the harvest conducts
us further westward to the cornfields of the Plain of the Rephaim."
Hence he concludes that the ravine of the Kidron cannot be exclu-
sively intended. I may, however, observe that " the winepresses "
and " the cornfields " are exactly the eastern and western limits of our
einel-.

Jer. xxi, 13. Has been shown above not to refer to Jerusalem.

Isaiah, xxii, 1-7. Possibly does not refer to Jerusalem (" Spk.
Comment."). Our key, however, passes smoothly the two wards " valley
(^e) of vision," and " thy choicest valleys (eme/-)," e.g., the king's dale
and the valley {emek) of Rephaim.

In support of the south-western valley being the king's dale {emek) I
should like to point out that close to its eastern extremity, where it joins
the nachal, we have the king's winepresses (Zech. xiv, 10), the king's
pool (Neh. ii, 14) and the king's garden (Neh. ^iii, 15 ; 2 Kings, xxv, 4 :
Jer. xxxix, 4 ; Iii, 7).

44 THE VALLEYS AND WATERS OF JEEUSALEM.

Ain — Spring.

As to the waters of Jerusalem little is here to be said. Evidently on the
•west there was a spring called iu Neh. ii, 13, " the dragon's well " (really
spring, ain) answering probably to the serpents' pool of Josephus (Wars,
V, iii, 2). This ain is no longer visible.

The Virgin's Fount is undoubtedly Gihon (1 Kings i, 33, 38, 45 ; 2
Chron. xxxii, 30 ; xxxiii, 14). Major Conder has done good service by
strenuously maintaining this (1883, 106).

I regret, however, that he feels compelled by M. Ganneau's discovery
of the Arabic Ez Zehuiele, to maintain that En-rogel is identical with
Gihon. Enrogel was certainly the same as or near Joab's well. The
argument that the last named is a beer (well) not an ain (spring), hardly
proves anything ; for Jacob's well in John iv, 6, 11, is called both TTTj-yrj
and (f)p£ap. I have observed already that in Gen. xxiv, in Eebekah's
story, beer and ain are both mentioned twice, and the water supply
obtained by means of the staircase near Joab's well would certainly be
called an ain (spring). Further, it is absurd to sujipose (1) that Adonijah
would hold his revolutionary feast under the very windows of the royal
palace on Ophel, and (2) if he had, that D^vid would ever send Solomon
to Gihon, almost into the hands of his enemies (M. Ganneau gives the
distance between Zehwele and the Virgin's Fount as about 60 metres =
66 yards, 1870, 252), and (3) that being so near to Gihon, Adonijah
and the rest of the conspirators should know nothing of what had gone on
(1 Kings i, 41) seventy yards off, until Jonathan rushed in to tell
them.

Of Arabic, happily, I am ignorant, and so am unmoved by the merits
of Zehwele ; but I do know that for the stone of Zoheleth, the Bible uses
eben, and I cannot find there a single instance in which it is applied to a
clif, such as Zehwele is attached to ; while I can give many instances in
which it means a moveable stone, which Zehwele certainly is not. Perhaps
some friend of this Arabic word will produce an instance from the Bible,
of eben meaning a cliff.

Lastly, " The Land and the Book," page 659, points out the fittest
place and time for Adonijah's conspiracy, viz., near Joab's well, when the
brook was overflowing, so that the holiday makers there would find them-
selves entrapped into the rebeUion ere they were aware of it, like the two
hundred men who went with Absalom to Hebron iu their simplicity.

(2 Sam. XV, 11).

W. F. Birch.

EN-ROGEL, AND THE BROOK THAT OVERFLOWED.

The Position.

The boundary line between Judah and Benjamin fixes the position of
En-rocel somewhere towards the south-east of Jerusalem.

Three sites for it have been proposed, viz. (1) the Virgin's Fount, i.e.,
Gihon ; (2) the Pool of Siloam ; (3) Joab's Well.

It seems to me that En-rogel cannot be Gihon, because (a) two
diflPerent names can hardly be applied to the same fountain in one stors^
(1 Kings i, 9, 33, 38, 45) ; {b) it is incredible, and not consistent with the
sacred narrative, that Solomon was anointed within a hundred yards of
Adonijah and his supporters — just where David would not send him ;
(c) the cliff of Zahweileh certainly does not answer to the stone {ehen, a
moveable stone) of Zoheleth. Major Conder, taking the identification to
be true, proposes {Quarterly Statement, 1885, 20) that En-rogel may mean
" the spring of the channel," and would derive the name from " the famous
rock-cut channel leading from the back of the cave in which the spring
rises." A fatal objection, however, is made by H. B. S. W. (184), who
observes " that all the passages in which the name occurs, relate to a time
antecedent to the earliest date hitherto assigned to the rock-cut channel,
and two of them mention the name En-rogel as existing in the time oj
Joshua.'" I must add that Major Conder himself attributes the famous
channel to Hezekiah (" Handbook," 339), so that on this point he is divided
against himself ; and though since 1878 {Quarterly Statement, 130, 184) I
have maintained that the Jebusites made the channel (it is part of the
gutter up which Joab climbed— 2 Sam. v, 8 ; 1 Chron. xi, 6), I cannot admit
this site for En-rogel, even in favour of my theory.

2. H. B. S. W.'s (1885, 59) proposal to identify En-rogel with
the pool of Siloam falls before his objection above ; for no one, so far
as I know, has assigned the Pool of Siloam to so early a date as the time
of Joshua.

3. The great objections made by Major Conder (1885, 20) against identi-
fying En-rogel with (Blr Eyftb) Joab's Well have been (1) that it is too
far from the clifi" of Zahweileh, and (2) that it is not a spring {ain) at all.
I have pointed out above that (1) is really no objection at all ; and (2) is
not conclusive, because Jacob's Well at Sychar is called both a sj^ring
{nriyr}) and a well {(ppeap) in St. John iv. Further, in Gen. xvi, 7, 14, the
fountain {ain) in the way to Shur is identical with the well, Beer-
lahai-roi. Again, in Gen. xxiv, 11, 13, 16, 20, 43, 45, we have both ain
and beer, apjjlied to the same source of water. Further, the well of Sirah
(2 Sam. iii, 26) is identified by Major Conder (" Tent Work," vol. ii, 86)
with the present ain Sarah. Thus, a spring reached by cutting the rock
raay, apparently, in the Bible, be called either ain or beer. To me Joab's
Well seems undoubtedly to answer to the required position of En-rogel,
but yet not itself to be actually En-rogel, and this brings us to a very
interesting subject.

46 EN-ROGEL, AND THE

The Story.

Eleven years ago I pointed out (1878, 130) that there must have been a
very clever man among the ancient Jebusites. Whether he was Melchizedec
or not is uncertain ; at any rate, water was his specialty. I have told how,
by the contrivance of " the gutter," he secured for his city an unfailing
supply of water, and so enabled Zion, the castle of the Jebusites, to bid
defiance to all Israel, until Joab's daring, in conjunction with Araunah's
treachery, transferred the impregnable fortress into David's hands.
Another benefit which this same Jebusite (I believe) conferred upon his
country was the making of En-rogel.

It is probable that in pre- historic times water used, after heavy rains,
to issue from the ground near Joab's Well, just as it does now by means
of the well, and to flow in a voluminous stream down the valley towards
the Dead Sea.

When, in after times, but before the Israelite invasion, the Jebusites
found the supply from Gihon (Virgin's Fount) insufficient for their wants,
this father of civil engineers prospected for water in the valley {nachal,
or brook) near the present site of Joab's Well. Intending his countrymen
to be able in stormy times to conceal from their enemies the spring he
had resolved to find, he cut in the rock, about 75 feet north of the well,
the entrance to a staircase discovered by Sir Charles Warren, which,
after descending 6 feet to the west, divides into a northern and a southern
branch. The northern staircase soon divides in two others ; neither of
these last two enabled our Jebusite to find water, and therefore were
abandoned, it may be, when the southern staircase gave indications that
the excavators were reaching water. A grand day, indeed, it must have
been for that primitive civil engineer, when he broke into the grotto or
subterranean cistern marked west of Joab's Well ; and if nature had
never hereabouts forced for its waters an outlet to the surface, tremendous
must have been the excitement in " the torpid little town of Jebus," when
tidings came that a strong stream of water was pouring forth from
En-ro^el ; in other words, that " the brook was overflowing in the midst
of the land."

Consciously or unconsciously, some 3,400 years ago, or more, our
Jebusite had constructed a periodical Artesian well, and thereby (unless
he was anticipated by nature) endowed his city in perpetuity with all but
an annual treat of a babbling brook in " the prettiest and most fertile
spot around Jerusalem."

If it is allowable to give a Hebrew derivation to the name of a
Jebusite spring (though possiblj the later name is an equivalent for the
older one, just as we have shaveh and emek)^ then I would interprete En-
rogel as meaning the spring of searddng out, i.e., the spring that was
found by searching out, just as Isaac named one of his wells Asc^, because
they contended with him.

Useful, however, as En-rogel proved to the Jebusites, it was very in-
convenient for their fair Eebekahs to have to go down for water thi-ough

BROOK THAT OVERFLOWED. 47

the long dark staircase and passage ; accordingly from the surface of the
valley (or, if the grotto is under the hill, from a cave, like a tomb, in its
side) a shaft was excavated to the roof of the grotto, through which
(shaft) their vessels could be let down by a cord into the cistern
below.

Centuries rolled on, and if the water had ever naturally issued from
the surface near En-rogel, the fact was wholly forgotten. The only over-
flow that the Hebrews who now held Jerusalem ever witnessed was the
periodical rushing of the waters up the staircase of En-rogel.

The Bible mentions this fountain in connection with two critical
events in the life of David. In the rebellion of Absalom, Jonathan and
Ahimaaz remained lurking in or near these staircases ; and afterwards,
"by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel," the rebellious
Adonijah gave his great feast, doubtless during the overflow of the
brook.

J oab's Well itself may have been dug in the reign of Solomon, and
deepened at a later date. It was certainly made after En-rogel. Pos-
sibly the age of its construction may be ascertained from the character of
its masonry.

On Sennacherib's invasion " much people was gathered together who
stopped all the fountains and the brook that overflowed through (or in)
the midst of the land." Now, at last, Hezekiah reaped the fruit of the
Jebusite's forethought. Covering up the entrance to Gihon he was able
himself from within the city of Jerusalem to draw its waters by means
of the gutter. Similarly it was easy to conceal all traces of En-
rogel; but to stop " the brook that overflowed " proved in the end to be
a work of extreme difficulty and extraordinary magnitude. At first,
at a distance of 44 feet from the grotto (or cistern), he blocked
up the rock-cut passage by " a masonry wall, 3 feet thick, and composed
of cut stones set in a hard black mortar, apparently mixed with oil. At
the bottom a hole or duct was left, 6| inches by 4 inches, and on the
northern side a stone plug to fit, and 12 inches long, was found in it" (by
Sir Charles Warren in 1870 ; see Letters, pp. 141, 153).

Probably at the same time Hezekiah closed the shaft in the roof of
the grotto with the " white stone," observed by this successful explorer
(Letters, p. 141). All this was easy enough ; but when the heavy rains
came on, it would seem that the waters still issued from the surface,
escaping either through some natural fissure in the rock below the soil,
or because the shaft above the grotto or the staircase was not water-
tight. The blocking up of the staircase (or rather its continuation to the
grotto) by a second wall, seems to imply that suspicion lighted on the
last-named passage. However this might be, the attempt was of no use.
The brook still continued, as of old, to overflow. Yet Hezekiah and his
people were not easily to be thwarted. If the brook would flow, it should
certainly not overflow.

At an immense expenditure of labour a spacious aqueduct (6 feet
high and from 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet broad) was cut under the western

48 EN-ROGEL, AND THE

side of the Kidron valley, starting from the grotto (which was practi-
cally the source of the waters), and extending at least 1,800 feet down the
ravine.

[To follow this to its end is a work worthy of the Fund and its sup-
porters.]

Now, at last, the brook was stopped. Buried, as it was, 40 or 50 feet
out of sight, and beyond hearing the Assyrian could never have found it.

A further attempt seems to have been made to continue this tunnel
(or aqueduct) on the same scale northwards. Apparently the staircase
was used for carrying out the chippings, but why the last 86 feet of it
(i.e., of the staircase which here is really a passage with a slight fall) were
not utili-sed in this extension is to me at present unintelligible. Opera-
tions were began at a point 86 feet from the grotto, and after lowering
the floor about 9 feet, a new tunnel was continued north for 148 feet,
generally about 3 feet 7 inches wide, and 6 feet high, and then the work
was abandoned.

Still, from the southern end of this 148 feet length, a passage was cut
to the grotto, apparently to enable the water trickling through into the
148-foot tunnel to flow into the grotto.

The smaller dimensions (" it is only about 3^ feet high " apparently.
Letters, p. 142) and irregular course of this connecting link seem to indicate
that it was made without much care. At the point of junction (86 feet
from the grotto) the old staircase has partly been cut away by this later
work, so that here the roof of the passage is 15 feet high. From this
point the link runs directly under the older passage, and comes out into
the grotto, 9 feet below the other and 6 feet to the west of it.

If Joab's Well had been already dug, it too must have been stopped
by Hezekiah. If it was not already made, then the excavating of the
great aqueduct must have deprived the people of Jerusalem of their
greatest treat. After Sennacherib's departure, they must have looked
back with many regrets to the happy days when they used to disport
themselves among the trees by the banks of the overflowing brook. And
never afterwards, until the exit from the grotto was blocked up (which
the presence of some large stones in the tunnel and at the bottom of the
cistern or grotto seems to indicate was done), or until Joab's Well was
either made or reopened, did the lower valley of the Kidron again present
the bright and festive scene which must probably have been of almost
yearly occurrence since Jerusalem was first inhabited, and certainly since
the day that the clever Jebusite presented to his city the famous En-
rogel.

The Proof.

The more congenial task now awaits me of presenting to the critics
the proof that my topographical statements are correct.

In "Jerusalem Eecovered," 261, Sir Charles Warren writes : — "This
tunnel, as we have now examined it, extends from near Bir Eyfib to a
point 1,800 feet down the Kedron Valley. It has been judiciously cut

BEOOK THAT OVEKFLOWED. 49

under one side (the west side) of the valley, so that though it is from
70 to 90 feet under the surface of the rock, yet the staircases being com-
menced to the east (nearer the bottom of the valley), have not to descend
by more than 40 to 50 feet. Tu the 1,800 feet we have cleared out, seven
staircases have been exposed ; they are about 3 feet wide, and descend at
an ano-Ie of 35°. At the bottom of some of the staircases the aqueduct
is deepened a little, so as to form a shallow pool."

As, therefore, work might have been begun at all these staircases at
once, the time spent in making the aqueduct need not have been much
longer tlian that required to make the tunnel between the two staircases
most distant one from the other. Still, however quickly executed, the
undertaking, by its very magnitude, witnesses to the extreme importance
attached to it.

Had it been primarily made as a means of egress from and ingress
to the city, the work would have been begun from the city so as to be
available for use, as far as it was finished. If such could have been its
object, then, as we find it, it would be nothing but a monument of
wasted industry and unreflecting folly.

It is clear, however, that it was intended for an aqueduct. In proof
of this we have " the little pools at the bottom of some of the staircases,"
and water in old time must obviously have flowed along it, as it is con-
nected both with a cistern holding water at the present day and also with
a passage stopped with a plug. Above all, its great size shows that it
was made to admit of a large volume of water flowing along it, and such
a flow actually takes place along it at the present day.

Its depth below the nearest surface, " 40 to 50 feet," shows that the
object was to conceal the waters from an enemy outside the city until
they could be conveyed to some point where he could not reach them,
probably where they would sink into the ground and so disappear.

We know from 2 Chron. xxxii, 3, that Hezekiah " took counsel to
stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city, and that
much people was gathered together, who stopped all the fountains and
the brook that overflowed through the midst of the land." Be it observed
that only Oj^'E brook, the brook, is here mentioned.

With the rock, near Joab's Well, once pierced either by nature or by
the shaft of the well, or by the rock-cut staircase north of it, the water
after heavy rains would inevitably issue forth in a great stream. As it
would have been folly in Hezekiah to stop a brook elsewhere and leave
this one still overflowing, and as he is only said to have stopped the brook
{i.e., one, not more), it is obvious that the brook that he stopped must
have been the one rising at or near Joab's Well.

That there used to be such an overflow of water hereabouts in Heze-
kiah's time is clear, because (1) En-rogel was already in existence, being
mentioned in the time of Joshua ; (2) It was not at Gihou; and because,
(3) as the boundary line from En-rogel went Wjo the valley of Hiunom
En-rogel was obviously towards the south-east of Jerusalem.

We have then the following interesting points established : —

50 EN-EOGEL, AND THE

1. The Ain (spring) in the word En-rogel proves tliat at or near this
spot there was a source and supply of living waters.

2. The living waters prove that the rock was (porous or) pierced Ly
nature or art, so that the waters could pass through.

3. The rock having been thus pierced proves that there would be an
overflowing brook at times then as now.

4. The great depth and size of the tunnel prove that it was intended
to hide and convey away from the enemy a large volume of water.

As Hezekiah is distinctly asserted to have stojjped "the overflo;winfr
brook," and no one else apparently had both tin- necessity and ability for
doing so, the conclusion is inevitable th-at Tlezekiah made the lang
aqueduct owing to the invasion of Sennache-rib, or, in other words, that
2 Chron. xxxii, 4, must refer to this aqueduct.

The tunnel is continued on the north side of the cistern or grotto on
about the .same level as it is on the south .side, and cuts into a passage
leading in one direction up to the surface, and in the opposite direction
back to the cistern, which (cistern) the passage named reaches at a level
nine feet higher than that of the aqueduct.

As this higher passage is now blocked up by a wall containing the ping,
which (plug) would be useless when the continuation of the aqueduct had
been made to cut into the upper passage (for then the water could flow
along the lower passage, and, as it were, take the plug in the rear), it is
evident that the wall was plugged : —

(1) Before " the connecting link," or lower passage, was made.

(2) Before the long aqueduct was made ; for then the waters could no
longer rise so high as the plug, as this is 12 or 13 feet above tHe bottom
of the outlet aqueduct.

Therefore the staircase (leading down to the plug) being the only outlet
to waters flowing along the plugged passage, was also made before the
long aqueduct.

But the putting in of the plug could only have been done to prevent
the water rising up the staircase. Therefore in the plug we have evidence
of an earlier attempt to stop the brook before ever the long aqueduct or
tunnel was made.

Tlie presence of a plug instead of a wall, perfectly solid throughout,
seems to me to show that the object was to keep the brook from over-
flowing, onhj for a time, as long as it might be desired, and not to compel
( if the levels required it) the waters when they overflowed, to do so
through the shaft in the roof of the grotto. If the toja of the shaft is
lower than the head of the staircase, of course the waters would issue
from the former naturally. Anyhow, it is clear the plug was not put in
for any object connected with the shaft.

As the staircase would practically be useless for getting water after
Joab's Well was made, I conclude that the staircase was made before the
well ; for Joab's Well once made, could never have been both stopped
and forgotten and its site lost before Sennacherib's inva-sion, and at that
time it has been shown that the staircase was alieadv in existence.

BROOK THAT OVEKFLOWBD. 51

As previous to Sennacherib's invasion there was apparently no object
in stopping the brook, it seems to me correct to attribute the device of
the plug, as well as the making of the tunnel, to Hezi-kiah.

It is, however, a long step back from Hezekiah to Joshua.

A place where waters naturally issued at times fifom the ground,
might justly be called a spring (am). Therefore the fact that in the time
of Joshua En-rogel is mentioned, does not, of necessity require us to
admit that the staircase had been made in his time.

The fact, however, that instead of a vertical well (the easiest and
surest way of reaching water in the valley) we find a staircase hewn out
ill such a manner that it might easily be covered up, and that one entrance
is made to serve for the branches north and south, seems to me to show
that the persons who constructed it contemplated the need of at times
concealing it. From the time of Joshua to that of Hezekiah there was
no call on the part of Israel to form such a contrivance, and after
Joshua 's invasion it was too late for the Jebusites to begin to make
the staircase. If, therefore, there was no reason whatever for making
such a peculiar staircase after Israel's mvasion, we must conclude it was
made before it, or in other words, it was the work of the Jebusites.

Nor need we think they were not equal to such a work. Centuries
before Jacob's deep vertical well had been made near Shechem, and rock-
hewn cisterns and tombs were common everywhere. The gutter, a still
more difficult undertaking, had been already executed in Joshua's time,
or soon after ; for its existence is really the only thing which can exivlain
the remarkable circumstance that Jebus alone, of the mountain strong-
holds, remained untaken till the time of David.

As it would be folly to cover up the staiicase and leave Gihon (Virgin's
Fount) flowing as usual, it follows either (a) that Schick's aqueduct {see
" Waters of Shiloah ") was made by the Jebusites, as a means of secreting
the waters ; or (6) that they inhabited Ophel west of Gihon, commanding
the latter and having access to it by means of " the gutter," with the
corollary that even from David's time Ophel was part of Jerusalem. As
(i) has been proved beyond fear of refutation (1888, 46), it is superfluous
to add 460 years more to the antiquity of the aqueduct by adopting (a).

Of two spots — one with nothing specially tomai-k it, and seldom, if ever,
overflowing with water — and the other a living spring v.'ith a staircase,
and periodically overflowing with water, there can hardly be any question,
but that the latter rather than the former would be chosen for a land-mark.
Unhesitatingly, then, I assign to the staircase the title of En-rogel.

Therefore I conclude : (1) That the staircase called En-rogel, leading
to the grotto, was made by the Jebusites at a date antecedent to Joshua's
invasion ; and (2) that Hezekiah, on Sennacherib's invasion, put in the
plug, and afterwards made the long aqueduct, thus stopping the brook
that overflowed.

What changes take place ! Once the ancient Jebusite, as an Oriental
would, used to enjoy himself at Gihon,

52 EN-ROGEL, AND THE BROOK THAT OVERFLOWED.

" nunc viridi membra sub arbuto
Stratus, nunc ad aquae lene caput sacrse."

Now-a-days, lower down, Thomson (" Land and Book "), says : "I have
seen the water gushing out like a mill-stream, some 15 rods south of the
well ; and then the whole valley was alive with people bathing (? wading)
in it, and indulging in every species of hilarity."

In the future, when the Jews with their money return to the Holy
Land, they may spend some of it in " imjaroving " Jerusalem, by making
in the Kidron an artificial lake, to fish and boat upon, and illuminated in
the evening with the electric light. All that is required is a great dam
across the ravine close to " the spring of the fig " (near the end of the
aqueduct). An average annual rainfall of 22 inches will do the rest.

In refereuce to Hezekiah, I have mentioned only Sennacherib and not
Sargon, although Professor Sayce, in " Fresh Light from the Ancient
Monuments," credits the latter with a capture of Jerusalem, and connects
Is. X, 24-32 ; and xxii with it. But as (1) Sargon does not claim the
capture on the monuments ; (2) as Sennacherib does not boast of it in
2 Kings xviii, xix ; (3) as the Bible says nothing about it ; but rather
(4) says (Is. x, 24), " Be not afraid of the Assyinan," and promises
(xxxviii, 6), " I will deliver thee and this city ovit of the hand of the
King of Assyria ; and I will defend this city ; " it seems to me that one
has no excuse for handing over Jerusalem to the tender mercies of Sargon.

W. F. Birch.

Quarterly Statement, April, 1889.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

NOTES AND NEWS.

The death of the Eev. J. Leslie Porter, D.D., President of Queen's College,
Belfast, removes anotlier of the earliest supporters of this Society, and one of
the most distinguished names in Palestine travel. He was born in If^BS, a:id
educated at the University of Glasgow first and that of Edinburgh next. In
1849 he went on a mission to Syria, where he remained for five years, taking every
opportunity that offered of travelling in the country. On returning to Ireland
he was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism in the Assembly and College,
Belfast. He has been since 1879 President of Queen's College, Belfast.
Among his works are "Five Years in Damascus," 1855; "A Handbook for
Syria," 1858 ; " The Giant Cities of Bashan," 1865 ; and many articles in
Smith's " Bible Dictionary " and the " Journal of Sacred Literature."

Herr Schick reports some additional discoveries brought to light during the
reconstruction of the carriage road north of the city wall, viz., traces of an
ancient wall and towers outside and along the present wall {see p. 63).

He also describes an important discovery of the foundation of a portion of
the ancient city wall, the stones having the Jewish draft and similar to tliose in
the Haram wall, whilst the workmen were clearing the groixnd in the Latin
Patriarch's garden near the north-east corner of the city {see plan and sections,
p. 65).

Herr Schick continues his report of the cave found last, year in the Russian
property east of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the excavations have been
stopped for the time, but will be resumed after Easter (see p. 67).

NOTES AND NEWS.

In the present number of the Quarterly Statement will also be found an
account, with jjlans and sections, by Herr Schumacher, of the large cave with
cliambers, cisterns, and Lombs, &c., recently discovered under the convent yard
of the Sisters of St. Josejih at Nazareth.

Herr Schumacher also describes, with illustrations, some curious remains
aiid antiques that were found at " J'aiini " (near Safed) and at esh-Shejai-a (on
the road between Kefr Kenna and Tiberias).

The Committee have decided to place all their books in the hands of Mr.
A. P. Watt, who has been for some years their agent in the " Survey of Western
Palestine " and the " Survey of Eastern Palestine." This change, it must be
explained, is made solely with a view to the convenience of having everything
in the same hands. Subscribers can continue, as heretofore, to take the books
from the ofEce. Mr. Watt's address is 2, Paternoster Square.

BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDINQ
31sT DECEMBER, 18S8.

Receipts.

Expenditure

Jauviary 1, 1888—

■1.

To Balance

. 215

By Printers and Binders

1,057

December 31, 1888— _

Maps, Illustrations,

Donations, Subscriptions,

and Photographs. .

408

and Lectures

. 2,079

Exploration. .

283

Maps and Memoirs . .

380

Stationery, A dvertis-

Publications . .

. 289

ing, and Sundries

Photographs . .

Postage, Parcels, the
Qi(arterli/ State-

tiient, &c. . .

172

Salaries and Wages

260

Rent..

121

Paid off Liabilities..

211

Balance in Bank, 31st

December, 1888 . .
i

W. More

402

£2,986

22,986

[SON,

Treasure

•.

TREASURER'S STATEMENT.

The year, though by no means barren of discoveries, has been, from the
financ.al point of view, one of printing and publishing results. Our expenditure

NOTES AND NEWS. 55

shews a total of £452 on Management, £283 on Exploration, £172 on postage ;
this very heavy item is due to the sending out of publications, &c., from the office ;
also the postage of the Qiiarterly Statement, which, last year, was included in the
printers' account, is this year taken sepai'ately : £211 in payment of Liabilities ;
£1,465 in printing, illustrating, maps, and binding. Reference to the other
side of the Balance Sheet will show, however, tl\at half the expenditure in
printing and publishing was recovered by the sale of publications. In other
words, out of a total expenditui'e of £2,584 the proportion is as follows: —

Publishing "409

Management
Postage . .
Exploration
Liabilities

•239
■092
■149
■111

As regards liabilities, these consist chiefly of printers' bills which vary
from £400 to £600, and are constantly paid off and as constantly beginning
again.

There is also a debt of £450 which we hope to discharge before the next
balance sheet is issued.

W. Morrison,

Treasurer.

For the convenience of subscribers in following out the position of recent
discoveries in Jerusalem, a plan of the city, reduced from the Ordnance Survey
Plan of Jerusalem by permission, is published with this Quarterly Statement.

This plan gives, marked in red, the discoveries made durina: the last few
years. The same plan will be issued in October or January with all modern
discoveries marked upon it.

On 26th February, Major Conder read a paper (the same previously read
before the Anthropological Section of the British Association at Bath last
autumn), on the "Early Races of Western Asia" at the Anthropological Insti-
tute of Great Britain and Ireland. The President, Dr. J. Beddoe, F.R.S..
occupied the Chair, and in discussion expressed his assent to Major Conder's
view as to the Turanian origin of the Hittites. Mr. C. Bertin was jJresent and
also gave his assent to the view that the language of the " Hittite " monuments
was best studied by comparison with Akkadian. The paper, with illustrations,
will appear in the Journal of the Institute.

The First Yolume of the Survey of Eastern Palestine, now in the press under
Major Conder's editorship, is expected to be ready by the end of Ajiril or a little
later. The volume will consist of more than 800 pages, quarto, with some 300
illustrations, including 150 drawings of the rudestone monuments.

E 2

56 NOTES AND NEWS.

Tlie edition is limited to 500. The first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas
for the three volumes, with an index ; subscribers to the " Survey of Western
Palestine " are privileged to have the volumes for this sum. The price will be
raised, after 250 names are received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are
pledged never to let any copies he suhscrihed under the sum of seven guineas.
Mr. A. P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square, is the Sole Agent.

The Committee announce that they have added to their list of ]3ubli-
cations the new edition of the " Hititory of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant
and EH. Palmer. It can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for 5*. 6d.,
by application to the Head Office only. The whole set {see below) of the
Society's works, including this book, can be obtained by application to Mr. George
Aj mstrong, for 37«. Qd., carriage paid. The " History of Jerusalem," which was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
n period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later works on the same svibject.
It begins with the siege by Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing tl;e Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-known
episodes in the history of the city and the country.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country,
which can be found in no other publications. It must never be forgotten tliat
no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all the instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following : —

By Major Conder, R.E.—

(1) " Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the survey of Western

Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sejndchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. Mo other modern
traveller has enjoyed the same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Heth and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Eastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit

NOTES AND NEWS. 57

to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City— Kadosh— of the
children of Heth ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Conder's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — Tliis is a popular account of the Geolo-

gical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fimd. The part which deals with the Valley of Arabah
will be foimd entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

tion of Major Conder's works issued as instalments of the unpublished
" Survey of Eastern Palestine." They are full of drawings, sketches, and
plans, and contain many valuable remarks upon manners and customs.

(8) The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work.— A copy of this book is presented

to every subscriber to the Fund who applies for it. The work is a
popular accoimt of the researches conducted by the Society dui-ing the
past twenty-one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by this Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's Kh. Fahil. The ancient Pella, the iirst retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
Quarterly Statements.

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.

The publications for the year 1S89, besides those already mentioned, include
Schumacher's "Abila" and his "Southern Ajlun." The former will be ready
about the end of April.

Mr. Guy le Strange's work on Palestine according to the Arabic Geo-
graphers is completed in manuscript, and will be published in the autumn.
Particulars as to contents, price, &c., will appear in the next number.

58 NOTES AND NEWS.

Mr. Harper's important work on the Illustrations of the Bible obtained from
niodtrii researches and observation, is also in the printer's hands, and will be
out in the autumn. Its contents, &c., will be duly announced.

Work at Jerusalem and elsewhere will be continued as opportunity may
ofPer. Should the long-hoped for Firman be granted, the survey of Eastern
Palestine will be renewed.

Branch Associations of the Bible Society, all Sunday Schools in union with
the Sunday School Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan
Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Resolution of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
purchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
price.

The friends of the Society are earnestly requested to use the " Memoirs
of Twenty-one Years' Work " as a means of showing what the work has been,
and what remains to be done.

The income of the Society, from December 21st to March 20t-h, inclusive,
;;(ras — from subscriptions and donations, £550 1*. lOd. ; from all sources,
£881 12.?. 9d. The expenditure during the same period was £1,078 9s. lOf^.
This amount includes £400 liabilities paid olf. On March 23rd, the balance in
the Bank was £267 0*. 6d.

It does not seem generally known that cases for binding the Quarterly
Statement can be had by subscribers, on application to the ofBc-e.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following :—

1. Index to the Quarterli/ Statement, 1869-1880;

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan; "

3. Cases for the Quarterty Statement, in green or chocolate —

Can be had by application to the office at 1.9. each.

Early nvimbers of the Quarterly Statement are very rare. In order to make
up complete sets the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

No. II, 1869; No, VII, 1870; No. Ill (July) 1871; January and
April, 1872 ; January, 1883, and January, 1886.

NOTES AND NEWS. 59

It has come to the knowledge of the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of tlie Society. Tlie Committee have to
caution subscribers that they have no book hawkers in their employ, and that
none of their works are sold by any itinerant agents.

While desiring to give every publicity to pi-oposed identifications and other
theories advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of tlie
Quarterlti Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanction nor adopt
them.

As many inquiries have been made about transparent slides, a selection will
be made from the photographs of the Society for this purpose. Subscribers
wishing to have any are requested to communicate with the Assistant Secretary.

Subscribers who do not receive the Quarterly Statement regularly are asked
to send a note to the Secretary. Great care is taken to forward eacii number
to all who are entitled to receive it, but changes of address and other causes
give rise occasionally to omissions.

The only authorised lecturers for the Society are —

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, F.G.S., Member of the Anthropological Institute
and of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

His subjects are : —

(1) The General Exploration of Falestine.

(2) Jerusalem Buried and Recovered.

(3) Buried Cities, Egypt and Palestine.

(4) Buried Cities of Mesopotatnia, with some account of the

Hittites.

(5) The Moabite Stone and the Pedic/ree of the English Alphabet.

Address : Geo. St. Clair, Bristol Eoad, Birmingham, or at the Office of
the Fund.

(2) The Kev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His
lectures are on the f'oUowing subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving views :" —

60 NOTES AND NEWS.

The Surmy of TFestern Palestine, as illustrating Bible Histort/.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(;5) The Rev. James King, Vicar of St. Mary's, Berwick. His subjects are
as follows : —

The Survey of Western Palestine.

Jernsalem.

The mttites.

The Moabite Stone and other monuments.

(4) The Rev. Thomas Harrison, F.R.G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects are as follows : —

(1) Pesearch and Discovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Track of the Israelites from Eyypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

"THE HOLY PLACES OF JERUSALEM."

Professor Hayter Lewis has lately published a book, entitled the
" Holy Places of Jerusalem,"' which may be looked upon as a very distinct
evidence of the value of the labours of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Twenty years ago such a work could not have been produced. It has
taken many years of exploration to accumulate the data on which
this book is based. When the Palestine Exploration Fund began its
operations there was great uncertainty about the topography of the Holy
City. The writers on the subject before that time had propounded
theories, and as these theories were opposed in many cases to each other,
it took time to find out which were reliable, and which were not. Pro-
gress was made slowly, bit by bit points liave been cleared up, and
although much yet remains to be done, some of the principal questions
have been cleared up, and have ceased to be subjects of controversy. The
very names of buildings and places were found to be wrong — such as the
" Mosque of Omar," which we now know was built by Abd-el-Malik. To
this another example may be added, which has only lately been cleared
up. The large hollow at the north end of the Haram has long passed for
the " Pool of Bethesda," — it is so named even in the Ordnance Survey
Map. The real Pool of Bethesda has at last been discovered, and a gain
to our knowledge has been made. One merit of the book just produced
is, that the author has had reliable material to work with. He has also
visited Jerusalem more than once to see with his own eyes the places that
had been discovered. Add to all this that he has been able to devote
ma)iy years to the study of the questions connected with the archteology
and architecture of the locality, and being both an architect as well as an
archaeologist, the result is a volume which has many merits, and it will
be read with the greatest interest by all, and more particularly by those
who have devoted study to the subject.

The largest portion of the work is devoted to the Dome of the Eock,
and the other buildings of the Haram area. In this the author gives the
latest historical material which has been derived from the publication of
the Palestine Pilgrims Texts, such as Mukaddasi, who belonged to an
architectural family, this connection giving his details about the structures
of Jerusalem a peculiar value ; he wrote about the year 985 a.d. This
author mentions tlie existence at that date of both the Dome of the Rock
and the Holy Sepulchre — this conjunction being one of the facts which
has gone far to disprove Mr. Fergusson's theory. As that theory is now
untenable, it may be well to quote the final conclusion that Professor
Hayter Lewis has arrived at. He says : " I am satisfied, after the most
careful study which, as an architect, I have been able to give to the
subject — First, that the Dome of the Rock was not built by Constantine,
nor for several centuries after him, inasmuch as it is built up of frag-
ments of too debased a character to have been used in buildings erected

^ " The Holy Places of Jerusalem." By T. Hayter Lewis, F.S. A., Emeritus
Professor of ArcliitectTire, University College. John Murray, October, 1888.

62 NOTES ON THE PLAN OF JERUSALEM.

and destroyed before his time. Secondly, tliat there is nothing to show
definitely, in plan, construction, or details, that it is Byzantine, and that
there is no reason to suppose that any such building would have been
erected on a site which was considered by the Christians to be accursed,
or which, if erected before the time of Chosroes, would have survived
the destruction wrought by the Jews. As regards the suggestion that it
was erected by Eudosia (c. 460), the above observations will apply equally
well, except that vSir C. Wilson considers that it does not occupy the site
of the Jewish Temple.' Thirdly, that there is nothing, either in plan,
details, or construction, to disprove the distinct statement made in the
famous Cufic inscription, that the Dome of the Eock was built by Abd-
el-Melik in 691 a.d. Finally, I must express my full belief that the
Dome of the Eock was the work of Arabs, designed for them by a Byzan-
tine or Persian architect, and with Persian or Byzantine workmen, before
the Arabs had developed any definite style of their own, and that it was
built with the capitals, bases, and columns ready to hand, being derived
from the reruains of churches and other buildings desti'oyed by Chosroes
and other invaders," pp. 71, 72.

The suggestion that the capitals and other fragments which had been
utilized by the builders of the Dome of the Rock are too debased to have
been produced before the time of Constantine, is, if I mistake not, a
new one, and it is, at the same time, of great force.

Professor Hayter Lewis also deals with the Holy Sepulchre ;
Jeremiah's Grotto, and the late speculations regarding it as the Site of
Calvary ; and also with Siloam, and the tunnel which brings water to the
Pool from the Umm ed Deraj, or Fountain of the Virgin. The book is
very full of beautiful plates, maps, and plans, making every point treated
upon clear and distinct.

William Simpson.

NOTES ON THE PLAN OF JERUSALEM.
The parts shown in red are the more important of the recent discove-
ries, the descriptions of which will be found in the Quarterly Statement as
noted below.

A. Scarped rock, &c., showing line of ancient wall to the south of the
city. Quarterly Statement, 1875, pp. 7, 34, 81, 86.

B. Portion of the (supposed) second wall. Quarterly Statement, 1886,
p. 21 ; 1887, pp. 23, 218.

C. Ancient wall near house of Latin Patriarch. Quarterly Statement,
1889, p. 65.

D D. Old remains outside the north wall of the city. Quarterly
Statement, 1889, p. 63,

• Sir Charles Wilson suggests that possibly the Dome of the Eock was
originally the church of St. Sophia, which was erected by Eudosia in the fifth
century. Three documents in the sixth century mention this church, and no
document before, or after, alludes to it. Sir Charles thinks that Abd-el-Melik
either rebuilt this church or repaired it, making additions at the same time.

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM, 63

E. Ancient paved court near the Clmrch of the Holy Sepulchre.
Quarterly Statement, 1888, pp. 19, 60.

F. Cave to the east of Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Qiharterly
Statement, 1889, p. G7.

G. Rock-cut tonib north of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Quarterly Statement, 1887, p. 154.

H. Pool of Bethesda. Quarterly Statement, 1888, p. 115, and ruins of

a church.

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM.

Remains or Old Wall outside the present Northern Wall

OF THE City.

{The Nos. indicate the parts from west to east.)

In the work of i-econstructing the carriage road along the outside of the
northern wall of the City, as I reported in my last, some earth near the
wall was removed fur filling up the road in some places, bringing to light
some old remains hitherto unknown {see plan of Jerusalem).

D 1. Is an old corner of comparatively large hewn stones ; on the
earth being removed from it, the corner of another wall more ancient is
seen behind it.

2. Is a rock-scarp with a rough face of about 8 feet deep, but as the
top of it is still covered up with earth the exact height could not be
ascertained; between this scarp and the iirst mentioned corner there is an
edge indicating the continuation of the scarp.

3. South of the last is a large stone, originally forming the angle of
the scarp or wall.

4. Is a similar rough-faced scarp partly topped with masonry, its
depth is unknown, but it appeared to be higher than 2.

5. Is a large hewn stone in situ, in the same line as 3 and 4, and
13 feet from the face of the present wall.

6. The ruins of a tower.

D 7. The ruins of a chamber measuring, inside, 40 feet long by 19 feet
wide, with walls of small masonry 3 feet thick. The eastern wall is partially
destroyed ; the northern has an opening in the middle 3 feet wide,
originally a window (?), as the door would probably be in the east wall,
as I suggest from the fact that opposite, in the western wall, there is a
recess forming a bench or seat 10 feet long. The walls are only to be
seen from the top. To decide the position of the door and what the
chamber has been, the earth would liave to be cleared out of the ruin.

8. Are some remains in line with the corner of the present wall, and
looks much older.

9. Is certainly more ancient than 10.

11. The stones in this corner are not jointed.

64- RECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM.

Looking at these remains on the plan, it is quite evident the wall
anterior to the present one lay further out.

Medjer ed Din (129) speaks of the "Bab el-Amud," or Damascus
Gate, as the second gate in this northern wall from west to east, hence a
door existed between the Damascus Gate and the north-western corner of
the city. And Gumpersberg (444) speaks of a block stone situated in
this gate (the Lazarus or Lepers' Gate) so highly polished "that when
anyone looks to it, another one standing behind him at some distance,
sees him as he would be to the side before him ;" through this srate the
])ilgrims entered. In the time of the Christian kingdom, 1099-1187,
there existed, on the north wall west of the Damascus Gate, the gate of
Lazarus, also sometimes called Lepers' Gate, for outside of it there was
a home for le]3ers {see Tobler I, p. 172).

Subsequently, when the Moslems had conquered the city, they forbade
the pilgrims to go in by the regular northern gate (Bab el-AmAd), in order
that they should not see the fortifications, but were allowed to enter by the
Lazarus Gate, a more shut up way and tln-ough the buildings of the
Patriarchs, in order that they should see nothing of the city ; and thence
to the Church of the Sepulchre by a private gate, not through the regular
entry in that holy building. It seems that this Lepers' or Lazarus Gate
was of an inferior kind, and no traces of it in the wall are now to be
seen ; at a later restoration of the wall it was either walled up, or is
under the surface of the ground.

According to Tobler Deutsblatter, j?. 414, the Empress Eudoxia built,
in the fifth century, a house in which 400 lepers were lodged, and when
the Crusaders got possession of Jerusalem (about 1100) they arranged also
a hospital for the lepei^s, which lay outside the town at the Lazarus Gate,
between the Damascus and the Jafl'a Gate. The house was called the
" Maladrerie," in which these poor sick, full of pain and misery, were kept
as in a prison, and from everywhere came such poor jjeople to this
house. We see from all this that there was once a gate between the
Jaffa and Damascus Gate, and one would think that it was somewhere in
the neicrhbourhood of the north-western corner of the town. But

according to Medjer ed Din, more likely between that and the Damascus
Gate. I fancy that it is very likely to be found at 6, there having been
a projecting tower, and in it a gate, forming an angle like all the
other city gates of Jerusalem, and connected with a street leading direct
to the convents (now in Latin and Greek possession) of the Christians,
and so on to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

It is probable that this Lepers' Gate was situated even more east,
and that the ruins of a former building (No. 7) formed its wash-house, or
some building of that kind, and from here pilgrims could have gone on
to the church in a neai'ly straight way, and the same distance.

In order to settle these questions, it wants digging close to the wall
down unto the rock, at the said points. When looking at the Ordnance
Survey Map, g-^oo scale, one sees there (at 7) a mound of earth which
is now removed, exposing the ruins of a former building.

3 3 3 3 3 3^

tCCfCC « -ff

C C CC '

tec c c

t c c c f ^ c

I c
c e

PLAN OF OLD WALL.

, ( , < c c t- ,<..., < c c ^c o o Recently discovered

' ' ' f ,</',,, ; ■,' ,' J , '1. '.' 1 '1 Garden

wiwimw^M/Riiimiiimi/iim/mimw

, ^. , r I f c . ' - ■ ■.. r ■11 of the School freres

« <i f 'I

Cirden of Labn fiatiiarck W

Garden of Latjn Palnarch

SECTION A.B

" A*.

.1 ■ ■

Earth.

a Concrete of a former Surface of the Cround^ - ' ' __:____ ' '

ntm level or Surhce or bottom of ., .. ., - ■^.^•-/^"^'J^Vi ZSCl ftefc A-l ,' < X ' v' . W' ' I • I ' ' ■
Suggested New Build.ng .,^- . " ^Jy^^^ \^V '«Ocfe " ' ^ • '^ ^ "^ "^ > w \

/vr '

Roch?

2550 feet aiok'ej'ea

Vincent BrooUs Day 8> Son iiUi.

C Sehi^-

SCALE.

so Feet

■RECENT DISCOVEKIES IN JERUSALEM. 65

II.

Rkmains of Old Wall near the North-east Corner of

THE City.

In removing- the earth off a space of ground 100 feet long by 100 feet
wide and 16 feet deep, in the garden of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem,
preparatory to enlarging the palace and making other improvements, the
workmen found a portion of an old wall {see plan of Jerusalem, C), very
probably a remnant of the ancient city wall. I had full liberty to
examine and measure everything minutely {see jjlan of old wall and
section).

The remains are of a wall, on an average 14 feet thick, of large
Jewish stones, and laid bare for a length of 26 feet. The stones are, on
an average, 4 feet high, like those at the "Haram" wall, and have also
the same draft. The stones on both sides of the wall are drafted. On
the western — once the outer face — I counted (besides those which are
at both ends, and of which I could not take their measurements)
four stones, one 4 feet long, the next 11 feet, and the two others
3 feet 9 inches and 3 feet 8 inches, and above 4 feet wide, and iiearly the
same height. On the east side I counted five stones of the sarae descrip-
tion, one 5 feet 6 inches, the next 4 feet 10 inches, then two nearly equal,
3 feet 2 inches and 3 feet 3 inches, and the next 5 feet, also nearly 4 feet
broad and high.

Between these two rows of stones there are four larger filling stones
not properly cut, simply dressed roughly to a square form, of the same
height as the others ; they are, on an average, nearly 5 feet broad and
5 feet 6 inches long. Over this layer was a second one, but not so
complete ; on the western side of the wall several stones were missino',
but their size could still be ascertained. They were higher than the first,
viz., 4 feet 6 inches — in breadth and more, but the tilling stones narrower
{see section) towards the northern end ; a small pool or cistern had been
made by widening the joints (which were comparatively wide in the
middle of the wall and without any mox'tar), as shown in the drawings.

On the top of the two courses at the northern end is a very smooth
stone of the Byzantine period, measuring 2 feet 1 inch in height, over
this is placed a drafted stone both off which pieces were broken to form
the cistern or tank.

The overseer of the work told me that they found a similar stone,
near to the last -mentioned one, but lying on the earth.

The faces of these large stones are not smooth hewn, but in some
degree rough. The bearing of this old wall is 41° N.W. It is curious
that the thickness is not all alike — in north something narrower than in
south. But what is more curious is an attached wall of quite a different
kind, of very smooth hewn stone, on an average of about 2 feet hio-h
and a little more long. I counted five layers ; between these and the
old large stones is a filling with rubble and black mortar. But the top
stone has a slanting bevel towards the old wall {see section). There is

(36 * KECENT DISCOVEKIES IN JERUkSALEM.

even more differeuce in the thickness of this wall than in the old one — at
the north end it is 3 feet thick ; at the south end, 4 feet 5 inches. The
reason of this cannot yet be explained or understood. It looks exceedingly
strange that to a wall of very large stones and 14 feet thick, another wall
of smaller stones was put alongside of it, and leaving thus, as the slanting
bevel proves, the old wall without. How far northwards this old wall
extends I cannot tell, nor is there any hope of tindiug out now, as
the excavations will not be carried on northwards, but probably south-
wards. Whatever will be found there I will report upon in due time.
They think a corner of the old wall will be found. These old remains
are certainly in connection with those Dr. Kobinson first reported upon
(and s]3oken of in Sir C. Wilson's Notes, page 73), which were broken in
pieces, and removed when the school brethren erected their large building
— those running exactly due north, and, as it was found out afterwards,
forming a right angle. The distance between the two is about 65 feet
only. For the situation of the newly discovered wall, see plan of Jeru-
salem (C).

These old remains have been removed, andthe large blocks broken up

for building stones.

It is remarkable that west of these old remains, for a distance of
64 feet, no old masonry was found, simply earth, and into it built
comparatively modern tanks, &c. East of it and everywhere are hewn
stones or walls of former buildings, and it would seem that the rock was
then partly removed, as on the west side the I'ock is in its old condition,
and following down in a decline 1'2 or 13 feet in 100 {see section).

West of the old wall, 6 feet 8 inches distant, a water conduit was
found, the continuation of which was also found by the school brethren
west of their new building inside the city, near the northern present town
wall, and was also found at several places outside ; most probably it once
brought the water from the north-western high ridge into the town and
into the pool formed, when the Latin Patriarch built his palace about
twenty-five years ago, which was about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide,
and about 20 deep. Close to it is another one, but of smaller dimensions,
as I am told, for I have not seen it. This conduit is well built
—measuring on the bottom 1 foot 2 inches wide, on the top 1 foot 5
inches, and 2 feet high, and covered with flagging stones. Six feet distant
from it westwards another one was found, but of lesser importance and
inferior work, situated a few feet higher. Its bottom is 11 feet under the
surface of the garden, whereas the former is 14 feet. It is recognisable
by a hard concrete, lying horizontal over the whole place, as far as it is
excavated, towards the west and south. This concrete stops at the old
wall on the rock {see section), 2,561 feet above the sea.

There were also found two cisterns, one 9 feet long by 1h wide,
and without a roof, the other larger, 9 feet wide by 13 feet long, still in
o-ood preservation but full of earth, into which the conduit h brought
the water. Both cisterns are of no interest, were built simply in the
debris, and will now be destroyed.

KECENT DISCOVEEIES IN JERUSALEM. 67

III.

Notes on the Plaxs and the Cave East of the Church of
The Holt Sepulchre.

I reported previously that I wished some excavations should be made on
the B.ussian property, east of the Church of the Holy Sepulcln-e (see
plan of Jerusalem) ; this was not done at the time, when the work of
the " Cisterns," a new building, was going on. However, in the beginning
of May (1888), there came an order from St. Petersburg to the leaders of
this work, that they should make the excavations where I desired. So I
pointed out three places desirable where they should excavate. The first
was to make a shaft at " B " (see plan), and dig down till they found the
rock, which was done ; but as I left Jerusalem on the last of May, for a
journey to Europe, I gave fall instructions to one of my men to always
note everji^hing that was found, and take all necessary measurements. A
few days after I had left they struck the rock, a piece of which was
broken off to show it to me. It proved to be the usual Jerusalem
"Meleki" rock. The shaft went down through earth and debris, and
near the rock a sediment of fine earth was fouud. The rock was found to
be 47 feet 6 inches below the surface of the present street, or at a height
of 2,.326 feet above the sea. My orders were : that when the rock was
found, the shaft should be filled up to about the half height, and then
strike a gallery eastward. They did so, but 6 feet higher than the
middle, and a little below the rock appearing there ; the rock is a ledge
of about 4 feet thick {see Nos. 12 and 11). Under it there was a wall
9 feet 10 inches thick, which they had to break through ; it consisted of
rough boulders, large and small, without any proper facing, and without
a solid foundation, resting simply on debris, the piece of wall above the
rock had hewn stones, and on the west side of the shaft at B B there
were five nicely dressed stones, but only six layers resting on debris.

1 told the overseers of the Russians, and the architect, that when
they went eastward they would find some "cavity," which they did, but
full of earth ; however, they cleared a gallery for 12 feet eastward, having
the rock as a roofing, slanting downwards towards the east, exactly as the
roofing in the Cotton Grotto east of the Damascus Gate, opposite Jere-
miah's Grotto. For about 12 feet further east, an iron rod could be put
between the rock roofing and the earth ; fearing that going on further
with the work would involve too much expense, they left the clearings,
and so the work stands. So I thought it best to report on it now.
As the rock is known on four places (see the drawings), and everything
looks like the large cave or Cotton Grotto already mentioned, one comes
to the conclusion that this was also a large cave. In the street above,
the rock is very near the surface, in some parts cropping out. I have
shown in dotted lines the supposed extent of the cave towards the east.
There may be, possibly, a door or outlet in its eastern end. Sufficient
excavation has not been made to indicate the size of the cave, but it
appears to extend more in the north and south than in the east and west.

68 RECENT DISCOVEEIES IN GALILEE.

I su,f?gested another point (K) for digging a shaft to find out the edge of
the rock, and how far the cave extended in that direction.

The third point for excavation woidd be at C C in No. 11, and find
out the continuation of the blocked-up conduit Cx, in No. 11 and No. 12,
wliich I suppose is hewn through the rock. In No. 12 section I have
shown in dotted lines what I presume to be the form of the cave in the
eastern and western parts. When excavations are resumed at points K
and C, &c., I will continue this report.'

CoNEAD Schick.

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

Nazareth. — Discovery of Large Cave. — At Nazareth, very few ancient
remains are found, excepting the " sanctuaries " shown in the convents
and in the vicinity of Nazareth, the explorer has few other proofs but
those guided by faith and tradition, which are not always reliable ; it is,
therefore, welcomed if a discovery as the following is made.

In the convent yard of the "Sceurs de S. Joseph," at Nazareth, a
cistern was to be dug, and in the course of the work an ancient cave was
discovered, choked up with rubbish and mud which had to be removed at
great expense, until the character of the subterranean room was seen.
Signs of a well, the dampness of the interior, and the soft humid rocks,
from which, even in summer, water was dropping, seemed to suggest
the vicinity of a spring, which, according to local tradition, once
flowed on the north of the " beidar" or threshing-floor of the city, which
lies a couple of hundred yards south of the convent and the cave
mentioned, and is said to have been in connection with \iin Miriam,
the spring on the north of the city which supplies Nazareth with
drinking watei". The discovery of a fresh spring would be a matter of
great imjaortance at Nazareth, as it suffers from the want of water very
much during the two hot months of summer. I was, therefore, asked by
some priests and the abbess of the convent to examine the interior of the
cave, and find out whether any spring was probable or not. I found the
mud and rubbish only partly removed, while signs of large rooms adjoining
were visible, and consequently recommended the continuation of the
excavations. This advice was followed, and in October last I again
examined the place, planned the caves, and now give the following
account of it (see plan and sections) : —

From the paved convent yard we step down the new-masoned stairs
into the actual staircase, the floor of which we reach at a depth of about
20 feet below the surface. The staircase is vaulted, measuring 11 feet
each side. The cross vault is carefully built with large soft limestones

^ When the cave has been thoroughly explored the plans and sections m ill
be published, at present they are in an incomplete state.

Cister
G

IlECENT DISCO VEKIES IN GALILEE. GO

(Xdri), and well pi'eaerved ; the top of the vault shows conical fittings ;

Cross I I Vault

Fig. 1.

the joints are wide, and although once filled with mortar, are now open ;
at the side of the last six steps is a masoned pit (O plan) about 2 feet
G inches wide, leading from the surface through the vault ; at the end
of the stairs near the floor a circular trough is placed on a bench of
the bare rock, into which a small aqueduct {see jDlati and section) is
led. Thus arrived on the floor we find that the room described is cut out
of a soft white limestone rock, which was masoned on every side except
the northern, near Cistern D. We step further through a sort of door,
the upper part of which, 4 feet 9 inches wide, is cut out of the rock in a
round shape, and two steps down arrive at the main room of the subter-
ranean cave, the floor of which is about 30 feet below the surface. This
room is rectangular, from 10 to 13 feet high, hewn out of the same soft
rock, and is diviiled into three parts by terraces, the southern of which
lies lowest, and the northern highest ; in the northern (cistern C of plan)
we find on the western wall four rock-cut troughs, at a height of 3 feet
5 inches above the floor, the largest and deepest of which is 4 feet 4 inches
long, 1 foot 8 inches wide, and 1 foot deep, or little more, all connected
by small channels, to lead the water from the upper small one down to
the lowest, the bottom of each being lower than its upper neighbour ;
their width, 1 foot 8 inches, is the same. I consider these to be either
water-troughs or mangers, as they are similar to those so frequently found
in the Hauran subterranean stables and rooms ; Mdme. the Abbess
believes they were troughs used by the ancient Jews for " purifications."
Just above them (O plan and section) is a round mouth, 3 feet in diameter,
used to draw water from the cistern, the upper part of which, while running
through rubbish and earth for 9 feet 6 inches height, is masoned up with
hewn stones, while the lower part through rock and clay is bare ; arriving
at a dejjth of 19 feet, this pit opens in the form of a funnel to a cistern
(C, section L M) irregular in shape ; the floor of cistern C is 15 feet 1 inch
long, and 11 feet 7 inches wide ; from here we go down one step, about
a foot high, to the central part, which in its eastern wall shows tlie
first three stones of an arch of an original width of 15 feet, and in the
opposite western rock wall one stone (I of map) belonging to the same
arch probably ; in the floor of this apartment we see three connected
rock-cut basins, the principal one of which is a little over 6 feet 3 inches

70 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

long, and 1 foot 11 inches wide, and about 2 feet deep. I hold that these
basins, in tlie way they are placed and c(ninected {see plan), are deposit
beds (i.e., for beds into which the mud deposits settle, as often seen in this
country, but the opinion that they were graves could hardly be admitted.
These basins are connected with the southern part above mentioned, into
which the stairs lead from the exterior. In this room, also, which is
separated from the central one by a terrace 9 inches high, we find near
the southern wall on the floor two sepai'ate basins, the largest of which
is 4 feet 5 inches long, 2 feet wide and deep : the fact that they also lie,
as the above in the lowest part of the floor, and that they are connected
with an unopened apartment (cistern (?) H of plan) convinces me that
they were also deposit beds of the cisterns. The walls of these cisterns
or rooms described are bare, but there are signs of an original plastering
in diffarent parts, and among the rubbish and mud drawn to daylight,
))iles of a good thick mortar-cover are found, as well as pottery ware ;
(inly the western wall of this southern apartment shows a piece of
masoned wall built on the soft clay rock {see section LM of plan), evidently
a partition wall with three rectangular niches, and a fourth opening which
is connected with an adjoining room to the west. This masonry must be
of the same period as the vault described ; the stones are also Ndri, large
and not very carefully worked and fitted. Below this wall is an opening,
a door cut through the soft rock, through which we enter by a narrow
passage into a room of irregular shape, with a basin or deposit bed in the
centre, above which a mouth (0 of plan) opens towards the surface.
This mouth, as well as the walls of the room, were built up by the convent
while excavating, the rock then being in a dangerous, crumbling condition.
We return a few steps back through tlie narrow passage, then turn left
hand and crawl through a low door into a low room of irregular shape,
which contains the most important x-emains of this cave, namely, two
tombs, or Kokim, of nearly same size. The bearing of these Kokim is
54° N.W. ; the southern one is on one side 6 feet 3 inches long, 2 feet 1 inch
wide, and 2 feet 8 inches high {see section AB on plan), the other, merely
separated by a rock partition wall, may have had the same length, but is
now only 4 feet 7 inches long on one side, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet 6^ inclies
high ; both have rounded ceilings, and are rock-hewn, the rock here being
more compact. I consider these tombs, to which a stone door of Ndri was
found lying near, of common form, 3 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 5 inches
wide, and 7 inches thick, to be the few original remains of this cave ;
unfortunately we found no ornament or sign whatever, either on the
Kokim nor on the stone door. The bearing of the central large room of
the cave is 11° N.E.

In the east of the cave (cistern C) is an irregular door, through
which we find a cistern (E of plan) of rectangular shape, 10 by 10 feet,
rock-hewn, the upper part of which is covered by a round vault
somehow diff'erent from the cross vault of the staircase, showing a pro-
jecting stone (Fig. 2) in the western part with the object of leading rain-
water from the surface into the cistern. From here we proceed through

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

an opening to a large adjoining cistern (D of plan) ; tliis cistern
measures 16 by 12 feet, is of an oval shape, and has a central deposit bed
{see section KF of plan) ; it is connected with the staircase by two
openings near its ceiling, and from the unexplored cistern, H, a small
aqueduct leads to it, which is interrupted by the door leading to the stairs
of entrance {see plan). This small aqueduct evidently was built before
the staircase was used as such, and had the object to supply cistern D
with the surplus of cistern H. The aqueduct is composed of large
channeled stones placed on the clay rock, and measures 4 by 6 inches in
width. To the north of cistern E another cistern (F of plan) was
discovered, but not cleared out yet, also to the north of cistern C a narrow
sloping passage leads to a wide room (unexplored cistern G of plan),
which yet awaits clearing.

In the yard itself, above the cave described, but evidently in no direct
connection with it, the " Sa?.urs " found three pillars free of common
masonry; they are composed of large JVdri stone, and to judge from their
form and shape, seem to have formed ai'ches ; they are situate above the
ancient arch of the central room (11 feet 9 inches south of mouth O of
cistern C lies the first pillar). The excavations must be continued on the
surface, before satisfactory results are obtained,

Amonsr the debris found in the cave was a handsome little marble
column 3 feet 3 inches long, 5 inches in diameter (Fig. 3), with no base

Fig. 2.

but a capital worked to it 7 inches high, which, although defaced, shows
careful carved work ; another marble column 8 inches in diameter,
a pedestal coi-nice of 'AjlCxn marble, having the following shape (Fig. 4):

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Large granite columns were also excavated in lengths of 4 and 5 feet,
and an upper diameter of 1 foot 7 inclies. A fragment of a beautiful
little Ionic capital found shows paits plated with goldleaf (Fig. 5) ;

F 2

72 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

also a small statuette 2i inches high (Fig. 6), of wliich unfortunately
the head and legs are broken, made of a soft limestone, was once
}ilated with gold. This most pretty little woik, although much
defaced by the damp, shows a rich folded and ornamented dress, the
arms holding something like a bunch of flowers, besides a mass of
glass lachrimatories, generally broken to pieces ; the " Soeurs " gathered
heaps of mosaic glass, the pieces varying about an eighth of an inch
square, representing every possible colour, and some being nicely gold-
plated : also large pieces of dark glass up to -^^ of an inch thick, many
glass beads (pearls) of different colour and size, and any amount of
fragments of jjottery ware from jars, pots and plates, some painted
with simple black stripes, others red and brown, and a nice collection of
well preserved lamps of pottery ware {see Fig. 7). None of these lamps

Fm. 6.

Fig.

showed any inscription — or letters, merely antique ornamentations, as
seen from the annexed sketches. I also found among the remains an
instrument made of bone, of the following shape and ornamentation,
probably used for weaving (Fig. 8) : —

Fig. 8.

Among the coins found I recognised some Arabian, which bore the
inscription, ^^^\ AJ\ and •_, .^\ ^_j^ ^l Some other Eoman

coins of common appearance ; of still greater interest were some Jewish
coins, or at least some pieces having old Hebrew characters, much defaced,
but worth a special study.

The ground and ruins where the above-described cave is located is
called the Jama' Ahd cs-Saniad by the natives. The Nazarenians, as well
as the "Soeurs," stated to me that a mosque stood there at a late period.
Old men pretended to know that, r.ccording to tradition, the Jama' was

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE. 73

Iniilt on and rebuilt out of the stones of an ancient church which stood
on the same place.

This is what I gathered on the spot.

The caves were visited during last summer by competent historians ;
among others, by M. V. Guerin himself, whom I had not the pleasure of
speaking to, but who, according to what was stated to me by Mdme.
is of the opinion that this cave represents the edifice mentioned by I'Altesse
Arculphus, of the seventh century (according to Adamnanus '), and the
description of which Guerin quotes in his work, " Description de la
Palestine," Paris, 1880, Galilee, vol. i, p. 99, as follows : —

"Civitas Nazareth, ut Arculfus, qui in ea hospitatus est, narrat, et
ipsa ut Capharnaum murorum ambitura non habet, supra montem posita ;
grandia tamen lapidea habet sedificia, ibidemquedu<3epr£)egrandeshabentur
constructfe ecclesic>3, una in medio civitatis loco super duos fundata cancros,
ubi quondam ilia fuerat fedificata donuis, in qua noster nutritus est
Salvator. Haec itaque eadem ecclesia duabus, ut superius dictum est,
tumulis et interpositis arcubus sutlulta habet inferius inter eosdem tumulos
lucidissimum fontem conlocatum, quem totus civium frequentat populus,
de illo exhauriens aquam, et de latice eodem sursum in ecclesiam supenu-
dificatum aqua in vasculis per trochleas subrigitur. Altera vero ecclesia
in ea fabricata habetur loco ubi ilia fuerat domus constructa, in qua
Gabriel archangelus ad beatam Mariam ingressus ibidem eadem hora
solam est locutus."

Comparing the above description of the church standing on the place
of tradition, where Jesus passed His early youth, with my account
given, we find that there may be a possibility of identity if we admit
that a second arch, besides the one of which remains still are found, has-
existed, on which the church was built, and if the expression " tumulos "
can be identified with the two rock-cut tombs or Kokim above described^
— a comparison which is not adopted by all explorers of the place. How-
ever this niav be, there is this much to state that the subterranean cave
before us had at least two periods of use ; the first and ancient period is
represented by the two Kokim, which, considering the coins found, may
have an ancient Jewish origin, and the cave represented a subterranean
l)urial-place, like many others found throughout Palestine ; a second peiiod
nuiy have changed and widened the sepulchral cave into a large cistern,
or group of cisterns, with a large central room, to which the women
decended by the stairs shown, to fill the jars as they now do at the
present day ; the cisterns lying aside of this room were kept as reser-
voirs for time of want. This period, with the masonry work remaining,
excepting the arch (1), may have had its beginning in the middle ages.

To have an idea of the plan represented by the four pillars found
above the cave, excavation work must be done westwards, that is, on the
place where the J&ma' Abd es-Samad actually stood ; here, doubtless,
interesting results would be obtained, and it is very desirable that the

' Adamnanus, " De Locis Sanctis," cxi, § 20.

EECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

S(eurs de S. Joseph at Nazareth should continue the excavation work at
this interesting locality.

JiXuni. — At the Jewish colony Rushpina, near Ja'uni, at one hour s
ride eastward from Safed, I lately came across an old mined Jama' , also
known by the name '■'•Beit el Wrah^' t_-Jjt!l L::-^JJ "the house of the
Bedawin," which, from its plan, must have been something like an ancient
bath (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9.

Coming from the colony we enter a flat, rectangular space, evidently
hewn out of the solid rock, measuring 37 by 31 feet, with steps in
terraces, the tirst of which is 1 foot high and 20 feet broad, the second
9 feet 3 inches wide and 1 foot high, the third 15 inches high and 7 feet
9 inches broad. This latter terrace has three pillars, on one of which a
column still stands (Fig. 10); the floor was paved with mosaic, regular

-^■6

Fig. 10.

sqiiare pieces of hard limestone jjlaced in good mortar, together \ inch thick.
The mosaic stones had difi'erent colours — black, white, and grey. Behind
this third terrace there is a wall, formed by the bare limestone rock,
about 5 feet high, which also continues round the western side. From
the north and west, where the rock overhangs the ruin, rock-hewn steps
lead to the interior. On the second terrace a column still stands, 1 foot
8 inches in diameter, and 5 feet in height, with base, and remains of a
gate or door are visible.

RECENT PISCOVEKIES IN GALILEE.

At the lowest point and southern end of the building we find a large
stone trough 4 feet in diameter, and near by it a small mined aqueduct
leading iu a south-western direction to the spring of the village; on the
other side of the trough there are ruins of a cistern. The road from
the village to the colony leads along its southern side.

As before said, the ruin with the aqueduct, as well as the plan of
the interior, speaks in favour of a bath ; in this case, the lowest terrace
must have been the bathing basin, the second one the room for clothing,
and the third one, with mosaic, the room for rest, with a door to the
exterior in the north-west corner.

Nearer and towards the colony Rushpina I came across an old
cemetery ; among the scattered stones once forming the graves lie parts of
a hiigh column of hard limestone, measuring 3 feet 2 inches in dianietei .
The ditFereut parts were fastened together by jjins, same as seen at TahaLat
Fahil {^'' VeWs." p. 26) (Fig. 11) ; the pin-holes had the form of a cross,
1 foot long, 1 foot 2 inches broad, and 3 inches deep ; another pin-hole
was circtdar and 4 inches deep. The ground being flattened, although
lying on a slope, and having a commanding position over the plain down
to the Lake of Merom (fMleh) and vicinity, the columns may have
belonged to a temple. The Jewish colony, founded by the generous
Baron Ed. de Rothschild with the name of Eushpina, is flourishing.
Gardens, vineyards, and about thirty-tive buildings, partly with gable
roofs, decorate the rocky slopes around Jd'uni.

Esh-Shejara. — While laying out roads I came across a flat rock
(Fig. 12), situate on a slope of the vicinity of the village Esh-Shejara
(between Lilbieh and Tahoi\ on tiie road from Kefr Kemia to Tiberias),
which has the following shape : —

F[G. 12.

It measured about 5 feet 6 inches square, with a height of 2 feet
8 inches, but was evidently higher originally, the fellahin excavating
around the rock, seeking for a Kenz ( treasure ), and thus laid it
bare, but covered a part of it up again. The flat surface of the rock
has a circular ring 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, forming a groove only
1 inch wide, and about h inch deep, with a straight groove of about the
same width, leading from the ring to the edge of the rock. On the
western vertical side of the rock I found a notch, cup-formed, 9

76 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

inches wide below, 6^ inches on the top, 1 foot 3 inches high, and 7
inches deep ( see sketch ). The rock is hard limestone. The level
surface was not worked, but seems natural ; the sides were evidently
shapened with a tool, although no mark or sign is discernible. An old

fellah Sheikh, who accompanied me, named this rock El-Mokadi L->.\Jr»^i

(probably from ^ " to slice into pieces "), which expression was repeated

to me later by others. The peojde seem to have a hazy superstition
as regards this rock, the history of which I hope to gather later. Was
it an altar or a press ? Further up the hill towards Liibieh, and from
here north-westwards down its slope, I found a number of unique coni-
form cuttings in the surface of the flat rocks, one to one foot and a half deep

Fig. 13.

and wide, and also less, some only a foot wide and half a foot deep ;
they are situate at considerable distances from any cistern or well, and
spread all over the rocky slopes.

Between the villages Esh-Shejara and Kefr Sabt, near the Sultani
(high) road, leading from the Sfik el Khan to Tiberias {see Palestine
Exploration Fund Map), I found a circle formed by huge, unhewn
stones, with a diameter of 50 feet. The stones have a height from

2^ to 3i feet. This ruin is calle Rujm el Hardik^ ■^,\ ^\ _^

" the mound of the burnings," and is doubtless of great age. The

vicinity is called Daher es-Salib, t ^a1^!^ .^}ii: "the slope of the cross,''

as according to the fellahin, a cross was chiselled on one of the large
blocks menti(med, but which I could not discover.

Walking from the village Esh-Shejara towards Kklhet Kaishariln (see
Palestine Exploration Fund Map), I found on the slopes passed, near this
ruin, some caves, which were quite recently discovered and opened by
shepherds. Their interior, which I explored, has a distinct sepulchral
character, i.e., rooms from 10 to 15 feet scjuare, with Kokim and loculi
worked into the vertical walls, some of which yet contain human bones,
but the limestone rock is so soft and crumbling, the interior to such a
degree fallen and full of dust and stones, that a plan could not be made.
I can merely state that the plan would be very nearly the same as that of
the grand cave at Sheikh Abreik (on the road from Haifa to Nazareth),,
smaller of course, but having a number of rooms connected by narrow low
passages, only to be entered in a crawling position. Curious enough, the
cave, or rather caves, for several were found which may have a connection
with each other, have not an entrance fiom the front, as others, in the

EECENT DISCOVERIES' IN GALILEE. 77

face of the rock, but seem to have been reached by a passage (Fig. 14)

I
I

Fig. 15.

through the ceiling, about 2 to 2i feet wide, as several were found leading
into the same cave, but probably among the brushwood of the slopes the
general entrance will yet be found.

While crawling about in the interior my companions found two similar
coijper instruments of the following shape (Fig. 15) : — Each one is from 3
to 3i inches long, 1 J- to If inches broad, and f inch thick ; its shape is that
of a short spear or hatchet, with a rib on its broad (flat; side separating
two oval holes which stand in connection with the ear of the instrument,
to fasten its handle in. The Hat end, the edge of the instrument, bears
some parallel ornamental lines. Perhaps these instruments— for they
could hardly be anything else — were given the dead into the grave as one
of the favourite weapons. Also a thin bracelet of copper, i inch thick,
much defaced, was found, having at its end something like a anake-head
(Fig. 16).

Finally they brought me a copper coin, found among the dust in a
grave, which I reproduce in its natural size and stimj) (Fig. 17) : —

Fig. 16.

Fig. 17.

On one side there are three ears, tied together with a sling, surrounded
by a ring of pearls ; the other side shows a sort of purse with tassels and
some letters, which I am unable to decipher.

78 THE " VIA MARIS."

Modern Esh-Shejara is only about fifty years old, but it is built on a
ruined site with the name— according to information collected on the spot

— of Deir Hanhi .jjolsi- _)k> to which also the ruined mosque and
church near the spring and village {see " Memoirs of the Fund," vol. I)
belonged. According to tradition, Deir Hdmii was a very important
market place, it being situate on the crossing of the two hi^h roads —
Damascus to Jerusalem, and 'Acca to Hauran. Both roads are still
frequented, but the market was transferred to SAk el Khan, a Karavan-
serai of old style near the foot of Mount Tabor ; even that market was
done away with some years since, the people becoming more settled ; their
wants are supplied from the cities of Nazareth and Tiberias.

G. Schumacher.
Haifa, December, 1888.

THE " VIA MARIS''
A Eeply.

In the July number (1888) of the Quarterly Statemeyit, the Eev. Ch.
Druitt wishes to have explained " the ground for my identification of
the Via Maris of antiquity with the caravan road which bisects Upper
Jaulan in the direction of 'Acca and Haifa."

I have to state that I followed the opinion of Ritter, who, in his descrip-
tion of the upper and central Jordan di.--tricts (" Erdkuude," xv, a, " Palas-
tina und Syrien " II, a, pp. 269-272) states that the central of the three
large (northern, centx'al, and southern) caravan roads which connected
Damascus with the lands of the Kanaanites, passed by the fortified Jisr
and Khan Benat Y'akdb, and, coming from Damascus or the Euphrates
Valley, and crossing the Jordan at this bridge, took a southern course to
the Sea of Galilee, to the important custom house Capernaum, and fi'ora
here to the Mediterranean Sea. Its name, Via Maris or " Eoad to the Sea,"
" Sea-Road," may have therefore been derived either from the Sea of Galilee,
or the Mediterranean ; see also Gesensius (" Comment, zu Jesaias," Th. I,
pp. 350-354) for farther proofs. That this very important sea road, which
during the middle ages was used by caravans from Damascus to Phoenicia,
was meant by Quaresmius ("Eleucid. Terr. Setae," T. I, Lib. I, c. 8, fol. 19)
when he said " via maris publica quedam via est, qua venitur ex Assyria
ad mare mediterraneum," can be proved by a look on the map : the high
road I maiked as Via Maris on the Jaulan map, leaves Damascus, and
follows the level Hauran plateau (or rather Jeidlir) to S'asa and continues
in a straight line to el Kuneitra, and from here as direct as possible
through the Jaulan to the Jisr Benat Y'akfib, from here it follows the
Jordan course along the slopes forming the western banks of the river
until it arrives at the ruined Khan Minyeh (by some supposed to be
Capernaum) which lies very near the Sea of Galilee. Here, or at Khan
Jubb Y(isef, a ruin a little north of Khan Minyeh, the high road must

,i<yaa < c-

BY H

JT 50

Mean

t— <

54-4

53-4
62-0
66-7
72-0
79-4
81-9
84-6
83-4
78-4
66-4
56-3

69-9

—^-^•^
12

METEOROLOGICAL OBSEKVATIONS. 79

have bifurcated, taking in one sense a southern direction to the city of
Tiberias, to Beisan (Beth Shean, Scythopobs), &c., and in the other sense
a western course to the ports of the Meibterranean, to 'Acca of the
Phoenicians, by the way of the plain and the Wady 'Abelbn, or if bi-
furcating at the Khan Jubb, Yftsef by the way of Ettmeh and Mejd el
KerClm (to 'Acca).

At all of these places mentioned, as well as along the course of the
road through Jaulan, the different Khans or Caravanserais, through the
Buttauf and W. 'Abelltn, at Eanieh and other sites, we find distinct
remains of paved Roman roads ; the direction of the road from Damascus
to 'Acca is straight, and the nearest route possible ; the regions it crosses
are plateaus, plains and level countries, in fact a country which, although
now desolated and covered with ruins, is and was designated by nature to
be a great commercial highway. Considering all these facts in favour of
the opinions given with regard to the Via Maris, and considering that all
other roads from Damascus to the Sea, to Tyre and Sidon, &c., have to pass
mountainous regions and winding passages, I find no objection of identify-
ing the " Via Maris " in its general features, and in the sense named during
the middle ages with the present commercial and caravan road from
Damascus to the Jisr Benat Y'akfib or by Khan Miuiyeh to 'Acca and
Haifa, all the more as we can see from the commerce of the 11th, 12th,
and 13th centuries, as given in the excellent work of Heyd, " Die
italienischen Handelsclonieen in Palaestina'" (I, p. 16, 17 fl".), that the city
of 'Acca had a great interest in the Indian commerce, that products of
India fovind their way through the Euphrates Valley to the great
Emporium of Damascus, and continuing hy the shortest ivaij to Beirut and
'Acca, and that the weapons and arms of Damascus manufacturers were
exjjorted to Egypt by the port of 'Acca ; on the other side Haifa formed
the natural harbour for Tiberias ("Heyd," I, p. 17) which city (Tiberias)
" was industrious and had a lively trade by caravans."

G. Schumacher.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona, 1883.

The numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; the maximum for the year was 30"106 ins.,
in December. In the years 1880 and 1881 the maximum was in January,
in 1882 it was in Februai-y ; the mean of the three preceding highest
pressures was 30'251 ins.

In column 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29"527 ins., in .January. In the year 1880 the minimum
was in April, in 1881 in February, and in 1882 in July ; the mean for
the three preceding years was 29";")19 ins.

The range of barometric readings in the year was small, being

80' METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

0'579 in. only. The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of
readings in each month ; the smallest, 0'139 inch, was in June, and the
largest, 0".561 incli, was in January.

The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere; the greatest, 29-924 ins., occurred both in February and
December, and the smallest, 29'689 ins., was in July.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in
column 5. The highest in the year was 106°, in September, the next in
order was 99° in May, and 97° in March ; in the three pi^eceding years,
viz., 1880, 1881, and 1882, the highest temperatnres were 103", 106°, and
93° resfjectively ; the first day in the year 1883 the temperature reached
90° was on the 30th of March, and it was 97" on the next day ; in April
the temperature exceeded 90° on one day ; in May on one day ; in August
it reached or exceeded 90° on six days ; in September there were five days
when the temperature reached or exceeded 90°; the highest in the year,
106^ took place on the 30th ; in October, on the 29th, the temperature
reached 94°, and this was the last day in the year that the temperature
was as high as 90° ; therefore the temperature reached or exceeded 90°
on 16 days ; in 1880 on 36 days, in 1881 on 27 days, and in 1882 on 8
days in the year.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature in each
month ; the lowest temj)erature in the year was 35° in March, the next in
order was 39° in January, and 40° both in April and December ; in
January there was only one day when the temperature was below 40°, and
in March on one day, when it was as low as 35°, on the 17th ; it was not
below 40° in any other mouth of the year ; therefore the temperature was
below 40° on only two nights in the year ; in the year 1880 it was below
40° on 16 nights, in 1881 on 2 nights, and in 1882 on 14 nights.

The yearly range of temperature was 71°; the range of temperature iu
the year 1880 was 71°, 1881 was 67°, and 1882 was 59°.

The range of temperature in each month is shown in column 7, and
these numbers vary from 25° in July to 62° in March.

The mean of all the highest temperatures by day, of the lowest by
night, and of the average daily ranges of temperature, are shown in
columns 8, 9, and 10, respectively. Of the high day temperatures, the
lowest appears in February, 62°-8 ; and the highest in July, 88°"2 ; that
in August is nearly of the same value. Of the low night temperatures
the coldest, 45°-6, took place in Februaiy ; and the warmest, 69°-4, in
August. The average daily range of temperature, as shown in column 10,
in January 15°-7 is the smallest, and in September 27°-7 is the greatest.

In column 11, the mean temperature of each month, as found from
observations of the maximum and miuimum thermometers only are
shown. The month of the lowest temperature is December, ST'l ; in the
year 1880 the month of the lowest temperature was January, 50°-7 ; and in
the years 1881 and 1882 the lowest were in February, viz., 56°-2 and49°-8
respectively; the mean for the three years being 56°"2. The month of the
highest temperature was August, 78°-8 ; in the years 1880, 1881 and 1882,

METEOROLOGICAL OBSEIIVATIOXS. 81

tlie maximum was in August, and were 79°, 80°-l, and 78°"6 respectively.
The mean for the three years was 79°'2. The mean temperature for the
year was 65°-7, for the three preceding, viz., 1880, 1881, and 188:^, were
66°-4, 66°-7, and 65°-5 respectively.

The numbers in coUimns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a dry
and wet-bulb-thermometer, taken daily at 9 a.m., and those in column 14
are the monthly temperature of the dew-point, or that temperature at
which moisture would have been deposited. The elastic force of vapour
is shown in column 15 ; in colunin 16 is shown the weight of the water
present in a cubic foot of air ; in January this was as small as four grains,
and in August as large as "i grains. The numbers in column 18 show
the degree of humidity, saturation of the air being considered 100 ; the
smallest number indicating the dryest month, was 57 in September, and
the largest 85, in February. The weight of a cubic foot of air under its
mean pressure, temperature, and humidity, at 9 a.m., is shown in
column 19.

The most prevalent winds in January were S. and S.W., and the least
prevalent were E. and N.W. In February the most prevalent were S.E.
and S.W., and the least were W. and N.W. In March the most prevalent
was S., and the least were N.W., E., and its compounds. From April to
September the S.W. winds were most prevalent, and the least prevalent
winds generally were N., E., and compounds of E. In October the most
prevalent was S., and the least was S.E. In November the most
prevalent was S., and the least prevalent were N. and its compounds ; and
in December the most prevalent winds were S.E. and S., and the least
prevalent were N., W., and N.W. The most prevalent wind for the year
was S.W., which occurred on 76 times during the year, of which
16 were in July, and 9 in both January and August ; and the
least prevalent wind for the year was E., which occurred on only 7
times during the year, of which two were in October, and one in each
of the months of January, February, June, November, and December.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m.,
he month with the smallest amount is June, and the largest January.
O the cumulus, or tine weather cloud, there were 119 instances in the
year; of these there were 21 in August, 20 in July, and 13 in September,
and only 3 in December. Of the nimbus, or rain cloud, there were 63
instances, of which 18 were in January, 12 in February, and 11 in
December, and 3 only from April to September. Of the cirrus, there
were 22 instances. Of the stratus there were 24 instances. Of the cirro-
cumulus there were 39 instances. Of the cirro-stratus 14 instances in the
yeai-, and 84 instances of cloudless skies, of which 14 were in June, 13 in
May, and 11 in March.

The largest fall of rain for the month was 11-32 ins. in January, of
which 1 '31 inch fell on the 9th, and r30 inch on the 8th ; and the next
largest fall for the month was 8'14 ins. in November, of which 3'13
ins. fell on the 3rd, and 1-31 inch on the 25th. In 1880 the largest fall in
any month was 10*05 ins. in December ; in 1881 the largest was 5-09 ins.

82 PEOFESSOR SAYCE ON THE HITTITES.

ill November, and in 1882 the largest was 7-22 ins. in February. No rain
fell from A]ml 25th till October 10th, making a period of 167 consecutive
days without rain. The fall of rain in the year was 30-06 ins., being
1-38 in., 12-57 ins., and 7-97 ins. larger than the falls in 1880, 1881, and
1882 respectively ; and the mean fall of rain for the three preceding years
was 22-55 ins. The number of days on which ram fell was 71, in 1880
rain fell on 66 days, in 1881 on 48 days, and in 1882 on 62 days.

James Glaisher.

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER, R.E.

Professor Sayce on the Hittites.

The Eeligious Tract Society have published an interesting little book
by Professor Sayce on the Hittites, which will no doubt aid to instruct
the general public, though it contains nothing new to scholars. With
the greater part of its contents I am fully in accord, but there are
occasional statements which should, I think, at once be questioned before
they become widely adopted, in the interest of exact archaeology ; and I
hope that these lines may meet Professor Sayce's eye, and induce him to
explain or to reconsider the points in question.

When Professor Sayce states that the Hittite monuments are still
undeciphered, he, no doubt, expresses his present opinion. In that case
he must be supposed to have withdrawn the claim which he made in
1884, to have deciphered and translated several of the texts, as given in
a lengthy article in " Wright's Empire of the Hittites." To these transla-
tions he makes no reference in his present volume. When, however, he
savs that " Major Conder's system of decipherment has not yet obtained
the adhesion of other scholars," I may be allowed to remark that at least
two scholars have informed me that they believed me to be right as to the
language, and these scholars perhaps better acquainted with Turanian
languages than any others in England. In his last letter one of them says
of my recent paper in the Quarterly Statement that it " marks a distinct
advance, and places the comparisons on a firm foundation."

Professor Sayce makes other statements as below : —

Page 12. " Hamath and Kadesh on Orontes being their most southerly
points." He, apparently, is unaware that Sir C. W. Wilson discovered a
Hittite monument at Damascus.

Page 15. " The Hittites were a people with yellow skins and Mongo-
loid features " (repeated p. 101 yet more strongly). This is what I have
always urged. Why, then, dispute the probability that their language
. also may have been Mongolian 1 It appears, however (p. 134), that " the

PKOFESSOE SAYCE ON THE HITTITES. 83

Vannic may belong to the same family of speech." Now, as regards
Vannic, we have the opinion of a good Akkadian scholar (Bertin,
" Languages of the Cuneiform Inscriptions "), that Medic, Vannic, and
Akkadian belong to the same family of ancient agglutinative speech.
Professor Sayce makes no further allusion to Georgian in his present
work, which is perhaf)s due to the fact that no known Hittite name or
word has ever been found comparable with Georgian.^

Page 15. The Amorites are described as having "white skins, blue
eyes, and reddish hair."' Yet, when we turn to Mr. F. Petrie's list, we
find the Amaiir described as having " red " skins ; and the blue eyes are
attributed to tlie Kheta. It is by no means certain that the colours have
retained their original hue. The only people marked as " white or
yellow " in Mr. Petrie's list are the Shairdana, and the red hair is not
attributed to the Amaur. Some Kheta are described as having " green
hair " ! It is certain that in some cases the colouring is merely decorative,
and in others faded. «

Mr. Tomkins quotes Mr. Osborn as making the Amorites blue-eyed,
but this seems, according to Mr. Petrie's list, to be a mistake. The hair,
according to this description, was black ("Times of Abraham," p. 85),
and the complexion sallow. My own belief is that the Amorites were a
Semitic tribe ; but, at all events, the idea of a fair jaeople in Palestine
rests on no real foundation.

Page 46. The Patinians are said to have been a people of " Hittite
descent." I am not aware of any authority for this.

Page 49. The Assyrians are said to have used the name Hittite " no
longer in a correct sense." Yet they only say that the town of Ashdod
was Hittite, and there is no historic improbability in the existence of
Hittites in this part of Palestine in very late times. Surely the Assyrian
scribe knew better than we can know.

Page 6. Professor Sayce adheres to his favourite term, the "Hittite
Empire," but has explained it to mean little more than a confederacy such
as we know from the monuments did exist between the Kheta and other
tribes. The " forgotten Empire," however, is now disappearing, the
Lydian and Medic Kingdoms being the real authors of the Asia Minor
civilisation, and the Medic and Lydian races being of the same stock with
the Kheta. Herodotus probably knew more about Asia Minor tlian we
can hope to learn by theories unsupported by the evidence either of
literature or of inscriptions. He knew of non-Semitic Syrians, of
Lydians, Carians, and IMedes, before the Aryans came from Greece and
from Persia ; but he knew nothing of a " Hittite Empire," nor do the
cuneiform or Egy2:)tian texts mention any Hittites save in Syria.

^ The sounds for king and country in Hittite appear to have been Ko and
Me. In Georgian, the word for king is Mephe, and for country Obai, which
evidently do not aid us.

- Prof. Sayce, in the "Academy," speaks of fair people in Palestine.
There is no native stock in Palestine which is fair, but there is a certain
admixture of Aryan blood in the country, probably of very recent origin.

84 PKOFESSOR SAYCE ON THE HITTITES.

Pao-e Y8. " The mural crown " is not known on Hittite monuments.
The bonnets worn by the goddesses at Boghaz Keui are similar to those
now worn by Tartar women.

Pao'e 80. The " double-headed axe " was not peculiar to Hittites. It
was used by Carians and by Etruscans.

Pao-e 81. Professor Sayce calls the turued-up boot a snow-shoe, a
mocassin (p. 140), and a Turkish shoe — three entirely distinct things. It
was known to the Egyptians and Etruscans as well as to the Hittites.

Pao-e 81. The hieroglyph for country represents "two or sometimes
three pointed mountains." It only occurs twice, and neither of these
cases have three peaks. Professor Sayce considers Hittite and Egyptian
quite distinct systems, and states that in the latter animals are represented
by whole figures, but in Hittite by heads only. Yet we have already two
cases in Hittite of whole figures of animals, while heads of animals are
not uncommon in the earlier Egyptian texts. With increased graphic
power the whole figure seems to have been attempted, and the distinction
is not complete.

Pao-e. 102. The pigtail (first noticed by the late Dr. Birch) convinces
Professor Sayce of the Mongol origin of the Kheta, yet he never mentions
the Mongol words recoverable of their language.

Page 111. "Tar or Tarku, 'the king,' who is the Zeus of Lucian."
Prt)fessor Sayce does not give any reason for rendering Tarku " king."
The readers "of the Quarterly Statement will be aware (January, 1889),
that this is a Mongol and Turkic word for king.

Pao-e 115. "The art of the Hittites was essentially Babylonian in
origin." This is just what I urged when comparing them with the

Akkadians.

Page 117. The Sphinxes of Eyuk are compared with the Egyptian
Sphinx. But on an Akkadian cylinder we have also two Sphinxes
represented, and others in Etruria and Phoenicia.

Pao-e 120. The lions of Mycense are called " Hittite.'' To me it
seems °more likely that they were Pelasgic, and the Pelasgi must-
judging from the word Tepie, said by Varro to mean " mountains "—have
been a^Turkic people like Medes, Akkadians, Lydians, and Carians.

Pao-e 129. Tarkon is said to be a " distinctive Hittite word." If so,
the evidence of comparative vocabularies shows the Hittite language to
have been Turkic.

Pao-e 130. The four strokes for me on the boss of Tarkutimme are
said to'' represent the " numeral four." We are not told in what language
four has the sound me. In Georgian the sound is Othkhi. I have shown
that this sign does not on the Hittite monuments r-^present a numeral,
because it is a sufiix. We have a plural suffix me, and this, 1 believe, is
the true value of the sign.

Pa<^e 130. There is no evidence at all that the Carchemish monu-
ments°coutain the names of any kings. As to the " King whose name
ends -me Tarku," Professor Sayce has stated that Tarku was Jupiter

(p. 111).

NOTES BY MAJOR COXDER, R.E. 85

Pa<?e 132. Although Professor Sayce believes the syllabary of Cyprus
to be derived from the Hittite, he makes no mention of the recovery of
fifty sounds of the language thus made possible. Hence he has made no
use of the very method whereby the study of cuneiform was first made
po.ssible and the Akkadian language discovered.

Page 135. Mhulena, "the moon god belongs to us," is a funny name
for a man. It seems to me more like Turkish Er, " man," and Khulin
"great," i.e., " the hero'' or Hercules.

Professor Sayce's volume therefore represents the Hittites minus
their language, which language he has not attempted to compare with
any other, though we have Carian words like Kos and Taba, Lydian
words like Tegoun and Lailas, Etruscan words like Tarquin, &c., &c., com-
parable with the old Medic and Akkadian, and showing us an early
Turkic people in Asia Minor to whom the Hittites were akin.

Curiously enough, Professor Sayce has since written from Egypt
("Academy," 19th January, 1889), to say he has a letter in what he
thinks is a Hittite dialect, and that the " verbal forms are Akkadian."
Should he adhere to this view he will, perhaps, withdraw his previous
statement that " no scholar is likely to admit "a comparison of Hittite
and Akkadian. He is also now inclined to believe in more than one
" Hittite " language. In Asia Minor, in 500 B.C., I believe four languages
were spoken :— (1) Greek ; (2) Lycian (akin to Zend) ; (3) Phrygian
(akin to Armenian) ; (4) Lydian and Carian (akin to Turkish). This is a
distinction sanctioned not only by Herodotus, but by relics of these
languages. Of these, however, 1, 2, 3 were later in reaching the country
than No. 4.

When Professor Sayce claims to have " laid the foundation " of Hittite
knowledge, it must not be forgotten that Dr. Wright first broached the
idea in connection with the Hamath stones, and that Chabas and other
scholars had written at length on the Kheta in 1866, Professor Sayce's
first paper being ten years later. No one, however, would wish to dispute
the value of Professor Sayce's contributions to the subject in many
particulars.

II.

The so-called Hittite Monuments of Keller.

The monuments at Keller, or Sinjirli, west of 'Ain Tab, at the north
extremity of Syria, are mentioned in "Altaic Hieroglyphs," and photo-
graphs were kindly sent to me by Mrs. Barnes. They are given by
Perrot in his "History of Art," in 1886, and have recently been published
from the photographs by Professor Sayce ; but one slab, of which I here
give a copy from the photograph, seems to have escaped notice, and
IS very important, as it has a hieroglyphic in the corner, which none
of the rest have.

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER, R.R.

The lion-headed deity is here shown in the short tunic common to
other Ccippadocian bas-reliefs^ holding a rabbit (or perhaps a fawn, bufe

there seem to be no hoofs) by the bind legs. Tlie attitude is just that of
a deity represented on a bas-relief at Amrit, in Phceuicia, standing erect
on a lion. He is human headed, but holds the small animal in like
manner, and waves a sword. The lion-headed god is also twice repre-
sented near Pteria, in Cappadocia. He is well known as Nirgal (his
Akkadian name, Assyrian Nirgallu), in Babylonia, and also found in India
(;is Yama) and in Egypt.

The hieroglyph in the comer is the head either of a rabbit (as on the
Merash lion) or of an ass (as at Pteria, Careheraish, &c.). It is probably
the name of the god, and, as I explained in " Altaic Hieroglyphs," both
the iiss'shead and the hare's head are known on the" Hittite" monuments,
with the sign of deity above. It appeai-s that the name of the lion-
headed deity had the same sound as the word ass ; and I have recently
described a cylinder, brought home by Mr. Greville Chester, on which a
lion is represented (see " Altaic Cylinders," in P. E. F. Quarterly Statement,
1888) with the head of an ass as a hieroglyph above it. This curious
lion-headed god is another link between the Akkadians and the early
tribes of Syria and Cappadocia, whom antiquaries call " Hittite," though
some l)ore other names.

The figures in the bas-relief given herewith, from the same site, are
of special interest, though there is no writing on the blocks. A prisoner
is brought — by his pigtail — by a long-robed, bearded personage. The
beard in this case is — as at Ibreez — in the Phoenician fashion, without
the heavy moustache of the Assyrians. The outline of the faces is just

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER, R.E.

that of the Akkadians of Tello, on a bas-relief jJiiblished by the French
explorer De Sarzek.

iili''iir-'ji^'

ii^v

! 1 n»

1 1,1'

'-.^.~

v.Uh

.~^'

h\tiL

i/Kii^;

iii^i"^

fi&

,,,_,»{ "All ^.jiiUHmi

i:Ui^^_:,:-:L:-^-^i>-

Both these figures have the Calceus repandiis, but the next figure to
the right wears sandals. This figure is also bearded, but wears a very
distinct, well-plaited pigtail, not unlike that worn by some of the Elamites,
in the great battle-picture in the British Musenm. This group is part of
a long subject, including a stag and a doe, at which the bowman shoots,
a winged griff'on, ramping erect, and a man with a hammer or axe, which
appears to have been an Asia Minor weapon. This axe was called
Lahros in Carian and Lydian speech — a word for which I have been as
yet unable to find any equivalent.

We are possibly on the verge of further discovery as regards these
ancient populations. Meantime I regard it as shown, by the surviving
words of their language, that the Lydians, Carians, and Pelasgi, like the
Etruscans, were a Turanian people, akin to the Medes and Akkadians.
The Phrygians were not — they were Aryans from Europe. The Lycians,
who were " modern " in the time of Herodotus, spoke a liquid language
akin to Zend and to Persian ; bvit these Aryan tribes were non-existent
in Asia Minor, probably in 700 B.C., and the archaic monuments of
Cappadocia seem to be the woi'k of the same race that has left monuments
in Ionia, and which was no doubt the old Lydian Carian race.

III.

The Tell es Salahiteh Monument.

Sir C. W. Wilson has kindly allowed me to trace the photograph of
the very archaic monument discovered in his excavations at Tell es
Salahiyeh, near Damascus. It is one of the rudest and most archaic

G 2

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDEK, R.E.

known in Syria, and in general character resembles those monuments
which antiquaries now call " Hittite."

It should be noted that the cap seems to have the shape which on the
Egyptian monuments distinguishes the Pulestha (Philistines) and Takrui
(probably Teucrians). It is also to be noted that the beard without
moustache is represented as on the Ibreez monument, which has a
" Hittite " inscription, and also on the monument of Keller. This fashion
of wearing the beard prevailed extensively in Phoenicia and Asia Minor
and among Greeks. The Assyrian sculptures, on the other hand, usually
represent a moustache.

This is the most southern of the monuments of this class yet known.
There is a remarkable moniiment at Amrit, in Syria, usually called
Phoenician, representing a god standing erect on a lion, which may be of
the same class, and the rude and archaic Hercules of Amathus— a
gigantic statue now in the porch of the Constantinople Museum — a
horned and bearded god, may also be what is called " Hittite." This
deity, like the lion-headed god of Keller, is holding up an animal by the
hind legs, but the head of the animal is lost. Probably he is represented
tearing the animal asunder as fawns were torn in honour of Dionysus —
a kind of sacrifice which also existed in China. A very good drawing of
this Amathus statue, which should be compared with the present sketch,
occurs in Perrot's " Histoire de I'Art," m the Phoenician volume.

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER, R.E. 89

IV.

The so-called " Hittite " Hat.

The cone-shaped hat on the monuments of Cappadocia and lohia
approaches in form the high tiara worn by Kheta Sar on an EgyjDtian
bas-relief, and is a fairly distinctive article of costume. The following
notes are, therefore, of some interest, perhaps, as indicating the race which
wore this hat. Herodotus says (vii, 64) : —

" The Sacse, who are Scythians, had on their heads caps which came to
a point and stood erect."

In Italy, also, the Tutulus is described by Varro {see Dennis, "Etruria,"
i, p. 341) as a high white cap of the shape of a cone {meta) worn on the
heads of priests. The Flamens wore a wool cap of the same form —
perhaps not unlike the Astrakhan hat of the Circassians. An Etruscan
goddess is represented in a high cap of this kind, with four wings, and
holding a hen (ii, p. 465).

In the travels of Riibuquis in 1255 A.D., in Tartary, we find similar
hats described.

" They have an ornament for their heads," says the good monk, des-
cribing the nomadic people of South Russia, " which they call Botta, which
is made of the bark of a tree, or of some such substance as they can find,
which by the thickness and roundness thereof cannot be held but in both
hands together, and it hath a square sharp spire rising from the top
thereof, being almost two feet in length, and shaped like a pinnacle. This
Botta they cover all over with a piece of rick silk, and it is hollow within,
and upon the midst of this same spire they place a bunch of quills, or
slender canes, a foot and a half long or more, and the bunch on the top
thereof they beautify with peacocks' feathers, and round about they stick
the feathers of a mallard's tail and adorn it with precious stones. Also
great ladies wear this kind of ornament on their heads, binding it
strongly to a kind of hat or coif which hath a hole in the crown fit for the
sjDire to come through."

A hat of this kind, but edged with fur, is still worn by the dervishes
in Turkestan (see Schuyler's "Turkestan," frontispiece, vol. ii), but is not
more than about a foot in height. The Maulawiyeh dervishes in Syria
also wear a somewhat similar hat, but it is a truncated cone made of fine
felt, and with the green turban sometinies wound round it. The cone was
also woi'n by the Turks in the 18th century with the Moslem turban
wound round it (see portrait of Hassan Pasha in the " Modern Traveller,
Syria," vol. i, p. 25). Thus the old Scythian headdress of the Cappa-
docian monuments has been worn in various ages by Turanian peoples,
and still survives in our own time.

90 netiemiah's south wall, and the

The Stone Zoheleth.

As to whether the word Eben can apply to a rock (a question more
than once raised of late), Gesenius may be held to be a respectable

authority. In his lexicon he gives, under ]5ff|' (1) " a stone of any kind,"
(2) a " a gem," (3) " ore," (4) "rock." I tliink that any person acquainted
with Hebrew and Arabic would feel satisfied by M. Clermont-Ganneau'b
remarkable discovery of Zoheleth.

VI.

House of the Holy Ghost.

It may be necessary to note that the map mentioned by Dr. Chaplin,
bearing this name, is a reduction from one made by me in 1883, and the
place in question is marked where he showed me the site so called in 18&1.
I am afraid, however, it does not occur in any mediaeval account of the
city, as fai' as my reading goes.

NEHEMIAH'S SOUTH WALL, AND THE LOCALITY OF
THE ROYAL SEPULCHRES.

As the basis of the accompanying plan, I take the ascertained rock
contours, issued with the Memoirs of the Survey, and place upon them,
to stai't with, the outlines of ancient structures ascertained by Sir C
Warren. The modern Zion being the Upper City of Josephus, all the
lower hills lying about it, so far as they are built upon, will be the Lower
City. Accepting Warren's Akra, the Akra becomes part of the Lower
City when the Causeway is built and joins it to the eastern hill,' and
more thoroughly so when the valley north of the causeway is filled up in
the days of Simon Maccabagus. The Lower City would thus lie round
about the Uj^per City in crescent form, and we may agree with those who
translate Josephus's 'a/<^i/<upTos in that sense (Bell, v, 4, 1). The valley
descending from Herod's Gate and entering tlie Kedron just north of the
Golden Gate, is probably Josephus' " valley called Kedron," possibly the
original Upper Kedron before it was filled up. As it was not filled up till
Pompey's time, it was still a valley in Old Testament times, and its
existence is implied in Nehemiah iii, 3L The sites of walls and buildings
adopted from Warren for the purpose of this paper are (1) the Temple

' May not this causeway represent Millo ? The word means a causeway or
an embankment.

SKETCH PLAN SHEWING NEHEMIAKS SOUTH WALL

'°*<lijl'^^'"'ov RnviNC

'ff^

The contour lines represent successive steps of ten feet. The height at the
Triple Gate is 2379 feet.

REFERENCE.

Suggested line of wall HHiai

1 Valley gate

2 Dung gate
Fountain gate
King's pool

Wall of Pool of Shelah
King's gardens
Stairs of the City of David
.Sepulchres of David
'I'he Pool that was made
House of the mighty
Turning of the wall
The Armoury
Turning of the wall
House of Eliashib
Turning of the wall
The Corner

9
10
1 1
12
13
14
15

17
18

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
•28
29
30
31

Turning of the wall
Tower at King's house

(Tower that standeth out)
Water gate
Tower that lieth out
Great tower that lieth out
Wall of Ophel
Horse gate
Houses of priests
Gate Miphkad
Ascent of the corner
Going up of the wall
House of David
Gate between two walls
Gate of the Guard (2 Kings, xi. 19)
Gate of the Guard (Neh. xii. 39)

, C C C C f (

LOCALITY OF THE ROYAL SEPULCHRES. 91

courts, as represented in the plan ; (2) Solomon's palace, south of the
Temple, but occupjiing only two-thirds of the width of the Haram Area ;
(3) the wall of Ophel, and its towers, the wall terminating 700 feet from
its elbow ; (4) the great causeway, extending westward from Wilson's
arch.

The Temple and Palace, as given by Warren, leave a vacant square at
the south-western corner of the Haram, where the masonry for 300 feet
each way from the corner is different from the rest, and more recent.

With this ascertained nucleus of buildings, and the ascertained
contours of hills and valleys, I prcx^eed, iirst, to trace the south wall of
Neliemiah, and afterwai'ds to test its accuracy. Let us bear in mind that
Nehemiah repaired only, and did not build de novo^ so that the lines of
wall to be recovered are really older than his time. From the Jaffa Gate
we follow the existing line of wall southward, as far as it extends. We
might be content to follow it eastward acro.ss the ridge of the modern
Zion- and might say in defence of that line that later builders found it
easier to repair old walls than to build new ones — but the point is not
vital to the main contention of this paper, and so the wall may be allowed
to go round the brow, and thus take in the rock scarp and the remains of
masonry at the south-west shoulder. In either case the wall made a bay
ujj the Tyropoean Valley, as Lewin contends (" Sketch of Jerusalem "), and
as Josephus plainly declares {vnep riju ^iXwufx, Bell, v, 4, 2). By followiiiix
the eastern brow of modern Zion right northward to the causeway, the
wall completed the circuit of the Upper Citj^, which, according to Josephus,
had a wall of its own, going all round. Where it joined the causeway it
would make a right angle or something near it. On the east side a wall
making a similar angle with the causeway would run southward. The
primary object of this wall would be to defend the Temple and the Palace
and other buildings upon Moriah and Ophel ; in other words, the eastern
hill, in the first instance, had its own sejaarate defending wall, the same as
the western ; and hence the intermediate " suburbs " came at length to be
enclosed in the city. The course of this wall would be influenced partly
by the contours of the ground, and partly by the outline of buildings
existing on the ground. It would ultimately join the wall of Ophel. An
objection may be raised to this line of wall as being partly in a valley.
But it is only in the valley where the outline of Temple and Palace force
it to be so ; and it cannot be said to be useless, since it is, of course, an
obstacle to an enemy. Besides, an a priori objection to the wall can have
but little weight in the face of Nehemiah's descriptions which appear to
require its existence, and which become intelligible for the first time
when its existence is allowed.

As dwellings, pools, or gardens would sooner or later be made in the
intra-mural suburb, a transverse wall would be built east and west across
the valley, to protect them, and such a wall would greatly strengthen the
city at the same time. For this cross wall the existing line of wall may
be followed, in the absence of historical evidence for placing it elsewhere.

92 nehemiah's south wall, and the

This wall is, of course, in a valley, but it must be remembered that both
the Upper City and the Lower are protected without it, and it is of some
advantage as an additional defence.

With this arrangement, adopted for good reasons already given, the
descriptions in Nehemiah can be undeistood in detail.

Nehemiah's Night-ride.

In chap, ii, 13, we read — "I went out by the Valley Gate" (this is nt
or near the Jaffa Gate, the head of the Tyropoean Valley — the gaia) —
" even before the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate." This Dung
Gate must be near the south-west corner of the city, to agi'ee with
chap, iii, 13. "Then I went on to the Fountain Gate" — a convenient
exit fi'om the Upper City for the Fountain of Siloam — "and to the King's
Pool {el-Berelath)" a pool probably within the enclosed suburb, maile
by the king, or for the king, and near the king's garden, or the king's
house. " But there was no i^lace for the beast that was under me to pass."
Why ? Because here we have two walls in a narrow space, and the
destruction of both of them had filled the valley with debris. "Then I
went up by the brook {nachal, the Kedron) and viewed the wall, and
turned, and passed in by the Valley Gate."

The Rebuilding of the Walls and Gates.

We pass over the repairing of the walls from the Sheep Gate, north of
the Temple, to the Valley Gate in the west wall.

In verse 13 : From the Valley Gate it is " 1,000 cubits on the wall to
tlie Dung Gate." This forbids any identification with the present Dung
Gate.

In verse ]5 : Shallun, who repairs the Fountain Gate, repairs also "the
wall of the Pool of Shelah by the king's garden." Allow that Shelah is
Siloam, yet this need not be a wall running down to Siloam — those who
take that line go wrong all the rest of the way — it is the transverse wall
in the same valley above. Through a gate in this wall the Fountain of
Siloam would be conveniently reached from the suburb ; and this would
be the " Gate between two walls," through which Zedekiah fled away
(2 Kings, XXV, 4 ; Jer. xxxix, 4 ; Iii, 7). The wall was bi/ the King's
garden (le=hy, or near.) Shallun goes on " unto (ad) the Stairs {maaloth)
that go down from the City of David." So the City of David includes
Ophel, and the Stairs descend the Ophel slope westward into the bed of
the Tyropoean.

Verse 16 : " After him repaired Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, mito
the place over against {neged = in front of) the sepulchres of David."
The wall of the Pool of Shelah was an otfshoot or side work, so Nehemiah
would take up the repairs by the Fountain Gate and work northward.
He comes over against the sepulchres, which are therefore on the Ophel
side, a little to the north of the Stairs. The entrance would have to be

LOCALITY OF THE ROYAL SEPULCHRES. 93

low down in the valley bed, to be outside the wall which protects Ophel
on the west. But why not ? Nehemiah continues working northward
" unto the pool that was made " {herekah, probably the king's pool of
ii, 14), "and unto the house of the mighty men." If this is the house of
David's body-guard, it will probably be within easy distance of David's
house, while yet Nehemiah's description places it on the west side of the
Tvropoean ; so we may reasonably locate it as in the plan.

In the remaining short space on this side we have no less than four
bands of workers, indicating that the destruction had been very great,
as indeed Nehemiah found it to be when there was no possibility of his
beast getting aloug ; and the next indication of locality is in —

Verse 19, "the turning" of the wall, "over against the ascent to the
armoury." The armoury, therefore, was in or near the north-eastern angle
of the suburb.

Verse 20 : We are now carried from " the tmming " of the wall by
the armoury, southward, " unto the door of the house of Eliashib, the
liigh priest ; " and we are not surprised to find his house here, for we are
close alongside the Temple courts. The workers come unto the door of
Eliashib's house, which thus seems to project westward, so as to be quite
near to the line of wall ; but they only come overagainst the less important
houses which follow.

Verse 24 : The sixth worker down this side comes to " the turning "
of the wall and " unto the corner." The turning is not the same as the
corner ; the Hebrew language uses different words for a re-entering and
a salient angle. Each of the two turnings at the causeway (vv. 19, 20)
is called a miqtzoa {= a re-entering angle) ; but now, in v. 24, they come
to a miqtzoa and to a pinneh ( = a projecting angle). It is to be observed
that we should not have such angles at this part but for the vacant
square which Warren's examination of the masonry compelled him to
leave — the wall for 300 feet each way from the south-west corner of the
Haram being more recent than the rest.

The first salient angle is passed over because the worker who begins
north of it continues his labours till he comes south of it, and so its
mention is not necessary in defining the work done. (In like manner,
in vv. 6-8, the Gate of Ephraim is passed by without mention, although,
according to xii, 38, 39, it existed between the Broad Wall and the Old
Gate.)

Verse 25 : The mention now of another re-entering angle might
perplex us, only that the same verse speaks of a " tower standing out
from the king's upper house," and this may easily afi'ord the angle.

Verse 26 : We are now fairly on the hill of Ophel, and accordingly
the workers who have been set to labour here are " the Nethinim dwelling
in Ophel." There is also mention in v. 31 of a house of the Nethinim
near the northern end of the east wall — still outside the Temple precincts.'

' The Nethinim were but servants of the Levites.

6 3

94 NEIIEMIAIl'S SOUTH WALL, AND THE

As soon as the Nethinim of Ojiliel get far enough south to look beyond
the projecting tower just mentioned and see the Triple Gate, they are
stated to be over against the Water Gate. At the same time they are
over against the tower that standeth out. This is not necessarily the
tower mentioned in the previous verse, as projecting from the king's
house, but may, perhai^s, be the one at the south-east angle of the Ophel
wall, discovered by Warren.

Verse 27 : Where the Nethinim lay down their work it is taken up
by the Tekoites, who presently come " over against the great tower that
standeth out," namely, the large tower which Warren found. It is now
not far to complete the junction with the Ophel wall, at the point where
Warren found that wall to end abruptly ; and Nehemiah tells us that the
Tekoites actually did this.

Verse 28 : The Ophel wall, being in good repair, is no more referred
to ; and the next thing mentioned is the Horse Gate. As Warren could
not find any gate in the Ophel wall, the Horse Gate must have been north
of it ; and here it would be at a point convenient for entrance to Solomon's
stables, which would, perhaps, be under the present vaults known by that
name.

" Above the Horse Gate repaired the priests, every one over against
his own house." These houses of priests are in a position exactly corres-
ponding with the houses of Eliashib and others on the west side. The
expression, " over against," implies that the city wall, which is being
repaired, stands removed from the priests' houses, from the Temple
courts, and it would be eastward of the present Haram wall. Herr
Conrad Schick draws it so. I don't know his view about it, but it may
possibly be the wall of Manasseh.

Verse 29 : An East Gate is referred to {Mizrach), not to be co -
founded with the gate Harsith, the so-called east gate of Jer. xix, 2, in
the Authorised Version.

When we come over against the Golden Gate— which Nehemiah calls
the Gate Miphkad — we are just where Warren's tunnelling work was
arrested by a massive masoni-y barrier — probably a part of the ancient
city wall, 50 feet east of the Haram wall. Immediately we are at
" the ascent of the corner." There is no corner now immediately north
of the Golden Gate, and no ascent from a depth ; but it was just
here that Warren discovered the deepest valley of all, and the wall
buried 125 feet, so that we obtain just what we want. The stairs or
steps would be cut in the rock, and it is not unlikely that they may yet
be found.

The Route of the Processionists.

Cliapter xii affords striking confirmation of the foregoing positions.
At the dedication of the walls two comimnies start from the Valley Gate,
and go opposite ways to meet in the Temple. Presumably the Valley

LOCALITY OF THE KOYAL SEPULCHRES, 95

Gate was chosen to afford journeys of about equal length ; and this is
another indication that the wall did not go down to Siloam. The party
going south pass the Dung Gate, and reach the Fountain Gate. And now
which way will they go ? The wall has been repaired right ahead of
them, and also the wall turning north, and they will have to choose
between two routes. The Revised Version says they went " by {ad) the
Fountain Gate and straight before them," and ascended by the Stairs of
the City of David at the going up of the wall (not by this time, nor
really "at," but in — ba-maaleth le-chomah, i.e., in the stairway of the
wall by the Stairs of David — a different flight of stairs from the Stairs
of the City of David, which descended into the valley bed).

Their way up these stairs and beyond carried them " above the house
of David, even unto the Water Gate." The house of David here is close by
the king's garden of iii, 15 ; and its position on the slope of the hill
suggests a reason for calling Solomon's palace the king's upper house (or
high house, iii, 25). Some say "the house of David" means David's
tomb ; but if that be so, it only confirms the position which I am led to
assign to the tomb. Observe also that the position required for the
Water Gate here is again that of the present Triple Gate, the same as
in iii, 26.

It deserves particular attention that the processionists pass quickly
from the Stairs of David to the Water Gate, whereas in the re-building
these two places are very wide apart, because the bend of the wall is
followed. In iii, 15, we have the Sepulchres, the Pool, the House of the
Mighty, four more bands of workers, the turning of the wall, the
armoury, the house of Eliashib, the turning, the corner, and the out-
standing tower — all between the point over against the Stairs of David
and the Water Gate ; but none of these things come in the route of the
processionists. This is easy to understand if the wall makes a bay up the
Tyropoean, for then the short cut in the text corresponds with the short
cut in the plan ; but it can hardly be made intelligible on any plan which
omits this bay and carries the wall down to Siloam.

A superficial objection may be raised that the detour up the valley
and via the causeway, avoided by the processionists, would be avoided by
Nehemiah in repairing the walls, for why should he do more than repair
the shoit transverse wall, when his object was speed ? My reply would
be that his object was strength and safety as well as speed. The trans-
verse wall was no sulRcieut protection by itself, there being an easy
approach up the valley, but it was valuable as an addition to the
inner walls. Besides, Nehemiah had workers enough to be engaged
at all parts at once, so that the completion of the work was not at
all delayed by repairing the two north-and -south walls of the bend
simultaneously with the cross wall, and indeed with the walls all round
the city.

The line of wall being established as above, with the positions of David's
House, the gate between two walls, &c., the accuracy of the restoration

96 nehemiah's south wall, and the

may be tested by reading many incidents of the history in the light
of it. The chief importance of the restoi-ation lies in the support
it gives to the view that the City of David included the Ophel hill, and
in the indications afforded of the position of the Sepulchres, the " Gate
between two walls," &c.

Incidents of the History.

TaJdng of Jentsalem hy David. — If the walls on Ophel are to stand
as above, the question arises whether the Eev. W. F. Birch's ingenious
suggestion can be supported, that Joab, by ascending the shafts from the
Virgin's Fountain, effected an entrance into the city ? Apparently not
so, unless a continuation of this series of passages remains to be discovered
— which may be the case. On the other hand, David's camp would be
near the Virgin's Fount, and his attack would be made on this side ; for
the above reading of Nehemiah favours the idea that the Zion or Lower
City which he first captured was on the Ophel hill. David took the lower
city by force, captured the akra afterwards, and joined them together to
be one body — perhaps by the building of Millo, the causeway (Josephus,
Ant. vii, 3, 1).

David's flight and exile; the Spies. — David's house was on Ophel.
This is indicated by tlae references in Nehemiah, and agrees also with such
passages as 1 Kings viii, 1-6, where the ark is brought up out of the City
of David into the TemjDle (and 2 Sam. xxiv, 18 ; 1 Kings ix, 24). When
David decided to flee because of the rebellion of Absalom, he would go
down the Stairs of the City of David and pass out by the gate between
two walls ; and then, as we are told, he passed over the Kedron, ascended
Olivet, and went down towards Jericho to cross the Jordan.

But he left friends behind him at the palace, and it was arranged that
two sons of the priests should act as spies and bring him news (2 Sam.
xvii). They waited outside the city, at En-Eogel, and a wench went and
told them. If we might assume, with so many, that En-Rogel is the
Virgin's Fountain, and might retain the supposition referred to above,
that the rock-cut passages from the Fount could be entered from within
the cit)^, it would be natural to suppose that the spies descended the steps
into the pool, and, when the lowness of the water allowed, passed beyond
the pool into the passage, while the maid servant descended the staircases
from within the city, taking a bucket to draw water, and so escai^ing
suspicion. The spies then hied away to David with the information. The
fact that En-Eogel was chosen as the hiding-place accords well with the
view that David's house was on Ophel ; for the news would come from
the palace, and En-Eogel was certainly somewhere south or south-east of
the city.

The death of Athaliah.—Thk incident affords some indications of
locality, in beautiful agreement with Nehemiah. When this Queeu-mother

LOCALITY OF THE EOYAL SEPULCHRES. 97

heard that her son, the King, had been killed by Jehu, she snatched at tlie
sovereignty for herself, and her policy was to slay all the seed royal. But
one little child escaped, carried oft' by its nurse, and they were secreted
in the Temple by Jehoiada, the High Priest. In the seventh year
Jehoiada assembled the chiefs of the people in the Temple, produced the
little child Joash, stood him upon the platform appropriated to the
kings, and said, This is the rightful heir ! The chiefs shouted their joy,
when Athaliah heard the noise and rushed into the Temple to learn the
cause. That she should hear so readily and find such easy access to the
Temple, accords well with the supposition that she was living in Solomon's
palace, close adjoining the Temple, as Warren places it. When Athaliah
saw the state of things she cried, — " Treason, treason ! " But she found
no friends there. The priest said, " ' Have her forth — slay her not in the
house of the Lord ! ' So they made way for her ; and she went to the
entry of the Horse Gate to the King's house ; and they slew her there "
(2 Chron. xviii, 15 ; 2 Kings xii, 16). It is implied in this narrative that
the Horse Gate was not only by the king's house, but that it was also
the nearest point which could be considered fairly beyond the sacred
precincts ; and this is in full agreement with the position which we have
assigned it.

In the context of the passages just quoted we find that Joash is carried
" by the way of the gate of the guard into the king's house." This gate
must, of course, have beeu on that side of the palace adjoining the Temple
courts ; it was probably due north of the Water Gate {i.e., the Triple
Gate), and it thus again accords with Neh. iii, 25, where the tower
standing out from Solomon's house is said to be " by the court of the
guard." The court of the guard may very well have extended from the
Water Gate without to the Gate of the Guard on the Temple side of the
palace. From Neh. xii, 39, it appears that there was a corresponding
Gate of the Guard at the corresponding point on the north side of the
altar.

The assassination of Joash. — When Joash grew to man's estate he
made changes which displeased his peojile ; and the short statement is
that the conspirators slew him " on his bed," " at the house of Millo that
goeth down to Silla " (2 Kings xii, 20, combined with 2 Chron. xxiv, 25)
This is somewhat obscure. Fuerst says that Silla is the present David
Street, a highway steeply descending. So far as appears it may just as
well be any other descending path ; and I fancy it was the " stairway of
the wall " of Neh. xii, 37, close by the Stairs of the City of David, and
close to the house of David. Joash was slain while going down Silla, not
while going down to Silla, for there is no preposition here in the Hebrew
text. We may suppose that he was living in David's house, and when he
heard of the conspiracy he designed to flee down the Stairs and through
the gate between two walls ; but being a sick man he was being carried
on a litter, as Lewin remarks ; and on this particular stairway, I imagine,
the assassins fell upon him.

98 kehemiah's south wall, etc.

Why David's house should be called the house of Millo is? the next
question, and I can only offer a suggestion. Millo was at first the
northern boundary of the roughly-quadrangular "suburb," but it would,
perhaps, in course of time, give its name to the whole of the enclosed
space, or the whole of the four walls ; and then, because David's house
adjoined the eastern wall of the four, it was called the house of Millo.
After Solomon had built a grander "king's house," there might be a
reason for finding some other term for the house in which David had
dwelt.

The flight of Zedekiah. —J>iot to multiply incidents, let us come now
to the last King of Judah — Zedekiah. In his day Nebuchadnezzar came
up against the city ; and when, by a night surprise, he effected an
entrance at the middle gate of the north wall, Zedekiah took alarm and
fled away at once with his bodyguard. Whether living in Solomon's house
or in David's, his way would be down the Stairs of the City of David into
the bed of the Tyropoean ; and then we are distinctly told that he fled
by the way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls
(2 Kings XXV, 4 ; Jer. xxxix, 4 ; lii, 7). His plan was to take the route
which David had taken when he fled from Absalom.

JeremiaKs prophecy. — In order to encourage the people during the
captivity, Jeremiah predicts that Jerusalem shall be again inhabited and
its borders extended. The measuring line is to go forth over against it
upon the hill Gareb (east or north of the Temple), and shall compass about
to Goath (this seems to be a sweep round the north-western, western, and
south-western parts of the city) ; and the whole valley of the dead bodies
and of the ashes (= Topheth, the broad junction of the present
Hinnom and Tyropoean valleys), and all the fields (eastward) unto
the Brook Kedron (and then northward), uufo the corner of the Horse
Gate toward the east shall be holy unto the Lord (Jer. xxxi, 38).
This reference again confirms the position we have assigned to the Horse
Gate.

Zechariah also describes Jerusalem in its length and breadth. It is
to be lifted up and inhabited " from Benjamin's Gate (wtiich would
seem to be a Temple gate having a north-east position), unto the place of
the fii'st gate ' (the first gate of the city, north-east, but not so much east
as the Benjamin Gate of the Temple), unto the Corner Gate (which was
at the north-west corner of the city, but is passed over in Neh. iii, because
it needs no repair. But see a reference to it in 2 Kings xiv, 13 ; 2 Chron.
XXV, 13). The north and south extremes named by Zechariah are the
Tower of Hananel (same position as Antonia) and the king's wine-presses
(in the neighbourhood of the king's garden, which we have already seen
was near to the gate between two walls).

' As the Hebrew language reads from right to left, so when the gates are
numbered, the counting takes tlie same direction, as does also Nehemiali's
description of tlie repair of the gates and walla.

TWIN SACRED MOUNTS AT JERUSALEM. 99

The " Broad Wall " at Jerusalem.

Was the Broad Wall (of Neh. iii, 8, and xii, 38) broad in its own dimen-
sions, or so named for some other reason ? It may seem to be only an
academical question, but it is really of some importance in our endeavour
to restore the plan of the ancient city. Lewin, in his "Sketch of
Jerusalem," seeks to identify a certain piece of old wall with the Broad
Wall of Scripture, because the piece is a good many feet in thickness
(p. 48). But if the Broad Wall was so named for some other reason, this
identification fails ; and if the true reference of the name can
be discovered, it may be a guide to the actual jjosition of the Broad
Wall.

The Hebrew words are cJiomali rSchdbdh. Rdchdb, with its cognate
forms rdchdb, rechob, &c., convey chiefly the idea of roomy space. In
Job xxxvi, 16, we have " Yea, he would have led thee away out of distress
into a broad place, where there is no straitness." In Gen. xix, 2, the
two angels say to Lot, " We will abide in the street all night," where
" street" is the rendering of rechob. We have rechob again in Neh. viii, 1,
" And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the
broad place that was before the Water Gate," as a congregation for Ezra
to address. This open space appears to me to have been on the hill of
Ophel, south of the Triple Gate. The broad place of Ezra x, 9, may have
been the same. Thus the word seems to be used in much the same way
as we use the word Square or Platz. We come still nearer to it in the
Broad Sanctuary at Westminster.

Now, besides " the Broad " before the Water Gate, there was another
Broad in Jerusalem, in which the excited people were assembled dis-
cussing the approach of Sennacherib, when Hezekiah went to them and
spake comfortably to them (2 Chron. xxxii, 6). This broad place is not
said to be before the Water Gate, but at the Gate of the City ; and the
circumstances favour the idea that it was at the Valley Gate (.Jaffa
Gate), or some gate of the north-western quarter, seeing that Sennacherib
made his approach from the north-west.

The references in Nehemiah require that the Broad Wall should
be in this quarter. May it not signify, therefore, the wall by the
Broad ?

Twin Sacred Mounts at Jerusalem.

In a paper on Kirjath Sepher, in the Quarterly Statement for October,
1888, speaking of the two Sipparas — at Abu Hubba and Agade, on the
two sides of a stream — I remarked, " I find reason to think that the
duality was symbolical, and was important in the astro-religious system,
the two sites standing for the two equinoxes." I said that we might
compare with these twin temples or towers the mound of Birs Nimroud

100 TWIN SACRED MOUNTS AT JERUSALEM.

and the Babil mound, in near ^jroximity but on opposite sides of the
Euphrates. I would add now, that it may be instructive to compare the
summit of Moriah and the knoll of the traditional Calvary covered by
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

These two mounts at Jerusalem were probably sacred before the
Israelitish occupation, and we need not be surprised if some of the tradi-
tions which relate to them prove to have come down from heathen
sources. The parallel with the sacred mounts of other nations is indicated
by the following circumstances : —

The mount was made the site of a temple : on the mount at Borsippa
the Temple of Nebo ; at Sippara the Temple of Shamas, the sun-god ; at
Moriah (eventually) the Temple of Jehovah.

The temple often was over a well. Mariette describes the pyramid
(which was an artificial mount) built of enormous stones covering the well
as with a massive lid. In the Birs-Nimroud inscription, Nebuchadnezzar
says that, when he finished building the Tower of the Seven Planets at
Borsippa, which former kings had begun, he found that the water-springs
beneath it had not been kept in order.' Under the Dome of the Eock at
Jerusalem we know there is the sacred and mysterious well— the " well

of souls."

The rock or mount was spoken of as a foundation stone of the universe.
Nebo is called " the bond of the universe," and his temple at Borsippa
was " the house of the seven bonds of heaven and earth." The sun-god
of Sippara comes forth from the foundation of the sky.^ In the temple
enclosure of Bel-Merodach was a tower of eight stages, called the house of
the foundation stone of heaven and earth. It is pointed out by Lewin
(" Sketch of Jerusalem," 15), that the Temple of Solomon stood on the
summit of a series of successive terraces, fashioned in imitation of the
Assyrian style of ai'chitecture, and we know that in Mohammedan
tradition the sacred rock of Moriah is " the foundation stone of the
world." Compare also the Scripture expressions, " The mountain of the
house " " Behold I lay in Zion a foundation stone," " Our Kock is not as
their rock," " Upon this rock I will build my church " in place of the
temple which occupies the rock at present.*

The rock at Borsippa was the symbol of the equinox, as I am led to
think. The temple of Nebo was built upon the rock to set forth that
the astro-religious system was built upon the equinox as its foundation
and starting point. I have collected ample evidence of this, but it is not
necessary here to elaboi-ate it.

Tlie system dates from the time when the equinoxes were astronomi-
cally connected with the constellations Taurus and Scorpio, which are of
course half a circle apart in the zodiac, as the equinox dates are half a

1 Mariette, " Mon. Upper Egypt," p. 73, Eng. trans. Gerald Massey,
'• Natiiral Genesis," ii, 192.

2 Sayce, " Hibbert Lectures," 96, 115, 174.

"* This is a new interpretation of the passage ; but I can substantiate it.

TWIN SACRED MOLTNTS AT JERUSALEM. 101

year apart in the calendar. The spring equinox was in the Bull, the
autumn equinox in the Scorpion, and the spring equinox as the beginnino-
of the year, and of the cycle, was the foundation. Of course, then, autumn
and the Scorpion were opposite the foundation, and almost as important
as the foundation itself. Accordingly, in the Accadian year (whence was
derived the Assyrian) the month which corresponded to the Semitic Tasrit
or Tisri, and our September was called "the month of the illustrious
mound ; "' and the sign Scorpio is said to face the foundation. In the
Proceedings Soc. Bib. Arch., Feb. 5th, 1889, Mr. Brown has the follow-
ing : — " The Akkadian name of the eighth month is connected with
' Foundation,' and Professor Sayce remarks, ' M. Ernest de Bunsen has
shown that Scorpio was taken as the starting point of the primitive
calendar ('Transactions,' iii, 163) ; but the name may mean 'Opposite
to the Foundation" vide Sayce, 'The Babylonian Astronomy,' in
' Monthly Notices ' of the Eoyal Astronomical Society, xi, 3, p. 117),
i.e., to the second month and the Bull, as (at one time) Leader of the
Signs."

The mounts and temples were connected with oracles and writincrs.
Nebo is called the divine scribe, the author of the oracle, the creator of
the written tablet.^ The royal library at Nineveh stood within the
precincts of the Temj^le of Nineveh. At Si])para, in the temple of the
sun-god Mr. Rassam has found thousands of written tablets-, besides a
great work on astronomy and astrology. In the temple on Mount
Moriah were enshrined the ai'k of the covenant and the Books of the
Law. There is even a tradition that these are hidden in the sacred
"well of souls."

The mounts and the writings were more or less connected with
traditions of the Deluge. Xisuthros, the Chaldean Noah, was the author
of writings concerning the antediluvian world, which he buried at
Sippara. The Tower of Babel was to have its head above the reach of
any future deluge. A story is sometimes told at Jerusalem that the
Mount Calvary was called Golgotha, the place of a skull, or the skull-hill
because the skull of Adam was washed uj) there by the Deluge.

The little mount covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands
by Moriah as a twin sacred mount, not only in natural position, but as a
nucleus of similar traditions. Tradition says that Adam is buried there
and that Christ was to be buried there, so that the second Adam mi^ht
be with the first. The twin mounts are diametrically opposed : Adam
being buried at Golgotha, Mohammed rises from the Sakhrah into heaven
— death and resurrection are symbolically connected with the two mounts.
In the Quarterly Statement, October, 1888, Mr. Simpson gives us Herr
Schick's careful drawings of the particular object which marks, in the
Greek Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Middle of the World, and refers

1 Sayce, " Hibbert Lectures," 406.

2 Sayce, 9, 114.

102

EREATA.

to the leijend of Adam's burial there. That the Mohammedans should
place Adam and the Middle of the World at Mecca, and not at Jerusalem,
is only natural ; for representative or symbolical mounts were adopted or
reared in many places. The Greek navel of the -world was at Delphi, for
the like astronomical reason.

Now, if there is any ground for the parallel I have suggested, it -may
be worth inquiry, what bearing these facts have upon the question of the
true site of Calvary. It is clear that the mount which the legends couple
with Moriah is that over which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands,
and not the one at the Grotto of Jeremiah. On the other hand, the
immemorial sanctity of the site would hardly be a reason for making it a
place for executions, unless to desecrate it, though it might very well be
a reason for building temples or churches over it.

George St. Clair.

EERATA.

1889. P;

iige 38, line 7. Omit as.

41, ,, 7. After as read if.

46, ,, 18. Omit present.

46, ,, 23. For in read into.

43, „ 24. Before were read both.

46, „ 28. Omit marked.

50, „ 18. Before nine read of.

QOARTERLT STATEMENT, JuLY, 1889.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

NOTES AND NEWS.

With this number is issued an account of the Survey of Tell 'Abil, the
"Abila of the Decapolis," by Herr Schumacher; it is printed with large
margins, and may be bound up with the Quarterly Statement, or with " Pella."
Tlie price of this number to the general public is 3*. 6d.

Herr Schick has forwarded an elaborate description of the Mount of Olives,
together with a report of alterations and excavations recently made there. He
mentions that on that part of the Mount called by the Arabs Ktirm e.s Saiad,
and by the Cliristians Viri GalilaoB, which has for some years been in pos-
session of the Greek Church, an ancient Christian cemetery has been dis-
covered, containing three rows of well built masonry tombs. Not far from
tlie same spot an extensive series of catacombs has been opened, which the
Greek Bishop Epiphanius, thinks may be the " peristereon " mentioned by
Jcsephus in describing the wall of circumvallation erected by the Romans
during the siege. Some of these tombs were apparently of Jewish origin,
afterwards altered and used by the Christians, who added greatly to their
uuuiber. Herr Schick remarks the frequency with which the loculi are found
in groups of three, and that there is no uniformity as to their direction. Many
crosses were found cut in the rock, but if there were ever any inscriptions they
have been defaced. He also notes several small pools or tanks in the midst of
these tombs, which he regards as being intended to collect the water coming
into the cavern during the rainy season, in order that the loculi and the path-
way might be kept dry. Many objects of interest were found during the exca-
vations, as a mosaic slab with Greek inscription, Jewish and Greek coins, more
than forty Roman tiles bearing a stamp which Herr Schick thinks is that of tlie
Tenth Legion, a number of jars and vases in glass and earthenware, and an
iron spear head.

104 KOTES AND NEWS.

Her Schick also reports the discovery of an ancient church opposite the bar-
racks in tlie Tarik Bab Sitti Maryam. West of the Chapel of the Flagellation
there had for many years been a waste place, containing debris covering ruins, and
walled up on the side next the street. The Franciscans have recently removed
this accumulation of rubbish, and laid bare the walls of a small church and some
buildings adjoining it erected round a small courtyard, having the rock for its
llooring. The walls of the church are 5 feet or more high. At the eastei'n end
are three apses, in the northern of which an altar is still preserved. The
llooring consists of large hard polished stones. It is curious that the south-
western corner of the building rests on the eastern of the twin pools, and that
a cistern was erected there at a later period.

A rejjort of further discoveries in G-alilee has been received from Herr
Schumacher. Some workmen were chasing a hare on the road between Haifa
and Nazareth, when the animal disappeared into a small opening hidden by a
bush. This opening was found to lead into a sepulchral cliamber excavated in
the rock, and having four kokim, containing four sarcophagi of pottery ware,
resembling tliat found at 'Abellin, and described by the late Mr. Lawrence
Oliphant in Quarterly Statement^ 1886, page 80. Mr. Scliumacher has examined
the caves discovered some time ago at Shefa 'Amr, which are now converted into
cisterns, and sends a drawing of the very curious ornamentation over the
entrance and on each side of the rock-cut vestibule. He has also visited and
examined the famous cave of Jessas, which, after being nearly forgotten by the
Bedawin and Fellahin of the district, was re-discovered last winter. He found
in it a large number of human skulls and other bones. A second cave was also
shown to him in which he found human skulls.

The " Answers " to the " Questions " are now beginning to yield results.
On p. 120 will be found a report by Major Conder on the first batch received.

The present number contains an important report and plans of the large
cistern recently discovered near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The cistern
has 18 piers, and measures 102 feet long by 34 feet broad {see page 111). Some
additional notes with sections will be published in the next number.

It is curious to note that the situation of this immense cistern is nearly the
same as that of tlie church of St. Marie Latine, as shown on Plate VIII. of
Count de Yogue's " Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte."

Mr. Guy le Strange's long-expected work on the descriptions of Palestine
left us by the medieval Arab geograjiliers and travellers, will be published in
the autumn. The book will be called " Palestine under the Moslems." Four

NOTES AND NEWS. 105

years liave been spent in gathering together the materials, and transhiting (from
the Arabic and Persian) the various Moslem accounts of Palestine, which,
beginning in the middle of the ninth century, reach in unbroken succession
down to the close of the fifteenth century of our era. It is expected that the
work will prove one of lasting interest ; and it should be noted that nothing of
the kind has ever hitherto been attempted by any other Orientalist.

After a general description of the physical features of Syria and Palestine,
as noted by the early Moslem writers, followed by an account of the products
and commerce of the country in the middle ages, the next succeeding chapters
will be devoted to Jerusalem. The many detailed descriptions of the great
Aksa Mosque, and of the Dome of the Rock, prior to the first Crusade, will be
given, translated, in extenso. The varioiis points raised are next discussed, the
descriptions being illustrated by plans of the various buildings, at the different
epochs, expressly drawn for the present publication. Next, the history of the
many other buildings in the Haram Area will be notiued, and the question of the
ancient Gates as much as possible elucidated. Several plans of the Haram Area
at the different epochs will help to render these descrijDtions clear to those who
have not visited Jerusalem. In this section of the work a mass of evidence
derived from contemporai'y authorities has now been brought together (nearly
the whole of which is taken from texts that have never before been translated
into any European language), proving conclusively that the Dome of the Rock
was built by the Arabs, and was not a Christian edifice perverted by the Moslems
from its original pvirpose. The late Mr. Fergusson's celebrated theory, therefore,
that the Dome of the Rock is the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre, falls
to the ground. In the later chapters on Jerusalem the Arab descriptions of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the accounts of the descent of the so-called
Holy Fire, with notices of many of the other holy places of Jerusalem, found
in the works of Moslem writers, will be brought together and discussed.

Damascus and the glories of the Great Mosque (before Timour burnt it to
the ground) wiU form the subject of the succeeding chapter, which will contain
the description of the city of the Omayyad Calijjhs, given in the diaries of Arab
and Persian pilgrims. Next will follow the descriptions of the other great
provincial towns of Palestine and Syria, such as Ramleh, Hebron (with trans-
lations of the various accounts of visits to the Cave of Machpelah), Acre, Tyre,
Sidon, Tiberias, Aleppo, Antioch, and other cities of Northern Syria. In a
separate chapter there will be brought together certain curious legends and
marvellous accounts of caves, " menhirs, " temples and wondrous sights
including descriptions of the Seven Sleepers and their Cave, said to have been
visited by many of the early Moslem travellers. The second part of the work
will contain, arranged in alphabetical order, all the notices of the minor towns
villages, and places in Palestine and Syria mentioned by the Arab geographers
and historians. A f uU index giving the Arabic transcrijition of all the names
will be a necessary adjunct; the Arabic form of the place-names being often of
great importance in the identification of Biblical (Hebrew) sites.

H 2

106 NOTES AND NEWS.

The delay in bringing out the work has been caused by the great quantity of
translations from the original Arabic (and Persian) authorities needed in order
to set before the reader the descriptions, various as to authors and epochs, left
by the Moslem conquerors of the Holy Land. All the translations given have
been made, at first hand, by Mr. le Strange, from the original Oriental texts.
The work, it is hoped, will prove a mine of information rendered available to
those who are unacquainted with Eastern Languages, while those whose know-
led "e allows them to refer to the originals may verify each statement and the
words of the translations, for special care is taken in every case to give the
reference to the original authority. The Bible and the Early Christian (Eoman
and Byzantine) writers give the history of the sites in the Holy Laud down to
the seventh century, A.D., when the Arabs conquered Syria. The present work
completes the Bibhcal, Classical, and Early Christian accounts, and brings the
historv of the Holy Places down to the present day. Those who have visited
Palestine, or know the country from the worlis of modern travellers, will be
interested to compare their recollections with the descriptions left by the
medieval Arabs, and the reading of the Crusading Chronicles will gain, in many
details by a refei-ence to the Moslem writers, who were the contemporaries of
Saladin and Kichard Coeur de Lion.

The first volume of the " Survey of Eastern Palestine," by Major Conder, is
now ready and being issued to subscribers. It is accompanied by a map of the
portion of country surveyed, special plans, and upwards of 350 drawings of
ruins, tombs, dolmens, stone circles, inscriptions, &c. The edition is limited to
50L). The first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas for the three volumes, with
au index ; subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine " are jDrivileged
to have the volumes for this sum. The price will be raised, after 250 names
are received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are -pledged never to let any
copies be subscribed under the sum of seven guineas. Mr. A. P. Watt,
2, Paternoster Square, is the Sole Agent. The attention of intending sub-
scribers is directed to the announcement on the inside of the cover of this
number.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country,
which can be found in no other publications. It must never be forgotten that
no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all the instruments necessary foe can-ying out their work. The
books are the following {the ivhole set can be obtained by ap^plication to
Mr. George Armstrong, for 37*. Gd., carriage jjakl) : —

NOTES AND NEWS. 107

By Major Conder, R.E. —

(1) " Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the survey of Western

Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
traveller has enjoyed tlie same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Heth and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Eastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesli— of the
children of Heth ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Conder's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — This is a popular account of the Geolo-

gical ExpecUtion conducted by Professor HviU for the Committee of
the Palestine Fimd. The part which deals with the Valley of Arabah
will be found entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

tion of Major Conder's works issued as instalments of the unpublished
" Survey of Eastern Palestine." They are full of di'awings, sketches, and
plans, and contain many valuable remarks upon manners and customs.

(8) The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work. — A copy of this book is presented

to every subscriber to the Fund who applies for it. The work is a
popiilar account of the researches conducted by the Society during the
past twenty-one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by tliis Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's Kh. Fahil. The ancient Pella, the first retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

108 NOTES AND NEWS.

(10) Names and Places in tlie Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

tlieir modern identifications, with reference to Josepbiis, the Memoirs, and
Quarterli/ Statements.

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.

The Committee have added to tlieir list of publications the new echtion
of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant and E. H. Palmer (Bentley &
Son). It can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for 5*. Qd., by appli-
cation to the Head Office only. The "History of Jerusalem," which was
originally pubUshed in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later works on the same subject.
It begins with tlie siege by Titus and continues to the fom-teenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-known
ejjisodes in the history of the city and the country.

The publications for the year 1889, besides those already mentioned, include
Schumacher's "Abila" and Ids "Southern Ajlun." The former is appended
to the present number of the Quarterly Statement.

Mr. Harper's important work on tlie Illustrations of the Bible obtained from
modern researches and observation, is also in the printer's hands, and will be
out in the autumn. Its contents, &c., will be duly announced.

Branch Associ»tions of the Bible Society, all Sunday Schools in union vdth
the Sunday School Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan
Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Eesolution of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
purchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
price.

The fi-iends of the Society are earnestly requested to use the " Memoirs
of Twenty-one Years' Work " as a means of showing what the work has been,
and what remains to be done.

NOTES AND NEWS. 109

The income of the Society, from March 2l8t to June I7th, inclusive, was —
from subscriptions and donations, 299/. 0*. lid. ; from all sources, 523/. 1*-. lOd.
The expenditure during the same period was 427/. 16*. lOd. On June 17th
the balance in the Bank was 362/. lis. lid.

It does not seem generally known that cases for binding the Quarterly
Statement can be had by subscribers on application to the office.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following : —

1. Index to the Quarterly Statement, 1869-1880 ;

2. Cases for Ilerr Schumacher's " Jaulan ; "

3. Cases for the Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate-
Can be had by application to the office at Is. each.

« Early numbers of the Quarterly Statement are yery rare. In order to make
up complete sets the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

No. II, 1869 ; No. VII, 1870 ; No. Ill (July) 1871 ; January and
April, 1872 ; January, 1883, and Janiiary, 1886.

It has come to the knowledge of the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of the Society. The Committee have to
caution subscribers that they have no book hawkers in their employ, and that
none of their works are sold by any itinerant agents.

While desiring to give every publicity to pi'oposed identifications and other
theories advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of the
Quarterly Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanction nor adopt
them.

110 NOTES AND NEWS.

The only authorised lecturers for the Society are —

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, F.G.S., Member of tlie Anthropological Institute

and of the Society, of Biblical Archaeology.

His subjects are : —

(1) The General Exploration of Palestine.

(2) Jerusalem Buried and Recovered.

(3) Buried Cities, Egypt and Palestine.

(4) Buried Cities of Mesopotamia, with some account of the

Hittites.

(5) The Moahite Stone and the Pedigree of the English Alphabet.

Address : Geo. St. Clair, Bristol Koad, Birmingham, or at the Office of
the Fund.

(2) The Eev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His

lectures ai'e on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving views :" —

The Surveg of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(J$) The Rev. James King, Vicar of St. Mary's, Berwick. His subjects are
as follows : —

The Survey of Western Palestine.

Jerusalem.

The mttites.

The Moabite Stone and other monuments.

(4) The Rev. Thomas Harrison, F.R.G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects are as follows : —

(1) Research and Discovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Track of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

Key Plan Shewing Position
OF THE Large Cistern.

TrcLC^A ¥romy Flcxrv of ^erit^aletn
in- AprlJ. Quxii-terly StaXanent.

Plan of the Large Cistern.

Srecuith, of WioJlr turt Itrunvrv

Plan of the Roof of Large Cistern.

l» ' , , 1 I I I ' I I

ni I i ! I ! : ; i I ; 1
''■" ! ; I; ;; i; I!

i'Min'jt 'yt^t'w- %'wJ/^t
I 1 1 ' ' 11 'I 1 1 '1 ''III II 1 1

\^ovilth''D\

I'll' ;,„ I ■ 11^

Main Street

EAST

Scale
Feet io i 0 lO 20 30 40 50 so '0 ao 90 loe ''C^r

E WkUtsr, lith.

Herr Conva-ct Sclnck

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM.

Large Cistern under the new Greek Building south-east of
THE Church of the Holt Sepulchre.

In several of my former reports mention is made of the discovery of a
large cistern under the new Greek building erected on the site of the old
Byzantine market {Quarterly Statement, 1888, pp. 17, 58), south of the
Abyssinian Convent and St. Helena's Chapel.

Two of the three mouths of this cistern were known, but the extent
and depth of it were unknown and could not be ascertained until the
earth and silt, of which it was full, were removed. This was done by the
Greek Convent about a year ago, some eight months being occupied in
clearing the cistern out, and as the progress of this work went on the
enormous construction astonished everyone who had seen it.

I have examined and measured it thoroughly in all its parts ; the
result I give in the accompanying plans.

1. — Plan of the bottom of the cistern.

2. — Plan of the roof over the double arches.

The cistern was found to be 102 feet long (east to west), and 34 feet
6 inches wide. The depth at the western end (measuring from the flooring
of the new shop) is 34 feet, and at the eastern end 50 feet 6 inches ; the
bottom is all rock and very uneven.

At the west end is a flight of stejjs, the last four being cut out of
the rock ; there are 18 piers in two rows at equal distances, two of which
are on the steps. The bases of the piers are round, measuring 3 feet in
diameter, and composed of one or two stones from 1 foot 6 inches to
5 and 6 feet in height ; the upper jiart of these piers is not round like
the bases, but flat on two sides and round at the others.

I am unable to give any reason for this peculiarity in the shape of the
upper stones, unless they were part of the remains of a former building,
or more probably of the second wall.

The piers are connected at the top by arches, each arch from east to
west consisting of seven well cut stones, and from north to south usually
of nine stones without the springing stone, the back being filled up with
masonry, over which is a layer of flag stones 4 feet 2 inches square,
forming a platform on which aie erected three rows of square piers,
18 in each row, each pier measuring 2 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 4 inches and
5 feet in height, and a little over 3 feet apart, each alternate pier standing
over one of the lower ones. The spaces between them are filled up with
earth, and over the whole is another layer of flag stones similar to
those below, on which the walls of the new Greek building are erected.

112 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM.

Tlie steps, with the exception of the four large ones, are 1 foot in
height and 1 foot 3 to 4 inches in width. They led originally in a straight
line to the top, but now the upper and narrower part turns eastwards and
leads into the shop. On account of the steps one of the flag stones is
placed on the top of another.

From the street a gutter leads the surface water into the cistern,
falling on a short pillar erected on the bottom of it to soften the fall
and prevent injury to the cement when the water is low.

The cistern has now been entirely repaired, but as some of the old
cement was still clinging to the sides of it, I could not ascertain whether
the walls were all masonry or not ; possibly a portion may be scarped
rock, but I doubt it.

The rock surface at the bottom is very uneven, it presented the
appearance of stones having been quarried there ; it falls greatly towards
the east where the cistern is deepest, and rises to a point near the
middle to within 10 feet of the springing of the arch from the top of the
pier.

It is remarkable that the deepest point of the cistern is about the
same level as the rock of the shaft I had sunk on the Eussian property.
The new cistern sunk in the debris by the Eussians is about 75 to 80 feet
east of it, and I have come to the conclusion that the space between the
old and new cisterns is nothing else but debris and earth.

At a point in the yard or court in front of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre the rock is only a few feet from the surface, and along the side
of the Convent of Abraham there is a kind of cesspool, which I examined
and ascertained the form of the rock some years ago.

The question now arises, when and by whom was this enormous
cistern constructed ? My impression is that it was made when Constau-
tine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as the work of it is clearly
neither Jewish, Mohammedan, nor Crusading, and the vaults do not
resemble the latter work in the Muristan.

It may also have formed a part of the trench when the second wall
ran through this neighbourhood.

The Bordeaux Pilgrim, a.d. 333, visiting Jerusalem when the Church
was built, speaks of two cisterns, one to the north and one to the south
of the Basilica of Constantine ; the south one will be the large cistern
described above, and the north one that of " Helena," so called, under
the Co])tic Convent, which, however, is in the greater part hewn in
the rock, as it formed at that time the cistern of the Castle erected
there.'

' Mr. Schick is preparing sections and other drawings showing the details of
this important discovery, and these, with further notes on the subject, will
appear in the next (Quarterly Statement.

EECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM. 113

II.

The Muristan.

A BRIEF history of the Muristan, with plans, is given in Quarterly State-
ments, 1872, p. 100, and 1875, p. 77. Sir Charles Warren, in his
" Eecovery of Jerusalem," describes the excavations he made there ; it is
also described in many other books in various languages so that there is
no need for me to do it once more, but I would only wish to add that the
name by which the place is known is not Arabic, but Persian and
Turkish, signifying an institution or hospital for insane people, to which
it was devoted by Salah ed Din after it was wrested from the Christian
knights.

When the eastern part of the place was handed over in 1869 by the
Sultan to the King of Prussia (the late Emperor William), the great
accumulation of debris was partly removed, exposing the ruins that lay
under it. I examined them and made a plan as far as the rubbish had
been cleared away (^Quarterly Statement, 1872, p. 100). Three years later
the work proceeded, and I made a second and more extended plan, together
with a section showing the surface of the rock, which I gave to Captain
Conder, and which was used, together with a section of the lie of the rock, by
Sir Charles Warren in his great Portfolio of Plates (No. 50). Since that
time excavations have been carried on at intervals exposing more vaults,
ruins, &c., which I noted and added to the plan as they appeared. Most
unfortunately, in clearing away the debris for the foundation of a new
building I found, to my great sorrow, that on the old masonry being
reached the workmen at once began to lay the stones of the new walls on
it, thereby preventing any further examination of the masonry below.
The rock was not reached in any one point.

On the west side of the " Church Maria Major " is an under-
ground chamber 17 feet from east to west, and 14 feet wide, covered with
a cross vault ; the pier is built of large and well-hewn stones, the walls
are not so well done. But the interesting part is a rather flat arch just
under the vault, 2 feet 6 inches wide and 1 foot 8 inches thick, con-
sisting of about twelve well dressed stones, in which are pierced two holes
of about one foot square.

West of this chamber, and on a somewhat higher level, a flight of
broad steps was found leading up to a kind of platform or terrace, having
near its centre the mouth of a cistern, which, on being cleared of earth,
was found to be 26 feet long by 15 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and rock
at the bottom. On the west side of this terrace are some steps of well-
hewn stones ; in the corner is a quarter pillai", and south of it a half
projecting pillar ; between these was originally an arch and an opening,
now walled up. To the west is a vault joining the Gethseniane convent,
having a large arched opening in the south wall and ttree small ones on
the north.

Close to the steps is a small chamber with two recesses in the wall,

114 RECENT DISCOVEEIES IN JERUSALEM.

which I thought would lead to a tomb, but the excavations were not
carried far enough to determine this, and the parts were partly built over
again according to the new plan.

South of the cistern are some vaults, built of very small stones, with
very thick piers, of no great interest, excepting that a door leads from
them to a long row of vaults on the same level, and also by some steps
to the roof over them. (3n the top of this roof or terrace, and right over a
thick pier, is the base of a circle of twelve pillars, which I suggest to have
been a font, as there is no evidence of any counter piers or similar bases.
The western side of this terrace has a wall reaching to a higher elevation,
having two openings in it for lighting the vaults below. Some steps
lead to another terrace higher uja, on which once stood a series of very
small chambers. The best preserved of them has been apparently an
oriental bath, with a beautifulh^ oi'namented door.

East of the cistern and vaults already mentioned there ajapears to have
been a narrow lane, partly arched over, of the Crusading period, and near
the end of this lane,^ on the west side, is a block of inferior masonry
having five small cemented tanks with a hole in the bottom of each —
the two outer ones circular, the other three are 5 feet square and 4 feet
deep.

For illustration of the connecting pipes with the cistern found by
Sir Charles Warren in the year 1867, see large Portfolio, Plate 50,
number 36.

Careful examination of the long cistern and some arches in the German
]5art brought me to the conclusion that a street ran through these parts
in Jewish times, and had been partly hewn in the rock. I hope that in
dealing away the portions necessary for the construction of a new street
between the German and Greek properties, some additional information
will be obtained.

III.

Crusading Ruins on Mount Scopus.

An Effendi family of Jerusalem have recently built two new houses to
the north of the Tombs of the Kings, on the lower slope of Mount Scopus,
to the west of and close to the Nablus road, immediately north of the spot
where the latter makes a sharp turn to the east and between the numbers
2543 and 2555-8 on the Ordnance Survey Map. Another member of this
family is about to build another house, opposite those already erected and
to the east of the road. On clearing the ground he discovered a cistern
and also a small ruined building with a mosaic floor and a large cross cut
in a stone slab. On visiting the spot I found a boundary wall nearly

1 In a plan published by Count de Yogue, at page 174 of his " Eglises de la
Terre Sainte," a lane is marked between the Church of Ste. Marie la Grande
and the Muristan.

RECENT DISCO VEEIES IN JERUSALEM. 115

6 feet thick, enclosing a piece of ground about 130 feet long on the west,
125 feet on the east, a little more than 100 feet on the north, and 142 feet
on the south. The wall has been destroyed in some places, only a heap of
stones being left. The ground is level from west to east, but rises slightly
from south to nortli. About the middle of it was found a mosaic pavement
of coloured stones. Traces of widls are still visible. Apparently they
had formed a small room or chajjel, measuring about 16 or 17 feet.
The entrance was on the south side ; the threshold is still in situ, with the
sockets in it for the door. The doorway was only 3 feet 2 inches broad.
Running from it across the interior of the building was a pavement 2 feet
5 inches wide, consisting of seven stone slabs, carefully hewn and
smoothed. The first of these had been recently removed, and made into a
well mouth. Nothing was found undei: it. The fifth and sixth slabs are
longer than the others, and on the sixth is engraved a cross 3 feet long,
with a cross bar of about 2 feet. The cutting is 2 inches deep and about
.') inches wide, but the limbs of the cross are widened at the extremities
and the ends cut so as to form sharp angles. The cross is embraced by a
round rod or cord, of 1 inch thickness. The bearing is north 17° east.
As the floor of the chamber is level, whilst the ground outside rises
towards the north, its noithern wall is a rock scarp several feet high.
The earth on the east was not yet removed. On the western side two
layers of stones are seen to remain, and on the south side one. The stones
are 1 foot 4 inches long and 1 foot high, not well dressed, and apparently
intended to be plastered over on the inner side. It is remarkable that the
west wall does not run at a right angle but is slanting, so that at first I
tliouo-ht it to be a later restoration. This, however, does not seem to be
the case. To the south-west of this wall is a ruin with thick walls and
formerly vaulted. The whole settlement appears to be Crusading, though
there may have been some Byzantine buildings at an earlier date, and to
these I would ascribe the mosaic flooring and the rock scarp. South of
the court is a small rock-hewn cistern. Along the western boundary it is
easy to recognise the ancient road ; the present road is 60 feet farther to
the west.

The question now arises, What was this building? Was it a tomb or
a chapel ? Or was it a tomb and chapel I It is impossible at present to
determine. It may be that under the slab with the cross a tomb may be
found. But I doubt it, as in that case a path paved with similar slabs
would not have led up to it. To me it seems that where the cross now is an
altar once stood, and that the enclosure was uncovered, like Joseph's tomb
at Nablus, or only roofed with wood, as the walls are not strong enough
to support a vault. The other ruin would then be the lodging of the
giiardian of the place. Perhaps some distinguished knight may have

fallen or been buried here.

3. With regard to the Pool Bethesda, I have nothing new to com-

mimicate, as very little work has been done since I sent my last report.

I am told that after Easter the excavations will be resumed. The same

is the case at the Latin Patriarchate.

116 EECENT DISCOVEKIES IN JERUSALEM.

4. A French congregation has bought a piece of ground on the slope
of tlie hill east of Neby Dafid, half way down, and are now excavating
there. I went to the place and inspected what has been found, and am
making drawings and a report, which I hojie to forward by next mail.

5. The Greek bishop also is excavating on the top of Mount Olivet

(the Galilee part). He has invited me to go and see what has been done,

promising to show me everything.

C. Schick.

IV.

Discoveries North of Damascus Gate.

The year before last a rock-cut channel was discovered in the ground
belono-ing to the Dominicans, north-west of the hill above Jeremialrs
Grotto, a little to the east of the ruined church described at page
388 of the Jerusalem volume of the "Survey of Western Palestine."
Thinking it might prove to be an aqueduct connected with the ancient
water supply of the city, Mr. Schick made some excavations on the spot,
and discovered that the trench, which is cut 14 feet deep in the rock,
runs 44 feet in a northerly direction, then turns at a right angle towards
the east, and at a distance of 29 feet makes another turn towards the
south, in which course it runs for 44 feet, and then turning westward for
29 feet joins the southern end of the portion first described, thus
enclosing a solid mass of rock, measuring some 40 feet by 25 feet. The
trench, therefore, is not part of an aqueduct, but, as Mr. Schick now
thinks, represents the commencement of the work of excavating a tank
or cistern, and is a valuable illustration of the way in which these
receptacles for water were made in ancient tinies. After visiting the
place in the month of February of the present year, Mr. Schick writes :
" As the ground where I excavated for the supposed aqueduct is now
entirely cleared, it is easy to see that when this deep groove was hewn
in the rock it was intended to make a tank or pool, and to quarry stone
for buildino- at the same time. It is evident that this was done in the
Jewish period, and that the Christians aftei'wards filled up the cutting."
Another pool was afterwards discovered by the monks to the south
of this incomplete one examined by Mr. Schick, and separated from it
by a wall of rock 5 feet tliick. This pool is also cut in the rock, but,
owinw to the shelving of the rock, the south-western corner is formed of
a wall of hewn stones, amongst which are two pieces of pillar shafts,
which Mr. Schick regards as proof that the pool was in use in Crusading
times.

The whole ground was measured, and a plan of the ancient remains
sent home by Mr. Schick. He finds remains attributable to five epochs,
namely, the Jewish, Byzantine, Crusading, Mohammedan, and modern.
To the Jewish period belong, he considers, the rock-cut tombs at the foot

EEl
FI

3y I
in E

i\lETEOKOLOGlCAL OBSEKVATIONS. 117

of the hill over Jeren)iah's Grotto, one of which was regarded by the late
General Gordon as the tomb of our Lord, also some rock-cuttings, a
quarry, and several of the rock-hewn cisterns. To the Byzantine jieriod
he attributes the church above alluded to, some walls and thresholds of
doors, a group of three tombs partly hewn in the rock, some fragments of
pillars and pieces of mosaic pavement, and adds that the flooring of the
Crusading buildings lay about 4 feet 6 inches higher than that of the
Byzantine structures, so that the rock-hewn channel and mosaic pave-
ments were covered by it. " A characteristic feature of Crusading work,"
Mr. Schick writes, " is presented in the long vaults, four of which
are in great part still standing north of the Byzantine church. They
were originally more than 75 feet long and are only 23 feet wide. Such
vaults are always found on the settlements of the Crusaders, some larger,
some smaller, and either only one or more in number. They get light
onlv from the two ends and from the door and windows over the door.
The vaulting is always something more than a semicircle, and moi'e or less
jjointed. There are a few air-holes, like chimneys, in the roof. They
appear to have been used as magazines for various kinds of goods,
sleeping places for pilgrims, and even as stables. A long narrow pit,
formerly, as it seems, a cistern, or rather channel for r-ain water, was
ai'ched over by the Crusaders and made the niain sewer of their establish-
ment." {See (Quarterly Statement, 1883, p. 241.)

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona, 1884.

The numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; the maximum for the year was 30"262 ins.,
in January. In the years 1880 and 1881 the maximum was in January,
as in this year, in 1882 in February, and in 1883 in December ; the mean
of the four preceding highest pressures was 30'215 ins.

In column 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29"505 ins., in April. In the year 1880 the minimum
was in April, in 1881 in February, in 1882 in July, and in 1883 in
January; the mean of the four preceding lowest pressures was 29"r)2I ins.

The range of barometric readings in the year was 0'757 inch ; the
mean of the four preceding years being 0"694 inch.

The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of readings in each
month ; the smallest, 0"219 inch, was in October, and the largest, 0 584 inch,
in January.

The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere ; the greatest, 30'010 ins., was in January. In the years
1880, 1881, and 1882, the greatest was in Januaiy as in this year, and in
1883 was in February ; the smallest, 29'707 ins., was in August. In the
years 1880, 1882, and 1883, the smallest was in July, and in 1881 in
August.

118 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in
cohimn 5 ; the highest in the year was 100°, in October. In the four pre-
ceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1883, the highest temperatures
were 103°, 106°, 93°, and 106° respectively. The next in order was 98° in
May, and 97° in both April and June. The first day in the year the
temperature reached 90° was on April 13, and it exceeded 90° on three
other days in this month : in May on one day ; in June on four days ; in
July on one day ; in August on one day, and in October it reached or
exceeded 90° on three days ; the highest in the year, 100°, took place on
the 16th ; therefore the temperature reached or exceeded 90° on 14 days ;
in the year 1880 on 36 days ; in 1881 on 27 days ; in 1882 on 8 days, and
in 1883 on 16 days in the year.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature in each month.
The lowest in the year was 32" in January ; the next in order was 38° in
December, and 41° in February. In January the temperature was as low
as 32° on two nights, and below 40° on six other nights in this month,
and on one night in December ; therefore the temperature was below 40°
on 9 nights in the year ; in 1880 it was below 40° on 13 nights ; in 1881
on 2 nights ; in 1882 on 13 nights, and in 1883 on 2 nights.

The yearly -range of temperature was 68° ; in the four preceding years
viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1883 the yearly ranges of temperature were 71°,
67°, 59°, and 71° respectively.

The range of temperature in each month is shown in column 7, and
these numbers vary from 24° in February to 51° in March.

The mean of all the highest temperatures by day, of the lowest by
night, and of the avei^age daily ranges of temperature are shown in
columns 8, 9, and 10 respectively. Of the high day temperature the
lowest, 60°-2, is in January, and the highest, 86°, in August ; of the low
night temperature the coldest, 40°-9, is in January, and the warmest,
68° -9, in August; the average daily range of temperature, as shown in
column 10, in February 14°-1 is the smallest, and in April 24°-4 is the

largest.

In colamn 11 the mean temperature of each month is shown, as found
from observations of the maximum and minimum thermometers only. The
month of the lowest temperature was January, 50°"5, and that of the
highest was August, 77°'4. The mean temperature for the year was 65°'7,
and of the four preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1883 were 66°-4,
66°-7, 65°-5, 65°-7 respectively.

The numbers in columns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a dry and
wet bulb thermometer taken daily at 9 a.m. In column 14 the monthly
temperature of the dew point, or that temperature at which dew would
have been deposited at the same hour is shown ; the elastic force of vapour
is shown in column 15. In column 16 the water present in a cubic foot of
air is shown ; in January it was as small as 3-6 grains, and in August
was as larce as 7"3 grains. The numbers in column 18 show the
degree of humidity, moisture being considered 100 ; the smallest number
is in October, 52, and the largest in November, 90 ; the weight of a cubic

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 119

foot of air under its pressure, temperature, and humidity at 9 a.m., is sliowu
in column 19.

The most prevalent wind in January was S., and the least prevalent
was N. In February the most prevalent was S., and the least were
E. and S.W. In March the most prevalent was S., and the least were N.
and its compounds. In April the most prevalent wind was S.W., and the
least was N. In May the most prevalent were S.W. and N.W., and the
least were E. and its compounds. In June the most prevalent was W.
and the least were E., S.E. and S. In July and August the most
prevalent were W. and S.W., and the least were E., S.E., S., N. and
its compounds. In September the most prevalent was S.W., and the least
were E. and S.E. In October the most prevalent were S. and S.W., and
the least were E. and W. In November the most prevalent were S. and
S.E., and the least were N.E., E., and S. W. In December the most prevalent
wind was N.E., and the least were N., S.W., and W. The most prevalent
wind for the year was S.W., which occurred on 72 times during the year,
of which 13 were in both August and September, and 11 in July ; and
the least prevalent wind was E., which occurred on only 8 times during
the year, of which three were in Aj^ril, two in both March and December,
and one in January.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m. ;
the month with the smallest amount is June, and the largest February.
Of the cumulus, or fine weather cloud, there were 143 instances in the
year ; of these there were 24 in July, 20 in August, 19 in September, and
4 only in December. Of the nimbus, or rain cloud, there were 39 instances,
of which 13 were in February, 10 in January, and 5 only fiom May to
October. Of the cirrus there were 39 instances. Of the cirro-stratus
there were 17 instances. Of the stratus there were 13 instances, and 74 in-
stances of cloudless skies ; of these there were 16 in June, 12 in December,
and 11 in November.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 6'69 ins. in
January, of which 2'09 ins. fell on the 22nd, 1'56 inch on the 23rd, and
0"74 inch on the 20th. The next largest fall for the month was 6"09 ins. in
February, of which 0"76 inch fell on the 25th, O'GG" incli on the 24th, and
0-64 inch on the 16th. No rain fell from June 23rd till the 20th of October,
making a period of 118 consecutive days without rain. In 1880 there
were 168 consecutive days without rain ; in 1881, 189 consecutive
days without rain ; in 1882 there were two periods of 76 and 70
consecutive days without rain ; and in 1883, 167 consecutive daj's
without rain. The fall of rain for the year was 18'73 ins. being 9'95 ins.,
3-36 ins., and 11-33 ins. less than 1880, 1882, and 1883 respectively, and
1*24 inch larger than in 1881. The number of days on which rain fell was
65. In 1880 rain fell on 66 days, in 1881 on 48 days, in 1882 on 62 days
and in 1883 on 71 days,

James Glaisiier.

120

REPORT ON ANSWERS TO THE "QUESTIONS

" 1

One of the earliest sets of answers received from Palestine to the
questions as to the inhabitants of the country, drawn up for the P. E. F.
Committee, has been sent by Mr. Joseph Jibi'ail, who has personal know-
ledge of the Druzes, the Metawileh, and other elements of population.
Some of the answers are meagre, and, as regards the nomadic Arabs, he
ap])ears to know less than the English explorers, who have spent years
among them. An abstract of the more interesting points of information
thus obtained may, however, serve to show what may be expected from
this method of research. Answers to questions as to the Samaritans
have already appeared in the Quarterlij Statement.

The Druzes.

Mr. Jabrail reports that he has been inside the Khalwehs or Chapels
of the Druzes when living as a teacher among those on Mount Carmel.
The Druzes are intelligent, and allow strangers to eat and drink with
them ; they desire education for their children, and allow them to learn
parts of the Bible by heart. They believe that there are many Druzes
in China, and that the religion of Queen Victoria is the Druze religion
though its votaries are not known by that name in England.

Note. — This I have before heard stated. The connection of the Druzes
with the Buddhists of Central Asia and China is noted in " Syrian Stone
Jiore," p. 347.

On attempting to enter a Khalweh on Thursday (the usual day of
meeting for the Druzes) Mr. Jabrail was attacked by two Druze women
standing by the door, and the congregation came out and cursed and
stoned him, not recognising him as a former friend.

Note.— The Druze meetings are secret. The women evidently were
sentinels such as writers on the Druzes have described as posted outside
the Khalwehs during meetings.

The Sheikh objected to the Druze children being taught that the world
was made in six days, asserting that God created it all at once. Mr.
Jabrail mentions the well-known fact that the Druzes conform outwardly
to any creed which suits their purposes for the time.

Note. — Both these observations connect Druze teaching and customs
with those of some of the early Gnostic sects of Syria.

Nothing is found in the Khalwehs of Lebanon except a stove. Texts
from the Koran are written on the walls. It is generally reported that
the " calf" is an image found in the Khalwehs. When asked about it the
Druzes cursed it.

Note. — This agrees with the reports of previous writers, who say that

the Druses called Derazeh "the calf" (Jcsj) instead of "the wise"
I See Quarterly Sfaftmen', 1885, p. 21G.

IlErORT ON ANSWERS TO THE "QUESTIONS." 121

^1 <C'[~^ and curse him as a hei-etic because he quarrelled with

Hamzeh, although he was the real founder of the sect on Hermon.

They take figs and raisins into the Khalwehs and eat them in com-
pany. If a man sins he brings raisins as a sacrifice into the Khalweh.
He further says, " I have seen them presenting figs to one another when
they met."

JYotc. — The fig is said by some writers to be a token among the Druzes.
Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of the " detestable ceremony of the fig "
(Catech. Lect. vi, 23) among the Manicheans of tlie 4th century in
Palestine.

They believe China to be a Holy Land, and that when a Druze dies
he will be re-born in China. They say no man can enter China, and
when told that many people have done so, say it was not the true China.
They believe that Gog and Magog will come from China to destroy Mecca
and all Moslems and Christians.

JVote. — This seems to be a survival of the old legend of Gog and Magog
shut up beyond the wall in the north, whicL has been fully noticed in the
Quarterhj Statement for 1888.

They meet in numbers in secre^., women being present. They then
pray, eat figs and raisins, and discuss their affairs. They are divided into

two classes— Jl^^. "wise," and JU^ "ignorant." The 'AkkSls,

again, are divided into i^^\:>~ and t!« I.:: or "special" and "ordinary,'
who have different degrees of initiation. There is a yet higher initiation
—that of the Munazzahin ^^-'j^ oi' " purified." Some 'Akkals are
celibates. None of them drink intoxicating liquors or smoke. They
wear a white turban i^A/tS- ('mamah), and a cap without a tassel.
"Women may be 'Akkalah's, and then wear dark stuff on the head.

J^ote. — This agrees with what is known of the various degrees of
initiation among Druzes. {Hee " Syrian Stone Lore," p. 347.)

They observe the two Moslem feasts, and a third special to themselves

in spring time, called " Egg Thursday " Ll^'UiJoJ 1 ^^.u^J^t^d-

]<^ote. — Perhaps to be compared with the widespread custom of the
Pasch eggs or Easter eggs.

They know the signs of the Zodiac and names of certain stars or
planets. They believe that war will occur in any country when a comet
appears, and that the country towards which its tail points will have
abundance.

The informant also states that the Druzes practice circumcision. He
gives some information as to their belief in the reincarnation of Adam,
which is already well understood from the works of De Sacy and others.
He refers to their feasts at the shrine of El Khudr and to the lighting of
lamps on tombs. They are not particular as to food, and will eat meat

I 2

122 REPORT OX ANSWERS TO THE "QUESTIONS."

prepared by Christians or Moslems. Their morality is described as good,
few women being unchaste, and very few illegitimate births occurring.

They have sacred trees on which rags are tied ; and he mentions a
holy spring where the sick are said to be cured in the Lebanon. They
have many legends of demons and spirits — one Druze stating that he
passed by a spring at night and heard cries and found people dancing,
who gave him a drum, but disajipeared when he repeated the name of
God. Some people they believe can talk with spirits. They fear the
Ghoul, whom they imagine a furious beast. They dance in honour of
Welys and Nebys (Saints and Prophets), but not for the dead. The
women dance in a circle alone. The chorus of one song is given thus —

ji.y^ ^U<5^j L/n^ cc*^^ l3^~'*^ v. L>r*^

" Bring forth, O camel driver, bring forth, bring forth the silk Mahmal "
(an allusion, perhaps, to the annual sending of the Mahmal to Mecca,
though otherwise explained).

Another song runs thus (freely rendered) —

See her at the well of Taha and give her good-day.

And if her father will not give her, take her by night aud fly.

The men dance by themselves and sing war songs.

Next follows the curious legend that BelMs (the Queen of Sheba)
asked Solomon for a jug of water neither from Heaven nor from Earth,
He gave her one filled with the sweat of a horse.^

The custom of giving the weight of a child's hair when first cut to
the poor is noticed.

iVo?e.— This is noticed by Lane, in " Egyjit."

They believe in the Evil Eye and wear charms against it. They
believe in men being changed to beasts, &c., by enchantment. They
turn their gold and silver in their jiockets at the new moon. They
consider the crow and owl to presage death. It is unlucky to see an old
woman first thing in the morning, or to dream of a camel (an instance is
given of the latter). The Sheikhs pray over those sujjposed to be
bewitched by the Jan, and charms are worn against such bewitchment.
It is irreligious to steal what is j^laced in a Jfakum. Eggs are used as a
charm on house walls against the Evil Eye, and charms written over
doors against the Jan. They have books for the interpreting of dreams.

> This is explained by a story given in Landberg's "Proverbes efc Dictons,"
p. IGl. The yoi^th who is to marry the riddle-asking princess asks her how he
could have drunk water neither from heaven nor from earth —

\aj-> j.r'-e Im u^j' rT^^ '^r''

The answer, which she could not discover, was that in the desert he took the
sweat from his horse and licked his hand to moisten his mouth.

EEPOET OX ANSWEKS TO THE "QUESTIONS." 123

Personal property in land is inherited, and the Sheikh has no power
over such property. The Carmel Druzes say that they came from Aleppo
150 years ago. Some of the Lebanon Sheikhs claim descent from Arab

tribes named ^ (Raktn) and ^^a^^^- {Khamis). Others say they
are of Persian descent. They call themselves i^,.x^\ ^^aj {Beni cl
IParDf) and .„Ar^»^l "the Unitarians." The better families are of

pure race. They all wear the beard long.

As regards language, several colloquial words are given, but these do
not seem interesting or peculiar. They do not distinguish easily the
Arab gutturals, which are so carefully pronounced by educated Arab
scholars.

They are healthy as a rule, suffering, however, from ague, small pox,
and sore eyes and fever. They have native doctors, and use medicines,
such as mustard for a purgative, poppy as a sedative, and camomile, and
they let blood, and use chai^ms written by the Sheikh, against sickness.
The old women are clever in making simples of fruit, vegetables, and
herbs. The commonly known poisons are preparations of arsenic and
mercury. The sick are regarded as bewitched or suffering from the Evil
Eye. Plague and scarlet fever are unknown. The 'AHxils use prayers,
charms, and medicines against disease.

The rotation of crops is to a certain extent understood, and pruning
of trees.

The Druzes do not beg from strangers.

As regards dress, the women of the Druzes in the Lebanon are veiled,
but not elsewhere.

J^'^ote. — I remarked that the Druze women on Carmel were not veiled.

The women wear sometimes a flat silver plate ( ^j^) on the head.

'They use Kohl and Henna, but do not paint or tattoo the face.

They do not shave the hair in sign of mourning.

They cultivate silk and keep bees. The Lebanon and Hauran Druzes
«erve as soldiers.

They will eat all sorts of food, including cats, hyenas, and jackals.

-N'ote. —I have seen Arabs eating a jackal.

They think thyme is good to eat for making men wise. They drink
•cinnamon water, and the devotees abstain from coffee, from figs, and from
grapes. On Fridays the Druzes eat a peculiar dish of wheat and molasses
boiled. They are fond of sweets and raisins. They use rosaries, but are
said by the informant to do so only as an amusement.

JVote. — This I have also heard said of Moslems.

Among themselves they salute by kissing hands, and bow to others
with the hand on the breast. They swear by God, Shaib (Jethro), el Hddi
.(their expected Messiah), and el Hokmah (" wisdom ").

They lend to each other without interest. They are rarely artizaus,
generally farmers. They have pet dogs and cats, and a few rich people

1 24 ItEPOET ON ANSWERS TO THE " QUESTIONS.

have birds iu cages. They give human names to such pets {e.g., Ferha, a
woman's name, given to a goat).

^ote. — Many Moslems object to such names for animals.

A few make pottery and silk, or are silversmiths and brass-workers,
gunsmiths and carpenters. None are merchants.

2^ote. — The informant says no one iu Syria makes glass, but this is
incorrect, as it is made at Hebron.

The house walls are occasionally painted by the women to represent
palm trees, birds, &c.

They play cards and listen to stories of Antar, Zir, and the Beni Heidi.
The elders are familar with such tales and with stories about the Jan.

An instance is given of a prince wandering in the desert, who reaches
a building full of beautiful girls, daughters of the King of the Jan.
The earth swallowed him with them, and he was carried to the city of
the Jan.

The formula for the commencement of such tales is given. " Once
upon a time, it happened, as we will tell to-day — and to-morrow we will
sleep— I will tell of troubles and lamentations ; of Dibs esh Shadid,
the man of Baalbek. It was in the days of one of the kings of old."

The Druze children are said to play quoits, and ball games, seesaw,
and with swings, prisoners' base and dancing, also Mankalah (a sort of
draughts).

The men are famous Jerid players. They hunt and slioot, and make

a hiding-place, ^»lii; to await the game, of stones and rushes. They

hire gipsy perfomers to amuse them. The showmen have beans, monkeys,
goats, and apes, which perform.

Note. — I have seen a showman with a performing bear in Syria.

The showman goes to a village to the Sheikh's house and begins to
sing and to dance with his animal. He tells his animal to drink in the
Sheikh's honour. The snake charmers sell oil to the people as a preventa-
tive against snake bite.

The men also play chess, draughts, and Deris— ?i game which the
informant afterwards describes.

At birth the children ai'e rubbed with salt and with a powder of
Rihdn ; the child is suckled from six to nineteen mouths.

The Druzes have only one wife each. Their children inherit equally.
The families are small. The men marry about 18 to 22, the women at
14 to 17 years of age. Sisters, nieces, and aunts are forbidden as wives.
They beat their wives, and, in case of divorce on the fault of the wife,
the dower money is paid back to the husband. At the weddings riddles

are asked by certain singers called \ \^i

iVoie.— This illustrates the old custom (Judges xiv).

Presents are given by the guests to the bridegroom. The bride rides
on a horse in procession round the village. Eice, corn, raisins, and cakes
are thrown after her. "When she enters the house the bridegroom holds

EEPORT OX AXSWEIIS TO THE " QUESTIONS." 125

a sword over lier, while the guests fire off guns and dance with swords
and Jerids. The women make Lli^-oJ-i ; or shouts of joy. The girls all
weep when the bride enters the house.

The funerals are like those of Moslems. The corpse is perfumed.
Swords are carrried before it. The coffin is left in the grave — contrary
to Moslem custom : it is of wood, and not inscribed. Professional mourners
bewail the dead, but not for payment. They wave cloths and handker-
chiefs after the coffin like Christians.

Note. — I have seen Moslems doing so near Beit Jibrin.

The family mourn from seven to forty days. Sheep are killed, and
the guests and poor are fed after a funeral. Cairns are raised over the
graves.

Mr. Joseph Jabrail then gives various proverbs, some of which are
very pithy and characteristic of the East, but many are to be found in
Landberg's " Syrian Proverbs." He repeats some of these as in \ise
among other Syrian nationalities : —

< .*'i'.^i i..::.^o.v.vJ t'^Aji ,.„c

"From the gutter under the spout," i.e., "out of the frying jian into
the fire.'" »

" Half the road and not all," wliich the informant renders, "Better late
than never." -

" Does the scribe write himself among the wicked," is suggestive of
the East.

"Every goat belongs to her flock," i.e., "Birds of a feather flock

together."

" Ask one who knows, and do not forget the Hakim."

Our informant remarks that they know special names for very few

natural objects, e.j., among birds, only the bee-eater, hoopoe, owl, raven,

jackdaw, eagle, and a few others, calling all others , »i^.i "sparrow,"
when small, or ,_vi- when large.

^ " Laudberg," No. xxi —

He fled from the gutter aud sat under the spout.
2 "Landberg," No. clxxxiii —

The Tidgar pronunciatiou of X!(sf is JS'tiss.

12G HEPOLT OX AXSWEKS TO THE "QUESTIONS."

Note. — This agrees with my experience ; only conspicuous or dan-
gerous animals are distinguished by the Syrian peasantry. The remark
has considerable philological importance, considering how the origin
of race is commonly souglit in the distribution of names for fauna and
flora.

Science is confined to *».:sa-l^ /».Li or astrology. Eclipses are said

je due to a dragon ( ^aaJ) eating a piece of the sun or moon.
Note. — Tlie common Chinese and Mongol explanation of an eclipse.

The Metdicileh.

The answers begin with a legend of 'Aly descending into a well to
fight the Jan, which has no great interest, and continue with another
about Muhammad kissing Hasan on the mouth and Hosein on the neck
to diow that one should die by poison, the other by the sword. The in-
formant gives also the well-known story of Muhammad slaying the Monk
Buheirah while drunk. The next story told by the Metawileh is inter-
-esting because it comes from the Apocrj'phal Gospel of the Infancy (in
Arabic, chap, xxxvii), which appears to originate in Persia. It relates
that Jesus as a boy was apprenticed to a dyer and dyed all the cloth
blue, bat gave it to each of the colour he desired. Another, which
relates of the weaver who refused to come out to meet Sitti Miriam
that he was condemned to be hungry for ever has probably a similar
source.

The Metawileh sing, dance and light lamps at their Makams. They
observe the Moslem feasts. Their Imams are called Fakih or persons who
can repeat the Koran by heart. They refuse to eat with any not of their
own sect, and consider anything touched by an unbeliever impure (instance
given). They all observe the Moslem practices and hold the cardinal
dogmas.

Note. — The Metawileh inhabit the country east of Sidon and part of
Upper Galilee. They are Shi'ah or Persian Moslems, and all that is
noted by Mr. Jabrail agrees with the distinctiv^e practices of the
Shi'ahs.

The Metawileh put bread and water as offerings at the tombs of
Sheikhs.

Note. — I have seen such bread offerings at the 'Ain EyAb, near Khan
Minieh.

At the annual feasts they kill sheep and give to the poor, and \>yq-
sent cakes to their neighbours' children, and place flowers on the
tombs.

Mr. Joseph Jabrail states that they gives names to the days of the
week, calling them —

KEPOKT ON ANSWERS TO THE " QUESTIONS.

12-

Sunday :

Yom esh Shems

.... Day

of the Sun.

Monday :

„ el Kamr

..••

Moon.

Tuesday :

„ el Martkh

....

Mars.

Wednesday

: „ 'AtarM

....

Mercury

Thursday :

„ el Moslitari

....

Jupiter.

Friday :

„ ez Zolirah

....

Venus.

Saturday :

„ Zohal

....

Saturn.

They call these planets the t_^L^ -i-jw; or "seven stars."

Note. — This is peculiar. In Syria, generally, the days of the week
have no names.

Astrology, ^^iW i^kz is studied, and the expression < >»A.3j^

44-g^ "his star is lucky," is common. They say each man's star is
over his head in heaven. They know the Pleiades and the Morning Star,
and judge the time of night by the position of the former. They believe
comets to portend war and plague, and meteors to indicate war. They
are circumcised, and have no images or j^ictures, regarding all such things
as wicked. They have the common Moslem beliefs as to the future, and
curse Omar and Abu Bekr.

The Metawileh are distinguished by a little hair on the forehead, and
by the ears, shaving the rest of the head. They wear the Sliusheh, or
tuft. They only wipe or sponge themselves before prayers, and do not
wash like the Sunnis. In prayer they do not adopt the second attitude
of the Sunnis, with the hands behind the ears. They carry with them
certain sacred stones and sacred earth, and keep these treasures in their
houses, with their money and valuables to secure a blessing.

On the tenth of Muharram they rub charcoal on their faces and hands,
and begin to weep, beat themselves, rend their clothes, and bewail Hasan
and Hosein. They knew of Hosein's Tomb as being at Kerbela (here
spelt Kermela).

They bear a bad reputation, and a proverb say.s —

" Like a Metuali, a thousand wriggling and nothing gained." This is the
Christian saying.

They are said not to be strict as to conduct, but illegitimate children
are rare.

They tie rags to sacred trees when sick and expect to recover. They
believe such trees to be haunted by some Neby. They have a rock sacred
to Sheikh Hosein, before which lamps are lighted at night — in a village
near Sidon. In another village aveiylarge stone is believed to have been
carried by Sittna Fatimah, while pregnant.

JVote. — A similar legend attaches to the great stone .it Baalbek in the
quarry.

128

EEPORT OX ANSWERS TO THE " QUESTIONS.

Another story follows of a Metuttliboy who saw Sittna Miriam in his
dream. She told him where to dig for water. He discovered a spring,
to whicli the sick were afterwards brought to be cured, Christians as well
as Metawileh.

They believe in spirits living in the water and in dark places. A
common curse is t d ^} ij, yj " the devil strike you." Other expressions

are commonly known, which here follow.

The old women relate stories such as that of Shatir Hasan, the son of
a merchant, who pursued a bird which changed into a girl, and gave her
name as Bedr et Temam, daughter of the King of the Jan. They went
to the country of the JTm, where he was recognised as human by his
smell, but married the princess.

Note. — A version of the wide-spread story of the swan-maiden.

The Metawileh dance in honour of their saints, arranging themselves
in a circle. Their songs are generally war songs, of which a specimen is
given. They have been seen dancing round a tree. They have a story
that when the Beni Helal giids used to dance the circle was as far as
from Haifa to the Hauran. '-■■•" t»-

They hang to their necks the AJs , ; i ; ,~- or " blue bead," as a charm

against the evil eye. They have a pond of sacred fish called Birket 'Ain
Till. They think it unlucky to pay or borrow money in the morning.
They hate the owl, but consider serpents luck}^

The observations on land tenui'e contain nothing new. The Metawileh
say that they came from KesrwS,n, a district of Lebanon, but they never
lived in cities, being agriculturists.

Generally speaking, they have blue eyes and light hair. They have
little hair on their faces, and do not shave the head when young as
Sunnis do.

Their language is Arabic, differing somewhat from the Christian
dialect. Like other peasants they get confused between the Arabic
gutturals, except that they distinguish Alif awdi 'Ain.

Skin diseases are common among them because of their dirtiness.
They trust mainly in their sheikhs to cure disease. They apply
camomile externally for rheumatism, and use convolvulus as a pur-

gative.

A charm against fever for a boy called Abdallah is given-

" I have rested upon God,
Away from me, O fever,
From Abdallah,
Son of Hosein."

dill

EEPOKT ON ANSWEIiS TO THE "QUESTIONS." 129

This was kept in a leather purse.

They have a few sayings about jjlants and flowers, as when the
Kadib er Reii appears the fellah knows winter is coming (it flowers in
September). They say that on the leaves of the sycamore is written " he

who falls hence shall never get up again." The infusion of ,»J01 ^k^.

(" bull's tongue," a plant), is good for a cough.

Among the Imams some called Setydd l>Ij1~j who claim descent from
'Ali, wear green turbans ; the rest of the Metawileh wear white. The
rosaries of the Metawileh have some religious words on them. They
practice Kheimh, or "choice," by dividing the beads and counting
whether odd or even to decide their action. (Instance given where the
question was as to whether a medicine was likely to do good.)

The women dance and s^ing, the men i3lay Maukalah and draughts,
also the game Deris, which is played by two, each with nine seeds of a
colour. The game consists in placing the seeds over numbered places in
consecutive rows.

Note. — Like our game called "go-bang."

The dowry among the Metawileh is not returned when tlie wife is
divorced. They say —

, _.... ^! Ui^ l:^:; ^.^\ j\

I 1

" If the woman has siimed yet her right does not sin." Some marriage
customs of interest follow. The friends of the bridegroom after feasting
go to demand the bride. Her people bring a large stone, and if his friends
can lift it, the bride is allowed to go with them. The bride is pelted as
usual, and is carried into the house and a sword held over her. The
bridegroom draws a sword or stick over her. Second, and even third or
fourth marriages, are said to be allowed.

A^ote. — I think the question may have been misunderstood.

They wash the dead carefully, pare and clean the nails, dress the body,
and place charms upon it. Before burial witnesses are brought, and if
they say tlie man was a good man and charitable, this is written on jaahn
leaves bui-ied in the grave. The corpse is perfumed with henna. The
procession halts thrice on its way to the grave. The coliin is not left in
the grave. Prayers are written on the shroud.

Mr. J. Jibrail gives a sketch of a tomb with the text, " In the name of
God the merciful, the pitiful. Has been carried to the mercy of the Most
High Hasan Ibn Aly Ahmad, in the year 1200 of the Muhammedaus."
The mourners eat bread at the grave, and make a feast for the jjoor.
Flowers are crrown in sand on the yrave and watered.

Several questions have the same answers as amoi.g the Druzes. A few
proverbs follow : —

" The grasshopper asked for food of the ant." " What were you doing
in the summer said the ant." " I was making verses said the grass-
hopper."

130 REPOKT OX ANSWEKS TO THE "QUESTIONS."

"He comes with one hand in front and one behind."

*' Fear him who does not fear God."

^' Tlie rope of hyjiocrisy is sliort."

bls-vj ^^\ JJU (^Jlj^c ^^'^\ Jib oa!!

"He who gets the stick is not like liim who counts it."
JSee for this proverb Landberg No. cxvii.

b.vn,. ^L Jl. j^,. ^^.^\ Jil. ^L

The meaning of one of the others is obscure.

Said to mean " I have enougli for use," lit., " the mud in the hollow
suffices."

" One hand in the fire and one in the water."

The Metuwileh say the world is flat, and no one knows where the sun
goeswlien it sets. The explanation of earthquake is the common Moslem
idea of the bull supporting the earth, who trembles when God looks at
him. A fish, c •• ?...^ swallows the sun or moon during an eclipse.

The tambourine, lute, liari3, and, according to Mr. Jibrail, the bagpipe,
•are used by the Metawileh.

The Seiyids among them claim descent from Hasan and Hosein, and
tave a right to a tenth of the hinds, money, cattle, &c. They own lands
also in Paradise and will sell to others. As an instance, a man bought
from a Seiyid two yards of Paradise for 500 piastres (£4), but, being -^oox,
•wished to have his money back. The Seiyid said the lands of Paradise
were not recoverable.

If a woman of the Metawileh to whom you call, answers N^am ("yes ")
she becomes your wife. The common answer, therefore, is t ' <^.j -i

" What do you want T It is sinful for a Metuali to be without a wife,
and he hires one for a month or two if he has none.

Note. — This connects them with Persia where even the Nestoriau
Christians make temporary marriages.

EEPORT ON ANSWERS TO THE "QUESTIONS." 131

The story of a dutiful son of the widow who fell short because he failed
to get a new husband for his mother follows.

They say if a girl passes under a rainbow she is changed to a boy, and
vice versa. This is also given as a saying of the Bedu. They hang blue
glass and pieces of bone to the necks of animals as a defence against the
evil eye. The women are specially careful not to show their hair.

Note. — Some of these customs approach to those of the Oriental Jews.

The Bedu.

These answers translated by Captain Mantell from the Arabic, contain
fewer points of interest, as the informant has evidently not lived among
the nomads of the desert, and what he says refer rather to the Fellahin.

A story of Iskander is given. He used to slay the barbers who shaved
his head to preserve the secret of his ram's horns. One barber whispered
the secret to a well which went on repeating " Iskander has two horns,"

Note. — Compare the story of Midas which is known to the Kirghiz
Tartars.

When a man dies his star falls from heaven. The Arab ordeal by hot
water is noticed with another ordeal of standing in a circle drawn round

an ant hill. The accused say, "By the truth of the stick (j**!!) and by

the Lord worshipped in the circle of Solomon."

The story of change of sex under the rainbow (—jill U^^ °^"

C-jl^sy^*J^ U^^) is repeated.

Several other proverbs are given —

" Know the face and be not known by the face."

" Loaf for loaf, and do not leave your neighbour hungry."
Note. — Landberg gives (cxviii)

" The rope of lies is short."

" Between truth and error four fingers," said to mean the breadth from
the eye to the ear.

CI ,-^T-i-inri-T^-VTn "

132 REPORT ON ANSWERS TO THE " QUESTIONS

The Christians.

The answers are somewhat meagre in this section, yet contain points
of interest such as the curious legend of Noah gathering the animals to
the ark by the sound of the naJcils or wooden board used as a bell, and
of the cave covered with inscriptions where Daniel once lived. Relics
appear to be used, especially bones of St. Antony. New clothes are
bought at Easter (a custom in Antioch in the 4th century according to
St. Chrysostom). The Makum of Seiyida el Muhtarah has walls which
sweat, and this moisture cures the sick. The crow, owl, camel, and wolf
are considered unlucky by the Christians. Blue beads are kept with
money for luck. Those supposed to be possessed by the devil are bound
and kept in churches. Before Easter a child is taken in a coffin round the
village to represent the death of Christ ; but the Italian representation
of the "manger" at Christmas is unknown. Bonfires are lighted at the
time of the feast of Holy Cross.

Some Christians have light hair and eyes, which is popularly ascribed
to Crusading lineage (no doubt it represents Aryan blood). The priests
are supposed to be able to heal the sick by medicines and by written
amiTlets.

The ancient idea that various kinds of food affect the intellect survives
among Christians as well as among Moslems. Plain food is thought to
improve the memory. Fish is said to weaken the body.

Glass or pottery jars are placed over the door of a house. The cross is
marked on the door. Trees and birds are i)ainted on the walls.

At birth a Christian child is rubbed with salt and with oil, and charms
hung to its neck Cjust as in Antioch in the 4th century). The ring is
used as well as the crown in marriage both by Greeks and (apparently)
by Maronites. The old custom of fighting for the bride survives, and is
said to lead sometimes to serious wounds, and even to death of her rela-
tives. The bridegroom rides round the village, and is pelted by the
women with cakes, grain, and scent. The old customs seem to be dying
out, but the bride is said still to receive a piece of dough which she sticks
on the door of the house.

At a funeral hired mourners are still engaged (as in the middle ages),
and cloths are waved after the bier. The relatives rend their clothes at
the grave, and visit the grave every day for a week (probably a survival
of the old idea that the soul haunted the tomb for some time after
death).

The belief in magic survives among the Christians, and their ideas as
to astronomy are very ancient. They believe the world to be disc-shaped,
and they beat drums and fire guns at the time of an eclipse to frighten
the dragon who is swallowing the sun or moon.

This is but a resume of the most remarkable points noted. Much
valuable information as to peculiar words and expressions, and articles of
dress, furniture, &c., is given, with songs and legends, some of which are

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDEll, D.C.L., K.E. 133

already well known ; but there are questions concerning wliich further
explanation is very desirable.

Biblical Illustrations.
The following Biblical questions are illustrated by these replies : —

1. "Worship of the calf and of trees.

2. Forbidden food.

3. Rubbing children with salt.

4. Weighing the hair when cut.

5. Riddles asked at weddings.

6. Hired mourners at funerals.

7. Rending the clothes.

8. Certain proverbs mentioned in the Bible.

9. The use of amide ts.

10. Crowns worn by brides.

11. " The corner of the field " left unreaped.

These are, in some cases, not well-known customs as survivals in Syria,
and it seems probable that many other interesting notes may be collected
by the same method. There was nothing in the questions to lead to
the recovery of such illustrations of the Bible in the form of leading
questions.

C. R. CONDER.

K"OTES BY MAJOR CONDER, D.C.L., R.E.

Palestine Peasant Language.

Ix " Tent Work in Palestine " I called attention to the importance of
studying the local dialects in Palestine, which preserve much that is
archaic and which has been lost in the literary language. A good many
further notes have accumulated in my hands since then, and a new and
most interesting work has been published by C. Landberg, a Swedish
scholar, who has given special study to the subject, and whose first
volume appeared at Leyden in 1883.

The words commonly used by the Palestine peasantry, and not found
in standard dictionaries (such as those of Lane and Freytag), are in many
cases the same words used in the Bible or on the Assyrian monuments.
Some of these I have noticed previously, others are pointed out by
Landberg in his grammatical study of the dialects. The contempt with

which the early Arab authors and grammarians regarded the Jv^ Ul 1 j^LuJ

or speech of the common people (V'^i^ T^ ^i^); ^^'^ caused such dialects

134 NOTES BY MAJOR CONCEK, D.C.L., E.E.

to be much neglected by scholars of Semitic languages ; and the study
is indeed impossible for any student unless he has had the opportunity
of living for a good many years among the peasantry of the country.
An instance of the way in which dictionaries may mislead is found in

Professor Palmer's translation of the name ^^ j ^<Uv!l , Vj — Tell d

Hdmi Kurseh, " mound of him who defends the loaf." This is correct
from a literary point of view, but makes no good sense. The peasants,

however, say cS>A,cli>- for "heater" {see Landberg, p. 182), and the true
meaning appears to be " mound of loaf baker." Words used by the
peasantry seem in some cases to have been unknown to Professor Palmer
in translating the Survey nomenclature, though he possessed considerable
knowledge of the dialect, such as /;, \^ "a herd," , >.u,j "an olive mill,'

^IA (for ^uL^) "a kiln," ^^Ly "a garden with a well," ^\^ p.n.
" affable," 1.) " a millstone," J:i " a village watchman," -J .- " cliff" and

"cavern," <- »b " a pond," aj li " a summer hut," , ,^ " briilegroom "
^ . J v^ ■•> '

(not "bride"), \^ "pebbles," v U^ "a stone heap," ^.^^ "a diflV
^fr<. " a promontory," a ,^a-^ a kind of "acacia," \''J^ "a gorge," Ul.,
" a knoll " (Palmer renders it quite incorrectly " channel "), v- ^ "well
parapet," ^'i " tower " (" palace," among Arabs), ^aLc " ^ bog," ,'J ;j

"a settlement" (or hamlet), A J:, for JU^ "north," ^j^ "a quail,"
Ij^j "narcissus," ^jU "Ml," •; Ji^ " roller " (bird), j:.^ " a wood,"
^^-^ "hermit's cell," i^.^vi^^ "water pit," j^>j.Ji "hoopoe," ^j^^Aj
" tomb " (or , ^,\; more correctly), j ^X^ "the i)ine tree" (not "Cypress"),
^ r. "a heap of corn," U^. ^ "a pillar," Ij (for ^ v) "blood," a^

"a broad path," j,J "a sheep walk," J:.iijv,c "speckled," cl:\.a^

" death," i__2.~- " dripping." In most of these cases the standard dic-
tionaries give no assistance, and — as also with many other words — no
ti-anslation can be considered of any value except that which is founded
on personal inquiry from natives made on the spot.

Examples of the value of such study are affoixled by the peasant
names for birds in Palestine, which in some cases serve, I fiind, to exjjlain
the names of birds mentioned in Assyrian monumental lists, Avhich have
presented difficulties to scholars (see Eev. W. Houghton's valuable paper,
"Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.," viii, 1, published in 1884). In Palestine,
Mr. G. Armstrong made an interesting collection of birds (see P. E. F.
Quarterly Statement, October, 1876), including 60 species, and in all ca.scs

NOTES BY MAJOR COXDEK, D.C.L., R.E. 135

where it was possible to obtain cevtaiuty I took down the name from the
peasautr}'. Some of these names are the same apparently as those used
in Assyrian, in cases where the dictionaries give us no help.

TY ItIy '"W -^''^ {khu) is a " black screaming bird," which Mr.
Houghton (p. 109) says he cannot identify. It appears to be the Arabic
^ • {zdgh) PI. ^ • (ztghuii), which Freytag states to be a Persian word

for a " crow." In Palestine, the grey hooded crow is so called as distin-
guished from ■i[3 (Jcdl-), the black crow, which is apparently the Assyrian

■^1 >^f »7^ kakxinv. In classic language we find ••_»,• and -^Xi for crow.

YY^ -<^'->-yyy '-y<y Kka-akk {l-Uu) is said by the same authority to be
ii bluish bird of the crow family (pp. 61 and 82), but not further
identified. This seems clearly to indicate the Syrian word ^'^ {l^ah)

for the jackdaw, evitlently, like the preceding word, taken from its
^' caw."

>-y<y J^yyy?: X^>^ l-ku-u-l-u, is the cookoo in Assyrian. In Palestine
this bird is called /•«-/(■??, J J and ical-ilJc i^t.

>-^T'-y JtJ i^]]]i^ ca-hc-u, or gu-lu-u in Assyrian, is the name for a
kind of owl, which is otherwise called ^\ ^\ ^]V\^ ha-du-u. The
latter name, as Mr. Houghton points oat (p. 67), appears to be the Aramaic
^*'"!P kadya, for an owl. The former name is apparently the Ijj J kuka,
of the Palestine peasantry for the little owl (otherwise <5,.<^) himeh\ as
contrasted with the larger horned owl which is called Duwa (u j).

'pyy "^yyy-^ >^^ sl-nun-tu, is an Assyrian name for the swallow,
which is the Talmudic ^^^''^'lip senunitha. In Syria the word .3..,»^
simmu, is still applied to the swallow.

][][< J:^yy "^J^y ^yy kha-tsl-ha-^i, is another Assyrian name for the

swallow. This seems to be clearly the Arabic , ;l^Uj kuttdf, for the

" swallow," which is also used by the Palestine peasantry.

"-^y >^y '-^y >^y la-ka-U-ka, for the stork, is the Arabic j^JjiJ

liikluk. This is one of the names of the stork in Palestine, though it is,
perhaps, more frequently called uhu-S'ald, ''Father of Good Luck,"
because it appears in the spring. I have, however, also heard it called

^lU! ^\s^ HajJ Luglug, or the " Stork Pilgrim."

In these words the Fellah dialect appears to be nearer to Assyrian
than to Hebrew. The Hebrew words in the Bible for owl, stork, swallow,
&c., are quite different to those above noted. On the other hand, the
name of a species of deer mentioned in the Bible is known both to the

13G NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER, D.C.L., E.E.

Fellahln and also to the Arabs beyond Jordan. The "^^—0 or Vakhmo,;
of the Bible (Deut. xiv, f) ; 1 Kings v. 3) is the English roebuck, as we

discovered in 1872. It lives on Carniel, and is called , ,.yiss^ yohmtlr, by

the jDeasantry. The Arabs call it , »^r5- hanvXr.

I have i^reviously pointed out that the geographical nomenclature of
Palestine pi-eserves that of the Old Testament (P. E. F., Quarterhj State-
ment, July, 1876, p. 132), and retains also Aramaic words, sucli as HI^D

(^__>>1?), for a "fenced city," and H^^^ (i.Jo), for a "fortress" (1 Chron.

vi, 39 ; Nell, i, 1), to which I may add ^^,:=^ (Hirsh), for a "wood," still
applying to the great wood south of es Salt, and rejDresenting the Hebrew
ll?nn citoresh, a " wood." The words J*^ sidd, and i jl^ sddeh, applied

to cliffs, or hill ridges, in Palestine, also represent the Assyrian ^ sadu,
"mountain."

The Aramaic word nib^nn"! "watch-towers," as I have previously
j)ointed out, survives in the Fellah u,'A.O applied to ruins of a "watch-
tower" on a high liill. The word «_.vli,c for a "bog" also retains the

meaning of the Hebrew root ^'D^ " to sink," as in mud (Psalm ix, 10 ;
Ixix, 3, 15 ; Jer. xxxviii, 6 ; Lam. ii, 9). I have mentioned a good many
other cases in the Memoir nomenclature, and in these cases Professor
Palmer has usually adopted my comparison.

In agricultural terms, as has long since been pointed out, the same

archaism is observable, as in , .:>- ,/'<'''', the common peasant word for

a " threshing floor," which is the Hebrew (").^ ^i/orcni (Ruth iii, 2; Judges

vi, 37 ; Num. xviii, 30 ; Isaiah xxi, 10) ; in modern Arabic the word is
used only for a "trough," and is so understood by townsmen in Syria.

The threshing sledge also (^ ,»j nurej, in common Arabic) is called

^ ,iv,.c miVrcj, by the jseasantiy, thus reproducing the Hebrew JHl^

Morag, for the same instrument (Isaiah xli, 15 ; 2 Sam. xxiv, 22).

The same archaism is also sometimes observable in grammatical forms.

Thus the peasantry use IacsT' nahna, instead of j^aC' nahn, in both femi-
nine and masculine, which ajjproaches the Hebrew "^2112^5 ^"^^ I^H^'^'^^i'^^ the
Aramaic t^jPI-b^ (Dan. iii, 16, 17 ; Ezra iv, IG). They do not \ise the old
Hebrew ^^wt^ for the singular, however, but the Aramaic b^2b^ (lj\)— ■
other common grammatical expressions also approach more closely to the
Aramaic than to any other Semitic language, as, for instance, tlie common

word L vxA huT/l; "thus," which may be compared ^^it]l tlie Aramaiu
'^^^ /tail-, "how" (Dan. x, 17 ; 1 t'hr. xiii, 12), also in Samaritan ^p|

NOTES BY MAJOK CONDEE, D.C.L., E.E. loj

which in Hebrew is ^^^. The word [l^A aimata, is also commonly

used for "when," being the Aramaic ^ilu"^^..

Some of the common 2:)easant confusions between certain letters, and
the j^easant pronunciation of others show the same connection. Thus the
Galileans in the Talmudic age confused ^ and ^ (Tal Bab Erubin, 53b)

as the peasant says , LtJ for A'i and, again, y with f-\, as the peasant

says U.^^ mahlia, " with her,'' for \^^<. m'aha. The pronunciation of the

J is hardly ever attempted by the peasants, who say either j or ;. Thus

for ^ ju6 hadha, "this," we find that in various parts of Palestine, and in
different grades of society, the pronunciation is hada, or heida, or haza.
In words where the Hebrew Zain- is represented by the Arabic
dhal the pronunciation appears to be generally a Z, as in the older

language, e.g., 's:^\ akhudh, pronounced al-huz, as in the Hebrew tHi^
"he took."

In the same way cij which, like J is not a letter of the early Semitic-
alphabet, is not pronounced by the peasantry ; y^jj t/ialdtha, is the ]:)roper
pi'onunciation of the word " three," but in Syria it is pronounced either

taldta or saldsa, the latter being close to the Hebrew tTT'tD " three. '
The letter ^ which is absent from the Moabite Stone and from the
Siloam inscription (though found early in Phoenician) is properly the
Arabic U but the peasantry in Palestine not unfrequently confuse this-

Avith c:j the Hebrew ]^, as for instance, in the words , »Jv.l? and ^\.'J

The pronunciation is l)y no means clear in this case, or in the case of .^
and ^jM which are similarly confused, not merely in the writing of un-
educated natives, but also in actual pronunciation.

The peasantry use the word -»:5r nahin, of correct speech (in

grammar .^^r nahu, means " etymology "). and speak of those who

speak in correct manner as ,a.' tcsT nahuuf/tn. They are themselves

innocent of any knowledge of the rules of grammar found in books,
being unable to read. Their pronunciation is much broader and more
vigorous than that of the literary language, or than that of the towns-
men. Thus the vulgar pronunciation of v as hamza, so usual in the
towns, is not usual in the country, where the sounds I' and hard g stand
for this letter. It must be allowed that what the language of books and
of schoolmasters may have gained in elegance it has lost in pith and
epigrammatic force, as compared with that of the peasantry.

K 2

138 NOTES BY MAJOR CONDElt, D.C.L., R.E.

The literary language was a result of the adojjtion of the Moslem faith.
The Koran language was the Arabic of the Hejaz, just as the early
Moslem script, which superseded the Syrian alphabets, was the writing
used in the Hejaz. The admiration for their sacred work is expressed by
the Arab author in the words —

Li- >

" The best of words is the word of the Projahet," and hence the Koran
grammar and vocabulary became the standards, and remain the Moslem
standard of language, though Christian grammarians in Syria never fail
to point out that the vulgarisms of Arabia were thereby as much dis-
seminated as were the classic words of Arabic.

El Mukaddasi (as quoted by Landberg) in the tenth century,
says—

" The people of Baghdad speak the best, and those of Saida (Sidon) the
most barbarously."

His standard was the language which the great grammarians of
Baghdad had formed during the palmy days of the Abbas dynasty ; while
the tongue of Sidon, which he so much despised, probably still retained
traces of its Phoenician origin, which the modern philologist would regard
as highly impoitant.

The peasant dialects differ considerably in different parts of Palestine,
and even in every village — as is usually found the case among illiterate
l^opulations. The townsman's pronunciation and vocabulary difl'ers from
that of the peasant, and the vocabulary and i)ronunciation of the desert
Arab is again so difierent that townsmen cannot understand him. JSTever-
theless, many jahrases used by these latter are admired by educated
natives, because they approach nearer to classical Arabic, and naturally
so, because some of the Eastern tribes are descendants of inhabitants of
the Hejaz, who, in some cases (e.g., the 'Adwan), only left Arabia some
two centuries ago.

The importance of studying the peasant dialects is therefore very
great ; and much that the student of the literary tongue will not find in
even the most celebrated dictionaries, may be studied among Fellahln,
and Arabs of the desert ; just as in our own country the philologist traces
the survival, among the peasantry, of ancient words and phrases which
have long ago passed out of the ordinary English tongue. Eor this reason
the work of Mr. C. Landberg, who has been almost the first to study this
question on the spot with adequate gi-ammatical and philological attain-
ments, promises to be of great interest. In 1883 he published the first
volume of his " Proverbes et Dictons de la Syrie," including 200 native

NOTES BY MAJOR CONDER, D.C.L., E.E. 139

proverbs, from the vicinity of Sidon ; and in four more volumes he hoj^es
to treat of all Syria, from Aleppo to Jerusalem, and including the Arab
tribes east of Jordan.

The jJroverbs themselves are of great interest.^ Tbey show us every
side of the peasant character. On the one hand his coarseness, his admira-
tion of the clever liar, his abject submission to tyranny, his hopelessness
and cynicism ; but on the other hand also his patience, his wisdom, his
compassion for the poor, his high idea of the duties of a neighbour, and
his religious faith. The explanations of the proverbs are equally valuable,
being in the peasant dialect ; but many of these are taken from Christian
sources, and in some cases the real meaning of the proverb itself is not
seen." As an instance I would note No. CTI —

" Kiss the hands laugh at the beards."

The meaning is perceived by Mr. Landberg, but not clearly explained
by the native. In Syria it is considered disgraceful to allow the hand
to be kissed. Only the Christian priests allow such a reverence, and the
natives laugh at them, and at anyone who allows his hand to be kissed,

oi^^'^ L->; "like the cure," or j^^.,v>^^n JJv,c "like the priest."
Travellers who do not know this, fail to draw away the hand when a
native wishes to kiss it, and are consequently laughed at behind their
backs — which is the explanation given to Landberg. A Moslem would
have reminded him of the ordinary comparison, as to which the Christian
■was silent.

The confusions between various letters, and the variations of the short
vowel sounds, noted by Landberg, are those which the experience of the
survey party in collecting nomenclature, and in the daily conversations
of six years, made very familiar to me. They are imj^ortant for compara-
tive purjooses, and some have been mentioned already.

^ They often give words otherwise unknown to scholars of the litei-ary
language, e.ff. (No. C) : —

>•• • J^

" Perseverance cuts the well wall." Here the word . . ^ is seen to mean

^^
the round masonry wall of the vrell. Prof. Palmer renders it " sewing skins."

- Another curious mistake (p. 49) is the translation of nisnus iuj\j\jmJ

" monkeys." There are no monkeys in Palestine, but the iiiins i/m-^ or

short-legged ichneumon is so called by the peasantry {Herpestes Ichneumon).

140

NOTES BY MAJOK CONDEPt, D.C.L., H.E.

= J

u-"

^"^

C*^

""^

:=:

" *

Clj

O-

- u^

^ —

111 addition to which . is interchangeable at times with j as in

^\xj^:>- for (^^-^-J^ (■Jiuhici ^j[s:^>-). The formation of diminutives by

inserting r, and the quadiliterals formed by inserting n or m into the
root, and the frequent use of the imdla or ei sound for the oii/ are also
interesting features of the peasant dialect.

The language is singularly free from foreign words, considering how
numerous are the foreign influences. A few Italian words' have been
brought by traders, and government terms are often Turkish, as are even
some of the names for articles of furniture and the like. Persian words
also occur, but more particularly among the upper classes. The Fellah
seems stolidly to resist all such innovation.

On the other hand, the peasant words, which Mr. Landberg has so
carefully studied, are often comparable with Hebrew, Aramaic, and
Syriac, and in some instances serve to explain exactly terms which are
used ill the Old Testament. The following are examples of some interest.
Ill some cases Mr. Landberg has not given a reference to the older
languages.

Jj Beiijen Fellah, " he saw ; " Heb. ]^1 " he perceived."

^" ■ ' L

•%] loghz F., " he murmured ; " Heb. '^V_^ (Psalm cxiv, 1), of a strange

language.

^ ■> nadah F., " it was greasy ; '' Heb. n!!^5 " juice," in Isaiah

Ixiii, 3-6.

^y\ did F., " hand ;" Aramaic T^b^ " hand."

' These Italian words belong to the old Lingua Franca of commerce.
Sordugdn " orixnge " (Portugallo), and iH«)y>n« " food " (mangiare " to eat"),
are instances, and the older Fiinduk {see " Syrian Stone Lore," p. 451; Landberg

(p. Ill) derives sutllf (( L1^) f''om the Italian stivare, meaning to

" pile up." These words belong, however, rather to the coast towns than to
the country.

NOTES BY MAJOR COXDER, D.C.L., R.E. 141

J J fml F., "single, " sei^arate ; " Hel). "f^p " he separated."
?, 5(;«'->(w F., " he shut ; "Heb. "^l^D and ^^D " he shut."
;^; (annij F., "he enticed ; '' Heb- y^V "he delighted."

i.jlj har-ah F., "a maiden ;" Heb. H"^! (Cant, vi, 9, 10).

^ii /ni« F., "he worried;" T\TSr\ {,f. Psalm Ixii, 3), "How
long will ye worry a man ? "

J;.< U maya F., " water ; " Heb. T\^'0

; i Ji-iriz F., " he proclaimed," is said to be an Aryan word. It occurs

in Daniel v, 29 iIJ, and is used in Syriac.

J»A.^< mahhfd F., "idiot ; "' Heb. .IH " obscurity " (Eccles. vi, 4 ;
xi, 8), the malihnl is a person of "darkened" intellect.

The work in question contains many interesting statements as to

peasant customs, such as that of placing a beetle (^Lw.i.Ad>-) in a box

lound a child's neck to ward off the evil eye — clearly a survival of the
old scarabeus oharm used by Assyrians, and Phoenicians, and Etruscans,
as well as by Egyptians. It is remarkable, however, that only one fairy
story is given. Such stories are common in the desert, and are read from
books by the Syrian upper classes, but my experience led me to think
that few, if any, are current among the Fellahin. That given by Mr.
Landberg is probably of Persian origin, and recalls the Eurojiean tale of
the " travelling companion." There are interesting notes, on the other
hand, of the survival of the Ashera worship of the Canaanites at Afka
and elsewhere in Palestine.

So numerous are the Syrian proverbs that even the 200 given in this
volume by no means exhaust them. Many recently received by the
P. E. Fund are not enumerated. Proverbs are mentioned in the Old
Testament as well as in the New, and some of these have survived
among the peasantr}-. Thus, in Ezekiel xvi, 44, is mentioned a proverb

V^'Xl^Q ~ (J-v^'c) " ^^^^ daughter is like her mother," which is now

" The daughter springs from her mother."

The proverb in Ezek. xviii, 2, Jer. xxxi, 29, "The fathers have eaten
sour grapes, and the childrens' teeth are set on edge," also occurs.

^J,l Slh\, /.II ^uiA.' ^'Uj.!^

142 NOTES BY MAJOR COXDEI!, D.C.L., R.E.

The explanation is very remarkable, since it attributes leprosy to neglect
of the laws of Levit. xv, 33.

The New Testament maxims, " Judge not," " The mote and the
beam," •' Measure for measure," also occur in Palestine. This might be
thought due to Christian inlluence, were not such sayings of great

antiquity.

The general impression resulting from such study is that the Fellah'
lanrniao-e is much moi^e a survival of the old Svriac and of the Araniaie
spoken in the time of Christ in Palestine, than it is a corruption of the
language of the Arabs of Muhammad's days. It is intimately connected'
with the old speech which we can trace to 1600 b.c. on Egyptian monu-
ments, as spoken in Palestine before the Hebrews arrived with Joshua,
and also to the language of Phcenician inscriptions, of the Moabite Stone,
and of the Siloam text. Aramaic was still the language of the Eabbis in,
the 4th century, and Jerome was able before the Moslem Conquest to-
study in Palestine what he calls " the Canaanite language." (Comm. on
Isaiah xix, 18). Cyril also knew it as the common speech of Palestine
{see "■ Syrian Stone Lore," p. 314), before the Arabs under Omar arrived.

II.

Phcexiciax Notes.

Of all the early Semitic peoples, known to us from the monuments,,
none were nearer to the Hebrews than their immediate neighbours and
allies the Phoenicians. It is true that Phoenician population does not
appear to have been purely Semitic, for there was, at least among the
lower class, an element of population like that usually called Akkadian in
Chaldea, and akin to tlie Hittites in northern Syria ; but the kings who'
have left us religious and funerary texts, wrote in a language closely
allied to Hebrew, and in a character closely similar to that of the Moabite
Stone, and of the Siloam inscription. I have endeavoured to show
{Quarterlu Statcmeat, January, 1889, p. 21) that the Calendar of Phoe-
nicia was probably the same as the old Hebrew Calendar before the
Captivity, which differed from that of the Assyrians ; and in many other-
respects the Phoenician monuments throw light on the social history of
the Hebrews, before the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

The Assyrian monuments often present us with notes which show that
the differences between the languages of Phoenicia and Chaldea were
noted by the writers of Cuneiform. Allusions occur to the " Speech of
the western country," and names of gods are given as peculiar to the
Phoenicians. Among these Astaru is equated with the Akkadian goddess
Istar {see " Proc. Bib. Arch. Soc," March, 1889), and gives a form closely
approaching the Astar oi the Moabite Stone, which is not of necessity a
masculine noun, because it differs from the Hebrew feminine form

KOTES BY MAJOll CONDEE, D.C.L., R.E. 143

Ashtoreth. Another Phoenician deity, Dadu, mentioned in the same list,
is perhai^s the Dodo, who appears, according to Professors Smend and
Socin, on the Moabite Stone (line 12) :

"I bronglit back thence (from Ataroth in Moab) the altar of Dodo."

A third Phcenician deity in this Cuneiform list is Malak/nm, whose
name Mr. Pinches compares with that of Milcom (the H ^"^^ 3 being
frequently interchangeable) : Milcom, or Moloch, being a god of the
Ammonites (1 Kings xi, 5, 33 ; 2 Kings xxiii, 13), as well as of the Phoe-
nicians.

The monuments of Phoenicia are, as a rule, not of very high antiquity,.
and the use of alphabetic writing itself shows that they are later than the
days when hieroglyphics were used in northern Syria for monumentaV
texts. Perhaps the oldest is the much-decayed tombstone of Jehumelek
recovered at Gebal, with a bas-relief representing the king adoring Ash-
toreth, and generally supposed to date about the 6th century B.C. It is
interesting to note that on this monument the common people are des-
cribed by the samejexpression, V-^J^ Q^,' which is used in the Bible
(Deut. xxviii, 10) of the non-Israelites ; and that a brazen altar was dedi-
cated by Jehumelek to Baalath, recalling Solomon's altar of the same
metal.

The celebrated sarcophagus of Eshmunazar, King of Sidon, belongs ta
a somewhat later period, and has even been supposed later than the time
of Alexander the Great. At this time Dora Jopjia and the plain of
Sharon were claimed as recent conquests of the Sidonians, but the text is
])riucipally remarkable for its reference to the Phcenician beliefs as tO'
existence after death. The dead monarch curses those who may disturb,
his bones, and wishes that they may have " no place of rest among the-
shades."'

D^^Q"^ Di^ n:]tr?t2 nb D^ hvi

The word used (Repham) is the same found in the Bible (Isaiah xiv,.
10 ; xxvi, 14, 19) for the manes, rendered "deceased," or "shades," in the
Revised Version.

The position of women in Phoenicia is illustrated by another text from.
Cyprus, which was erected by a princess in honour of " her lady Ash-
torth," and such votive stones receive on other texts the name J~in^?2)
which is that used in the Bible for the Canaanite " pillars " (of 2 Sam.
xviii, 18 ; 2 Kings iii, 2, &c., &c.) ; answering to the Arab Niisb, a menhiir
erected in honour of a deity. In another text from Cyprus we find the
dignity of "Judge" t2Q'^^^ nientioned by the same word used of the
Hebrew Judges; and the "Scribes" Q'^QD ^^'^ noticed in another, in
which also we learn that the Phoenician temples had veils like that of

' Also used in the Mishnah (Pcrki Aboth II, 5) where R. Gamaliel says
" No common man can be a saint."

144 NOTES BY MAJOn CONDEE, D.C.L., E.E.

Jerusalem ; while the Q3,7^ of a temple text from Laruaca are the same
devotees mentioned with abhorrence in Dent, xxiii, 19.

Milcoiii, the Ammonite deity, was also worshipped in Cyprus, as we
learn from the famous Phoenician-Cypriote inscrijition of Idalia, where his
name in Cypriote is spelt ML-le-ko-nc.

The well-known Marseilles tablet shows us how completely the
Phrenician priesthood was organised, demanding regulated fees for all its
duties, whether of sacritice, or as diviners or augurs ; the payment being
in coins of gold and silver not in kind ; and similar records of fees have
been found at Carthage.

Not only bulls, sheep, and goats were offered, but oil or butter even
was accepted from the jtoor, and boughs of fruit trees were hung in the
temples. The names for tlie coins or weights used are the same which
occur in the Bible and in the Mishnah.

The "hand" which appears on the Pluenician tombstones probably
explains the meaning of the term " Absolom's hand" (2 Sam. xviii, 18),
used for the monument which lie is said to have erected during his life-
time as a memorial. These votive stones have been found in great
numbers at Carthage, addressed to deities " because they heard my voice
iuid blessed me," as the inscription usually ends. Some were erected by
women as well as by men.

Although the evidence of the Phrenician texts does not carry back
their civilisation earlier than the age of the Hebrew monarchies, the bas-
reliefs of Egypt show us that it existed even as early as 1600 B.C., or before
the Exodus.

Palestine, according to these monuments, was occupied by a mixed
population, Semitic and Turanian, which lived in cities, cultivated corn,
made wine and oil, had wai' chariots and fortress walls, was rich in gold
and silver, used ivory, precious woods, ebony, and bronze. The Akkadian
texts carry back the discovery of bronze to an even earlier age, and the
picture of Canaanite civilisation, which we find in Joshua, Judges, and
Samuel, is most comj^letely in accord with wliat is relatetl on the monu-
ments of the trade and wealth of Palestine. Nor was this due only to
the influence of Mesopotamia, though the Tell Amarna texts show us
close relations between Egypt ar.d the East as early as 1450 B.C. It
was a native civilisation of the Hittites, Amorites, and Phoenicians,
and it had been spread to Athens and Corinth probably by liZOU b.c.

There is, however, another very interesting result of monumental
study in Palestine which is worthy of notice, namely the non-appeaiance
in the Holy Land of those remains of idolatiy which are discovered in
the immediately surrovniding regions.

Northern Syria and Phtenicia have yielded rich collections of statues,
miiulets, and bas-reliefs, which present figures of gods and demons ; but
none such have been found in Palestine. The most southerly monument of
the kind (as yet figured) is that which was unearthed at Damascus by Sir
C. W. Wilson, though at Gaza terra cottas have been discovered, and
gigantic statues of Greek and Eoman times in Philistia. The seals as yet

NOTES BY MAJOTt CONDEK, D.C.L., R.E. 145

found, which are undoubtedly of Hebrew origin, bear names only, without
figures, and the dolmens and standing stones which are so numerous
beyond Jordan are not found in Judea or Samaria. Negative evidence
is not, it is true, very strong, but it is remarkable that carved figures on
rocks have never been discovered as yet south of Kana, near Tyre ; and
ifc may perhaps be inferred that the reason is that the injunctions of the
Book of Deuteronomy were carried out, and that the idols of the
Canaanites were destroyed by the Kings of Judah, as descxibed in tlie
Book of Kings.

III.

HiTTiTE Monuments.

Near Henawei, S.E. of Tyre, in Wady el 'Akkab, there is a group of
15 figures — a deity and 14 worshippers. The men are clothed in short
dresses. This monument I have never been able to visit, as I was not
in the field when this district was surveyed. It is described by M. Guerin.
The fact of the short dress and belts to the figures suggests that it may
be of the same class with the so-called " Hittite " processional subjects of
Cappadocia. It is said to be much decayed. Exploration might result in
the discovery of hieroglyphics.

IV.

The South Wall of Jerusalem.

In the absence of excavation between the south-west scai'p and the
Opliel wall, every writer has a right to his own opinion as to the line of
this wall. One reason, however, why I think that the line pi'oposed by
Mr. St. Clair runs too far north is that there was probably no change
between the time of Nehemiah and that of Josephus, whose account is
deserving of respect. Josephus says (5 Wars, iv, 2) : " after that it went
southwards (wpos votov), having its bending above (vTrtp), the fountain
.Siloam, where it bends again towards the east (irpos avaroXrjp), at Solomon's
Pool, and reaches as far as a certain place which they called Ophlas, where
it joined the eastern cloister of the Temple."

I think the line should run therefore not far from Siloam. This
passage identifies prettj^ clearly the south-east corner of Herod's Temple
with the south-east angle of the Haram. Solomon's Pool may be Enrogel
(tlie Virgin's Fountain).

146 NOTES BY MAJOR CONDEU, D.C.L,, E.E.

Notes on Nomenclature.

It might apjjear from the " Memoirs " tliat certain pLxces lueiitioiied by
M. Guerin are overlooked by the English surveyors, and the following-
notes seem necessary in explanation. I have looked into all the cases
mentioned in the " Memoirs."

Vol. i, i^age 353. Tennameh of Guerin is the Tinany of the Survey —
a name carefully ascertained.

Vol. ii, page 12. Dreimeh of Guerin is the Dreihemeh of the Survey —
tlie latter is Arabic, the former is not.

Page 12. Senjcm of Guerin is the Survey Sinjih " squirrel." M. Guerin's
word is not Arabic. ■

Page 122. Tell er Red an. The name is not omitted on the Survey.
I obtained it standing on the Tell.

Tell Bala appears as M«i Bala on the Survey Map.

Tell Asdr appears to be the Survey Tell Sarem.

Page 126. There is no doubt as to the correct spelling of Shutta. It
was taken from the Government lists.

Page 171. Both the Ealxt's are mentioned {see page 152) on the
Survey.

Page 197. Guerin's Kafriir is the Survey Jafrthi, Friata is a vulgar
pronunciation of Fer'ata.

Page 240. Guerin's Asu- is the Survey cs S'lr, but the true name of the
site is es Smeit.

Page 315. Deir ed Dham (Guerin) is the vulgar pronunciation of
Deir en Nidhdm, as on the Survey (p. 290).

Page 322. Guerin's Pia is apparently a j)rinter's error for Sia, the
name of the site on the Survey. There is no P in tlie Arabic lan-
guage.

Page 327. Ahlutuh uf Guerin appears to be the Survey Baldta
(p. 328).

Page 327. Abu Samara of Guerin occupies apparently the site
Jlismdr on the Survey. It is a ruined house (p. 361).

Page 329. Khurhet Ben Baish of Guerin seems to be the Survey
Barraish.

Page 331. Khurhet Bar Ahmet is incorrect, as the last word should be
Ahmad, "Ruin of the House of Ahmad." This is M. Guerin's name for
the Survey A'/ lirhet er Rds.

Page 328. Khurhet Baenna of Guerin seems to be the site called
Ilamtd on the Survey. The name IVannch occurs further north on the
Survey (p. 335) in the same district.

Page 357. Umm el Hummdn, " mother of the bath," is M. Guerin's
name for Umm el Ikha of the Survey, llummdn is apparently a printer's
error for Hummdm. The building which he calls a ciiurch is a Moslem
Alukdm.

Page 361. Merda is mentioned on the Survey, p. 286.

NOTES BY MAJOll CONDEK, D.C.L., K.E. 147

Rummon is described more fully on ]). 292.

Page 392. Wadi/ Amar of Gueriu is the Survey WMy cl Ilamr, not
Wddy'Zanvlr. The Survey spelling agrees with that of Robinson and

others.

Page 403. Seimh, " folds," applies to certain folds which are shown

on the Survey.

Page 419. 'Antk ed Deir is mentioned in the Survey account of Deir
Duhhdn.

Vol. iii, page 8. The subterranean passage of which Guerin heard at
Beit 'Atab is fully described in the " Memoirs " (pp. 23 and 137) as Brr d
IlasAta.

Page 264. 'Aruk el Kharab, "the rained cavern," is a general name
given to caves at Beit Jibrin by Guerin. The Survey gives 14 names of
these caves (p. 266).

Page 275. Bikkerhi is the Survey DhiH-ertn el Boradan (p. 258).
Paf'-e321. 'Ain edh Dhirweh. The ruins mentioned by Guerin are
fully described with a plan in the " Memoirs," under the head Kilsr Islaiyin
(p. 374).

Page 323. IMlal el Bothmeh, of Guerin, is the Survey Kliallet cl
Butmeh {see Map, p. 352). The Survey spelling is correct.

Page 325. Caphar Barnebo of Guerin, is a printer's error for Caphar
Barucha, the old name of Beni JSf'awi (see p. 304).

Page 352. Khurhet Beni Bur. This is given by Guerin, and is men-
tioned in the Survey name indexes (p. 398) as another name of Khurhet
VuMn, which is fully described in the Memoir under that name.

Page 369. Guerin's Terrama is evidently the Survey el Hadah, ]y. 329.
It does not seem to be an Arabic word.

Page 369. Guerin's Umm el Amad appears to be the Survey Khoreisa
(p. 356), where a ruined church and inscription were found. The previous
name only means " mother of jullars."

Page 395. It is a mistake to suppose that there are seven wells at
Beersheba ; there are only three. Vandevelde never went to Beersheba.
His longitude and account show that he went to cl Meshdsh and mistook
it for Beersheba.

These notes may be useful to those who possess the " Memoirs." They
represent, I think, all the discrepancies out of 1750 pp. quarto, with lists
of 10,000 names, and refer only to insignificant ruins. The Survey
nomenclature was tested in various ways, as mentioned in the Introduc-
tion, vol. i, of the " Memoirs," and there is apparently no reason to prefer
;iny of the variants proposed by travellers.

VI.

The Speech of Lycaonia.
In the Quarterly Statement I have given already the Carian and Lydian
words which appear to be non- Aryan. That Aryan races dwelt in Asia

148 NOTES r.Y MAJOR CONDER, D.C.L., R.E.

Minor is, however, sliown by the remains of the Lyciau and Phrygian

languages.

Phrygiax.

JJeios, "bread." Persian haj\ "food."
Kimeros, " chamber." Zend Kamara, Armenian Kaniar.
Bagaios, " god." Slav hogu, Old Persian haga.

Besides the words for "dog," "lire," "water," which Plato says
resembled the Greek.

Lyciax.

Kewe, " king." Zend Kavi, Persian Lxii.

(jina, " wife." Armenian gin, " wife," Zend gliena.

Zse, "if." Zendieje, "if."

Eveeya, " this." Old Persian Jlauva, " this."

Se, " and." Old Persian sa, " and ; " Armedian sd, " and."

Gorn, " tomb." Persian gur, " tomb ; " Armenian geyreyz.

Eveeija, "these." Old Persian avahaya (3rd pers. pi.).

Meou, " of me." Old Persian maiya, " of me."

Aryan words also occur in the list of words called Lydian by the
classic writers, e.g. : —

Lydiax.

Ankon, "corner." Armenian angiiin, "corner."
Brenthion, " myrrh." Armenian Badrinch., " balm."
Paramene, " fate " (Feronia). Armenian rcyrin.
Kapithe, " measure." Armenian Tchap, " measure."

What is still more interesting, however, is the discovery, to which a
comparison of the Armenian and Vannic languages has led me,' viz., that
the latter is an Aryan tongue akin to Armenian, and comparable also
with the monumental Persian and the Zend. Thus in 850 b.c. there were
Aryans round Lake Van (of the same race as the Phrygians, as Herodotus
tells us), whose Kings were at war with the Hittites, who advanced
East from Carchemish. The latter had thus enemies not only of Semitic,
but also of Aryan race.

1 Tills comparison with Annenian was, howevev, first proposed iu 1872 bv
Dr. A. D. Mordtmann. It has been denied on grounds wliich seem to me
insufficient by other scholars.

NOTES BY MAJOi: CONDEIJ, D.C.L., PuE. 140

VII.

Was There a AVord Ko, " King." ?

Among points denied by Professor Sayce, was my identification of the
sound Ko as being a Hittite woixl for " king." Not indeed the only Avord,
for the terms Sar, Essehu, Tarkan, and Xazi, all of which are Turanian
terms for king, were also used by the Hittites. I referred the matter to
Mr. T. G. Pinches, of the British Museum, and to Mr. G. Bertin, both of
whom informed me that the words Kii and CI- stand for " king " in
Akkadian.

In June. 1888, Mr. E. A. W. Budge published a tri-lingual text in
Persian, Babylonian, and Susian, of the reign of Darius. The Susian
language is a dialect of the Akkadian group, and in the Susian version
the word for king is read Ko by Mr. Budge. The text is syllabic, and
not ideographic, so that the evidence is of value.

In more than one Chinese dialect the word CJiu or CJnie stands for
" lord." In the old Uigur language (a Turkish dialect) it occurs as ige,
" lord ; " and in the dialect of Eastern Turkestan as cge. Among the
A'^akfit (a Siberian Turkic ]ieopIe) it becomes iav^ and in Vigur oke means
" honour." It is not known as an Aryan word, but in Zend we have
the word Kavi, " prince," which in Persian becomes Kai, and it is
believed that in Lycian (a language very like Zend) Keue stood for king.
Not only so, but in the Bible itself the word occurs as J^'^p {Koa),

(Ezek. xxiii, 23), according to Gesenius, meaning a prince (as also in the
Vulgate, and according to Hebrew interpreters), but it is not a Semitic
any more than an Aryan term.

In the Cuneiform syllabaries the sign/wi is explained to mean "king"
by the Semitic interpreters, and in the Medic inscriptions the same sign
occurs with the same meaning. There is, as above shown, abundant
evidence that the word Ko was a widely spread Tartar word for " king,"
with the radial meaning "high" or "honourable." The sign is of special
imjjortance, because it occurs on the only Hittite bi-lingual as yet pub-
lished, and is one of the distinctive words which, with I'ark " deer,"
Tarkit " chief," me " many," ma " country," serve to show the Turanian
character of the Hittite language. To suppose that a Tartar people
spoke either a Semitic or an Aryan language is practically impossible,
yet this is the dilemma in which those scholars are placed who call the
Hittites " Mongols," yet hesitate to accept their speech as Turanian.

C. E. C.

150

THE FORM OF THE MOABITE STONE, AND THE
EXTENT OF THE MISSING PARTS.

It is now neaily 21 years since the Moabite Stone was first seen by a
European, and the facts connected with its discovery have probably
faded from the memory of many. It may be useful to recall them here,
in so far as they ought to influence the course of future search.

One is often asked whether the Moabite Stone did not turn out to be
a, forgery ? But those who have watched the course of events know very
well that although there was at one time an attempt to palm off upon
the world some Moabite potter}-, &c., there has never beeii any serious
reason to doubt the genuineness of the Stone of Dhiban, discovered in
August, 1868. M. Clermont-Ganneau, in the " Contemporary Eeview "
for August, 1887, very successfully demolished the arguments of an attack
which was then recent.

But ill the same article M. Ganneau advances the idea that the stone
was jierhaps twice as large, and the inscription twice as long, as we had
supposed it to be, and as the restored form of it shows. On this j^oint it
is difficult to agree with him. M. Ganneau has deservedly associated his
name with the recovery and the decipherment of the stone ; but he did
not see it before it was broken to jiieces, and he is not the best autliority
as to the form that it had. The onl} European who saw the stone before
it was shattered was Eev. F. A. Klein, a missionary, who was travelling
nnder the jjrotection of his Arab friend, Zattain, and was taken to see
the stone one evening. In the short time at his disposal he made a
drawing of the stone, counted 34 lines of writing ujion it, endeavoured to
collect a perfect alphabet from it, and copied a few words from several
lines at random. After this, attemjits were made by Dr. Petermann and
others to obtain possession of the stone for some European Museum ;
but the Arabs broke it up, and carried the pieces in different directions,
depositing some in their granaries to secure blessings on their corn.
Eventually two large pieces were recovered and a numl)er of smaller
fragments, making up, as was believed at the time, about seven-tenths of
the entire stone. But the absence of the remainder made it difficult to
determine the form of the stone in its lower part, for those who sought
to do so from the fragments alone, disregarding the sketch made by
M. Klein. It was eventually " restored " as a stone rou-nded at the top
but squared at the bottom, and standing on a flat base without a pedi-
ment, like a tomb-stone. But M. Klein uttered his protest against this
idea. In a letter to the "Academy " ' he vouches for the perfect correct-
ness of his drawing, since he had made it on the spot. He says, " The
stone is, as appears from the accompanying sketch, rounded on both sides,
not only at the upper end as mentioned by Monsieur Ganneau." And
again, " According to my correct measurement on the spot, the stone was

' See Quarterly Statement, March to June, 1870.

THE FORM OF THE MOABITE STONE, ETC. 151

1 metre 13 centimetres in height, 70 centimetres in breadth, and 35 cen-
timetres in thickness ; and according to my calculation had 34 lines, for
the two or three upper lines were very much obliterated. The stone itself
was in a most perfect state of preservation, not one single piece being
broken olf, and it was only from great age and exposure to the rain and
sun that certain parts, especially the upper and the lower lines, had some-
what suffered."

In accordance with M. Klein's sketch and his testimony, Dr. Ginsburg's
"Moabite Stone : a Fac-simile of the Original Inscription," &c., jniblished
in 1871, represents the stone as rounded both at top and bottom.

Nevertheless, M. Ganneau retained the opinion that the bottom of the
stone was squared ; he " restored " it so, and in that form it stands in the
Louvre, in the British Museum cast, and in the photogi^aphs. Yet one
would think that there was no room to question M. Klein's testimony,
and no appeal from his sketch of the stone, made on the spot, and still to
be seen in the office of the Palestine Exjjloration Fund.

It is not an unimportant point ; for intimately connected with the
form of the stone is the quantity of writing missing and still to be looked
for. M. Ganneau, in the " Contemporary Review," repeats his impression
" that the stela must have been of the ordinary shape of Egyptian and
Assyrian stelae — a block, the upper part rounded, the lower part square,"
and suggests that the primitive stela may have exceeded 2 metres
in height, and may have contained an inscription double or more
in length that which has reached us. Search among the ruins of
Dibon might bring to light, he thinks, the other half of the stela, and
then the two together would constitute a truly imposing text. Of course,
if M. Klein is correct, this is a visionary hope. On the other hand,
if the stone was rounded at the bottom, it seems to follow that it
did not stand on its own base, nor on any low pediment, but was
part of a larger monument. As early as 1873, Mr. Alexander Forbes
of Aberdeen, wrote a paj^er,' in which he argues that the nature of
the monument in question is indicated in the third line of the inscrip-
tion, where it is said, " I made this high place for Chemosh." " High
place" is here hornoth, a sacrificial altar {see LXX ; Numbers xxiii, 1) ;
and Mr. Forbes thinks it was so splendid and conspicuous a monu-
ment as to be well known to the people of Judea, against whom and
against whose God it was a proud boast. Isaiah and Jeremiah seem
to rebuke the boastfulness and exaggerations of the inscription : " We
have heard of the pride of Moab ; he is very proud : even of his
haughtiness and his pride and his wrath : but his lies shall not be so "
(Isaiah xvi, 6 ; Jeremiah xxix, 30\ Instead of making Mesha say, " I
set up this stone," as the translators have done, Mr. Forbes would render
it — I erected this altar (/3w/xos). lie argues that the stone, being
rounded at all its corners, must be regarded as a tablet inserted in a

' The paper is printed in extenso as an Appendix to W. Pakenham Walsh's
" Lectures on the Moabite Stone."

152 THE TELL ES SALAHIYEH MONUMENT.

larger building, whicli buildiug was a jSoa^of ; and he suggests that
search shouhi be made for the stones which surrounded the tablet.

Is it not further possible that since the altar would stand four-square,
like the pediment of the Nelson column, there would be inscribed stones
in all the four sides ? If so, three more stelie may await our search.

George St. Clair.

THE TELL ES SALAHIYEH MONUMENT.

Long before Professor Sayce published his book on " The Hittites, the
Story of a Forgotten Empire," he was looking over some of the Palestine
Exploration Fund photographs in my possession, and on coming to the
one marked " Tel Salahiyeh, near Damascus, Slab found in the Mound,"
which is figured o)i ]). 88 of the Quarterly Statement for April, he
observed, " That is an especially interesting photograph, for it is un-
doubtedly from a Hittite monument." So that he was then fully aware
of the existence of the Hittite monument in question, discovered near
Damascus by Sir C. W. Wilson.

A. G. Weld.

I SHOULD like to ask how " the very archaic monument discovered by
Sir C. W. Wilson, in his excavations at Tell es Salahiyeh," and supposed
by Major Conder to be " Hittite," differs from the one discovered at the
same place forty years ago by J. L. Porter, and figured in his ' Five Years
in Damascus V It is there spoken of as " Assyrian." Have two monu-
ments been found in this mound 1 The two representations (Porter's
work just referred to and Quarterly Statement, April, page 88) show a
striking resemblance to each other.

Selah Merrill.

THE " VIA MARIS"

The Rev. Charles Druitt wishes to know " how I explain Elijah's direc-
tion to his servant in 1 Kings xviii, 43," and " did Elijah mean that
his servant was to look north-east across the Acca Bay ? "

The first point to consider is, where was the place where Elijah stood
when he said to his servant, " Go up now, look towaixls the sea," and the
Bible (verse 42) states that it was on " the top of Carmel." It is beyond
doubt that by " the top of Carmel " that place is meant now called
" el Muharka " (or el Mahrakah), the burning place, situate on one of the
most conspicuous summits of Mount Carmel, which, from its geographical
position just above the Kishon River and the Tell el Kussls (the adopted

NOTE ON A COIN, ETC. 153

(Baal) priest's-hill), with its unique view over the whole surrounding
country and the sea, in every point answers the biblical description of the
Elijah miracle. From this point, the Mediterranean Sea can be seen in
two directions, viz., looking soutii-west and north, between those two
views some near heights and the entire range of Carmel intercept the
view.

Now Elijah told his servant " Go up now, look towards the sea,"
which indicates that he went a little forwards on to one of those heights,
and considering that all the sudden storms and heavy rains in our neigh-
bourhood come from the west and south-west, I would call the direction
whence the rain clouds " arose out of the sea " (as seen from el Mahrakah)
the west-south-we.st.

The monks of Mount Carmel have now widened and rebuilt the
Chajjel on the Mahrakah summit, which, with its whitewashed roof,
shines out conspicuously. The traveller coming from Jaffa or Nablds,
from the east of Jordan or Galilee, from Safed, 'Acca, or Tyre, tinds
this monument on the top of Mount Carmel a guiding point for his
journey.

G. Schumacher.

NOTE OX A COIN ENGRAVED ON p. 77, QVAETEBLY

STATEMENT, 1889.

A CURIOUS mistake has crept into the paper of Herr G. Schumacher, and
has been printed in the (Quarterly Statement of April this year, p. 77.
Describing some ancient objects found in tombs in Galilee, HeiT
Schumacher says : " Finally they brought me a coj^per coin found among
the dust in a grave, which I reproduce in its natural size and stamp
(fig. 17). On one side there are three ears (of corn), tied together with a
sling, surrounded by a ring of pearls ; the other side shows a sort of purse
with tassels and some letters, which I am unable to decipher."

On this I have to remark that the " ring of pearls " (which is not given
in the plate), is altogether imaginary, and that the '■'■ ptirse^' is an um-
brella, a well-known symbol of royal power. The coin in question, which
is by no means uncommon, is no doubt one of Herod Agrippa I., a.d.
37-44, and a similar one will be found engraved on p. 103 in Mr. F. N.
Madden's " History of Jewish Coinage," London, 1864, Mr. Madden
thus correctly describes it: Obv. BACIAEIOC AfPiriA, rvritten
round an umbrella, surrounded with fringes.

Rev. Three ears of corn springing from one stalk.

G. J. Chester,

154

NOTE ON Mk. guy LE STRANGE'S PAPER ON "ANTTOCH
IN 1051 A.D.," PAGE 266, QUARTERLY STATEMENT,
OCTOBER, 1888.

The " shell (saclafah) which screens the altar (in the church) of Al
Kusyan" is probably an altar screen inlaid with mother-of-pearl, Sadaf
being still the word in common use in Syria for mother-of-pearl. The
shells are obtained from the Red Sea, chiefly by Bethlehem ti-aders.
Mother-of-pearl has long been used in the inlaid work of Syria. There
are some fine specimens of mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell inlaid work
in the church of St. James in the Armenian Convent at Jerusalem, and
the inlaid pearl work of Damascus is well known. According to Ibn
Butlan, the Haikal or Sanctuary of the Church at Antioch appears to
have been at the time of his visit (a.d. 1050) screened off from the nave by
an inlaid mother-of-pearl screen surmounted by an iron cross, which had
been struck in 1050, as he describes, by lightning during the great storm
of April 13th (old style — therefore April 25th new style). This is late
in the year for a heavy thunderstorm in Syria. He mentions the splitting
off of the shell, i.e., pearl inlaying, from the face of the screen, the
melting of the silver chain of the censer, and the throwing down
of a silver crown which hung before the table of the altar. (It is
worthy of notice that the writer throughout speaks of " the table of the
altar.")

It is interesting to compare the arrangements here described with
those to be found to this day in the Western Syrian churches in Syria
and Mesopotamia, and those of the Eastern Syrians (in the Nestorian
Mountains) — all have the Haikal or Sanctuary to the east, with its " altar
table." In the churches of the Western Syrians the Sanctuary is
separated by a vail or curtain which hangs between two pillars. The
Eastern Syrians have in their churches a thick wall separating nave from
Sanctuary.

Censers are used by both the Eastern and Western Syrians.

Both still have three small tables (called "stools" in Mr. Guy le
Strange's translation) at the top of the nave just before the Sanctuary.
The Western Syrians use the one at each side (north and south) for the
service books, and the middle one for the book of the Old Testament
lessons, while beyond it, within the Sanctuary at the top of the step, is a
fourth table for the Book of the Gospels. The Western Syrians have
two candles placed on the " altar table," which are lighted if there is not
daylight enough. These candles must not be made of animal fat, nor
must any book bound in the skin of an animal be laid on the "altar
table."

The Rev. Dr. Cutts describes the Church of the Eastern Syrians
(Nestorians or Assyrians) at Kochanes, where he saw three small tables in
front of ami below the chancel screen — that on the south for the anthem
books, and a rude chandelier, is called the Altar of Prayers ; that on

NOTE. 155

the north is called the Altar of the Gospels, for the Book of the
Gospels and a cross laid upon it, and the middle small one has a cross laid
upon it.

Ibn Butlan not only gives his dates in Moslem reckoning (of the
He j rah) but also according to the era of Alexander the Great, and I have
found that to this day the Syrian Chi'istians use the Macedonian era of
Alexander, whose iiiiluence was so greatly felt, as well as that of his
successors in the provinces of North and Eastern Syria.

The daughter church of St. Thomas' Christians on the Malabar coast
also still use the Macedonian era.

It is highly probable that Ibn Butlan (a native of Bagdad) was a
member of the ancient Syrian Church, whose home is still in Mesopo-
tamia. The Syrian Christians hold that their Church was founded by the
Apostles Paul and Peter — the latter having been their first Bishop and
Patriarch. Antioch has long been in ruins ; its glories have departed ; its
gardens, groves, myrtle-heated baths, its countless churches, ornamented
with gold and silver and coloured glass, and floors paved in squares
(tessei'oe) ; its hospital for the sick, and its audit office for the church
accounts, where ten or more accountants were kept daily busy — all are
gone. First, Greek, and then Moslem invaders drove away the Syrian
Christians ; next came the Latin Crusading armies, and the final triumph
of the Moslem power. Antioch fell, and until lately there were no
Christians at all to be found there. There are now a tew Greek Christians
who live among the Moslem inhabitants ; but none of the ancient Syrian
Church. Still, though driven away eastwards, the Syrian nation and
Church have not ceased to exist, They found a refuge among the
highlands of Upper Mesopotamia, whither, to the fortress city of
Mardin, the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch removed his seat, and where
his successors have to this day cared for their sorely oppressed people.
Here, far beyond the ken of ordinary travellers, the Syrian people still
speak the ancient Aramaic tongue and keej? up their primitive usages
and the customs of their Church- The Patriarch, Ignatius Peter III,
visited England fourteen years ago at the invitation of the late Arch-
bishop Tait, and was accompanied by Mar Gregorius, Syrian Bishop of
Jerusalem. The latter is in England now, having again been invited to
this countrv.

From these Prelates we have derived much valuable information as to
tne past history and present condition of the Syrian, the oldest Gentile
Christian Church in the world. By them, probably for the first time in
history, has been used in this country in speaking and in writing the
ancient Aramaic as a still living language.

E. A. Finn.

156 THE HOCK (SAKHRAH) FOUNDATION

THE ROCK (SAKHRAH) FOUNDATION OP SOLOMON'S

TEMPLE.

Mr. George St. Clair refei-s (on p. 100 of the April Quarterly, 1889)
to the now well known Rock summit of Mount Moriah on which
Solomon's temple was built, and which is covered by the Dome es
Sakhrah.

The sight of that grand uncarved Rock drew my attention many years
ago, when living at Jerusalem, to the symbolic use of the word Rock in
the Old and New Testament, and to the symbolic use of the very different
word " sto7ie."

The living " Rock " is used in both Old and New Testament as the
symbol of the Divine Being, also of his relation as Father to His children
while the " stone " cut out of the Rock is used as a symbol of sonship (see
Isaiah li, 1, 2). The use of Rock as a symbol of God, the Divine Father,
is clear in Deut. xxxii, 4-15, compared with verses 18, 19, 20.

lioek is synonymous with God in 1 Samuel ii, 2 ; 2 Samuel xxii, 3 ;
xxiii, 3 ; Psalm xviii, 2 ; xix, 4 ; xxvii, ; Ixi, 25 ; Ixviii, 35 ; Ixxxix, 26 ;
xlv, I ; Isaiah xvii, 10 ; &c., &c.

That the ancient Hebrews regarded the word " Rock " as a Divine
name also appears from the Prayer used during the offering of incense in
the Temple (Edersheim's "Temple and its Services," p. 139) : "True it is
that Thou, Jehovah, our God and the God of our fathers, our King and
the Knig of our fathers, our Saviour and the Saviour of our fathers, our
Maker and the Rock of our salvation, our Helper and our Deliverer, Thy
name is from everlasting, and there is no God beside Thee. A new song
did they that were delivered sing to Thy name by the sea-shore, together
did all praise and own Thee as King, and say, Jehovah shall reign, who
saveth Israel."

lu order fully to appreciate the force of Deut. xxxii, 18, 19, 20, it is
necessary to note the contrast between the Parent Rock •^"^^ of verse 1 8,
and the sons, daughters and children of verses 19, 20, for all of which the
word 'i'2_ with its feminine and plural is used ; andto observe the relation-
ship of "n son, and p^ stone with the verb pf^^ to build. Ia.' in
Arabic, in which latter language the noun son commonly retains the
initial \ as in the Hebrew l^,^, a stone. In Daniel ii, 45, the two words

Rock and stone occur. Rock, however, is here in the Chaldee (Aramaic)
cognate ^"^j^^ T6r, so familiar to us as applied to mountains Tor, and
in the east Tiir.

This verse of Daniel opens up the deeper meaning and use. of the
Rock — the Divine Father ; and the Stone, the Son " cut out from the

OF Solomon's temple. 157

rock," but not by hands, i.e., without human intervention. We see, in
Matthew xvi, that our Lord appropriated to Himself the Eock as the
symbol of His Divinity. " Upon this Rock will I build my Church,''
when He accepted the confession of Peter, verse 16. "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter was a stone 'J^^^-^that is, a

son 'JI2, bi-it not the Rock ■^')^, the Divine foundation. {See 1 Cor. x, 1.)

Observe here, also, the use of the verb build : " Upon this Rock will I
build my Church," and the fuller statements in Hebrews iii, 3-6 ; Gala-
tians iii, 7, and other passages where our Lord the Master builder is set
forth as building His heavenly house (temple) or church of living stones,
i.e., sons. The stone "|3,^ is used of the Messiah in His human nature

(Genesis xlix, 24). " The stone, the shepherd of Israel " (Psalm cxviii, 22 ;
Mark xxi, 42). " The stone which the builders rejected." I have, in
the above, indicated the points contained in the passages referred to, and
now briefly mention the subject in its connection with the building of the
Temple at Jerusalem upon the foundations of the sacred living Eock.

Upon that unhewn rock was founded the wondrous superstructure ; on
it stood the concentric walls and courts, all built of hewn stones, let into,
grafted, as it were, back again into the parent Rock ; symbols of the
Sonship granted to Abraham and all his believing children. There were
the great stones — symbols of the Patriarchs and Apostles built around
and upon the Rock, while the smaller stones representing the great family
of spiritual children were used in building up the mighty enclosure walls.
Each stone, great or small, was prepared beforehand — each was perfectly
formed and fitted to be silently put in its destined place as part of the
great whole, closely joined together without mortar or other intervening
substance, and compacted perhaps by the action of water into one splendid
whole around the glorious head and centre of the Rock on which they
were founded.

On some other occasion I hope to notice in fuller detail the many
points of extreme interest and importance connected with the use in Holy
Scripture of the words " rock," " stone," " son," " builder," and " building,"
and the closely-connected subject of the Temple on Mount Moriah as
a type of the Church, the Temple of living stones built upon the Divine
Rock of foundation, of which the great Tem2:)le Rock is so impressive a
symbol.

E. A. Finn.

158

ERRATA.

April " Qttaeteelt Statement." — List of Subsceiptions.

For General W. Flatt Noble read General W. Hatt Noble.

Bath List.
For Rev. T. P. Methuen read Mr. T. Hayes.

On pp. 53 and 65, /or north-east corner read north-west corner.

QUARTERLT STATEMENT, OCTOBER, 1889.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

NOTES AND NEWS.

Hekb Schick's paper on the Mount of Olives is published in the pre^en*
number, with plan of the newly-discovered tombs, and sketches of Romat.
tiles, &c., found dui'ing recent excavations.

His account of the ancient Church recently discovered in the street of Sitti
Maryam, at Jerusalem, with plan of the same, is also given, and a section of
the large cistern near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was described
in the July number of the Quarterlj Statement, will be found facing page 210
of the present number.

Further excavations north of Damascus Gate have resulted in the discovery
of rock tombs with stone doors, and of inscriptions. An ancient rock-hewn
Church has been discovered at Siloam.

Mr. F. F. Tuckett has forwarded a letter received by him from Pere Leon Cre
of the Algerian Mission at Jerusalem, containing an account of further dis-
coveries at the Pool of Bethesda. Pere Cre writes, " In clearing out the crypt
of the church built at the south-east angle of the Pool, in the time of the
Crusades, at the north-west corner, close to an opening which permits the water to
be seen and drawn up, and surrounding a little door still obstructed, which
doubtless affords a way of descent to tlie middle of the Pool, we found very
interesting remains of a mural painting which marvellously confirms the already
numerous proofs of the authenticity of the Pool Bethesda. Arab fanaticism
has destroyed the heads and hands of the figures, but notwithstanding that,
above the little door mentioned above there is visible the beautiful and well
preserved nimbus of a winged figure, which causes the water by which it is
surrounded in the picture to be moved and agitated. It is an exact interpreta-
tion of the first part of the 4th verse of the 5th chapter of St. Jolm, " An
angel went down at a certain season into the Pool and troubled the water \;«'
irafjaaatv to vBujp." A report of this interesting discovery has also been sent
by Herr Schick.

Dr. Torrance, of the Scottish Mission, has kindly undertaken to conduct
a series of meteorological observations at Tiberias for the Fund. Should it be
found practicable to carry out this diflicult undertaking, the observations will,
with those made at Saroua, now being published by Mr. Glaisher, and those

160 NOTES AND NEWS.

made by Dr. Cliaplin at Jerusalem, and reported in the Quarterli) Statement
for 1883, place the Society .after a few years in the possession of materials
for a fairly complete account of the meteorology of Palestine. It ■will be
remembered that Tiberias is 682 feet below the level of the Meditei-ranean
Sea. No regular series of meteorological observations has ever been made in
such a depressed situation, and the i-esults will therefore be exceptionally
interesting. As the neighbourhood of Jericho is becoming, to some extent, a
place of residence for Europeans, it is hoped that opportunity may before long
present itself for making meteorological observations there also.

An interesting letter has been received from Mr. W. Lethaby, who has been
residing two years m Kerak as a Missionary. He urges the Fund to commence
explorations there, and reports the discovery of some stones with sculptured
figures, which he thinks are " of the Assyrian type." It is hoped that further
information may soon be received from Mr. Lethaby on the subject.

Mr. Henry A. Harper's work, on " The Bible and Modern Discoveries "
is nearly ready. It is an endeavour to present in a simple but yet connected
form the Biblical results of twenty-two years' work of the Palestine Explo-
ration Fund. The writer has al=o availed himself of the discoveries made by
the American Expeditions and the Egyjitian Exploration Fimd, as well as dis-
coveries of interest made by independent travellei's. The Bible story, from the call
of Abraham to the Captivity, is taken, and details given of the light thrown by
modern research on the sacred annals. Eastern customs and modes of thought
are explained whenever the writer thought they illustrated the text. To the
Clergy and Sunday School Teachers, as well as to all those who love the Bible, the
writer hopes this work will prove useful. He is personally acquainted with the
land, and nearly all the places spoken of he has visited, and most of them he
has moreover sketched or painted. The work will be issued in one large, hand-
some volume of 600 pages. It will be illustrated with a map and many plates.
Price to the public, IQs. ; to subscribers, 10*. Qd., carriage included.

Mr. Guy le Strange's important work, " Palestine under the Moslems,"
which is a description of Palestine according to the mediaeval Arab geographers,
is also in the press.

The first volume of the " Survey of Eastern Palestine," by INIajor Conder,
has been issued to subscribers. It is accompanied by a map of the portion
of country surveyed, special plans, and upwards of 350 drawings of ruins,
tombs, dolmens, stone circles, inscriptions, &c. The edition is limited to
500. The first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas for the three volumes, with
an index ; subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine " are privileged
to have the volumes for this sum. The price will be raised, after 250 names
are received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are pledged never to let any
copies be subscribed under the sum of seven guineas. Mr. A. P. Watt,
2, Pnternoster Square, is the Sole Agent. The attention of intending- sub-
scribers is directed to the announcement on the inside of the cover of this
number.

NOTES AND NEWS. 161

Some progress has also been made rtitli the second volume, which consists
of M. Lecomte's beautiful drawings, illustrating the Mission of M. Clermont-
Ganneau in 1874. The illustrations for the third volume, Mr. Chichester
Hart's "Flora and Fauna " of the Wady Arabah, are nearly ready.

The Committee have added to their list of publications the new edition
of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant and E. H. Palmer (Bentley &
Son). It can be obtained by subscribe i"s, carriage paid, for 5*. 6d., by appli-
cation to the Head Office only. The " History of Jerusalem," M^hicli was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any otlier work, tliou'Th
some of the contents have been plundered by later works on the same subject.
It begins with the siege by Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-known
episodes in the history of the city and the country.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country,
whicli can be found in no otlier publications. It must never be forgotten that
no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all tlie instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following (fke whole set can he ohtamed ly application to
Mr. George Armstrong, for 37*. Qd., carriage paid) : —

By Major Conder, R.E. —

(1) "Tent "Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the survey of Western

Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of tlie people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
traveller has enjoyed the same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Heth and Moab."— Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Eastern Palestine. How the party began by a flyiu" visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesh— of the
childi-en of Heth ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Conder's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

Major Conder's works, is, perhaps, the most valuable. It attempts a task
never before approached— the reconstruction of Palestine from its monu-
ments. It shows what we should know of Syria if there were no Bible
and it illustrates the Bible from the monuments.

Ifi2 NOTES AND NEWS.

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
riews since tlie publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — This is a popular account of the Geolo-

gical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fund. The part which deals with the Valley of Arabah
will be found entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

(8) The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work. — A copy of this book is presented

to every subscriber to the Fund who applies for it. The work is a
popular account of the researches conducted by the Society during the
past twenty -one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by this Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's Kh. Fahil. The ancient Pella, the first retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
Qjuarterly Statements.

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.

For the convenience of subscribers in following out the position of recent
discoveries in Jerusalem, a plan of the city, reduced from the Ordnance Survey
plan by permission, was issued with the April number of the Quarterly
Statement, on which the recent discoveries are noted in red.

We regret to record the death of the Kev. Henry Hall-Houghton, a member
of our General Committee, and for many years a generous supporter of the
Society. Mr. Hall-Houghton had long ceased to take any cure of souls, but
greatly furthered the advancement of the study of the New Testament by
donations and personal encoui-agement.

Branch AssociBtions of the Bible Society, all Sunday Schools in union with
the Sunday Scliool Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan
Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Resolution of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
])iirchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
price.

The friends of the Society are earnestly requested to use the " Memoirs
of Twenty-one Years' Work " as a means of showing what the work has been,
and what remains to be done.

NOTES AND NEWS. 163

The income of the Society, from June 18th to September I7th, inclusive,
was— from subscriptions and donations, £110 8.9. 2d. ; from all sources,
£426 9.?. 5(?. The expenditure during the same period was £349 18.y. ^d. On
September 20th tlie balance in the Bank was £439 2s. lid.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following can be had by application
to the office at 1*. each : —

1. Index to the Quarterly Statement, 1869-1880;

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher'^s " Jaulan ; "

3. Cases for the Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate.

Early niimbers of the Quarterly Statement are very rare. In order to mal<e
up complete sets the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

No. 11,1869; No. VII, 1870; No. Ill (July) 1871; January and
April, 1872 ; January, 1883, and Januaiy, 1886.

It having again been reported ta the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of the Society, the Committee have to
caution subscribers and the pubhc that they have no book hawkers in their
employ, and that none of their works are sold by itinerant agents.

As many inquiries have been made about transparent slides, a selection will'
be made from the photographs of the Society for this purpose. Subscribers
wishing to have any are requested to communicate with the Assistant Secretary.

164 NOTES AND NEWS.

The only authorised lecturers for tlie Society are —

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, F.G-.S., Member of the Anthropological Institute

and of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

His subjects are : —

(1) Ths Buried City of Jerusalem, and General JExploration of

Palestine.

(2) Discoveries in. Assyria, Chaldea, and Palestine.

(3) The Moahite Stone and the Fedic/ree of the Unglish Alphabet.

(4) Jerusalem of David, Nehemiah, and Christ.

(5) Sight-seeing in Palestine : a Narrative of Personal Expe-

riences.

(6) Israel's Wars and Worship, illustrated hy the new Survey.

(7) The Oospel Jlistory in the light of Palestine Exploration.

Address : Geo. St. Clair, Bristol Road, Birmingham, or at the Office of
the Fund.

(2) The ReT. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His

lectures ai-e on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving views :" —

The Survey of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations,

A Bestoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(;}) The Rev. James King, Yicar of St. Mary's, Berwick. His subjects are
as follows : —

The Survey of Western Palestine.

Jerusalem.

The mttites.

The Moahite Stone and other monuments.

(4) The Rev. Thomas Harrison, F.R G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects areas follows; —

(1) Besearch and Discovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Traclc of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

1G5

MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.

The Annual Meeting of the General Committee was held on Tuesday,
July 16th, at 4 o'clock, at the Society's Offices, 1, Adam Street.

The Chair was taken by Mr. James Glaislier, F.E.S.

The Chairman informed the Committee tliat he held in his hand a
number of letters from Members regretting inability to attend.

The Honorary Secretary then read the following Eeport of the Execu-
tive Committee for the past year —

My Lords and Gentlemen,

Your Executive Committee elected at the last General Meeting, on
July 3rd, 1888, have now, ou resigning their office, to render an account
of their administration during the past year.

Your Committee have held nineteen meetings during the year.

The work of excavation in Jerus;dem, and surveying in various parts
on the east of Jordan, goes on quietly from time to time as opportunity
permits.

The Committee have hopes of a Firman being granted in the course
of a few months, to enable them to begin excavations on new and hithei'to
unexplored grounds.

Our energetic agent, Herr Conrad Schick, loses no opportunity of
reporting and sending plans of discoveries in Jerusalem, which are
brought to light either by excavation or during improvements or alterations
in various parts of the City. Some of the recent discoveries are as
follows : —

1. In reconstructing the carriage road which runs along outside the
northern wall of the City, there were found further traces of an
ancient wall, and a portion of the walls of a tower, which are
probably the remains of the Lepers' Gate, said to have been in the
north wall of the City in the time of the Crusaders. Quarterly
Statement, 1889, p. 63.

2. Whilst some workmen were clearing the ground in the Latin

Patriarch's Garden near the north-west corner of the City, they
struck the foundation of an ancient wall of massive masonry, some
of the stones having the same Jewish draft as those in the Haram
Wall. Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 65.

3. In the Eussian property near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
and east of the Byzantine pavement, a very large cave was found.
Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 67.

4. Between the Cave and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre an enor-

mous vaulted cistern was discovered, measuring 102 feet long by 34
feet broad, with 18 piers resting on the rock. Over this cistern or
tank a new building has been erected. The situation of this

166 MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.

immense tank is nearly the same as that of the Church of St.
Marie Latine, as shown on plate viii, of Count de Vogue's " Les
Eglises (le la Terre Salute." Quarterhj Statement, 1889, p. 111.

5. At Jex'icho, capitals, pillars, lintels, iron weapons, pottery, jars and

lamps, bronze or brass trays, candlesticks, rings, &c., have been
found. Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 171.

6. The excavations recently conducted at the Pool of Bethesda by the

French monks, which were reported on last year, have now been
dropped for a while, but will be probably resumed again soon.

7. We have just received further reports from Herr Schick, stating
that the ruins of a small Byzantine Church were found opposite
the barracks off the street leading to Bab Sitti Maryam. The
walls, apses, and a small altar are still preserved ; the south-
western corner rests on one of the twin pools.

8. On the Mount of Olives a series of catacombs has been opened ; the

loculi are in groups and all connected together.

A slab with Greek inscription, some Jewish and Greek coins,
and some forty Eoniau tiles bearing a stamp which Mr. Schick
thinks is that of the tenth legion, were found.

Herr Schumacher continues to send us reports on the various dis-
coveries and changes in the north of Palestine. At Caesarea great
changes have taken place since the Survey party measured the ruins.

A colony of immigrants from Bosnia have settled there, pvilled down
the old ruins, built houses and cleared and laid out the ground inside the
walls in lots of one-third of an acre. Several other instances could be
named whei-e grand old ruins are being torn down for building material
since the Survey was completed.

At Nazareth a large cave of several chambers was found under the
convent yard of the Sisters of St. Joseph. A wide staircase leads dowji
to the chambers in which are cisterns, troughs, and tombs. Quarterly
Statement, 1889, p. 68.

A few days ago he sent us notes of another rock-cut tomb discovered
at Shefa 'Amr, having some remarkable figures carved on the sides of
the entrance.

For the convenience of subscribers in following out the position of
recent discoveries in Jerusalem, a plan of the City, reduced from the
Ordnance Survey Plan, was issued with the April Quarterly Statement, on
which the recent discoveries are noted in red.

Dr. Post contributed a valuable report on the Fauna and Flora of
Moab, Gilead, and the Hauran, the result of an expedition undertaken in
the year 1886. The list of plants collected is a most valuable contribu-
tion to the botany of the country. Quarterly Statement, 1888, p. 175.

Of the three volumes we announced in our last report as preparing
for the press, one is now ready and being issued to subscribers, viz., " The
Survey of Eastern Palestine." This volume has been edited by Major
Conder, E.E., and is accompanied by a map of the portion of country

MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE. 167

surveyed ; there are upwards of 350 illustrations of ruins, tombs, crom-
lechs, stone circles, menhirs, inscrij^tions, &c.

Some progress has been made with the second volume, which con-
sists of M. Lecomte's beautiful drawings, illustrating the Mission of
M. Clermont-Ganneau in 1874. The illustrations for the third volume,
Mr. Chichester Hart's " Flora and Fauna " of the Wady Arabah, are
nearly ready.

The edition, as already announced by circular, is limited to 500 copies.
The first 250 subscribers are entitled to the three volumes for £1 Is. On
these being exhausted, the price of the second 250 will be raised t<j
£12 12s.

Of the Memoirs of the Western Survey, the Committee are pleased to
state that the number of sets remaining is now under 20. These sets have
now been raised to 25 guineas.

The questions drawn up for the Committee by the Sub-Committee
appointed by the Fund, for the purpose of enquiring into the manners and
customs of the various peoples and tribes in Syria are now beginning to
yield results. A report on the first series of answers' received will be
found in the July >Statement^ in which Major Conder gives the following
Biblical illustrations brought out by the replies, viz. : —

1. Woi-ship of the calf and of trees.

2. Forbidden food.

3. Rubbing children with salt.

4. Weighing the hair when cut.

5. Riddles asked at weddings.

6. Hired mourners at funerals.

7. Rending the clothes.

8. Certain proverbs mentioned in the Bible,

9. The use of amulets.

10. Crowns worn by brides.

11. " The corner of the field " left unreaped.

(Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 120.

The Rev. George E. Post, MA., M.D., of the American College,
Beyrout, who is intrusted by your Committee with the distribution of the
sets of questions and collection of replies, returned to Syria after an
absence of 18 months in America, and is doing all in his jjower to
promote the object of the Fund.

The Director of the South Kensington Museum having requested the
removal of the objects of antiquity belonging to this Society, owing to
the increasing want of space for the exhibits, your Committee have
resolved upon taking a suite of rooms suitable for offices and museum,
and to have the whole collection under their own direction.

Mr. Hari)er's new work, " The Bible and Modern Discoveries," is now

' The answers were translated froui the Arabic by Capt. Mantell, E.E.

168 MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.

in the press. It will contain several illustrations. It gives a popular
account of what the recent surveys and excavations of the Society have
done in throwing light upon inauy passages of the Bible. This work
will be issued early in the autumn.

Mr. Guy le Strange's important work, "Palestine under the Moslems,"
is now ready for the press. It is a description of Palestine by the mediaeval
Arab geographers.

Four years have been spent in gathering together the materials, and
translating (from the Arabic and Persian) the various Moslem accounts
of Palestine, which, beginning in the middle of the ninth century, reach
in unbroken succession down to the close of the fifteenth century of our
era. It is expected that the work will piove one of lasting interest ; and
it should be noted that nothing of the kind has ever hitherto been
attempted by any other Orientalist.

The following papers have appeared in the Quarterlij Statements : —

On the Flora and Fauna of Moab, Gilead, and the Hauran. By the
Eev. Dr. George E. Post.

On Meteorological Observations. By Mr. James Glaisher.

On the Discovery of an immense Vaulted Cistern near the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre ; On Crusading Euins on Mount Scopus ; On the
Excavations in the Muristan ; On the Excavations north of Damascus
Gate. By Herr Schick.

On the Discovery of a remarkable Cave at Nazareth, with chamber
having cisterns, troughs, and tombs. On other Discoveries in Galilee.
By Herr Schumacher.

On Altaic Cylinders ; Chinese and Hittites ; Speech of Lycaonia ;
Comparison of Hieroglyphics ; Kirjath Jearim ; The Alphabet ; The
Hebrew Months ; Professor Sayce and the Hittites ; The Hittite Monii-
ment at Keller ; The Tell es Salahiyeh Monument ; The Hittite Hat ;
The Stone Zoheleth ; The House of the Holy Ghost ; Keport on the
Manners and Customs ; The Peasant Language of Palestine ; Phoenicians ;
South Wall of Jerusalem, &c. By Major Conder.

On the Conduit near the Pool of Bethesda ; The Middle of the World
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; The Holy Sepulchre and Dome of
the Rock. By Mr. William Simpson.

On the Site of Ebenezer. By Dr. Chaplin.

On Antioch in 1051 a.d. ; The Muslim Legend on the Cave of the
Seven Sleepers ; Inscription in the Aksa Mosque. By Mr. Guy le Strange.

On Kirjath Sepher ; Nehemiah's Wall and the Royal Sepulchres ;
The Broad Wall ; Twin Sacred Mounts at Jerusalem. By Mr. George
St. Clair.

On the Wady Arabah and the Dead Sea. By Professor Hull.

On the Waters of Shiloah, and the Valleys and Waters of Jerusalem.
By Rev. W. F. Birch.

To all these gentlemen the Committee tender their best thanks.

The following is the Balance-Sheet of the year 1888, which was
published in the April Quarterly Statement: —

MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE

169

BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDING
31sT DECEMBER, 1888.

Receipts.

January 1, 1888— £

To Balance . . . . 215

December 31, 1888—

Donations, S ubscriptions,

and Lectures . . 2,079

Maps and Memoirs . . 380

Publications .. .. 289

Photographs . . . . 22

£2,986 18 1

Expenditure.

By Printers and Binders 1

Maps, Illustrations,
and Photographs. .

Exploration. .

Stationery, Advertis-
ing, and Sundries

Postage, Parcels, the
Quarterli/ State-
ment, &c. . .

Salaries and Wages

Rent. •

Paid off Liabilities . .

Balance i)i Bank, 31st
December, 1888 . .

£
,057

408
283

■1.
1

3
0

71 12

172

200
121
211

7
1
0
3

2
0

402 9 0

£2,986 18 1

MOERISON,

Treasurer.

The total income for the year from all sources, iucluding a legacy of
J500 left by the late Mr. Robert Mackay Smith, of 4, Bellevue Crescent,
Edinburgh, was £2,771 2s. 4d., or, adding balance in bank at the end of
1887, £2,986 18s. Id. Uf this amount the Committee spent during the
year the sum of £2,584 9«. Id., of which £1,465 4s. Td. was expended in
printing and publishing results. The postage of letters, books, parcels,
and the Quarterly/ Statement, cost £172 7s. Ohd. ; exploration, £283.

The management, including rent, stationery, salaries and wages,
£452 13s. 9^d., and liabilities paid off, £211 3s. 8d.

During the year the number of subscribers has increased by 178.

The Committee desire to again record their special thanks to the
Honorary Local Secretaries for their continued assistance in heljjing on
the great work of the Society, and to all their donors and subscribers.

We have to announce with regret that our Honorary Secretary,
Mr. Walter Besant, has found it necessary, owing to the many and
pressing calls on his time, to relinquish the editorship of the (Quarterly
Statement. Dr. Chaplin has kindly consented to act as editor.

The Committee regret to have to record the death of three members
of the General Committee since the last General Meeting, viz., the Eev.
J. Leslie Porter, D.D., President of Queen's College, Belfast, William
Dickson, Esq., F.E.S.E., and Laurence Oliphant, Esq.

The death of Dr. Porter removes another from the list of the earliest
supporters of the Society, and one of the most distinguished names in
Palestine travel. He was the author of " Five Years in Damascus f

170 MEETING OF THE GEI-JERAL COMMITTEE.

" A Handbook for Syria ; " " The Giant Cities of Bashan ; " and many-
articles in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," &c.

Mr. William Dickson was also a steady supporter and old friend of
the Society.

The death of Mr. Laurence Oliphant is a severe loss to the Society.
Mr. Oliphant took a deep and practical interest in the Holy Land ; pur-
chased an estate there, upon which he resided for some years, and devoted
his great abilities to the study of the complicated social system and
customs of the country, and to antiquarian researches. Important papers
by him on Mount Carmel, the Jaulan, &c., appeared in the (Quarterly
Statement and other publications of the Fund.

We have to propose that the following gentlemen be elected members
of the General Committee : —

Sir James Douglass, F.R.S.

Sir Wm. Mackinnon, Bart.

General Warren Walker, RE.

E. T. Wilson, Esq., M.D.

Captain A. M. ]\Iantell, E.E.

Herr B. Khitrovo.

Rev. C. Lloyd Engstrom.

T. B. Johnston, Esq., F.K.G.S.

Henry Ormerod, Esq.

Sui'geon-General R. F. Hutchinson, M.D.

Lord Eustace Cecil. — Mr. Chairman, I have listened with very great
pleasure to the Report of the work accomj^lished during the past year ;
though the rate of progress is slow,, it is gradual and deserving of gieater
support. Not many societies command greater respect than this one, for
the great and standard works it has done. I travelled in Palestine twenty
years ago and saw sufficient evidence to convince any one that in those great
mounds and luined sites, which had remained undistiubed for centuries,
something of great interest must be contained, and I quite concur in what
Mr. Morrison says, that we should select a Jewish site for excavations.
I had the pleasvue of knowing the late Mr. Laurence Oliphant, who was
so deeply interested in all that concerned the Holy Land and the welfare
of its people.

I earnestly hope that the Committee will succeed in obtaining a
Firman giving permission to excavate. Something may be done in that
direction b}^ getting iutiuential people to take the matter up and give
their moral support, if not money. I do hope the Society will not
relinquish its work ; it began, no doubt, with very little, and it now has
branches all over the kingdom, and the sympathy with its objects is
widely spread. We have a great subject in hand ; we have a great
responsibility. You who have sat in the chair and given so much of your
time for so many years, are awaie of that. I have great pleasure in
moving the adoption of the Report.

Mr. W. H, Freelakd. — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, I have been

MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE. 171

asked to second the adoption of the Report, and need hardly say that I
concur in the noble Lord's remarks.

I am sure that we all deeply regret the death of the late Mr. Laurence
Oliphant, and feel his great loss.

With regard to the Firman and selection of a spot for excavation, I
think that we may safely leave the matter in the hands of the Executive
Committee, who have hitherto directed the work of the Society so suc-
cessfully, as shown by the growing list of publications, to which has been
added very recently the volume on the Eastern Survey, full of illustra-
tions. I have great pleasure in seconding the Eei^ort.
The Report was adopted unanimously.

A letter from the Rev. W. F. Birch was read suggesting that
excavations be made on Ophel with the view of discovering the sepulchre
of David.

The Rev. Dr. Bullinger.— Mr. Chairman, I beg to propose the
re-election of the Executive Committee ; the burden of the work falls
upon them. We have full confidence in them as in former years, and in
their wisdom in choosing the place for excavations.

Mr. Basil Woodd Smith. — I have great pleasure in seconding the
re-election of the Executive Committee. For economy, the great
amount of work and publications for the small expenditure, we are very
fortunate in having such a good working Committee. I think that we
ought to encourage drawing room meetings a little more. They are
])articularly suited for the work of such a Society as ours.

The Chairman. — I have to thank the Committee for their attendance.
I agree with his Lordship in the remarks that he has made, and 1 feel
contident the money will come in. If we can but get a Firman, the
income of the Society will surely increase. When we hear of the many
buildings and relics which have been removed since the Survey of Palestine
was made, how thankful we ought to be that we have them all faithfully
recorded in our publications.

Professor Hayter Lewis. — I beg to propose a vote of thanks to our
worthy Chairman for the great work he has done and his constant atten-
tion as Chairman. To him we owe a great deal for his continued support
of the work, and for those valuable reports in the Quarterly Statement on
the meteorological observations. At first sight these seem dry, but when
examined carefully will be fovind to be of the deepest interest, and the
information to be derived from them invaluable.

The Rev. Dr. Ginsburg. — I have much pleasure in seconding this vote
of thanks. The Chairman inspires us all with youth, from the zeal and
determination that he throws into the work in order to make it a success.
The Chairman. — My Lord and Gentlemen, as in the past, I will in
the future do anything in my power to make the work of the
Palestine Exploration Fund a success. I have to thank you all sincerely
and individually for the manner you have responded to the vote of thanks
so kindly proposed by Professor Lewis and seconded by Dr. Ginsburg.
The Committee then adjourned.

172

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM.

An Ancient Church in Tarik Sitti Maryam.

There was until I'ecently east of the Sisters of Zion, and west of the
premises of the Church of the Flagellation {see Wilson's Plan 33), an
empty or waste place —debris covering ruins and walled up on the side
next the street "Tarik Bab Sitti Maryam," opposite the stairs leading
up into the barracks. Grass was growing there every year, but 51 feet
backwards (north) from the street, Mohammedan houses, of comparatively
modern date, are standing.

One day in April I was told that in the neighbourhood of the barracks
earth was being removed, so I went there, and found that the overseer of
the work was a Franciscan monk. Not knowing me, he looked very
suspicious at my going over the j^hxce, giving no answers to questions in
German or Arabic, but asked my guide who I was. So I left the place,
and sent my man to the Dragoman of the Latin Convent, requesting
him to give me leave to measure and examine thoroughly what was
found, as I had seen that it was of some in)portance. The Dragoman
sent me in return his greeting, let me know that he had to ask the Reis
(the head of the convent), and requested me to apply the next day. We
did so, and a German-speaking monk and a cavass were then sent with us
that the overseer or workpeople might not create any hindrance, or behave
unpleasantly. So I had fall leisure to examine and measure everything.
The result is as follows : — There were laid open the walls of a small
church with adjoining buildings, the latter embracing a small court on
which the rock looks out from the bottom. The walls of the church are
still standing, 5 feet, and in some places more, high. There were towards
the east three apses (as the adjoining plan will show). In the northern
an altar is still existing, and the others also had altars formerly. In
the southern apse the slabs of the altar are taken away, and only a kind
of small cujjboard remains. It is curious that the southern apse is
something larger than the northern.

Of the four jjiers I could see only the north-western one, of very fine
stones. A piece of the flooring has been uncovered, consisting of large,
hard and polished stones ; such are also on the strip of flooring in front of
the apses, on a slightly higher level. The rest was still covered with
earth, and in the south-western corner of the church is now a round-
shaped cistern, its bottom on a level with the flooring of the church. It
is apparently Mohammedan work of a much later date. The west wall
shows marks of some alterations ; one can observe two different kinds of
stone, and so it is with door and windows. All of them were blocked
up, but it seems tliat originally there was a door in the middle, over it a
window of some arched-shape, and to the right and left also windows, but
small and right-angled. Later on both doors and windows were blocked
up, and a larger window made and left.

In front of this western wall was once a street or passage open to the
sky. Further noith it was covered over, and from the present S2:)ring of

HECENT DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM. 1

the arch one can tind the breadth of the passage as shown on the plan by
;i dotted line. The present passage is rather narrow, as the new wall of
the building of the Sisters of Zion projects upon it. The north wall of
the church has at the north-west corner a door, and it had originally three
windows also, l)ut later on was altered. Along the outside of this wall
also there was originally an uncovered passage, 8 feet wide, and the
opposite wall had door and windows, most of which were subsequently
shut up and the jiassage vaulted over by four small cross vaults, their
feet resting on corbel-stones inserted (new) into the wall, as shown in the
]>lan. On account of the former windows in both walls, these corbels or
brackets are not always at equal distances or exactly opposite one another,
but placed on the masonry already existing.

On the flooring of the passage are lying across, at nearly equal dis-
tances from one another, six large stone slabs, which I think are tomb-
stones. I found no inscription or marks on them. In later times this
passage was used as a cesspool, so that all was very dirty when I examined
it. Towards the east a flight of five steps nearly 2 feet wide leads up to
a court where the rock is visible, on a level about 5 feet higlier than the
general level of the flooring of the church and tlie passage— so it is clear
three or four steps are now missing.

Of the southern wall of the church I could see only a piece at the
corner of the southern apse, the door where the donkeys were coming in
and going out with their load of earth was there ; the earth was not yet
removed. Probably a door may be found in it and indications of windows.
The latter is more doubtful, as the flooring of the church is only 6 feet
4 inches lower than the present surface of the street ; the level of the
floorings of the passages in west and north is about 10 inches higher,
nearly the same as in the apses.

East of the church adjoining the street are two underground chambers.
Their vaults are destroyed, and on their floor the rock rises up. Possibly
other rooms may have stood on these undergroimd chambers ; but I doubt
it, as there is lying in the modern wall the shaft of a pillar and the
opening of a former gate, which very likely led immediately from the
street to the court inside. East of this and of the court there are tAvo rooms
whose vaults have also fallen down, and north of them is an open space
(formerly covered) with the mouth of a rock-hewn cistern full of water,
further north of which is a modern cesspool for the neiglibouring house.
East of all this a kind of court has been cleared, and towards the north a
great many stones are piled up. Then comes the wall of the premises of
the Flagellation Church belonging also to the Franciscan brethren.

North of all this there were two larger rooms, the vaults of which
are in great part fallen, but as a passage between is preserved one can
measure how far these rooms went northwards, and observe that they
are now half under the modern Mohammedan houses.

Although this newly-discovered church is only a very little one, still
its existence, situation, and surroundings are of interest in many ways.
Tt is interesting that a church was built so very near to that of the

174 THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

Flagellation, midway between the latter and the Ecce Homo arch. What
event of our Lord's sufferings or deeds may the builders have fixed here ]
I have no answer ! It is also interesting, that this little church stands
partly on the eastern of the Twin pools ; and that just there was made
later on a cistern over it, although a mouth of the pool below was near
at hand. It is further interesting that now it is confirmed that east of
the Twin pools there is no ditch or pool, and that the rock rather rises
towards the east.

Several questions may be settled whilst the work of clearing the place
is going on. But on the very day when I made tlie measurements, the
13th April, the work was stopped, and it has not since been resumed.

I had to give a copy of the plan to the Superior of the Convents, and
when anything new is discovered he will allow me to examine and
measure it, and so improve the plan. This is the reason why I could
not send it earlier.

C. Schick.

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

Whilst the topography of the Holy City is in so many points doubtful,
and a good deal of controversy on the real sites of places, walls, &c., has
arisen, " Mount Olivet " alone is an exception. Everyone agrees that
the Mount of Olives of Scripture is identical with the present " Jebel
Tor," east of Jerusalem, beyond the Kedron Valley, overlooking the City.
The only question that can arise is, whether the whole range of the hills
or only a part of them is included under the name 1 To make this ques-
tion clearer a plan is appended of the whole ridge, which is commoidy
understood when the expression " Mount of Olives '' is used, because it is
one mountain.

If one looks to the mountain ridge itself, or examines this plan, it
will be observed that the ridge is divided into three parts — a. Mount
Scopits, on the north (I) ; h. The real Mount of Olioes, in a stricter sense
in the middle (II) ; c. The Mount of Ofence, on the south (III). But the
centre-piece, marked II, is also divided into three heads. The middle
one, marked 1, has a double top ; the eastern, which is the highest,
now bearing a Russian Church and Convent, with a very high belfry,
besides a Mohammedan Dome or Wely ; and the western top, bearing
the Village " Et Tor '' and the Church of the Ascension. The southern
head, 2, is occupied by a French lady, who has built the Church of the
Credo, a convent, and the " Pater noster," which is a kind of " campo
santo," having cloisters surrounding an inner court. The northern top, 3,
is called " Kurm es Saiad " =: Vineyard of the Hunter, a modern name,
but tlie old traditional name is " Viri Galilacie." It has been I'eceutly
bought by the Greek Bishop Epiphanius, who has made some excavations
and found things of which I will report in due course. In every age,
even from very ancient times, the Moimt of Olives was always more or

Palf.stinf exo'.ormion fund.

Plan of Ridge of IVIgunt Olivet.

?&eo

. - * *^

» I » ■>

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 175

less covered with buildings of various kinds, and hence it is not surprising
that now things will be found on digging.

Without question the middle part (II) was always most used, being
just opposite the city, and the part from which the best prospect is
obtained. As to the northern portion, Scopus (I), we know very little
of what occurred there during many centuries. On III, or tlie southern
part, we know that Solomon built temples for idols for his strange wives
(1 Kings xi, 7), and that it was hence called the " Mount of Corruption."
On the slope of this hill there are also a good many rock-cut Jewish
tombs, some of which were again used in later times by the Christians.

The Mount of Olices proper.

This is the middle part «f the Olivet range, and for the antiquary by
far the most important part. It consists, as already mentioned and as
shown in the accompanying drawing, of three very distinct heads or tops,
the middle of which is the highest and double, and is the most important
of all.

It is mentioned in the Old Testament (2 Samuel xv, 30-32) that David
took his way over the top on his flight before Absalom, and when they
came to the top, " where he worshipped God," Husai came, and so on.
From this we learn that even in David's time there was here an old
place of worship. Later on, in the time of the Temple, the ceremony of
burning the red heifer was performed here. It was ordered by the
law, 4 Moses xix, 1-10, that the blood of it should be sprinkled
seven times towards the sanctvary, and according to the Rabbis, the
officiating priest, standing on the Mount of Olives, could see over the
eastern gate of the Inner Temple into the porch, and through the
open gate into the holy place of the Temple itself. Further, to this
spot, " the glory of the Lord," the Shechinah, or presence of God in
the cloud and tire, " went from the City " {i.e., the Holy of Holies of
the Temple, where it had been in Solomon's time), " and stood upon the
mountain, which is on the east side of the City " (Ezekiel xi, 23 ; compare
also xliii, 2) ; and according to Zechariah xiv, 4, the feet of the Lord will
stand again there at the final judgment. Further, in the account given
in Nehemiah xii, 28, of the singers being called to the dedication of the
restored city wall after the Captivity, those of the villages of Netophathi
(the present Lifta), also those from the house of Gilgal, are mentioned.
I understand by them, those from the Mount of Olives, as the old
worshipping place there was a Gilgal,' and the dwellings close to it, i.e.,
the present village of Tor = " the house of Gilgal." For after this, the
singers north of Mount Olivet, but in its neighbourhood, those of Geba
and Asmaveth, are mentioned, and the reason is added : " for the singers
had builded them villages round about Jerusalem;" towards the ^t■est,
those villages stood on the heights, above and eastwards of Lifta.

^ Gilgal = round, or circle.

170 THE MOUNT OF OLIVES,

"V^'e learn from tlie old Rabbis, that as the City of J.-riisalem itself
became too small for all Israelites at the great feasts to be able to eat
their offering meals in it, as was ordained by the law (the Camp, meaning
in later times the Cit]/ of Jerusalem), a tract of ground outside the City
was sanctified and added to it, and being regarded as belonging to the City,
although outside the walls, was in dignity the same, i.e., belonging to the
Camp. It was on the east side of the town that such addition was made,
from the wall eastwards to the Valley Kidron, and the slope and top of
the Mount of Olives unto Bethany. This means, the middle part,
marked II on the drawing, leaving out Scopus on the north and the
Mount of Offence on the south. Within this holj circle the village
Bethijliage was situated, and within it took place the Ascension of our
Lord.

The feet of our Lord very often stood on Olivet {see St. John viii, 1, 2,
and Luke xxi, 38) ; on one of its rocks he sat looking westwards over to
the Temple, and spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, &c. (Matthew
xxiv, 3 ; Mark xiii, 3). Over this part of Olivet he came to his glorious
entry into the City as King (Matthew xxi, 1 ; Mark xi, 1 ; and Luke xix,
29, 37, 41). At its foot he endured in Gethsemane deep sufferings of
soul ; from one of its tops, or near to one of them, he ascended trium-
phantly to heaven (Luke xxiv, 30 ; Acts of the Apostles i, 9-12).

After these events it is very natural that in Christian times also this
Mount of Olives and its sites were kept up and much venerated ; so we
find there, in course of time, churches, convents, and other similar estab-
lishments, and also tombs of various nations. During the Mohammedan
occupation nearly all these have gone to ruin, and it is only within the
last three decades that much has been built up again, principally by
Christians. Thirty years ago, besides the Moslem village, "Et-T6r"
(which has since been greatly enlarged and improved), there were only
some olive trees, a few vineyards, and on the highest top the Moslem
burial ground with a small dome or Well, and near to it the threshing
floor. Much of the ground has since come, by purchase, into the hands
of Christians. The greater part of the middle, or chief to]), now belongs
to the Russians, who have excavated the ground and found tombs with
very fine Mosaics over them and Armenian inscriptions. Tliey also
discovered the foundations of a church, which they have built up again on
the same jilace and of the same dimensions and style. They have also built
lodging-houses or small convents on old foundations, planted many trees,
and above all erected a very high, square-shaped belfry, standing alone,
with very many bells of various sizes, amongst which is one very large.
The tower bears a gilded cross, which shines very far round about into
the country. On the western slope, near Gethsemane, a,bout one-thiid
ixp the height, the ground has also become Russian pi'operty, and there has
been built an entirely new church in the pure Muscovite style, with
seven towers, surmounted by onion shaped domes and crosses above them.
It is a very costly building, and looks strange in this neighbourhood,
where there is nothing else of the kind.

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 177

The sontlieni top, marked 2, is occupied l)y the Eoman Catliolics. A
French lady bouglit the greater part of it, and two churches are being
built, also a convent for nuns of the Carroelite order, some other build-
ings, and a fine " Campo Santo "—I.e., galleries in which are the Lord's
Prayer in 24 languages extending round an inner court, with the tomb
of tlie lady. A boundary wall has been made round the. property, and
trees planted and gardens laid out. East of this, where the middle top
is connected by a narrow pass with another hill more, to the east, on the
eastern brow of which the village of Bethany is situated, were discovered
some years ago some old foundations of a former church> with the
celebrated " Bethphage " stone (see Quarterly Statement, 1878, page 51, or
the " Jerusalem Volume of the Survey of Western Palastine," pages 331
to 340). The property was afterwai'ds bought by the Eoman Catholics,
and the church is built up again, and a house for a watchman. There
are many rock-cut tombs of the Christian time in the neighbourhood, and
a little to the north there is a vineyard on the site of a former town or
village. In tilling the ground, not only have stones come to light, but
also pieces of marble and marble pillars, mosaics, cisterns, and water
cliannels ; also two open pools have been discovered. This place should
be more, systematically excavatedi I consider it to be the village from
which the disciples brought the ass (Luke xix, 30 ; Matthew xxi, 1, 2),
leading it to the road going towards Jerusalem at the above mentioned
pass, where the Bethphage stone now stands ; for Jesus himself went not
into the village, but only the two disciples, who In'ougbt from it the ass.
Anyone coming up from Bethany, or leaving Bethanj on the right hand,
and coming through the vineyards, would have the site of this ancient
village or town " over against" him.

The "A'wrm cs Saiad" or " Viri Galilace" is the northei'n hill of the
real Mount of Olives. Two pillars are standing on it in memory of the
two men who appeared " in white appai-el " to the disciples after the
Ascension of our Lord, and said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven ?" (Acts of the Apostles, i, 9^11). From this (according
to the tradition) the name of the mountain originated, but I think the
name is still older. As pointed ovit above, when the people of Israel came
together at the great feasts, a good-mnny encamped outside the town, and
the Galileans made their camp on this mountain, as those from the other
provinces, and from foreign countries, took their places on the middle and
southern mountains. After the Resurrection of Christ, mention is made
of "Galilee," and of a "mountain" in Galilee, where the disciples were
to see Him, and on that mountain in " Galilee," according to Matthew
xxviii, 18-20, the last words uttered by our Lord were spoken ; they are
nearly the same as those recorded in Acts i, 6-8, as having been spoken
just before His Ascension on Mount Olivet, so that very likely this moun-
tain may be meant, which vvould not debar His appearing also to His
disciples in the country of Galilee itself, as we know from John xxi, 1-14,
that He did.

The Greek Convent in Jerusalem having long had some share in the

N 2

178 TUK MOUNT OF OLIVES.

ownership of the viueyaid, tlieir Bishop Epiphauias, about ten years ago,
bought all the property and enclosed it with a new wall, which is 3,500
feet long. The top of the hill is, to a considerable extent, flat, and slo])es
off in every direction. The piece of ground is not an exact square, but
has crooked boundaries and sides of different lengths. Its shape and
position are shown on the plan, which has been reduced from that of the
Ordnance Survey.

Except a number of olive and fig trees, a low mound with a cistern
beneath, and the two pillars above mentioned, nothing was on the
place. The vines had been rather neglected. The pillars were standing
in the open field ; they seem to have been expressly made for the purpose,
not intended to receive a capital or to support anything, simply to fix a
spot for remembrance. Their average diameter is 15 inches ; they are
round, each with a cross in relief on its side, and at the top are some
not very neat or classical ■ mouldings all round ; they are of the native
hard reddish stone, and from the present surface of the soil 2 feet
8 inches high. Probably they go down 3 or 4 feet, to the original
surface of the ground, having been, when put up, pillars of about 8 or
more feet high. It would be interesting to ascertain their real height,
and the old Jiooring round about, which, I think, will be found to be
paved, or of mosaics, perhaps with inscriptions. When the boundaiy
was made, the mason went straight on, by which the pillars were left
inside, and in the ]iossession of the Greek Bishop. But the other
Christian denominations, especially the Eoman Catholics, became irri-
tated, and the Government had to settle the matter. A narrow lane,
10 feet wide was made, so that the pillars are now outside the Greek
property, and pilgrims of any denomination may visit them without
hindrance if the door is open. The key is kept by a Moslem, who
built some houses on his own ground in the neighbourhood of the pillars.
These houses are now rented to Russians, and the door is always open.

(a.) The Bishop's New Buildings,

Three entrances have been made in the new boundary wall, and
inside roads leading to them laid out. The entrance in the west is just
opposite the city, and a new road leads up to it, branching oflP from the
oM road a little above Gethsemane, and going up in a serpentine line as
indicated on the plan ; inside the ground rises as far as the cistern, which
is situated at the highest point. The chief entrance is towards the south ,
not far from the " pillars," in the neighbourhood of an old cistern. It
has three gates, a large centre one and a small one on each side ; the
large one is opened only on festival days. On each side of this enti'ance
is built a square room, one used at present by the gatekeeper, and the
other as a temporary Gieek chapel until the permanent one is finished,
when it will be used as a museum for the antiquities found on the pro-
perty. At the north-eastern corner another large entrance has been
made, and a small residence for the Bishop and his servants, together

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 179

with a stable for animals, tS:c., also a new cistern. As this point is already
on the slope towards the east, it aflfords a marvellous prospect over
many mountains and valleys, the Jordan Valley, and the Trans-Jordauic
land. In front of this entrance the main road from the village
Et Tor northwards runs on the top of the hills to Mount Scopus, to the
villages 'Ais;iwlyeh, 'Anata, and others, and to the Sultaneh road to
Nablus.

South of the Bishop's residence a good many rock-cut tombs were
found, which may be called catacombs. Also near the southern corner,
tombs were found, and a new Greek chapel has been erected there,
measuring inside only 20 feet by 14 feet, having a door on one side and
windows on the other, and covered with a dome. The outside, towards
the north, is decorated with a Greek inscription.

Many trees have been planted and terraces made, and in many places
old foundations were worked through. It was found that there is now a
layer of earth 6 feet, and in parts 7 feet, deep, above the former surface of

the ground.

During the progress of these works many discoveries were made
which I will now describe.

{h.) A " Campo Santo," or Christian Burial Place.

Near the southern corner, 7 feet under the present surface of the
ground, were found remains of walls, pillars, shafts, and capitals of the
Corinthian ordei-, a base still in its original situation, and near the walls,
with which they form an angle, 15 Christian tombs of a high class were found
in rows of live. There is first a flooring or pavement of stones, undt-r
that some earth, and then other stone slabs. When the latter were
removed, they were found to be the lids or coverings of single graves,
built of masonry. In them were found little bottles and similar things,
and there were crosses on the covering stones. A good deal of mosaic
flooring was also found, where there is no stone pavement, especially
under the new chapel. At the south-western corner of the latter a tablet,
all in mosaic, was exposed, with a Greek inscription, of which I give a copy
one-tenth of its real size (No. 4). I give also drawings of three Christian
tombstones ; the crosses on them are on one in relief and on two engraved ;
two have Greek inscriptions,' as shown in the drawing. From all this it
is clear that in the Byzantine time a Christian burial place existed here,
covered (at least partly) with roofing supported by marble pillars of
artistic design. The extent, or form, cannot be ascertained until the
whole is cleared.

' These appear to be early Christian texts, with Greek crosses, as far as can
be judged from the copy ; tbe word Mvij^a, "Memorial," occurs on 3a and 36.
The text No. 4 is evidently Byzantine, and seems to be the tomb " of Tliy
servant Anna." — C. E.. C.

180 • THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

(c.) Catacombs.

Of these I present a rough plan, and have first to remark, that these
excavations are all hewn in the rock, but the rock being of a soft nature,
and of a sandy structure, and becoming wet and dry again year after year
for many Centuries, they have suffered greatly, as small particles are
falling otf every year. The edges are no longer sharp, and hence measure-
ments and bfeafrings cannot be taken with the exactness one could wish.
Further, when the new boundary wall which runs in several places over
these excav^ions was made it wanted foundation, so the excavations
were walled tip, or some unsafe partB of rock broken away, and new
and good masonry put in. Moreover, in thoroughly clearing out the
excavations for convenience sake they were made in some places a little
wider or higher, so that the workmen might stand, and in conseqvience of
all this, a plan may give a good idea of the whole, but will be far from
representing exactly the oi'iginal state of things. Apparently there were
originally three groups of ancient Jewish rock-cut tombs, which later on
were j^artly altered and vised again by Christians, and at the same time
many new caves and tombs were excavated.

The present entry to these caves is a hole, broken into the I'oof of a
large room, where one has to descend about 15 feet. The old entrance is
now walled up, it is in the north ; a square hole, ^2 feet wide and 2 feet
4 inches high, exactly as all the Jewish rock tombs have. A few steps
lead into a Jewish room, 15 feet long and 13 feet wide, and 6i feet high.
In the flooring is a kind of pool 2 feet 8 inches deep, 5 feet wide, and 7 feet
long. On the side wa'lls of the room are, towards the west, two ordinary
kokim ; towards the eaat also two, but very wide ones ; towards the
south, two of the usual ones, and another originally 6f the same size, but
at a later period (very likely by C^hristians) enlarged, and its bottom made
32 feet deeper, s6 that a second, but small, room, was created. From this
on the east, an opening leads into a cave with three Christian tombs, or
rather graves. On the south is one locuhis, and on tlie south-east an
oj)ening leads to a kind of passage. This was originally a square Jewish
chamber 6^ feet wide in each direction. In its flooring are cut three
Christian graves, and on the east is a small regular Jewish chamber with
two hench graved, i.e., a bench on which the corpse was put, one on each
side of the passage, which went further eastward, but is rtOw walled w]).
There is here a hole in the roofing, and consequently some daylight. In
the corner of the square room one tomb (kuka) runs obliquely into the rock.
A kind of doorway leads from this chamber to a passage going in a nearly
straight line southwards as far as the end of the excavations. On its right
side there is a cave, accessible by a kind of doorway, with four Ciiristian
tombs, and to the left, first a flight of steps, and then an opening to a cave
with three Christian graves parallel with the passage. Going on in the
latter there is on the right side an open cave with three Christian graves
at right angles to the pathway ; then in the flooring of the latter is a pool
about 5 feet long, 2 feet wide, and a little more than 2 feet deep. On the

TIIK MOUNT OF OLIVES. 181

ris^lit (west) of it is an unfinished cave, and to the left (east) a cave with
th^iee Christian graves. Further on there is on the riglit a square
cave with two very wide graves, or troughs, probably Jewish, and to
the left a real Jewish chamber with two bench tombs, the passage between
them going eastward into another small chamber, which originally Latl
a hole in its r(jof.

Proceeding along the pathway southwards, there is on the riglit
hand an open cave with three Christian graves, from the northern of
which an opening leads to another. On the left side of tlie road there
is first a fiight of steps leading up eastward, and from it another ^-tair
leading down southward to a number of Christian graves ; I counted
seven, but the wall towards the west is broken, and when creeping
through, one comes to five other Christian graves, and passing over them
westward comes up by a few steps into the pathway again. Passing
southward through a kind of gate, one comes to a widening of the road-
way, and has to step over graves hewn in the bottom ; first over one
situated across, then over two rows or sets of three each, parallel
with the pathway. From the southern row, a wide door opens east-
ward to a cave with five Christian tombs, placed in the same way as the
former. Towards the west there are none, but simply the rock wall.

Then comes again a pool in the flooring of the passage, to the left a
flight of broken steps leading to a cave, and to the right (west) of the
pool there is a wide opening of a cave with four Christian graves. Going
on still, in the passage one has to step again over Christian graves ; first
over two lying across, and then over two very long ones ('the longest in
the whole catacombs) parallel with the passage. To the left (east) of them
there is a cave with thi-ee Christian graves lying in the same direction, and
on the right (west) side, only rock. The passage now becomes narrower,
and one comes to another pool, a small one, with the usual depth, but
under 3 feet wide in each direction. To the right and left of it are
openings into caves, each of which has three Christian graves. Then
opposite the pool is rather a narrow door leading into a chamber, appnr-
ently not finished and without any graves, and here the catacombs come
to an end.

From this examination of these remains it appears —

(a.) That the tombs are of two distinct kinds, namely, Jewish and
Christian. Running through the whole Jewish system there seems to be
an idea of singularity, each tomb or grave is for one person, separated
from others, and if ever two are found together there is a passage between
them, and so no real connection, whereas in the Christian tomb the id(^;j,
of brotherhood, one belonging to the other, is very striking. Through
the whole goes the idea of community.

(6.) It is striking to find the number three so often. It seems to have
been the rule to put three graves together.

(c.) One gets also the impression that they utilised space as much as
possible. Straight lines and symmetrical effect they had not at all in view ,
simply usefulness ; of beauty there is none.

182 THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

(d.) One sees also that they were not particvilar as to the direction in
which the corpses had to be laid. It is now the endeavour to put dead
bodies in such a way that they may look eastward to the face of Christ,
when coming from the east, as the sun rises, the " sun of righteousness "
being Christ.

(«3.) If there were any inscriptions on tlie walls they have become
obliterated. I found none ; but in several places crosses were chiselled
on the walls.

(/.) The " pools," I suppose, were made to gather the water coming
down into these caverns or tombs in the wet season, in order that the
tombs and the pathway might remain dry.

I have still to add that there is in the large (Jewish) room, along
two sides, a trench 2^ feet wide and nearly the same deep, apparently
constructed at a later time.

(g.) Similar Christian tombs are found elsewhere in the neighbourhood
of Jerusalem, especially on the Mount of Olives, but always a single group
of three to seven graves. This excavation is the most extensive of the
kind, and as the tombs are for the most part Christian, I give them the
name of Catacombs.

As there were found in this excavation a good number of Roman
tiles, of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the
Greek Bishop thinks it may be the " Peristereon " mentioned by Josephus,
Bell. V, xii, 2, where he says, in describing the circumvallation of Jeru-
salem : " From the lower parts of Cenopolis it went along the Valley of
Kidron to the Mount of Olives ; it then bent to the south, and encom-
passed the mountain as far as the rock called Peristereon, and that other
hill which lies next it, and is over the valley which reaches to Siloam,
where it bended again to the west."

Now, as the Greek word " Peristereon " is generally translated in the
Latin Columbarium, and the latter word means, in the first place, a
pigeon house, and is here spoken of as a rock, some have applied Josephus's
expression to the rock at the threshing floor of the village Silwan, just
where the village on the north begins. But if applied so, all the rest of
the expression becomes unintelligible. "Peristereon" has accordingly been
looked for higher up the mountain and more to the north. Dr. Schiilz
takes it to be the "Tombs of the Prophets," as the word "Colum-
barium " means not only a pigeon house, but also caves with many
excavations for dead bodies, or urns with tlie ashes of burned ones. But
even the tombs of the prophets seems to be situated not high enough
or far enough to the north, as near the "Peristereon" the bending of
the wall took place from an easterly to a southern direction. On the
other hand, everything becomes intelligible if the newly discovered
catacombs are taken to be identical with the " Peristereon," for then the
whole western slope of Mount Olivet will be embraced, and the wall
would come to (or near) the camp of the 10th Legion " six furlongs from
the town at the mount called the Mount of Olives" (Bell, v, 2, 3). This
camp itself formed part of the circumvallation, and no better place for

O •. I V -J » '

PALESTINE. EXPLORATION FUND.

ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON MOUNT OLIVET IN THE PART CALLED VIRl GALILA/E.
Meacmed ftDraArnbyBaurath.C.ScMck.i^rillSSB.

/ £ END VI rw OF ROt«AN TILe/^

J >/ A ' u O <k 1 <

Plan of Roman tiles

IGi inches -»■

N?l

Sqicare

IN? 2

< —

-JSi inches — ->

N0TE_5o;7ife' hjcuve this stamp |LX FREj

<■ 9 inch.es —^.

N? 3^

N? 3

square: pillar of
marble (white)

r^P

Ai-ll/VMA

12 inches-

^ A

U inches ~>

N° 3

-13 incThes -?

CROSS CUT IN RELIEF
INSCRIPTION CUT IN STONE CROSS AND INSCRIPTION

CUT IN STONE

CROSS cur IN STONE

ON MOSAIC FLOORING AT CAIVIPO SANTO ON IVIOU NT OLIVET

N9 4-

The j^ Qy

A He c o ^^
^ 1^ N fx c

SCALE

IFEET

L" C WaTla^ KVh

THE MOUNT OF OLIVF.S. 18

the camp could be found than the top of " Viri Galilaee " mountain. So
the idea of identifying these catacombs with the " Peristereon " has some
good ground on which to rest.

It may be objected to this identification, that the catacombs are the
greater part Christian, and hence could not have existed at the time of
Josephus. But to this it may be answered that there were certaiidy
Jewish excavations before the Christians did anything, and the Cliristians
only modified and enlarged these, which may very well have been done in
the 37 years between the Ascension of our Lord and the siege of the City
by the Eomans. That the Ascension liad taken place somewhere on
Olivet made this mountain a hallowed place for the Christians, and very
likely they got access to and utilised these old Jewish tombs which had
already become profaned and polluted by the Roman soldiers, their hated
enemies, being buried there.

(d.) Antiquities found on " Viri Galilaaj."

In clearing the catacombs, digging foundations, planting trees, etc.,
many old relics were found, of which the Bishop has made a collection.
Besides a number of coins with Greek inscriptions, and of late date, there
are also some from the Jewish time, amongst them a genuine half shekel.
There were also found a great many small stone cubes for mosaics, some
small ornaments of silver, iron nails and rings, hooks of copper, &c. ; also
various vases, capitals, shafts, &c. of marble and other stones, pottery,
pieces of tiles, and so on.

Roman tiles (No. 1) were found as coverings of graves in the catacombs,
42 pieces in all. They are, on an average, about 15 inches square, but 1|-
inch narrower at one end than the other, so that the narrow end of one
can be put into the wider end of the other, they have, like the modern
French tiles, raised and curved edges. The most important thing in con-
nection with them is a stamp made in the clay before being burned of the
Roman letters L X F, in some instances L X F E E, meaning the tenth
legion called Fretensis.

The tiles have a whitish appearance arising from sand having been
strewn on them whilst they were still soft, the inside, or clay itself, is
more red, and the tiles give a good sound when struck.

No. 2 represents pieces of white marble, belonging to a square post, the
middle piece wanting, so that the length (or height) of the post cannot
be told. It has on two sides the remarkable mouldings, which are so
frequent on such pieces, and which are still found on posts in the Haram
Es Sherif, and on a larger scale on the inside of the so-called Gulden Gate.
They seem to me a Jewish ornament, and I think such were on the piers
or pilasters on the outside of the Temple itself, which the Talmud' compares
to " waves of the sea."

The posts have in general on one or two sides, grooves into which were

^ Beth Habbechereh, I, 14.

184 CURIOUS CAVE AT SARIS,

put stoue slabs to form low jmrtition walls. The cone-shaped top or head
of these posts must have been a very favourite form with the Jews. As
it is found so often, I think it represents in some degree the cap of the high
priest, as the Oriental Arabic-speaking Rabbis have even to this day a
similar one.

No. 3 s1k)ws three tombstones : (a) with an inscription in Greek ; it
has a cross in relief, as shown in the drawing ; (6) is a similar one, but
tlie cross is not in relief but engraved ; (f) the same, but bearing only
one letter,

C. Schick.

CUKIOUS CAVE AT SARIS.

Some time ago M. Heiiri Baldenspe'rger, of the well-known French bee-
keeping firm of Baldensperger Brothers, who own an apiary near Saris,
called on me, and in the course of conversation told me that some fellahin
of the village of Saris had quite recently, whilst cutting firewood, dis-
covered a cave in which were sculptured human iiglires.

Noticing the interest he had awakened, M. Baldensperger ilivited me
to join him on a visit to the spot. I was yesterday (June 6th, 1889) able
to avail myself of this kind invitation, and the following brief notes on
the discovery may interest readers of the Palestine Exploration Fund's
Quarterly Statement :■ —

On the hill to the south-west of Saris is a small pine grove called
El Arb'aln, which, like its sister grove at the shrine of El 'Ajaml, is one
of tlie last relics of the forests which in ancient times covered this part of
the country. From El Arb'atn a bridle-path leads westward, and at
about one-third of a mile distant runs along the top of a rock terrace, the
edge of which is fringed with bushes. In the face of the low clitf behind
these bushes is a hole by which we gain access to an artificial cavern
10 feet square, and at present from 3 to 4 feet high from eartli-covered
floor to flat ceilintr. The entrance is at the eastern end of the north wall,
and exactly opposite, in the south-east corner, is a rectangular hole or pit,
lying east and west, 5 feet long and 2 feet 10 inches wide. It looks very
much like the lower pit in the rock- cut wine-presses which are so fre-
quently met with on our Judean hillsides. The walls of this pit or
trough, which is almost full of earth and dried bones, rise from 3 to 4
inches above the floor, and are from 6 to 8 inches thick. In the centre of
the north wall there is a channel cut just like those in wine-presses. The
fellah who first showed the place to Mons. B. told him that there was
writing on the top of these walls, but that a fellah who had dug in the
cave in hojjes of finding treasure, in his disappointment defaced it, lest it
should reveal the exact spot to some more instructed and fortunate seeker.
I noticed some marks or characters (?) here, which I copied.

1NS?CRIPTI0X AT BEIT EL KHULIL.

isr

Aliont the centre of the east wall of the cave, which wall, being nioie
exposed to the weather than other parts of the chamber, is much broken,
is a rudely carved human tigure in relief. The length of the body, in-

cluding the head, is 14 inches-; distance bet^fveen elbows of uplifted arms,
9 inches.

On the northern wall at fts western end, near the corner, is another
figure, also with uplifted arms. Length of body, seen between present
surface of floor and top of head, just 1 foot ; between the elbows, 7 inches.
The legs, if it has any, must be dug for. We had no digging tools
with us.

Excavation may show another trough in this corner. The whole place
is dug out of the nari rock, which is soft to work, but becomes hardened
by exposure to the air, I broke a fragment away from the eastern wall,
and found it very hard.

Leaving it to others to fix the age of this cave, I would only remark
that, judging from the way in which the figures stand out from the walls,
T believe that they were cut at the same time that the cave was hewn out.

We saw no trace of cistern cedent in any part of the chamber, nor
could we find traces of a wine-press either on the terrace above or on that
just outside it. Excavations may reveal more.

J. E. Hanauer.

INSCRIPTION AT BEIT EL KHULtL.

On August 1st, 1889, I for the first time visited the mysterious ruin on
the plateau about three miles north-west of Hebron, known as " biamet
el Khiilil," or " Beit el KhuUl."

It was about 6 p.m. when we entered the place through a gap in the
western wall, and watered our horses at the troughs at the north-west
corner of the platform that surrounds the beautifully -constructed Eomau

186

INSCRIPTION AT BEIT EL KHULtL.

well in the angle formed by the southern and western walls, which are
the only parts of the building still existing. Whilst doing so my eye fell
on a stone in the southern wall. It was lit up by the slanting rays of the
declining sun, which revealed traces of an old inscription on it, and on
two other stones immediately east of it projecting from the southern wall.
I had unfortunately nothing with me with which a squeeze could be
taken, but I at once sketched in my pocket-book what could be seen.

The tirst stone is in a sort of recess close to the south-west corner.
On it I could see three letters —

On the westernmost of the two projecting stones it was easy to dis-

tinguish the following characters —

1/^)M

On the next stone, immediately to the east, but at a lower level, were
the characters —

I pointed out these vestiges of ancient writing to my companion, who
saw them very plainly. We again visited the spot on our return journey,
but as at that time the stones were in the shade we could not distinguish
the inscriptions so easily. When I next go there, which will probably
l)e S0071, T hope to take paper and attempt a squeeze. The letters are
large, but the stones weather-worn.

J. E. Hanauer.

187

■RECENT DISCOVERIES, NOTES, AND NEWS FROM

GALILEE.

Haifa. — Last mouth some natives working at the new road from
Haifa to Nazareth discovered, at a distance of 2,300 metres from the
('Akka) city gate, a cave lying to the south of the road, in a rocky field.
They came ujaon it whilst chasing a hare, which suddenly disapjjeared in
a bush which was found to conceal the small opening of the cave. After
haviuo- cleared away the earth about the entrance and a heavy stone
which still i)artly closed the doorway, they found a chamber excavated in
the soft Nari rock, 5 feet 6 inches long in its direction from north to south,
7 feet 3 inches across its southern end, and only 5 feet 2 inches across its
northern wall, in which is the door.

In the southern wall I found two kokim, each 5 feet 6 inches long,
2 feet wide, and 2 feet 6 inches high ; in the eastern wall one koka of
about the same size, and in the western wall also one koka, 6 feet long,
2 feet wide, and 3 feet high. The height of the room must liave been
6 feet originally. There is a slanting vestibule, and the doorway is 2 feet
high, 1 foot 6 inches wide on the top, and 2 feet 3 inches at the bottom ;
the stone which closed it was rectangular with rounded corners. When I
visited the cave native curiosity IukI already rooted up the interior in
hope of finding antiquities, and had carried away four sarcophagi
which were found in the kokim, but I soon succeeded in finding-
three of them. They are made of pottery ware, very like that found
at Abellin, and described by the late Mr. Laurence Oliphant, Quarterly
iStatement, April, 1886, p. 80. Each one has an interior length of

5 feet 4 inches, a width of 1 foot 2 inches, and a depth of 6| inches ;
the projecting upper rims were 2^ inches wide, and about 2 inches
thick. The lids were all broken into fragments ; they were fitted into
the cotfin by small grooves, and had a simj^le line ornamentation on
their upper surface. The cement of which the cotfins were formed is of
a very good compact quality, a mass composed of sand and " humra,"
or pounded pieces of jars and other earthenware, and lime ; no influence
of weather or time was discoverable, although the sides and bottom of
the mass are but three-quarters of an inch thick. The fourth sarco-
])hagus had, as before said, disappeared, but I hapjaened to find its lid,
broken into three parts ; it measures only 3 feet 3 inches in length,

6 inches in width at one end, and 6| inches on the other, with a curved
handle on the top, and ornamented with waving lines running parallel to
the length of the lid. This cotfin evidently was that of a child. Besides
these cotfins, a gutter of pottery ware, 1 foot 5 inches long and 2| inches
wide, was also found, for what purpose intended I could not make out ;
also a quantity of fragments of lachrymatories.

Whether any other antiquities worth mentioning were discovered
besides those enumerated, the future may show ; for the present the

188

RECEXT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE.

rliscoverers ave put under lock and key by the authorities. The ^•icinity
of this cave seems to me to be an ancient forgotten site, probably the
barial-place of Palmarcea, for all the rocky cliffs along the slope of Mount
Clarmel show indubitable signs of artificial caves with oval doors, cisterns
and oil presses, quarries, circular holes in the flat rocks, &c. ; the terraces

of this piece of ground, planted with olives, and called El Khalleh jj_^^

are bordered by old, strong walls. One of the cisterns shows an upper
basin, 10 feet square, connected with a lower one, 7 feet square, by a
canal ; close beside it the rock shows three steps, and on the flat top a
circular hole, 1 foot 5 inches in diameter, and a little over a foot deep,
with small channels cut beside it into the I'ock of the form of the Eoman
letters, M and K. The zeal of the natives in cultivating this portion of
land, in hope of the coming railway to Damascus, may soon bring new
discoveries to our knowledge.

Shefa 'Arm: — In a former report I mentioned the discovery of some
caves near Shefa 'Amr. I have since come across them again, and
although they had been turned into cisterns and were full of rain-water,
and therefore could not be planned, I give a sketch of the curious rich
ornamentation above the entrance and oij both side walls of the rock-cut

Tomb at Shefa 'Ame.

,.< -^ „<<»K<^_ .-,'

Fc^M * Photo *y Wm S'M^eon *ug im»

ve;

stibule. A part of this ornamentation is weather-worn. The

cross

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN GALILEE. 189

above the door lintel proves their Christian origin ; also the A and 12
aside of it. The doorway, facing north, is 2 feet 4 inches high and 1 foot
9 inches wide, and closed by a stone gate, still working; a frame around
it contains vine leaves and berries, growing out of a ]iot, and birds. The
vestibule in front of the door is cut out in a slanting form from the rock ;
each of the corners formed between arch and sides are filled out with a
fish ornament. The side walls have allegorical figures, a curious human
face (pi-()b;ibly the sun), to thi> side of it a lion, followed by a smaller
animal, probably a jackal ; birds fill up the small empty spaces ; next to
tlie pot above mentioned we find a tree with two fruits like j)onie-
granates ; a wreath ornament is placed below the human face. These
ornamentations are framed by a double cornice at the bottom of the cut
which seems to represent in a primitive manner the egg and arrow-head
ornament of the Greeks. Several steps lead fi^om the surface down to
the bottom of this rock-cut vestibule, which lias a length of 4 feet 10
inches, a height of 3 feet 5 inches at the door, and of 1| feet near the
steps, and a general width of 3 feet 7 inches. As in the other tombs near
by, the slant of the face of the rock was used to form the vestibule. In
the " Memoirs " of the Palestine Exploration Fund (vol. i, })p. 340,343)
similar caves and ornamentations near Shefa 'Amr are mentioned, and
attributed to the Byzantine period.

'Ain es Snfsdfeh.— The heavy rainfalls of last winter washed away the
earth around 'Ain es Sufsafeh, a spring near Nazareth, in the Wady
M'alCd, and brought to light a broken sarcophagus, built into the wall of
the well, at a depth of 3 feet below the former surface of the surround-
ing ground, where it had doubtless been used before as a trough to water
the flocks. The sarcophagus, as far as it can be seen, has a width of
2 feet 3 inches on the outside, and a height of 2 feet 5 inche.s, it is made of
a hard limestone, has simple ornaments on the top and bottom, and a
weather-worn wreath ornament on one of the exposed sides.

Mughdret rahd' Jessds jjwjI*^.^ cIj , 'iXx^ . This w-as the name
given to a cave supposed to be in the neighbourhood of the Kubr ez Zir,
an ancient tomb about 500 yards north-east of el Haibaj (see sheet V

of large map) in the Kishon plain. The Zfr jJj was, according to local
Arab traditions, the head of the mighty Bedawtn tribe called Beni Halal
jhb ^j who lived at or about the time of the Prophet Mohammed,
in the country between Nazareth and Haifa; and here and there in
(Jalilee we come across a spot to which his name is attribute 1, as Kusr ez
Zir, at M'alfd, near Nazareth (Memoirs, vol. i, p. 322) ; Tell ez Zir a
mud mound close to the palm groves east of Haifa, &c. The tradition
relates that Zir had a brother named Kleib, ^_^ and a cousin named
Jessas, ^j^,^:>- who was the head of the tribe of the Beni Murra,

..Si/

V* lT*^' ''^"'^ made war upon his cousins, by whom he and his tribe

190 RECENT DISCOVEKIKS IN GALILEE.

were entirely destroyed; and that the bodies were buried at the cave
mentioned, near the village of Harbaj, which still bears the name of
INTugharet raba' Jessas, "the cave of the comrades of Jessas." Near
el Harbaj an ordinary Bedawln grave, 10 feet long and 3 feet across,
surrounded by rude, large stones, is shown as that of ez Zlr himself, and
the Bedawln have used the venerated spot as a general burial place.
About 150 yards north of it two beautiful terebinth {hitt/n) trees mark
the spot which by others is considered to be the real grave of ez Zlr.
Below these trees we see a singular rock, in which steps seem to have been
hewn, with a flat top about 2 feet square ; time and weather have split
the soft limestone rock into two pieces. Immediately adjoining it a
number of perennial springs rise and form the head of the small Wady
Hai-baj, which joins the Kishon ; coloured rags mark the terebinths as
holy fa ^•"tri trees, which point to a period of Arab pagan history, for I do
not hesitate to believe that the singular rock, with traces of channels, and
holes and steps, once served as an altar for pagan worship. Some
600 yards due east of the Kvxbr ez Zir, at the foot of a rocky slope, near
where Sheet V of the large Map marks a small ruin called Abtfin, the
renowned cave of Jessas, the site of which had been nearly forgotten by
the neighbouring Bedawln and Fellahln, was discovered again during last
winter. A Bedawy led me to the spot, which I found closed up again
by large, unhewn stones ; after having moved them away, I crawled on
hands and body into the cave, but had to break my way first through
heaps of human skulls, with which the cave was partly filled ; a quantity
of other bones of the human skeleton were lying about in disoider, but it
seemed to me not corresponding in number to the 60 skulls which I counted
lying in my immediate neighbourhood. The .skulls are still in a good state
of preservation, only the jaws were mostly fallen off', and the teeth gone.
The interior of the cave seems natural ; no signs of an ancient tomb, but
it may have been widened out of the soft and crumbling rock ; it is
entirely dry, which fact accounts for the preservation of the human
remains for so long a time. Returning towards el Harbaj, the Bedawy
guide took me most secretly by the hand, led me round the hill and then
a little way up the slope, and just in front of the village, showed me a
recently opened second cave, which I entered, and found a large number
of human skulls, in about the same condition as those of the cave above
described. Near its natural entrance, formerly closed by a single rough
slab, I found the skeleton of a Bedawy woman, still pai'tly clothed with
the characteristic blue linen wound around her head, like that of a mummy.
This skeleton is evidently of a later date. This cave also seems natural.
My guide attributed to both of the caves the name of Jesstxs. On my
second visit I found them closed up again by the Bedawln. On a stone
of the Bedawln cemetery near the Kubr ez Zlr, I remarked the following

ancient Wasm, or tribe-sign O |i but I could not find out by which ti'ibe

it is, or was, used. By this discoveiy, Arab tradition with regard to the
" brave and giant Zlr " is again awakened among the native poi^ulation of

RECENT DISCOVEUIES IN i;ALILEE. 191

the district, aud story-tellers take advantage of the loug nights of Ramazau
to repeat to breathless listeners the stories connected with the great
Bedawy warrior.

MH-tf.. — A Maronite gentleman of 'Akka brought me lately a tine
antique head carved out of the marble-like white limestone of JiUvi,
near 'Akka. The liead, which measures 7 inches in height, has a Greek
profile ; the chin is partly broken ; around the forehead a string of
jewels is wound, and held together by a rectangular ornament repre-
senting a precious stone, with tassels hanging down to the eyebrows.
This jewelry resembles the ornaments now worn by young Arab brides
at their wedding. The workmanship of this head, though not peculiarly
tine, is nevertheless good. It is said to have been found among the
(Uhris very near the city gate of 'Akka. The same man showed me
three other antiques : a small marble head, with a negro profile and
curled hair, partly spoiled, 4 inches high ; a little horse, 4 inches long,
made of copper, with holes on the sides evidently to fasten the tigure of
tlie rider, which is lost ; and a small idol, 3 inches long, representing i\.
Salamander on one side, and (probably) a young frog on the other,
apparently of Phoenician origin. The stone of which this is worked is
very hard, black, and has a shining suiface, even a sharp knife makes no
scratch on it. These also were found in and near 'Akka.

Tantilra. — Very near the rock-cut passage which connects the shore
of TantCira with the inland ])lain, due east from the old tower of
Tantura, at a rocky spot in which numerous caves are cut {see " Memoirs,"
II, Sheet VII, p. 11), I discovered an apse cut into the rock. The apse
is 1 foot 2 inches, more than semi-circular ; the semi-diameter of the
interior is 10 feet 3 inches ; two steps lead up from the present floor to
the surface of the rock, each measuring 1 foot 7 inches in width and
1 foot 3 inches in height, so tliat the radius of the outer circle is 13 feet
5 inches.

At each end and in the middle of the interior semi-circle I found a
square hole, IH inches broad, 9^ inches wide, and 6 inches deep, evidently
intended for pillars to be built in. The bearing of the main axis is
E. 18° S. To the west is a quarry with stones not quite broken out of the
rock, and I therefore believe that the woik is an unfinished Basilica.

Dmtrey. — Near 'At/dtt, on the eastern clifi's of Khurbet Dustrey, a little
north of the rock-cut passage, on a nearly inaccessible cliff, I found the
following marks engi-aved in the rock, which I do not find mentioned in
the "' Memoirs," Is this a gigantic " wasm " of an old Bedawin tribe, or is it

(.7

a masons mark .' The engraving is 2 or 3 inches deep and about 2r, inches

192

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

wide, and the length of the principal character is 3 feet 4 inches. These
marks very easily escape detection owing to their height from the
ground.

Umm el 'Alak near Bureikeh (Sheet VIII.). — Here the following
Greek inscription on a small marble slab was shown to me, it had been
dug out of an old Bedawln (?) cemetery near :

G. Schumacher.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona, 1885.

The numbers in column 1 of this tajble show the highest reading of the
barometer in each mouth ; the maximum for the year was 30'162 ins.,
in December. In the years 1880, 1881, and 1884 the maximum was in
January, in 1882 in February, and in 1883 in December, as in this year ;
the mean of the five preceding highest pressures was 30224 ins.

In column 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29-482 ins., in Aprd. In the years 1880 and 1884 the
Tuiuimum was in April, as in this year, in 1881 in February, in 1882
in July, and in 1883 in January; the mean of the five preceding lowest
pressures was 29'.518 ins.

The range of barometric readings in the year was 0'680 inch ; the
mean of the five preceding years being 0"706 inch.

The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of readings in each
month ; the smallest was 0"192 inch, in October, and the largest, 0710 inch,
in September.

The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere ; the greatest, 29-950 ins., was in December. In the years
1880, 1881, 1882, and 1884, the g)eatest was in January, and in 1883 in
February ; the smallest, 29-657 ins., was in August. In the years 1880,
1882, and 1883, the smallest was in July, in 1881 and 1884, in August,
as in this year.

The highest temperature of the air in each mouth is shown in
column 5 ; the highest in the year was 103°, in May. In the five pre-
ceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884, the highest tem-
peratures were 103°, 106°, 93°, 106°, and 100° respectively. The next in
order was 98° in October, and 94° in September. The first day in the

jJEDIATELr N(
PL. LATITUI

apour, 9 a.m.

C3^

■ S o .
^ M-i ^

.^ .^ q_l

O 3 o

-4-3

.-l-^'^

'T3

s ■

^.1

grs.
4-0

4-0

4-5

4-9

grs.
1-3

1-3

2-2

2-7

] 6-3

3-7

: 6-8

3-9

J 7-2

4-6

7-6

4-7

1 7-1

4-8

5-4

4-6

3-6

4-3

1-9

5-6

3-3

> ■> ^ i 5

METEOROLOGICAL OBSEKYATIONS. 19o

year the temperature reached 00° was on March 16, in April it readied
90° on one day ; in May it reached or exceeded 90° o^i six days ; tlie
highest in the year, 103°, took phxce on the "-3rd of May, and on tlie
10th of this month the temperature reached 102° ; in Ju^ie it reached 90°
on two days ; in August on three days ; in September on fou^ days ; and
in October on seven days ; therefore the teniperatuie reached or exceeded
90° on 24 days ; in the year 1880 on 36 days ; in 1881 on 27 days ; in
1882 on 8 days, in 18S3 on 16 days, and in 1884 on 14 days.

The numbers in cohimn 6 show the lowest temperature in each month.
The lowest in the year was 38° on the 19th of March ; the next in order
was 39° on both the 11th and 20th of March, and in no other month
throughout the year was the temperature below 40°, therefore the tem-
perature was below 40° on 3 nights in the year ; in 1880 it was below 40°
on 13 nights ; in 1881 on 2 nights ; in 1882 on 13 nights ; in 1883 on
2 nights, and in 1884 on 9 nights during the year.

The yearly range of temperature was 65° ; i^i the five preceding years,
viz., 1880, 1881, 18^2, 1883, and 1884, the yearly ranges were 71°, 67°, 59°,
71°, and 68° respectively.

The range of temperature in each month is shown in column 7, and
these numbers vary from 22° in July to 52° in Maich.

The mean of all the highest temperatures by day, of the lowest by
night, and of the average daily ranges of temperature are shown in
columns 8, 9, and 10 respectively, Of the high day temperature the
lowest, 62°'3, is in January, and the highest, 87°"1, in both August and
September ; of the low night temperature the coldest, 45°-6, is iji
February, and the warmest, 68°-8, in July ; the average daily range of
temperature, as shown in column 10, the smallest, 15°'7, is in January,
and the greatest, 23°-4 in May.

In column 11 the mean temperature of each month is shown, as found
from observations of the maximum and minimum thermometers only. The
month of the lowest temperature was January, 54°"4, and that of the
highest was August, 77°"7. The mean temperature for the year was 65°'9,
and of the hve preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884 were
66°-4, 66°-7, 65°-5, 65°-7 and 65°-7 respectively.

The numbers in columns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a dry and
wet bulb thermometer taken daily at 9 a.m. In column 14 the monthly
tem2:)erature of the dew point, or that temperatuie at which dew would
have been deposited at the same hour is shown ; the elastic force of vapour
is shown in column 15. In column 16 the water present in a cubic foot of
air is shown ; in January it was as small as 4 grains, and in August
as large as 7^ grains. In column 17 the additional weight required for
saturation is shown. The numbers in column 18 show the degree
of humidity, saturation being considered 100 ; the smallest number indi-
cating the driest monlh, is 50 in October, and the largest, 76, both in
January and February ; the weight of a cubic foot of air in grains
under its pre.5sure, temperature, and humidity at 9 a.m., is shown in
column 19.

o 2

194 METEOROLO(;i(JAL Oi;SEl{VAT10NS.

The most prevalent winds in January were N. and N.E., and the least
prevalent were S.E. and W. In February the most prevalent were
N. and 8., and and the least were E. and W. In March and April the
nio.st prevalent were W. and S.W., and the least were N.E. and E.
In May the most prevalent was W., and the least were N.E., E., and S.
In June the most prevalent were W. and S.W., and the least were N-
and N.E. In July and August the most prevalent were W. and S.W.,
and the least were N, E., and compounds of E. In September the most
prevalent were W. and S.W., and the least were E. and its compounds.
In October the most prevalent was S., and the least were N. and S.W. In
November the most ])revalent was S., and the least were N. and compounds
of N, and in December the most prevalent winds were S. and S.E., and
the least were N. and S.W. The most prevalent wind for the year was
W., which occurred on 69 times dui'ingthe year, of which 14 were in July,
and 12 both in May and June ; and the least prevalent wind was E.,
which occurred on only 7 times during the year, of which three were in
December, two in October, and one in both January and June.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m. ;
the month with the smallest is August, and the largest January.
Of tiie cunudus, or tine weather cloud, there were 113 instances in the
year ; of these there were Iti in April, 13 in June, 12 in both September
and December, and only 4 in November. Of the nimbus, or rain cloud,
there were 26 instances in the year, of which 10 were in January, 6 in
December, and 5 in March, and only 3 from April to November. Of the
cirrus there were 5l instances. Of the stratus 24 instances. Of the
cirro-cumulus 39 instances. Of the cirro-stratus, 9 instances ; and 103
instances of cloudless skies, of which 14 were in November and 13
in August.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 7 '89 ins. in
January, of which 2'15 ins. fell on the 10th, 1*30 inch on the 3lst, and
I'lO inch on the 11th. The next largest fall for the month was in
December, 7'29 ins., of which 2'14 ins. fell on the 24th, and r68 inch
on the 25th. Nd raiii fell from April 11th till the 15th of May, when
012 inch fell ; then none fell from the 15tli of May till the 10th of
June, when 0'38 inch fell, next day, the 11th, when 0'18 inch fell ; and
then there was no rain from this day till the 5th of October', a period
of 115 consecutive days without rain. In 1880 there were 168 con-
secutive days without rain ; in 1881, 189 consecutive days without rain;
in 1882 there were two periods of 76 and 70 consecutive days with-
out rain ; in 1883, 167 consecutive days without rain ; and in 1884,
118 days without rain. The fall of rain for the year was 20"06 ins., being
8-62 ins., 2-03 ins., and lO'OO ins. less than in 1880, 1882, and 1883
respectively, and 2"57 ins. and 1"33 ins. more than in 1881 and 1884
respectively. The number of days on which rain fell was 63. In 1880
rain fell on 66 days, in 1881 on 48 days, in 1882 on 62 days, in 1883 on
71 dayfj, and in 1884 on 65 days.

James Glaisher.

195

NORMAN PALESTINE,

In the last clia|)tev of " Syrian Stone Lore " J liave given a general view
of tlie state of Palestine between the years 1099, a.d., and 12\)1, a. v.,
(luring which time the country, in part or altogether, was I'uled by the
Franks. As regards the geography of Syria, there is no period concerning
vvliich we know as much as we do of the mediieval topogra])hy of the
Frankish kingdom. Even in the later period of the Moslem rule, the
accounts of the country are mere sketches compared with the full
details obtainable from contemporary documents (the Cartularies, the
Chronicles, and the Pilgrim Guides), which have been collected by
various scholars, among whom De Voglie, Rey, and Tobler, are the
most distinguished.

In collecting, in index form, the names of places mentioned in the
above-noted works, I find that they number between 600 and 700 in all
within the limits of the Survey of Western Palestine, which represents
the original Kingdom of Jerusalem before the conquests in Moab and
Gilead, and in the land of Suhete (N.E. of the Sea of Galilee), and in the
land of Sliouf (near Sidon), which formed the important fief pf the Bajony
of Sagette. This topography has been carefully collected and arranged by
Hey ("Colonies Franques," Paris, 1883), and only a veiy few place names
can be added to his lists. He h;is also succeissfully identified a very large
proi)ortion of the sites, but as he apparently was not in possession of the
Survey map, and as the Survey Memoirs were unpublished at the time, a
considerable amount of additional identification becomes possible, and
only a very small pro|)ortion of these sites are left without location on the
map. In some cases I venture to differ from M. Hey, but the value of
his work as a whole needs no acknowledgment.

In addition to this work, the sources of infqrmatipn which I have
found most valuable include the " Cartulary of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre," the history of King Itichard's campaign, by Geoffrey de
Vinsauf, the topographical works of John of Wirzburg and of Theo-
doricus, and the Chronicles in Bongar's " Gesta Dei," which includts
Marino Sanuto's account of Palestine. To these may also be added the
" Citez de Jherusalein," -which I have recently had occasion to study
again. The " Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre Cathedral," contains the
names of about sixty villages in Palestine, and the description of property
is, in some cases, so detailed as to need a large-scale map, like that of the
Palestine Exploration Fund, for its illustration.

The recovery of GOO place names in Western Palestine represents a
name for every third mile in distance. We thus possess what amounts
almost to a Domesday book of the country, dating nearly as early as our
famous English work. It is very interesting to note, that in this nomen-
clature, taken as a whole, the native language is adopted by the con-
(pierors, though they sometimes gave a second Frankish name to a place,
and gave Norn^ai^ jiame*j to their cagtles. The attempts to reproduce the

196 NORMAN PALESTINE.

Arabic names are on the wliole creditable, though witliout any systematic
orthography, and the documents, as a whole, hav'e suffered comparatively
little from copyists' errors. We must not forget that distinguished Franks
were able both to speak and to write Arabic ; and the mediaeval topography
forms a substantial link between the old Hebrew and the modern Arab
nomenclature, and shows us not only that the country is practically
unchanged since the 12th century, but that a severe test may be so placed
on the character of the Survey work, to which test it answers in aTvery
satisfactory manner.

From the identification of the towns it becomes possible also to trace
the borders of the Vafious sub-divisions of the kingdom, includmg the
County of Jaffa aild Ascalon, the Seigneuries of Arsur, Ca?sarea, Caiifa
Nablus, and C'MiinOnt, the possessions df the cathedral of the Abbey of St.
Sion, and of the Abbey of Mount Tabor.

After the loss of Jerusalem we find the feudal lords selling their
lands to the Templars, the Hospitallet-s-, and the Teutonic knights, but
much earlier we find the Church to be growing richer from year to
year with lands bequeathed by those whd had won them with the
sword.

After 1187 we gather little or nothing of the topography of the
Judean and Samaritan hills which fell to Saladin with the lands east of
Jordan, but in 1191 we have accounts of the topoghiphy of Sliaron and
the Philistine plain, and down to the end of the 13th century the
Teutonic knights and the Venetians held nearly the whole of Galilee and
the sea coast from Acre to Sidbn-, and further liorth.

The Teutonic Order bought out the rights of the earlier nobles and
were left undisturbed by agreement made in 1240 A;D. with an upstart
Sultan of Damascus.

The common term for a village in the Norman documents is casaU
(or in Latin easella) Vi'hich William of Tyrfe explains to mean a place of
100 houses or more, paying a tax of one bysant eafcli. This word is,
as a rule, however, only applied to places with a Norman name.

As a little problem in exact topography we may take the explanation
which is so clearly to be obtained from Sheet VIII of the Survey Map,
of the Deed numbered 155 in the Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre
Cathedral (E. de Rosiere's Edition, Paris, 1849). In this Hugh, Lord of
Csesarea Palestina, gives to the Canons : —

" The mountain contiguous to the Garden of Fiesse (otherwise
Detiesse), where the fountain springs form a conduit, beginning (on the
other side) from the road which comes froin Braicfet to the casale of the
Holy Sepulchre, and goes east by the cave between two mountains by
the torrent, and comes to the little mountain between the said mountain
and the Mountain of Broiquet (and other mountains), and by the old
limekiln in a straight line to the thorn in the plain dividing the casale
of the Holy Sepulchre (Fiesse) from the land of Sabarim of the Hospital."
He also gives the Casale Bubalorum.

This property can be traced exactly on the Survey Ma]i. The site of

NOKMAN TALESTINE. 197

Defiesse is the ruiu Diifeis, in the" corner of the Sharon plain, under
Carmel. The garden is sliown on the map north of the ruin, ami by it a
spring ('Ain Ism'aln), from which starts the conduit or aqueduct which
runs to Ct«sarea. The road from Braicset, which goes east, I take to be
the road from the ruin d Durcij (about a mile to the west), this passes up
a valley, as stated in the text, and there is a cave on the valley side
marked on the map. The Mountain of Broiquet is clearly the hill north
of this valley on which the little village, el Biireikeh, is marked, while
the Sabarim of the Hospital is evidently the village of iSuhharin, rather
more than a mile to the north-east in the same valley. Thus within a
radius of two miles we can identify every local name mentioned, with
the spring, garden, aqueduct, cave, valley, road, and mountains noted.
The Casale Bubalornm, given at the same time is, I think, the ruin
Bahliln, south of Diifeis.

The ruins present nothing but a few walls, according to the " Memoirs,"
but the nomenclature is unchanged.

The results of the Index, which I have now completed, may best be
shown on a map, but the cases in which new identifications are
})o.ssible, which are not mentioned by preceding writer-s, may be here
enumerated.

Ac/iara, a fief of Chateau du Roi (M'alia), in Galilee, is probably the
modfrn village 'AkrUk (Sheet III).

Amouhde, a casale near Ascalon, is now the ruin 'AmAdeh (Sheet
XX).

Artabec, sold to the Hosi)itallers in 1135, east of Ealensone, is perhaps
the ruin Yohek, in the required position (Sheet XI).

Jsc-Aar, a casale given in 1115 to St. Mary of Josaphat, apparently
in the Seigneurie of Naples, is probably the village Wskar (Sychar), near
Nablus (Sheet XI).

Assera, given to the Hospitallers by the Seigneur of Bessan, seems to
me to be the village 'Astreh (Slieet XI).

Assir or *S'erra, a casale belonging to Ramleli, seems probably to be
Ydzur, near Jaffa (Sheet XIII).

Mahujueria of Cathara, in Ascalon, called Viridis in Latin (No. 58,
Cartulary of Holy Sepulchre). This is interesting. Cathara is evidently
el Khudr, " the green one," and in Ascalon there still remains a little
mosque, so called. Mahumeria or Mahomerie was a crusading word for
a mosque. The writer in this case knew Ai-abic, as shown by his render-
ing Cathara by Viridis.

Balaton a casale of Chateau du Eoi in Galilee, probably Belat/U, west
of M'alia (Sheet IIIV

Belhataouahin probably for Abu et T<vwahhi " father of mills,' was a
CAsale given to the Hospitallers in 1136 by Hugh of St. Abraham
(Hebron), to be sought in the Hebron hills, probably Deir et Talulnek
(Sheet XVII), whicii, like many other places held by the religious
orders in the 12th century, retains the name Deir or " monastery."

Belmont,a,A I have shown in the "Memoirs" (vol. iii, p. 18). appears t^»

198 XORMAX palp:stixe.

be S(%a (Sheet XVII). M. Eey appears to have come to the same con-
chision, though he does not mention the distance and direction noted hy
Brocardus, wliich is strongly in favour of this identification. The remains
of the Crusading Castle are still visible at Soba.

Benehaheth, a village belonging to the Holy Sepulchre Cathedral, seems
to me to be a copyist's error for Beni llarith.

Bene Hatie, mentioned with the preceding is perhaps the present Kefr
'Atya (Sheet XIV).

Betheligel, also noticed in the Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre, is
perhaps Beit Likia (Sheet XVII).

Bether, given by Baldwin II to N. Dame de Josaphat is probably
Bitttr (Sheet XVII).

Bethsurie, Cartulary of Holy Sepulchre, probably Beit Surik (Sheet
XVII).

Bet Bigge, in the same list apparently the present Beit DuM-u (Sheet
XVII).

Beze, a casale belonging to Bethel given by Balian d'Ibelin to the con-
vent of St. Joseph of Arimathaea seems to be Beir Ibzia near Bethel
(Sheet XIV).

Bomhrac, or Bomhrae, in the Jaffa plain (Itin. Ric. iv, 30), is the pre-
sent Ibn Jhrak (Sheet XIII).

Buffles, or Casale Bubalorum, as before noted, seems to be the ruin
BalMn (Sheet VIII).

Cala, a place between Ramleh and Mirabel, and Chnle near Eamleli,
with GnJ, a casale of the Abbey of St. Sion, appear to be the village Kfdeh
(Sheet XIV).

Casracos, near Aschar, in the Seigneurie of Naples, is probably Kefr
KHs (Sheet XI).

Cedo, a casale of the Abbey of Mount Sion, near Jerusalem, is perhaps
the ruin Kuriet Saideh (Sheet XVII), where there is a crusudnig inscription
on a lintel stone, as given in the " Memoirs."

Courcoza, a casale in the Hebron district, is perhaps, the ruin Kurza
(Sheet XXI).

Dere, a casale of the Church of St. Gilles (Sinjil) is perhaps Deir es
Sudan ("Monastery of Cassocks") west of Sinjil (Sheet XIV).

Derhassen, a casale of the Holy Sepulchre Cathedral, is the ruin Deir
Hasan (Sheet XVII).

Der Sabeh, in the same category, is the ruin Beir esh Shabib (" Monas-
tery of Youths " Sheet XVII).

Berxerip, in the same (.'artulary, is perhaps the present Bier Tureif
(Sheet XIV) ; it is mentioned with the preceding.

Engara, a casale of the Venetians in the region near Acre, probably the
ruin ^Ain Haur (Sheet III).

Farachiem or el Farachie, a casale of the Pisans in 1189, possibly
Ferasin (Sheet VIII).

Feitata or Beitata, a casale given to the Hospitallers by Hugh of St.
Abraham (Hebron), is the present ruin Fnttdtah (Sheet XX).

NORMAN PALEKTINE. ] '.H)

Galafice, from its position seems to be tlie village Jkhneijis (Slieet V).

(ialUee, a large fief in the maritime jtlain, ai)})ears to me to be clearly
tlie modern el Jel'i!, the Chateau des Plaines eiist of it being the present
niiiied castle at Kalensaweh.

Gemail, the tithes of whicli belonged to St. Mary of Josaphat. Perhaps
Umm el Jemul near Abn Dis (Sheet XVII).

G'escfHile, apparently in the Philistine ])lain, appears to be the ruin
KashkaUyeh, south of Beit Jibrin, which town belonged to the Knights
Hospitallers as did four ploughs of land at Geschale (Sheet XX).

Oez, a casale of Chateau du Hoi, obtained by the Teutonic Knights in
1289, appears to be Jett, south of M'alia (Sheet III).

Heidem, a casale paying tithes to the Abbey of Mount Tabor, clearly
the village 'Aulam (Sheet IX).

Heedix, a casale of Mount Tabor. Perhaps d Haditheh, the x here, as in
a previous case, beiug a mistake for t.

Hubim, a casale of the Holy Sepulchre Cathedral, probably Hiibtn, a
ruin with a good spring of the same name (Sheet XVII).

Huxemm, in Lower Galilee, mentioned in the same Cartulary, seems
from its position (see Nos. 124 and 149 of the Cartulary) to be Ik,%al (Sheet
VI), " the cave, near Casale Huxemia," might be the curious hermit cave
called el Mat-hAmeh above Iksal.

Josaphat was a place north of Jerusalem, mentioned by Fetellus and
by Marino Sanuto, apparently tSliafAt (Sheet XVII).

Jerraz, in or near the Jordan valley, and given in 1115 to St. Mary of
Josaphat, seems to be the large ruin of Yerseh (Sheet XII).

KefreachaJ), Cartulary of Holy Sepulchre No. 144, and No. 54, is cleariy
A'e//- 'LiM/j (Sheet XVII).

Lahemedie, a Venetian casale in the country, near Tyre, probably el
Hammed'iyeh (Sheet I).

Lecara, mentioned with lebul in Lower Galilee, is cleai^ly the. ruin Kara,
near Yehla.

Laremedie, a Venetian casale, seems to be the modern Rriirtpidhjeh
(Sheet I).

Maledoin, the name of the castle on the Jericho road (Sheet XVIII),
is evidently a corruption of Militum. In the Onomasticon {see "Memoirs,"
vol. iii, p. 172) it is called Castelbun Militum.

Maiigana, a casale given to the Abbey of Mount Tabor in 1 101 a.d.
by Tancred, seems to be Umm JAnieh, on the Jordan (Sheet VI).

MigedeH, a casale near Caco, in the Maritime plain, appears to be
Mejdei Yuba (Sheet XIV).

Meimes, given to the Hospitallers by JEugh of St. Abi'aham, is no
doubt the ruin Mdpids (Sheet XXI).

Melius, a casale near Ascalon, given to the Knights Hospitallers^ in
1111 A.D., is perhap.s the ruin Mellta (Sheet XX).

Mirabel, the celebrated castle, is, I believe, to be found in the Castle
of E^s el 'Ain (Sheet XIII). The i^ame m^ay survive at el Mdrr,
close by.

200 NOKMAN PALESTINE.

Moitana, given to the Hospitallers in 1110 A. d., is perhaps tlie ruin
MiiMyen (Sheet XIV).

Montgisard, near Eamleh, and south of Mii-abel, mentioned by
William of Tyre, xxi, 23, appears to me to be the Mound of Gezer,
Tell Jezar (Sheet XVI).

Quefrenehit, belonging to John d'Tbelin, near Acre. The name pro-
bably survives in Btr Kefr Neh'ld (Sheet III).

Roma, a casale of the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre, apparently in
the centre of the country near Kagaba (Rr/jtb), appears to be the ruin
d 'Ormeh (Sheet XIV).

tSaaretke^a, casale given to the hospital by John d'lbelin in 1256, seems
jierhaps to be the ruin S'aireh (Sheet XVII) ; it ought to l)e towards the
plain where Ibelin (Yebna) stood.

Sahahiet, a casale of the Holy Sepulchre Cathedral, is perhaps ^Ain
Siibieh (Sheet XVII).

Sai:a, between the Kishon and C^phar MadA (Kefr Menda), is per-
haps the ruin S'as'a (Sheet V).

tSt. Elie. In this case M. Key seems to me in error. The place
appears to be the present Mar Elias, which is mentioned in the " Citez de
Jherusaleui " as south of the City {see •p. 41 of the Palestine Text Society's
ti'anslation).

tSamarita, or Samaritano a casale of Ca^sarea. M; Eey suggests Zum-
marin, but pe»'haps the place intended is the old Castrum Samaritorum,
now Kefr es Samtr (Sheet V).

Saphe, belonging to N. Dame de Josaphat in 113(>, in the territory
of Nablus, seems to be Suffa (Sheet XVII).

Sapharoria, Cartulary of Holy Sepulchre, No. 133, seems to be the
ruin of Kefr Urieh (Sheet XVII).

Terfilsa, a casale of the Eoyal domain near Tyre, is evidently Teir
Filsiek (Sheet II).

Turbasaim, Cartulary of Holy Sepulchre, Nos. 41, 142, near St. Gilles,
seems to be the ancient Thormasia, now Turmus 'Ay a (Sheet XIV).

Zemtm, Cartulary of Holy Sepulchre, Nos. 29, 53, 54, 144, seems to
be Deir Yesin (Sheet XVII).

Considering how thoroughly this nomenclature has been examined by
various scholars, the above list of more than sixty places is a substantial
addition in the total of six hundred. Except in the cases here noticed,
Rey's identifications appear to be satisfactory, and the places are found
on the Survey map. In the present paper I have only noticed new iden-
tifications, with one or two exceptions, and have not repeated the identifi-
cations which are already discussed in the " Memoirs."

If each of the these 600 casales contained 100 houses, as mentioned by
William of Tyre, the population of a village in crusading days would
have averaged about 500 souls, which is about the average of a modern
Palestine village. This would give a population of 300,000 souls, which
is about half the present population of Palestine, but although the
various Cartularies give us many names in Galilee and west of the water-

THE NOliMAN FIEFS IN PALESTINE. 201

plied, the regions further east and south are unnoticed, and the property
described is tliat of public bodies not of the original fief-holding knights.
The army alone is calcidatud to have consisted of some 20,000 to 25,(.00
men in all {see '' Syrian Stone Lore," p. 428), and the population was
probably at least equal to that of our own times.

It should be noticed that crusading ruins are mentioned in the
" Memoirs " at a great many of the sites^ which are included in the
above-named lists.

C. E. C.

THE NORMAN FIEFS IN PALESTINE.

By identification of the various towns in Palestine mentioned in Norman
documents, it becomes possible to define the limits of the fiefs, and these I
have now laid down on the Survey Map. The fief of Sagette (Sidon),
including the Land of Schouf — now Jebel Sh>\f—lAy beyond the limits of
the Survey on the north, being bounded on the south by the Kasinilyeh
gorge, but including the Merj 'Ayftn and the important castle of Belfort.
South of this line the following were the divisions : —

(1.) The Seigneurie of Tyte, from the Kasimtyeh on the north to the
Ladder of Tyre on the south, including the lower hills on the east to
Zuhktn, Reshkananin, Baflei, and Niha.

(2.) The Seigneurie of Toi-on, held by the Couitney family, east of the
last, and extending in a southern direction to Harfeish.

(3.) The Seigneurie of Renier of Marun, including Man%n er Rds on
the south-west, and the towns Mees (J/f^'s-), Belide {Belideh), Cades
(Kades), and Chateau Neuf {Hiinin). It appears to have reached to the
Jordan Valley.

(4.) The Seigneurie of Montfoft, betweeji (1) and (2), extended from
Aithire ( Y'ater) on the north to Jeth {Jett) on the south. On the west it
included Judyn {KuVat Jiddtn), Zoeilite (Zueintta), and Tabaria (Tibria)
reaching to the plains of Acre.

(5.) The Seigneurie of St. George of Lnheyne^ from Beit Jenn on the
east to Gelon {JalbXn) on the west, and fi'oai Bucael {el Bukei'ah) on the
north to Wadi/ Halziln on the south. St. George of Labeyne was the
present El B'aneh, near which is the shrine of M Khudr (St. George).

(6.) The Territory of Acre, from the Ladder of Tyre to the Kishon,
and extending from the sea to the mountains west of Caphar Mada and
Zekanin {Kefr Menda and Sxtkhnin).

(7.) The Seigneurie of Cayphaa included Carmel and the sea shore
almost to Chateau Pelerin.

(8.) The Seigneurie of Caymont, a small fief round Tell Keimfin.

(9.) The Prince of Galilee occupied the rest of Upper Galilee and all
the plain of Esdraelon to Petit Gerin {.Tenin). On the south-east the
border ran from Le Grand Gerin {Zer'in) by Lecara {Kara), Hubelet

202 THE NORMAN FIEFS IN PALESTINE.

{Vebla), and Gebiil (JahbiU). having the Valley of Jezreel in the next
tief. The borders of the Seigueur of Tiberias in this tief I am nut able
to define.

(10.) The Seigneurie of Bessan inclnded the Jezreel Valley and
Jordan Valley, perhaps as far as Tdl er Ridhghah, where the Beisan plain
ends.

(II.) The Seigmurie of C-cesarea included the Sharon plain to the River
of Eoche Taillie (JVakr el Fdlik). On the east it ran to the low hills
including Hatil (^AttU) and AUar {Elldr\ Caphet {Kef a), Pharaon
{Fer'on), and Phardesie (Furdisia).

(12.) The Seigneurie of Arsur, south of the last, and as far soutli as
the Arsur river {JVahr el 'Auja)^ ; extended on the east to include
Largieous {Jeiipts).

(13.) The Seigneurie of Naples included the Samiaritan hills as far
south as Kafarhone {Kefr'Ana) and Val de Curs {^Ain Sinia).

(14.) The Seigneurie of Jaffa and Ascnlon belonged to the famous
Seigneurs of Ibelin {Yebn'i). It extended south frorn the River of
Arsur to Gaza, and on the east to Betenoble {Beit JVilha), Huldres
{Khiddah), Blanche Garde {Tell es Soft), Zeite {Zeita), and Agelin
{'AJldn). '

(15.) The Seignettrie of Darum, round Deir el Belah.

(16.) Th^ Seigneurie of St. Abraham included the Hebron hills from
Beit Jtbrin eastward. On the north it seems to, have extended to Jaiua-
vara {Jemritrah) and Meimes {Mamas).

(17.) The Royal Djrmain was between St. Abraham and Naples,
including the Jerusalem hills j^nd Jericho_ Valley. A large proportion of
tlie villages in this region were given by successive kings to the Churcli
of the Holy Sepulchre.

(18.) Oultre Jourdain, the great fief of Renaud of Chatillon, included
Gilead and Moab.

(19.) The Land of Suhete was the JaulS,n up to Banias.

A few notes may, be added.

There werethi^ee bridges over Jordan ii:^ the 12th century, yiz- : —

(1) The bridge of Chastelet = Jisr BemU Y'akub.

(2) The bridge of Sennabra, = Jisr e.f Sidd, just south of the

Sea qf Galilee, where the ruins of S.innabris {Sin-en-ndbra)
still exist.

(3) The bridge of Judaire = Jisr el 3/igdmi'a.

The Jisr ed Ddmieh is also probably a Crusading structure, but 1 do
not know its Crusading name.

The Lake of Castorie was in the plain near Arsuf. Tt seems clearly
to be the present Bahret Katurieh o| the Survey.

M. Rey, in 1883, promised a Crusading map of Palestine. I do not
know if this has yet appeared. If so, the fiefs will prob,ab,ly be shown
irnich as above, since many of the towns noticed in this paper were
identified by him.

C. R. CON'DER

20.")

THE VANXIC LANGUAGE.

Skveral writers, following Dr. Sayce, have suppo.sed that the language
of the Vannic inscriptions in Armenia would l>e found to be the same as
tliat of the Hittites. This seems to me unlikely, because the Vannic is
an inflected tongue, whereas the Hittite is generally allowed to have been
probably agglutinative.

Dr. Mordtmann supposes the Vannic to be an Aryan language,
resembling Armenian, in which case it would not have any bearing on
the Hittite. It appears to me probable that he is right, because out of
the very few words of known sound as yet settled in Vannic a good
])roportion ai'e similar to A)menian. Armenian is not a language in
which phonetic decay has proceeded very far, as may be seen on com-
paring Armenian with othei- early Aryan languages. The Vannic also
compares not only with Armenian, but with the mOuumeiital Persian, th-i
Zend, and the Sanskiit, and the comparisons extend to pronouns and
other parts of speech which are, as a rule, more constant than nouns and
verbs. The following ins?tances nlay be of value as showing what is
meant, especially as regards terminations : —

Vannic —

-si, nominative ; old Persian -sa.

-i, genitive, sing. ; Armenian -t.

-n, accusative, sing. ; Armenian -n.

-nmce, possessive ; Armenian -an.

-pari, locative ; old Persian -para, '' towards."

-ki, participle ; the common Aryan -la, adjectival.

-li, gerund ; Armenian -li, gerund.

-ni, third person pi. ; Armenian -n, third person pi.

-n, for ordinals ; Armenian -n, ordinal.

Pronouns and particles seem to show the same : —
Vannic —

ies, " I " ; Armenian Es, " I."

ill/, "this'" ; Arnieuian ain.

isti, " this " ; Armenian axti ; Latin Tste.

para, " out of " ; old Persian par<i, '' away."

eha, "this" ; old Persian hauva, " this."

iida, " that " ; old Persian aita ; Armenian ta.

ni, "and" ; Armenian _ye^', "and."

uli, " and " ; Armenian aijlijec, " or."

The pronouns being among the most unvarying parts of sjjeech, the
comparison is of some value, but nouns and verbs may al.so be com-
pared : —

204 NOTE ON THE HOLY SEPULCHRE,

Vaunic —

are, " men " ; Arnienutn wyr, " man."

alkhe^ " inhabitants " ; Armenian ell\ " race."

A/-dis, "light" ; Aryan -/AR, "burn" ; Armenian ari/ev, "sun.

a, " sacritice " ; old Persian ai/a, " sacrifice."

asis, " house " ; Sanskrit vesas, " bouse."

asi, " cavalry " ; Sanskrit asva, " horse."

eMiri, "Lord" ; Zend ahura ; old Persian aur, "Lord."

esiy " Law " ; Sanskrit yos ; Latin jus, " Law."

ip, " inundation " ; Sanskrit ap ; old Persian crjoi, " water."

hha, " to possess " ; Aryan a/GI, " to gain."

Miar, "to cut " ; Sanskrit hri ; Greek keiro, " cut."

kJiin, "son " ; Ayrian a/GAN, "to beget" ; whence English kin.

Sal, " year " ; Persian Sal, " year."

tumeni, "village" ; old Persian tanma, "house"; Armenian down.

•parif, "to carry off" ; Aryan -/BHAR, " to carry."

Zadu; " to build " ; Zend Zad, " a building."

The names of the Vannic kings do not, as has been asserted, present
comparisons with Hittite names. On the contrary, in some cases they
seem to be of an Aryan type — e.g., Argestis. The thirty-three instances
above given, together with the inflectional character of the Vannic, and
the use of at least one preposition, ^x<?-t (Greek para), seem to me to
support Dr. Mordtmann's views as to the Vannic, and to agree with the
statement of Herodotus, that the Armenians were of Phrygian origin —
the Phrygians being pretty clearly Aryan. The Vannic texts, however,
are not older than the 9th century, b.c., whereas the Hittite texts are
older than perhaps the 17th century, b.c, or at least than the 14th
century.

C. R. C.

NOTE ON THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

The description of a Jewish tomb near the site of Calvary, published in
1881, seems to have been misunderstood. The Bishop of Cashel last year
published a small pamphlet pointing to a tomb under the Rock of
Jeremiah's Grotto as being that wh'ch was intended, and was told by a
a Greek that General Gordon believed this to be the true site. As far as
I have heard, General Gordon had no special view on the subject, though
he accepted the site which I proposed for Calvary in 1878.

The tomb to which the Bishop refers I visited when first partially
excavated in 1873. It is fully described in the Jerusalem volume of the
" Memoirs." I found on tlie east wall a Latin cross with A and O, one
either side. I feel little doubt that it is a Crusading tomb connected with
the adjoining Asnerie, which I then identified. The only Jewish tomb

NOTE ON OLD WALL AT JERUSALEM, 205

as yet known in the vicinity is further west, on the other side of the road,
as described in the same Memoir. I fear, from what I hear, that visitors
are being misled by natives, who point to antiquities on their property as
the places mentioned by explorers.

C. E. C.

NOTE ON "THE REMAINS OF OLD WALL OUTSIDE
THE PRESENT NORTH WALL OF JERUSALEM."

Herr Schick (in the Quarterly Statement for April, 1889, p. 63) describes
remains of an ancient wall discovered beneath the surface along the line
of the city wall north of Jerusalem, and west of the Damascus Gate,
outside the present \Vc\ll.

During the earlier years (from 1846 to about 1854) of our residence in
Jerusalem, there was, exactly on the line traced by Herr Schick, a row of
ancient stones above grouud, not quite continuous, but at very short
intervals, which we held to indicate the line of the ancient wall (probably
the second of Josephus, perhaps at the part broken in Manasseh's reign).
Some of these stones were large — about Z\ feet high by 4 to 5 feet long.
(I have not any measurenients and "write from memory.)

All were of the kind found in the older masoni'y of the city walls.
Several had a shallow marginal draft, the margin of the largest blocks
was deep and bold. Two or three very fine corner-stones lay at the west
angle in the wall, marked red by Herr Schick. These stones were of
hard, comiDact white limestone, without polish, but not much weathered.
When Jerusalem became more visited, and when foreigners settled and
began to erect large buildings, these venerable stones gradually dis-
appeared, they were taken to be cut ujd and sold for use in modern
buildings. The same fate befell the line of similar stones to the left of
the path leading from the north-west coiner of Jerusalem, in the direction
of the ash-heaps north of the olive grove. We also were sorrowful
witnesses of the gradual destruction of the beautiful sarcophagus
(without lid) which lay outside the city wall, a little to the west of
Herod's Gate, which the then authorities refused to have removed to a
place of safety. This sarcophagus was carved out of a block of very hard
white limestone, and was ornamented on its sides with wreaths of flowers
in high relief. Bit by bit it disappeared, broken by idle lads in sheer
mischief, and by relic hunters. It was of small size.

At the time of which I speak there were also fragments of ancient
building-stones on either side, north and south, outside of the Damascus
Gate (before the rubbish heaps there were made), which led us to think
that here might be found two towers, perhaps the " Women's Towers" of
Josephus.

Our then Prussian Consul, the learned Dr. G. E. Schultz, probably
marked some of these remains on the map accompanying his " Vorlesung,"
but of this I cannot be sure, not having by me a copy thereof.

E. A. Finn.

206

NEHEMIAH'S WALL.

In his paper in the April Quarterly Statement, Mr. St. Clair conies to tlie
conclusion that the sepulchres of David were on the western side of Ui)hel
(so-called), north of the Virgin's Fount. To me it seems clear that really
they were on its eastern side, south of that Fount. Indeed, I cannot see
the slightest ground for doubt on this point. Yet, as these contrary
opinions perplex some readers of the Quarterly Statement who are inte-
rested in Jerusalem topography, it is desirable at once to test the accuracy
of Mr. St. Clair's theory.

The basis he takes is unfortunately unsound. He accepts as correct
Sir Charles Warren's site for Akra on the northern side of the Ujjper
City, without attempting to meet even one of the ten or rather twelve
points in Josephus, whicli both require Akra to be on Opliel, east of the
Upper City, and render impossible any northern site {Quarterly Statement^
1886, 26 ; 1888, 108). Mr. St. Clair next contradicts himself in first
stating that the causeway joined Akra to the eastern hill, and then on his
plan making it join the Ujiper City to that hill. It cannot have joined
both, since a valley separated (Jos. Wars, v, iv, 1) the Upper City from
Akra. The plan is right, agreeing with Josephus, who makes th'e cause-
way part of the first wall. Lastly, Mr. St. Clair, in making his Lower
City to be of a crescent form, agrees, not with Josephus, biit only with his
niistranslators, since whatever a/KpLKvpros ma.y mean, it certainly does not
mean crescent-shaped (Wars, id.).

I have pointed out these errors by way of preface in order that the
reader may be the more convinced that Mr. St. Clair's theory is not to be
accepted without a sifting examination, and that he may not be carried
away by the high-handed manner in which the theory in question is
developed in spite of Josephus, existing remains, and Biblical evidence.

Mr. St. Clair seems willing to allow that Nehemiah's Wall may
have included the towers at the south-west corner, discovered by Mr.
Maudslay. It 7nust have done so if we accept the statement of Josephus
(Wars, V, iv, 2), that the first wall was built by the kings ; and
Mr. St. Clair would hardly, I imagine, dispute its doing so, if he had
to admit that the city wall calne near to the Pool of Siloam. As to
this point we learn from Josephus (id.) that (1) "The wall bending
above the Fountain of Siloam, thexce again," &c. This thence must
mean from Siloam, since it can only refer to the words immediately
preceding it. Therefore the wall went near to the Pool of Siloam.
(2) Simon (Wars, v, vi, 1) " held as much of the old wall as bent
from Siloam .... also that fountain " (Siloam). Thus, obviously, the
fountain was, if not within, yet commanded by the wall. Be it noted
that Winston's inaccurate translation in Wars, v, ix, 4 (" Siloam, as well
as all the other springs without the city "), by arbitrarily inserting other
has given rise to the common error that the Romans had access to the
fountain of Siloam, and that therefore it was without the city. Thrupp

KEHEMIAH'S "WALL. 207

points out that the ^\-ords of Josephus do not imply any such thing.
(3) "The Eomans drove the Jews out of the Lower City and set all on
iire as far as Siloam " (vi, vii, 2). If Mr. St. Clair desires to appeal to
Josephus (as he does on page 91), these passages afford evidence enough
to show that the wall went near to the Pool of Siloam. The Jewish
historian, however, often errs. Therefore, I will not press his evidence in
support of my two main objections (page 38), that the wall passed close
to the Virgin's Fount, and sufficiently near to the Pool of Siloam to
defend it.

Unconsciously Mr. St. Clair gives on liis plan the strongest possible
refutation of his own theory, inasmuch as it shows (1) the winding
aqueduct cut through Ophel from the Virgin's Fount to the Pool of
Siloam, and (2) the secret passage above that Fount discovered by Sir
Charles Warren.

But some one will ask, how do these remains refute the theory in
question ? The simple answer is that by leaving the Fount 500 feet and
the Pool 1,200 feet outside Jerusalem, Mr. St. Clair makes both the
aqueduct and the passage to be but mere exhibitions of the folly not only
of the original constructors, but also of those who used the passage as
well as of those who executed the famous inscription found in ^he aque-
duct. For who with immense labour would hew a tunnel 1,700 feet long,
through a rocky hill, to convey water from one point to another, when it
could more readily be conducted along the side of the hill, and already
was so conducted, as Mr. Schick's discovery proves {Quarterly Statement,
1889, 35), at the very time the tunnel was made ? Who, again, without a
reason, w^ould cut through rock an underground staircase, with a shaft
forming a draw-well ; and who, further, after the contrivance was
finished, would care to use it, when it was easier and far more pleasant to
go down the hill under the open sky and draw the water direct from the
fountain itself / Who, lastly, would care to sit in a cramped position in
order to engrave on the rock an account of a perfectly useless
undertaking? Yet one and all of these incredible suppositions
must be admitted if Mr. St. Clair's novel line for the wall is to be
adojjted.

It is far better to suppose that the ancients acted with a reason than
without one, though it may need some thought to decide what that reason
was.

Hapjiily Dr. Robinson's penetration discerned the oljject of the
aqueduct, long before the discovery of the staircase confirmed the correct-
ness of his conjecture. He says it seems to have been " important to
carry the water from one i^oint to the other, in such a way that it could
not be cut ofi" by a besieging army. This purpose would have been
futile had either of these points lain without the fortification," or been
undefended.

This judicious remark was sujiported by Sir Charles Warren's dis-
covery of a staircase (opening southwards on Ophel), by which those
within the city would have access to the waters of the Virgin's Fount

208 nehemiah's wall.

without going outside the fortifications {see "Recovery of Jerusalem,"
238).

There is hardly need to say more against the proposed line of wall ;
yet the clearest proof has still to be adduced, namely the direct Biblical
evidence of the aqueduct being made, and the indirect evidence of the
staircase being used, though for a jjnrpose very different from what its
authors ever intended.

Patient research has proved Gihon to be the Vii^gin's Fount. "We
iearn from 2 Chron. xxxiii., 14, that Manasseh built an outer wall to the
city of David on the west side of Gihon. Surely here we have a wall
built on Ophel close to the Virgin's Fount. Previously (xxxii, 30)
Hezekiah had " stopped the upjjer spring of the waters of Gihon and
brought them straight down (or by an underground way — Variorum
Bible) on the west side (or to the west side) of the city of David." Why !
Here the veiy construction of the aqueduct is recorded, while the reason
of Hezekiah's great water- works is given in verse 4. " They stopped all
the fountains, saying — why should the kings of Assyria come and find
much water 1 "

I have pointed out (1878, 129, 184) that the staircase or secret passage
proved invaluable to the Jebusites, until Joab climbing the shaft witli
the help or connivance of Aramah, got up through the Tzinnor or gutter
(as the passage in whole or part is called in 2 Saml. v, 8) and so captured
the castle of Zioil. That the gutter was this shaft, seemed (1884, 175) as
absurd to Prof. Sayce, as that it was a waterfall still seems to me. No
addition indeed to Jerusalem could possibly be more picturesque than a
cataract feathered with maidenhair fern, but criticism must interpose,
Where is the waterfall now, and whence flowed the water then ?

On the other hand, in defence of my sltaft (or passage) I can urge that
Kennicott thus explained the Hebrew word a hundred years ago, and
that Rir Charles Warren discovered the passage ten years before it was
proved that the castle of the Jebusites was on Ophel so called. That this
was its site is a fact ; that a passage was made to the spring gives the
reason for the fact. A strong prejudice exists against Kennicott's
solution, but without the least reason. A similar passage is mentioned
by Polybius as existing at Rabboth Ammoii (1878, 190) in B.C. 218, and
is probably alluded to by Josephus (Aiif. vii, vii, 8) as existing in David's
time. In Quarterly Statement, 1881, 256, mention is made of a like con-
trivance at Gibeon. If further refutation of Mr. St. Clair's theory is
desired, let me briefly show how it falls to pieces under the weight of its
own inconsistencies.

1. It is maintained that tlie four turnings and one corner named in
Neh. iii, 19-25, coincide with those along his line of wall. To attain this
harmony, the one and same turning in verses 19-20 has to count as two
(p. 93). Again the first salient angle (a very prominent corner on his
plan) south of the causeway has nothing to correspond to it in Neh. iii.
As a plea for its absence it is urged that the Ephraim Gate is not named
in Neh, iii, 6-8, but I have pointed out (1879,177) that "the throne of

nehemiah's wall. 209

the governor" (justice being administered at the gate) marks the required
spot. Lastly, wliile Binuui (v. 24) repaired unto the turning of the wall
and unto the corner," Mr. St. Clair's wall on his plan passes ocer against
(in sight of, in front of, see 16), and does not come to {i.e., unto) either the
turning or the corner.

2. The frequent expression after him in Neh. iii seems to me to mean
that where the previous builder left off, the next began his work, as in
verses 20, 21. But Neheniiah (v. 16) who repaired after Shallun instead
of beginning where Shallun left off, actually begins where Shallun, him-
self had begun. This predicament arises from Mr. St. Clair's predetermi-
nation to have a loop line of wall.

3. The Pool of Siloam (p. 92) is made to lend its name to the trans-
verse wall 1,500 feet away from it. Why was not the wall rather billeted
on the King's Pool, alias the Pool that was made (but can the two be
identical ?) on Mr. St. Clair's plan only 300 feet distant, instead of having
to beg its name from Siloam.

4. Finally the loop line of wall, the chief characteristic of the theory,
is utterly inadmissible. Surely, among the thousands of Jews at Jerusalem
who had no superfluous taste for heavy burdens (Neh. iv, 10), some one
at least must have been intelligent and sharp enough to perceive that it
was only frittering away their strength to fortify an inner loop wall, four
times as long as the transverse wall, and requiring all the workers from
v. 16 to the prison in v. 25, instead of concentrating their combined
energies on making the latter as strong as possible. Mr, St. Clair
says (p. 95) : " That the transverse wall was no protection by itself, there
being an easy approach up the valley." But if a wall across the bed of a
valley must necessarily be weak, much more weak must the loop wall
have been, since Mr. St. Clair is by his theory (p. 91) forced to draw it in
one part actually along the valleij-bed. Could any other line possibly be
weaker ? On the position of a wall a workman's wit is a safer guide than
literary talent. An unnecessary wall along the bottom of a valley exposes
the unsoundness of Mr. St. Clair's theory (who rightly takes the south-
west hill {gibeah) to be part of Jerusalem), just as much as the notion of
a wall at the foot of a hill (1883, 215, plan) being a defence against
besiegers on that hill, exposes the weakness of Prof. Sayce's theory that
the south-west hill was no part of Jerusalem, and that consequently the
hill (gibeah) of Jerusalem was the same as the Mount (har) of Zion.
What fun the Chaldseans would have had in rolling big stones downhill
against a wall so remarkably illplaced.

W. F. Birch.

210

THE ACCADIAN WORD FOR KING.

T SEE that in the last number of the Qaarterly Statement, Major Conder
I'epeats the erroneous statement that kii in Accado-Sumerian signified
" king." Let me once more assure him that it did nothing of the kind,
and that he must liave misunderstood Mr. Pinches and Mr. Bertin if
he believes that they think otherwise. There is, it is true, a character
which may be read uk, and which denotes "king," but the reading is
jirobably something quite different, and uk is not ku.

Mr. Budge does not profess to know Amardian, or "Medic," and in
the passage to which Major Conder alludes he was merely reproducing
Morris's "makeshift" reading of the word for "king." The correct
reading is anin or unan ; the word ko does not exist.

After this I hope we shall hear no more of a ku or ko " king."

A. H. Sayce.

THE TELL ES-SALAHIYEH MONUMENT.

This monument was first noticed by the late Rev. J. L. Porter, D.D.,
and described by him in his " Five Years in Damascus." It afterwards
disappeared, and, when I went out to Palestine in 1865, I was instructed
by the Committee to search for it and make excavations in the Tell.
The excavations resulted in the re-discovery of the slab, which was
afterwards sent to England by the late Mr. Rogers, then H.M. Consul at
Damascus, and is now with the exhibit of the Palestine Exploration
Fund in the South Kensington Museum. The circumstances are detailed
in my report to the Committee, printed in 1866.

c. w. w

HAREISON AND SONS, PEINTEES, ST. MABTIN'S lANE, LONDON, W.

ximia

SviJAintf /iW*+' /

f^«. i,.

-T r- ^1 r~~r

%st.fr-n

uZ^Jy

2*M

£xsr

So^

Plans and Sr.cTiorjs

OF THE

Large Cistern

Southeast ofthe Church ofthe Holy Sepulchre,
See Quarterly Statement, July 1889.

Measured and Drawn by Baurath C. Schick.

F. OF Western End
Cistern.

Section CD, of Eastern End of Cistern.

TTrnT^rrmrr' .

^><;J?i*«|f.

Hrrti

PALESTINE
EXPLORATION FUND

Patron— THE QUEEN.

Quarterly Statement

FOR 1890.

LONDON:
SOCIETV'S OFFICE, i, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI,

AND BY

ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C.

lOKDOK :

BAKfilSOK AKD SONS, PETNTEES IN OEDINAEr TO HEE MAJESTY,

ST. MAKTIU'S LANE.

NAMES OF THE AUTHORS AND OF THE PAPERS
CONTRIBUTED BY THEM.

Birch, Eev. W. F.—

Nehemiali's Wall

Dead Sea visible from Jerusalem

The Stone (Eben of Zoheleth)..

Grihon

The Gutter (Tsinnor) , .

The Pool that was made

Note on the Pool

The Siloam Inscription . .
Bliss, Frederick Jones, B.A. —

Ma'lula and its Dialect . .
Brass, Rev. Henry —

Site of Capernaum

Cave of AduUam

Place of Elijah's Sacrifice
Cardew, Rev. J. H. —

Zoar
Chaplin, Thomas, M.D. —

Grilion

Ancient Hebrew Weight

Stone Mask from er Ram
Cobern, Dr. Camden —

The Work at Tell Hesy as seen by an American visitor

Conder, Major C. R. —

Norman Palestine

The Date of Eshmunazar's Coffin

The Wall outside Jerusalem . .

The Tsinnor

Ku for King

Hittite Prince's Letter . .

The Seal of Haggai

Bezetha . .

Esau's Head

The Roebuck in Palestine

Rev. C. de Cara and the Hittites

Jtr 61J.9i •• •• •• ••

New Hittite Bas- Reliefs

The Ma'lula Dialect

Greek Inscription north of Damascus Gate

Note on Rev. Dr, Post's paper. .

PAGE.

. . 126
. . 170
.. 199
109, 331
200, 330
. . 204
.. 207
.. 208

.. 178
.. 180
.. 182

,. 266

124, 3:31

267
268

166

115

121

122

123

173

182

183

186

187

PAGE

Inscriptions of Edrei ... . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Sculptured Figures near Kami.. .. .. .. .. ., 264

Native Name of Palmyra . . . . . . . , . . . . 307

Moabite Stone 307

Passage on the Moabite Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Battle of Kades . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Conquests of Eameses in Galilee . . . . . . . . . . 310

Jews and Grentiles in Palestine .. .. .. .. .. 310

Monumental Notice of Hebrew Victories . . . . . . . , 326

Notes on the Quarferli/ Statement, July, 1890 . . . . . . 329

Notes on the Voyage to Tadmor . . , . . . , . . . 303

Finn, Mrs. E. A., M.R.A.S.—

Note on Greek Inscription , . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Mosaic Embroidery in the Old Testament . . . . . . . . 189

Sun Birds 194

Nehemiah's Wall . , . . . . . . 194

Stone Mounds on the Eephaim Plains . . . . . . . . 195

Waters of Merom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

The Tsinnor . . . 195

Irrigation and Water SujDply in Palestine . . . . . . . . 199

Glaisher, James, F.R.S. —

Meteorological Observations taken at Sarona, 1886 (25) , 1887 (112)

1888 (174), 1889 (269)

Gover, Eev. Canon^

The Waters of Merom 50

Greenwell, Rev. Canon —

Note on Ancient Axeheads found at Beyroiit and Sidon . . . . 45

Hanauer, Rev. J. E. —

Cave of Saris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Dead Sea Visible from Jerusalem .. .. .. .. .. 170

Harper, Henry A. — •

Jewish Lamps . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . 45

The " Way of the Philistines " 46

HiU, Gray-
Irrigation and Water Supply in Syria. . . . . . . . . . 72

Masliita or Umm Shetta . . . . . . , . . . . . 173

Hull, Professor Edward, F.R.S., L.L.D.—

Site of Calvary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Hutchinson, Surgeon -General, M.D. —

Note on Figures in the Cave of Saris. . . . . . . . . . 332

Ma'lula and its Dialect . . .. ... .. .. .. .. 332

Lewis, Professor T. Hayter, F.S.A. —

Assyrian Tablet from Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . 265

Merrill, Dr. Selah—

Birds and Animals new to Palestine . . . . . . . . . . 40

Murray, Dr. A. S. —

Note on the Greek inscription north of Damascus Gate and at

Aceldama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Neil, Rev. James —

Ruins of the " Slimo Pits " in the Vale of Siddim
Petrie, W. M. Flinders-
Notes on Places visited in Jerusalem . .

Exploi-ations in Palestine

Journals . .
Post, Rev. George E., M.A,, M.D., F.L.S.--

Seets and Xationalities of Palestine . .

The Roebuck in Palestine
Salisbur}-, The Right Rev. Lord Bishop of —

Inscription from the Church of St. Stephen . .

Sayce, Professor A.H., LL.D. —

Inscriptions of Saris and Mount Olivet
Simpson, William —

Irrigation and Water Supply in Palestine
Schick, Baurath C. —

Discoveries North of the Damascus Gate

Two Cisterns near Jeremiah's Grotto. ,

Excavations on the Eastern Brow of Zion

Discovery of Rock-hewn Chambers at Silwan

Further Report on the Pool of Bethesda

Rock-levels in Jerusalem

Remains of the old City Wall . .

Supposed Druidical Stone

The Waters of Gibeon

The New Road North of the City

Discoveries at the House of Caiaphas. .

Discoveries at Aceldama

Newly Discovered Rock-cut Tomb near Bethany

Excavations on Olivet . .

Excavations at Siloah . .
Schumacher, G. —

Notes from Galdee

Sculptured Figures near Kana. .
St. Clair, George —

Nehemiah's Wall

Sutekh, Chief God of the Hittites . .
Tadmor, Voyage to (1691)
Troughton, Leshe W. —

MarTukla

16,

PAGE
130

157
159
219

98
171

306

9,69
11
12
67, 252
18
20
21
22
23
246
247
67, 248
249
256
257

24
259

47, 212
.. 210
. . 303

.. 186

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

Plan shewing llie Position of the Two Churches North of Damascus

xJTiiLC •• >• •• •■ ■■ •• •• •• •■

Plans and Sections of Kock-Cut Tombs North of Damascus Gate,

with Greek Inscriptions and Mason's Marks
Plan of Cistern on West Side of Jeremiah's Grotto
Section of Excavations on Mount Zion . .
Plans and Sections of Rock-hewn Chapel at Silwan . . . . 16,

Inscription (Greek) in Apse of Chapel . .

Section and Plan of Pool of Bethesda . .

Rock-levels on Acra. ,

Plan and Section of Spring and Pool at Gibeon

Obelisk at Ca^sarea . .

Tables of Meteorological Observations .. .. .. 25,112,

Inscription at Kh. Husheh . .

Axe-heads found at Beyrout ■ . .

Inscription in the Dominican Ground

Inscription on Tomb at Aceldama . .

Pigure in the Cave at Saris

Inscription at Ma'lula

The Roebuck in Palestine . .

Inscriptions at Edrei

Inscribed Fragment of Pottery from Tell Hesy

Inscription at Beit Kliulil . .

Mosaic, Pattern of . .

Plan and Sections of Tomb at Bethany . .

Capital and Base of Pillar . .

Sculptured Figures near Kana

Assyrian Tablet from Jerusalem . .

Ancient Weight from Samaria

Stone Mask from er Ram . .

PAGE

10, 158

252, 253

17, 157

176, 269

69,70

8, 79, 82

171

188

230

242

248

250

251

261, 263

265

267

268

Vll

GENERAL INDEX.

Absalom's Tomb, 157.

Aceldama, Excavations at, 67.

'Aid el Mil, 180.

'Ain el Belled. 23.

'Ain Delbeh, 242.

'Ain Hejeri, 242.

'Ain el Mudauwerah, 179.

'Ain Tabghab, 179.

'Ain et Tin, 179.

'Ain et Tiny, 85.

'Akir, 245.

'Anab, 241.

Annual Meeting, 241.

Aqueduct, Searching for a second, 67,

257.
Assyrian Tablet from Jerusalem, 265.
Attir, 240.
Axe-heads found at Beyrout, 45.

Beit el Khulii, 242.

Beit Jibrin, 243.

Bethesda, Pool of, 18 ; Fi-esco on the

Wall, 19.
Bezetha, 122.
Birds and Animals new to Palestine,

40.
Bir el Keniseb, 255.
Bukli'a, 85.

Calvary, Site of, 125.

Capei'naum, Site of, 178.

Casales of the Holy Sepiilchre Church,

30.
Casales of St. Mary of Jehosaphat,

30, 33.
Casales of Abbey of St. Sion, 30, 34.
„ the Church of Bethlehem,

30, 34.

Casales of Abbey of Tabor, 31, 34.
,, the Knights Hospitallers,

31, 35.

Casales of Teutonic Knights, 31, 36.
,, the Pisans, 31.
„ the Yenetians, 32, 37.
„ the Holy Sepulchre, 32.

Cat-fish, 179.
Cave of Adullam, 180.
Convent of Mar Sarkis, 75.
Convent of Mar Tukla, 74.

Damascus, Ovens in, 86.

Dead Sea visible from Jerusalem, 170.

Deir es Shems, 240.

Dejan, 245.

Dhaheriyeh, 239.

Dhikerin, 244.

Domeh, 241.

Druidical Stone, 22, 195.

Eben, Stone of Zoheleth, 179.

El Beda, 73.

Errata, 132, 178.

Esau's Head, 123.

Eshmunazar's Coffin, Date of, 38.

Excavations at Siloah, 2-57.

Tell Hesy, 159, 223;
Springs, 161 ; History of Tell
Hesy, 16 ; Phoenician Pottery, 1G2 ;
Greek Pottery 162; Description of
the Mound, 162, 221 ; Walls of
clay bricks, 163, 164, 225, 227;
Amorite Pottery, 163, 235 ; Per-
sian Coin, 164; Drafted stones,
164; Stone working, 164, 165;
Pilasters, 165, 234 ; Ionic Volute,
165, 232 ; Scarcity of Antiques,
165 ; Varieties of Pottery and
their periods, 165 ; Journals of
Mr. Petrie, 219 ; Potsherds, 226 ;
Robbery, 237 ; Ants, 240.

Excavations on Olivet, 256.

Figures in Cave near Saris, 71, 332.
,, near Kana, 259.

Gibeon, Waters of, 23.
Gihon, 124, 199, 331.
Gutter, the (Tsinnor), 39, 195, 200.
330.

Hebrew -weight from Samaria, 267.
Hittite Bas-reliefs, 183.
,, Prince's letter, 115.

Inscription from the Chnrch of St.
Ste^Dhen, 306.

Inscription (Greek) near the Husheh,
25, 68, 70.

Inscriptions of Edrei, 188.

,, Saris and Mount

Olivet, 44, 54, 71.

Inscriptions on Tombs north of
Damascus Gt-ate, 69, 70.

Irrigation and water supply in Pales-
tine, 55, 72, l'J9.

Jeb'adin, Village of, 74, 85.

Jerusalem Reports : — Apse of a By-
zantine Church, 9 ; Tomb .of St.
Stephen, 10 ; St. Stephen's
• Church, 10, 157; Grreek Inscrip-
tion north of Damascus Grate, 10,
158, 187; Tomb with a rolling
stone door, 11; Mason's marks,
11 ; Canaanitic cisterns, 11 ; Ex-
cavations on Zion, 12 ; Church of
St. Peter, 14; The Cave in the
Eock, 15; Acra, 21, 48; Rock
levels, 20 ; Old City Wall, 21, 39 ;
Chapel, Site of, 21 ; Mosque of
el Aksa, 158; Rock Tombs, 158,
160 ; Cubit, Dimensions of, 158,
160 ; Solomon's wall and stables,
159 ; New road north of the city,
246 ; New discoveries at the
House of Caiaphas, 247 ; Rock-
cut tombs at Aceldama, 67, 248 ;
Rock-cut tombs at Bethany, 219 ;
Ancient tower, 251 ; Searching for
gate of City of David, 258.

Jewish Lamps, 45.

Jews and Grentiles in Palestine, 310.

Journals of Mr. Petrie, 219.

Kadesh, Battle of, 309.

Keraize, 55.

Khan Minia, 178, 179.

Kh. 'Ajlan, 159, 161. 162.

Kb. Husheh, 24.

Kh. Merash, 244.

Kurza, 241.

Ku, for King, 40.

Ma'lula and its dialect, 74, 186, 332.

Ma'lula, People of, 76 ; Po})ulation,
76 ; Village, 76 ; Caves and rock
chambers, 77, 78 ; Greek inscrip-

tion, 78, 79, 82 ; Hanging place,
80 ; Mar Sarkis, 81, 84 ; Ancient
name of, 83 ; Mar Tukla, 83, 186;
Mar Mousa, 85 ; Old dialect, 85 ;
Sketch of the language, 86, 98.

Mashita, or Umm Shetta, 173, 174.

Mekenna, 244.

Meteorological observations, 25 (1886);
112 (1887) ; 174 (1888) ; 269
(1889).

Moabite Stone, 307.

„ ,, Passage on the, 309.

Monumental notice of Hebrew vic-
tories, 326.

Mosaic embroidery in the Old Testa-
ment, 189.

Mount Olivet, Excavations on, 256.

Nehemiah's Wall, 47, 126, 130, 194,

212.
Norman Palestine, 29.
Notes and News, 1, 59, 134.
Notes on the (Quarterly Statement,

July, 1890, 329.

Palmyra, Native name of, 307.

,, Springs at, 73.
Pella, 182.

Place of Elijah's sacrifice, 182.
Pool that was made, 204.

Rabiid, 241.

Rafat, 241.

Rameses in Galilee, Conquests of, 310.

Ramet el Klialil, 166.

Resm el Muketat, 241.

Rev. C. de Cara and the Hittites, 182.

Roebuck in Palestine, 171-173.

Sculptured figures near Kana, 259.

Seal of Haggai, 121.

Seba' Rujum, stone mounds, 22, 195.

Sects and Nationalities of Syria and
Palestine, 98.
Notes on do. do., 187.

es, Semua, 240.

Shuweikeh, 239.

Siloam Inscription, 208.

Silwan — Rock-cut chapels, 16 ; In-
scription in, 17, 157 ; Tomb of
Isaiah, 18 ; Rock-cut cave, 67 ;
Another rock-cut chapel, 252.

es, Simla, 241.

Slime pits in Vale of Siddim, 130, 132.

Somcrah, 240.

Stone mask from Er Ram, 268.

Sunbirds, 194.

Sutekh, Chief God of the Hittites,
210.

Syria and Palestine — Physical features.
98 ; Area of, 99 ; Climate and
Meteorology, 101 ; Soil of, 103 ;
Water supply, 104 ; Natural His-
tory, 106; Mineralogy, 110;
Health and Disease, 110; Sum-
mary, 111.

Tadmor, Voyage to (in 1691), 273.
Notes on, 303.

Tell Bornat, 241..

Tell el Amarna letters, 115, 121.

Tell Hesy, see Excavations at.

„ Work at, as seen by an

American visitor, 166-170.

Tell Hum, 179.

Tell Nejileh, 162.

Tell as Safi, 244.

Tell Sandahannah, 243.

Tomb, ornamented, south of Shefa

'Amr, 24.
Tsinnor, the, or Gutter, 39, 195, 200,

330.

Umm Deimnah, 241.

Umm Kolkah, 244.

Umm Kusab, 241.

Umm Lakis, 161, 162, 220, 222.

Upper and Nether Springs, 242.

Wady el 'Akkab, 260.
Waters of Merom, 50-54, 195.
Way of the Philistines, 46.

Yebrud, 75.

Zanuta; 240.
Zoar, 266.

Quarterly Statement, January, 1890.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND,

THE TEAR 1889.

Although no expedition for exploring or excavating has been organised
during the past year, a great deal of useful work has been accomplished,
and a distinct advance has been made in our knowledge respecting several
very interesting topics of enquiry.

1. The cleai-ance work at the Pool of Bethesda having been proceeded
with, Herr Schick has been able to sujDply further important information.
The discovery of a fresco on the wall of the crypt of the chuich over the
Pool, representing an angel troubling the water, is of great value as
proving conclusively that in crusading times the spot was regarded as the
site of Bethesda.

2. Further portions of the ancient wall of Jerusalem have been
exposed on the northern side and at the north-western corner.

3. A very large cistern has been discovered near the church of the
Holy Sepulchre, apparently under the sj^ot where the mediaeval church
of Santa Maria Latina stood ; and outside the Damascus Gate, between
the city wall and the hill in which " Jeremiah's Grotto " is situated, two
ancient cisterns, one of which is believed by Herr Schick to be of
Canaanite origin, have been found.

4. The remains of a church have been discovered in the street of Sitti
Maryam, opposite the bari-acks, and close to the chapel of the Flagella-
tion.

5. An extremely interesting subterranean rock-hewn church has been
found at the village of Silw§,n. From a Greek inscription in the apse it
appears to have been dedicated to the memory of the prophet Isaiah.
Indications of another rock-hewn chm-ch have been seen and desci'ibed by
Mr. Schumacher near Athlit,

6. Excavations on the Dominican property north of Damascus Gate have
brought to light certain remains which are believed to indicate the former
existence of a large church near that discovered in this locality a few years
ago. Herr Schick suggests that it may be the original church of St. Stephen.
It will be remembered that the church built by the Empress Eudocia in
the years 439-60, was so large that in 518 a.d. St. Sabbas and his
numerous disciples assembled in it, " the cathedral church of the Eesur-
rection being incapable of receiving so vast a multitude." It is said to
have been capable of holding 10,000 people. An account by Sir Charles
"Wilson of the various churches of St. Stephen will be found in an

2 NOTES AND NEWS.

Appendix to the Pilgrim's Text Society's translation of the Abbot Daniel.
In the same neighbourhood tombs with rolling st07ie doors were found,
also some Greek inscriptions.

7. Excavations on property belonging to a French gentleman on the
eastern slope of Zion have revealed a number of rock-hewn chambers,
which appear to have been used in ancient times partly as dwellings and
partly as stoi^ehouses. In describing them Herr Schick remarks that
nearly all the ground covered by the city of Jerusalem is found on
examination to be honeycombed with these rock-hewn chambers. It is
not improbable that the Jebusites were to some extent troglodytes. In
the Ajjocryphal Acts of the Apostles mention is made of a cave at Cyprvis
" where the race of the Jebusites formerly dwelt."

8. On the Mount of Olives very interesting discoveries have been
made, including a Christian burial place, an extensive series of " cata-
combs," which had been made use of by Eoman soldiers of the tenth
legion, a number of Roman tiles, and other antiquities of various periods.

9. In a cave at Saris have been found human figures sculptured on
the walls, resembling the " Proto-Phcenician " rock-sculptures near Tyre,
and an inscription, believed by Professor Sayce to be evidently old
Phoenician. An inscription which had escaped the observation of previous
travellers has been noted by Mr. Hanauer at Beit el Khtilil.

10. From Galilee Herr Schumacher has reported the discovery of a
large cave at Nazareth ; ancient and elaborate rock tombs at Haifa and
Shefa 'Amr ; exploration of the caves of Jessas ; discovery of various
inscriptions, and of the rock-hewn apse of a church alluded to above.

11. The meteorological observations made imder the auspices of the
Fund which extend over many years are still being carried on, and the
results are being published by Mr. Glaisher in successive numbers of the
Quarterly Statement.

NOTES AND NEWS.

The Kev. J. Fallscher, of Nablus, has forwarded drawings of several
sculptured capitals and other stones found at Sebustieh (Samaria) by M. Ali, the
Grovernment engineer there. One of these bears a bull's head with horns, and
two others have human figures. They are apparently of Christian origin.

Herr Schick reports the discovery of an obelisk at Csesarea and sends a
drawing of it, which is given at p. 23. The top of the obelisk has not been
found. It is believed that this is the first obelisk ever discovered in the Holy
Land.

The present number contains an account of further observations of the
rock levels of the city of Jerusalem confirming the supposition that east of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre there is a rock terrace surrounded, or nearly
surrounded, by scarps of considerable height.

NOTES AND NEWS. 3 '

A letter from Jerusalem, publislied in the Northern Christian Advocate,
Syracuse, New York, November 7th, 1889, has the following: — "There are
strange rumours afloat about an inscription found at St. Stephens (north of
Damascus Gate). It is said that the Eomanists are anxious to hush up the
discovery, as it would damage the credit of the Church of the Sepulchre. A
person who professes to have seen and read it informs me that its contents are
somewhat to the following effect : ' I, Eusebius, have desired to be buried in
this spot, which I believe to be close to the place where the body of my Lord
lay.' " Herr Schick has been asked to report to the Fund what he knows of
this curious story.

The Figaro of October 22nd has an interesting and suggestive article
headed "The Russians in Palestine." " Russia," it states, "proceeds in a manner
peculiar to herself ; she labours without noise, but this does not prevent her
niakins sreat advances. Other nations who desire to extend their influence in
Palestine proceed with the sound of the trumpet, and achieve only a minimum
of success. Russia labours in silence, and obtains surprising results. It seems
that Russians have undertaken to Ritssify Palestine, and they are doing it.
Money does not fail her. There exists in Russia a great society bearing the
title of "the Orthodox Society of Palestine," which supplies the Russian
missionaries with the funds necessary for the creation and support of
educational and benevolent establishments. The Panslavist Committees, and
rich private individuals, also come to the aid of this politico-religious campaign,
and the Russian pilgrims, who stream by thousands every year to Jerusalem,
contribute morally and materially to the success of the work."

" At Nazareth there are two Russian schools for boys and one for girls. These
schools, although founded only three years ago, already number more than five
hundred pupils. At Beyrut a school for girls was established in 1887. Two
hundred young women there receive Russian instruction. The schools of Beit
Jala, and many other localities, work to the satisfaction of their founders, and
reckon from 80 to 100 pupils each. At Nazareth, and in other towns, there are
hospitals and dispensaries. At Jerusalem and in its environs Russian establish-
ments may be counted by the dozen. A million has been expended in the
construction of two large hospices, where pilgrims from Russia may be cheaply
supplied with all the comforts possible. It is easy to conceive that all this
money spent in the country benefits the population and attaches it more and
more to the Russian cause."

"We ought to note," the writer continues, " that the instruction given in the
schools is absolutely Russian. Only Arabic and Russian are taught ; every
other language is rigorously excluded. Thus in a few years the Arabs will know
nothing but what their Russian instructors have taught them, and will be
impregnated only with Russian ideas ! A congress of Russian professors
recently met at Jerusalem ' to discuss and adopt a uniform system of instruction
in Russian schools in Palestine, and to suggest measures for promoting and
confirming Russian influence in the country.' The Czarewitch was present
oflicially."

4 NOTES AND NEWS,

" A relation of a voyage to Tadmor begun y« 29tli Sept., 1691," from the
original manuscript in the possession of Albert Hartshorne, Esq., F.S.A., and
presented by him to the Fund, will shortly be published.

An important essay by Frederick J. Bliss, Esq., B.A., of Beyrut, on
Ma'lula and its dialect, will be published in the Quarterly Statement during
the year. Ma'lula lies nortli-east of Damascus. The author of the paper
remarks that : — " Its situation and surrounding scenery are unique. Its cave-
dwellings and rock-tombs give evidence of an ancient biit active existence,
while in its dialect is found a certain strange survival of the Aramaic whicli
Clirist spoke not 150 miles away."

Mr. Henry A. Harper's work, on " The Bible and Modern Discoveries "
was publislied in December. It is an endeavour to present in a simple but yet
connected form the Biblical results of twenty- two years' woi'k of the Palestine
Exjjloration Fund. The writer has also availed himself of the discoveries made
by the American Expeditions and the Egyptian Exploration Fund, as well as
discoveries of interest made by independent travellers. The Bible story, from the
call of Abraham to the Captivity, is taken, and details given of the light thrown by
modern research on the sacred annals. Eastern customs and modes of thought
are explai)ied whenever the writer thought they illustrated tlie text. To the
Clergy and Sunday School Teachers, as well as to all those who love the Bible, the
writer hojjes this work will prove useful. He is personally acquainted with the
land, and nearly all the places spoken of he has visited, and most of them he
has moreover sketched or painted. The work is in one large, handsome volume
of 600 pages. It is illustrated with many plates, and a map showing the
route of the Israelites and the sites of the principal places mentioned in the
sacred nari-atives. Price to the public, 16*. ; to subscribers to the Palestine
Exploration Fund, 10*. Qd., carriage included.

The work has had so far a very gratifying reception. The whole of the
First Edition has gone, and a considerable number of the Second Edition were
ordered before it covxld be got ready. This is the more satisfactory as hardly
any press notices have yet been received. The number of subscribers to the
Palestine Exploration Fund who have taken advantage of the reduced terms has
been about 500. It should be noted that the book is admirably adapted for
the school or village library. -

Mr. (luy le Strange's important work, " Palestine under the Moslems,"
which is a description of Palestine according to the mediaeval Arab geographers,
is also in the press.

The report of Herr Schumacher's Survey of Northern 'Ajlun will shortly be
published in separate form. It contains a map, plans and drawings of the
important ruins of Gradara (Umm Keis), Capitolias (Beit Ras), and Arbela
(Irbid), none of which had ever before been surveyed, also of the Temple at
el-Kabu and numerous tombs, sarcophagi, inscriptions, dolmens, &c. The price
to the public will be 3«. 6d., to subscribers to the Fund, Is. 6d.

NOTES AND NEWS. 5

The first volume of the " Survey of Eastern Palestine," bj Major Coiulcr,
lias been issued to subscribers. It is accompanied by a map of the portion
of country surveyed, special plans, and upwards of 350 drawings of ruins,
tombs, dolmens, stone circles, inscriptions, &c. The edition is limited to
500. The first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas for tlie three volumes, with
an index ; subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine " are privileged
to have the volumes for this sum. The price will be raised, after 250 names
are received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are fledged never to let any
copies be subscribed under the sum of seven guineas. Mr. A. P. Watt,
2, Paternoster Square, is the Sole Agent. The attention of intending sub-
Bcribers is directed to the announcement on the inside of the cover of this
number.

Considerable progress has also been made <v-ith the second volume, which
consists of M. Lccomte's beautiful drawings, illustrating the Mission of
M. Clermont-Ganneau in IST-i. The illustrations for the third volume,
Mr. Chichester Hart's " Flora _and Fauna " of the Wady Arabah, are nearly
ready.

The Committee have added to their list of publications the new edition
of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant and E. H. Palmer (Bentley <fe
Son). It can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for 5«. Qd., by api^li-
cation to the Head Office only. The " History of Jerusalem," which was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later woi'ks on the same subject.
It begins with the siege by Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-know^n
episodes in the history of the city and the country.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country,
which can be found in no other publications. It must never be forgotten tbat
no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all the instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following (the lohole set can be obtained by application to
Mr. George Armstrong , for 37 s. 6d., carriage paid) : —

By Major Conder, R.E. —

(1) " Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the survey of Westcra
Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of

6 NOTES AND NEWS.

ruins, springs, and ralleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
traveller has enjoyed the same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Heth and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Uastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesh — of the
children of Hetli ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Condor's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

Major Condor's works, is, perhaps, the most valuable. It attempts a task
never before approached — the reconstruction of Palestine from its monu-
ments. It shows what we should know of Syria if there were no Bible,
and it illustrates the Bible from the monuments.

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — This is a popular account of the Geolo-

gical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fund. The part which deals with the Yalley of Arabah
will be found entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

tion of Major Conder's works issiied as instalments of the vmpublished
" Survey of Eastern Palestine." They are full of drawings, sketches, and
plans, and contain many valuable remarks upon manners and customs.

(8) " The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work." — A copy of this book is pre-

sented to every subscriber to the Fund who applies for it. The work is a
popular account of the researches conducted by the Society during the
past twenty-one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book o£ reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by this Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's " Kh. Fahil." The ancient Pella, the first retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
Quarterly Statements.

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.

NOTES AND NEWS. 7

Branch Associations of the Bible Society, all Sunday Schools in union with
the Sunday School Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan
Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Eesolution of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
purcliase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
price.

The income of the Society, from September 19th to December 19th inclusive,
was— from subscriptions and donations, £426 15*. lOd. ; from all sources,
£653 19*. 4.4. The expenditure during the same period was £740 5*. Id. On
December 21st, the balance in the Bank was £369 2*. Id.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following can he had by application
to the office, at Is. each : —

1. Index to the Quarterly Statement, 1869-1880;

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan ; "

3. Cases for the Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate

Early numbers of the Quarterly Statement are very rare. In order to make
up complete sets, the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

No. II, 1869 ; No. VII, 1870 ; No. Ill (July) 1871 ; January and
April, 1872 ; January, 1883, and January,, 1886.

It having again been reported to the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of the Society, the Committee have to
caution subscribers and the public that they have no book hawkers in their
employ, and that none of their works are sold by itinerant agents.

While desiring to give every puhlicity to proposed identifications and other
theories advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of the
Quarterly Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanction nor adopt
them.

Subsci'ibers who do not receive the Quarterly Statement regularly are asked
to send a note to the Secretary. Great care is taken to forward each number
to all who are entitled to receive it, but changes of addi-ess and other causes
give rise occasionally to omissions.

8 NOTES AND NEWS.

The only authorised lecturers for the Society are —

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, E.G.S., Member of the Anthropological Institute

and of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

His subjects are : —

(1) The Buried City of Jerusalem, arid General Exploration of

Palestine.

(2) Discoveries in Assyria, Chaldea, and Palestine.

(3) The Moabite Stone and the Pedigree of the English Alphabet.

(4) Jerusalem of David, Nehemiah, and Christ.

(5) Sight-seeing in Palestine : a Narrative of Personal Expe-

riences.

(6) Israel's Wars and Worship, illustrated by the new Survey.

(7) The Gospel History in the light of Palestine Exploration.

Address : Greo. St. Clair, Bristol Eoad, Birmingham, or at the Office of
the Fund.

(2) The Eev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His

lectures are on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving views :" —

The Survey of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(3) The Eev. James King, Yicar of St. Mary's, Berwick. His subjects are

as follows : —
The Survey of Western Palestine.
Jerusalem.
The Hittites.
The Moabite Stone and other monuments.

(4) The Eev. Thomas Harrison, F.E.G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects are as follows : —

(1) Research and Discovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Track of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

PLAN SH I

W~^^~W V^ ^

Cj^

"% ■^^

TraceHfi-oyn, O.S .plaTo,cnd-addia'jyrhS rna.d£ by &A. .

100 O

'ING POSITION OFTHETWO CHURCHES N.OF DAMASCUS GATE

100

200

Scale

300 400

..... i'"i"[|H||iiii^||||n]pi

500

soo

B.WellerMtb

700

800 feet

■^

'eUer.Htb

DISCOVERIES NORTH OF DAMASCUS GATE.

Some time ago Mr. Schick reported a further examination of the
Dominican ground north-west of Jeremiah's Grotto, and believes that
indications of a second church— older, and also larger, than that pre-
viously known — have been discovered. He wrote : " The diameter of
the pieces of the shaft of a column, which were found built into the
wall of the pool formerly described {Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 116),
is considerably over 4 feet. They may have once stood on the pedestal
now standing in the centre of what I consider to be the apse of a former
church {see Plan, A). This pedestal is formed of one stone of hard 'mizzeh,'
roughly dressed, and was certainly intended to be under the flooring of
the church and not seen. It is j^robably in situ, as the measurements
from its centre in all directions indicate. Bound this pedestal, especially
towards the east, many good hewn stones were lying ; westward, on a
higher level, some Crusading masonry was found, especially a strong wall
running north and south, resting on the rock of the eastern side of the
pool. North of it was a kind of thin wall of polished stones, forming
two steps (B) ; and further to the north, on a lower level, a flooring of
well executed mosaic, forming geometrical figures in difl'erent colours,
but with no inscriptions or figures of plants or animals. The shaft of a
pillar of white marble, a foot in diameter, was also found here, and the
pedestal of masonry on which it had once stood. Still farther in the same
direction, 16 feet from the long steps and parallel with them, is a rock
scarp (C). As this scarp is exactly in a line with the Byzantine re-
mains— namely, a pedestal and threshold — shown on the plan (D) it
is clear that these once formed part of the northern wall of a large
church. Further west, a Byzantine threshold of a door (E) is situated
exactly at a right angle to the said wall, and appears to have been a door
in the western wall of the church. To the south of the pool, and of a
Crusading wall which exists there, a kind of Byzantine threshold (F) was
found, situated exactly parallel with the long steps and the northern wall
of the church, and this appears to have been a point in the southern wall.
As further east there is mosaic in the flooring and a piece of thick plaster
standing at right angles to this threshold, and as to the north of it similar
plaster, about three-quarters of an inch thick and 4 or 5 feet high, was
found standing in the rubbish (the stones on which it had rested having
been taken away), and forming a line as shown on the plan (A), it is
quite clear we have the apse of a Byzantine church. The impression of
the stones can still be seen on the plaster, by which it appears that the
plaster had been put on the outside of the wall, probably with the object
of preventing wet coming through, the ground outside being higher than
the flooring of the church. It seems that the walls of this church were
only 3 feet thick, so that it must have been covered with a wooden roof,
and not arched. Further clearance of the ground may bring more to
light. At present we may conclude that there was here a basilica, with a

10 DISCOVERIES NORTH OF DAMASCUS GATE.

■wide nave and narrow side aisles. The monks hope one day to find the
tomb of St. Stephen, but hitherto nothing of the kind has been discovered.
" It appears to me quite clear that the rock cuttings {Quarterly State-
ment, 1889, 1?. 116) are the oldest work, and belong to the Jewisli
period ; that in the Byzantine period the pool, &c., were filled up and
a church built, about 130 feet long by 73 feet wide, outside measure-
ment, very nearly the same size as the Church of St. Anne ; that this
original St. Stephen's Church was destroyed by the Mohammedans,
and that subsequently, when the Crusaders came into possession of
the place, they used the stones for their new buildings, and erected
the smaller church which was found some years ago and described in
the Jerusalem Volume of the Survey. As there are mosaic pavements
in the eastern part of the two side aisles of the church last discovered,
and (on the northern side) two stej^s go up to the nave, it is clear that the
flooring of the latter, at least at the eastern end, was on a higher level
than the rest of the church. Perhaps under it St. Stephen's tomb may
be found."

In a subsequent letter Mr. Schick reported that "without entirely clear-
ing the site of the church, the ground had been converted into a garden.
In the church they found the places where the pillai-s had stood, always a
large square stone, but nothing else of much interest," and at a later date
he wrote as follows : —

" Having been told that the Dominicans are going on with the work on
their property I went there, and they willingly showed me everything.
All the earth and remains of Crusading buildings are now removed, and
the rock and the flooring of the former Church laid bare. Only in two
places one may see that once a pillar stood there — so it seems the church
had not many pillars. They found some pieces of hewn stone, and two
more rock-hewn tombs, similar to those discovered several years ago.
In the pavement was a very large flag-stone, with a Greek inscription.
Whilst being raised it fell into many pieces, which they put together
again so that the inscription could be copied. I could not myself copy
it as they keep the stone in a dark place. They, however, have copied
and will soon publish it.

" Under the large slab there were steps, and a perpendicular stone door,
which can still be turned on its pivots {see Drawing, Tomb No. 2) ; below,
the pivot goes in a hole cut in the rock ; on the top it is kept by an iron
ring fastened to the rock ; it can easily be shut and opened, as it
is only 4 inches thick, 3 feet long, and 2 feet 4 inches wide. When
opened it can be laid back in a recess cut in the rock, so that the door
is flush with the rock-wall of the entrance at the steps. Four high
steps lead down to it. The door had formerly an iron lock, cruciform in
shape, but this has rusted away, together with the nails by which it
was fixed. The keyhole in the stone is well preserved. Just over the
door is a Creek inscription, cut in the rock, of which I give a copy.
A person entering through the opening (when the door is open and
• put back into the recess) has to go three steps more downwards, and

ecTioN

Masons IV1ar!^s.

Half Real Size
S>und in the little Church.

1. On o^ locBe
heMrn/Stvne-

2. On flrcring ofApst
of liule diujch

3. On^ WaJl ofrooine ut'
littU ChnrOv.

■i- BHfU/A(p6P8 CA

€YeY Mis^/k^qii^
^rpH+ )

Jnsa-iptiuorv fovaidjinj Ike Cavts of the,
many tombs partly under the/ road nhirh/
l^ads up to the tip vf tlu^ SiLl rdrovc
tlerentixOi^s (jfratto-

KB. This bisriptinn, The ibmJte told^ine if already
pubVLsheA.

F.S.WeJlar.liOi

>b^ & toato^tob

PALESTINE! EXPLORATION FUND.

OF Plan.

J'resent' Surface

Earth

muf/m/i/im. The old -pavement

Jiine of Rock

Present Surface

M-Mkde Earth, :■

The old, SUrfhce

TTTFrrm

Pjfie lyy which ■wa±er ,

is irounhXin.

LAN

^^'9^n^-- '-'^ ^m

so 70 Feet

I I

TWO CISTERNS NEAR JEKEMIAH's GEOTTO. II

then comes into a kind of passage or empty place less than 6 feet high,
to the right and left of which are loculi, in which are bones and mould.
Each loculus was covered with three slabs, nicely smoothed, on one of
which is an inscription, which I copied {see Drawing), but the Monks
removed all the slabs, liking to see the mould and bones.

" A little west of this tomb was found a similar one, but without any
inscription, and instead of a door it had a rotmd stone to he rolled before the
opening {see Drawing, Tomb No. 3). It was like that at the Tombs of the
Kings, only this stone was somewhat thinner and smaller. The stone
was not in its place, but in the rock a narrow and long recess is exca-
vated, into which the stone might be rolled, and so the tomb opened.
The adjoining drawings will explain all this ; and the exact situation of
these newly discovered tombs may be seen on the plan marked 1, 2, 3.

" I give a drawing of three masons' marks, of forms new to me, found
at the place.

" The stone forming the well-mouth of the cistern in the yard east of
the little church, and south of the recently discovered rock-cut tombs, is
octagonal externally, and a curious feature of it is that on four of the
eight sides, half-way up, there is a step, on which one might put his foot
when drawing water. I think it was originally not intended for a well-
mouth, but for a baptismal font. Short people, as boys, might, at this
solemn act, have stood on this kind of step. I have never seen anything

of the kiud before."

C. Schick.

TWO CISTERNS NEAR JEREMIAH'S GROTTO.

I HAD the opportunity of examining two cisterns near Jeremiah's Grotto,
and found both interesting. The situation of these cisterns is shown on
the tracing from the Ordnance Survey Pla.n of Jerusalem -ggVo (P- 9),
where they are marked 1 and 2.

No. 1 {see Plan) is rather a large cistern, the greater part cut in the
rock, with its four sides inclining, not perpendicular, so that the space which
had to be arched over is much smaller than the bottom of the cistern. The
roof is not rock, but a curious tunnel arching, very much pointed, and
with sides nearly straight, made of hewn stones. The present surface
of the ground is, according to the Ordnance Survey, about 2,515 feet
above the sea. The former surface is shown in the shaft of the mouth
of this cistern to be 10 feet lower, or 2,505 feet. As the cistern is about
45 feet deep, its bottom is therefore 2,460 feet above the sea. It is
damaged and requires some new cementing. The last repairs were done
by Christians, as there are on the eastern side, some feet above the
bottom, and near both ends, crosses 4 feet 6 inches high and 3 feet wide,
made in plaster, of the form shown in the section. In the bottom there
is, just under the mouth, a round bowl-shaped pit, 4 feet deep and
10 feet 6 inches in diameter. The cistern is covered with a pavement of

1 2 EXCAVATIONS ON THE EASTERN BROW OF " ZION."

large flagstones. Fourteen feet north of the mouth is a second one,
covered with a large stone, having two iron rings on its ujjper surface ;
but this mouth had no shaft uj) to the present surface of the ground.
That represented in the drawing has been made recently. The
cistern is 65 feet 9 inches long in the middle at the bottom, and 29 feet
6 inches wide ; it has rounded corners. It may take water up to 25 feet,
a quantity equal to about 20,000 skins.

Its northern end comes to within a few feet of the rock scarp, in
which are rock-cut tombs, thought by General Gordon to be the Sepulchre
of Christ. This remarkable cistern is certainly not of Mohammedan
or Christian origin, but apparently Canaanitic, its form being like so
many made by Canaanites in the rock ; but I have never before seen
one so large. The arching and the slab with two iron rings is very
likely Crusading.

Cistern No. 2 is 250 feet south of the former, towards the Damascus
Gate. It is very mvicli smaller than the former, but may contain 3,000
skins of water. It is entirely hewn in the rock, and before it was made
into a cistern was rock-cut Jewish tombs. In the rock ceiling is a
square, 13 feet by 13 feet, very nicely worked, with a kind of cornice
round it, exactly as in the Tombs of the Kings. The floor below this is
smooth, but the rest of the flooring is rough, just as it was left when
the tombs were broken away to get more room. As it is plastered all
round, the door to the former square chamber cannot be ascertained, but
it is supposed to have been in the north-western wall. For the same
reason it cannot be ascertained whether the pillar or support is of living
rock or masonry. Near it the rock at the bottom is left rough, and now
forms two long steps. The mouth is over a kind of recess, and goes up
through the rock, over which a square shaft is built. The cistern is
nearly square, about 24 feet in each direction, and has an average height
of 15 feet. The ceiling is very uneven, except that of the former tomb-
chamber.

There was an idea that between the present town wall and the scarp
of Jeremiah's Grotto on the north, there was nothing else than a quarry ;
but this cistern proves that there were rock-cut tombs, as in the
Jeremiah's Grotto hill itself. In regard to the I'ock levels I will add
that recently in digging outside the Damascus Gate, 26 feet north of the
north-east corner of the eastern tower of that gate, the rock was
found at a level of 2,474^ feet ; 6 feet 2 inches higher than the sill of
Damascus Gate.

C. Schick.

EXCAVATIONS ON THE EASTERN BROW OP "ZION."
A FEW years ago a French gentleman. Count Piello, bought a piece of
ground on the eastern slope of the western hill of Jerusalem, generally
called Zion, about half way down between the buildings of Neby
DaM and the Pool of Siloam. A little watch-house was then built, and a

.■E1A.ST

^jf^jfT^

Ro,

SOUTH. -^i^

N? 2 ^ SECTION.

Feet

y,,,,f.,,,?

—I—

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

I ON

Sections of

EXCAVATIONS
ON EAST SLOPE OF ZION,
immediately North of the Cistern
midway hetween Davids Tomb
ajid Pool of Silo am.

See Plazh of Jervjsalenv, April Quarterly StatenerA 1S89.

fix

EARTH -.^

J{ o ck I I S,b nr p

1 ! <0 -T

E'A:R\TH

|;^^S^;iT^7^vzr-^F-r^2Ea

g^/;Aa^t

— M

NORTH

Scale

JO^

jip Feet

^. ^.i/.iot.

F.S.WellficZxi^-

EXCAVATIONS ON THE EASTEHN BROW OF "ZION." 13

black man put in as guardian. About six months ago a priest came and
began to excavate tbere ; the work is going on slowly, and many things
have been found, of which I will now report.

The overseer of the work, a Roman Catholic monk, speaks English,
aud must have been once in England. He showed me everything ; the
owner of the property required that I should give him a copy of any
drawings or plans I might make, which I promised to do.

There is first a layer of earth from 5 to 8 feet thick, on which olive
trees are growing, then are appearing masonry, rockscarps, well-mouths, and
many hewn aud sculptured stones ; also pavements, mosaics, &c., were found.
I give a plan of walls, caves, cisterns, rockscai'ps, holes, earth,
trees, &c. ; also a Section and elevation from north to south (No. 2),
and a Section and elevation from west to east (No. 3). In the
drawings the same letter (capitals) shows always the same thing. It
is found here, as in so many other places, both inside and outside the
city, that there were in ancient times caves and dwellings excavated in
the rod, which excavations were in later times converted into cisterns.
Here, as the sections will show, are nearly throughout two stories of
excavations ; the upper ones certainly were originally used for human
dwellings, or as cellars, magazines, stables, &c. The walls are every-
where cut nearly perpendicular, the floorings horizontal, and the top or
covering (of rock) has always a thickness of 4 feet, whereas the walls
were sometimes rather thinner, and in the upjier storey very thin, only
12 inches as shown in Section No. 2. On Ophel, and in the city, I
found such rock partition walls also cut thicker, and sometimes there are
windows in them as here (T T). Further, there is nearly always a smaller
or larger rounded hole in the roofing as here (D E F G J). In February,
1869, Sir Charles ^^' arren found similar caves 200 feet south of the Triple
Gate, and I am fully convinced that wherever one will dig deep enough
in the ground formerly occupied by ancient Jerusalem, he will find such
excavations. These newly-discovered ones I will now describe more fully.

The monks first made a trench or kind of road from south towards
north, and from it branches eastwards towards the hillside, and they
found the following : — In the south (or to the left-hand of the Section
No. 2, a cave (K) entirely hewn in the rock, with an opening towards
the east, 8 feet wide and 9 feet high, so that people could go in from
the court (or rather what was at that time the road or street of the city)
on level ground. This was a cave to be inhabited, as it is now again.
Inside there is a round niche towards the south, with a round opening in
the roof ; this, I think, had been originally a round cistern, and in later
time the thin rock wall between it and the cave was broken away.
Opposite this cave (K) are found two similar holes, from which the
earth has not been removed. In the large opening is now put a new
wall with a door, and the overseer uses the place to keep things ; it is
also his office and dining-room. If one goes now from the front of the
cave northwards, there is a thin wall, of very inferior workmanship, but
towards the west the remains are higher and better, aud, as it seems to

14 EXCAVATIONS ON THE EASTERN BROW OF "ZION."

me, Byzantine. After 5 feet one lias to cross another and a stronger
wall, which stands at right angles to a wall put up in front of a rock-
scarp, going from south towards north, and so covering the rock face for
24 feet, and forming a terrace about 12 feet high. On this terrace, which
is horizontal and smooth, is a large piece of mosaic flooring ; west of it
are three basements of pillars, the largest one in situ. Whether the two
others are in situ or not I cannot speak positively. From this terrace a
flight of steps leads northward 7 feet down to a level flooring in which
are two round openings (G and F) like well-mouths ; the cave (G) is still
full of earth, but (A) is cleared out so that I could measure it ; but before
going down we will first examine what is above. West of this flooring
(R, No. 3) a wall runs from south towards north, 1 foot 10 inches thick.
This wall had a few doors which led westwards to another flooring a little
more elevated (Q), with a good pavement. Toward the west is another and
thicker wall. This flooring (Q) is only 6 feet wide, and was once the
corridor or passage between rooms on the east and west. On the west two
of these rooms are preserved (N and O, No. 2). Their west wall was a
rock scarp, which also extended further south, and between them there was
originally a thin rock wall, which afterwards was strengthened by adding
masonry to it, as shown in Section No. 2.

The flooring is also rock, and in it (in 0) is a large oval-shaped hole
(E), with some steps in it downward hewn in the rock. North of these two
rooms the earth has not been cleared away enough, and I coidd only see
a recess with a hole on the bottom ; but eastward, where the place
has been more cleared, there are the traces of a room (R) made of
masonry, the flooring of which is on a level with the trench or road. A
little to the south one comes to a flight of steps hewn in the rock, going
down westwards to a couple of windows (TT). The wall between is also
rock, and the narrower window to the right hand had evidently been
used as a door, as it has a further step which the other has not. A little
lower, I think, was once a flooring of wood, and so a habitable room, and
under it a magazine ; from this supposed flooring a door (U) went
northwards into other chambers (BH). A wall of masonry, which
is still standing, was very likely put in when the rooms over it were
built ; also towards the south between the rock walls, there is masonry,
and in it a square window (CC) forms an opening to another excavation (C)
under the room (O), whicli has on its further side a hole leading down
into a cistern (W) {see Section No. 3). From (B) an opening noi'thward,
leads to a long cave (H), which is not yet fully cleared out, but has two
round holes (J) in the roofing — one the light-and-airhole for the cave,
the other, very likely, 'is over the mouth of a well or cistern situated
under the cave (H). All this will be found out later on.

The height of these caves can be seen from the sections ; it is from
8 feet to 12 feet 6 inches. If some were originally intended for dwellings,
stables, magazines, or cellars, in later times, when walled houses were
erected over them, they were converted into cisterns, especially, as
it seems, in the period when Jerusalem became a Christian city, as

EXCAVATIONS ON THE EASTERN BROW OF " ZION." 15

there are many crosses found. In the hole (F), for instance, are three
crosses hewn in the rock — one towards the south, one towards the north,
and one towards the west. The latter is a double one, thus if. On the
east side there is none. That the chambers were used at this period for
cisterns is proved by the cement, which in many places is still firm. If
all the rubbish, buildings, &c., could be removed wherever the old city
extended, the site would then present a marvellous appearance ; all
would appear honey-combed, so that one would need great care in walking
about not to fall down through a hole or over a scarp.

It is not yet seen what the monks intend to erect here, but certainly
some sanctuary in commemoration of some event in the life of our Lord
or his Apostles. As far as I understand, they were in hopes of finding
the traces of a church once erected over the spot where Peter wept
bitterly (Matt. xxvi. 75). When the mosaic and the bases of pillars were
discovered, they thought they had found what they looked for, but hitherto
no proof of there having once been a church here has been brought to
lisrht. To me it seems as if the Crusaders have not done much here, but
that the ruins are Jewish, and from the earliest Christian time ; the
caves and excavations are certainly Jewish. South of the ground on
which these remains are, and south of the road, a Moslem has a large
piece of ground, where he found the same state of things ; and I hope in
future to get opportunity to examine and measure there also.

We know that in this neighbouihood was a church of St. Peter called
"The Cry of the Cock." Bernard, a.d. 865, tells us that this church
was towards the east from the Church of Simeon on Mount Zion, at the
place of Peter's denial of Christ.

Fifty yeai's later this was repeated, but the word " church " used
perhaps meant simply "sanctuary." In 1450 the place was called
Galilee. It had a deep cave in the rock, and was 170 paces east of the
house of Caiaphas (Neby Datid). If one pace is taken to equal 3 feet,
this will be 510 feet east of Neby DaM, which brings us to a little
building on the Ordnance Survey Plan, which I knew very well, but
which was taken away within the last ten years, the stones being used
for building new houses near Neby Dalld, but not to the recently
excavated place, which is 350 feet further east.

In 1483 the church had almost totally disappeared, only some walls
being visible ; but the Pilgrims went to a cave, and in the 16th century
a high rock with a deep cistern was said to be the place where Peter
denied Christ. It was situated about 150 paces from the tower of the
town wall, as one went down from Zion into the Kidron Valley, not far
from the Dung Gate and the Bethlehem Aqueduct.

In 1674 we are told that the cave was walled up. In later times the
real place was lost, and sought for in this neighbourhood, as is the case
now, but hitherto not with the desired result. This ancient church may
be found some day in this neighbourhood, and I should think a little
higher up the hill, nearer the aqueduct.

C. Schick.

DISCOVERY OF ROCK-HEWN CHAPELS AT SILWAN.

Having heard that in the village of Silwan a church had been discovered
and a very remarkable inscription which no one could read, I went down
with my assistants and people who could point out the place. The
proprietor of the ground showed us the things, but would not allow me to
take copies and measurements until after a long talk, in which I pointed
out to him thatmy measurmg and reporting on the matter would be to his
interest, he said, "Do what you like, but you must know that T do not
want plans or drawings, but wish to sell the place, in order to get money
with which to build another home." I hear the Russians olfered him
60 Napoleons, but he asks 200.

The village of Silwan is divided into two parts, namely, the "upper"
and the " lower " village. The place of which I speak is between the two,
but belongs to the upper village. It is opposite the Virgin's Well, but
somewhat more south, opposite the letter a in the word " valley " on the
Ordnance Survey Plan of Jerusalem, scale agW-

When I visited the place I followed the road in the valley southwards
as far as a road which turns at a right angle to the lower village, near the
" old pool," and then I had to go northwards up a steep ascent till I came
to the spot.

An ordinary door on the south leads into a kind of court, sloping
upwards towards the north, formed by a terrace on the rocky side of the
hill. The floor, .steps, the cliff on the east, and even the parapet on the
west are rock. In the face of the cliff are many artificial openings, four
doors, and sevei-al holes, looking like windows. The large central door is
closed by masonry ; the northern and southern I found locked up, but
that between the central and southern doors was open. Some rock-cut
steps lead up to it, and close by there is a round, bottle-shaped cistern
cut in the rock. As there was tibn in this cistern I could not ascertain
its exact size, and accordingly it is shown with dotted lines in the
section. On the surface of the cliff I observed several narrow gutters
cut in the rock for conducting the rain-water into the cistern.

The present entrance to the chapel is in a projecting part of the cliff,
as shown in the Plan, and over the door the rock projects 1 foot more,
forming a kind of roof, over which the rain-water is turned aside, so as
not to fall into the doorway.

This door leads into a room, 5 feet deep and 7 feet 4 inches wide,
very exactly and nicely excavated, with a straight ceiling of rock, the
flooring being also rock. The room is neaiiy 8 feet high. The east
wall of this room was originally pierced with three openings, leading into
an adjoining room, 7 feet 4 inches wide by 6 feet 8 inches deep, which
has along the south wall a rock bench, 1 foot 4 inches high, adapted for
sitting on. The north wall was originally pierced by a doorway, the rock
sides of which are now broken off. Towards the east there is a regular
apse, 5 feet 4 inches wide and 2 feet 8 inches deep, in a half circle, but on
the top made like a Mohammedan " mihrab." There are four round

Ill ' ' f^^'y.

l/il

i3;

Rock Cuff
e QiEqwls
/ated

SOUTH

F-S. Weller.Jith

DISCOVERY OF ROCK-HEWN CHAPELS AT SILWAN. 17

holes in the rock, as if at one time something had been fixed there ; lower
down, about 3 feet from the flooring, are again four such holes ; they are
round, 2 inches in diameter, and 4 inches deep.

On the south wall, some feet above the stone bench, is a row of similar
holes. On the flooring there is a round hole or pit, 13i inches in
diameter, cut down perpendicularly for several feet ; the exact measure-
ment I cannot give, as the hole is filled with earth. I supposed it to be a
well-mouth, but the proprietor of the place said that this is not the case.
On the top of the apse there had once been a cross made of plaster, but the
Moslems have broken it ofl". This room is also nearly 8 feet high, and the
ceiling is exceedingly smooth, exactly hewn, as in the tombs of the Kings.

North of this double room is another and larger double room or
chapel. The entrance in the west wall {see Drawing), which is now
built up, has over it three windows, the middle one somewhat wider than
the others ; they are surrounded by rock ledges, so that wooden shutters
may exactly close the openings. The outer room is 9 feet wide by 8 feet
7 inches deep. In the south wall were once two cupboard niches, and a
door now so much broken away that all is like one room ; on the north
was a doorway, 4 feet 8 inches wide, and 5 feet 4 inches high, now closed
by masonry. The wall towards the east is pierced by three openings as
in the adjoining southern double room. The work is very nicely done,
all the edges having a ^-inch draft all round the openings. These openings
never had doors. In the middle of the thickness of the wall there is a
step in the flooring, so that the floor of the inner room is about 10 inches
higher than that of the outer {see Plan). The inner room is 9 feet
6 inches wide, and 6 feet 9 inches deep, or 1 foot 8 inches less than the
outer room. In the adjoining southern double room the outer was
shorter and the inner longer ; here, on the contrary, the outer is longer
and the inner shorter, but within 1 inch exactly as long as the southern
inner room. This northern inner room has in the walls on the south and
north openings or doorways, but that on the north is blocked up with
masonry. On the east there is also an apse, much larger than that in the
other room, and somewhat more than the half circle, 6 feet 8 inches
wide by 4 feet deep {see Plan). This apse has also the form of a
mihrab, as will be seen in the section. At the height of 3 feet
from the floor there is a recess in the rock wall of the apse, about
1 foot deep, 1 foot 4 inches wide, and 1 foot 4 inches high. At its top
begins the bow of the roof of the apse, and just there is engraved the

Greek inscription above alluded to. Of this inscription I give an exact
facsimile, made by help of a squeeze.

18 FURTHER REPORT ON THE POOL OF BKTHESDA.

Tliat Isaiah is here mentioned is rather unexpected. The place where
the prophet was killed, vuider Manasseh, is shown more to the south, and
on the opposite side of the valley. His tomb for a time was shown in the
same neighbourhood ; but the ancient pilgrims speak in such a manner
that it is difficult' to comprehend where they mean ; so, after all, Isaiah's
tomb may be somewhere in the village of Silwan, and perhaps under this
his chapel. As will be seen in the drawings, there is a cave under the
rocky court containing much earth. I hope that by digging there an
entrance to rock-cut tombs may be found.

The proprietor of the place tells me, that the adjoining rooms, on the
north and south of these chapels, have each such an apse, and also that
the rooms, &c., are hewn in the rock, like those belonging to him. They
belono- to neighbours who were not at home, so that I covdd not measure
or examine them.

That these rock-cut chambers were once used by Christians as chapels
is beyond all question ; and as the rooms are dovible, I think some
anchorite lived in the outer ones, the inner ones forming the chajjels, and
the wall between them, with its three openings, representing the wall in
front of the choir or altar of Greek chm-ches.

Dr. Papadopoulos thinks the form of the letters of the inscription

supports the suggestion that it belongs to the eighth century. But one

may doubt whether Christians under Mohammedan rule were in a

condition to cut out such rock chambers, and I shoiild think they were

made before the invasion of the Arabs. Probably they were Jewish

rock-cut tombs before the Christian era, which afterwards were modified

by the Christians, and used again for their purposes. According to

Matthew, xxiii, 29, and Luke, i, 47, the Jews made monumental tombs for

the Prophets, who were killed by their fathers. So we may suppose that

these rooms were made by the Jews in the time of Christ, and that

afterwards the Christians made apses in them, converting them into

chapels. However, more learned men may judge on this matter ; my

dutv is simply to report on them.

* C. Schick.

FURTHER REPORT ON THE POOL OF BETHESDA.

The Reis, or Head, of the Algerian Mission Brethren at St. Anne, has
returned from his journey, so I called upon him, and was received very
kindly. He showed me everything on the establishment, including their
collections for a museiim. Besides lamps and other pottery they have
not much, but a good number of coins, Eoman, Greek, Arabic, and
Jewish.

With regard to excavations and clearing the place, I found they have
removed all the earth down to the top of the pool, by which it was
discovered that the five little rooms, or porches, just over the pool were

» > 7j > > 5 ,

SELCTION ON LINE A.BOF PLAN' -. '-' ',

Dark Shcuiuicf repTe-teiiis old dxscovcn-es
LighO „ „ new

•> J , > J ) ; > >
1 , *> t

LeveL of CTturch floor

North

SouihJ

PLAN SHOWING

NEW DISCOVERIES AT THE POOL OF BETH ESP A
Dark.' Shading represertis old discoverLes ^^^M
Ii^ht „ , new „ ^.^-cyXN

"PLux' of the fre^ct'
See Qiixxrterly Statement 18S8 ? 123 .

t> mMy//,>M///mmmm--.

Scale

M 5 0 10 W 30 -HI SO SO no BO 90 100

T. .. I. . . .L J 1 1 i 1 ! 1 1 1 '

FURTHER REPORT ON THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 19

all connected one with the other by an open arch, as I endeavour to show
in the enclosed drawings. It is easy to see that these arches, and the
five rooms or porches, did not belong to the original building, but were
put in afterwards, and very likely the Reis is quite right in suggesting
that as the original five porches were destroyed, the Crusaders, in order
again to have some sort of porches, made these five liwaiis, or ojjeu
rooms, as a special storey over the pool, as the accumulation of debris
was great, and the surface of the ground already at their time at a much
higher level.

It is now quite clear that the old (or original) church stood imme-
diately on the pool, i.e., the top of the latter formed the flooring of the
church ; the northern wall of it still stands to a good height, and has
four windows (which I mentioned in a former letter, see Quarterly State-
ment, 1888, p. 119). At the north-west corner is a door, and over it the
wall is not pierced by a window, but is flat, and on it was painted the
now celebrated fresco. The picture I found just as it is described by
Professor Harris in the " British Weekly," No. 142, p. 192, very indistinct.
One can only recognise parts of the wings, the nimbus round the heail,
which latter has been expressly destroyed. Of a hand I could see
nothing, but round about the figure, which is without legs, or at least
with none that are visible, the waves of the water, given with a brown
colour, and not blue, as one would expect. But as these brown lines are
at some distance one from the other, it may be that the finer colour of
the water has disappeared, and now only parts of the waves remain,
which, as, according to our old writers, the water was reddish, would also
have that colour.

According to what can still be seen, the figure was the size of a young
man, not a child. In a few other jalaces are also little jiieces of fresco
visible. So it seems the old church, before these five arches, or " crypts,"
were built, had everywhere on the walls fresco paintings.

Opposite the fresco of the Angel there is, in the southern wall of the
church, a wide opening leading into a chamber, wdiich had formerly
towards the east, some more rooms, which are now destroyed. The
church wall is very thick, and a hole is broken through it. Outside of it
are the remains of a strong square pier, and the Reis expressed the
opinion that once a pillar may have stood on it, parts of such a pillar,
especially the capital, having been found. South of this pier a flight of
tiLeps was found but it is not easy to decide whether they were old or of
laier, perhaps Mohammedan, work. One would think the latter, but the
steps are so much trodden as to prove that they had been for a long time
in use. My fii'st idea was that this is the upper branch of the regular
stairs leading down to the water, but as northwards of it the rock rises
even higher it cannot be, and very likely it is the stair to another similar
pool south of the other, which further excavations will prove. In the
enclosed section (No. 3) I explain this in dotted lines.

To the large tank or cistern on the west, which I reported on last year
{Quarterly JStatemjnt, p. 123), nothing more has since been done, but the

B 2

EOCK LEVELS IN JERUSALEM.

Eeis told me that they have now bought all the little houses as far as
this tank extends and north of the pool, and will, in course of time>
thoroughly examine the locality.

In case there should be found a similar pool to the south, then the
rock wall between the two would be thick enough (about 15 feet) to have
carried the middle (or fifth) porch, and this would explain how different
kinds of water could be in two pools so near together ; the one would
get water simply from the rain falling on the top and the roofs round
about ; the other would be fed by conduits bringing min water from a
distance. Such water from outside the town always becomes reddish
when it first falls, and afterwards becomes clear.

C. Schick.

ROCK LEVELS IN JERUSALEM.

The better paving of the streets is still going on, although very
slowly. It is not in every street that anything of interest is found, but
in some this is the case, as I have reported from time to time. To-day I
have to say that the so-called " Akkabat al Takiyeh " (going eastward
from the Church of the Sepulchre) was recently done. Now, in the

Ordnance Survey Plan, scale

stands in about the middle of its

length, on the south side, a bench mark, a few feet above the ground, with
the height 2,456 feet above the Mediterranean ; 45 feet west of this, near
the arch going over the street, the scarp of the rock was found, going
south and north, facing east, the height or top of the rock there being
2,462 feet above the sea, ^>., 6 feet higher than the bench mark, so that
when grading the surface they had to cut the road through the rock.

West of it, about 190 feet distant, the rock crops out from the ground to
a height of 2,477 feet.

This new discovery proves that I was right in stating in one of my
reports in 1887 that here, east of the Church of the Sepulchre, is a rock
terrace, which is surrounded, or nearly surrounded, by scarps to a con-

REMAINS OF THE OLD CITY WALL. 21

siderable height. Further north, 68 feet south of the Tarik es Serai, it
is known for a long distance. To the south it was found and reported
upon last year, on the Russian ground, and now we find it on the east.
Opposite the bench mark mentioned, where the letter T stands, the house
had tumbled down, and was recently rebuilt, its foundation being laid
20 feet below the surface, and still no rock found, so that the scarp hei'e
must have a height of at least 30 feet, and I am convinced it is 40, or
even more. The word " acra " is on the Ordnance Survey Plan put too
far east. The place where c R a stands belonged already to the
"Makdesh" (Zephaniah i, 11). All this I have endeavoured to explain by
the accompanying plan, in which I show the probable extent and form of
the Acra terrace with dotted lines.

C. Schick.

REMAINS OF THE OLD CITY WALL.

At the beginning of this year I reported on remains of an ancient and
very strong wall found near the north-western corner of the present city,
at the Latin Patriarch's palace, and my report was published, together
with the drawings illustrating it, in Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 65,
where I (p. 66) promised to rejjort whatever further may be found. I
have now to fulfil this promise.

Northwards, as I hinted in my last, nothing has been done since, bat
southwards it was found that the wall existed only for 8 feet further
south, with large stones on both sides and the middle filled up, but that
beyond this such stones were only scattered here and there, most of them
in situ, for a short distance ; those not in situ being turned over or broken.
The priest who had the direction of the work told me that a few such
stones were found when the palace was built a dozen years ago and
that it seems the wall had an angle just where in the Ordnance Survey
Plan, scale gToo) stands the letter R of the work, "Tarik.'' But this is
merely a suggestion, and not proved, as he said the supposed angle of the
wall gave to the latter an easterly direction, which would bring it into
connection with the remains found some years ago, and reported in
Quarterly Statement, 1886, p. 23, and afterwards ; and this seems to me
the reason why a corner is suggested, which very likely did not exist. I
suppose the wall went straight on, very probably to the tower found
when shops were built outside the present wall, in front of the present
third tower, north of Jalfa Gate, and that here was thus a kind of corner,
not a right angle, but an obtuse one.

At the little chapel north of the barracks in Tartk Sitti Maryam the
work is going on again, but nothing more of interest has been found.
They have cleared away all the walls, &c., towards the east, and thrown
the site of this chapel and the premises of the Chapel of the Flagellation

into one.

C. Schick.

A SUPPOSED DRUIDICAL STONE.

There are on the plain, south of Jerusalem, near the village Beit
Stifafa on the large map, some points with the name " Es Seba Rujum,"
and in the " Memoirs," Vol. Ill, page 157, it is said : " Large stone
heaps, apparently formed by clearing the surrounding land of stones for
cultivation." This is the first and general impression one gets when
seeing them, but looking closer there are several remarkable points,
which lead to the supjDOsition that these heaps may have had some other
origin. These are, first, their largeness ; second, their regular situation ;
and third, their number seven.

Everywhere in the mountain may be seen heaps of stones, made by
clearing the land, but in general they are not so large as these nor
similar in form, and may be of any number. On many parts of this
plain there are at present not more stones in the field than on that part
surrounding these mounds, and there are no other such heaps, only
smaller ones of irregular form, spread over the land withoiat any plan —
here there is a regular plan on which the heaps are arranged. Excava-
tion might lead to some result, and throw light on their origin. Besides
the seven large heaps, there are several others of much smaller size, and
irregularly situated. They seem to have once been buildings, now
entirely fallen into shapeless ruins, and I should think are of a later
period than the large heaps.

From one or two of these smaller heaps stones were recently
taken away for the Bethlehem road or new buildings. One day I
heard that a marvellous stone had been found, so I went there, and
found a stone still standing exactly upright, so that I judged it
may be in situ, and by closer examination became convinced it had been
once a Druidical stone. I send plan and view of its four sides.
It is 2 feet 6 inches wide, and on an average 13 inches thick, and
crops out 3 feet from the ground. The top surface slants a little towards
the sides, especially towards the west, where there is in the middle a
shallow depression. The north and south sides are nearly straight, but
not very smooth, and each has a hole going in for 9 and 9i inches, the
outer opening having the figure of a human mouth, 5 to 6 inches wide,
and about 1 inch high in the middle, so that one can put his hand a few
inches into it. Towards the interior these holes are gradually narrowed
to a kind of point. That on the south side is a little higher than the
other, and goes a little downwards ; the northern one, which is somewhat
lower, goes a little upwards. One might think these holes to be natural
clefts in the stone, but they are, especially at the lower part, smoothed and
poli.shed by frequent handling. On the eastern side there is a round hole
at the same height, also going in 9 inches. This eastern side has another
peculiarity, viz., at the same level as the holes above-mentioned, a pro-
jecting ledge, so cut that one-half of the breadth of the projection is
about 5 inches higher than the other half.

The opposite or western side of the stone is still more remarkable.

Plan and

SECT'ON rF,TM' SPRIN<i,P0OLANDPASSAGES
',( OF'Air; Ll Bel-.ed atGibeon

An^cirdiug Ao ^hjirVx gxilb-c f WC Riaky b ExaTniiisLtion
in 1888. Sketchi-d by BauratliC Schick.

EAST

MiJmn

..^fe4gtlJ>-gp^.,,,4^rC^

Scale.

10 S 0 10 20 so to 50 eO 70 eo so 100 FKET

tWtl>t*tl ^ ■ t I- I I 4 li I .J 1

Obelisk, Found in Theatre. C/esarea

It is broken and lymg cm. tbje ground
AccardiEg to iE" Biskys report
Sketched by C . Schick 1889.
See Notes and^Nens

Bri^lfru ht'rr

ObtlieU

Scale

10 s 0

F.S.WeUer.Htii.

THE WATERS OF GIBEON. 23

At first sight it appears to be covered with cracks, which on examination

are found to be regular grooves, each about | to j-inch deep and about

^-inch wide, made by a tool of that breadth, as its marks can still be

recognised. These furrows run obliquely downwards towards the centre

of the stone. About half-way down is a natural curved cleft across ;

the others, or at least the greater part, are artificial. On another day

I excavated the spot and found that the stone ended about 20 inches

below, and that it stands on a layer of roughly-hewn stones, and is not

in situ. It was used as a door-post to a room which was built here, the

threshold of which is still on the ground, and a stone found against it in

a slanting situation appears to have been the lintel. The bearings of the

stone were north 33° west, the line just going to the Minaret on the

Neby DaCid buildings ; but of course as the stone is no more in situ the

bearings are of no value.

After reading Captain Conder's report on these old stone monuments

{Quarterly Statement, 1882, p. 69), I became the more convinced that we

have here a stone, belonging once to a Canaanitic altar of offerings,

which may perhaps have stood in connection with the Seba Eujum, or

seven large stone heaps.

C. Schick.

THE WATERS OF GIBEON.

I SEND drawings, plan, and section of the well or spring at El Jib, the
ancient Gibeon. Eespecting this the Memoir to the Survey, vol. iii.,
p. 94, says : — " There are eight springs, which issue from the sides of the
hill, the most important being 'Ain el Belled (" Spring of the Village").
This is on the south-east, at the foot of the steep hill-side, and issues in a
rock chamber, about 30 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 7 feet high. The
water is clear and abundant in a pool within the cave, said to be 3
or 4 feet deep. On the right, at the back, a passage is said to exist, and
on the left steps leading to the surface of the hill above. These cannot
now be seen, and the passage is blocked up. . . . The cave is reached
by a descent of several steps. . . . There is a recess at the mouth of
the cave, as if for a bar, probably showing that the spring was once closed
with a door, when it could no doubt be reached from above within the
city (as at Jerusalem)." A few months ago a Russian gentleman care-
fully examined the localtity, and according to the statements and
descriptions which he gave me I have made these drawings. He went up
the steps and incline until he came to a place where the passage is walled
up. He found two shafts, the openings of which are covered with flat
.stones. He also went to the source of the spring, taking oif his garments
and walking through the water, and measured the length of the passage.
The measurements may be right, but I doubt the correctness of the
bearings. These observations are important. The arrangement resembles

that of the Siloah spring at Jenxsalem,

C. Schick.

NOTES FROM GALILEE.

She/a 'Amr. — In my report of May, 1889, I gave a sketch of a richly
ornamented tomb found south of Shefa 'Amr (see Quai'terly Statement^
1889, p. 188), and I am now able to send a ])hotograph of the same. I
have also made a plan of the interior, which was then filled with raiu
water. The latter has not yet entirely disajDpeared, and the bottom is
full of nmd as well as the interior of the loculi. The tomb does not
contain kohim as was told me by natives, but three very carefully
worked loculi with arcosolia, each in one of the three walls of the cave.
The entrance facing north, with its rich and curious ornamentation, has
been described before. By the low door we go down two steps to the
bottom of the cave into a rectangular room measuring 5 feet 3 inches each
side by a height of 5 feet 6 inches from the floor to the nicely worked flat
ceiliug. As before said, the east, south, and west walls contain each a
loculus 5 feet 7 inches long, 1 foot 10^ inches to 1 foot 8 inches wide, and
1 foot 8 inches deep, covered by an arcosolium without ornamentation.
Although the interior is very well preserved and the corners as sharp as if
worked recently, there is no sign of any ornamentation visible, contrary
to the neighbouring tombs mentioned in the " Memoirs," vol. i^ pp. 340,
341, which show a rich ornamentation also along the arcosolia. The rock
is a soft white " Maleki " limestone ; in a short time both entrance and
interior will be filled up again with mud ; I already had to clear away
a considerable mass to be able to photograph. Shepherds and vineyard-
watchers use the tomb as a place of refuge for the night ; fires are lighted
and the ornamentations blackened and spoiled.

Khnrhet Hiisheh. — This ruin, mentioned in the " Memoirs," vol. i,
p. 311, and by Guerin ("Description de la Palestine," i, pp. 415, 416), to
which my attention was directed by the Eev. P. van Kasteren, of the
St. Joseph's University of BeyrAt, must have been an important place,
to judge from the mass of building stones and the fragments of columns
lying about. Now that the grass is dried up a regular city wall can be
ti'aced. On the main road running from the well towards the ruin some
fine capitals are lying about, which have a close resemblance to those
which on other sites have been stated to be remains of synagogues. The
shafts of columns lying about generally have the basis or capital worked
out of the same piece, have a diameter of 18 inches, and are composed of
Nari limestone.

The inhabitants of Shefa Amr, with whom I spoke about Khiirbet
HAslieh, and to whom this ruin belongs, cannot sufficiently praise the
excellence of the water of the well or spring, the Bir Hfisheh, at the
western foot of the ruin ; some of the old folks assured me that Djezzar
Pasha and 'Abdallah Pasha, the famous Governors of 'Acca, always had
their drinking water supply from this well, and on their excursions into
the interior generally camped here on account of the water.

Through the kindness of Pater van Kasteren, who showed me the

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

jDlace, I am able to send a copy and photograph of a very curious inscrip-
tion in Greek characters, engraved on a flat rock very near Khtirbet

Inscription near Khurbet Husheh,

HCisheh. This spot is, according to our exact measurements, 508 metres
to the east of the Khiirbet counted from the eastern city wall, situate in
a rocky region a little south of the road leading from the Khurbet to
Shefa 'Amr, 100 metres to the west of a small olive grove. The inscrip-
tion is read facing the Khurbet. Each character of the first (upper) line
has a height of 6^ inches ; they are very much defaced. The characters
of the lower (second) line are 8^ to 9 inches high and better preserved.
Between the lines there is a space of 1 foot 4 inches. A sort of frame
line seems to have bordered the inscription.

So far as I am aware we owe the original discovery of this inscription
to Pere Julien, of BeyrUt, to whom it was first shown by natives of

Shefa 'Amr.

G. Schumacher.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona, 1886.

The numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; the maximum for the year was 30'164 ins., in
December. In the years 1880, 1881, and 1884 the maximum was in
January, in 1882 in February, and in 1883 and 1885 in December, as in

26 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

this year ; the mean of the preceding six years highest pressures was
30"214 ins. The highest reading in the seven years was 30"269 ins., in
the year 1880.

In cohimn 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29"543 ins., in April. In the year 1883 the minimum
was in January, in 1881 in February, in 1880, 1884, and 1885 in April, as
in this year, and in 1882 in July ; the mean of the six preceding lowest
pressures was 29*512 ins. The lowest reading in the seven years was
29-482 ins., in the year 1885.

The range of barometric readings in the year was 0"627 inch ; in 1880
the range of readings was 0"780 inch ; in 1881, 0'7ll inch ; in 1882, 0'704
inch ; in 1883, 0-579 inch ; in 1884, 0-757 inch ; and in 1885, 0-680 inch.
The mean for the six preceding years was 0-702 inch.

The nvimbers in the 3rd column show the range of readings in each
month ; the smallest was 0-132 inch in August, this being the smallest range
in any month in the seven years ; in the year 1883 the smallest was in
June; in 1882 in August as in this year, and in 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1885
in October. The largest monthly range was 0-531 inch in March ; in the
years 1883 and 1884 the largest was in January, in 1882 in February, in
1881 in March as in this year, in 1880 in April, and in 1885 in Sep-
tember. The largest range in any month in the seven years was 0-710
inch in the year 1885.

The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere ; the greatest, 29-979 ins., was in December. In the
years 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1884 the greatest was in January, in 1883 in
February, and in 1885 in December, as in this year. The highest mean
monthly reading in the seven years was 30-060 ins., in the year 1882.
The smallest mean monthly reading was 29-677 ins., in July. In the
years 1880, 1882, and 1883, the smallest was in July, as in this year, and
in 1881, 1884, and 1885, in August. The lowest mean monthly reading
in the seven years was 29-657 ins., in the year 1885.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in column
5 ; the highest in the year was 112°, in June ; the next in oi'der was 96° in
October, and 94° in September. The first day in the year the temperature
reached 90° was on April 30th. In June the-re were six days when the
temperature reached or exceeded 90° ; the highest, 112°, took place on the
15th of June, in August on two days, in September on four days, and
in October on three days ; therefore the temperature reached or exceeded
90° on 16 days. In the preceding six years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883,
1884, and 1885, the temperature reached or exceeded 90° on 36, 27, 8, 16,
14, and 24 days respectively. In the six preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881,
1882, 1883, 1884 and 1885, the highest temperatures were 103°, 106°, 93°,
106°, 100°, and 103° respectively.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature of the air in
each month. The lowest in the year was 37° on both the 22nd and 23rd
of December ; the next in order was 39° on the 15th of March, and in
no other month throughout the year was the temperature below 40° ;

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 27

therefore the temperature was below 40° on three nights in the year.
In the preceding six years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884 and 1885,
the temperature was below 40° on 13, 2, 13, 2, 9, and 3 nights respec-
tively. In the six preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, and
1885, the lowest temperatures were 32°, 39°, 34°, 35°, 32°, and 38°
respectively.

The yearly range of temperature was 75°, being larger than any in

the six preceding years, viz., US'-O, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, and 1885, in

which the yearly ranges were 71°, 67°, 59°, 71°, 68°, and 65° respectively.

The range of temperature in each month is shown in column 7, and

these numbers vary from 26° in August to 55° in June.

The mean of all the highest by day, of the lowest by night, and of the
average daily ranges of temperature are shown in columns, 8, 9, and 10
respectively. Of the high day temperature, the lowest, 64°-7, is in
January. In the years 1884 and 1885 the lowest in each year was in
January, as in this year ; in 1881, 1882, and 1883, in February ; and in
1880 in December. The highest, 87°-9, is in August ; in 1880 the highest
was in May ; in 1881, 1883, 1884, and 1885, in August, as in this year ;
and in 1882 in September.

Of the low night temperature, the coldest, 48°-l, is in December ; in
the years 1880, 1882, and 1884, the coldest in each year was in January ;
in 1883 and 1885 in February ; and 1881 in December, as in this year.
The warmest, 69°"2, is in August ; in the year 1885 the warmest was in
July ; in the years 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884, in August, as in
this year. The average daily range of temperature is shown in column
10 ; the smallest, 15°-4, is in January ; in 1880, 1883, and 1885, the
smallest was in January, as in this year ; and in 1881, 1882, and 1884, in
February ; and the greatest, 23°-5, in October.

In column 11, the mean temperature of each month is shown as found
from observations of the maximum and minimum thermometers only.
The month of the lowest temperature was January, 57°'0. In the years
1880, 1884, and 1885, the lowest was in January, as in this year, in 1881
and 1882 in February, and in 1883 in December. That of the highest
was August, 78°"6, and in the six preceding years the highest was in
August as in this year. The mean temperature for the year was 66°'8,
and of the six preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, and 1885
were 66°-4, 66°-7, 65°-5, 65°-7, 65°-7, and 65°-9 respectively.

The numbers in columns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a dry
and wet-bulb thermometer taken daily at 9 a.m. In column 14 the
monthly temperature of the dew point, or that temperature at which dew
would have been deposited is shown ; the elastic force of vapour is shown
in column 15. In column 16 the water present in a cubic foot of air is
shown ; in December it was as small as 2i grains, and in August as large
as 7i grains. In column 17 the additional weight required for saturation
is shown. The numbers in column 18 show the degree of humidity,
saturation being considered 100 ; the smallest number indicating the
driest month, is 53 in December, and the largest, 77, was in January ;

28 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

the weight of a cubic foot of air under its j^ressure, temperature, and
humidity at 9 a.m. is shown in column 19.

The most prevalent wind in January was S., and the least prevalent
were W. and S.W. ; in February the most prevalent was S., and the least
was N.W. ; in March the most prevalent was S., and the least was N. ;
in Ai:)ril the most prevalent was N.W., and the least were E., N.E. and
S.E. ; in May the most prevalent were W. and S.W., and the least were
E. and S.E. ; in June the most pi-evalent was W., and the least were E.
and S.E. ; in July and August the most prevalent were W. and S.W.,
and the least prevalent were N., E., and compounds of E. ; in September
the most prevalent was S.W., and the least were E. and S.E. ; in October
the most prevalent were S. and S.W., and the least were E. and com-
])ounds of E ; and in November and December the most prevalent was
S., and the least prevalent winds were N.E. and compounds of E. The
most prevalent wind for the year was S.W., which occurred on 69 times
during the year, of which 13 were in August, and 12 in both July and
September, and the least prevalent wind was E., which occurred on only
5 times during the year, of which 2 were in both January and February,
and 1 in March.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m. ;
the month with the smallest is June, and the largest January. Of the
cumulus, or fine weather cloud, there wei-e 71 instances in the year, of
these 14 were in October, 10 in September, and 9 in January, and only 2
in February. Of the nimbus, or i-ain cloud, there were 48 instances, of
these 10 were in February, 8 in December, and 7 in January, and only 2
from June to October. Of the cirrus, there were 56 instances. Of the
cirro-cumulus, 50 instances. Of the stratus, 12 instances, and of the cirro-
stratus, 9 instances ; and 119 instances of cloudle.ss skies, of which 20
were in June, 14 in December, and 12 in both July and October.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 5'00 ins. in
December, of which 1'65 inch fell on the 11th, ri4 inch on the 15th, and
0*85 inch on the 14th. The next largest fall for the month was in Janviary,
4'47 ins., of which 1*28 inch fell on the 26tli, 0-79 inch on the 16th, and 0-75
inch on the 1 4th. No rain fell from May 11th till the 30th of October, mak-
ing a period of 171 consecutive days without rain. In 1880 there were 168
consecutive days without i-ain ; in 1881, 189 consecutive days ; in 1882
there were two periods of 76 and 70 consecutive days without rain ; in
1883, 167 consecutive days ; in 1884, 118 consecutive days ; and in 1885,
115 consecutive days without rain. Tlie fall of rain for the year was
20-09 ins., being 8-59 ins., 2-00 ins., and 9-97 ins. less than in 1880, 1882,
and 1883 respectively, and 2'60 ins., 1*36 inch, and 0"03 inch more than in
1881, 1884, and 1885 respectively. The number of days on which rain
fell was 66. In the six preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884,
and 1885, rain fell on 66, 48. 62, 71, 65 and 63 days respectively.

James Glaisher.

NORMAN PALESTINE.

Since ray p<aper in the last Quarterly Statement was printed, Sir C W.
Wilson has kindly called ray attention to two papers on the subject which
had escaped my attention.

The first of them is by M. Clerraont-Ganneau (" Recueil D'Archeologie
Orientale," No. 5, 1888). In this he has worked out fully the identifica-
tion of Mont Gisart with Tell Jezar (pp. 350-391), giving the episode
from William of Tyre to which I referred. I believe no other writer has
suggested this identity ; and M. Ganneau's paper was published a year
befoi'e my note. I think, however, the suggestion that Galati.t was the
present Keratiyeh is hardly as satisfactory as its identification with
Jelediyah, which I proposed in the Quarterly Statement, and published in
the "Memoirs" (vol. iii). M. Clermont-Ganneau identifies the Can-
netv/m Sturnellorum (Itin. Ric. v, chs. xli and xlv) with Wady Kassdbali
near Tell el Hesy, on account of the names, and this appears to me to fit
well with the other places mentioned, and with the distances which he has
woi'ked out.

The other paper is a careful and exhaustive one by Herr R. Rohricht :
" Studien zur mittelalterlichen Geographie und Topographie Syriens," in
the "Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palestina Vereins" (x, 4), 1887. In this I
find that half of the identifications which I proposed {Quarterly Statement,
October, 1889, pp. 197-200) have already been proposed two years earlier
by this scholar. Their reliability is much increased by this independent
opinion, and the following sites are those to which I refer : —

Araouhde

'Amildeh.

Aschar

'Askar.

Benehabeth

Beni Hdrith.

Bet Digge

—

Beit Dulchi.

Bether

Bitttr.

Bethsurie

Beit Surik.

Chole

Kuleh.

Casracos

Kefr Kus.

Oourcoza

K^irza.

Dere

ed Deir.

Feitata

Fattdtah.

Galilee

—

Jeltl.

Geschale

Kashkaliyeh.

Gez

—

Jett.

Heulera

^ Aulam.

Heedix

;:z

Haditheh.

Hubim

—

Hub in.

Kefreachab

—

Kefr \ikab.

Laheraedie

:=.

El Hammadtyeh.

Lecara

"ZZ.

Kara.

Larmedie

Er Rumeidiyeh.

Migedell

Mejdel.

Meimes

Mdmds.

Quefrenebit

"ZZ.

Kefr Nebtd.

Saka

S'as'a.

Terfalsa

::=

Teir-filsieh.

Turbasaim

:=z

Turmus A ya.

Der Sabeb

Deir esh Shablb.

In four cases, also, I think that Herr Rohricht has given a better
explanation than that which I have offered in the paper in question.

(1) Ferachiem — Pisan casale— should be near Tyre. El FeraMyeh
(Sheet I) very possibly preserves the name, though only applying
to a hill.

30 NOKMA.N PALESTINE.

(2) Jerraz. A casale of St. Mary of Jehosaphat, may be Jerash
(S.W. of Jerusalem) (Sheet XVII).

(3) Saarethe. A casale of the Hospitallers, may be the ruin Sh'areta
(Sheet XX).

(4) Subahiet. A casale of the Holy Sepulchre Church, may be the
ruin Sub/iah, south of Jerusalem (Sheet XVII).

Herr Kohricht's paper is a careful and valuable discussion of the sub-
ject, and fairly exhaustive. He has used the P. E. F. Map and Memoirs
(which were unknown to M. Eey), and has treated of 600 out of the 700
places of which the names are mentioned in documents of the Crusading
period. He goes over the same lists previously studied by Prutz, Rey. and
other scholars, and accepts their results in 240 cases, to which I may add 12
in which his identifications are the same given in the P. E. F. Memoirs,
which (as far as I know) were not fixed before 1882-3. In about 85 cases
(including those above noted) his identification appears to be a new one
and satisfactory. In a very few instances he has been misled, by want of
acquaintance with the ground, into suggestions which are not tenable ;
and in some cases I think the suggestions of his predecessors are better
than those which he advocates. I proj^ose to add about 40 more sites to
those mentioned in my former paper, and this leaves only 200 jjlaces, for
most of w^hich different suggestions have been made, but which, on
account of corrupt copying of the MSS., and from the meagre indications
of position, remain doubtful. It will thus be seen that Herr Rohricht's
paper is a substantial contribution to the subject.

The following are the cases where his new proposals seem to me to be
evidently correct : —

Casales of the Holy Sepulchre Church.

1 . Salome, near Bireh, Salamti/eh (Sheet XVII).

2. Beitumen, Baitunia, better than B. Andn (Slieet XVII).

Casales of St. Mary of Jehosaphat.

3. Bethsan, Beit Shenna (Sheet XVII).

4. Dai'geboam, Deir el Okhdn (Sheet XIV).

Casales of Abbey of St. Ston.

5. Dersoeth (not the one in Galilee), Deir es Silddn (Sheet XIV).

6. Messaria, near Tyre, Mezr'ah (Sheet II).

Casales of the Church of Bethlehem.

7. Phaghor, Kh FajhUr (Sheet XVII).

NORMAN PALESTINE.

Casales of the Ahhey of Tabor.

8. Senbra liinn en JVdbra (Sheet VI).

9. Cafartamara Tmnrah (Sheet V oi- Sheet IX).

10. Casta Kastuh (Sheet VI).

11. Noriz NMs (Sheet IX)

12. Capharkeme Kefr Kama (Sheet VI).

Casales of the Knights Hospitallers.

13. Coquebel Kaulrthah (Sheet XX).

14. Camsa Keinds (Sheet XX).

15. Beze Bezzeh (Sheet XVI).

16. Deir Nacbar Beir Nakhkhds (Sheet XX).

17. Terra M-A\vAV\\ml Khohbeizeh (Sheet VIII).

18. Artais Irtah (Sheet XI).

19. Danior ed Damiln (Sheet V) from position.

20. Cafriasim Kefr 7as?/" (Sheet III).

21. Cafr-esur Kefr Sib (Sheet XI) from position.

22. Socque Shuiceikeh (Sheet XI).

23. Turrearme Tul Keram (Siieet XI) from position.

24. Theris Tireh (Sheet IX).

25. Losserim Sirhi (Sheet IX).

26. Torciaffe Te»- i/«;/a (Sheet III).

27. Theyre Tireh (Sheet IV).

28. Teira Ttreh (Sheet XI).

29. Bethiben Beit Iba (Sheet XI).

30. Der Henne

31. Seebeique

32. Jashon

33. Danehyle

34. Clil

35. Delaha

36. Quabrique

Casales of the Teutonic Knights.

Deir Hanna (Sheet IV).
Shubeikeh (Sheet III).
JathAn (Sheet III).
Fasl Ddniul (Sheet IV).
imi (Sheet III).
Behlta (Sheet IV).
Abrikha (Sheet II).

37. Elfarachie

38. Talobie

39. Aithiti

40. Ainebedelle

41. Dordegaye

42. Darzibine

Casales of the Pisans.

Ferakhjeh (Sheet I).

Tardbieh (Sheet I).

'Aittt (Sheet II).

'Ain Abu Abdullah (Sheet I).

Beir Biighiya (Sheet II).

Teir Zinbeh (Sheet II).

32 NORMAN PALESTINE.

Cajoles of the Venetians.

43. Homeire > Hmneireh (Sheet II).

44. Lahaya Tell el Haiyeh (Sheet II).

45. Szorcoorum ShagMri (Sheet II).

46. Laheraedie el Hammdcln/eh (Sheet I).

47. Lanahemine e? i/an^yeA (Sheet I).

48. Tyrdube Teir Dubbeh (Sheet I).

49. Brochey BerAkhei (Sheet II).

50. Lagariddie Janldlyeh (Sheet I).

It will be seen from this list that Herr Eohricht, by aid of the P. E. F.
Map, has added materially to M. Eey's results, especially in elucidating
the possessions of the Hospital of St. John in the plains and of the Italian
Eepublics, in the vicinity of Tyre, and in Upper Galilee.

The remaiks which follow may be of use to those who are interested
in the subject of Crusading Palestine ; and though venturing sometimes
to disagi'ee with those who have specially studied the question, I wish
to be understood fully to appreciate the careful work of M. Key and of
Herr Eohricht.

Casales of the Holy Sepulchre.

(From the H.S. Cartulary.)

There were 70 villages given by the kings and barons at various times
to this church in the 12th century. They lay mainly between Jerusalem
and Nablus and in the hills north of the latter town. The majority are
well known places, as noted in the " Memoirs."

The following may require a few words of notice.

1. Betheflori is, I think, probably Beit Farik (Sheet XII), it lay in the
Nablus territory, not Beit Far (Eohricht).

2. Derxerip may be Deir Sherdf (Sheet X), as Herr Eohricht proposes,
but I think, perhaps, Deir Txireif (Sheet XIV) agrees better for position.

3. Castrum Feniculi is Faneitir according to Eohricht (Sheet VIII).
If the word means " fennel " I think it may be sought near Haifa, in the
Wady esh Shomartyeh (" Valley of Fennel ") on the north slope of Carmel
(Sheet V).

4. Buhil or Buhin may be 'Abwein, as suggested by Eohricht (Sheet
XIV), but the initial letter is the gutteral.

5. Suhahiet, other possible sites are Soba (Sheet XVII), and 'Ain
Subieh (Sheet XVII).

6. Urniet or Uniet might be el Beituni (Sheet XVII), it is a very
doubtful site.

NORMAN PALESTINE. '6"S

7. Zemi and Zemcm, the proposed site at ZanA'a, is not impossible, but
is rather far from the other ph\ces.

8. Helmule. I think Almit preferable to Malhali or el 'Amm'Ar pro-
posed by Rohricht (all on Sheet XVTI).

9. Beitelamus, Herr Rohricht follows Rey, but the site is doubtful
geographically. 'AinBeit Tiilma is woi'th consideration (Sheet XVII).

10. Barimeta or Barineta cannot well be Btr el Mutik. I think rather
that the ruin Meita near Bireh (Sheet XVII) or Bonidt, a ruin on Sheet
XIV, is to be understood.

11. Benehatie. Rohricht proposes Beni Hasan, a district name. I
would suggest Kefr 'Athfa or Kefr Hatta (Sheets XV and XIV).

12. Ragaham is, I think, clearly Riljib (Sheet XIV), and Roma, el
'Ormeh (Sheet XIV).

13. Sapharoria seems to me best placed at Kefr Urieh (Sheet XVII).
In Fellah dialect Ckefr or Shefr = Kefr.

14. Gith is somewhat doubtful, but I think Jett (Sheet XI) is better
than Beit Jiz.

15. Thora may be Ttreh, near Bethhoron (Sheet XIV).

16. Deirfres, perhaps Aba Fureij (Sheet XVII).

17. La Palmeree (of Cartulary, Nos. 127, 128, 144) was near Haifa,
mentioned with civitatis veteris (" Haifa el 'Atikah "). Probably the palm
grove near Haifa, on the banks of the Kishon, is intended. There are
verj few palm groves in Palestine, and it must always have been a marked
feature of the place.

18. La Forest appeai-s to me to be the Forest of Assur (Itin. Ric. iv,
ch. xvi), the existing oak wood near Umm Sdr (Sheet X) not Sindidne/i,
" the oak " (Rohricht).

19. Bi(ffles or Casale Bubalorum, I see no special reason for connecting
with Umm el Jemdl. The site which I recently proposed at BablUn
(Sheet VIII) is quite possible topographically.

Casales of St. Mary of Jehosaphat.
(Bull of Alexander IV, 30th January, 1255.)

This church which held the supposed tomb of the Virgin, possessed 48
villages in different parts of Palestine, many being well-known places-
The following are worth notice : —

20. Serra, probably Surra (Sheet XI) or Kh. Sarra (Sheet XV).

21. Beith Bezim I believe to be Beit Bezzin (Sheet XI).

22. Casrielme seems to have been near Tiberias, and if so, can hardly

be 'Abna as proposed by Rohricht. It seems to be the Arabic '[^\ ^'s
{Kasr el Ma-) or " Water tower " probably on the shores of the lake.

23. Lichorat may have been near Tyre, I am disposed to think at El
Kureih (Sheet I).

34 NORMAN PALESTINE.

Casales of the Ahhey of iSt. Sion.

(Bull of Alexander III, 1179.)

This church, the present Nebi DaAcl at Jerusalem, held in western
Palestine, 28 villages including several well-known places.

24. Faro fronte might be for Fara Fonte " the spring of Fara." In
this case it would be the ^Ain Fdrdh with ruins near Michmash
(Sheet XVII).

25. Gul seems more probably to be Kuleh (Sheet XIV) than Jvleijil.

26. Gerahle may be Jurbeh as proposed by Eohricht, or perhaps
Jertibeh (Sheet XVII), near Yalo.

27. Caforana seems to me to be one of the two sites (Sheets XIII,
XIV) called Kefr 'Ana rather than Kefrein.

Casales of the Church of Bethlehem.
(Bull of Gregory IX, 1227 a.d. Clement IV, 1266 a.d.)

The church of the Nativity owned 40 villages, which are difficvilt to
identify, as the transcription of the native names seems to be very
incorrect.

28. *S'^. George was apparently el Khudr, near Bethlehem, as suggested
by Eohricht. The same place is mentioned by John Poloner in 1422
(" Memoirs " iii, p. 26).

29. Quereus. I think the Quercus Abraham, or Abraham's oak, near
Hebron, may be intended.

30. Archas seems to me to be the Arecha of Marino Sanuto, 1322, a.d.,
which, as his map shows, was the Bible Archi (Josh, xvi, 2), now Mm 'Artk
(" Memoirs " iii, p. 7).

31. Bethamar. There seems no reason to doubt Eey's identification
with Beit Ummdr, a site of known antiquity. Beit T'dmir proposed by
Eohricht is named from the T'amirah tribe, and is i^robably a modern
title.

32. Cadicherius, whatever this means it seems doubtful if Btr Kadisrmi
can have any connection. The latter is only a roadside well near Mar
Elias, where tradition says the Magi saw the star.

Casales of the Ahhey of Tahor.

(Bull of Paschal II, 29th July, 1103 a.d.)

This was one of the first abbeys to be endowed. It owned 34 villages
in Lower Galilee, especially round Mount Tabor, as well as 22 beyond
Jordan, or in the Jordan Valley.

NOEMAN PALESTINE. OO

33. Besurchain, an unkuown place. Herr RohricUt suggests Ddr SursuA;
but he will see from the "Memoirs" (i, p. 145) that this name applies
to a modern house. It is named after the Beyrout banker Sursuk, and
has no connection with any ancient site.

Casales of the Knights Hospitallers.
(Paoli, 1781).

The possessions of this great order were obtained by purchase from
the Barons. They were widely spread, but, especially in the 13th century,
they owned the best lands in the maritime plains and western foot hills.
Altogether we have the names of 182 of their villages in Western
Palestine.

34. Betharas seems to me clearly to be Beit er Rush (Sheet XX), Herr
Eohricht says (p. 239) " Bet daras, written on the English map Bet
Durdis." The English map is correct. Beit Deras is a well known place
(Sheet XVI), but the ruin near Gaza is called Beit Durdis, not only on
the P. E. F. Map, but on the older map of Robinson.

35. El Roheih is perhaps er Rvheibeh south of Beersheba.

36. Tamarin, a hill, is perhaps the village of Tumrah (Sheet XIX) .

37. Moitana or Montana, I have proposed to find at el Mxiteiyen
(Sheet XIV).

38. Loie. I do not understand why this should be placed as far north
as 'Ajja. It seems to have been near to Sileh, and Rey connects it with
Neby Lautn (Sheet XI).

39. Cafarsalem is more probably Selmeh (Sheet XIII), than Kefr Sa.

40. Caphet seems unlikely to be Sefartn as proposed by Rohricht,
Keffa (Sheet XI) seems preferable.

41. Maresco, " the Marsh " near Csesarea, is probably to be sought on the
Crocodile River.

42. Chola {Kid eh) was near Mirabel, which points to the site for that
castle proposed in the " Memoirs."

43. Tour Rouge, near Caco, there seems no reason to doubt, was Bwj
el Atot, as proposed by Rey (" Memoirs " ii, p. 178).

44. Baidonis, at Tell ed Budehdn (Sheet VIII), as proposed by Rey,.
seems jjrobable.

45. Saphet in the Acre region may be Shefeiya (Sheet III).

46. Casale dou Carebliers. If Herr Rohricht is right in connecting this
with a hill called el Kharntbah by Boha ed Din, 16 kilometres from Acre,
and 12 from Haifa, yet it is not necessary to suppose that it is "not on the
English map." The distances would roughly agi-ee with el Khureibeh on
Mount Carmel.

47. Jlieure may be the Jherio of Rey, and seems probably to be J'aarah
(Sheet VIII).

48-9. Romette and Rome seem hardly to be the same place, both being

c 2

36 NORMAN PALESTINE.

in the same list. Eey proposes Rummaneh (Sheet VI) for the first. The
other is well known as Roma (IMmeJi) not far off.

50. Lacomedie. It is not .satisfactory to seek for such a name at a
Muslem chapel (Sheikh Kaddfim) as proposed by Rohricht. The place
was situated between the lake of Tiberias and La Petite Palmeree and
had rights of fishing in the lake and mills fed by a stream. This seems
clearly to point to Khurhet el Kaneitriijeh north of Tiberias. The little
Palmeree was no doubt near the shore where there are a few palms still.
The mills were near the lake, no doubt at the 'Ain Fultyeh {cf. " Memoirs "
i, p. 374). Sir C. W. Wilson remarked " two of the sources are surrounded
by walls as at the Tabghah spring apparently to feed a mill " (cf. " Recov.

Jer.," p. 359).

51. Assera. Perhaps the best site for this is not 'Aslreh, which is too
far south, but Sireh near Nein (Sheet IX). The place Sh'arah, south of
Safed, proposed by Rohricht, is too far north.

52. Cafran was near the last, probably Kefrali (Sheet IX). Kefr
'Anan is too far away to be probable.

Casales of the Teutonic Order.

(13th century, Prutz 1877.)

Many of these places occur in the preceding lists, as owned in the
12th century, before the loss of Jerusalem. The sites lie in Up]3er
Galilee, and near the sea coast between Acre and Tyre, and 98 names in
all are given by Prutz, in his work on the Order, 1877. Many are easily
recognised, but a few may be suggested as below : —

53. Agidlle or Laguille appears to be El 'Ajliydt (Sheet III) rather
than JiUis (Rey versus Rohricht).

54. Mezerah. Herr Rohricht proposes El Jfishr'a, near Haifa (Sheet
V. j, i). This word means " the drinking place," and applies to a small
spring in a ravine. It is not the name of any village or ruiu, and is in
the wrong region. There seems no real objection to identifying the site
in question with Mezrah (Sheet III).

55. Miscalim, in Upper Galilee. Rohricht suggests Maskane, south-
west of Hattin (Sheet VI). The position would, however, point to
Muslalhit {o. n.). Such inversions are not unknown in the Fellah nomen-
clature.

56. La Tyre appears to me to be Y'ater (Sheet IV).

57. La Quiehre. No reason is given by Rohricht for discarding
el Kahry (Sheet III).

58. Lanoye, as mentioned in " Syrian Stone Lore," 1887, seems to me to
be El YanHk (Sheet III).

59. Gcdmtye seems to be a distinct place from El Gabcie {el
Ghahslyeh, Sheet III). If so, the best site is probably el Ghahhdti
(Sheet IV).

NORMAN PALESTINE. 37

60. Cassie seems more pi^obably El Kdsy (Eey), which is on Sheet IV,
than el Kuziziyeh (Rohricht).

61. Galafice is, I think, Ikhneifis (Sheet V), not the neighbouring
Khalladhjeh (Rohricht).

Casales of the Venetians near Tyre.
(Prutz, 1876).

The Venetians claimed a third part of many of the Crown land
villages in the neighbourhood of Tyre. The total of names is about 80
in all, including a few Royal Casales mentioned as near those which the
Republic claimed in return for services rendered with their fleet. Most
of these places are easily fixed at the numerous villages of the Tyre
region, but a few are doubtful.

62. Femom is, perhaps, the same as Fennes of the Teutonic order,
now Fanis (Rey. Cf. Sheet IV).

63. Szorcoorum. An alternative site might perhaps be found in Ahc
Sirkin (Sheet II).

64. Maraque. There seems no objection to Rey's identification with
Mkirakah (Sheet III). Herr Rohricht thinks it the same as Melequie
(Malklyeh, Sheet I). Possibly the Pisan casale Orachie and the Genoese
Loaracha, may be the same place. Their names suggest -^ j^\ (El 'Arak
"the cavern" or "cliS""), but M'arakah, though not the same word

{d^jX^

would sound much the same to the Franks.

65. La Cassomie. Rey's suggestion El Kamnhjeli (Sheet I) seems more
probable than Roluicht's Khamstyeh.

66. Chateau Arnaud is placed by Rohricht at Latrun (Toron). I
venture to think the view taken by Rey, and yet earlier by De Saulcy,
and advocated in the " Memoirs " (iii, p. 15) is the true one, and that the
remains of the Crusading fortress, Kal'at et Tanttlrah at the village of
El Burj, represents this castle.

Many of the 700 places belonging to this topography are ancient Bible
sites, and we thus find that in 1200 a.d. the nomenclature was unchanged
from the days when the Book of Joshua was written, and has remained
unchanged to our own times.

C. R. CONDER.

THE DATE OP ESHMUNAZAR'S COFFIN.

In " Syrian Stone Lore " I remarked incidentally (p. 146) that we have

no inscribed monument in Syria between
530 and 330 B.C. The remark was criticised
because it was supposed that I had forgotten
Eshmunazar's coffin at Sidon. My intention,
however, was (following the opinion of M.
Clermont-Ganiieau, which he told me in
Palestine in 1882 at latest) to refer this
important monviment to a time as late as or
later than Alexander the Great.

The date usually given {see Dr. Taylor's
"History of the Alphabet") is "the latter
part of the 5th or beginning of the 4th century
B.C." (vol. i, p. 224). The monumental cha-
racter was compai'ed with texts from Cyprus
of the 4th century B.C., and with the texts
of Umm el 'Awainld 132 B.C. (Corpus Sem.
Inscript. I, 1, p. 32), but the main reason for
supposing an early date was the hypothesis
that Eshmunazar was an independent native
ruler.

Another valuable text has since been found
at M'asfib, north of Acre, and published
by M. Clermont-Ganneau in his " Eecueil,"
No. 2, 1886. This text bears the date of the
53rd year of the people of Tyre and 26th
year of Ptolemy Euergetes, son of Ptolemy
and Arsinoe. The date agrees with that
the Umm el Awamld text, which is the 143r
year of the people of Tyre.

The attached plate shows, No. 1, Eshmuna-
zar's alphabet, No. 2 that of the M'asdb text,
and, by way of contrast. No. 3 that of the
Moabite stone, and No. 4 that of the Siloara text. It will be clear that
no philological objection exists to placing the Eshmunazar text as late as
the time of the Ptolemies.

The expression 0^77^31^^, or " King of kings," which Eshmunazar
gives to the over-lord who bestowed on him the lands of Dor, Joppa, and
Sharon, has been thought to refer to one of the kings of Persia ; but
in the new M'astlb text the same term is applied to Ptolemy, and
M. Ganneau has compared it to the Kvpios BaacXeiSiv applied to the very
same Ptolemy on the Rosetta stone. Eshmunazar was not an independent
ruler at all, but apparently a tributary of the Egyptian monarch.

3 '*-.

Jf-

& T

^ 5

1 1

^ A

^ ^

V If

"V-

•x -^

^ «

z ^

y -^

c ^

-7 7

'^ .1

a a

; 1

r ^

^ 7>

^ ^

IV w

^ ?<.

THE TSINNOR. 39

The question is one of considerable interest in connection with the
monumental history of Palestine, and an instance of the uncertainty
which must exist in judging the dates of inscriptions merely from the
forms of the letters or fi-om arguments as to supposed historj% We have
indeed much yet to learn concerning the history of the aljihabet, and the
new inscription of Panammu, now in Berlin, and said to be as old as the
Moabite Stone, must, therefore, be awaited with much interest, as casting
a light on the earlier times in which alphabetic texts are so few. It
may, also, perhaps, serve to further the comparison of the Phoenician
alphabet with the Cypriote syllabary, to which I called attention a year
ago {Quarterly Statement, January, 1889, p. 17).

C. R. C.

THE OLD WALL OUTSIDE JERUSALEM.

Traces of the wall mentioned in the October number of the Quarterhj
Statement were clearly visible when I was in Palestine. I always under-
stood that this was regarded ]as the Crusading Wall. It appears to be
connected with the towers outside the Damascus Gate, investigated by
Sir C. Warren, and the use of a sort of concrete in parts of the founda-
tions, visible above ground, seems to show that the work may be
Mediaeval.

The exact line of the Crusading Wall towards the north-west seems
to me rather doubtful, the question being whether the Kalat J'alM
stood on the line of wall or not. It may of course have stood as a sort
of " keep" inside the wall.

C. R. C.

THE TSINNOR.

It may be useful to refer to what Gesenius says of this word —

"'''^V m. "a cataract" (so-called from its rushing noise). Psalm xlii, 7,
■** a watercourse," 2 Samuel v, 8.

Gesenius had no special theory as to the Jerusalem Tsinnor. The
word as used in the Psalm is rendered " waterspouts " in the A. V. It
would hardly seem in that passage at least to apply to any underground
■channel.

Ewald appears to have given an extraordinary rendering of the
passage— 2 Sam. v, 8.— "Whoso smiteth the Jebusites let him hurl down
the waterfall (or cliff)."

I have never seen the operation of hurling down a waterfall per-
formed.

C. R. C.

KU FOR KING.

Professor Satce's opinion carries weight, but I cannot admit that I
■was mistaken in saying that Mr. Pinches and Mr. Bertin consider Ku to
be an Akkadian word for king. I have their letters still in my possession,
The fact is that Dr. Sayce differs from not only Mr. Bertin and
Mr. Pinches, but also from Lenormant, and Norris, and Fox Talbot, in
denying the existence of this word. The matter is not of very great
importance, since I have been able to show independently of Akkadian
that such a word exists in Turanian languages with such a meaning. It
would appear that what Professor Sayce calls a " makeshift " on the part
of Norris was really a discovery.

The authorities who give this word were well aware of the existence
of the word anin or unani ; but because we have the word " monarch ''
in English this does not deprive us of the word " king."

C. E. C.

BIRDS AND ANIMALS NEW TO PALESTINE.

Among the 2,000 bird skins which I collected while in Palestine, from-
1882 to 1886, there are several which, so far as I know, are new to that
country, and hence they should be added to the list of those already
known. Dr. Tristram's catalogue is the one followed, and to which the
additions are supposed to be made : —

(1) Brambling — Fringilla montifringilla.

(2) Cuckoo, lAwedA.Qdi—Cuculus leptodetus. An eastern form of a
West African bird.

(3) Curlew, slender-billed — Numenius tenuirostris.

(4) Duck, Golden eye — Clangula glaucion.

(5) Duck, Common Sheldrake — Tadorna vidpanser.

(6) Phalarope, Eed-necked — Phcdaropus hyperhoretis.

(7) Plover, White-tailed — Chettusia leucura.

(8) Pratincole, Nordmann's — Glareola melannptera.

(9) Yellow-ammer — Emheriza citrinella.

It may be of interest also if I make a few additions to his list, follow-
ing the same order, chiefly as to the locality of birds. In two or more
instances I was fortunate enough to obtain specimens which he has
entered in his list, but which he did not obtain himself.

No. 6. Rock Thrush — Monticola saxatilis.

Tristram.— " It arrives in the beginning of April. South of
Lebanon it is only a passing traveller tarrying but a night."

Addition.— It is true that it arrives in April, and in some seasons
as early as March ; but to the last part of his statement I would

BIRDS AND ANIMALS NEW TO PALESTINE. 41

add that between the 10th and the 30th of September I shot
several pairs in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem.
No. 28. White-throated Robin — Fritkacus gutturalis.

Tristram. — " Discovered it on Hermon and Lebanon."

Addition. — Near Jerusalem in August, 1885, I shot a fine
specimen of the female of this species.
No. 30. Eastern Nightingale — Erithams philomela.

Tristram. — "Not obtained by me in Palestine. It may be
discovered there."

Addition. — I have three good specimens, one shot in August near
Jerusalem, and the others shot in the Jordan Valley.
No. 68. Hermit Fantail — Drymoeca inquieta.

Tristram. — " It is very scarce wherever found."

Addition. — I should say that it was quite common, for I saw it
frequently on different journeys to and from the Jordan Valley.
On this i-oad I shot several specimens in November, also one near
Jerusalem in September.
No. 90. Palestine Bulbul — Pyononotus xanthopygns.

Tristram. — " Never found in the hills or upper country."

Addition. — I shot several at Hebron, which is 400 feet higher
than Jerusalem.
No. 94. Red-backed Shrike — Lanius collurio.

Tristram. — "Have not obtained it south of Esdraelou."

Addition. — I Iiave shot specimens in the hills near Es Salt, also
others in the hilly region between Jerusalem and the Plain of
Sharon.
No, 109. Palestine Sun Bird — Cinnyris osece.

Tristram. — " Beyond the gorge of the Jordan I never but once
found it, and that was at the south of Mount Carmel."

Addition. — This bird, or a species of Sun Bird, is abundant at
Jaffa. The markings of those found in Jaffa differ from
those found in the Jordan Valley, and I have shot them
both in the spring and autumn at each of these places.
Whether or not these are distinct species I do not now pretend
to determine.
No. 111. Serin — Serinus hortulanus.

Tristram. — "Is only a winter visitor to tlie wooded dis-
tricts and the little glens near the sea. It has not been noticed
inland."

Addition. — In January and February, 1885, these birds were
very abundant about Jerusalem, and at different times during those
two months I shot a dozen specimens.
No. 113. Tristram's Serin — Serinus canonicus.

Tristram. — " Belongs to the Lebanon and anti-Lebanon exclu-
sively. I cannot trace it on any of the spurs southwards, either
from Hermon or Lebanon and there it is very local."

Addition. — On the 7th of March, 1885, I shot a beautiful speci-

42 BIRDS AND ANIMALS NEW TO PALESTINE.

men about half an hour distant from Jerusalem, near the Convent
of the Cross.
No. 116. Hawfinch — Coccothraustes vulgaris.

Tristram. — " Only twice detected it, once in Gilead and once near
Tabor."

Addition. — I have three specimens, one from east of the Jordan,
and two from the neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
No. 139. Grakle — Amydrus tristrami Sclater.

Tristram. — " Appears to be confined to the immediate neighbour-
hood of the Dead Sea."

Addition. — This bird ascends the Great Wadies to a higher
point than these words would seem to imply. In the upper part
of Wady Farah, and in Wady Suweinit, not far from Mukhmas, I
have frequently seen them in large numbers.
No. 167. Night Jai- — Caprhnulgus tamaricis.

Tristram. — " Only three specimens known."

Addition. — I have a beautiful specimen which I obtained at
Jericho in December.
No. 193. Montagu's Harrier — Circits cineraceus.

Tristram. — " Not often come under my observation. Obtained
three specimens by the Lake of Galilee."

Addition. — I obtained two specimens near Jaffa in November,
1885, and one in the Jordan Valley in April, 1886.
No. 197. African Buzzard — Buteo desertorum.

Tristram. — "This may probably be entered among the birds of
Palestine, though I have never obtained a specimen."

Addition. — I have three good specimens, one of which was
obtained near Mar Saba, and the others in the Jordan Valley. One
of these was taken in December, and the others in April. As Dr.
Tristram says that it has never been found in Palestine, I am glad
to be able to bring it to the attention of the public.
No. 203. Booted Eagle — Aquila Pennata.

Tristram. — " Appears to be confined to the wooded regions of
Galilee and Phoenicia, and to the Lebanon."

Addition. — I shot a fine specimen near Jerusalem in May, 1886.
No. 226. Pygmy Cormorant — Phalacrocorax pygmwus.

Tristram. — " Found on the Leontes and other streams flowing
into the Mediterranean. I did not obsei-ve it on the Lake of
Galilee."

Addition. — I obtained several specimens from the Jordan near
Jericho.
No. 236. Little Bittern — Ardetta minuta.

Tristram. — " Plentiful in the rushes and reeds round Lake
Huleh."

Addition. — Plentiful also on the Aujeh, near Jaffa, and on the
Lower Jordan.
No. 237. Night Heron — Nycticorax griseiis.

BIRDS AND ANIMALS NEW TO PALESTINE. 43

Tristram. — " Found in small numbers about Lake Huleh, and
Gennesaret."

Addition. — Also on the Lower Jordan.
No. 251. Ruddy Sheldrake— 2^ac^or?ia casarca.

Tristram.—" At the south end of the Dead Sea, and near the
Lake of Gennesaret."

Addition.— They are just as abundant at the north end of the
Dead Sea, and are found all along the Jordan.
No. 257. Garganey — Anas circia.

Tristram. — " I have not taken the Garganey myself. '

Addition. — T have four fine specimens from the Jordan, one of
them shot in November, one in December, and two in May.
No. 294. Stone Curlew — (Edicneimis scolopax.

Tristram.--" Plentiful in the Ghor at the north end of the Dead
Sea."

Addition. — I saw it frequently in the region about Mar Saba,
and in the hills east of the Jordan. I have sjiecimens from both
these localities, and others from the vicinity of Beirut, as well as
still others from the north end of the Dead Sea. I should say it
was pretty evenly distributed over the country.
No. 296. Cream-Coloured Courser — Cursorius gallicus.

Tristram. — " Rare in Palestine Proper. I twice obtained it near
Acre ; also saw it in the southern wilderness, and on the upland of
Eastern Moab."

Addition.— Very abundant between Jerusalem and Bethlehem
on the Plain of Rephaim and south-east towards Mar Saba.
No. 305. Dotterel — Eudormias moriiiellus.

Tristram. — " Vast flocks near Beer-Sheba."

Addition. — I found them near Mar Saba in May, 1885.
No. 341. Manx Shearwater — Pu_fflnus Anglorum.

Tristram.—" Obtained a dead specimen near Mount Carmel."

Addition. — I have two tine specimens, obtained at Jaffa in 1884.

I obsex'ved, during my residence of nearly seven years in Palestine,
that there were great variations in the migrations of birds. Some years
the land was full of them, and the next year, perhaps, there seemed to be
very few. For example, I remember that for two years there were but
few ducks anywhere in the southern part of the country ; the next year,
however, they were very abundant. What Dr. Tristram says of the
dotterel, No. 305, may have been peculiar to that year. The same I
know is true of my observation under No. 296, respecting the cream-
coloured coursers. In other years, while found here and there, they
were scarce ; the year referred to they were abundant. The Arabs
brought to our hotel large numbers of them for our table. Similar
remarks would be true of quails, and of some other birds. Seasons vary in
character and circumstances which we cannot explain, and may combine to
cause these variations. As I have had occasion elsewhere to remark, this

44 THE INSCRIPTIONS OF SAEIS AND MOUNT OLIVET.

is a study where there can be no monopoly of knowledge on the part of
any single observer. Many observers are necessa)-y, and each may add
something valuable to the general fund of information.

As to animals, I may mention that I secured a fine specimen of the
ratel or honey badger, Mellivora ratel, which was taken between Mar Saba
and the Dead Sea ; also a pair of foxes, Vulpes famelica, small, delicate,
with splendid brush. The most beautiful little creatures of the kind that
I have ever seen. So far as I am aware these are both new to Palestine.

In his list of animals Dr. Tristram states of the coney, Hyrax sijriacus,
that it is "not known in Lebanon." A writer whose name does not
appear, and who is unknown to me, in the " Edinburgh Review " for
April, 1886, p. 326, speaks of the coney as " confined to the gorges of the
Dead Sea and Arabia Petrsea. It is rare in the rest of the country, and
unknown in the Lebanon." The preface to Tristram's "Flora and
Fauna" is dated in 1883, and the volume itself in 1884. But since 1876
I have had in my collection a fine large specimen of this animal, that was
taken near the well-known Lebanon village of Abeih. Dr. Tristram's
remark of the crocodile in the Zerka I would apply to this case of the
coney : " An ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory."

Selah Merrill.
Andover, Mass., U.S.A.

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF SARIS AND MOUNT OLIVET.

It is very desirable that exact squeezes should be taken of the inscriptions
described by Mr. Hanauer, as found in a cave at Saris, since the characters
are evidently old Phoenician, the first one being an aleph. The sculpture
accompanying them, moreover, is in the same style as the " Proto-
Phoenician " rock-sculptures I have visited near Tyre.^

The inscription No. IV, given by Mr. Schick, which was found on the
mosaic flooring at the Campo Santo on the Mount of Olives, reads :
y.\aipiT']e • fiv)'ia6T]Ti t!js 8ov\rjs arov Zuvvas. " Farewell ! remember thy
servant Zanna." In Egypt the first letter of the proper name might be
identified with the Coptic letter h, and the name accordingly read
Hanna, but this would not be possible in Syria.

A. H. Sayce.

^ Squeezes of this inscription have since been received by the Fund, and
will be forwarded to Professor Sayce, who is now m Egypt.

NOTE ON ANCIENT AXE-HEADS FOUND AT BEYROUT

AND SIDON.

By Rev. Canon Greenwell, in a Letter to Prof. Lewis.

In the Quarterly Statement for April, 1889, at p. 77, there is an engraving
of a bronze axe discovered by Mi-. Schumacher in a cave near Esh Shejara.
It is evidently a Syrian type, based on a well-known Egyptian form.
I have two out of four found near Beyrllt, one similar and of the same

. - 5 <i inches

size as that engraved, and the other like the engraving above. The other
two are smaller, but of the same forms. I have also another, found near
Sidon, which is like the above figure, but not so large. Except these I do
not know of any others, though such may possibly be found in some
collection, public or private. These axes were certainly handled. The
holes in the blade are, I believe, either for appearance or to lighten the
handle. In one, the largest of mine found near BeyrAt, portions of wood
still remain in the socket ; and the impression of the cloth in which it
had been wrapped exists upon the oxidised surface of the metal.

JEWISH LAMPS.

Some time ago I was in Dorchester — a friend ofi"ered to show me the
local Museum. The collection is varied and rich. I only wish to note
what especially interested me. In a corner of a case were some lamps,
labelled " Supposed Early British Lamps ;" a moment showed me they
were old Jewish, exactly like those from the excavations at Jerusalem.
My friend the Antiquary, who had himself dug up many of the objects

46 THE WAY OF THE PHILISTINES.

of interest, told me these lamps came from " Maiden Castle," a grand
specimen of a Roman camp, which I afterwards visited ; it is quite close
to Dorchester. History tells us that three Legions were camped here ;
and tradition has it that Jews — captives at Jerusalem, were sold by Titus
to Phoenicians, and that these slaves made the fortifications. We know
history tells that cajitive Jews worked in the tin mines of Cornwall ; and
as I looked on these lamps it did seem to me that the traditions were true^
and that some poor Jews, slaves and exiles from their own land, had
at one time worked here in this our England, and among their poor
possessions they had clung to the old lamps.

H. A. Harper.

"THE WAY OF THE PHILISTINES."

I SHOULD like to call attention to a portion of the land between Palestine
and Egypt, which would, I think, well repay skilful exploration. I
mean the coast road, called in the Bible " The Way of the Philistines,"
across which that great wall of Egypt, with its towers and gates, must
have stretched. While jDreparing notes for my book, " The Bible and
Modern Discoveries," I was struck with the importance of this road,
and also struck with the scanty information we have respecting it.
Mr. Armstrong kindly showed me some large sectional maps of a 25ortion
of this road, and I was much interested in observing what a number of
Avells had been found in the portion surveyed. That there are " Tells,"
which mark ruined cities I know ; and not many years ago the Archduke
of Austria saw, in the street of the frontier town El Arish, an old
Egyptian sarcoj^hagus of black granite, covered within and without with
very small hieroglyphics. It was there used as a water trough ! On this
very road the great armies from Egypt must have passed when they went
on their way to invade Palestine. On this road Nebuchadnezzar and the
other great invaders must have passed on their way to Egypt, and there
must have been towns and settlements on the route — a fact proved by the
wells I spoke of. True, I know, sand has driven in from the sea — biit
sand preserves ruins, and, it seems to me, that it only needs a skilful
explorer, like M. Flinders Petrie, to have his attention directed to this
" road," when I feel sure he would make many discoveries of interest,
at very little cost both of time or money. We ought to know more of
that land of Philistia, that we may get a clearer view of those people
who were ever such bitter enemies to the Israelites.

Henry H, Harper.

I^EHEMIAHS WALL.

To all readers of the Quarterly Statement it must have been a foregone
fonclusion that the Eev. W. F. Birch would attack my paper on
Nehemiah's south wall. He holds very confidently certain views of
his own with legard to Jerusalem topography, and he is not able to
see any probability in any others. For the benefit of perplexed readers he
])oints out what he conceives to be the errors of my paper. May I
be allowed in the interests of archaeological truth to make some reply 1

In seeking to restore the south wall of Nehemiah I have built upon a
basis of fact, and have nowhere departed from probability. In carrying
the wall round the southern brow of the modern Zion, I am only doing
what most writers have done, and what Mr. Birch himself would do.
He disputes its continuation along the eastern brow, up the Tyropoean, as
far as the Causeway (or say the north wall of the Upper City). But this
appears to be required by the statement of Josephus, that the Upper
City had a wall of its own, going all round it. Apart from Josephus, it
is inherently probable. Further, in adopting it I am only following
Lewin, who gives reasons for it. I follow Lewin also in bringing a wall
down the eastern side of the Tyropoean ; I think with him that Josephus so
describes its direction, and it seems to be required for the defence of Ophel,
which received no protection from the eastern wall of the Upper City.
Taking into account Sir Charles Warren's discoveries, which have been
made since Lewin wi'ote his books, I assume that the wall last referred to
joins the wall of Ophel, at the point where "Warren found that wall
to terminate. This arrangement localises the intramural "suburb,''
which I then have a short transverse wall to protect.

This bay up the Tyropoean is objected to by Mr. Birch as well
as others. Instead of it they take the wall southward to the Pool of
Siloam, and then northward along the eastern side of the Ophel hill.
Their wall then does not and cannot effect a junction with the wall
of Ophel, actually discovered. Moreover, it cannot be made to satisfy the
descriptions in Nehemiah. The wall as I draw it does coincide with the
descriptions of Nehemiah in almost every detail. In tracing the points of
coincidence I am aided by Warren's discoveries, and I no longer find
a guide in Lewin. That the coincidence should be so close is a strong
presumption in favour of its truth, for the argument is cumulative, and it
cannot fairly be put aside by such general considerations as Mr. Birch
thinks it sufficient to urge. When Josephus speaks of the wall bending
above the Fountain of Siloam, Mr. Birch takes him to mean southward,
below Siloam, so as to include the Pool. He argues that Josephus must
mean this because he speaks of the wall bending " thence again"— thence
again from Siloam, says Mr. Birch ; but why not thence again from the
Causeway, after bending to go up the Tyropoean ? As regards the Cause-
way, Mr. Birch allows that my plan is right, agreeing with Josejihus, who

48 nehemiah's wall.

makes the Causeway part of the first wall. Whether the Causeway also
joined Akra to the eastern hill is a detail, and Mr. Birch is quite wrong in
saying that Warren's Akra is the basis on which I build. The question
as between a wall making a bay up the Tyropojan and a wall making a
sweep round the Pool of Siloam may almost be rested on the single fact
that the first explains the omission from the route of the procession of so
many places mentioned in the description of rebuilding (compare Neh. iii,
16-26, with Neh. xii, 37), and the second does not. It is to be noted
that while Mr. Birch tries to find one or two weak points in my series of
coincidences — coincidences between Nehemiah's descriptions and the line
of wall in my plan — he does not attempt to make out that his own line of
wall satisfies Nehemiah's description at all.

Mr. Birch is not solicitous to satisfy Nehemiah's descriptions, but
rather to support cue or two ingenious ideas of his own. He is confident
that the wall did enclose the Pool of Siloam, because otherwise he,
personally, would see no use in the rock-cut channel from the Virgin's
Fountain, and he is sure that the wall of Ophel extended farther south
and east than Warren found it to do, because otherwise Joab could not
have found his way by the shaft from the Virgin's Fountain into the city
itself, as Mr. Birch surmises that he did. That Joab entered the city in
this way, aided by Araunah, is an ingenious guess ; but it is only a guess,
unsupported by any coincidence with any description in the Bible or else -
where. Even if it be correct it militates against Mr. Birch's reasons for
taking the wall of the city southward below Siloam Pool. For the
passage if used by Joab existed in David's time, and since it afforded to
the inhabitants of Jebus a means of obtaining water, even when the
valley entrance to the fountain was blocked with stones and hidden from
besiegers, there would be no necessity in Hezekiah's day to cut a channel
through the hill for the like purpose. The supposition that Hezekiah cue
this tunnel implies that he did not make Siloam Pool, for there was
an open channel previously, which the rock-hewn tunnel was to supersede,
and the open channel required the pool. The open channel being con-
fessedly useless in face of an enemy, the pool which it supplied would
seem to have been made for use in times of peace. But the open channel
would only supply it when the water in the Virgin's Fountain rose so
high as to overflow at its mouth in the Kedron Valley. It might be
desired to bring it to the pool more constantly — for the same purpose as
hitherto, whatever that purpose was — and one can imagine that the watei-
ran through the tunnel when it would not have flowed by the open
channel, not rising high enough. England is full of tunnels, excavated
through hills and under rivers, but not at all with the purpose of hiding-
canals or railway trains fi'om an enemy, and jDerhaps we should not make
so sure that the purpose of the Ophel tunnel was to supply a besieged city.

Mr. Birch imagines that the city of David was confined to the Ophel
hill. It seems to me that while the hill of Ophel was included, it was not
of itself the whole of the city of David. Adopting Warren's Akra,
west of the Temple, as the site recommended by what we now know of

nehemiah's wall. 49

the rock levels, and as suiting the references in the Books of the Maccabees
and in Josephns, I think it possible tliat this was the fort which " held
out still," after David liad captured Ophel ; but which he afterwards
took, and joined it to the Lower City. The Akra thus became part of
the Lower City ; and this extended Lower City thus assumed a crescent
form. Mr. Birch objects to my adopting the term crescent-shaped as a
translation of Jose])hus's d^KpLKvpros. Well, the Greek word means
doubly-curved, without specifying in what way ; it might as well describe
the gibbous moon as the crescent moon ; but why not the crescent as
well as any other double curve, especially when the local features of the
ground seem to require it?

Mr. Birch further disimtes the accuracy of some few details of my
plan, and my accumulated coincidences.

1. He says that in Neh. iii, 19, 20, I make one "turning" count as
two. Let him prove that it is only one. Again, the first salient angle of
my plan is not mentioned in Neh. iii, and I show that there was no need
to mention it, because the working party advances beyond it, and it is
neither their terminus a quo nor their termimts ad qnem ; and in this
connection I refer to the omission of the Ephraim Gate in Neh. iii, 6-8
" The Throne of the Governor beyond the river " comes in there instead ;
and it is obvious to every careful reader that this may be the same
structure, or may be another structure near it. Mr. Birch tells us con-
fidently that it is the same. Thus, he says, the Ephraim Gate is not
omitted, and so my salient angle ought not to be. But the reason I have
given is sufficient. On the next point I admit that Binnui comes unto
the turning of tlie wall and unto the corner, and not simply over against
them ; but this would only require me to leave a trifle less space between
Nehemiah's wall and the wall of the Temple enclosure.

2. In Nehemiah's description one builder takes up the work after
another, and no doubt often at the point where the previous builder
leaves off. Mr. Birch wishes us to believe that this was invariably the
case, even where the next stretch of wall was not damaged, and again
where diverging walls did not admit of it. I speak of Shallun repairing
a transverse wall, branching eastward from the Fountain Gate, and of
Nehemiah, who comes " after " him, repairing the wall from the Fountain
Gate northward. Mr. Birch stands on the preposition, and cannot under-
stand how the two men could begin their work at the same point. May
I ask him simply to allow for a moment the ijossibility of the wall being
as in my plan, and then to describe the succession of workers in some
better phrase than Nehemiah does, if he can ?

3. It seems unlikely to Mr. Birch that the transverse wall should be
named from the Pool of Siloam, outside, and so far down the valley.
Will he tell us why the Jaflfa Gate is named after a town on the sea-coast
and the Damascus Gate after a city in Northern Syria ?

4. The bay of wall is pronounced inadmissible, because Mr. Birch
knows that Nehemiah was too uitelligent to fritter away the strength of
the workers on a loop line of wall four times as long as the transverse

50 THE WATERS OF MEROM.

wall. But why not repair all the walls if there were workers enough ?
Owing to the previous building of the enclosing wall of the Temple,
NeheiDiah's wall, as I draw H, is pushed so far west as to be at one part
very little above the valley bed ; and Mr. Birch ridicules this. But it is
to be observed that even this part of the wall is at no lower level than
the wall of Ophel, discovered by Warren. A wall in such a position was
the best that the circumstances of the locality admitted of, and was
better than none. It could not be reached unless the transverse wall
were taken first. Its position could scarcely be weaker than that of the
north-west wall of the city, which actually has higher ground outside.
Mr. Birch's alternative is a wall carried from the south-west hill, round
Siloam, to the eastern side of Ophel ; and this necessarily crosses the valley,
and at a much lower level than the wall in my plan.

Finally, may I say that I have drawn a definite line of wall, and have
c trrelated it at many parts of its course with points in Nehemiah's
description ; the argument is cumulative, and is not answered if one
or two details be shown to be doubtful. Mr. Birch has not drawn his
wall definitely, and could not make any wall going down to Siloam to
tally with Nehemiah's descriptions. The Ophel wall actually discovered
has no use on his theory, and aj^parently ought never to have been built.
Further, comparing Neh. iii with Neh. xii, the processionists skip over
a long line of wall repaired by the workers, and there is no wa}' of
disposing of it except by allowing the loop line as in my plan.

George St. Clair.

THE WATERS OF MEROM.

I. Grounds for supposing that the waters of Merom (Josh, xi, 5, 7)
p,re not the Lake Semechonitis of Josephus and the Bahr el Htileh of the
present day, and therefore that of this lake there is no mention in the Bible.

II. What was this " waters of Merom," and the locality of Joshua's
victory over the northern tiibes ?

I. There appears to be no trace of the "waters of Merom" having
been identified in ancient times with the Lake Semechonitis of Josephus ;
the Bahr el HAleh of the Arab as far back at least as the Crusades. The
district itself indeed in which this lake lies was known as the Ulatha in
the days of Josephus. Ant. xv, 10, §3.

Such identification, therefore, rests at best on slender inference, and
is destitute of satisfactory authority. But the name having been once
thus assigned (at what time it is difficult to trace) it has been taken as
correct, and handed on by one writer after another without enquiry or
question.

Now it struck me in closely examining the maps of Western Palestine
with Stanley's account of Joshua's battle with the northern tribes, that
there were difficulties in accepting his localisation which could not be got
over.

THE WATERS OF MEROM. 51

The following is a topographical description of the spot where he has
placed the battle : " Owing to the triangular form of the lake a consider-
able space is left between the lake and the mountains at the lower
end. This is more the case on the west than on the east, and the
rolling plain thus formed is very fertile, and cultivated to the watei's
edge."' Now, on such ground, chosen as Stanley says, " because along
those level shores they could have full play for their force of chariots,"
the approach of Joshua with his men of war from the south as he crossed
the Wadies, and especially the WMy HindS,j, must have been visible for
long distances, and from nvimerous points. He could hardly have fallen
upon them suddenly ; whilst had his attack with footmen been in this
open plain, it could not have proved the decisive succes:S which we know
it was.

Again, the line of flight from the scene of defeat, had it been by the
shores of Semechonitis, could hardly have been to Sidon the Great. The
ti'emeudous ravine of the Leittani (Leontes), and the stern ridge of
Kiilat es Shiikif on its northern side, would forbid escape in that
direction.

Again, too, it is objected that the word for water in the original
would not be used for a lake, but the word for " sea," as of Tiberias (a).

At all events the Septuagint constantly uses the expression "the
water of " — always in the singular — to denote the stream running near
some village, and named after it. Thus "the water of Megiddo,"
eVt v^uTt MayeSSo) (Judg. v, 19), for the upper reaches of the Kishon Eiver;
or again, " the water of N^'mrim shall be desolate," " the water of Dimon
shall be full of blood " (Isai. xv, 6 and 9), and so in other passages.

That is the Afon, Adwr, fvduop, running near a town or village and
borrowing its name from it, is what is meant by the expression " the
water," to v8cop, and not a lake.

On such grounds then, it is unlikely that the Bahr el Hilleh is meant
by " the waters of Merom ; " and if so, there is no reference to this lake
in the SS.

Indeed, the very existence of the name Merom here may be nothing
more than a mistaken reading.

II. What then may more probably be the site of Joshua's third great
final victory 1

Now, in reference to the Septuagint we find that one of the kings to
whom Jabin, King of Hazor, sends, is not Jobab, King of Madon, as it
stands in the Authorised and Eevised Versions (Josh, xi, 1) ; but
'l£o/3a/3 ^aaiKia Mapui/. So, too, in verse 5 it is said all the kings
Tvapive'^aKov enl tov vduTos Mapav, and not Merom. So also, verse 7, that
Joshua with his warriors came upon them eVt to v8(op Mupcov at unawares,
and fell upon them " in the mountainous country," ev ttj opeirjij.

Where, then, are we to look for this stream of Maron 1

' Smith's " Bib. Diet.," s.v, Merom.

52 THE WATERS OF IVrEKOM.

Josephus infoiTus us (Ant. v, 1, ^18) that "the kings pitched their
camp at Beroth, a city in the Upper Galilee not far from Kadesh, itself
also a place in Galilee."

Now, south of Kadesh runs a ravine with a perennial stream from the
central watershed to the foot of the Bahr el Hfileh, bearing at the present
day in its downward course the names of Wady el Jish (Gischala),
W. Farah, W. 'AAba, Tawahin el 'Allba, and lastly, Wady Hiudaj.

To the north of this stream lay the towns of Hazor (over the Lake Sene-
chonitis (Joseph. Ant. v, 5, §1), and then the head of all the kingdoms),
Kadesh, Iron, (Josh, xix, 37), and perhaps, taking the reading of the
Septuagint, Merlin ; for of these. Iron is probably the present Y&rAn ;
and Mapav, Marfln er Eas, about 2^ miles from the ravine, but
dependent on its stream for water ; if, indeed, the addition, er Ras (6)
does not point to the existence once of a MarAn lying on the lower
ground, and perhajis coincident with Farah.

Along this ravine, for the water's sake, lay, I imagine, the gathering
hosts of the northern confederacy, somewhere about the part which
bears now the name of Farah.

Thus, too, they would have their store cities behind them, as they
were organising their bands to sweep down against Israel across Esdraelon
into central Palestine. But as they lay in fancied security near to water,
and in the crowded valley, by (c) a forced march of five days (Josephus,
Ant. V, 1, §18) from Gilgal (Josephus and our versions, but not the
Septuagint), Joshua and all the people of war fell upon them like a
thunderbolt in the rocky ground (Septuagint) where their chariots would
be useless.

Struck in the centre their army was broken asunder by the impetuous
charge. Then the Israelites, facing westward and eastward on their
flanks, would roll up their enemies in hopeless rout. Only at one point
perhaps was a stand made ; on the crest of the watershed at Kefr Biriin,
i.e., "the village of wells ; " surely the city of Beroth, i.e., "of wells" of
Josephus. But the struggle was short. Led on, it may be by the mighty
Caleb, the left wing of the Israelites drove their foes headlong down the
tortuous valleys that at over twenty miles away open upon the road
which, coming down from the Ladder of Tyi'e and north of Ras el
Abiad, ran along the coast to the fords of the Leittani, to Misrephoth-
maim (Zarephath) (d) and Sidon the Great.

Eastward Joshua himself seems to have led the pursuit, perhaps
between Kadesh and Hazor, cutting otf the main body from their cities
and driving them before him till he reached the valley of Mizpah east-
ward, under the roots of Hermon, whence the Hivite had descended to
range himself under the banners of Jabin. Then, when the pursuit
ceased with the slaughter of the last of the overtaken fugitives, Joshua
turned back and took Hazor " and smote the king thereof," feebly
defending it with the remnant of his host " with the sword." "And
they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword,
utterly destroying them ; there was not any left to breathe, and he burnt

THE WATERS OF MEROM. 53

Hazor with fire." And Hazor only. As it was done to Jericho in the
south, so was it done to Hazor, the head of all those kingdoms in the
north.

Such I suggest as the probable site of the battle, the course of the
fugitives, and the iinal result.

Thus, it seems, may be best brought into unison the narratives of the
Hebrew, the Septuagint, and Josephus.

NOTES.

(a) The Hebrew word Me is not that commonly used for a large piece
of standing water, but rather Yam, " a sea," which was even employed
for so small a body of water as the artificial pond or tank in Solomon's
Temple : Smiths "Diet, of Bible, s. v, Merom."

(6) As Rds el Akra on the hill and Akrabeh (Ekrebel, Jud, vii, 18)
on the lower ground.

(d) An objection to identifying Misreiihothmaim with Zarephath
might be, that it is named after Sidon in the description of the flight,
whereas it would be reached on the way to it. Granting this, it would
come in order as belonging to the eastward route of flight. Symmachus,
says Eusebius, interprets it as Misraipoth of the sea. May it then be
a place near the northern part of the Lake (Sea) Hlleh 1

William Gover,

Hon. Canon of Worcester.
Saltley Lodge, Worthing,
December, 1889.

APPENDIX A.

Merran (Merrom, Jerome). — -Eusebius (whose Onomasticon with
Jerome's translation I have had the opijortunity of examining in his
ample library through the kindness of my neighbour. Major Gaisford, of
Offington) regards this village as the site of the battle. He describes it
as twelve miles' distance from Sebaste (Samaria), and near Dothaim (the
two cisterns ?).

If so, the waters of Merom (Merran) must be the Brook Mochmur in
the plain of Dothaim, south of the Carmel ridge, now known in its higher
parts as the Wady es Selhab, and as the Nahr el Mefjir at its debouche-
ment into the Mediterranean. But this point is fifty miles distance from
Hazor and Kedesh, and such localisation can in no way be made to cohere
with the precise narrative in Joshua of the lines of flight.

D 2

54 NOTE ON GREEK INSCRIPTION.

Meiron. — So much could not be said against a conjecture that should
place the site of the battle near Meiron, about three miles south of El
Jish (Gischala), with its wady running from west to east till it joins the
larger W§,dy et Tawahin near the western foot of the hill on which Safed
stands. Yet even so, if this were the site the western line of flight would
surely be the shorter route south (not north) of the Ladder of Tyre and
the Eas el Nakilrah, to the friendly cities of Accho, Achsajjh, and Achzib,
while the eastward would seek the fords of the Jordan below Lake HCdeh.

The examination, therefore, of both these alternatives tends to confirm
the correctness of the supposition which places the site of the battle near
Maroon and Kefr Birim.

APPENDIX B.

Eusebius' Onomasticon ; Jerome's Liber de situ, &c., Joshua.

Eusebii Hieronymi Opera, Tom. Ill, p. 243. Editio Vallarsii, Veroniie

MDCCXXXV.

Meppciv, eVt to vSap evda Trape^aXov els rroXepou. "Earn vvv Kaprjs pepos
^e^dcTTTjs aTT€)(ov(Ta arjpeion i^' , TrXrjcriou Aoidaetp.

Merrom. — Aquse ad quas exercitu prseparato castra svint posita. Est
autem nunc vicus Merrus nomine in duodecimo milliario urbis Sebastae
juxta Dothaim.

Map 0)6, Koi TavTov elXev Vrjaovs, top ^aaikea avTTJs civeXcov.

Marom. — Et hanc cepit Jesus, rege illius interf ecto. (Posita est et supra
Marrus.)

Maarpaccpad paip. A. paarpaKpaid vdaros, ^vppa^os MaarpaK^mO
6aKaija-qs.

Massephoth maim : pro quo Aquila Massephoth aquae ; Symmachus,
Massephoth maris, interpretati sunt.

NOTE ON GREEK INSCRIPTION.

Allow me to suggest that the inscription No. 4 on Plate at p. 183 of
the last (October) Quarterly Statement should be read as " the Memorial

^THC DOUXHC COUZANNAC) of the servant [minister]
Susanna, not Anna, as rendered in the note, p. 179.

In Luke viii, 3, Susanna (^ova-avva) was one of the women who
" ministered " (binKavow) unto the Lord " of their substance."

Have we here a Hebrew (Christian) memorial of mosaic, wrought in

IRRIGATION AND WATER-SUPPLY IN PALESTINE. 55

memory of one belonging to a wealthy family ? It is to be remembei'ed
that the names of Martha, Eleazar (Lazarus^, and Simeon were found by
M. Clermont-Gannean on the other side of Olivet, " close to the Bethany
road and very near the site of Bethany " {Qvxtrterly Statement, January,
1874, pp. 7-H), in Hebrew inscriptions on'small sarcophagi. In the Greek
inscriptions which he found at the same place S is represented by C
This is also the case on the Judeo-Greek inscription found by M. Cler-
mont-Ganneau at Jaffa {Quarterlij Statement, Aj^ril, 1887, p. 106), and in
the inscription found by my husband, Mr. Finn, near Aceldama.

E. A. F.

IRRIGATION AND WATER-SUPPLY IN PALESTINE.

Mr, Harper, in his capital book, "The Bible and Modern Discoveries,"
touches on a matter which may perhaps throw some light on the water-
supply and irrigation in Palestine. I do not feel quite sure of the con-
clusion to be drawn from the descriptions given, but I judge as well as I
am able in this, and leave the subject till further information turns up.
At pp. 11-12 Mr. Harper quotes first from Dr. Merrill, of the American
Survey, who reports having seen rows of pits, in the Vale of Siddim,
and " counted in one place a row of 31, and in another row, 20 ; they are
fi'om 3 to 6 feet deep, and he says more can be ti'aced." Mr. Harper also
received an account of these pits from the Rev. J. Neil, who visited them
before Dr. Merrill. According to him the pits are about 6 feet deep ;
then there is a deep shaft or well ; " this well is connected with the next
pit by a tunnel, so that when that well is full it overflows into the other
pit, and so on through the whole series, every pit having a well. The
first pit being on higher ground would catch the rain-water from the
hills, and when the well was full the water would pass into the next by
the tunnel, and so the whole row m ould be filled, and a good store of
water secured." It is also stated that similar pits exist near Kiirn
Siirtubeh, and that "near Damascus the same arrangement for storing-
water may be seen in working order."

From these descriptions I would say that this is the same system of
water supply that exists at the present day in Persia and Afghanistan,
and is still in " working order " about Damascus. The pits with the
tunnel connecting them form what in Persia and Afghanistan would be
called a Karnize, but either the gentlemen who have described the pits in
Palestine have not understood them, or they may be partly destroyed,
and owing to this the accounts do not make them quite agree with the
Karaize. Hence there is some uncertainty as to identity. Still, the
leading points are so similar that I have little doubt but they are the
same. I shall here give an idea of the Karaize, so that it may be com-

56 IKRIGATION AND WATER-SUPPLY IN PALESTINE.

pared by travellers with the remains in the Vale of Siddim, and with the
system still working near Damascus. In Persia land is of little value,
but a supply of water is wealth. In many parts streams are scarce, and
it is by means of the Karaize that water for irrigation is found. In the
part of Persia that I journeyed over with the Afghan Boundary Commis-
sion —that is, in a line east from Tehran — these works exist everywhere.
There are men whose profession it is to find out a source of water below
ground near the foot of the hills, and when this has been discovered there
are men who will make the Karaize. They dig a series of pits, about,
perhaps, twenty or thirty feet apart, and to a depth which depends upon
the soil and the level of the Karaize. These pits are not wells ; they are
only the means by which the tunnel through which the water is to flow
is made. This subterranean aqueduct extends from the source to the
point where the water is required, and there it flows out, cool and clear,
for the use of a village, but principally for the irrigation of the fields.
The pits ai'e kept open, so that the men can go down at any time to clear
out or repair the tunnel. The pits and the connecting tunnel below, de-
scribed by the Rev. Mr. Neil, so exactly resembles a Karaize that I can
scarcely doubt the character of the remains in the Vale of Siddim ; but
Mr. Neil describes the pits as wells, and ascribes to them the purpose of
storing a supply of water. Now, this is exactly what would result in a
Karaise if the lower end of it was destroyed, so that the water could not
escape. It would accumulate and fill up the pits. Of course I only
give this as a guess, and leave it for further investigation.

If the svxggestion here made should turn out to be a correct one, it will
have an interest in many ways. It will show that a system of water
supply has extended in the past from Palestine eastwards as far as the
Khyber, where I first saw a Karaize. In the Jellalabad Valley they are
numerous — ^and at Heda, an ancient Buddhist site, there are the remains
of one tunnelled through the rock, — showing that this method of
supplying water is of great antiquity. If the pits in the Vale of Siddim
should ultimately be accepted as the remains of a Karaize, the " ditches,"
referred to by Mr. Hai-per, 2 Kings, iii, 16, will most probably have been
the same. By throwing light on the water supply of Palestine it will
explain to a certain extent the carious j^roblem as to the former fertility
of the Holy Land, with which the existence of a large population, and
extensive cities, are connected. I have seen a large stream flowing from
a Karaize in Khorassan, beyond which there were no other indications of
water in the locality. Without this supply the place would have been a
desert ; by its means a number of villages existed. I have read somewhere
that the Valley of Nishapur in Khorassan was at one time called " The
Valley of twelve thovtsand Karaizes," — an Oriental exaggeration no doubt,
— -but then the valley at that time was fertile and populous, and Nishapur
was a great and celebrated city. I mention these facts to show how this
particular system of water supply was related to fertility and population
in one part of the world ; and if it existed in Palestine, it will be a
sufficient explanation of the same conditions.

IRRIGATION AND WATER-SUPPLY IN PALESTINE. 57

If the arr.angement which is said to be in " working order " at
Damascus is similar to the Karaise, we need have little doubt but the
system existed in Palestine. I have never been to Damascus, but many
persons have, and it is to be hoped that some one will be able to
tell us what the system is at that place. In the Quarterly Statement
for 1881, p. 38, there is a mention of an underground stream, " which,
rising near Hebron, runs southwards to Beersheba, and thence westward
to the sea, passing by the site of Gerar." In the Quarterly Statement for
1873, p. 149, and 1876, p. 121, will be found notices upon the water supply
of Palestine.

To the author of " The Bible and Modern Discoveries," as a " Brother
Brush," I beg to convey my congratulation on his production, and wish the
book every success, which I am sure it will receive.

William Simpson.

QOARTERLT STATEMENT, .A PRIL, 1890.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

NOTES AND NEWS.

Tlie Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund have much pleasure in
announcing to subscribers and friends that tliej have obtained a firman
granting permission to excavate at Khiirbet 'Ajlan, the Eglon of Joshua. It is
understood tliat all objects, except duplicates, found in the course of the
excavations shall be forwarded to the Museum at Constantinople, but that the
Committee's agents shall have the right of making squeezes, sketches, models,
photographs, and cojMes of all such objects. The Committee have been so
fortunate as to seciu-e the services of Mr. Flinders Petrie, who is now iu Syria
making an-angements to start the excavations.

The Committee will be most grateful to subscribers who wish to contribute
towards this Fund to send in their donations as early as possible.

This has been done for the Society by Mr. Guy le Strange in the book
" Palestine under the Moslems," just prepared and this day issued. The work
is divided into chapters on Syria, Palestine, Jerusalem, and Damascus, the
provincial capitols and chief towns, and the legends related by the writers
consulted. These writers begin with the ninth century and continue until the
fifteinth. Such illustrations as may be required for the elucidation of the text
are presented with the volume.

The Committee are in great confidence that this work — so novel, so useful
to students of mediaeval history, and to all tliose interested in the continuous
story of the Holy Land — will meet with the success wliieh its learned author
deserves. The price to subscribers to the Fund will be 8s. 6d.; to the
public, 12s. 6d.

Dr. Torrance, of Tiberias, has explored to some extent the caves behind that
city, and succeeded in penetrating several hundred feet into the interior of one
of them, but without finding much. The Talmud speaks of these caves, and
states tliat they extended as far as Sepphoris (Seffurieh), which is eighteen
miles distant !

NOTES AND NEWS.

BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDING
31sT DECEMBER, 1889.

Receipts.

EXPENDITTJEE.

January 1, 1889— £

.t. d.

To Balance . . . . 402,

By Printino; and Binding

920

18 3

December 31, 1889—

Maps, lUustrations,

Donations, SubscripLions,

and Photographs. .

462

12 11

and Lectures .. 1,521

Exploration. .

163

3 0

Maps, Memoirs, and

Stationery, Advertis-

Books .. .. 988

ing, and Sundries

112

17 10

Photographs . . . . 37

Postage, Parcels, in-
cluding the Qvar-

terli/ Statement . .

113

7 4

Salaries and Wages

280

12 4

Rent

121

0 0

Loan paid ofp

400

0 0

Balance in Bank, Slst

December, 1889 . .

W. MOREI

375

6 5

£2,949

2,949

18 1

SON,

Treasurer.

TREASURER'S STATEMENT.

This year, like the last, has been one mainly of printing and of pviblishing
results. Thus the expenses of publishing amount to £1,383 lis. 2d., against
which must be set £1,026 0.?. Id. producer! by sales. Considering that the
Quarterly Statement, which costs about £500, is given away to subscribers to
the Fund, and that great liberality is observed in the allowance to subscribers
on the books, these figures show very good results. Tiie amount set down as
received, it must be observed, does not include advertising the books or the
publisher's commission, but shows the net results.

Management shows a pretty constant expenditure of £627. New exploration
only required £163 last year. As the Committee are at the present moment
organising new work, it will be very much heavier next year. The debt of
£450, which appeared in my last Statement {Quarterlif Statement, April, 1889)
is now paid off, leaving only a small sum due for interest. The only liabilities
of the Society are certain current printers' and engravers' accounts.

The position of the Society, if we enumerate its books, with copyrights and
stock of books, its collections, and its maps, is perfectly sound and solvent.

In other words, out of a total expenditure of £2,175 the proportion is as
follows ! —

Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '64.

Excavations . . . . . . . • . . . • • • '07.

Postage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 'Oo.

Management , . . . . . . . . . . . . . '24.

Walter Moeeison, Treasurer.

NOTES AND NEWS. 61

A Society of Grerman Roman Catholics has purchased property at Khan
Minyeh, and is erecting buildings there.

A report from Herr Scliick respecting tlio Greelc inscription found
north of Damascus Gate, alluded to in the last Quarterly Statement, page 3,
will be found on page 69, together with (reduced) copy of the inscription
itself.

The essay on Ma'lula, by F. J. Bliss, Esq., B.A., of Beyrut, is printed in
flie current number, and also an important paper by the Rev. G. Post, M.D., on
tlie sects and nationalities of Syria and Palestine.

A letter has been received from the Rev. Gordon C. Grist of Frome,
objecting to the translations given by Major Conder and Professor Sayce
of the Greek inscription on page 183 of last year's Quarterly State-
ment. The Rev. Mr. Grist thinks the true rendering should be " Christ,
remember the slave Susanna," or possibly, " Chi'ist, remember Thy servant
Zanna."

Mr. Henry A. Harper's work, on " The Bible and Modern Discoveries "
vras published in December. It is an endeavour to present in a simple but yet
connected form the Biblical results of twenty-two years' woi'k of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. The writer has also availed himself of the discoveries made
by the American Expeditions and the Egyptian Exploration Fund, as well as
discoveries of interest made by independent travellers. The Bible story, from the
call of Abraham to the Captivity, is taken, and details given of the liglit thrown
by modern research on the sacred annals. Eastern customs and modes of
thought are explained whenever the writer thouglit they illustrated the
text. To the Clergy and Sunday School Teacheis, as well as to all those who
love the Bible, the writer hopes this work will prove useful. He is personally
acquainted with the land, and nearly all the places spoken of he has visited,
and most of them he has moreover sketched or painted. The work is in
one large, handsome volume of 600 pages. It is illustrated with many
]ilates, and a map showing the route of the Israelites and the sites of
the principal places mentioned in the sacred narratives. Price to the public,
\i>s. ; to subscribers to the Palestine Exploration Fund, 10*. 6(/., carriage
included.

The work has had a very gratifying reception. The whole of the First
and Second Editions are gone, and a Third Revised Edition is now ready.
It should be noted that the book is admirably adapted for the school or
village library.

£ 2

62 »OTES AND NEWS.

The report of Herr Scliumacher's Survej of Northern 'Ajlun is now ready.
It contains a map, plans and drawings of the important ruins of Gadara
(Umm Keis), Capitolias (Beit Eas), and Arbela (Irbid), none of which had
ever before been surveyed, also of the Temple at el-Kabu and numerous tombs,
sarcophagi, inscriptions, dolmens, &c. The price to the public will be 3s. 6d.,
to subscribers to the Fund, Is. 6d.

A special case (1*. each.) is being prepared for binding '"Ajlun," "Abila,"
and " Pella " in one volume.

The first volume of the " Survey of Eastern Palestine," by Major Conder,
has been issued to subscribers. It is accompanied by a map of the portion
of country surveyed, special plans, and upwards of 350 drawings of ruins,
tombs, dolmens, stone circles, inscriptions, &c. The edition is limited to
500. Thc! first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas for the three volumes ;
subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine " are privileged to have
the volumes for this sum. The price will be raised, after 250 names are
received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are pledged never to let any
copies be subscribed under the sum of seven guineas. Mr. A. P. Watt,
2, Paternoster Square, is the Sole Agent. The attention of intending sub-
scribers is directed to the announcement on the inside of the cover of this
number.

Considerable progress has also been made ^vith the second volume, which
consists of M. Lecomte's beautiful drawings, illustrating the Mission of
M. Clermout-Ganneau in ISy^. The illustrations for the third volume,
Mr. Chichester Hart's " Flora and Fauna " of the Wady Arabah, are nearly
ready.

The Committee have added to their list of publications the new edition
of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant and E. H. Palmer (Bentley &
Son). It can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for 5*. Qd., by apisli-
cation to the Head Office only. The " History of Jerusalem," which was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later works on the same subject.
It begins with the siege by Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-known
episodes in the history of the city and the country.

NOTES AND NEWS. 63

no single trarellei', however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all tlie instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following {the tohole set can he obtained hy application to
Mr. George Armstrong, for £2, carriage paid to any part in the United
Kingdom only) : —

By Major Conder, R.E. —

(1) " Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the survey of Western

Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry i-ecord of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
traveller has enjoyed the same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Heth and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Eastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesh — of the
children of Heth ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Conder's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

Major Conder's works, is, perhaps, the most valuable. It attempts a task
never befoi-e approached — the reconstruction of Palestine from its monu-
ments. It shows what we should know of Syria if there were no Bible,
and it illustrates the Bible from the monuments.

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — This is a popular account of the Geolo-

gical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fund. The part which deals with the Yalley of Aj-abah
will be foimd entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

(8) " The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work." — This work is a popular

account of the researches conducted by the Society during the past

64 NOTES AND NEWS.

twenty-one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by this Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's " Kh. Faliil." The ancient Pella, the first retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
Quarterly Statements.

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.

(12) Northern 'Ajlun " Within the Decapolis," by Herr Schumacher.

Branch Associations of the Bible Society, all Sunday School unions within
the Sunday School Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan
Simday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Resolutioii of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
purchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
price.

The income of the Society, from December 19th to March 19th inclusive,
was — from annual subscriptions and donations, £755 3«. 8rf. ; from donations for
excavations, £932 8«. 6rf. ; from all sources, £1,983 17* 2d. The expenditure
during the same period was £1,132 19*. Sd. On March 20th, the balance in
the Bank was £1,195 7*. Id.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following can be had by application
to the office, at \s. each : — -

1. Index to tlie Quarterly Statement, 1869-1880;

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan ; "

3. Cases for the Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate.

4. Cases for " Abila," " Pella," and " 'Ajlun " in one volume.

Early numbers of the Quarterly Statement are very rare. In order to make
up complete sets, the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

NOTES AND NEWS, i)5

No. 11,1809; No. VII, 1870; No. Ill (July) 1871; January and
April, 1872 ; January, 1883, and January, 1880.

It having again been reported to the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of the Society, the Committee have to
caution subscribers and the pubhc that they have no book hawkers in their
employ, and that none of their works are sold by itinerant agents.

While desiring to give every publicity to proposed identifications and other
Ihejries advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to tlie pages of the
(Quarterly Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterlj/ Statement they neither sanction nor adopt
them.

Subscribers who do not receive the Quarterlif Statement regularly are asked
to send a note to the Secretary. Great care is taken to forward eacli number
to all who are entitled to receive it, but changes of address and other causes
give rise occasionally to omissions.

The only authorised lecturers for the Society are—

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, F.G.S., Member of the Anthropological Institute
and of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

His subjects are :—

(1) The Buried City of Jerusalem., and General Exploration of

Palestine.

(2) Discoveries in Assyria, Chahlea, and, Palestine.

(3) The Moabite Stone and the Pedigree of the English Alphabet.

(4) Jerusalem of David, Nehemiah, and Christ.

(5) Sight-seeing in Palestine: a Narrative of Personal Expe-

riences.
(fi) Israel's Wars and Worship, illustrated hy the new Survey.
(7) The Gospel History in ike light of Palestine Exiiloration.

Address : Geo. St Clair, Bristol Road, Birmingham, or at the Office of
the Fund.

66 NOTES AND NEWS.

(2) Tlie Rev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thonms'ii, Portman Square. His

lectures are on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photogi-aplis shown as " dissolving viev/s :" —

The Survey of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Falestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(3) The Rev. Thomas Harrison, F.R G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archteology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects areas follows; —

(1) Research and I)lscovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Trad of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in ihe Light of Modern Science.

REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

Rnd'-nit Cave at Silivdn.— When, a few weeks ago, I went down to
Silwim to choose one or two points for excavation, in order to settle the
question of a second aqiieduct, I was told by the people that there exists
another rock-cut chapel with a large iron cross in it. So I requested them
to show me the spot, which they did, bringing me into a large rock-
hewn cave. It is no chapel at all, although there is on one of the walls
a large cross. They stated this to be of iron, but I found it to be plaster,
so blackened by smoke and age as to look like iron.

I enclose a plan and section of this cave. It is situated under the
first house which the road coming from the water or the Pool of Silwan,
and crossing the valley, leads to. The rock is cut perpendicular to a
height of 20 feet, and has in it an opening 14 feet wide and 6 feet 4 inches
high. A rock-cut step leads up to this opening, which is pai'tly walled
up, only a door about 4 feet wide being left, which has wooden doorposts
and wooden door, which was locked, but on my wish opened. Ten steps
lead downwards into the body of the cave ; its flooring about 4 feet
6 inches deeper than the surface of the road and cx)urt outside. At the
end of the steps is some masonry, on one side forming a large recess
measuring about 10 feet by 10 feet, and used as a stable. The shape
of the main cave is very irregular, and on the average (without the
steps, &c.), 35 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 13 feet high— the highest
point is 15 feet 3 inches, as the ceiling and flooring being not quite even.
On the south wall, close to the stairs, is a recess, not an apse, as I had
been told, for it is neither a half circle nor of any exact measure on its
four sides. Of greater interest is a kind of passage cut into the rock on
the same side, 2 feet 4 inches wide, 4 feet high, and 14 feet 8 inches
long, and terminating abruptly. Its direction is not exactly in a straight
line, and its floor has a slight slope upwards. This passage is 9 feet
6 inches above the flooring of the cave, which is here somewhat higher
than the main flooring, forming a kind of step.

Opposite, on the northern wall, which is not so straight as the southern,
is fixed the cross already mentioned. It is in relief, 3 feet long, with its
lower end 6 feet above the floor. Although in several places on the side
walls plaster is visible, yet it was no cistern, as no hole for a well is
observable in the ceiling, and the bottom is not deep enough for that
kind of cistern from which the water is fetched by the stairs. My
humble opinion is, it was originally a habitation for men, and at the same
time, or afterwards, used for a stable, magazine, and mill. The millstones
are still there.

Excavations at Aceldama — or, as the natives call the hill higher up.
El ^SAamaA.'— Somewhat above the Aceldama building, near the top of

1 Possibly a corruption of Chaudemar, the name given to the place iu the
12th century.— En.

G8 REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

the hill, some excavations were made by the proprietor of the groimd
when about to cultivate it, and to plant vines and trees. Caves, scarps
of the rock, mosaics, hewn stones, &c., were found ; so I visited the
place, and have to report the following. Some of the excavations had no
important result ; some are not finished, and those which seem to me
interesting, are the following : —

(a) A kind of court or yard worked horizontally into the surface of
the rock. As the ground rises towards the west the flooring is worked
down to the le^'el. On the eastern side, on some parts where the rock lies
deep, it is restored by mosaics of somewhat large stone cubes. This
court is on an average 32 feet long and 19 feet 6 inches wide, and has at
its eastern end two small pools. The smaller one is 4 feet wide each way
and 3 feet 6 inches deep, and from its bottom a round hole leads to the
larger one, which is 8 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, and has on
its bottom a kind of shaft 3 feet 6 inches deep. This is round, and at its
middle has an tipset, so that the lower part is narrower than the up)3er,
which has a diameter of 2 feet. This shaft, as well as the sides and
bottoms of both pools, are laid with such dies or cubes as are mentioned
above, and over them there is no plaster. What was the use of these
things ? It is Jiot easy to say. The proprietor thinks they formed a bath,
as he has found in the ])Ools some white stuff wliich he thinks to be t\vt
sediment of soap. But this is not likely to be the case, and I leather think
the white stuft" is the remains of lead, with which the pools were overlaid,
instead of cement. A bath also does not want such a court, but rather
adjoining buildings. So I think it was a store-house or fabric of wine
or oil.

(6) Some caves and scarps with steps, &c. Close by are some rock-cut
tombs, of no special interest, unless the large stone which was found
before the door be reckoned as such.

workmanship is excellent, walls straight, and angles exact. The entrance,

as in all rock-cut tombs, is square, 2 feet 4 inches wide and 2 feet 6 inches

high ; inside of it, four s'.eps lead down into a square chamber 11 feet

long and 10 feet wide, and 6 feet 4 inches high. On the walls opposite the

entrance, and on the two other sides, are deep recesses cut in the rock

each 7 feet long, 2 feet 4 inches high, and 3 feet dee]), so forming three

tombs or places where a coffin or sarcophagus might be put ; yet it is clear

that it was not intended for such, for on the bottom, which is about

one inch deeper than the bench in front, is hewn out from the rock a kind

of couch, with a shallow place for the reception of the head of the

corpse. The bench before the eastern recess is only 1 foot 3 inches wide,

whereas the southern is nearly 3 feet, and the western a little more than

3 feet wide. The top and sides are smooth. On the western side, where

it joins the southern, and below the upper edge, there is a Greek

inscripti-m, from which I took a squeeze and made a good copy, which I

enclose.

C. Schick.

KEPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

The Greek Inscriptions on Tombs north of Damascus Gate.

In answer to enquiries respecting the Greek insciiption said to have been
found in the Dominican ground nortli of Damascus Gate (Quarter^/
Statement, 1890, jj. 3), on the 30th July last I sent a description and some
drawings of two newly-discoversd tombs at St. Stephen's, near Jeremiah's
Grotto, one still with a stone door, the other one having once had a rolling
stone. Oh each of these were Greek inscriptions, of which I sent cojnes
{Quarterly Statement, 1890, p. 10). I mentioned also that on one, the
covering stone of the entrance, there was also an inscription, but it had
been broken in pieces and taken away by the monks. They made a
wooden frame, and put the pieces together into the fi-ame, and sent squeezes
of the inscription to Paris, where it has been published in a paper called
"Cosmos," No. 235, July 27th, 1889, together with notes and inter-
pretations. I also inclose herewith a copy (reduced to about -^-q). The
slab is about 3? feet long and 2 feet 9 inches wide, and 6 or 7 inches
thick ; the letters are engraved, and the stone is broken into four or tive
pieces, and in some places the letters have suffered by weathering.

+ QrjKycii) (tic-
0fi/>(oi'(7«.) No'v-

vou ^ta (^Kovov)

Kcu Oi'ia{i'/ioa ^iiaKovfy^

00 yi^pia'^o^ I 'A{}'n3a'^{('taeti.'^
Tev /ULoi^Pijv^ oTtJ^-
]

Tliis is the reading of Dr. Papodoculoc

Dr. Papodoculos, a learned man in the Greek Convent, tells me the
inscription is abbreviated, and may be read so that it becomes fatal to the
traditional site of the Holy Sepulchre, but that before one can speak
pasitively more proofs must be looked for, and as the matter now stands
it is better not to make too much of it. He thinks it is clear from the
inscription that the newly-discovered tombs were those of two deacons ,
Nonus and Onisimus, of the Church of the Eesurrection, but that this does
not prove that the church itself stood near their tombs. It seems to me

70 EEPOP.TS FROM JERUSALEM.

that they may have belonged to the clergy of the church on the traditional
site of the Holy Sepulchre, and have been buried here in the general
burial ground. However, the learned in England will read the inscription
properly and settle the question ; I simply report upon it.

C. Schick,

This inscription has been submitted to Dr. A. S. Murray, of the
British Museum, who is well known for his intimate knowledge of Greek
epigraphy, and he gives the following criticism upon it : — -

There is a family likeness between the inscription you have sent nie
and one which Boeckh (C. 1. Gr. 9139) gives as on the door of a cave at
Jerusalem. The copies he had access to differed much among themselves
and he was uncertain of restoring the original. The reading of Papo-
doculos has probably been made with Boeckh's before him, and may, I
think, pass. Here is Boeckh's inscription : —

f ©HKH AIA<t>EPOYCAHrEM Q!jKrf cui(iiepovaa'¥{{p)efiU

Tr2<l>EP rf2NO0€TH Up {01.1. tou) ^i{o)vaaTrjp. {r?j<i a^{i(ii)

A6CIM 18 B€NAS eeVXaf. Kal

K€YA . . . . TB FEP (^Kmaa)Keva(^fffiev)ov fep{/Liavi)

KOYX8 rl8H KOV TOV OV

f THC AriACCIHN t/> ^7^^ 2u

IWV.

As regards the smaller inscription which Papodoculos renders as
follows: " Pachomios was buried on the 20th (of some month and of
aome year)," a possible alternative would be to suppose the name of the
deceased person to be lost at the beginning of the inscription. The sense
would then be "... . was buried on the 20th of (the month) Pachon,
in the 11th year of the Jndiction" {erdcjir} rfj e'(t)Koyr(f) Tax{S>)vos \.
lvb{iKTio>vos). But I have had hardly any experience of these Christian
Greek inscriptions, and therefore cannot speak with confidence. The
name Pacliomios, which Papodoculos restores, may be right, but his
reading of the word that follows seems to be wrong.

^j/xcpHTMeKOCTC

^AXO^A^OCAl>^KK

^ETCKprf 9^ e(i)KOV){rj)
'n.a^{(o)p.iy)os Ai\v{8ivi)

= on the twentieth (of a certain month of a
certain year) Pachomios from Lychis dos ( ?)
was buried.

A. S. Murray.

CAVE OF SARtS.

I HAVE again visited the cave at Saris, and forward the results of my
.ittempts to obtain squeezes of the marks or characters which wtre
noticed by me in the phice where an inscription was said to have been,
but which was destroyed by the peasant who had hoped to find treasure.

Mr. Schick was unable to accompany me, but he kindly allowed me to
take with me an intelligent young man in his emjjloy who proved very
useful.

I was also happy in being accompanied by Mr. Lees, who came at my
invitation and kindly sketched the two figures in the cave. These
sketches I also forward with the squeezes, and a rough plan of the cave,
with section of the pit, and also a sketch copy of the vestiges of letters,
and a full sized sketch of the head of the figure on the east wall, which
is very curious, the face having instead of eyes, nose, mouth, &c., an
oi-nament very much resembling a double dagger-sha|3cd leaf.

We did not find any letters near the figures, but a close insjjection
showed that when the cave was made, they had been outlined by means
of a drill or borer, in such a manner that when the adjacent stone was
cut away, the figures remained standing out in relief. The lower portion
of many of the drill holes is distinctly visible, as shown in one of Mr.
Lee's sketches, and also in that of the head itself.

Since I first visited the cave last June others have been on the spot.

72 IKEIGATION AND WATER SUPrLY IN SYRIA.

The Jerusalem Freemasons especially, seem to have heen quite excited
by the accounts of the attitude of the figures, and about two months ago
a large party of them, headed by the Master and some otlier officers of
their society, actually made an expedition in search of it, and cleared the
earth, broken pottery, and bones, in the pit or square trough in the
south-eastern corner. I have made special enquiries of some who were of
the party, but could not learn that they had discovered anything of im-
portance except some broken jars or cruses (imbriks). However, their
visit was of service in so far as it saved us the trouble of clearing out
the four-foot deep pit or trough, which at the western end has at the top
a step or ledge. The floor of the cave round the western and southern
walls had been cleared, so that we had only to excavate in the centre to
ascertain the level there, as the floor outside the pit seems to shelve
towards the centre from all sides. To do this was no easy task, as besides
the stuff which had come out of the pit, the soil in the cave is very hard
and full of tree roots which had penetrated in search of moisture. The
i-Qck floor in the centre of the cave is five feet from the ceiling. At the
north-west, south-west, and south-east corners it is three feet from the
ceilino-. In the south-east corner the rock overhangs the pit.

In the rubbish that had been taken out of the pit Mr. Lees found a
broken siraj or earthenware shell-shaped lamp like those used at the
present day by the Fellahin, only larger. From the rock terrace above
the cave there is a magnificent view over the sea-board j)lain. We saw
the range of Oarmel very clearly with the naked eye, and, of course, yet
more so with a field glass.

I enclose a squeeze of a small Crreek inscription in raised letters found
stone dug up lately close to the tombs of the Prophets on Olivet.

I have not had time to write out the list of Judeo-Spanish proverbs
which I promised some months ago. I have begun but do not know when
I shall finish. We missionaries, however intensely we maybe interested in
the Palestine Exploration Fund work, can seldom find leisure to indulge

in it.

p g. — lu my report I described the cave as being hewn out of narie
lock, soft to work, but hardening by exposure ; I was mistaken, it is

hard mizzle.

J. E. Hanauer.

IRRIGATION AND WATER SUPPLY IN SYRIA.

Referring to the notice by Mr. Simpson upon the above subject in the
last Quarterly Statement, I may mention that in April, 1889, while riding
with my wife from Palmyra to El Beda, on our return journey from
the former place, I observed a considerable number of pits such as
those which Mr. Simpson describes. Those that I saw were within
a few miles of Palmyra, and were, I should judge, distant from 200

IinilGATION AND WATER SUPl'LV IN SVIllA. 73

to 300 yards from one another. But I did not observe carefully. Our
men sto[)])ed at two of tliuiu and found water. I supposed that they
wei'e old irrigation pits coiniuunicating with one another by an under-
"•round channel, and fed from tlie hills on the north side of the gap to the
east of which Palmyra stands. I made no examination of them, however,
being ill at the time, and engaged in struggling against a strong west
wind, which carried so much sand with it as to be most unpleasant.

I do not remember to have seen El Beda mentioned in any of the
guide books or accounts of journeys to Palmyra. It is considerably to
the north of the direct route from Karyatiu to Palmyra, and about six
hours i-ide from Palmyra. It consists of a well of brackish water, and a
small block house, which as I was told had been recently established by
the Turkish Government, and in which an officer and eight soldiers, with
their horses, are stationed. The establishment of this station makes the
journey between Palmyra and Karyatin easier and safer than it was
before.

With regard to Palmyra, I will mention another matter which maybe
of interest.

All modern notices of the place which I have read refer to the fact
that no fresh water is to be found there, and some express wonder at
the ancient prosperity of the Pahnyrenes in the absence of this requisite.
The guide books recommend the traveller to bring a supply of drinking
water with him, as the stream of sulphurous water which, until last sum-
mer, was alone known in modern times as the source of sup])ly there, is
very disagreeable to the taste. "We were, therefore, much surprised to
find that the stream near to which our tents were pitched was fresh and
pure. It appears that it was only discovered in the summer of 1888,
and that we were the first European travellers to see it. It runs only a
few feet under the surface of the ground, in an old flagged channel or
conduit which widens out at the spot where it now comes to light so as to
admit of a landing, on which people commg to fetch water or to bathe
can stand, and it was a very interesting sight to see the hot and thirsty
Arabs, engaged in digging during the day in other parts of the ruins for
water which they had not yet found, rush rejoicing at sunset to this spot.
But the artificial channel ending here, the water disappears a few yards
further on in a sandy hollow. The volume of water was about 16 inches
deep by 22 wide ; it was tepid, but when cooled in earthenware jars very
]ileasant and refreshing to the taste. I have no doubt that there are several
similar streams conducted by similar channels in other pai'ts of the ruins.
The surface of the ground (presumably in consequence of tlie accumula-
tion of sand blown in from the desert) has eridently risen since the
erection of the chief buildings (as one may see from the ^proportions of
the arches and columns in many places), and probably this is the cause
of the disa])pearance of these streams. The finding of this stream has
stirred up the inhabitants to search for more fresh water, and pits were
sinking in several places during our visit.

Gray Hill.

MA'LULA AND ITS DIALECT.

TiiK village of Ma'lula in the Anti-Libanus has a three-fohi interest for
tlie traveller. Its situation and surrounding scenery are unique, its cave-
dwellings and rock -tombs give evidence of an ancient but active existence,
while in its dialect we find a certain strange survival of the Aramaic which
Christ spoke not 150 miles away.

My first glimpse of Ma'lula was in March 1888, on my way to Palmyra.
Roughly speaking, Ma'lula is about 25 miles to the north-east of Damascus,
and is reached in about eight hours. At about three and a-half hours'
distance from that city the path crosses a steep ridge and enters a broad
rolling valley running N.E. and S.W., bounded on the east by slight hills,
rising in places to higher peaks. The western boundary is one long, almost
unbroken, ridge, of a curious formation. The mountain runs uj:) smoothly
for several hundred feet, with a surface of light tinted shale and gravel,
terminating in a palisade of reddish-yellow limestone, from 50 to 150 feet
in height, making an irregular sky-line. This columnar wall runs along
the top of the )-idg<' for 20 miles or so. It takes strange fantastic shapes,
often like pillars or pilasters, now like giant teeth with monstrous roots,
and now like animal forms. The red and yellow of this irregular wall
cutting sharp against the vivid blue produces a brilliant effect of colour.
Sometimes the gravelly hill appears above the palisade, but not often.

Before reaching Ma'lula the ridge is twice broken, once by a gorge
leading to the small village of Jeb'adtn, and again where the Yebrfid road
crosses through a second gorge to the higher hills. About three miles
beyond this point the ridge curves sharply inward and downward, rights
itself for a few hundred yards, then curves outward and upward again,
and resumes its former N.E. direction. In the meantime it has formed a
deep basin, the shape of an amphitheatre, bounded by massive cliffs, which
are pierced at the two inward corners by rapidly-ascending gorges. Great
rocks and boulders lie on the steep slopes, or are heajjed together at the
base of the clifts. Clinging to these rocks, rising tier above tier, like the
cells of a honeycomb, are the houses which form the village of Ma'lula.
The houses are built of lihin or unburnt brick, rough unhewn stones, and
nuid. A few arches appear. Many of the flat roofs project, and are
supported by posts, thus forming a sort of balcony. Brushwood is used
in the roofs and peeps out from under the eaves. The mud and scant
whitewash give the town an appearance of brown and white. The houses
are at all angles : one stands out boldly on a great rock, another retreats
under the overhanging precipice. A simple square Church with belfry
gives point to the collection of simple houses. Under the north cliff lie
the substantial buildings of the Convent of Mar Tukla. On this same side
of the town there are a few substantial stone houses, but as a rule the
buildings differ little from each other, in point of simplicity.

A valley opens out from the Ma'lula natural amiihitheatre into the
long upland, which I have mentioned. It is watered by streams from the

ma'lula and its dialect. 75

two gorges, and is rich in great walnut and other fruit trees, as phirns,
pistachio, and apricots. Tlie limestone soil is of a dazzling whiteness,
especially just outside the amphitheatre, where the i)ath crosses ledges of
soft polished white rock, easily carved, and used very elfectively in deco
ration, as in the houses of Yebr<\d. At the north side of the village
threshing floors have been carved out of the hillside — rounded, level
places — curious white spots in the landscape. Beyond these the hillside
is strewn with sumach trees, or shrubs, used in tanning. Judging from
the number of threshing floors I should say that the town must own
many wheat fields in the rolling country below. Perched high above the
lofty cliffs at the back of the town is the Convent of Mar Sarkis, with
its metal dome. On these upper hills, the colour of maize, are many
vineyards.

These general features were noticed in my first visit, when we passed
through hurriedly. As we entered further into the clifi"-bound recess we
saw the caves high up in the face of the precijiices to north and south,
and the dozens of square entrance holes to chambers within the cliff at
the back of the town — some apparently inaccessible, so high were they.

We rode through the twisting streets, finding the people very friendly.
Once the path wound along a covered gallery fifty feet long, with dwellings
above. Soon the j^ath became precipitous ; we dismounted and led our
horses up a series of ledges. The baggage animal, which was ahead,
slipped and began to roll, we, meanwhile, standing each on his own ledge
quite helj)less in view of the coming avalanche. Fortunately something
stopped the horse, but the load had to be carried up by men through the
magnificent gorge. At the end it is simj^ly a climb up a fissure, where
the horses lifted their legs from one deep hole in the rock to another.

In June of this year (1889) a friend and myself planned to spend a few
days at Ma'lula, being curious to find out something about the Syriac
dialect spoken by the inhabitants. We arrived on a Saturday evening,
and remained till the following Thursday morning. In the meantime we
asked many questions, and examined the Convents, cliff chambers, and
tombs. I had not at the time the plan of writing an exhaustive article
on the place, hence the impressions here given are merely those of an
interested traveller, and lack many particulars which a scientific description
should contain.

We approached the village from the north-east, as we were coming
from Yebriul, having crossed the ridge about an hour to the north. We
pitched our tent on a spot cleared and built up for a threshing floor, on a
slope of the hill below the northern cliff", at some little distance from the
village. On Sunday, the people -having no work to do, crowded about the
tent — sitting outside the door, peeping in through the cracks, and even
crouching inside. Oddly enough they were not troublesome. They
simply wished to "admire." They were neither impertinent nor intrusive,
and they kept quiet. We found their good humour unfailing. They were
alert, active, and merry, but without the same conceit one finds in the
Lebanon. The type of face did not seem to me as distinct as that of

76 ma'lula and its dialect.

YebrM ; dark hair and eyes are the rule ; the faces ai-e round, and tlie
features not striking. There were many comely women, with fresh com-
plexions. We saw few dull countenances. We heard the echoes of one or two
violent quari'els, but in their general mutual intercourse the j^eople seemed
gentle and agreeable. Their enterjjrise is shown by the number of men
and boys who go to Damascus for work, always, however, regarding
Ma'lula as their home. The majority go as bakers, while some are
servants. Baking is the art of the town ; the brother of the Sheikh
works in the oven.

After some inquiry we estimated the population at 2,000, including
the absent. Two-thirds are Greek Catholics, the remainder are Orthodox
Greek, with about twenty Moslem families, not to be distinguished in
dress or language from the Christians. The people seem about on a par
with each other, there being no aristocracy. The Greek-Catholic priest is
a native of the place. He spoke a little French. The men all wear the
veil or shawl on the head, falling over the shoulders. It is bound with
thick camel-hair rope. The cloth robe which they wear over their waist-
coat and full trousers struck me as much shorter than what one usually
sees. The men are not heavily bearded, nor does the beard seem to come
as early in youth as it does in the Lebanon. There is a school in the
village, where we saw a few small boys. The teachei' boards with the
pupils by turn. He teaches Arabic, reading, and writing. He was sent
to the town by, the Bishop of Yebrtid.

All speak the Syriac dialect ; they say a woman brought as a bride from
elsewhere can learn it in a year. At the same time they all speak Arabic
like any Syrian. They seemed much interested and amused by our desire
to look into their language, and were most good-natured in answering
questions, but we found a varying intelligence in their answers ; the
trouble with many being that they gave much more than was asked.
Speaking the Arabic, I found little difficulty in obtaining information.
If in doubt as to what one person meant, I could always ask another.

The streets in the village are often ledges of rock along the steep slope.
The houses are sometimes built over the street. Near the north gorge
there is a house wedged in between the overhanging clitf and a huge
boulder, with an arched gallery beneath it for the highway. It has a
balcony in front, supported by a single beam. The light green of willow
branches contrasts with the whitewashed wall. Entering the passage
under the house, we followed it up sharply to the left, and there found on
our right a narrow flight of mud-steps, whitewashed, leading back to a
platform-roof opening on which was the door of the house ! Within every-
thing was very clean. The rough walls foriued by cliff and boulder were
whitewashed. A sick man lay on a bed on the floor. His son, who had
been in Damascus, and kept one of the three small shops in the village,
asked us how we made gunpowder, as he wished to compare our method
with his own.

Later we called at another house in response to a cordial invitation
from its mistress. From a small enclosed yard whitewashed steps of mud

ma'lula and its dialect. 77

led up to a roof in front of a house of two rooms. Steps, roof, walls, floor
were all of this whitened mud, which comes off on the clothes. The room
in which we were received had two windows and small openings above
for ventilation. In one corner a cone-sliaped chimney of mud came down
to within 3 feet of the floor. At the angles between it and tlie walls
there were ornamented pockets of mud. Its surface was also orna-
mented. The projecting angle of the chimney had a place for a lamp.
Below there was no hearth, but only a ])lace for one pot or kettle
rounded out from a low platform of mud. The mud of the walls in the
room was worked into pockets, ledges, shelves, rudely ornamented in
rosettes and twists, with bits of glass stuck in. Chimneys are not found
in the Lebanon houses, but they occur in the Anti-Libanus as near the
Buka'a as Zebedani. In the other room the family stores were kept in
jars made of mud and straw, whitewashed. Later in the day a fierce wind
blew threatening to overthrow the tent, so we took refuge in this clean
house for two nights. The woman baked bread (barley bread as well as
wheaten) for the neighbours, who paid her in kind, the number of loaves
being left to generosity. A fire kindled at the bottom of a pit in a mud
projection at the side of the house heated its sides, against which were
stuck the flat loaves, which gradually became baked.

In passing through the town we found the houses clean. "We were
often warned against bye-paths, because of the house-dogs. They certainly
had a most villainous look. Bees are kept. We could get no meat, as
there happened to be a feast, but in a village like Ma'lula there would
hardly be meat oftener than once a week. Such people live on bread,
cheese, olives, eggs, dibs, and vegetables in their season. Unripe fruit is
much prized — as grapes (eaten with salt), j^lums, &c. The people rise
with the dawn.

The Sheikh's house differed little from the rest, but it had a stone
doorwav, with some carving and coloured ornamentation. The office of
Sheikh continues in tlie same family. He was away, but his brother (who
left the oven to entertain us) said that the house was to be improved and
enlarged.

In speaking of the caves and rock-chambers of Ma'lula it will be con-
venient to refer to the South Cliff", Central Cliff", and North Cliff of the
great natural amphitheatre. These cliffs are about 150 feet in htiglit.
About 35 feet above the base of the South Cliff a cave opens in the face
of the rock, the entrance being about 20 feet in length. A rude ladder,
Hiade by two irregular branches or trunks of ancient walnut trees, with
rounds fastened by large nails, is the rather risky means of approach. Oar
servant climbed up first, disappeared in the cave, and then reappeared at
a square window cut in the face of the rock some 40 feet to the left of the
entrance (as we looked at it) and rather above it. We then scaled the
ladder, and scrambled around the rude masonry that forms a parapet at
the entrance of the cave. This wall is made jiartly of stones and partly
of large blocks of wood. Within there are two or three plastered walls
(in a somewhat ruined condition) of mud and straw, forming small

F 2

78 ma'lula and its dialect.

passages and shutting off the main part of the cave, which runs sloping up
behind the face of the cliff for some 52 feet. This, added to the 20 feet
of entrance, gives 72 feet as the face length. The cave then turns and
slopes up inward for 70 feet more. Here the breadth is considerable.
The height is from 10 to 15 feet. Before the cave turns inward a low,
artificial passage leads off at right angles, through which one must creep,
into a small chamber, from which a similar gallery leads to the interior
cavern. Marks of the chisel or pick are everywhere visible, so that it is
impossible to tell how much a natural cavern may have been enlarged.
The square window in the face of the cliff has an embrasure of 3 or 4 feet,
and a parapet with a drainage hole below to the right. The cliff below
this hole is stained. Sockets and holes at the side show that the window
may have been bolted or barred. Near the entrance, within the cave on a
ledge, there are signs of an ancient insci'iption in large Greek letters,
irregularly following the irregular surface of the ledge, something like
this : —

N€o . „ TA T

•ClOc e"^^ PA

It was not until we iiad been in the cave for an hour that we noticed the
faint letters, and I daresay a strong sun might reveal others. A few ruder
letters in red paint also occur ; also there were some plaster remains on the
cave wall, rough figures of a giraffe, a horse, a bird, and a camel, with rider
apparently holding an umbrella ! This last I do not recall, but my friend
assures me he saw it. We noticed pretty maidenhair growing above
another ledge, then damp moss on the ledge itself, then a basin scooped
out, a foot across, with a tiny channel 8 inches long leading to a small
hole. This was the only sign we saw of a water supply in the cave.

When we descended to the base of the cliff we found a stout, jolly
man, bearing a strong resemblance to King Henry the Eighth, who said
thai in the troubles of 1860 he had hid for days in that cave with the
women and children. All the walls within were then there : they did
nothing to the place. In the face of the same cliff, somewhat to the west,
there is another cave, with masonry at the entrance. This the man sakl
was smaller, and we did not visit it. At the base of the cliff", some yards
up, there are holes 12 or 15 inches square, cut in tlie rock at regular inter-
vals, jjrobably beam ends, used in the roof of some building, perhaps some
public place, as the structure indicated must have been large. This clift-
Castle is similar to the better known one in the Southern Lebanon, Kala'at
Niha, near Jezzin, where the Emir Fukher-ed-din Ma'n, held out against
the Turks. There a long ledge projecting from a cliff was utilised for
castle and dwelling ; beam ends occur above each other, suggesting two or
three stories, water was brought by a channel from above, small reservoirs
appear, granaries were carved in the rock, &c., &c. The Emir must have
taken advantage of some ancient cliff dwelling, dating perhaps from the
time of the one at Ma'lula.

ma'lula and its dialect. 79

On the huge detached boulders at the foot of the South Cliff are found
many tombs. In many cases they are simply cut in the tops of rocks.
One rock, far below, has steps cut to the top. There seems to have been
a passion for cutting in these stones, as there are many shallow, arched
recesses on detached rocks, apparently useless. Other arched recesses have
a couple of tombs in them. On one great boulder an elaborate arch is cut,
with a balustrade below and several deep tombs within. In another ])lace
the tombs are two deep, with a ledge, as if for cover between.

The West Cliff, directly above the town, is perforated with many
square holes — entrances to dwellings cut in the heart of the rock. Some
of these have been fitted with modern doors, and are used as storehouses.
One is so high that at a distance it seems quite inaccessible, but on
approach one finds beam-ends below, showing that the cliff-chamber might
have been apjn'oached from the roof of some building in front. At the
south end of this central cliff' the beam ends occur in several tiers, above
each other. In one place steps lead up the clift' to a chamber. We
entered several rooms and found them of varying sizes, some as large as
15 feet square. At the back of one chaml)er ther-e was an arch, and on
the surface of the rock at its side, slightly smoothed for the purjjose, was
this inscription, not perfectly clear, but apparently inclusive :

6TOYCHIYY-- IO<l>IXAOY
nATPOKAOYenOIHCA

NTHNKONXHNOr
MEPOYCHMOICOYC
nwe€U)MAAAXHAAA
€IAN

Another rock-dwelling consisted of two rooms. In one room at the
side there was an elevation as for seat or divan. The rock hung down
somewhat over the lintel of the inner door, which had this inscription, in
rude letters, some of which were rather indefinite :

€TOYCH6YAYAN€OYrX€IAOC
ZABA€OYABICAAYYACEPMOY

In another chamber we found traces of a much longer inscription of
nine lines, too indistinct for us to read. The guide told us that the above
inscriptions had been copied by travellers. All the chambers in th^e
West Cliff are quite artificial, the walls are always straight and the
angles true. Slightly carved in the face of the cliff is a large arch,
apparently to no purpose. Here also are small recesses like those we
noticed below. In one chamber a small channel or open drain crosses
the floor and disappears into the mountain at the back of the room. In
another are two vats, one lower than the other bat connected with it.

80 ma'lula and its dialect.

On the rocks outside the chambers and at a little distance are more
tombs, but the chambers themselves as a rule are without tombs.

The rocks and cliifs of the South Gorge are wild and splendid, but
contain no tombs. A side valley, lined with fantastic rocks and choked
with boulders, enters from the south. Near by, a huge rock hollowed
out like an oblong box, set on end, is called the " Hanging Place," because
of a round hole in the top. One looks up to the summit of the South
Clitf and is startled by its resemblance to a bear. A shallow groove runs
down the cliff at one side of the gorge ; as it comes to nothing it looks
as if it were merely to drain the rncks above, especially as we find these
drain-lines in the cliffs above the convent of Mar Tukla.

The North Gorge is more interesting. The path for horses climbs
over the rocks at one side, but we followed up the brook which emerged
from a narrow fissure with lofty perpendicular sides. Narrower grew
the winding chasm, and we had to use our hands quite as much as our
feet in getting along. Presently we heard a sound behind us, and we
flattened ourselves against the walls to let pass two women with cows.
As they splashed througli the tiny brook their progress was more rapid
than ours. They told us that God had opened up tliis fissure as a way
for Mar Tukla, who was fleeing from her enemies, and pointed to a deep
groove or aqueduct high up in the side of the clilf as the path on which
she walked. We traced this aqueduct almost to the fountain on the open
land above.

Mar Tukla is said to have been a companion of St. Paul's ; the tradi-
tion is doubtless ancient, and thus some light is thrown upon the
antiquity of the channel-aqueduct, and perhaps on ancient Ma'lula itself,
as those responsible for the tradition had no notion of its real origin.

Another day we followed the horse-path uj) the gorge and found
quantities of tombs — some open and some in rooms. Here also were
large chambers, partly cavernous and partly artificial. One was regularly
vaulted, with incomplete pillars not extending far below the vault. It
had a broad doorway, with sockets. It contained three vats, and a
place that might have been a tomb, or a place for stores. A.nother con-
tained lamp-niches, a stone seat, rings cut in floor and walls, plastered
holes, and vats sunk in the stone floor, used now in the preparation of
sumach.

To one approaching Ma'lula from the high lands to the west, the
ledges of rock which line the summits of th,^ hills above the amphi-
theatre seem to roll up to the sheer edge of the precipice like angry waves
of grey- white foam. Or to take a milder figure, the ledges appear some-
times like the wrinkled surface of cream or curds. In the ledges above
the Central or West Clitt' we find the greatest number of rock-dwellings.
These are cut so near the surface of the hill tliat sometimes the roof of
the chamber is no more than a foot thick. Some rooms are high and
spacious, others not high enough to stand in. One room had an arched
recess, precisely like the modern yuk, in Avhich the beds of the family
are piled by day ; seats ; cupboards ; rings in the roof. Some chambers

ma'lula and its dialect. 81

seem to have been ancient wine or oil presses, with vats at different levels
connected by channels.

Outside were shallow, rectangular reservoirs. One chamber had a hole
near the roof in the back wall, connecting it with a room cut in a higher
ledge of the mountain. The chambers are near each other and the top of
the hill is quite honey-combed with this rock-city. No tombs occur
here.

Mar Serkis, the Latin Serjius, is perched on these cliffs. It is a plain
quadrangle with two galleried stories about a court, and has a chapel with
small <lome in the centre. Within the chapel we found a stone screen,
with a series of western-looking panel pictures above. The altar was
canopied, surmounted by dome and cross.

At the back of the nave was a ruined gallerv. The convent belonss
to the Greek Catholics. In the Greek Orthodox churches the screen is
usually wooden, with three doors, surmounted by panels and a huge
wooden cross, with painting on it. There is only one priest at Mar
Sei-kis, whe received us hospitably. There are no monks. The wine of
the convent, so the priest said, is celebrated. It seemed very pure, but
somewhat heavy and flavourless. A tine fruit garden stretches behind the
convent, at some little distance below.

The Cave-Castle of the North Cliff is approached from above, as it
opens into the face of the rock, some 100 feet above its base. We toiled
up the sloping ledges, crawled through a small tunnel on our hands and
knees, and then descended a narrow fissure in which little holes were
notched, to a short ladder dropping to the cave itself. The descent from
the tunnel above must have measured 30 or 35 feet if not more. The view
was splendid ; taking in the grandly-coloured cliffs opposite, the richly
green gardens far below, the white houses of the town, also far below, the
roofs covered with brush, with people walking over them, the dome of
Mar Serkis, and the green of the vines on the upjjer hills of yellow,
saffron, brown, white, and maize.

The floor of the cave was very sloping. In front was a parapet of stones
and mud. Along the face the cave dimensions were 50 by 20 feet. At
one end it rounded into the mountain to a further depth of 25 feet. The
cave seemed mostly natural. In the roof were two holes, evidently arti-
ficial, apparently drilled from above ; and there was a larger hole in the
wall, soon branching into two funnels. Could this have been for water
sujjply ?

We have now touched on all the rock dwellings and chiselled stones of
Ma'lula exce])t those under the further end of the North Cliff'. The
largest chamber we found was one recently opened in the hill, below our
tent. This measured 20 by 40 feet. Its roof was supported by four
pillars — the natural rock left standing when the room was carved out. It
was divided into two parts by a low wall, only two or three feet high. It
contained seats, rings, niches for lamps, etc.

The only sign of sculj^ture was on a detached boulder above the tent.
Here, on two arched panels, were figures of a man and woman, or two

82 ma'lula and its dialect.

men perhaps, the features quite destroyed. Ou the arched border of one
panel was this inscription : —

€rNATIAP€P€NIKHTAIOCIOYAIOC
NPCC

After all this detail about tombs, chambers, and caves, perhaps a few
words of recajjitulation will make the matter clearer.

We have in ancient Ma'lula not only a large rock cemetery, but a town
of rock dwellings, which must have supported no small population.
While some tombs are found in recesses and chambers, the majority are in
the surface of rocks. Dwelling-houses are thickest on the hill behind the
West Cliff, where there are no tombs. Below, tombs and chambers occur
side by side. There may have been a large public building against the
South Cliff. Both North and South Cliffs have cave-castles. Numerous
beam-ends show that houses of wood or hewn stone occurred, in addition
to the rock-dwellings. The business part of the town must have been
above the North Cforge, where the vats, pits, &c., are rather more
numerous, though they are found elsewhere. An to the origin of the
cave dwellings, the present people of Ma'lula seem to have no idea.

The traditions of the place cluster around Mar Tukla. This convent
is most picturesquely placed in the angle made by the North Cliff with
the North Gorge. Its many buildings are shown at different angles on
the steep slope. Terraces, arcades, courts, diversify its appearance.

A series of arches, with wall, set in the face of a lofty cavern in the
cliff' above makes a most charming combination of art and nature. We
sent our servant on before to announce us, and then followed him up to
the comfortably furnished room where the head of the convent received
ns. The Archimandrite Macarius Saleba is a Syrian, of about 60 years,
with pleasant, if somewhat patronising, manner. His face is agreeable,
dignified, though not intellectual. He asked many questions, for
example, as to the relative position of New York and London. He was
much interested in hearing of our visit to the Convent of St. Catherine at
Sinai. Ou our showing him a ring consecrated on the Saint's relics and
presented to us by the Prior, he took it, crossed his right eye with it, then
the left, then the mouth. We were served with sweets, including
delicious masiltX-, a drink prepared from some fruit essence, which made us
all, including the servant, quite ill later on, and delicious coffee. My
friend had a small detective camera which takes a picture about 3i inches
square. The Archimandrite asked us to take his likeness. However, he
gave such elaborate instructions to his deacon to bring robes, a great
silver cross, &c., &c., that I told him that after all the result would be but
small. " What ! " said he. " Not as large as that picture 1" pointing to
some coarse print on the wall two or three feet square. " No," said I ;
" it cannot be larger than this," pointing to the tiny camera. Tlie Archi-
mandrite was disgusted. " Here, take this cross," he said, and it was a

ma'lula and its dialect. 83

few moments before his dignity recovered the attack made npon it. It is
needless to add he refused to be photographed.

Mar Tukla, according to the Prior's account, lived " 40 years after
Christ." Her name in Greek was Seleukias. (A man in the village told
us that the ancient name of Ma'lula was Seleukia.) She was a native of
Iconium, was engaged to the son of the King, but on her conversion
desired to lead a single life, and fled. On reaching Ma'lula the miraculous
passage was opened for her. She followed St. Paul to Rome. He saM to
her : "You have become as one of ns ; return to your own country and
preach the Gospel." Later she lived in the cave above the Convent,
which we visited with the deacon. Here a basin of ice-cold water (very
holy) is formed by the perpetual droppings from the rock above. She
lived in the part of the cave where the small chapel is built. Here are
brought the sick of all creeds, including Moslems and Druzes, for cui-e.
The deacon told us that only two days before a woman had been brought
from Suddud (the ancient Zedad mentioned in Numb, xxxiv, 8, two days'
journey from Ma'lula), all doultled up and carried in a box. She slept
one night in the chapel and returned to her town, walking. At the back
of the chapel is a small closed aperture, behind which the Saint was
buried. A workman once tried to open the tomb, but a blast or some
power came out which either paralysed or killed him.

Later on, iu Damascus, I heard from the Ma'lulites there resident
some more legends and tales of Mar Tukla, which I insert here. Accord-
ing to my informants, her people were Moslems. It will be remembered
in this connection that she was a companion of St. Paul's. When fleeing
from her persecutors she passed a fellah. Taking up a burnt stick, she
stuck it into the ground, a.nd said to the peasant, "If people come along
and inquire for a girl, tell them that the girl who passed by planted
this." She went on her way, and presently her people appeared. The
burnt stick had put forth flowers ; the persecutors, evidently believing
that the girl who planted that shrub could not have passed recently,
turned back, giving up the pursuit. When living in her cave she cured
people by laying hands on the head. After her deatb her people came
to steal her body; she appeared in the night to the Prior of the Convent
and said, " They have stolen my body." At the third summons he arose,
went in jjursviit, and brought back the body.

Mar Tukla's presence in the village is a real thing to the people to-day.
They speak of her as a " lady we have here." A friend of mine was
recently in the village aud heard an excited discussion. A man who had
a dispute about money matters was declaring that Mar Tukla had
appeared to him in a tield, and had given her judgment of the affair ; as
the decision was favourable to himself, some scepticism prevailed in the
opposite party. However, many believed in the appearance.

My Ma'lula friends say that once a man coming from Hums was
greatly imperilled by a storm of rain and snow. He cried out, " If Goil
will save me and my beast, I will off'er a drop of oil to the Saint at
Ma'lula." Immediately the storm ceased. On arriving at the Convent

84 ma'lula and its dialect.

he expressed his gratitude by offering half a pint of oil to Mar Tukla.
Then he ate liis dinner and s[)ent a pleasant evening. Later on he visited
the cave and found something wrong with the oil, just what I could not
understand. However, he went to the Prior, told his story, and asked
why the Saint was displeased. " Ah ! " said the Prior. " You have not
performed your vow. You promised a drop, and you presented half a
pint. The Saint wishes no more and no less than you vow." So the man
mounted to the cave, poured off all the oil but one drop, and the Saint
was appeased.

A boy declared to me that he had seen a girl arrive in the village from
Kuryatan, carried by four men, accompanied by her mother and bride-
groom. She slept in the cave, and the boy athrms that he saw her the
next day cured.

Another tale declares that a man in Salhieh, a suburb of Damascus,
suffered with "all kinds of diseases." Having heard of Mar Tukla, he
fattened a sheep and took it to Ma'lula as an offering. He was cured,
and keeps up the offering yearly.

One evening a European arrived at the village and asked for shelter.
He was taken in by the uncle of Machoil, the lad who taught me what I
know of his dialect. During the evening the stranger said that he had
had much pain in his legs for years ; he had tried many medicines with
no success. The host then said : " We have a lady here who can cure you."
" Who is she, and what can she do ? " said the Frank. The host then
related the cures of the Saint. The Frank, however, remained uncon-
vinced. Presently beds were spread on the floor and they retired. In
the night the stranger felt some one treading on his legs and feet. Up he
jumped, seized his host by the throat, and demanded what he meant by
walking over him. The host indignantly repudiated the chai'ge, and the
fight would have waxed severe had not the Ma'lulite bethought himself
of " the lady." " She has come to cure you," he declared. The next
morning the Frank found that his pains had disappeared. His unbelief
vanished, and he went up to the convent to make his acknowledgments to
the Saint.

I asked if many Ma'lulites had been cured. "Not one," was the
answer, " and the reason is this — when one of us is ill he says, I will go
up to the convent and see wl>ether perhaps the lady will cure me ! It is
that perhaps that spoils everything. We live in the place, and have no
means of proving our faith. Those who travel, with difficulty, two, three,
and four days, prove the strength of their faith, and so the Saint heals
them."

To return to the convent. Besides the prior and the deacon, a nun was
the only other person we saw in the establishment. There are suites of
new rooms for the accommodation of numerous Damascenes who make
Ma'hda a place for summer resort. On leaving they make presents to the
convent. Similar quests are entertained at Mar Serkis. It was curious
to notice in one of the rooms the yukh (or place for beds), so similar to
what is carved from rock in the cave-dwellings.

MALULA AND ITS DIALECT. 85

The Archimandrite could tell us nothing of the history of the convent,
but it was his impression that while the place was always held sacred, a
convent had not been built till centuries after the Saint's death. I am
sorry to say that we left without entering the church. This was an over-
sight that we meant to remedy. However, it was a simple square
structure with flat roof. In no old convent in Syria have I seen a pointed
roof, except in the church of the ruined square convent of Mar Mousa, in
a gorge to the east of Nebk, off the Palmyra Eoad. This Mar Mousa
Church bears a strong architectural resemblance to Justinian's Church at
Mount Sinai.

My friend in the village told me that in an old book, no longer in the
town, it was stated that Mohammed never entered Ma'lula, though the
inhabitants hid for twelve years in the Cliff Castle. By " Mohammed,"
I suppose we may understand the Moslem army. I refer to this fact as
significant in its possible relation to the survival of the old dialect, while
the Arabic of the Conquerors supplanted this same old dialect in the
rest of Syria, save in the small villages of Bukh'a and Jeb'adin, not far from
Ma'lula itself. It is difficult, perhaps idle, to speculate on the reasons for
this sporadic survival. However, it is possible that if the people of
Ma'lula kept out the conqueror, or if for some reason the conqueror did
not care to enter, the population of this wild, secluded gorge, might
have kept purer and moie intact than that of the rest of Syria, and that
this might account for the preservation of their own language. Once
preserved for a century or so, during which it had disappeared from the
rest of the country, local pride and local tradition would be enough to
retain it as a local dialect. The people seemed to us proud of their
language. Meanwhile, the Arabic spoken by the Ma'lulites is of the
Damascus type, far purer in accent than that of their neighbours in
Ma'arra, which bears a distinct Syriac flavour in its vocalization. This is
curious, but admits of explanation. The people of Ma'arra gradually
adopted the Arabic as their sole language, retaining the broad Syriac
vowels. The Ma'lulites learned Arabic as a foreign tongue, and kept the
Syriac vocalization for the Syriac language, pronouncing the Arabic like
the Arabs. For example, the ordinary Arabic word for Damascus is pro-
nounced by the Ma'arrites Shavmi, by the Ma'lulites Shem. However,
such a speculation is a delicate one. Nebk and Yebrtld, situated hardly
six miles apart, have easily distinguished accents.

Bukh'a and Jeb'adin are Moslem villages, but there are indications
that they were Christian not very long ago, perhaps within a couple of
centuries. Bukh'a is on the high land above Ma'lula, and a few miles
to the north. It is a miseraltle village, containing about twenty houses.
Jeb'adin is to the south of Ma'lula, about an hour away. It is approached
by a wild gorge, and its fifty or more houses occupy the hills above. The
dialect in these villages difi'ers somewhat from that of Ma'lula. Even in
my hurried visit I noticed a difference in the form of some woixls. It is
strange that the dialect should have survived in these two villages, and
should have disappeared in 'Ain-etluy, which is much nearer Ma'lula.

86 ma'lula and its dialect.

Possibly they may have been more closely affiliated to Ma'lula, by inter-
marriage, trade, &c.

Since writing the above I have paid a visit to Damascus, for the pur-
pose of verifying the notes taken in Ma'lula upon its dialect. To these
notes I have made such additions as will enable me to present a brief
sketch of the language. Writing in PeirCit I have no access to any large
library. Noldeke, in 1862, published a brief treatise on the Anti-Libanus-
Ai-amaic, which I have not seen. I learn from Burton and Drake's
" Unexplored Syria " (Loudon, 1872), that Dr. Socin spent two months
in Ma'lula studying the dialect. If he has pulilished anything I have
not seen it. In the "Unexplored Syria" (vol. ii, pp. 264-271), there is
a short description of Ma'lula, with lists of skulls and bones found there,
and a list of a dozen or more words of the dialect.

The ovens in the Christian quarter of Damascus are, as a rule, worked
by Ma'lulites, who are looked upon as quite a distinct class of people.
They have a name for shrewdness. The bread boys are notably sharp
and mischievous, as well as profane. At one of the ovens I found
Macholl, the boy who had been my teacher at Ma'lula. I employed him
again, because he had a rare faculty of answering questions, giving
neither more nor less than what was asked. The Ma'lula dialect is not
written, and very few of the villagers read and write Arabic. Hence a
sharp boy whom one could keep to the point made the best teacher.

I transliterate words of the dialect into Latin characters for three
reasons : 1st, as I have just noticed, the people do not write it them-
selves ; 2nd, some letters have peculiar sounds ; 3rd, many words are
almost pure Ai'abic.

.«^ {btth) is sometimes hard like our B, but is often pronounced like P,
eg. ob, father, ippai - my father. Lhappopa = fly. This difi"erence is
observed to-day in the Oriental pronunciation of the classic Syiiac.

Mh {Gonial) (1) like a softened Arabic c^ or a thick Parisian R ;
(2) like the soft Arabic ^ in 'aja why ; also in sejratha tree, and thelja
snow, both of which are very near the Arabic.

> (dolath) like TH in that— as in Dhemsek (Damascus). Also like T ;
ex. Biota, town, &c. The relative ? is pronounced t.

The hard sound of D appears rarely ; ex. Mdhitcha, city.

Ml. (^cheth) is like the Arabic ^

But the ^ sound occurs kharufa, sheep ; hhuttuma, servant, and some

other Arabic words.

JD (Koph) is like ch in the Scottish loch, ex. chathoha = boot It
also has the hard c sound in many Arabic words, and in the Syriac
dhuctha = place ; malca = king, &c.

L (Ee) is usually like the Arabic c But I noticed the ^soimd
ghuhira = dust, and Shoghala = work, which are near the Arabi
forms.

ma'lula and h:6 dialect. 87

a (Pe) is like the Arabic i i F.

O (Qoph) loses its guttural sound, aud is pronounced like simple K.
A (Shin) is Sh. The *S' sound occurs, but seems usually traceable

to an Arabic ^^ Sad, or Syriac CD Notice, however, Sejratha,

(Arabic ^^).

^ (tau) is like TH in timi, eg. ichthah = he writes. It also has the
sound of TCH as in the English word hutch, ex. hatch =: thou.
In some words derived from the Arabic the T sound occurs.

In my transliteration the following letters and combinations have the
following values : —

SH, as in shop, representing shin.

TCH, as in hutch „ one sound of tau.

TH, as in thin „ another sound of tau.

GH, sounded like Ar. c representing gomal.

CH, as in Scottish loch „ soft koph.

C „ cat, representing hard koph.

K (no guttural) ,, qoph.

H, representing aspirate cheth.

KH ,, rough cheth.

DH, as in that, representing dolath.

T represents soft sound of dolath.

t „ teth.

»)

ee.

In words plainly borrowed from the Arabic t also represents cu
The influence of the Arabic on the dialect has been great. Without
pretending to mention all the indications of this influence, I name a few
particulars : —

1. The structure of sentences in the Ma'lula dialect follows closely
that of the common Arabic. Connectives have been transferred bodily.
Further on I give an example of narrative which illustrates this.

2. Many words are plainly borrowed from the Arabic, but these are
usually given a Syriac termination, and altered in pronunciation, and
sometimes in accent. (Some words, however, are unaltered.)

Furshta (bed), Arabic, tw J
Durba (road) „ (__? , J

'Aiba (shame) „ * ^K£.

Tchuchtcha (bedstead), Arabic, l::^.^

3. The adjective in comparison undergoes internal changes as in
Arabic.

88 ma'lula and its dialect.

Korsa (cold), alcras (colder), ihil (sweet), ahla (sweeter).

4. Salutations, complimentary phrases, proverbs, &c., &c., are generally
Arabic, with slight accommodation to the Syriac pronunciation and
accent.

5. The unclassical Arabic auxiliary expressions, heddi, beddti, &c.
joined with the verb to express desire, and 'am, to express continuous
action in the present, have been transferred as in the phrases hetnidhmuch
= I wish to sleep ; bennlchul = I wish to eat ; 'annocldl = I am eating ;
'amshoth = I am drinking.

A"06"i\''»S'.— Masculine nouns usually end in d, and accent the pen-
ultimate. They form their plural in 6, which takes the accent : Chefa
(stone), chefo ; hsona (horse), hsano ; bsona (child), bsino. In the last
two exam|)les note the modification of the root- vowel.

Feminine nouns usually end in tha, and form their plural in iotha ;
bisnltha (girl), bsiniotha ; shunitha (woman), shuniotha ; baitha (house),
baithiotha, where the th as a sign of the feminine appears in the plural.

M'artha (cave) has the plural M'arO, and chowcabtha (star) the plural
chowc-bo.

The pronomhial suffixes are as follows : —

1. For masculine nouns —

Singular, hsuna (horse).

1st (my horse), hson. 1st (our), hsonah. _

2nd naasc. (thy), hsonach. 2nd masc. (your), hsonchun.

2ud fem. (thy), hsonish. 2nd fem. (your), hsonchiu.

3rd masc. (his), iisoui. 3rd masc. (their), hsonun.

3rd fem. (has), hsona. 3rd fem. (their), hsoniu.

Plural, hsano (horses).

1st (my horses), hsanoi. 1st (our), hsanenah.

2nd masc. (thy), hsanoch. 2nd masc. (your), hsanechun.

2n(l fem. (thy), hsanosh. 2nd fem. (your), hsanechin.

3rd masc. (his), hsanoi. 3rd masc. (their), hsanehun.

3rd fem. (her), hsauoya. 3rd fem. (their), hsanehin.

]}^ote. — The vowel ^ in hsanenah, &c., approximates in sound to the
diphthong ai.

2. For feminine nouns —

Singular : Baitha (house), baith or baitha (my house), baithach (thy
house), baithish (thy house), fem., &c., &c., like the suffixes of the sing,
masc. noun.

The p^wra^, baithiotha, also takes the singular suffixes : baithioth (my
houses), baithiothach (thy houses), baithiothah (our houses), &c., &c.

The noun oh (father) takes peculiar suffixes.

MALULA AND ITS DIALECT,

Sing. Siiffixes.

1st, ippai (my father).
2iid uiasc, obiK-h.
2nd fern., obush.
3rd masc, obu.
3rd fern., obu.

Plural Suffixes.

1st, abunah (oiir).
2nd niasc, abuchuu.
2iid feni., abuchin.
3rd niasc, abuhnn.
3rd fern., abuhin.

In these various suffixes may be observed — (1) classical Syriac forms
as och (which, however, attaches itself to a plural rather than a singular

noun) ; (2) an Arabic suffix (with the {J^J pronounced soft) in hsonach ;
(3) some peculiar forms, as in hsonish, hsonah, &c.

I add a short list of common nouns for comparison with the classic j1
and Ai'abic forms : — '

Eaisha

= head.

Cilmtha

= word.

'Aina

:= eye.

Shimsha

^ sun.

Eeohra

=i foot.

Nura

= fire.

Furshta

=: bed.

Tchuchtcha

= bedstead.

Bisra

^ meat.

Sahara

=: moon.

Sejratha

= tree.

Dhuctha

=: place.

Hwoya

^ ail-.

Hona

= brother.

Hoth

= sister.

Bshola

= cooked food

Ar'a

z= ground.

Thelja

:= snow.

Shoptha

=: week.

Shmo

= heaven.

'Afra

:= earth.

Ghubura

= dust.

Chathoba

= book.

Safroua

= bird.

Shenua

= rock.

Ghanua

=: garden.

Ghubelcha

^ cheese.

Durba

= road. ■

Sara

^ hair.

Chsuru

r= wood.

Mdintcha

= city.

Yarha
PEONOUNS.

r= month.

The personal pronorins are as follows

1st sing., Ana =: I.

2ud masc. Hatch or hatclii ^ thou.

2nd fem., Hash or hashi = thou.

3rd masc, Htl.

3rd fem., HI.

1st plural, Anah = we.

2Dd masc, Batchchun ^ you.

2nd fem., Hatchchin =^ you.

3rd masc, Hin or hinnuii ^ they.

90 ma'lula and its dialect.

Demonstrative Pronouns,

Masc. Hanna ^ this. Fern. Hodli or ho i= this.

MasG. Hotlii = that. Fern. Hotha = that.

Pla. Hathin = those.

Relative. — The classical > appears but is prouounced t.

The interrogatives are man =^ who, and 7no =^ what

■'tD

The Numerals to Ten.

1. Aiiadh. 6. Shitcha.

2. Ithr. 7. Shob'a.

3. Thlotha. 8. Thraonya.

4. Urba'. 9. Tish'a.

5. Hamsha. 10. 'Asra.

VERBS. — The regular stronor verb is inflected as follows : —
Ichthab =: he wrote. Idhmich ^ he slept.

Preterite.

3rd masc. sing., Ichthab Idhmich, or -michli.

3rd fem. „ Chathbath Dhinicliath.

2nd masc. „ Chathbitch Dhimchitch.

2nd fem. „ Chathbish Dhimchish.

1st c. „ Chathbith Dhimchith.

3rd c. plu., Ichthab Idhmich.

2nd masc. plu., Chathbitchchun Dhimchitchchun.

2nd fem. „ Cliathbitchchin Dhimchitchchin.

1st c. „ Chathbinnah Dhimchinnah.

The 2nd masc, 2nd fem., and 1st c. plural, seem to be formed by
adding the jn-onouns hatchcJnin, hatchchin, and anah to the root with little
change. The 2nd pers. pronouns, hatchi and hashi, may be traced
perhaps, but less cleaiiy, in the 2nd sing, verljal forms. The other forms
vary little from the classic, 3rd sing, and 3rd plural being pronomiced
alike. Note, however, the prosthetic vowel which almost always occurs in
the 3rd person. I have noticed one exception : rahni^ he loved., instead of
irliain. Note also the alternative form, idlimichli.

The present and future are generally expressed by forms based on the
participle ; the prefoimatives of n and tch may be explained as traces of
ana., anah, hatchi, &c., huri'iedly repeated and then assimilated to the
participle.

ma'lula and its dialect. 91

Singular, rocliib {he rides). Plural.

3rcl masc, rfichib. 3rd masc, rochbin.

3r(l fern., rochba. 3rd fem., rochban.

2ik1 masc, tchrochib. 2ud masc, tehrochbin.

2ud feiu., tchrochba. 2nd fem., tchrocliban.

1st c, n-rocliib. 1st c, n-rochbin.

In subordinate clauses, as of purpose, &c., we find traces of the regular
future (or imperfect) tense, as zelli yidhmuch (he went that he might
sleep). The phrase bettu yichthuh (he wishes to write) follows a colloquial
Arabic idiom : —

Sing., 3rd masc, bettu yichthub.

„ 3rd fem., betta tchichthub.

„ 2nd masc, bettach „

„ 2nd fem., bettish „

„ 1st c, beimichthub.

Plu., 3rd masc, betttin y-chuthbun.

„ 3rd fem., „ y-chuthl.ian.

„ 2nd masc, betchun tch-chuthbun.

„ 2nd fem., ,, tch-chuthban.

„ 1st c, bettah nichthub.

Note. — There is no trace of the n preformative in the 3rd masc.
peculiar to the classic Syriac. It occurs instead in the 1st sing, and plu.
The y preformative, foreign to the classic Syriac, occurs in 3rd pers. sing,
and plu.

The imperative is : —

2nd masc. rehab ; 2nd f. irchab ; 2nd plui-al, ruchbun.

I did not hear an infinitive used. The verbal noun riding is ruclib-tha.
I j^ive suffixes of Iktal and Kutlith, 3rd and 1st pers. sing, of preterite.

Iktal. Kutlith.

Suf. 1st sing. Kutal (he killed me) —

2nd s.m.

Kutlach.

Kutlitchach.

2nd s.f.

Kutlish.

Kutlitchish.

3rd s.m.

Kutli.

Kutlitchi.

3rd s.f.

Kutla.

Kutlitcha.

1st plu.

Kutlennah.

2nd pi. m

. Kutlancluiu.

Kutlitchchun

2nd pi. f.

Kutlanchin.

Kutlitchchin.

3rd pi. m

Kutlan.

Kutlitchun.

3rd pi. f.

■>■)

Kutlitchin.

Another way is to use loraadh, ex. Lickns, he butchered ; with suffixes —
nachisil, nachislach, nachislash, nachisli, &c., &c.

Kotil (participial present), with suffixes : katelli, killing him ;
katella, killing hei' ; katU, killing me ; katellach, killing thee, &c. And so

92 ma'lula and its dialect.

the other forms as n-kotil (I am killing), n-katelli, n-katellach, n-katelli; li
&c., &c.

The passive In-htal has the endings of the active preterite : In ktal,
inkutlath, inkutlitch, inkutlith, &c., &c.

The intensive. Bukkar, to know ; Preterite, bukkar, bukrath, bnk-
ritch, bukrish, &c. &c.

The future (clearly based on the participle with m\ mbnkkar, mbukra
tch-mbukkar, n-mbukkar, &c.

The Pe Nun verb Inchus, he killed, does not lose the nun in any jjart,
but is inflected like the strong verb. Inchus, nachsath, nachsitch, &c. ;
fut. nochis, tchnochis, &c. ; imper. n-chas.

Tlie Pe olaf verb achal (he ate), Pret. achal, achlath, achlitch, &c. ;
fut. Cchil, ochla, tchochil, nochil, &c. ; Imper. 2nd m., chol ; 2nd f., achfil ;
2«c^ m. pi.., nchlun ; 2nd f. pi., uchlin, 1 wish to eat ^ bennichnl.

llif (both vowels short) may be a Pe olaph, or a pe yxtdh verb
(classic).

Pret. ilif, ilfath, ilfitch, &c., &c. ; fut. loif, luifa, tchloif, nloif, &c.

Ailif to teach, is the causative form ; Pret. ailif, ailfath, &c. ; fut.
mailif, mailfa, tchmailif, &c., &c.

I wish to learn = betnllaf.
He wishes to learn = betti yilaf.
I wish to teach = betneilaf.
He wislies to learn ^ betti yeilaf.

Similar to this verb is irih, he grew great. Pret. irib, irbath, &c. ;
fut. roib, tch-roib, n-roib, &c. —

He inshes to increase = betti yinil).
/ wish „ „ = betnirub.

The verb ap he gave, is the classic «^CTLi
J'ret. ap, appath, appitch, &c.
Fnt . ma^j, mapya, tclimap, tchmapya, n-map, &c.
Ii/iper. appa, /'eTO. appai ; pi. apjaun, appin.
Ap, with suffixes of the indirect object :

Suf.

1st sing

: c.

appil or applll

he gave me.

2nd „

, appech or applech

thee.

>5 5)

f.,

appish or applish

thee.

3rd „

m.,

appeli or appleli

him.

» »

appela or applela

lier.

1st pi.

ai)pL;h

us.

2nd pi.

m.,

, appelchun

you.

»> ))

f-,

ajjpelchin

you.

3id „

m.,

appelun

them.

j> >j

f-,

appeliu

them,

ma'lula and its dialect. 93

The forms with and without lomadh seem to be used indifferently.

Other suffixes are : I gave him = applilli ; I gave her = a]i|»lella ;
I gave thee = applillach ; she gave him =: applelli ; thou gavest him =
applitchli ; they gave him = appulli ; you gave him =^ aptchulli ; we
gave him =: apnahli.

3/ap, with indirect object : maiiptl, mapech, mapish, niapcli, ma])C'la,
mappeh, mappclun, &c., &c.

The cattsutive is oiopil, to deliver — I is used as an auxiliary letter
apparently.

Pret. owpil, owplath, owplitch, &c.

Fut. mowjiil, mowj)la, tchmowpil, &c.

Imper. owpil, owplun.

Note the trace of yudh, lost in the peal form.

Ee vau verb. — Akam (note the prosthetic vowel) is inflected : Akant,
komatli, komitch, &c. ; plural akam, komitchchun, &c.

Fut. koini, koinia, tchkoim, &c.

Imper. Sing. masc. kom, fern. kAm. Plu. masc. kum6n, fern, kuman.

Lomadh Olaph verbs. — Ishtch — he drank — is inflected.

Pret. Ishtch, ishtchath, ishtchitch, &c.

Fut. Shoth, shothya, tchoth, &c. ; plu. shothin, shothan, tchoth n,
tchothyan, n-shothin.

Note how in tclioth, sh disappears before the {^reformative tch.

Imper. mas. Ishtcha or shtcha ; fem. stchai ; plural Ishtschon oi'
shtchon ; fem. shtchin.

Ihim, he saw.

Pret. Ihim, ihmath, ihmitch, &c. ; pltc. ihim, hmitchchun, hminnah, &c.

Fut. Hom, homya, tchhom, &c.

Imper. masc. Ihma, fem. hmai, plu. ihmun, fem. ihmin.

Ihim, with suffixes : —

Himni = he saw him. h-m&nun =^ he saw them.

Himna := „ her. h-menchun = „ you.

Himnach =l „ thee. h-menuah = „ us.

Hom, with suffixes : —

hamtl =

seeing me.

hameh =

seeing us,

hamech =:

,, thee.

&c.

hamlsh =

„ thee (f.).

&c.

hameli =

„ him.

hamela ^

„ her.

If (to bake), Hebrew nC^^; is both Pe olaph and lomadh olaph.

Pret. If, ifath, &c. Fut. of, tchfif, nof, &c. Imper. masc ifa ; fem. ifai ;
plu. masc. funin ; fem. finu.

In all these verbs the final radical disappears (except, perhaps, in forms

homya, hmai, &c.), and the regular endings attack themselves to the

second radicals.

G 2

MALULA AND ITS DIALECT.

There is a group of verbs which have peculiar terminations :
tholi he came ; zelli he went ; and k'oli, he sat {i.e., sat as a servant,

served). The first two are evidently the classic (Z| and ^1(

with an auxiliary lomadh appearing in some forms. K'oli seems to
belong to the same class.

Preterite.

3rd sing.

, masc,

Tholi.

Zelli.

K'oli.

» 55

fern.,

Thalia.

Zlella.

K'alla.

2nd „

m.,

Thitchlach.

Zlitchlach.

K'itchlach.

5> )5

Thishlish.

Zlishlish.

K'ishlish.

1st „

Thll.

Zlil.

K'il.

3rd, plu..

, masc,

Tholun.

Zellun.

K'olun.

55 ))

f-,

Tholin.

Zellin.

K'olin.

2nd „

m.,

Thitchchun.

Zlitchun.

K'itchchun,

)5 )5

f.,

Thitchchin.

Zlitchchin.

K'itchchin.

1st „

Thinnah.

Zliiniah.

K'innah.

Future.

3rd sing.

5 m-,

Theli.

Zelli.

K'eUi.

)? 5>

f.5

Thiola.

Zlola.

K'iola.

2nd „

m.,

Tchthech.

Zellach.

Tchk'ech.

jj »

f-,

Tchthiosh.

Tchzlush.

Tchk'iosh.

1st „

N-thil.

Nzil.

N-k'il.

3rd plu.,

, m.,

Thyillun.

Zlillun.

K'illun.

55 55

f.,

Thyillin.

Zlellin.

K'illuu.

2nd plu.

5 ru-5

Tchthilchun.

Tchzlilchun.

Tchkai'ilchun,

55 55

Tchthilchin.

„ in.

in,

1st „

JSI-thyillah.

N-zillaii.

N-kai'illah.

Imper.

2nd sing., m.,

Thoch.

Zech.

K'ach.

55 55 '■M

Thosh.

Zish or Zellish.

K'ash.

„ plu. m.,

Thalchun.

Zlelchun.

K'elchun

Thalchin.

„ in.

K'elchin.

The endings of these verbs in the pret. and fut. sing, and imp. sing, bear
a strong resemblance to the pronominal suffixes attached to verbs, nouns,
and the preposition lomadh. Only in the plural do the forms resemble
those of the ordinary strong verb.

Notice here the resemblance of some of the forms to the strong

classical imperative with the "ethical dative" with lomadh, ^ V^^,
(zel loch), ^^:iS ^f. .QoL ^1 ; also ^ (2" (tho loch) . .^K J'Z,

ma'lula and its dialect.

.Q,Q_^ oZ, &c. It seems as if an inflection, in preterite and fixture, had

been built by analogy upon these imp. forms with I.

The verb to be (corresponding in use to the Arabic ^1^) is wob.

{WOB) Preterite.

2nd

1st

3rd sing, m., wob.
„ ,, f., waiba.

ni., tchob or tchobi.

f., ushiba.

m., unob or nob.
„ „ f., uniba.

Future.

3rd sing, m., ob or ylbtchob.

,, „ f., tchib.
2nd „ m., tchib.

„ „ f., tchiba.

3rd plu. m., waibin.
„ „ f., waiban.

m., utchibln.

f., utchiban.

m., unibtn.

f., uniban.

2nd

1st

3rd plu. m., aibAn.-
„ „ f., aiban.

2nd „ m., tchibin.
„ „ f., tchiban

1st

unob or nob.

1st

nibin.

This inflection may possibly be based iipon a combination of the veib
^OOl and the preposition %^ (beth). The colloquial Arabic expression fI
sio-nifies (like wob) there is ; fini comes to mean it is in me or 7 can ; fik,
it is in you or yoti can. Some such use might explain the form wo6, and
the other forms might be accounted for if we regard woh as taken as a
root, given feminine and plural terminations as in waiba, waibin, and
waiban, and combined with pronominal fragments as in tchob, utchibin,
and unob.

There is is also expressed by ftth ; there is not := tchtlth.

There was is woth.

He became is ithcan, inflicted thicnath, thicnitch, &c.

Fut. thocan, n-thocan, &c.

The preposition ^ (lomdah) takes its suflixes thus : —

\st sing., lil ; 2nd sing, masc, lech ; 2nd sing, fem., llsh ; 3rd sing, tnasc,
leli ; Srd sing, fern., lela ; 1st pi, leah ; 2nd pi. masc, lelchun ; 2nd pi.
fem., lelchin ; 3rd pi. masc, 161un ; 3rd pi. fem., lelin.

The preposition lomadh is used in such phrases as : mor il baitha,
the master of the house ; Ob il MachoU, Michael's father.

A. few adverbs, particles, &c. : —

Hosh

Il'il

Ira'

Imodh

Rumish

Imhar

Botliar

= now.

Lina

= up.

Emma

:= down.

Hannuc

= to-day.

Ikdhum

= yesterday.

= to-morrow.

Aja'

= after (prep.).

Tchu

= where \
z= where 1
= where ?
= before

(conj.).
= why i
= not.

96 ma'lula and its dialect.

Kayyam =: after (conj.). Hutta = in order

Hoclia = here. that.

Dhuk or dhikli = when. Laow or Izzatchob := if.

I add a Ma'hila-Syriac rendering of the parable of the Prodigal
Son. The Ma'hila baker-boy, Machoil, like most of his fellow-townsmen,
can neither read nor write, and does not easily follow " high Arabic."
However, I repeated the j^arable to him in Arabic, simple, but as nearly
equivalent to the original Syriac as jwssible. He gave me, bit by bit,
the following translation. Later, by the aid of an oil lamp in the dark
gloomy oven, I read the parable as given by him, to some Ma'lula men
and boys, who easily re-translated it into Arabic.

Hence it will give a fair idea of the Ma'lula style of narrative.

Luke XV, 11-32.

11. Woth ghabrona ilS ithr ibr. 12. Z'ora amel lobu. Yaippaiapplll

kusmthi m-molach. Iksam lelun 'ishtchi. 13. Bothar yoma kalil,

ajma' ibri z'ora chullemet, u-zelli 'a blato bhtdha, u-ilhil rowh il moli

musrif bahar. 14. Dhuki rowwah chullemet t-ghappi, ithcin chufna

bahar bathin blato, n-ithcin muhtchaj. 15. LT-zelli u-k'i)li ghap lahadh

maroil lathiu blato, u-owpli 1-bistchano yir'al 1-hziro. 16. U-bettu

yimlel ghowwi mnenna khurnub t-uchlilli h-ziro. La bernash apjjeli mit.

17. Dhukkil 'owwit 1-nephshi omar ; iichma aghlr ghap lippai t-ghappai

lehma zayyit, u-ana hocha ahl-cith mchufna. 18. N-konzil la' lippai,

u-namelli, ya ippai, ukhtith lishmo u-kommach. 19. U-lophash il fristcha

hutta tchemmin ibrach. Shun uchtahadh min aghiroch. 20. Akam,

zelli la'lobu. Dhukkil wob ba'idh hemni obu, tchhanuan 'al6, arhit

u-iskat 'a kdholi, u-neshki. 21. U-amelli ibri, ya ippai vikhtith 1-shmo

u-kommach, n-lophash il fristcha hutta tchemmin il>raeh. 22. Omar obu

laghiro, Aithfm chusso t-ahsin u-chuslulli, arnhun kh.otchuna b-idhi,

u-surmoytha b-rughri. 23. Aithun 'akkusha ma'lufa u-nuchsunni,

u-nochlin u-nhodhin. 24. Hanna ibr wob imitli u hosh aytib, wob

dhayya u-iltchki. LT-abbit hodhin. 25. Ibri rappa wob b-hokla ; u

dhuki tholi u-akrib il baitha ishmi' hessa nowbtha n-reghdha. 26.

U-iz'ak 'a lahadh m-naghiro, u-sha'li ; mo 6th. 27. U-amelli, Honach

tholi, u-obuch inchas 'akkusha ma'lufa, akbli bisslomtcha. 28. U-

aghdhib, u-la sob ya'bur ; u-infik obu y-tulpenni. 29. U-jowwibi u-

amel lobu ; ana mukhtemlacli chuUan ishno, u limodh la chiilititcliach

m-mit. B-6mrach iappitchil ghudhya hutta nihidli 'amlistikoi. 30.

Lacawn dhuki tholi hanna ibrach t-rowwah il moli harlma t-z6nyan

nachsitchlcli 'akkusha ma'lufa. 31. U-amelli, ya ibr, hatch 'im chuUau

yomo, u-chutiltl lech. 32. Wob wojib 'alenah niiiidh u nimbsut ; honaoh

hanna wob imith u-ih, u-wob dhayya u-iltchki.

Frederick Jones Bltss, B A.,

Beirdt, Syria.
November \^th, 1889.

Notes 11. — Woth = there was. He to liim. 12. Amel lohn, from anir, to
say ; r chauged to 1 before 1 iu lolii = to liis father. Ya = O, common

ma'lula and its dialect. 97

Arabic mode of address. Appltl — give me ; appa is give. Knsmthi m-
■itudach, tlie Arabic i-oots are used, my share of thy proi)erty. 13. Bulhar i/oma
kalil ; another expression is bothar uchma i/oiii, after some days. Chullemet

i-f-, Ld.!^ Wq. Bluld, plural form used for district; the sing., Biota
signifies' « towH. Ilhil = there ; il moli = the property, a use of the Arabic
article. Musrif (Arabic) hahar = great expenditure, the simple dialect fails to
express the "r(o/o«s /('«/»/;" better than this. 1-4. Rowivah, we have had the
form rowh with just the same meaning— au illustration of the flexibility -of
form we find in many words which lengthen or shorten as the rhythm of the
sentence may demand. For when we have dhuk, dhitki, dlmkkU, dhukli, the
form depending on the first letter of the next word as well as rhythm. T-ghappi
= which he had ; it is the classical > ; I find no trace of it as a preposition ; ghap
is w«M denoting possession, &c. 15. K'oli . . . Unto = "served at the house
of one of the masters of that land." Observe the redundant use of the L
Lathin = l-hathia ; owpli = sent him, oify;//— aphel from ap. Yir'al we
have noticed the y preformative in clauses of purpose. 16. Mnenna, from
those; t-uchlilli h-ziro, which the swine eat (them). From achal w. suffix.
Bernash = "JaJ''^: ""^ = J^ojLO- 'oivioit, the Arabic J^U ghap llppai =
at my fatlier's, redundant ; t-ghappai, who have, lit. who with them. 18.
N-k6nzil, I will arise and go, a compound. The konzellah ! let us be off! is
very common ; la'lippai, very redundant ; namdU, r lost or assimilated w. 1 of
suffix. 19. Lophash ilfristrha = there is no longer to me the right. Hutta
fvhemmin = tliat thou sbouldst call me. 20. Akam zelli, he arose (and) went ;
conjunctions are often omitted ; hemni = i'hiii with suffix. The Clialdaic
t^l^n equivalent to Clas. Syriac "j^^^ tchannan 'ale = Arabic; Arhit = he
ran. 22. Aithiin, imper. from Aith, causative of tholi, the fut. (part,
form) is maith, t-ahsin = which (is) the best. Chvdulli = dress him.
Surmoi^tha = Arahic LU.<tf. ' 23. MaHuf a = Arabic — (_JA^^ niichsuiini,
imper. from inchas, with suffix. 24. Sanna ibr = this my son. Sosh = now.
J/lchki Ar = XC\ Abbit hodhin, they began to be merry; use of participle

25. Akrib il baitha, drew near to the house, il being,. jjrobably the prep., with
prosthetic vowel rather than a borrowed Arabic article. Hesm = Arabic ^j^s^

26. Sha'li Hebrew =^ssn\ Syriac = VJi^l^ . the Ma'lulites insert an ee in
place of olaph. Mo oth = what is this ? They also say, mo haiina.

27. Akbli, &c., I could get no word for because (he has received
&c.) ; such connections are seldom used. 28. La sob ya'bur = he did

not wish to enter, y-iulpenni = that he might intreat him ; Arabic = i»a1.12.'

29. iIf«M<ewjZac7i,part.with suffix ; Arabic root = .j\,-i.. Chullan ishno = all

these years; limodh, to this day; la chulifitchach,! have cost thee nothing.
i.e., no trouble. Arabic (/<[/^K m-mlt, in anything or of anything; b-6in-
rack = "in thy days," i.e., never ; lappitchil = thou hast not given me ; 'amlis-
iikoi = 'am-listikoi, together with my friends. Arabic = i\jJ>.o'. 30.
irfc-t/-(y» = but, howerer ; ha,ima f-zongan = women who (are) harlots; Nach-

98 SECTS AND NATIONALITIES.

sifch-Mi = ihoii hast killed for him. 31. ITatcJiim = thou (art) with me;
clmtilil = chul-t-lU = all which (is) to me, all that I have. 32. Wojib 'alenaJi,

Arabic UaL: t '.:>'\^

Since my completion of this article Dr. Van Dvck has called my attention
to the book ^^^^^^ >ljb.^ ^ U^^>^^ ^'"-^ ^'^ ^ji.j^^ where reference
is made to some changes of consonants, &c., similar to what we find in the
Ma'lula dialect. The ixj^j . I^^LAJ^ (an Arab tribe) is changing the

Z!^\ t_Jl^ *^o .^; ^^ ^Ji~i\'C foi" lL^.'U; and sometimes the ^_i\<,
which is not the t__iJ!J\ ( jl^, is changed to Ji, as in Uj^a:?- ^JLAa^ ^

llblx-kX- j^UJvC'

for

Change of hamzeh to ? is also mentioned as in l.^^- ^^..- ^ _ ^

In Bethlehem, and among some Bedouins, to-day (^ is pronounced like
TCH. In Nazareth v loses its guttural force. The Nuseiryeh, near Sofita,

say L, " - y^^ instead of lj- ^'A^ for the 2nd. pers. sing, of the pronoun.

F. J. B.

ESSAYS ON THE SECTS AND NATIONALITIES OF
SYRIA AND PALESTINE.

Essay I, Introduction.
By Rev. George E. Post, M.A., M.D., F.L.S.

The Pki/sical Features, Climate, Soil, Water Supply, Natural History, and
Health of Syria and Palestine.

I. — Physical Features.

It is not the object of the present essay to present an exhaustive view
of the topics enumerated in the title, but to show their bearing on the
march of population in these lands, and the preservation of tlie races now
repi'esented, as well as the origination and destruction of those which have
been represented in the past.

No country of equal size contains so strange an aggregate of hetero-
geneous elements, such a medley of ineconcilable sects and races, as the

SECTS AND NATIONALITIES. 99

one which we are to pass in review. No couiiti-y has been so scourged by
war, so often trampled under foot and ruined, and yet it has never long
been without a considerable population, often a very dense one. No other
country has retained such distinct and strongly marked traces of the
vicissitudes of its history. None is so complete a microcosm in the variety
of types of civilisation and barbarism. To attempt to account for these
strongly marked peculiarities simply from history will lead only to partial
and one-sided results. It will be our purpose to show how, under the
guidance of an unerring providence, the physical features, climate, soil,
water supj)ly, natural history, and health of Syria and Palestine, have
influenced the population, history, and physical, moral, and religious
characteristics of the people.

The insular character, the sinuous coast, the geographical position, and
the great mineral and agricultural resources of Great Britain have had a
large shaie in making it the great commercial and naval power of Europe.
The lofty mountains, and inaccessible fastnesses of Switzerland have
nurtured that spirit of independence and love of liberty which have made
that land so illustrious in the history of the world. But neither of these
countries has owed more of its peculiar development to its physical
features and surroundings than have Syria and Palestine.

Syria and Palestine present in a geographical area of, say 50,000 miles,
more diversities and anomalies than any equal territory on the surface
of the globe. In tliis territory is the deepest valley, 1,300 feet below the
level of the sea. While its mountains are not as lofty as the Alps, their
nearness to the sea gives them a relative elevation as striking, and, in a
jihysical sense, as important. They are surrounded by deserts, with a line
of demarcation almost abrupt.

There exists between parts of this territory, quite near to each other,
the widest difference in isolation from or in connection with the rest of the
eastern world. Thus the southern and eastern deserts are so isolated, that
they have been, from timfe immemorial, inhabited by almost independent
tribes of Arabs, whom Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Eoman,
Saracen, and Turkish power has striven in vain to subdue. Thus a prime
factor in preserving a race, language, and customs has been the physical
features of their country. Again the mountain fastnesses of the Nusairy
range, and of Lebanon, have had a large share in the semi-independence
of the tribes which inhabit them, and have made possible the continued
existence without fusion of such sects as the Nusaii'iyeh, the Maronites,
and the Druzes,. But inaccessibility is the exception and not the rule in
this territory. The level strip of sea coast, with openings to the interior
by the plains of Esdraelon, Merj 'Ayun, 'Akkar, and Issus, has been a
highway for the conquering armies of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia,
Greece, Rome, Tartary, the Crusaders, Saracens, Turks, and French ; hence,
while the hill countries and deserts have contributed to preserve fragments
of the original races unaltered, the plains have invited the intrusion of
new races, and produced a mixture, unparalled in the history of mankind.
Canaanite, Hittite, Hebrew, Syrian, Arab, have become intermingled with

100 SECTS AND NATIONALITIES.

all the historic races of Europe, Asia, and Africa, even to the blue-eyed
and flaxen-haired Dane and Norwegian. Syria and Palestine have been
subdued and overwhelmed oftener than any other part of the world, and
such seems to be their destiny until the entrance of a new order of things.
Let us see how this has occurred.

Syria and Palestine, including the Sinaitic peninsula, form the geo-
graphical meeting point of the European, Asiatic, and African continents.
For Asia Minor, although included by its sea coast in the Asiatic mass, is
essentially southern European in its climate, productions, ethnology (with
the exception of the modern Turkish graft), and its history.

The salient physical feature of the country is the two mountain ranges
which intersect it from north to south, parallel to each other and the coast.
Between the westernmost of these ranges and the Mediterranean Sea, is
the narrow maritime plain of Philistia, Phoenicia, and 'Akkar. Between
these two ranges is the table-land of Hamath, Hums, the lacustrine basin
of Ccelesyria, and the sunken trough of the Jordan, Dead Sea, and the
'Arabah. Eastward of the easternmost range is the table-land of Moab,
Gilead, Hauntn, Damascus, and Aleppo, stretching eastward to the Syrian
Desert, and northward to the Euphrates Valley.

So pronounced are these ridges, that they turn most of the principal
rivers of the country into a north and south course, in tlie cleft between
the two chains. Thus the Orontes, taking its rise in the valley of Ccele-
syria, flows northward to a little north of the latitude of Antioch, and
then breaks abruptly south-westward around the shouldei's of the Nusairy
and Cassius chain to the sea. The Leontes, rising near the Orontes, flows
southward through tiie valley of Ccelesyria, and, a little north of Tyre,
reaches the Mediterranean through the gap between Lebanon and Galilee:^
The Jordan, rising on the westward slopes of Hermon, flows southward in
its strange chasm, to be lost in the Dead Sea. The waters of tlie TJh
flow northward, through the 'Arish, and those of the 'Arabah and Edom
also northward, through the 'Arabah, to the Dead Sea. Only the lesser
torrents flow westward by a more or less direct course to the Mediterra-
nean, and the Barrada and 'Awaj eastward from Anti-Lebanon and Hermon
to the Syrian Desert.

As before mentioned, the maritime plain opens by four broad depres-
sions in the hill country to the interior plains. These great and easy high-
ways have had a controlling influence on the destinies of the land. An
army invading the Euphrates Valley from Egypt, or vice versa, could
march with ease along the coast to Acre, aci'oss Galilee by the plain of
Esdraelon and enter Hauran, whence there is hardly need to make roads
to enable chariots, as well as horse and foot, to j^enetrate where they would
to the northward. But the table-land of Hauran, Damascus, and Aleppo
did not ofi'er a more sure and safe road to an army, than did the Syrian
desert hem it in from the east, and compel it to march northward or
southward. Hence the great campaigns were always on north and
south lines. The forces of Assyria and Babylonia made a wide detour to
reach those of Egypt. No conqueror had the foolhardiness or the

SECTS AND NATIONALITIES. 101

resources to enable him to cross the Syrian desert to seek his foe. For
tills reason the kingdom of Palmyra, sequestered in the desert, was long
safe from assault and conquest.

An invading army from Egypt might pass the plain of Esdraclon, and
enter Coelesyria by the valley of the Leontes, or debouch around the
southern or northern shoulder of Hermon into the Damascus plain. Or it
might pass northward by the Phcenician i)lain to 'Akkar, and thence east-
ward to Hums, Hamath, and Aleppo. Or it might advance northward to
the Orontes, and so penetrate to the interior. Campaigns along all of
these lines were undei'taken by the great military monarchies of northern
Africa and Western Asia, and later of Europe. Many times these expe-
ditions merely claimed a right of way, and seem to have interfered little
or not at all with the inhabitants. At others they formed alliances with
the peoples who lay on their line of march, and thus held ojien their own
communications and line of retreat. But it could not be otherwise than
that a land so accessible from every side should have been overrun and
conquered by the fierce military monarchies at whose mercy they lay.

The inevitable result of the repeated conquests of the plains and more
accessible mountains was to drive back the refugees into the fastnesses,
and each wave of war which rolled upward left on retiring a fragment of
some race or religion on the iq^per terraces, and in the secluded valleys of
the mountains.

II. — Climate and Meteorology.

The physical features of the country, so exceedingly varied, and so
important in their influence on political history and ethnology, exercise
also a controlling influence over the climate and meteorology, which are
more diversified than in any similar extent of territory on the globe.

As the great mountain chains determine the course of the rivers, so
they determine the distribution of the rainfall. The Tih and Sinai are
under the dominion of the climatic laws which govern north-eastern
Africa, and seldom have any considerable rainfall. The dry air of the
Sahara, not passing on its way to these regions over any considerable body
of water, remains dry, and hence, even the lofty mountains of Sinai do
not often find moisture to precipitate, and whole winters may pass with-
out a shower. But the winds that strike the coast range of Palestine and
Syria are loaded with moisture in their passage over the Mediterranean,
and this moisture is condensed and poured down in copious rains over the
seaward slopes of this range, and the maritime plain. The rainfall
increases as you pass from Southei-n Palestine to Lebanon, and probably
attains its maximum under the alpine summits of Sunntn and Makmel.
The rainy season lasts from the middle or end of November to the end of
March. There is a month of occasional showers before and after this
season, but the heaviest rains of the year usually occvir in the months of
December, Janiuvry and February.

As much of the moisture of the air is extracted in its passage over the
maritime chain of mountains, there is a considerably reduced rainfall over

102 SECTS AND NATIONALITIES,

the central plains and the eastern chains. These chains extract still more
of the moisture of the air, so that tlie rainfall of the eastern table-land is
much smaller than that of the coast and adjacent hills. Thus, while the
average rainfall of Beirfit is about 35 inches, and that of the central zone
of Lebanon probably from 50 to 55 inches, that of Damascus will hardly
exceed 20 inches, and the amount diminishes as the distance eastward
from the mountains increases. Those jjarts of the eastern table land
which lie open to the heavily charged clouds coming from the west enjoy
a greater rainfall and more fertility than those wliich are cut off by inter-
vening mountains. Thus Hauran, which lies in the gap between the
mountains of Gilead and Hermon, and is backed to the eastward by a
high mountain chain, enjoys a heavy rainfall, and cori-esponding fertility.
The same is true of the region about Hums and Hamath.

The heavily wooded chains of Cassius and Amanus attract moisture,
and enjoy a longer rainy reason than southern Syria and Palestine, and
have occasional showers even in midsummer.

The temperature of the different portions of our district depends on
their altitude more than their latitude, and varies from the tropical heat
of the Dead Sea Chasm, to the alpine temperature of the higher peaks of
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. The average summer temperature of Beirut
at 10 a.m. is about 84° F. in the sliade. This would probably be a mean
for the coast. But, owing to the low dew point, this temperature, in itself
so moderate, seems much higher than it really is. At an altitude of 2,500
feet on Lebanon the average for the same season and hour is about 77° F.
The air at tliis altitude is dry, and this temperature is, therefore, by no
means oppressive. The temi^erature of the upper inhabited regions of
Lebanon, the highest of which are 6,000 feet above the sea, is quite sub-
alpine, and the winters are so severe that the better classes and many of
the poorer people of Ehedin, near the Cedars, winter on the Tripoli plain.
Snow covers the higher peaks dui'ing the winter months, and rests on
their summits throughout the year.

On the other hand the temperature of the Jordan Valley is tropical.
The thermometer ranges as high a.s 120° F. in the shade at .Jericho in
August. The harvests of this torrid depression mature a month or six
weeks earlier than those of the sea-coast, and two to three months earlier
than those of the hill country.

In speaking of the temperature in the shade in this land, we must not
forget that it quite inadequately expresses the intense fervor of the direct
rays of the sun, when no cloud intervenes to mitigate the heat. On the
sea-coast the sun temperature often reaches 145^ F., and sometimes over
150° F., and in the Jordan Valley and in the narrow gorges which
debouche into the basin of the Dead Sea, the heat is blistering. One of
these wadies is aijpropriately termed Wadi-en-Nar, the Valley of Fire.

The temperature of the plateaux is subject to extremes of heat, and
to bitter cold winds. It is not uncommon to have a summer heat of 95°
to 100° F. in Hums and Aleppo, while storms almost like the blizzards of
the western United States sweep over those boundless plains in winter.

SKCTS AND NATIONALITIES. 103

All parts of the country are exposed to siroccos, -which are the driest
and most exhausting of all the winds of the country. During such winds
the surface of the soil is parched and cracked, the covers of books become
warped, doors snap with a sound like a pistol shot, the skin becomes dry,
and the nervous system is at its highest tension. These siroccos prevail
for the most part in the early sj)ring, and are often followed by refreshing
rains. They are most intolerable when they occur in mid-summer, and
especially so on the great plains of the interior, where they seem like the
blast of a furnace.

The rainy winds are usually from the south-west. Occasionally there
is a shower from the north, and rarely from the east. But the heavy
storms of winter always come up obliquely to the coast line, out of the
Mediterranean.

The above particulars of the meteorology of the country denote a
climate in the plains of a subtropical, and in the mountains and plateaux
of a mild temperate character, with sufficient variety to cultivate strong
contrasts of character, illustrated by the extremes of the effeminate
inhabitants of the Jordan Valley, and the sturdy mountaineers of Alpine
Lebanon. In general, the climate is one which is adapted to the existence
of a large population. There being little need of fire for heating houses,
the scarcity of fuel would not be felt. The long summers made it a matter
of comparatively trifling cost to provide necessary clothing. From these
two causes a larger po})ulation could exist than in a land where fuel and
warm clothing are essential to existence. Again, the variety and range of
temperature and rainfall have a most important bearing on the develop-
ment of all the resources and capabilities of the country. Those plants
which require moisture find it. Those which flourish best without it are
also suited. Hence almost every foot of land not actually rock produces
something directly or indirectly useful to man, and even the clefts of the
rocks furnish pasture of no little value to sheep and goats.

IIT.— ^0^7.

The soil of the maritime plain is usually a fertile brown loam, with
sandy reaches behind the prominent capes. That of the hill country of
Palestine and Syria is also a brown loam mixed with the detritus of lime-
stone rocks, usually thin, and, except where terraced, liable to be washed
down by the torrents into the valleys. When terraced it yields a small
harvest of the cereals, but is especially adapted to the fig, the mulberry,
and the olive, and from 2,500 feet to 5,000 to the vine.

The soil of Ccelesyria is that of the bed of an ancient lake, a rich
brown, and in places almost black loam, of inexhaustible fertility. Not-
withstanding the primitive ploughs, which only scratch the soil, the rude
method of sowing, and the failure to manure, this plain still furnishes
luxuriant crops of wheat and maize, sesame, and sorghum. The only
attempt at scientific agriculture is the rotation of the crops of maize antl
wheat. This, and leaving portions to lie fallow, seem to suffice to main-
tain a fertility which is immemorial.

lUJ: SECTS AND NATIONALITIES.

The soil of the Jordan Valley and of the plain of Esdraclon, and the
lesser plains of the uplands of Palestine, resembles that of Coelesyria in
fertility and strength.

Eastward of the Jordan the soil of Moab is thin, and for the most
part adapted to pasturage. The rolling park land of Gilead is partly
wooded, and adapted only for forest growth, and partly a grazing country,
as in the days of Reuben. Only a few favoured spots are specially
adapted to the raising of wheat and other grain.

Hauran, El Leja, and the great plains whif^h stretch away to the north-
wai'd as far as Aleppo, are largely volcanic. The tufas and other products
of the disintegration of the volcanic rock, furnish an exceedingly rich
S()il, specially adapted to the growth of wheat. Seven hundred camel
loads of wheat are said to be carried daily to Acre during the season
immediately following the wheat harvest of Hauran.

As a whole, Syria and Palestine, while containing much rocky and
unproductive territory, are countries of great fertility and resources.
But their fertility depends in a peculiar manner on the industry of man.
The soil of the hills must be terraced, or it will be washed down their
sides by the winter torrents ; it must be worked over to clear it of rocks
and stones, or it will not give good nourishment to the plants and trees
-which it bears. But given a carefully-prepared soil, and sufficient water,
and there seems no limit to the agricultural possibilities of this land of
fertilising sunshine. Water, however, is a sine qvd no7i, and as the season
of rain is limited, it was necessary that there should be a provision for
the storage and distribution of water over all the country, through the
dry as well as the wet season.

IV.— The Water Supply.

Few countries have a more admirable provision for the collection,
storage, and distribution of water than Syria and Palestine. The lime-
stone rocks which constitute the greater part of the mountain chains
have numerous and very extensive caverns, which are natural cisterns
for the storage of the surface water which percolates into them through
the fissures of the overlying strata. In the centre of the north and
south mountain-chains rise the lofty ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon,
the summits of which are covered with snow during the winter, and
carry the snow of one winter into the next. The summits of Jebel
SunnJn and Jebel Kenlseh, and parts of the chain above the Cedars, are
so arranged as to collect and retain vast drifts of snow. The top of
Sunnln, for example, consists of a series of funnel-like depressions from 250
to 1,200 feet across, and from 100 to 250 feet deep. These become almost
or quite filled with snow in mid-winter. From the bottoms of the«e
funnel-like depressions there are channels leading down to the great
caverns in the heart of the mountain mass, and through these channels
the water which melts from the snow-drifts flows down to swell the

SECTS AND NATIONALITIES. 105

supply in the reservoirs, from which it breaks forth in perennial foun-
tains at ditferent levels down to the sea, and even under its surface.
The top of Jebel Makmel is a broad j^lateau with transverse ridges across
it, and between these ridges lie the snow-drifts, and into depressions of
the plateau runs the water, to be lost in the mountain mass beneath, and
then reappear in such streams as the Kadtsha, which springs forth, an
ice-cold torrent, below the " Cedars of the Lord."

Similar store-houses of snow and water are found on the tops of the
other peaks of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and in their inmost recesses.
The lake of Yam<\ni is drained by an underground channel, and perhaps
reappears in the great fountain of Afka, which is about 400 feet lowei',
on the opposite side of Lebanon. In that case the undergi-ound stream
must tunnel the entire breadth of the mountain chain at an elevation of
over 4,000 feet.

The strata of the limestone chains are nearly horizontal, and there is
abundant evidence that the water stored at the higher levels is distri-
buted as follows : copious fountains burst forth at the base of the
summit cones and ridges, as those of Neba'-el-Leben, Neba'-el-'Asal,
Neba'-el-Hhadtd, the fountain of the Kadisha, and many others :
Another portion of the water percoktes through the upper strata to
other intramontane reservoirs at different lower levels, and is then con-
ducted by the slightly dipping strata in channels between these strata,
and breaks forth by side channels in fountains along the course of these
rocky aqueducts. Nothing is more striking in travelling through
Lebanon than to see from some commanding point of view the villages
along both sides of a valley, like that of the DamAr, lying along horizontal
lines, corresponding with the strata between which the fountains gush
forth. In some cases these rocky aqueducts are many miles in length,
and a single one manifestly acts as a water-main for a large number of
villages. A few hundred feet below such a concealed watercourse will be
another tier of villages, supplied by a second conduit, with its lateral
channels to furnish the life-giving fluid to the fountains along its course.

There are also underground rivers flowing to great distances, and
supplying fountains even to the level of the sea, or beneath its bed.
In this way must be explained the large number of perennial springs
which flow through the rainless months along the sides of the mountains
of Palestine, and in the Nusairy chain, which have no snow-clad peaks
to supply water through the seven months of summer. Doubtless there
are many of these channels which work more or less on the syphon
])rinciple, and some of them give rise to intermittent fountains of a most
interesting kind.

The capacity of the great storage and distributing reservoirs of the
mountains may be inferred from the vast quantity of water which flows
in the numerous streams of the country. The aggregate of the Orontes,
tlie Leontes, the Jordan, the Barrada, the 'Awaj, the Kadisha, the Dog
River, and the Damflr, beside the numerous smaller streams, which flow
into the Mediterranean, and the Dead Sea, and the Damascus plain, is

lOG SECTS AND NATIONALITIES.

enormous. Much of this water is used for irrigation and never reaches
the mouth of the stream. Many streams are wholly used in this way in
summer. But, notwithstanding leakage, evaporation, and irrigation, a
vast volume of water is poured out steadily through the long succession
of rainless months ; and if we add to this the fact that, by digging,
copious supplies of potable water can be obtained almost anywhere on
level ground, we shall gain a more adequate conception of the provision
made for fertilising this land and supporting a lai'ge population.

The bearing of the fertility of the soil and the adequate supply of
water for the wants of all whom the soil can feed, on the continuity of a
large population in these lands through all the vicissitudes of the ages, is
evident. A land in which the water supply is on the whole stable and
certain, and the soil responds to the labourer's toil, is a land which will
attract back again a population however it may have been " scattered
and peeled." While there are irregularities in the amount of the rain-
fall there is seldom a water famine. The drought of summer is offset
by the fact that the winter is a period of vegetable growth, not of
sleep under a mantle of snow as in cooler climates, and that, with irriga-
tion, two or more crops may be gathered in a year. It is still further
offset by the fact that several of the staples of the country, as the
mulberry, the vine, the olive, the fig, and the durrah, are independent of
rain, except during its proper season, and there is a superabundance of
water for all crops which require irrigation.

It is not, then, to be wondered at that a succession of wars, and
desolations, and captivities, which would have ruined a less favoured
land irreparably, as they have ruined Mesopotamia, large paiis of Persia,
and Northern Africa, have never for any long time prevented Syria and
Palestine from having a considerable population. And while the country
now supports far fewer people than it once did, and may do again, yet
every year of peace multiplies its population, and it needs but the pxo-
tection of a stable and just government to cause it once more to swarm
with people "as the sands on the sea shore for multitude."

V. — Natural History.

The Flora of this land is the richest of any countiy of its size in the
world. The great diversity of soil, climate, rainfall, sun exposure, eleva-
tion, and depression, gives opportunity for the growth of a large number
of species and varieties. The flowering plants number over 3,000 species,
distributed through 850 genera and 117 orders. Many of the genera
have a large number of species. Thus, Ranunculus has 28, Silene 58,
Trigonella 31, Trifolium 48, and Astragalus 115 species, and several
other genera have from 30 to 60 species apiece.

Each district has its distinctive flora. The maritime plain has the
palm, the sugar-cane, the colocasia, the banana, the orange, lemon, citron
and mandarin orange, which characterize its gardens and fields. In the
dunes on the coast grow a large number of plants which are only adapted

SECTS AND NATIONALITIES. 107

to the blown sand, and seem to be providetl to prevent this sand fiom
overwhelming the fertile land. In the warm, moist air of the coast plain
most sub-tropical plants can be cultivated in the oi^en air.

The loicer and middle zone of the mountains is the favoured home of
the mulberry, the fig, the olive (which also grows luxuriantly on the
maritime plain), and the vine. Tree culture is the main industry of
Lebanon, and a considerable one on the mountains of Palestine. The
cereals gi-nwn in tlie mountains are insufficient for the support of the
population, and cannot be rated as a staple of the district. The main
reliance of Lebanon is the mulberry, which not only furnishes the food
of the silkworm, but later that of the sheep and horned cattle.

Anti- Lebanon is far less fertile, and has far less inhabitants than
Lebanon. Tree culture is less common, but there are far more forest
trees here than in Lebanon. But at similar altitudes corresponding pro-
ductions are raised.

The forest trees of the middle mountain zone are the Aleppo Pine, the
Hackberry (Celtis Australis), three species of Maple, the Portuguese,
Lebanon, evergreen, Vallonia, Cerris, and other Oaks, the Syrian Ash,
the Juniper, the Cypress, the Styrax, the Arbutus (which attains the
magnitude of a considerable tree in the park-like gix)ves of Gilead), the
Terebinth, and, in Northern Syria, the Beech and Hornbeam, and others.
The Walnut is generally cultivated as also the Carob. All the ordinary
fruit trees, as apples, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, medlars, &c.,
flourish.

At an altitude of about 6,000 feet the famous Cedar of Lebanon
flourishes, and doubtless once covered the subalpine zone of Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon. It is now found in only a few groves of Lebanon,
and is extinct in Anti-Lebanon, but grows in considerable quantity in
Amanus.

Of wild fruit trees there are few in our district. The sour plum
(Prunus ursinus) is a plant of the middle and subalpine regions of Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon. A minute dwarf cherry flourishes on the alpine
peaks. There is the Arbutus Unedo, L., the Jujube tree, the Hawthorn,
the Syrian Pear. Of shrubs almost the only one with an edible fruit is
the wild Blackberry.

The characteristic flora of the almost treeless plains of the interior con-
sists of numerous species of Astragalus, Centaurea, Phlomis, and Salvia.
These plains are the g'-eat wheat producing regions of the Levant, and
along them armies have always been sure of supplies. Maize, durrah,
sesame, barley, and in wet places rice, flourish in this district. From some
prominent shoulder of the mountains one of these great fertile plains
appears in the spring-time a broad sea of green, and later, in the harvest-
season, a sea of gold, stretching away as far as the eye can reach, or to the
base of the range of mountains which constitutes its boundary.

The flora of the Jordan Valley, besides sharing the characteristics of
the lower levels of Palestine, has an element of tropical vegetation, similar
to the upper Egyptian and Nubian. The Zaqqiim, or so called Balm of

108 SECTS AND NATIONALITIES

Gilead Tree, grows nowhere in our district bvit in this valley. The same
is true of the Papyrus, Salvadora Persica, Calotropis procera (the Apples
of Sodom), Sola7ium. coagulans, and other plants. The torrid heat of this
valley causes its crops to mature very early, and its abundant water is
capable, by irrigation, of making it, what it once was, a garden of the
Lord.

The alpine peaks of Lebanon, Anti-Lehanon, Cassius, and Amanus
support a copious and j^eculiar vegetation, of most interesting botanical
character. This vegetation, although useless to man directly, is of great
indirect value, as it fui'nishes the food of large flocks of goats, which are
a source of livelihood to no inconsiderable number of goatherds and their
employers. These goats, however, do more harm than good to the country,
by devouring all seedling trees, and so preventing the second growth o
the forests, so needed on the higher mountain ranges, both as a direct
source of wealth, and as a regulator of the rainfall.

The desert flora is as peculiar and interesting as that of the alpine
regions, and like it, although directly of little value to man, indirectly
contributes to his maintenance by supporting considerable herds of
camels, and in some places asses. Not all of the so-called desert is un-
productive. The valleys of Sinai have, until recently, contained large
numbers of acacia and tamarix trees, which have furnished much charcoal
for the Egyjitian market. The supply is even yet not exhausted. The
great table land known as the Syrian Desert, furnishes pasturage for
innumerable flocks and herds, and supports a large nomad population.

It is evident from the foregoing sketch of the botanical regions of this
laud that the diversified productions of the difi'erent parts of so small a
territory have had their full share in its strange history. Thus the
fertility of the coast and the great plains of the interior, as well as of the
depressions which connect them with the coast, has had as much to do
with making them highways for conquering armies as their ready accessi-
bility. An Egyptian or Assyrian Army could march from its base to its
objective point almost without commissariat, and find abundant supplies
by the way. On the other hand, the rugged surface and stony soil of the
mountains, ill-adapted to the production of the cereals, could not furnish
an invader with necessary supplies, thus adding to ihe cost and difficulty
of a campaign the necessity of providing a commissariat. Yet in their
remote fastnesses or fortified towns the natives could preserve a sufficient
store of fond to enable them to withstand a siege, and when it was over
their forests and upland pasturages furnished a means of quickly
regaining a livelihood, while their less fortunate brethren of the plain
had l)een despoiled of all they possessed, and perhaps led away into
captivity.

Furthermore, the deserts, while inaccessible to foreign armies, fur-
nished sufficient sustenance to the indigenous shepherds and warriors who
roamed over them.

Thus, while parts of the country were being depopulated in every
3ampaign, there remained hives of population, furnished with scanty but

SECTS AND NATIONALITIES. 1(0

sufficient nourishment for their hardy frames and frugal habits, ready to
swarm out over the desolated [ihiins and re-people the fertile districts so
inviting to those who had known only the hard!^hip3 and privations of
mountain and desert life.

The Fauna of Syria and Palestine in Bible times was more varied,
and included more of the larger animals than are now to be found. It is
probaljle that the hipjiopotamus, the wild ass, and the lion were found in
Palestine in historic times. It is asserted that the crocodile still exists
in the marshes of the Zarqa and the Kishon. But from early times the
wild animals of the more formidable kind were extirpated or driven back
into the deserts or remoter mountain districts. Of the larger mammals
the bear still exists in small numbers on the high peaks of Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon ; the leopard is occasionally met with throughout the wilder
forest and mountain regions ; the oryx, which inhabits the deserts
adjacent to Palestine ; the fallow deer, of which a few stiagglers inhabit
Carmel and the wadies of Galilee ; the ibex, which is found in the deserts
and eastern and southern mountains, as far as Sinai ; the Bubale, or
Boqr-el-Wahhsh of the Arabs ; the addax, and the kebsh — but few of
them are ever seen, and fewer captured or killed by man. The chase,
therefore, is of no great importance in this land for the maintenance of human
life. Wild swine exist in numbers in the forests of Cassius and Amanus,
in the more secluded regions of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and in the
cane brakes of the Jordan Valley and elsewhere. They owe their con-
tinued existence to the fact that they are regarded as unclean, and
unsuitable for food.

The chase is now almost confined to gazelles, hares, porcupines, conies,
and other small mammalia, and to noxious animals, as the fox, wolf, hytena,
and jackal, and to birds. This was not, however, always so. In ancient
times hunting supported a considerable population, and the game was
worthy of noble and even kingly hands.

But if man finds little in the way of game to sustain life in this land, on
the other hand, he has little to fear from wild beasts. A few people die
annually from serpent bites, a few are torn by leopards or wolves, but
predaceous animals have not seriously molested man within the historic
periods.

The domestic fauna is, however, of great importance to man. It
includes such invaluable servants as the camel, the horse, the ass, the
mule, the buffalo, the ox, the sheep, and the goat. The camel if to the
Arab what the reindeer is to the Laplanders. It is the beast of burden,
its milk furnishes a considerable part of the food of the Bedawln, its hair
is woven into cloth for garments and tents, its flesh is also most valuable
in case of need. Its value is greatly enhanced by the fact that it is the
most inexpensive of animals to feed. In fact, it lives and thrives where
no other beast of any use to man could exist. Hence its importance to
the dwellers in deserts cannot be over-estimated. Probably without
the camel these deserts would have been uninhabited. With it they
maintain a very considerable population. The ass, also, is an animal of

H 2

ILO SECTS AND NATIONALITIES.

exceeding value to man in these lands. It can live on the most meagre
and uninviting diet of thistles and stubble, and yet do a surprising
amoimt of work. Being very siire-footed, it is specially adapted to
mountainous and stony regions, which are the rule in Syria and
Palestine. The goat also is an animal capable of living where other
grazing animals would find little or nothing to support life It climbs
over almost inaccessible rocks, and lives on a host of aromatic and bitter
plants, which no other animal will eat. The importance of these animals
in furnishing to man the means of existence cannot be forgotten in
estimating the persistence of a large population in the remoter and more
barren districts.

VII. — Mineralogy.

The mineral wealth of our district is not large. Iron ore is found
in large quantities, and has, from earliest historic periods, been worked.
The Damascus steel was famous in the Middle Ages. At present, the
production of iron is probably smaller than at any previous jjeriod,
owing to the disappearance of the forests which furnished the charcoal
used in smelting. Copper mines were worked in ancient times by the
Egyptians in Sinai. Turquoise was also extracted in considerable
quantities from the sandstone rocks of Wadi Maghara. Copper is said to
be found in the neighbourhood of Jeba', in Lebanon. Bitumen is found
in the neighbourhood of Hasbeiyah and in the Jordan Valley. Chromium
s found near Antioch, but its value was not known to the ancients.
In general, it must be admitted that the country is poorer in minerals
than in other resources, and that it was indebted for its supplies to
other lands. Few mines have been discovered, and, except the workers
in iron, few of the people have ever depended on metallurgy for their
Livelihood.

VIII. — Health and Disease.

The health of these lands is in general good. They are to a large
extent free from the severe inflammatory alTections so fatal in the colder
climates. They are also free from the peculiar diseases of the tropics.
The great variety of productions, the generally wholesome water, and the
comparative certainty and regularity of the crops, cause the prevalence of
a high standard of health, and prevent the famines which curse countries
of one staple. The temperate habits of the people, their freedom from
alcoholism, their moderate use of meat, all favour their resisting power to
causes of disease, and enable them to bear injuries and operations well.
The adjacent Mediterranean, the high mountains, the table lands of the
interior, swept by pure and almost constant winds, the deserts which lie
on two sides of the land, all contribute to the maintenance of the purity
of the air, and support a vigorous stock of humanity, fitted to replenish
and infuse new vigor into the more eflfeminate races of the lower districts.
They are also a sanitarium of the most perfect kind, and constantly aflford

SECTS AND NATIONALITIES. Ill

a refuge to those enervated by the tropical climate of Egypt and the
warmer portions of Syria and Palestine tliemselves. Again and again
has it hapi^ened, while cholera has prevailed on the coast and in the
cities of the interior, that the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon,
and the Syrian and Sinaitic deserts have been quite free from the
scourge.

The bearing of the excellence of the conditions of health on the
recovery of a people subjected often to the ligors of war, and the
derangement of industry, as well as the forcible breaking up of homes,
and the crowding together of large bodies of men, is not hard to see. As
a good constitution in an individual enables him to rally from desperate
illness and regain sound health, so the sound state of a country's health
enables it to recuperate after the horrors of war, and speedily reproduce
the population which had been wasted hy the sword.

Summary.

Syria and Palestine constitute a territory situated at the meeting point
of the three ancient continents, and forming a highway connecting them,
and along this highway the historic races of mankind have passed to and
from a career of invasion and conquest unexampled in the annals of the
world. Yet, although affording an easy pathway to invaders and con-
querors, this land contains liiding places for those who have escaped
conquest, which have afforded refuge to a large number of communities,
still surviving, and transmitting by living tradition the fragmentary
history of the past.

The Climate is such as to favour rapid increase of population and the
maintenance of life, with a small expenditure for fuel and clothing, and
a frugal diet. The Soil is rich, and produces, under the favourable condi-
tions of exposure, altitude, and rainfall, a vegetation of unexampled
richness and variety, and has been j^roven capable of supporting a very
•ieuse population. The Water Suppli/ is copious for a country with a
rainless summer, and the provisions for storing and distributing it are
such that the population is well able to occupy a large part of the land.
Even the deserts yield subsistence to a considerable number of hardy
men, who are, and always have been, unconquerable. The Flora and
Fauna are such as to favour the growth of population, and to make avail-
able to man all that the soil and climate furnish. Finally, it is a country
whose lofty mountains and bi'eezy plateaux furnish an admirable sani-
tarium for its tropical and sub-tropical lowlands.

From the combination of these causes these lands were inhabited
from the earliest periods of history, and their populations, so often con-
quered, destroyed, or carried into captivity, have often returned, or a
remnant of them has survived in some mountain fastness or desert soli-
tude, or such rugged refuges as the lava sea of the Leja, or the volcanic
cones of the Jebel-ed-Durdz, and these remnants have often clung to the
traditions, religion, and customs of their forefathers, and in ojie case a

J 12 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

few villages have clung to their ancient language, or rather transfonned
it into a new and most interesting dialect. In taking up the individual
sects it will be our duty to point out the origin and history of each, and
their present geographical distribution so far as possible.

Meantime, the subject of a second preliminary essay will be —
The Tjand Tenure, Agriculture, Industries, Dress and Habits, Art and
Architecture, Amusements, Science, and Music of these sects, so far as
they are common to all.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona, 1887.

The numbers in column 1 of the table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; the maximum for the year was 30"285 ins. in
January, this being higher than any reading in the preceding seven
years. In the years 1880, 1881, and 1884, the maximum was in January
as in this year, in 1882 in February, and in 1883, 1885, and 1886 in
December. The maximum, therefore, has always been in the winter
months. The mean of the preceding seven years highest pressures was
30-207 ins.

In column 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29'145 ins. in April, this being lower than any reading
in the preceding seven years. In the year 1883 the minimum was in
January, in 1881 in February, in 1880, 1884, 1885, and 1886 in April, as
in this year, and in 1882 in July ; the mean of the seven preceding
lowest pressures was 29-516 ins. The minimum, therefore, has taken
place in the months from January to July.

The range of barometric readings in the year was 1"140 inch ; this
range being greater than any in the seven preceding years, viz., 1880,
1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886, when the ranges were 0-780 inch ;
0-711 inch ; 0*704 inch ; 0-579 inch ; 0-757 inch ; 0-680 inch and 0-621 inch
respectively. The mean for these seven years was 0-690 inch.

The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of readings in each
month ; the smallest was 0-104 inch in October, this being the smallest
range in any month in the eight years ; in the year 1883 the smallest was
in June; in 1882 and 1886 in August, and in 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1885
in October, as in this year. The mean of the seven preceding smallest
monthly ranges was 0-175 inch.

The largest monthly range was 0-843 inch in April, this being the
largest range in any month in the eight years ; in the years 1883 and
1884 the largest was in January, in 1^82 in February, in 1881 and
1886 in March, in 1880 in April as in this year, and in 1885 in September.
Q'he mean of the seven preceding largest monthly ranges was 0-584 inch.

The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere ; the greatest, 29-958 ins., was in February. In the years

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 113

1880, 1881, 1882, and 1884 the greatest was in January, in 1883 in
February as in this year, and in 1885 and 1886 in Doceml)er. The
highest mean monthly reading in the eight years was BO'OOO ins. in
January, 1882.

The smallest mean monthly reading was 29-653 ins. in August, this
being the lowest mean reading in any month in the eight yeans ; that in
August, 1885, was nearly as small, being 29-657 ins. In the years 1880,
1882, 1883, and 1886, the smallest was in July, and in 1881, 1884, aud
1885 in August as in this year.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in column
5 ; the highest in the year was 100°, in October ; the next in order was
98° in May, and 97° in April. The first day in the year the temperature
reached 90° was on April 10th, and on three other days in this month the
temperature reached or exceeded 90°. In May there were two days
when the temperature reached or exceeded 90°, in August on nine days
in Sei)tember on two days, and in October on eight days ; the highest in
the year, viz., 100°, took place on the 29th of October ; therefore the
temperature reached or exceeded 90° on twenty-five days during this
year. For the preceding seven years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884,
1885 and 1886, the temperature reached or exceeded 90° on 36, 27, 8, 16,
14, 24 and 16 days respectively. In the seven preceding years, the highest
temperatures were 103°, 106°, 93°, 106°, 100°, 103° and 112° respectively.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature of the air in
e;ich month. The lowest in the year was 32°-5 on January 28th; the next
in order was 33° on the 27th of January, and 36° on both the 26th and
29th of the same month, the temperature being below 40° again on the
last day of January ; in February the temperature was below 40° on
seven different nights, and in March on three nights. Therefore the
temperature was below 40° on fifteen nights in this year. In the pre-
ceding seven years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886, tlie
temperature was below 40° on 13, 2, 13, 2, 9, 3, and 3 nights respectively.
In the preceding seven years the lowest temperatures were 32°, 39°, 34°,
35°, 32°, and 38° respectively.

The yearly range of temperature was 67°-5 ; in the seven preceding
years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886, the yearly ranges
were 71°, 67°, 59°, 71°, 68°, 65°, and 75° respectively. The mean of the
seven preceding yearly ranges was 68°-0.

The range of temperature in each month is shown in column 7, and
these numbers vary from 27° in July to 54° in April. In the year 1880
these numbers varied from 25° in August to 53° in both April and May ;
in 1881 from 29° in July and September to 51° in May ; in 1882 from
25° in August to 47° in November ; in 1883 from 25° in July to 62° in
March ; in 1884 from 24° in February to 51° in April ; in 1885 from 22°
in July to 52° in March ; and in 1886 from 26° in August to 55° in June.

The mean of all the highest by day, of the lowest by night, and of the
average daily ranges of temperature are shown in columns 8, 9, and 10
respectively. Of the high day temperature, the lowest 63°-4, was in

114 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

January. In the years 1884, 1885, and 1886 the lowest was in January,
as in this year ; in 1881, 1882, and 1883, in February, and in 1880 in
December. The highest, 88°"5, was in August, in the year 1880 the highest
was in May ; in 1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886, in August, as in this
year ; and in 1882 in September. Of the low night temperature, the
coldest 44°'0, was in February ; in the years 1880, 1882, and 1884, the coldest
was in January, in 1883 and 1885 in February, as this year, and in 1881
and 1886 in December. The warmest, 69°'l, was in August ; in the year
1885 the warmest was in July ; in the years 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884
and 1886 the warmest was in Ai-gust as in this year. The average daily
rano-e of temperature is shown in cokunn 10 ; the smallest, 18°'5, is in
.January; in the years 1880, 1883, 1885, and 1886 the smallest was in
January, as in this year ; in 1881, 1882, and 1884 in February. The
greatest range of temperature, 25°-l, is in April ; in the year 1884 the
greatest was in April, as in this year ; in the years 1880 and 1885 the
greatest was in May, in 1881 in June, in 1883 in September, and in
1882 and 1886 in October.

In column 11, the mean temperature of the air is sliown as found from
observations of the maximum and minimxim thermometers only. The
month of the lowest temperature, 54°-l, was January, but February was
nearly as cold, being 54°-2. In the years 1880, 1884, 1885, and 1886, the
lowest was in January, as in this year ; in 1881 and 1882 in February ;
and in 1883 in December. That of the highest, 78°-8, was August, as in
each of the 7 preceding years. The mean temperature for the year was
66°-5, and of the 7 preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884,
1885, and 1886 were 66°-4, 66°-7, 65°-5, 65°-?, 65°-7, 65°-9, and 66°-8
respectively.

The numbers in columns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a dry and
Avet bulb thermometer taken daily at 9 a.m. In column 14 the monthly
temperature of the dew point, or that temperature at which dew would
1 ave been deposited, is shown ; the elastic force of vapour is shown in
column 15. In column 16 the water present in a cubic foot of air is
shown ; in March it was as small as 3^ grains, and in September it was
as large as 7| gi'ains. In column 17 the additional weight required for
.saturation is shown. The numbers in column 18 show the degree of
humidity, saturation being considered 100 ; the smallest number indi-
cating the driest month, is 50 in March, and the largest 75, indicating the
wettest month, was in December ; the weight of a cubic foot of air under
its pressure, temperature, and humidity at 9 a.m., is shown in column 19.

The most prevalent winds in January were S.E. and S., and the least
prevalent were N.E., W., and N.W. ; in February the most prevalent
were S.W. and S., and the least was N.E. ; in March the most
prevalent was W., and the least were N., N.E., and N.W. ; in April the
most prevalant was W, and the least were N. and S E. : in May the most
prevalent was W., and the least were N.E., E., and S.E. ; in June the
the most prevalent were S.W. and W., and the least were N., N.E., E., and
S.E. ; in July the most prevalent was S.W., and the least were N., N.E.,

A HITTITE prince's LETTER 115

E., S.E., S., and N.W. ; in August the most prevalent was S.W., and
the least were N., N.E., E., and S.E. ; in September the most prevalent
was S.W., and the least were N.E., E., S.E., and S. ; in October the most
prevalent was S.W., and the least was N. ; in November the most
prevalent were S.E., S., and N.E., and the least were N. and N.W. ; and
in December the most prevalent were S. and S.W., and the least prevalent
were N. and N.W. The most prevalent wind for the year was S.W.,
which occurred on 97 ditierent days in the year, and the least prevalent
wind was E., which occurred on only 13 times during the year.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m. ;
the month with the smallest is August, and the largest in both January
and April, which were of the same value. Of the cumulus, or tine weather
cloud, there were 60 instances in the year ; of these 18 were in August,
11 in September, and 9 in July. Of the nimbus, or rain cloud, there
were 57 instances ; of these 14 were in December, 13 in January, and 8 in
Ijoth February and March, and only 4 from May to October. Of the
cirrus there were 46 instances. Of the cirro-cumulus there were 59
instances. Of the stratus 23 instances. Of the cirro-stratus, 10 instances.
Of the cumulus-stratus, 6 instances ; and 104 instances of cloudless skies,
of which 17 were in October, 14 in May, and 13 in September.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 5"74 ins. in
January, of which 1'83 inch fell on the 16th. The next largest fall for the
mouth was in December, 5"22 ins., of which 2'12ins. fell on the 15th. No
rain fell from the 2nd May till the 14th of November, with the exception
of one day, viz., the 12th of September, when 0'08 inch fell, and so making
two periods of 132 and 63 consecutive days without rain. In 1880 there
were 168 consecutive days without rain; in 1881, 189 consecutive days ;
in 1882, there were two periods of 76 and 70 consecutive days without
rain ; in 1883, 167 consecutive days ; in 1884, 118 consecutive days ; in
1885, 115 consecutive days ; and in 1886, 171 consecutive days without
rain. The fall of rain for the year was 17'06 ins., being smaller in
amount than in any of the preceding seven years by 11*62 ins., 0*43 inch,
5-03 ins., 13'00 ins.. 1-67 inch, 3'00 ins., and 3"03 ins. respectively. The
number of days on which rain fell was 43. In the seven preceding years,
viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886 rain fell on 66, 48, 62,
71, 65, 63, and 66 days respectively.

James Glaisher.

A HITTITE PRINCE'S LETTER.

The majority of the Tell el Amarna letters have now been published.
Whether the kings to whom they are addressed are to be identified with
Amenophis III and Amenophis IV, or with invading Babylonian
mouarchs who had reached Egypt and there ruled for a brief space, and
to whom the Princes of Mesopotamia, and the Babylonian Governors
set up in Syria and Phoenicia, were writing, may be doubtful. It is

116 A HITTITE miNCE'S LETTER.

liiglily improbable that native Egyptians, acquainted witli the simpler
hieratic script, would have used the clumsy Cuneiform ; and it is
indisputable that the letters were written, not in Egypt or by Egyptians,
but in Syria and Mesopotamia, and by Asiatics. The names of the
monarchs addressed are read as NhwUriija and Khuri. The first has
been supposed equivalent to Ra- mat-neb (Ameno2:)his III), and the tablet
with his name bears the Egyptian character nuter on the back. The
second is supposed to be the Oros of Manetho, and connected with Nofer-
Kheperu-Ra (Amenophis IV). The name of one of the messengers sent
with a letter to Nap-khu-ririya, King of Egypt, is Pirizzi, and this is
also that of a messenger from the King of Mesopotamia mentioned in
the Egyptian docket on the back of another letter from the same writer.
This letter mentions the Egyptian Queen Thi, and it appears that the
author (Dusratta, King of Mitani) was father-in-law to the King of
Egypt. Naturally he uses the cuneiform script, but the docket is in
hieratic writing. Nap-khu-ririya seems pretty clearly to be Amenophis IV,
which gives the date of the letter. {See "Proceedings" Bib. Arch. Soc,
June, 1889.)

Among this mass of Semitic documents there is one letter in another
language, addressed to Nimutriya, and this has been jiartly translated by
Dr. Hugo Winckler and by Dr. Sayce.' They both have come to the
conclusion that the language is that of the Hittites ; but the difficulty
which remains is that, as the text for the most part is ideographically
written, it is only possible to obtain the sounds of the language in a few
cases with any certainty.

Tlie reasons for supposing the letter to be Hittite are : 1st. That the
name of the sender is Tarkundarais — a Hittite name. 2nd. That he
ruled apparently in Syria. 3rd. That the Prince of the Hittites is
mentioned in the letter.

The heading of the letter is supposed to be Assyrian, it is as
follows : —

" To Nimutriya the Great King the King of Egypt of Tarkundarais
King of the Land of Arzapi the letter."

The more certain phrases of the letter itself are as follows • —

" . . . me peace to my houses my wives my sons my great men
my army my horses my lands . . . may there be peace.

" . . . may there be peace to thy houses thy wives thy sons thy
great men thy army thy horses thy lands may there by peace ....

" The Prince of the Hittites ruling at the Mountain of Igaid . . .
of gold by weight, twenty manas of gold, three Kak of ivory, 3 Kak
of . . , 3 Kak of . . , 8 Kak of . . . ,100 Kak of lead (or tin)
4 . . . , 100 Kak of . . , 100 Kak of . . , 4 Kukupu stones
. . . , 5 Kukupu stones of a good kind, 3 . . ,24 plants of the

' Dr. Winckler's paper was read at the Royal Academy of Berlin, on
December 13th, 1888. The text is published by Dr. Sajee (" Proc." Bib. Arch.
Soc, June, 1889.)

A HITTITE PKINCE's LETTER. ] 17

. . . tree, 10 thrones of'iishu wood from the White Mountain
10 . . . ,2 ushu trees "

The more obscure part of the letter to be mentioned afterwards is
supposed to refer to a demand for tlie hand of an Egyptian princess.

The importance of this letter for the study of the Hittite language is
very great, and it is satisfactory to find that in the opinion of specialists
it presents many marks of relationship to the Akkadian. In the absence
of bilinguals it is one of the best means of furthering our knowledge
which has come to hand. The following remarks occured to me on first
reading it.

Tarkhundarais. — The last syllable is doubtful, but the name presents
us with the familiar Tarkhun, which I have already shown to be a
Turko-Mongol word meaning " chief " Dara is an Akkadian word for
" prince," and, as T have previously shown, is also Hittite, and found in
Altaic languages with the same meaning.

Igaid may probably, as Dr. Sayce suggests, be the Ikatai of the
" Travels of a Mohar," which, as is clear from Chabas' commentary, was
in the neighbourhood of Aleppo. Thus the Prince of the Hittites
appears in the Hittite country, where alone we know of this tribe — in
northern Syria.

Mi is the possessive pronoun, first person singular, as in Akkadian, and
in Altaic languages generally. {See my previous paper on the " Hittite
Tiauguage " in the Quarterly Statement.)

Ti is the possessive pronoun, second person singular. This no doubt
recalls Aryan languages, but is also found in Altaic speech, as in the
Hungarian te and Zirianian te. It is a dialectic variation of si, which is
the commoner sound in Altaic speech (Mongol si, Akkadian Zae).

Plural. — The sound is not supposed to be certain, but the emblem is
that which has the sound vies in Cuneiform. The tacking on of this
emblem to those for " house," " wife," &c., &c., seems to indicate an
agglutinative language.

Khuuman-huru-in, " may there be peace," is a precative form, which
Dr. Sayce admits, to remind us of Akkadian.

An-na, rendered " lead " by Dr. Sayce, seems, perhaps, to be phonetic.
In this case it recalls the Akkadian anna, Hungarian on, Armenian anag,
for " tin."

A rzapi, the country ruled by Tarkhundarais, is thought to be Razaffa
of the Assyrian inscriptions, the Rezeph of the Bible (2 Kings xix, 12).
If so, this prince with a distinctively Hittite name ruled the mountains of
Ikatai, from a town supposed to be near Nisibin. It is not a well fixed site.
. One place so-called was on the road from Eakkah to Homs, west of the
Euphrates ; another was near Baghdad. The Syrian Reseph may fairly
be supposed to be the place intended ; the emblem Ki attached to the
word is probably the genitive.

It appears, therefore, that as far as at present deciphered, the letter in
question confirms my view that the Hittite language was one closely
connected with Akkadian.

118

A HITTITE PRINCE S LETTER.

The following appears to me to be the correct translation of the main
part of the letter of which only a few words have been previously
read : —

" My great Chief, the Lord Irsappa, the Envoy, who is of my family,
my brother, I am sending to fetch thy daughter, O niy Hising Sun, as a
wife. My brother has a son of noble appearance. He brings, therefore,
to thy city a bag of gold as a present. Let my brother bring my gift to
thee fiom this place. These my . . . thus he brings, afterwards to
give thee, in order that thy servant the envoy fi'om thee with this one of
mine whom T am sending may take her afterwards to the young man.
Tliy (servant ?) I cause to fetch, to fetch from far (ifj thy daughter
receives the envoy with favour, thy envoy shall go as far as the house of
the great fortress, before the young Princess, as she goes through the
countries . . . Let her come to (our l) palace. The Prince of the
Hittites, ruling in the mountains of Ikatai, sends therefore 30 tu of usu
wood, as appointed. Irsapjaa will weigh the weight of the bag of gold."

The expression " Rising Sun" as a title for the King of Egyj^t, occurs
in many of the Tell el Amarna texts as well as in Egyptian.

The inscription so rendered gives us at least seventy Hittite words
some of which, however, being written " ideographically," that is, by a
single emblem, may be considered of doubtful sound ; but the rest,
amounting to more than fifty, are syllabically written, and may thus be
considered of known sound.

Out of this total there are twenty-five words whicli I had previously
fixed as belonging to the Ilittite language, being found either on the
Hittite monuments, or by analysis of the names of Hittite towns and of
Hittite Princes. The number of such words, which 1 have previously
published, amounts to about 100, so that a quarter of these words are
confirmed by this new and independent evidence..

The words so confirmed are as follows : —

A = participial afiix.
J r (or Er) == man.
Ata =" Chief."
JJu ="go."
E = " house."
Enu = " Lord."
Ga = " Oh."
Gal =" great."
Gan ="this."
Ear = " fortress."
Eal or Ehal = " town."
Ehat = " Hittite."
Eur ■=■ " mountain."

J/e
Mes

Mil
Ne

. ((

Ma = " me/' " my."
Ne = '• he," " of," "
jVeke = " belonofing tc

J > LL _ .

Fapa

iSar

Tak

Turku

Ti, Ta

to be."
pluraL
" me," " my."

he," " of," " to."

belonofing to."

— "young man" and
" father."

= "with," "in."
= " Chief."
= " eye," " see."
= " stone."

— "Chieftain.'

, "

' to," '' at."

The words not previously connected with the Hittite language require
further notice for their identification : —

A TIITTITE prince's LETTER. 119

1. Agrja, ''strong"; Akkadian Agga, "strong"; Akhi, "great";

Medic Uk-kn, " great."

2. An-na, "tin" ; Akkadian an-na, Hungarian mi.

3. ^i, " he," " it " ; Akkadian 5/, "he"; Medic Ap, up; Turkish y^

"this"; Samoyed /;a ,- Finnic verbal pronoun jo?' ; Esthonian h;
Tcberkess he; Yakut hi/.

4. Bi-hi-pi, "the which" (pi.) ; Akkadian aha, Medic npe, "which,"

with the plural in pi as in Medic.

5. Dam, " wife," as in Akkadian (ideographic).

6. Egir, " afterwards " Akkadian egir, (ideographic).

7. Guskin, "gold"; Akkadian Guskin (ideographic). This word is

probably connected with the Tartar km, "gold" ; Mancliu chin ;
Chinese kum.

8. G'rtr (in Khalvgari "haste-maker"); Akkadian f/ar, "to make"

or "cause," perhaps connected with the Aryan root kar or
GAR, "to do "

9. Ki, " as." I have already proposed this as possiblj' a Hittite

word. Akkadian ki, "as" ; Hungarian /•/, "so."

10. Kii {or Kuin) "dawn" or "bright"; Akkadian ku, "dawn" or

"bright"; kun, "dawn." Compare Livonian ^w, " the dawn,"
Finnic, koi, " bright," Basque eguna, " day."

11. Kum, " peace," as in Akkadian (ideographic).

12. Kala, " city." See " Transactions Bib. Arch. Soc," ii, p. 248, where

W. A. I. ii, 30, 14, is quoted as the authority for the word

V^ '^^y, Kal, or Kalla, being an Akkadian word for " town.'
According to the known rules of change in sounds this would
be the older form of the later val, vol, or aul, a well-known
Tartar word for " city,"or " camp," found also in Etruscan. In
Susian the form khal, " city," is well-known. It may be but a
variant of kar, " fortress," the Votiac and Zirianian kar, " town."

13. Kicis-tu, " as far as," or " up to" ; Medic kus, " until."

14. A'ww^^a, "favourable" ; Medic X-?t^to, "favouring." For these and

other Medic words the authority is Oppert's " Les Modes."

15. Ku-ku-pu. Probably the plural of ku-ht, which is the intensitive

of ku, " bright, " precious " ; the word is preceded by tak,
" stone " (Turkish tash), and tak-kukupu would thus mean
" precious stones," which are enumerated among the presents.

16. Kur-ra, " horse," as in Akkadian. There is no very evident

reason for regarding this as ideographic.

17. Khal, "haste " (in Khalugari, "haste-maker") as in Akkadian, e.g.,

Dara khal-khal, "the very swift (or ' bounding ') deer." It is
the Votiac zal, " swift" ; Altaic yel, " swift."

18. Ld, "gift." This appears to be an Akkadian word, and to occur in

in Medic as Lu.

19. Lai, "weight," as in Akkadian (ideographic).

20. Li-il appears to be the Akkadian suffix lal, " possessing " ; si-liil,

120 A IIITTITE PRINCii'S LETTER.

" appearance possessing," being thus the Akkadian si-lal,
" aspect."

21. Muk or Vag, supposing the sign to be read as in Medic, means "to

bring," " carry," " carry oneself," " travel."

22. JVin, "Lady," as in Akkadian. In Chinese we find neungr, "Lady";

in Turkish nene, " mother," a term of respect.

23. Nitakh, " man," as in Akkadian (ideographic).

24. Num, "high," "noble," a common Turanian root; Samoyed

num, "high," "heaven." In Akkadian, Num, Nim, JiJnim, is
" high " ; JVu, " Prince," is probably from the same root.

25. Fi, " to cause " ; Medic Pe, " to do."

26 Pir, " army," as in Akkadian; compare the Medic Pirra, "battle."

27. Fit, " young." In Etruscan we find Pu and Puia for " daughter "

or " child " ; Hungarian fiu, " son " ; Vogul pu ; Votiak pi, con-
nected with pii, " little." This word is also Aryan for a child,
whence pu-er and pu-ella m Latin. The gender is not distinct in
Akkadian.

28. lia, " towards," as in Akkadian. In Buriat Mongol r, " to " ;

Medic ra re, "to"; old Turkish datives ra ru ; Basque ra,

" towards." This particle I had already supposed to occur on
the Hittite monuments.

29. Sak, "sou" ; Medic and Susian Sak ; Etruscan Sech. It survives

in the Lapp sakko, " offspring." It is also known in Cassite.

30. jSa-as-sa, " ruling," apparently the causative from Sa and Assa ;

Akkadian Sa, " ruling " Issi, " master." This is very common,
e.g., Etruscan Isa ; Yakut us and icci ; Altaic us, Finnic and
Esthonian issa or isii, meaning " master." Khate-sa-assa means,
I think, clearly " Ruler of the Hittites."
3L Sade, "mountain," as in Akkadian (possibly ideographic). Sad
appears to mean a mountain chain (from a root meaning "long").
The word was adopted in Semitic languages.

32. Sari. In the Medic texts of Malamir we find sar in the sense of

" appoint."

33. Sis, " brother," as in Akkadian (ideographic).

34. Su-kha, "bag." In Akkadian sugga is rendered "baggage.

Compare the Hungarian zsnk, " bag."

35. Si "face," "appearance," cf. li-il.

36. Tik ? " in front of," as in Akkadian.

37. Tsil, Tsilva, apparently the Akkadian Tsil, " to raise," " put."

38. Tur, " child " ; Akkadian (ideographic). Compare Yakut Oder

Tunguse edor, "young"; Etruscan etera, "child"; Mordwin
Tsur, "son."

39. Tur-rak, " daughter," as in Akkadian Rak, meaning " female."

40. U, " relation " or " blood," as in Akkadian (ideographic).

41. U, "I" ; Akkadian U, Vu; Medic //«.

42. Ud, " sun," as in Akkadian (ideographic) ; Buriat Mongol ude,

" day " ; Chinese 9/at, " sun."

THE SE/VL OF IIAGGAI. 121

43. Ud, " to appear," connected with the preceding.

44. Uppa, " thus," " therefore " ; Medic uppe or luippe.

45. Zi, jtrobiibly "to carry away," as in Akkadian. The word an-zi

appears to be a verb. The preceding syllable forms the infinitive
(c/. Medic on-to, "to go"; in-paru, "to arrive"; Akkadian m-y Mi,
" to enclose.") In each case the root is affixed.

46. Zi-in, apparently "palace"; Akkadian zi, "building"; Medic

zi-yan, " palace."

In addition to these words we have the personal name Ir-sappa for the
Hitt'te messenger. Each of its constituents occurs in other Hittite
names : Ir (in Irkhulm, the name of a King of Hamath) is apparently
the common Turkic cr, " man " ; Sappa compares with Sap-lel, a Hittite
Prince mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus.

Several doubtful words have not been noticed in this enumeration.
They are as follows : am and «ia, " this one " (as in Akkadian) ; 7nakh
"great" ; kak-ti, "says" ; da, "my" (as in Medic) ; du-nkka, "again" ;
dusi, "he is" (Medic duis); kue, "putting" (as in Akkadian); daas, " they
are" (as in Medic); ki, "place" ; khuudak, "he may take"; kldda, "far"
(Akkadian ^io?) ; asmiis, ""she has received"; ga-as, "she comes"; tu,
" weight " ; ski, " horn." The following words are also of unknown
sound, "servant"? and "country." The words raat, klm-nz (perhaps
"slave"), Kah, Istu, are difficult, hvit guza seems to mean "throne,
and khir, gis, pa-na, " plants of the Pan tree," recalls the Hindi name for
the betel. Gisrnestu can hardly mean "thy trees" because of its position
in the sentence ; as repeated (lines 7 and 10) it might mean "to continue."
Khu, " he," " this " (as in Akkadian and Medic) seems to occur in line 14,
and da in line 18 "to give" (as in Akkadian). The new letter not only
appears to show clearly that the Hittite language was a Tartar dialect
akin to Akkadian ami Medic, but it also materially increases our stock of
Hittite words, giving a present total of about 150 in all. The granmiatical
construction of the sentence is exactly that which has been discussed
in my previous paper on the " Hittite Language " in the Quarterly State-
ment for 1888.

C. R. C.

THE SEAL OF HAGGAL

The attached comparison may be of value as showing on what grounds
this seal is supposed to be ancient. Col. 1 — The Haggai letters. Col. 2 —
The Jewish Early Coinage (2nd cent. B.C.) Col. 3— The Siloam Text
(supposed 700 B.C.) Col. 4 — Late Phoenician (2nd cent. B.C.) In the test
letters, Clieth Yod Shin, the Haggai character is nearer to the Siloam
Alphabet.

122 BEZETHA.

The assertion that the Siloam text presents older forms than the
Moabite stone is as yet unproved ; on tlie contrary the forms of the mi?n.,
nun, and especially of the a^e^A are those found on texts of the 7th

-| "I 1 7

W w //

^ ^ 3 ^

century b.c. and later, and the text is only placed as early as 700 b.c.
because some of its letters approach those of the older Moabite alphabet.

C. E. C.

BEZETHA.

This name applied to the new part of Jerusalem, north of the temple.
Josephus speaks of Bezetha {BeCl^d) " which is also called the New City "
2 Wars xix, 4) which by no means shows that the Hebrew name meant
" New City." Dr. Neubauer (Geog. Tal. p. 139) says the word has been

ESAU'S HEAD. 123

variously translated. The common etymology is ^jniH fT'D, -^^^^'
Haditha "New house" others give i^]~\"^'p T^'2. "House of Olives."
R. Schwarz points to the word J«^^^^ " swamp"' but there are no swamps
at Jerusalem. Yet the real meaning of the name may not be uncon-
nected with a passage to which R. Schwarz was referring.

Dr. Neubauer cites this passage which ap})ears in various Talmudic
works. Tosijdita Hanked, ch. 3 ; Tal Jer Banked i, 2 ; Tal Bab Shebv.oth
16a, Megillak Taanith, ch. 6. " Two places called Bitzin ('J'^T^^^, or

Q^2i^). existed at Jerusalem, the lower and the upper. The lower was
added to Jerusalem by the exiles who came back from Babylon and had
the same rights as the rest of the city, the other was added later by a
king and without consulting Urim and Thummim. It had not previously
been added to the city because it was on the weak side of Jerusalem."

Now since Bezetha was both on the weak side of Jerusalem, and also
only added in the later times of the Herodiaiis, it is clear that the Upper
Bitz'a may, as Dr. Neubauer said, very jarobably be Bezetha.

I would now call attention to the meaning of the word. The root
i^!JD. "^ Aramaic is used according to Buxtortf with the meaning " to cut
off" or "divide." Hence the Bitz'a was the "cutting" (Frusira Fovea
Fossa) and Gesenius (s. v. ^^2.) ™akes the Hebrew roots J»^'J^ and V^^
and ^1'2, equivalent, all with the sense of dividing. Hence we might
easily suppose that ^eC^da (with the long vowel Bezetha represents a
word i^^n^^f^ from the Root ^"{^ equivalent to the Aramaic 'r^yi^'2.

Bezetha only appears in history after the Christian Era, that is after
the building of Herod's Temple. Now, as Josephus explains (.5 Wars iv, 3),
" It lies over against the Tower Antonia, but it is divided from it by a
deep valley which was dug on purpose, and that in order to hinder the
foundations of the Tower of Antonia from joining to this hill." It is true
that in the same passage he seems to consider Bezetha as equivalent to
the Greek " New City," but the translation may here be doubted.

It seems probable that Bezetha, therefore, may simply be the Hebrew
or Aramaic Bezutha, and may mean " the cutting," referring to the fosse
north of Antonia, which still exists and which was converted, after the
time of Josephus, into the Twin Pools. This explanation has not, as far
as I know, been previously proposed,

C. R. C.

ESAUS HEAD,

There is a curious legend in the Talmud as to the death of Esau.
According to this account, Hushim, son of Dan, cut off Esau's head in the
faction tight which followed the burial of Jacob. The head was buried
in Hebi'on, but the body in Mount Seir.

On the Survey Ma.p north of Hebron will be found the village of Siair

124 GIHON.

(Sheet XXI, Mem. Ill, p. 309), in which is shown the traditional tomb
of Esau {El 'Ais\ which I have fully described on a later page (p. 379).

The villaoe appears to be the Zior of the Bible (Josh, xv, 54), but it
would appear probable that at some time or other this site was regarded
as the Biblical Seir, where Esau's body was buried. The legend of the
head was not, however, recovered in connection with Hebron.

C. R. C.

GIHON.

In histories, commentaries, books of travel, and guidebooks, we read of
a Mount Gihon, a Valley of Gihon, a Fountain of Gihon, and an Upper
and Lower Pool of Gihon. In the Bible, Gihon, near Jerusalem, is men-
tioned only as a place which had an upper and, as may be inferred, a
lower outflow of water (2 Chron. xxxii, 30.) It was at a lower level than

the city, in the valley ^H^ '^^'^ apjmrently near enough to En-Rogel for
shouting and music to be there heard from it ; but the two places were
not in sight of each other. From Joshua xv, 7, it appears that En-Eogel
was to the east or south-east of the city, and as Gihon was near it, and in
a nachal, or narrow deep water-course, we must look for the latter in one
of the narrow valleys which converge just below the city on the south-
east. In the Chaldee and Syriac versions of the Bible, Gihon is trans-
lated Siloah, and this gives an indication of its position. According to
high authorities, Gihon means a bursting forth and was therefore the
name given to this water source. But this term is applied to no other
spring, and it seems to me not improbable that the true derivation of

Gihon is not H^il giah, to burst forth, but jD^ gahan, to bow down

to prostrate oneself, and that tlie term was originally ajiplied, not to the
fountain, but to the canal ichicli brought the water from the fountain.^ How
fitting such a term would be for such a narrow passage, which can only be
traversed in portions of its extent by a person going literally on his belly
nHil gaho7\ evfiryone who has been through the canal will feelingly
recognise. But however this may be, all the difficulties of the narratives,
so far as Gihon is concerned, seem to disappear if we consider that the
names Gihon and Siloah were applied to the canal, and especially to its
southern end, which was the lower and principal outflow of its waters
whilst its iTpjaer outflow was at what is now called the Virgin's Fountain.
There is nothing to indicate the situation of the Shiloah alluded to by the
prophet Isaiah (viii, 6), but there can be little doubt that it was identical
with the Siloah, or more properly Shelach, of Neheniiah ; only the
prophet speaks of the softly flowing stream, and Nehemiah of the pool
which it supi^lied. Tl at this j^ool was the same as the " pool of Siloam "
few will question, and if there ever was a -^'pool of Gihon " (whicb there

• The form pnil or >in'|, if derived from *n|, is exactly the sajne as n?C'
.or as the Eabbis spell il m7''t^, from H^^' to send (cf. Jolin ix, 7).

SITE OF CALYAKY. 125

was not) it would have been either here or in the other valley, in which
was the upper outflow of water. By David Kimchi and Rashi, as well
as by the Targum, Gihon and Siloah are regarded as identical, and this
being so, it is easy, in the light of modern discovery, to understand
the dictum of R Samuel that " Siloah was within the city " pIlSlI^
ni'^l^n i^!^h^2 rrri. (Talm. Jer. Chag., page 4). The entrance
to the passage leading down to the shaft by means of which the branch
of the aqvieduct was reached from above, as discovered by Sir Charles
"Warren, was almost certainly within the ancient city. This shaft
and passage may have been constructed partly for convenience of
ordinary life, but were no doubt chiefly designed to enable those within
the walls to obtain the water when the outer approaches to it were
stopped and hidden.' This branch aqueduct is a part of the canal which
I venture to think was called Gihon or Siloah, and thus Siloah might
be truly said to be within the city.

Thomas Chaplin, M.D.

SITE OF CALVARY.

Now that so much interest is concentrated on the excavations in
progress in and near Jerusalem, in which the readers of the Quarterly
Statement are being well posted up by Herr Schick, would you be so good
as to insert the enclosed letter, which I happened to come upon when
tuinnng over a copy of " Mount Seir," and which in justice to the late
Colonel Churchill ought to be made public \

Allow me to add that, in my opinion, the recent excavations in the
neighbourhood of " Jeremiah's Grotto," so clearly described by Herr
Schick, all tend to confirm the view that this spot is without doubt the
site of the Crucifixion and of the Holy Sepulchre.

Edward Hull.

" Ordsall Rectory, Retford, Notts.

" Sir, — May I take the liberty of saying that nearly 20 years ago the

site of Calvary as you and Captain Conder indicate it, was pointed out to

me by Colonel Churchill (now dead), the historian of the Lebanon %

" His arguments were identical with yours, though we neither of us

knew of the Roman Causeway. On two subsequent visits to Jerusalem the

idea became a certainty to me.

" I do not think Colonel Churchill mentioned his idea to many persons,

as it met with much disfavour.

" I am. Sir,

" Faithfully yours,

"S. Kelson Stothert.
" To Professor Hull."

' No doubt Hezekiah stopped tlie lower outflow as well as the upper, for he
stopped " all the fountains." The Jews who sustained the siege by Titus were
not so prudent.

120

NEHEMTAH'S WALL.

Mr. St. Clair says that in his line for this wall he lias " nowhere
departed from probability." To me he rather seems to have plunged
into impossibility. To reduce his theory to ruins, all that is needed is to
prove that Nehemiah's Wall passed near 'Ain Silwan (Siloam), since
thence to the wall of Ophel (Neh. iii, 27) it could never have passed up
the Tyrojjoeon.

It may be well to premise that, though he names Levvin and Warren,
no supjjort whatever from these two writers or from Thrupp accrues to
Mr. St. Clair's theory, since Lewin draws Neliemiah's Wall down to
Siloam, and Sir Charles Warren, in his i)lan (" Jerusalem Recovered "
and " Temple or Tomb"), does the very same ; wliile Thrupp, unable to
bring his wall down to 'Ain Silwan, brings Siloam up to it instead — all of
them having seen, what is obvious enough, that the wall passed near
Siloam.

If Mr. St. Clair, as I pointed out (1889, 207), appeals to Josephus, his
theory collapses at once, for the Jewish historian states that the first wall
was built by the kings, and makes it to reach to Siloam. I qiioted three
passages to prove this, and it is no answer whatever for Mr. St. Clair to
ignore two of them entirely, and, as to the third, to suggest that
" thence " may refer to a place that has not even been named. Josephus
distinctly speaks of part of the first wall as "bending from Siloam
towards (or facing) east" (Wars, v, vi, 1). Again (as I pointed out) the
Romans drove the Jews out of the lower city and " set all on fire as far
as Siloam.''^ How possibly could the wall bend from Siloam or the fire
reach to Siloam if the wall on the north never came nearer to it than
1,500 feet, as is urged by Mr. St. Clair, and so shown on his plan. It
seems wasting space to add that wlien the country for 90 fuilongs round
had been scoui-ed for wood there would in August be nothing outside
the wall left to set fire to " as far as Siloam."

Therefore vnthin tlie city the fii'e extended to Siloam, or, in other
words, the wall came near to 'Ain Silwan. Whatever support Mr. St.
Clair may have for his new theory, he will find none whatever in
Josephus, and perha]»s now he will be willing to dismiss this witness, as
the first wall of his time need not necessarily have been on the line of
that of Nehemiah.

Accordingly, xdlhout Josephus, it is next to be proved that Nehemiah's
Wall came near to Siloam. It is stated (Neh. iii, 15) that Shallun
repaired " the wall of the Pool of Siloah by the king's garden." Happily,
Mr. St. Clair admits that this pool was near 'Ain Silwan, and does not
urge that Nehemiah is here said to build a wall near that pool, though
distant some 1,500 feet from his (Mr. St. Clair's) city, merely to show
that he had plenty of workmen to spare. Mr. St. Clair maintains.

NEIIRMIAIl'S WALL. 127

however, that his wall across the valley, 1,500 feet distant from the Pool of
Siloam, derived its name from that pool ; just as now the Jaffa and
Damascus Gates at Jei-usalem are named from places miles away. Gates
naturally have and had, as at Rome, their name from places to which the
road led that passed through them ; but that part of a city wall should
have its name from the place as well as from the direction (as east, &c.)
towards which it looked is quite a diferent question. Neither Lewin (so
far as I remember) nor Mr. St. Clair attempts to give any instance of the
kind.

Neh. iii, 15, mentions indeed the fountahi gate, because the road
through it led to the foimtain. Whether this means 'A in Silwan or
En-rogel {see Jos. Ant. vii, xiv, 4, and Wars, v, xii, 2) need not now be
discussed ; and if the wall adjacent coiild have derived its name from the
road, why, I may ask in turn, was it not called the fountain wall, instead
of the wall of the Pool of Silouh ? If there is any truth in IS'Ir. St.
Clair's way of taking the words, surely he can furnish us with an example
to save his theory from destruction.

Until such an instance is produced, the wall of the Pool of Siloah must
be taken to mean literalhj tvhat it says ; just as the Damascus wall means
the wall of and at Damascus, and not part of the wall of Jerusalem, near
the Damascus Gate.

Therefore, as Shallun repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloah, it seems
to me that the conclusion is inevitable that the wall went close to the
pool (so as to defend it), even if it did not actually enclose it, as seems to
me to have been most probably, if not certainly, the case in NehemiaKs
time.

And now my task on this point is practically done, since if the wall
came near to 'Ain Silwan Mr. St. Clair's structure falls to the ground like
a castle of cards, and there it must remain until it can be shown that the
wall of the Pool of Siluah was not the actual wall of that pool.

A few other points, however, deserve notice.

1. I have never objected to a bay up the Tyropoeon. I know as yet
of no evidence that there was not such a bay (in the wall) in the time of
Solomon, and at what point the wall crossed the Tyropoeon is still an
unsettled question ; but I maintain that it can be proved that in the time
of Hezekiah the wall on Ophel (so-called) must have reached close to 'Ain
Silwan, and have thoroughly defended it, if it did not also enclose there
the Pool of Siloah.

2. I fail to understand what Mr. St. Clair means by saying, " Their
{ie., others' and my) wall does not and cannot effect a junction with the
wall of Ophel." Why cannot our wall from the south join that wall just
as well as his wall does from the west 1 As a matter of fact, Sir Charles
Warren's and Major Conder's wall on their plans (" Jerusalem Recovered "
and "Handbook to the Bible") actually do join the Ophel wall, and
(1879, 179), on " Nehemiah's Wall," I state, " Here we seem to join the
wall of OphelP

3. He says again of our wall, " It cannot be made to satisfy the

I 2

128 NEHEMI All's WALL.

descriptions in Neliemiah." What does this mean ? If it means we
cannot show " coiners and turnings," I would observe that no reasonable
person would expect to tind such underground remains before the required
excavations are made.

4. I believe the wall of Josephus liad (as Mr. St. Clair says) a bend
above Siloam ; but this in no way prevented the wall afterwards going
down to Siloam, and there enclosing the spring (Josephus's word) of
Siloam, as seems probable from the fact that Simon held that spring.

5. After Mr. St. Clair's procession from the west reaches the Ojihel
ridge, we do not read of their passing any point named on the repaired
wall. Why, then, after my procession reaches the same ridge from the
south, is it to be required to pass any point named on the same repaired
wall ? It seems arbitrary to demand more from us than from himself.
Evidently once on the ridge of Ophel the procession kept to it.

6. I am confident that the wall came 7iear to the Pool of Siloah (though
I have never insisted on its inclosing it), because the wall of the pool is
distinctly stated to have been repaired. Mr. St. Clair is wrong when he
says {supra., 47) I argue "that Josephus must mean this because he
speaks of the wall bending thence again." As I am cautious about
trusting Josephus, let me sa.y I take him to prove that the wall came
near to Siloam in his own time, but as to Nehemiah's time I do not care
to ask on this point what Josephus thought.

7. I see no object in attempting to add details, without further
evidence, to the line I adopted on p. 179 in Quarterly Statement., 1879.
My reason is given in 3, above.

8. Where do I say " the wall of Ophel extended further east than
Warren found it ? " That it extended further south than he traced it
is, I imagine, admitted now by everybody who writes on Jerusalem,
except Mr. St. Clair. I quoted two passages from the Bible to prove that
before the time of Nehemiah there was a wall on Ophel due west of the
Virgin's Fount or Gihon. One of these (2 Chron. xxxiii, 14) Mr. St.
Clair passes over in silence, not seeing (I suppose) how to get over it.
The other (xxxii, 30), which speaks of Hezekiah's stopping Gihon, &c., he
explains in an amusing manner, being unwilling to admit that the Jewish
King made the tunnel through Ophel in order to prevent an enemy using
the waters from Gihon. While he admits that Schick's aqueduct at that
time carried water into the Tyropoeon, he supposes that the waters some-
times could not rise high enough to flow into it, and that therefore the
tunnel was made through the hill at a lower level for the waters to flow
more constantly.

This beats all the odd notions one has heard of about Jerusalem. The
diff'erence of level between the bottom of the aqueduct and the water in
the tunnel cannot be much more than 12 inches, though really the more
the better {see " Defence of the Gutter"), and yet merely for this gain of
about 12 inches Hezekiah is made to cut through the rock a tunnel 1,700
feet long.

Now, from what I have seen and heard of Gihon for some years

nehemiah's wall. 129

I hereby certify Mr. St. Clair that it is a well-conducted spring, and,
though remittent, still always obedient to natural laws and ready in old
time to rise at a moment's notice all the inches necessary to reach the
higher aqueduct ; and more than this, to remain at that height unless
emptied by over-drawing. Indeed, I venture to assert that the tunnel
was made by Hezekiah because the waters would persistently rise, not
because they would ho^, and not only rise, but also overf/cm ; so that Heze-
kiah, do what he might, could not prevent their flowing and overflowing
as usual, any more than he could by the plug stop En-rogel from over-
flowing after heavy rains. Therefore Hezekiah was forced to make the
tunnel through Ophel to the Pool of Siloah, where the Assyrians could
not get at the water.

It is this same Gihon that leads Kitto to observe, " It curiously shows
how deficient men of liberal education and even eminent scholars are
generally in knowledge of natural science." I believe, however, that Mr
St. Clair knows of the latter more than I do. He made " only a guess,''
intent at the time on his double wall with its corners and turnings, unless,
it may be, his feeble defence was meant to portend his speedy abandon-
ment of his strange theory.

Let me add that Schick's aqueduct carried (I believe) water to the
King's Pool, below the later Pool of Siloah, in the Tyropoeon, and that
Hezekiah's tunnel carried water into the ditch (Isaiah xxii, 11) or Pool of
Siloah, just below 'Ain Silwan. Further, Mr. St. Clair fails to tell us
what Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxxii, 30) was going to gain by stopping the
upper outlet of Gihon (at the Virgin's Fount) in peace, or even in war, if
the Assyrian could draw the water lower down, at the Pool of Siloah.

9. Mr. St. Clair very prudently does not attempt to meet any of the
proofs I have brought forward from time to time showing that the City
of David, or the A era of I Maccabees, or the A era of Josejahus, was
solely on Ophel (so called), south of the temple. He "accepts,'' he says,
" Warren's Acra ; " as if that were enough (1889, 90).

10. Mr. St. Clair's explanation of d/x^tVv/jTos is also curious. He says
it means doubly curved, and, therefore, counting the inner curve, he asks
why it may not mean crescent-shaped as well as gibbous. Such ingenuity
would enable this word to be applicable to the moon at any time except
the moment when it is just half-moon. The Greeks, however, had three
words to describe forms similar to the phases of the moon when less than
full— u^(f)iKvpTos, gibbous, ^r;i;oetSr/9, crescent- shaped, Si;(oro/xos-, cut in half.
I hardly think the lexicograjjhers will accept this latest interpretation
for the first word.

I have corrected enough errors, and will only add that I did not say
that the throne of the governor was the gate of Ephraim, but that I
believed it marked the position of the latter gate. Again, I did not say
that a builder invariably began where the preceding builder ended, but
that the expression after him (which is not invariably used) seemed, u-hen
it is used, to indicate that the fresh builder began where the preceding
one ended.

loO T^UINR OF THE SLIME PITS OF SIDDIM.

My apology for these tedious notes must be that unless I can defend
my own theory and show the errors of any adverse one relating to the
position of David's sepulchres, I cannot reasonably expect the Executive
Committee to begin the excavations necessary to finding the sepulchres
of the kings.

W. F. Birch.

RUINS OF THE " SLIME PITS " IN THE YALE OF

SIDDIM.

The remains to which Mr. H. A. Harper has called attention in the first
edition of his " Bible and Modern Discoveries " are undoubtedly the
ruins of a karaize, such as Mr. William Simpson so well describes in the
last Quarterly Statement, the underground connecting channel of which is
called a kanot. But Mr. Harper has fallen into a mistake in supposing
that the description I gave him applied to the present state of the ruins on
the east of the Jordan situated in that singularly dry and waterless
region in the Ghor, now absolutely desert, extending for some ten or
twelve miles north of Tell Nimrim. This description, as it appeared on
])age 12 of the first edition of "The Bible and Modern Discoveries,"
though it is far from accurate, must have been given by me to Mr. Harper
as that of a rough view of the system as it would be if restored, or as it
now exists, where it is still to be seen in working order on the plains of
Damascus, as described by Dr. Porter in " Murray's Handbook for
Travellers in Syria and Palestine." So little like a water system is it, as
it now exists in this strip of arid desert in the Ghor, held by the Adwan
tribe of Bedawiu, tliat Dr. Selah Merrill declares in his account of it
that he had no idea of the purpose it served ! Nothing like it, so far as I
have beeu able to ascertain, is to be found in any other part of Palestine,
for what at first was thought by those who made the survey of Western
Palestine to be a similar ruin near Kurn Surtubeh, appears, from the
account in the "Memoirs of the Survey Map" (vol. ii, plate facing
page 397), to be some four rock-cut beers, or ordinary underground
cemented water-cisterns, connected with an ordinary aqueduct, which
rises three-quarters of a mile west of the Kurn. All that I saw, and all
that now exists in the desert north of Tell Nimrim, are three rows of
bason-like, circular mounds, about 5 or 6 feet high and some 30 feet in
diameter, resembling in shape the dens of ant-lions. The actual pits
themselves, which once yawned deep and wide within these enclosures,
are now in all instances filled up. In the longest row there are no less
than 31 of these shallow basons. They are generally 30 feet apart, but
in some instances 50 to 60. As seen at a distance, the three rows
resemble a string of monster mole-hills, only placed at regular intervals.

My discovery consists in recognising these remains, when on a journey
to the highlands of Moab in 1873, as the exact marks left by such a

RUINS OF THE SLIME PITS OF SIDDIM. 131

water system as Mr. Simpson describes when in ruins, as I liad an
opportunity of seeing it in several places in the desert east of Damascus
when travelling to Palmyra in 1872, and also in identifying them with
the "slime" pits, or probably "marl clay," and possibly "cemented"
]>its, with which the Vale of Siddim was full, just north of the site now
identified as that of the Cities of the Plain, and which dangerous network
of pits stretching across the whole vale naturally completed the route of
the retreating armies of the five kings, as described in Gen. xiv.

Mr. William Simpson is certainly right in supposing that the con-
necting channel of a karaize in Syria, as in Central Asia, is in every case
at the bottom of the pits, and that under ordinary circumstances they are
almost, if not quite, empty of water ; and if I led Mr. Harper to under-
stand anything else I was mistaken. But I think the words which
Mr. Harper quotes as mine must be what he has gathered from my verbal
description rather than any that I could have written. The " rain water
from the hills," which is intended to be caught and conveyed on by the first
pit, is not surface water, but that of a spring underground at the foot of
the hills ; and the object is not to keep water standing in the pits, but to
pass it on by their connecting channel, or tunnel, through the gradually
descending ground till it flows out at a point on a level with the surface,
some half a mile to three miles away from the spot where the water is
found at the bottom of the first pit. I specially referred Mr. Harper,
when telling him about my discovery, to Dr. Porter for a full description of
this system as now at work on the Plains of Damascus. As Mr. Simpson
says, it is " to be hoped that some one will be able to tell us what the
system is at that ]:)lace," I will now give Dr. Porter's words in Mr.
Murray's " Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine," 1858, vol. ii,
p. 497 :—

" A mode of obtaining water for irrigation extensively employed over
the Plain of Damascus is deserving of notice. A well is first sunk till
water is found ; then, following the slope of the plain, another is sunk at
the distance of 50 or 60 yards, and the two are connected by a subterranean
channel, with just enough of fall for the water to flow. A long line of
wells is thus made and connected, and the stream of WMter obtained is at
length on a level with the surface, and ready for use. The whole plain is
filled with these singular aqueducts, some of them running for two or
three miles underground. Where the water of one is diffusinir life and
verdure over the surface, another beneath is collecting a new supply,
deriving it, too, in some measure from the surplus of the former which
percolates through the soil. Many of them are now choked with rubbish,
and no longer serviceable." Dr. Porter has also another allusion to this
system of irrigation on page 540 in the same volume, and two in his " Five
Years in Damascus," vol. i, pp. 159, 394, in the first of which (p. 159)
he alludes to the circular bason-like mounds around the mouths of the
pits. Readers of the Quarterly, who may be iuterested in the discovery
in situ of the ruins of constructions mentioned in the Bible as existiu;"-
nearly 4,000 years ago, may see the subject fully discussed in an article

132 EREATA.

entitled " The Cities of the Plain and the ' Slime Pits ' of the Vale of
Siddim," which I am contributing to the May number of the
" Theological Monthly."

Jamks Neil.

ERRATA.

1889, page 52, " Spring of the fig." For fig, read almond.
5, ,, 207. For novel, read or Thrupp's.
„ „ 208. For Rabboth, read Rabbath.

,, 209. For " That the, read that " The.

Qdarterlt Statement, Jult, 1890.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.

NOTES AND NEWS.

On the 22nd of June last, the Fund completed twenty-five years of existence.
During this period a large amount of important work has been done. Western
Palestine, as far nortli as the Nahr el Kasimiyeh, has been completely surveyed,
and fifteen hundred square miles of the country east of tlie Jordan. Important
excavations have been made in and around Jerusalem, and at Tell Hesy.
Besides a series of accurate maps of the Holy Land, an immense number of
drawings, photographs, aad plans has been produced and published, together
with memoirs of the surveys, name lists, and other valuable 7uatter, whilst the
Quarterly Statements have afforded the moans of publishing many new dis-
coveries by the officers of the Fund and other travellers, and the views and
arguments of scholars and explorers with reference to disputed sites and other
points of interest. It is satisfactory that the fund has lost none of its vitality.
No less than 187 new members were added during the past year, and the vigour
with which the work is carried on where openings for it present themselves, is
shown by the recent important excavations of Mr. li'linders Petrie, in the
western plain ; the researches of Herr Schick at Jerusalem ; and of Herr
Shumacher in the north and north-east.

In the present number will be found two important communications from
Mr. Flinders Petrie, one being notes on places visited by him in Jerusalem, and
the other a short and condensed report of his excavations at Tell Hesy.

The latter have already proved of the greatest interest and importance. A
wall, 28 feet 8 inches thick, of clay bricks, unburnt, which has been uncovered,
is believed to be that of the ancient Amorite city of Lachish, erected probably
1,500 years before Christ. Phoenician pottery of about 1100 B.C. was found
above its level. Later constructions found on the spot are the supposed wall of
Eehoboam, and remains of the fortifications made in the reigns of Asa, Jehosha-

134 NOTES AND NEWS.

pliat, Uzziah, Jotham, and Manasseh. In one building, probably of 900 B.C.
or 1000 B.C., was found a curious form of decoration — a shallow pilaster,
with very sloping side, resting on a low cushion base, and with a volute at the
top. " We are here," Mr. Petrie writes, " face to face at last with work of
the earlier Jewish kings, probably executed by the same school of masons who
built and adorned the Temple of Solomon."

The discoveries of pottery are most valuable. Some fragments have
inscriptions of very ancient form. " We now know for certain the
characteristics of Amorite pottery, of earlier Jewish, and of later Jewish,
influenced by Greek trade. In future all the tells and ruins of the country
will at once reveal their age by the potsherds which cover them."

The work of Mr. Gruy le Strange on "Palestine under the Moslems" was
published in April.

For a long time it had been desired by the Committee to present to the
world some of the great hoards of information about Palestine which lie buried
in the Arabic texts of tlie Moslem geographers and travellers of the Middle
Ages. Some few of the works, or parts of the works, have been already trans-
lated into Latin, French, and Grerman. Hardly anything has been done with
thorn in English, and no attempt has ever been made to systematise, compare,
and annotate them.

This has now been done for the Society by Mr. Guy le Strange. The work
is divided into chapters on Syria, Palestine, Jerusalem, and Damascus, the
provincial capitals and chief towns, and the legends related by the writers
consulted. These writers begin with the ninth century and continue until the
fifteenth. The volume contains maps and illustrations required for the elucida-
tion of the text.

The Committee have great confidence that this work — so novel, so useful
to students of mediaeval history, and to all those interested in the continuous
story of the Holy Land — will meet with the success which its learned author
deserves. The price to subscribers to the Fund is 8s. 6d. ; to the public
12*. 6d.

The new map of Palestine, so long in hand, is now ready. It embraces
both sides of the Jordan, and extends from Baalbek in the north to Kadesh
Barnea in the south. All the modern names are in black ; over these are
printed in red the Old Testament and Apocrypha names. The New Testament,
Josephus, and Talmudic names are in blue, and the tribal possessions are tinted
in colours, giving clearly all the identifications up to date. It is the most compre-
hensive map that has been published, and will be invaluable to universities,
colleges, schools, &c.

NOTES AND NEWS. 135

It is published in 21 sheets, with paper cover ; price to subscribers to the
Fund, 24*., to the public, £2. It can be had mounted on cloth, rollers, and
Aarnished for hanging. The size is 8 feet by 6 feet. The cost of mounting
will he extra.

Mr. Henry A. Harper's work, on " The Bible and Modern Discoveries "
was published last December. It is an endeavour to present in a simple but yet
connected form the Biblical results of twenty-two years' work of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. The writer has al?o availed himself of the discoveries made
by the American Expeditions and the Egyptian Exploration Fund, as well as
discoveries of interest made by independent ti-avellers. The Bible story, from flic
call of Abraham to the Captivity, is taken, and details given of the light thrown
by modern research on the sacred annals. Eastern customs and modes of
thought are explained wlienever the writer thought they illustrated the
text. To the Clergy and Sunday School Teachers, as well as to all those who
love the Bible, the writer hopes this work will prove useful. He is personally
acquainted with the land, and nearly all the places spoken of he has visited,
and most of them he has moreover sketched or painted. The work is in
one large, handsome volume of 600 pages. It is illustrated with many
plates, and a map showing the route of the Israelites and the sites of
the principal places mentioned in the sacred narratives. The work has had
a very gratifying reception. The Third Fnvised Edition is now nearly
exhausted. It should be noted that the boc N admirably adapted for the
school or village library.

An interesting note from Rev. J. E. Hanauer is inserted in this Statement,
which will set at rest the many conflicting statements as to whether or not the
Dead Sea is visible from Jerusalem.

Mr. Hanauer has forwarded a series of photographs of the rock-hewn altar
near Silrah, of sculptured stones found at 'Artuf, of the interesting sculptured
figures in the cave near Saris (taken by magnesium light), and of stones with
inscriptions recently dug up near the supposed St. Stephen's Church, nortli of
Damascus Gate.

From Mr. Gr. E. Lees, F.R.G-.S., Head Master of the Boys' School of
the London Jews' Society at Jerusalem, has been received an account of
further observations on rock-hewn chambers at Silwun, which appear to have
been chapels. Herr Schick has also sent elaborate drawings and rejaorts of the
same, as well as an account of discoveries of mosaics, &c., at the so-called
House of Caiaphas, of a newly opened tomb near Bethany, &c.

Mr. Lethaby, of Kerak, has sent two fragments of soft limestone with
sculptured figures of animals, which were found in digging the foundations of
a house.

136 NOTES AND NEWS.

The projected railway between Jaffa and Jeru3alem was begun in March.
The Governor of Jerusalem and other notabilities went down to Jaffa to see
the work commenced. It is believed that the line will run past Ramleh and up
the Wady Surar. It is reported that a concession has also been given for a
line between Haifa and Damascus.

The first volume of the " Survey of Eastern Palestine," by Major Conder,
has been issued to subscribers. It is accomjianied by a map of the portion
of country surveyed, special plans, and upwards of 350 drawings of ruins,
lombs, dolmens, stone circles, inscriptions, &c. The edition is limited to
500. Th(! first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas for the three volumes ;
subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine " are privileged to have
the volumes for this siim. The price will be raised, after 250 names are
received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are fledged never to let any
copies he subscribed under the sum of seven guineas. Mr. A. P. Watt,
2, Paternoster Square, is the Sole Agent. The attention of intending sub-
scribers is directed to the announcement on the inside of the cover of this
number.

Considerable progress has also been made ^-ith the second volume, which
consists of M. Lecomte's beautiful drawings, illustrating the Mission of
M. Clermont-Ganneau in 1874. The illustrations for the third volume,
Mr. Chichester Hart's "Pauna and Flora " of the Wady Arabah, are nearly
ready.

The Committee have added to their list of publications the new edition
of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant and E. H. Palmer (Bentley &
Son). It can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for 5*. Qd., by apj^li-
cation to the Head Office only. The " History of Jerusalem," which was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later works on the same subject.
It begins with the siege by Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval jjilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-known
episodes in the history of the city and the country.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country,
which can be found in no otlier publications. It must never be forgotten that
no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compet*
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all the instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following (the whole set can be obtained by application to

NOTES AND NEWS. lo7

Mr. George Armstrong, for £2, carriage paid to ang pnrt in the United
Kingdom only) : —

By Major Conder, R.E. —

(1) "Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the Survey of Western

Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical
associations of the sites, the Holy City aud its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
traveller has enjoyed the same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Heth and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Survey of Eastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesh— of the
children of Heth ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Conder's " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

(4) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions." — This hook is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Seir." — This is a popular account of the Geo-

logical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fimd. The part which deals with the Yalley of Aj-abah
will be found entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

tion of Major Conder's works issued as instalments of the unpublished
"Survey of Eastern Palestine." They are full of drawings, sketches,
and plans, and contain many valuable remarks upon manners and
customs.

(8) "The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work."— This work is a popular

accomit of the researches conducted by the Society during the past
twenty-one years of its existence. It will be foimd not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by this Society.

138 NOTES AND NEWS.

(9) Herr Scliiimaclier's " Kh. Faliil." The ancient Pella, the first retreat of the

Christians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
Quarterly Statements,

(11) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.

(12) Northern 'Ajlun "Within the Deeapolis," by Herr Schumacher.

To the above must now be added Mr. Henry A. Harper's " The Bible and
Modern Discoveries." Price to the public, 16.s-. ; to subscribers to the Palestine
Exploration Fund, lO*. M., carriage included. And Mr. Guy le Strange's
important work " Palestine under the Moslems," price to the public, 12s. 6rf. ;
to subscribers to the Fund, 8«. Qd.

Branch Associations of the Bible Society, all Sunday School unions within
the Sunday School Institute, the Simday School Union, and the Wesleyan
Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Eesolution of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
purchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
price.

The income of the Society, from March 20th to June 20th inclusive, was
— from annual subscriptions and donations, £132 18*. 6c?. ; from donations for
excavations, £1 74 18*. Od. ; from all sources, £609 9* Id. The expenditure
during the same period was £1,025 1*. \d. On June 20th, the balance in
the Bank was £772 17*. Od.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following can be had by application
to the office, at 1*. each : —

1. Index to the Quarterly Statement, 1869-1880 ;

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan; "

3. Cases for the Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate.

4. Cases for " Abila," " Pella," and " 'Ajlun " in one volume.

NOTES AND NEWS. 139

The following gentlemen have kindly undertaken to act as Hon. Local
Secretaries : —

The Eev. Vincent Joseph Higgins, Ashworth Vicarage, for Nottingham.

John Nanson, Esq., for Ambleside.

Eev. T. F. Wright, for Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.

W. Clarkson Wallis, Esq., for Brighton.

Eev. E. Eaikes Bromage, M.A., F.E.G.S., Keyford Parsonage, for Frome,

in place of C. W. Le Gros, Esq., resigned.
Norman Penney, Esq., for Gloucester.

A. Kemp Brown, Esq., M.A., owing to his leaving Leeds, has resigned his
appointment as Honorary Secretary.

The Committee will be glad to communicate with ladies and gentlemen
willing to help the Fund as Honorary Secretaries.

Early numbers of the Quarterly Statement are very rare. In order to make
up complete sets, the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

No. II, 1869 ; No. VII, 1870 ; No. Ill, 1871 ; January and April
1872 ; January, 1883, and January, 1886.

It having again been reported to the Committee that certain book hawkers
are representing themselves as agents of the Society, the Committee have to
caution subscribers and the pubhc that they have no book hawkers in their
employ, and that none of their woi'ks are sold by itinerant agents.

While desiring to give every publicity to proposed identifications and other
theories advanced by oiBcers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of the
Quarterly Statement, the Comiuittee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanctiozi nor adopt
them.

140 NOTES AND NEWS.

The only authorised lecturers for the Society are —

(1) Mr. George St. Clair, T.G.S., Member of the Anthropological Institufe

and of the Society of Biblical Archseology.

His subjects are : —

(1) The Buried City of Jerusalem, and General Exploration of

Palestine.

(2) Discoveries in Assyria., Chaldea, and Palestine.

(3) The Moahite Stone and the Pedigree of the JEnylish Alphabet.

(4) Jerusalem of David, Nehemiah, and Chri-^t.

(5) Sight-seeing in Palestine : a Narrative of Personal Expe-

riences.
(fi) Israel's Wars and Worship, illustrated hy the new Survey.
(7) The Gospel History in the light of Palestine Exploration.

Address : Geo. St. Clair, Bristol Eoad, Birmingham, or at the Office of
tlie Fund.

(2) The Eev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His

lectures are on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving views :" —

The Survey of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(3) The Rev. Thomas Harrison, F.R G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archocology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects are as follows : —

(1) Research and Discovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Traclc of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

141

ANNUAL MEETING.

The Annual Meeting of the General Committee of tliis Society took
place at the Ottice, 1, Adam Street, on July 1st. Among those present
were Viscount Sidmouth, James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., Walter Morrison,
Esq., M.P., Walter Besant, Esq., M.A., T. Chaplin, Esq., M.D., Captain
Mantell, E.E., W. Aldis Wright, Esq., Wm. Simpson, Esq., Rev. WiUiani
Allan, Basil Woodd Smith, Esq., Rev. W. J. Stracey, Guy le Strange,
Esq., Henry Mandslay, Esq., &c.

James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair.

The Chairman, after mentioning that he held in his hand a packet of
letters from various members regretting their inability to attend, and
that the Report of the last Meeting would be taken as read, called upon
the Hon. Secretary to read the Report of the Executive Committee for
the past year.

My Loed and Gentlemen,

Your Executive Committee, elected at the last General Meeting, on July
16th, 1889, have now, on resigning their office, to render an account of their
administration during their term of office for the past year 1889-90.

It may be noted at the outset that the Society has now cojrpleted its twenty-
fifth year of existence.

Your Committee have held twenty meetings since the last Report was issued.

In the last Eeport your Committee reported that tliey liad hopes of a Firman
being granted. Their hopes were realised in the month of February. On the
27th an official letter arrived stating that a permit for excavating in the vicinity
of 'Ajlan (Eglon) had been granted. Having secured the services of Mr.
Flinders Petrie previously, immediate steps were taken to inform all subscribers
and friends interested in the work, and a " special appeal " was made inviting
subscriptions. The result up to date, your Committee are pleased to report, is
the receipt of £1,110 6s. Rrf., although the amount named by the Committee
was only £1,000. Mr. Petrie, on closing his work in Egypt, lost no time in
proceeding to Palestine, but owing to a clerical error in the Firman, a delay of
three weeks was caused. The following is a summary of the excavations by
Mr. Flinders Petrie himself. It will be found a very satisfactory record of
work done and discoveries made : —

" Alter lengthy delays, officially, I was able to begin excavation for the
Palestine Exploration Fund in the middle of April. Unfortunately, nothing
was known of the history of pottery in Syria, and therefore nothing had been
done in past surveys and explorations towards dating the various tells and
Jchurbehs. It had been necessai-y, therefore, in applying for a site, to trust to
the identification by names ; and there seemed little risk in expecting that Umm
Lakis and 'Ajlan would, one or other — if not both — prove to be Amorite towns,
Lachish and Eglon. Some other ruins were included in tlie legal limit of are
for the permission. Among them, most happily, was TeU Hesy.

142 ANNUAL MEETING.

"So soon as I arrived and could examine our ground, I saw, from my
Egyptian experience, that every site, except Tell Hesy, was of Eoman age, and
unimportant. At Umm L;ikis, three days' work amply proved its late date ;
and 'Ajliln was a still more trivial site. I therefore attacked Tell Hesy, a
mound of house ruins 60 feet higli and about 200 feet square. All of one side
had been washed away by the stream, thus affording a clear section from top to
base. The generally early age of it was evident, from nothing later than good
Greek pottery being found on the top of it, and from Plioenician ware (which
is known in Egypt to date from 1100 B.C.), occurring at half to three-quarters
of the height up the mound. It could not be doubted, therefore, that
we had an Amorite and Jewish town to work on. My general results are as
follows : —

" Topographically, this place and Tell Nejtleh, six miles south, are the most
valuable possessions in the low country, as tliey command the only springs and
watercourse which exist in the whole district. From their positions, their
early age, and their water supply, it seems almost certain that they are the two
Amorite cities of the low country, Lachish and Eglon. The transference of
the names in late times to settlements a few miles ofP, is probably due to the
returning Jews not being strong enough to wrest these springs from the Bedawin
sheep-masters.

" Historically, this town began as an immensely strong fort, with a wall
28 feet thick, on a knoll close to the spring. This is certainly pre-Jewish, by
the relative position of Phcenician pottery ; and approximately its age would
be about 1500 B.C., agreeing well to the beginning of the Egyptian raids under
Tahutmes I.' This fort, after repairs, which still exist as solid brickwork over
20 feet high, fell into complete ruin. No more bricks were made ; rude houses
of stones from the stream were all that were erected ; and for long years the
alkali burner used the deserted hill, attracted by the water svipply to wash his
ashes with. This corresponds to the barbaric Hebrew period under the Judges.
Then, again, the town was walled, Phoenician pottery begins to appear, and
some good masonry, evidently the age of the early Jewish kings. Successive
fortifications were built as the ruins rose higher and the older walls were
destroyed ; Cypriote influence comes in, and later on Greek influence, from about
700 B.C. and onwards. The great ruin of the town was, about 600 B.C., that by
Nebuchadnezzar ; and some slight remains of Greek pottery, down to about
400 B.C., show the last stage of its history. Happily the indications can
he interpreted by our literary records, otherwise we could have discovered
little about a place in which not a single inscrijjtion or dated object has been
found.

" Architecturally, though little has come to light, it is of the greatest
importance. In a building, which is probably of Solomon's age, or certainly
within a century later, were four slabs, each bearing half a pilaster in relief.
These pilasters have a quarter-round base, a very sloping shaft, and a volute at
the top, projecting, without any separate capital or line across the shaft. The

^ I should explain that the various Sirius feasts recorded in Egypt leave no
doubt that the XVIIIth dynasty was from about 1568 to 1333 B.C., and the
XlXth from 1333 to 1160 or later. To date the exodus under either dynasty
seems beset with equal difficulties. I incline to the later date.

ANNUAL MEETING. 143

volute seems derired from a ram's horn. We now see the early date and
Asiatic nature of the Ionic style ; and we have some definite ground for the
temple architecture, A special key to the age of masonry is in the methods of
stone-dressing. The use of the ' claw-tool,' more intelligihly called the ' comh-
pick,' is distinctive of Greek work in Egypt, and it is known in early work in
Greece. As now, on examining the stone-dressing of 1000 B.C., and a
gateway and steps of about 750 B.C., there is not a trace of this tooling, it seems
almost certain that it is as much of Greek age in Syria as in Egypt. Hence we
must attribute the whole of the known walls of the Haram area to Herod and
later builders. The use of drafted masonry, with an irregular bump on the
face, is fixed to as early as 750 B.C. by the gateway just named; and the use
of flaked-dressing (as I may call it), is fixed to 1000 B.C. by the pilaster slabs,
agreeing with the work of the supposed Solomonic column by the Eussian
Church at Jerusalem.

" Pottery is now pretty completely known, and we shall be able in future to
date the ages of towns at a glance, as I can in Egypt. Without entering on
details, we may distinguish the Amorite by the very peculiar comb-streaking on
the surface, wavy ledges for handles, and polished red-faced bowls, decorated
by burnished cross-lines. These date from about 1500 to 1100 B.C., and
deteriorate down to disappearance about 900. The Phoenician is thin hard
black or brown ware ; bottles with loug necks, elegant bowls, and white juglets
with pointed bottoms. Beginning about 1100, it flourishes till about 800, B.C.
It developes into the Cypriote bowls, with V-li^mdles, painted in bistre ladder
patterns, which range from about 950 to 750 B.C. Due also to Phceniciau
influence, seem to bo the lamps from about 900 to 750 B.C., formed by open
bowls pinched in at the edge to form a wick-spout. These were succeeded in
the time of Greek influence, from 750, by the same pinched type, but of Greek
ware, and with a flat brim. The Greek influence is also seen in the massive
bowls of drab pottery, like those of early Naukratis, and the huge loop
handles, such as belong to both Naukratis and Defenneh before 600 B.C. All
these approximate dates are solely derived from the levels of the walls and
the thickness of the deposits; but they agree well with what is otherwise
known.

" As unfortunately the Turkish Government claims everything, all the per-
fect pottery has been taken by the officials, and the stone-work is left to be
destroyed by the Bedawin. Casts, photographs, and potsherds (such as any
visitor can pick up here), are all that may be brought to England. These
will be exhibited this summer in London, probably along with my Egyptian
collections of this season.

" It is much to be hoped that some fresh explorer will come forward to
take up this Syrian work, of which we have only been able to lay some of
the foundations by the excavations of this spring. Much more has to be
done before we can settle the historical problems which await solution in this
land."

Herr Schick, our worthy agent in Jerusalem, though incapacitated from
active work for some time through illness, did not fail to report all discoveries
of interest in and outside of Jerusalem. A few may be mentioned, which have
already been published in the (Quarterly Statement, viz. : —

1. The excavations outside the Damascus gate in the ground of the Domini-

144 ANNUAL MEETING.

cans, a little to the east of the smaller church discovered in 1880, had exposed
additional fragments of masonry, bases of columns, doorsteps, &c., thereby
giving sufficient detail to show the foundations of another church, much larger
tlian the former one, and measuring 130 feet by 73 feet. Mr. Schick suggests
this to be the original church of St. Stephen's. In the same neighbourhood
have been found some rock-hewn tombs, with rolling-stone doors, bearing Greek
inscriptions and mason's marks.

2. On the eastern brow of Zion some rock-hewn chambers have been cleared
out, which showed evidence of having been used in ancient times as dwellings.
These are on the properly of a French gentleman, who kindly allowed Mr. Schick
to examine and plan.

3. In the village of Silwan three little rock-hewn chapels were found ; they
are most remarkable, cut out of the solid rock, and from an inscription in the
apse of the centre one, appear to have been dedicated to the memory of the
prophet Isaiah. Indications of another rock-hewn church, of whicli the apse
remains, were foimd and noted by Herr Schumacher near 'Athlit.

4. At the Pool of Bethesda the discovery of a fresco on the wall over the
Pool, representing an angel troubling the water, is of great value, proving
that in crusading times the spot was regarded as the site of Bethesda.

5. Mr. Schick, during the paving of the streets in Jerusalem, obtained some
more rock levels ; from these, with former ones, he has given what he thinks is
the top or form of the Acra terrace.

6. As the stones of one of the immense cairns or mounds in the Plain of
Rephaim were being removed for road purposes, a peculiar upright stone was
revealed having regular tooled grooves running obliquely towards the centre of
the stone on the one side ; there are also some curious holes in it.

7. An obelisk, broken, originally about 45 feet in height, was foimd in the
Theatre at Csesarea ; this is believed to be the first obelisk found in Palestine.

We have received from Herr Schumacher (1) a photograph of a very
richly ornamented tomb found near Shefa 'Amr, which was published in the
October (Quarterly Statement for 1889 ; (2) a photo of a Greek inscription found
on a flat rock near the important ruins and spring of Khurbet Husheh. This
inscription was pointed out to Herr Schumacher by the Rev. P. Van Kasteren,
of the St. Joseph's University, Beyrout ; (3) a few days ago ten photos and a
description of the figures cut in the rock in Wady 'Akkab, opposite Tyre,

To the Rev. J. E. Hanauer the Committee are indebted—

(1) For an account of the cave near Saris, with the curious figures carved
on the walls.

(2) For a copy of a Greek inscription which he discovered at Beit el Khiilil.

(3) For a collection of Judeo-Spanish proverbs.

(4) For several photos of interest, including the rock-ciit altar near Zorah.

(5) And for various notes of interest obtained on the spot.

In the April Quarterly Statement was published a very interesting paper on
the Sects and Nationalities of Syria and Palestine, by Rev. Geo. E. Post, M.D.,
who has articles in hand on Palmyra and the Bedawin.

In the same number is an able and learned paper on Malula and its Dialect,
from F. J. Bliss, B.A., who promises an exhaustive account of the Druses, &c.

ANNUAL MEETING. 145

Publications.

" The Bible and Modern Discoveries," by Henry A. Harper, was published
in Pecember. It is an endeavour to present in a simple but yet connected form
the Biblical results of twenty-two years' work of the Palestine Exploration
Fund. The writer has also availed himself of the discoveries made by the
American Expeditions and tlie Egyptian Exploration Fund, as well as
discoveries of interest made by independent travellers. The Bible story, from
the call of Abraham to the Captivity, is taken, and details given of the light
thrown by modern research on the sacred annals. Eastern customs and modes
of thought are explained whenever the writer thought they illustrated the
text. To the Clergy and Sunday School Teachers, the writer hopes this work
will prove especially useful. He is personally acquainted with the land, and
nearly all the places spoken of he has visited, and most of them he has
moreover sketched or painted. The work is in one large, handsome volume
of 600 pages. It is illustrated with many plates, and a map showing the
route of the Israelites and the sites of the principal places mentioned in the
sacred narratives. The work has had a very gratifying reception. The whole
of the First and Second Editions are gone, and a Third Revised Edition is
nearly exhausted. It is proposed that Mr. Harper write a second volume to
complete the old Testament and also take in the New Testament.

For a long time it has been desired by the Committee to present to the world
some of the great hoards of information about Palestine which lie buried in
the Arabic texts of the Moslem geographers and travellers of the Middle Ages.
Some few of the works, or parts of the works, have been already translated
into Latin, French, and German. Hardly anything has been done with them
in English, and no attempt has ever been made to systematize, compare, and
annotate them. This has now been done for the Society by Mr. Guy le Strange
in the book " Palestine under the Moslems," just prepared and issued. The work
is divided into chapters on Syria, Palestine, Jerusalem, and Damascus, the
provincial capitals and chief towns, and the legends related by the writers
consulted. These writers begin with the ninth century and continue until the
fifteenth. Illustrations required for the elucidation of the text are presented
with the volume.

The Committee are in great confidence that this work — so novel, so useful
to students of mediaeval history, and to all those interested in the continuous
story of the Holy Land — will meet with the success which its learned author
deserves.

Northern 'Ajlun " Within the Decapolis," by Herr Schumacher, was published
in April. It contains an account of his journey between the Jabbok and
Yarmuk and is fully illustrated with a map, plans, and drawings of the ruins
tombs, dolmens, inscriptions, &c.

Of the Memoirs of the Western Survey there are only some 15 sets left of
the 500 printed.

The Survey of Eastern Palestine as far as accomplished by Major Conder
was published in 1889. This volume has been sent out to subscribers.

146 ANNUAL MEETINCx.

The Archseological Mission of M. Clermout Ganneau. The illustrations
of this work are being reproduced from the beautiful drawings of M. Leoomte,
and will be ready in a few days for the letterpress.

The Fauna and Flora of the Wady Arabah, by H. C. Hart, is in the
press, the plates are almost ready, and will be issued before the end of the
year.

The New Map of Palestine. — The Committee are pleased to say that the
new map which has been so long in hand is now ready. The map takes in
both sides of the Jordan and extends to Baalbeck and Damascus in the north,
and to Kadesh Barnea in the south. It is compiled chiefly from the surveys
of the officers of the Fund by George Armstrong, the Assistant Secretary, and
revised by Colonel Sir Charles W. Wilson and Major C. R. Conder.

The scale is | of an inch to the mile. All modern names are in black, and
over these are printed the Old Testament and Apocrypha names in red; New
Testament, -losephus, and Talmudic names in blue; clearly showing at a glance
all the identifications of the places that have been obtained. Those marked with
a ? are doubtful.

The price to subscribers to the Fund will be 24s. ; to the public £2.

liaised Contour Map of Palestine. — The Committee have pleasure in
bringing before you for your inspection a raised contour map of Palestine,
which is now nearing completion.

It has been for a considerable period in course of construction by Mr.
Armstrong, the Assistant Secretary.

The contour lines on the west of the Jordan represent a rise of 100 feet ;
those on the north and east, a rise of 200 feet each.

It is on the same horizontal scale, and gives nearly the same extent of
country as the new map hung alongside of it.

Museum and Office. — The Committee have to report that all the objects of
antiquity belonging to the Fund were removed from the South Kensington
Museum, and are now in Messrs. Taylor's Depository untd suitable rooms are
secured, which will serve for both the Office and Museum. The Committee
have rooms in view which they hope to take early next year.

Since the last Annual Meeting the following reports and papers have been
published in the (Quarterly Statements : —

ANNUAL MEETING. 147

By Herr Scliick —

" On the Discovery of an Old Clinrch in Jerusalem ; " " On Tombs, Inscriptions
and Roman Tiles on the Mount of Olives; " " On Tombs with Eolling-
Stone Doors, Inscriptions, Masons' Marks, and Large Cisterns North of
the Damascus Gate;" "On Caves on Eastern Brow of Zion ; " "On
Bock-cut Chapels atSilwan;" "On the Fresco of an Angel over the Pool
of Bethesda ; " " On Remains of the Old City Wall ; " " On Supposed
Druidical Stone on the Plain of Rephaim ; " " On Subterranean Passages
at Gibeon;" " On Tombs at Aceldama," &c., &c.

By Rev. J. E. Hanauer —
" On the Discovery of a Cave with Curious Figures at Saris ; " " An Inscription
at Beit el Khttlil;" and "A Note on the Dead Sea being Visible from
Jerusalem."

By Herr Schumacher — •
" On Sarcophagi near Akka ; " " On Tomb with Curious Figures near Shefa
'Amr ; " " On a Rock-cut Semi-circular AjDse near Tantura ; " " On
Inscriptions," &c., &c.

By W. M. Flinders Petrie—
"Notes on Places visited near Jerusalem;" "Report of the Excavations at
Tell Hesy."

By Rev. Dr. Camden Cobern —
" A Visit to the Scene of Excavations."

By James Glaisher, F.R.S. —
" Monthly Tables of Meteorological Observations taken near Jafia for the
Years 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888."

By Rev. George E. Post, M.D.—
" Essay on the Sects and Nationalities of Syria and Palestine; " " The Roebuck
in Palestine."

By F. J. Bliss, B.A.—
" Ma'lula and its Dialect."

By Dr. Selah Merrill—
" Birds and Animals New to Palestine."

By T. Chaplin, M.D.—
" On Gihon."

By Major C. R. Conder, R.E.—
" On Norman and Norman Fiefs in Palestine ; " " On the Vannic Language ; "
"On the Hittite Prince's Letter;" "Notes on the Holy Sepulchre;"
"The Date of Eshmunazar's Coffin;" "The Old WaU Outside
Jerusalem;" "The Tsinnor ; " " Ku for King the Seal of Haggai ; "
"Bezeiha;" " Esau's Head ; " " Native Name of Palmyra;" "Bella;"

148 ANNUAL MEETING.

"New Hittito Bas-Reliefs;" " The Milula Dialect ; " "The Greek
Inscriptions North of Damascus Gate j " "Dr. Post's Paper;" "The
Inscriptions of Edrei," &c., &c.

By Professor Sayce —

"On the Accadian "Word for King;" and "The Inscription of Saris and
Mount Olivet."

By William Simpson, F.R.G.S.—
" On Irrigation and Water Supply of Palestine."

By Col. Sir Charles W. Wilson, R.E.—
" On the Tell es Salahiyeh Monument."

By Henry A. Harper —
" On Jewish Lamps ; " and " The Way of the Philistines."

By Eev. Canon Greenwell^
" Note on Ancient Axe-heads."

By Mrs. Finn —
" Notes on Mosaic and Embroidery in the Old Testament ; " " On the Olil
Walls of Jerusalem ; " " On Greek Inscriptions ; " On Sunbirds ; " " On
Nehemiah's Wall ; " " On the Mounds on the Plain of Rephaim ; " " On
the Waters of Merom," and " On the Tsinnor."

By Rev. W. F. Birch —
"On Nehemiah's Wall;" "Nehemiah's Defence of the Gutter Tsinnor;"
" The Pool that was Made ; " and " The Siloam Inscription."

By Gray Hill—
" On Irrigation and Water Supply of Syria ; " and " Mashita."

By Rev. Canon Gover —
'• On the Waters of Merom."

By Dr. Murray —
" On the Greek Inscriptions found on some Tombs North of the Damascus
Gate."

By Professor Hull —
" On the Site of Calvary."

Bv Rev. Henry Brass —
" On the Site of Capernaum;" "The Cave of AduUam;" and " The Place of
Elijah's Sacrifice."

By George St. Clair —
" On Nehemiah's Wall ; " and " Sutekh, the Chief God of the Hittites."

By Rev. James Neil —
" On the ' Slime Pits ' in the Vale of Siildim."

The following is the Balance Sheet for the year 1889, which was published
in the April Quarterly Statement : —

ANNUAL MEETING.

149

BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDING
31sT DECEMBER, 1889.

Expenditure.

Receipts.

January 1, 1889— £

To Balance . . . . 402

December 31, 1889—

Donations, Subscriptions,

and Lectures . . 1,521

Maps, Memoirs, and

Books .. .. 988

Photographs . . . . 37

2
11

£2,949 18 1

By Printinf; and Binding

Maps, Illustrations,
and Photographs. .

Exploration. .

Stationery, Advertis-
ing, and Sundries

Postage, Parcels, in-
cluding the Quar-
terly Statement , .

Salaries and Wages

Rent

Loan paid off

Balance in Bank, 31st
December, 1889 . .

£ ft. d.

920 18 3

4(52 12 11

1G3 3 0

112 17 10

113 7 4

280 12 4

121 0 0

400 0 0

375 6 5

£2,949 18 1

W. MOEEISON,

Treasurer.

TREASURER'S STATEMENT.

This year, like the last, has been one mainly of printing and of publishing
results. Thus the expenses of publishing amount to £1,383 11*. 2d., against
which must be set £1,026 0*. \d. produced by sales. Considering that the
Quarterly Statement, which costs about £500, is given away to subscribers to
the Fund, and that great liberality is observed in the allowance to subscribers
on the books, these figures show very good results. The amount set down as
received, it must be observed, does not include advertising the books or the
publisher's commission, but shows the net results.

Management shows a pretty constant expenditure of £627. New exploration
only required £163 last year. As the Committee are at the present moment
organising new work, it will be very much heavier next year. The debt of
£450, which appeared in my last Statement {Quarterly Statement, April, 1889)
is now paid off, leaving only a small sum due for interest. The only liabilities
of the Society are certain current printers' and engravers' accounts.

The position of the Society, if we enumerate its books, with copyrights and
stock of books, its collections, and its maps, is perfectly sound and solvent.

In other words, out of a total expenditure of £2,175 the jjroportion is as
follows ■ —

Publishing
Excavations
Postage . .
Management

-64.

-07.

-05.

> . • • • • • • '24.

Waltee Moeeison, Treasurer.

150 ANNUAL MEETING.

The number o£ subscribers is steadily, but not rapidly increasing ; since
the date of last meeting some 187 have joined the annual list.

The Committee desire again to record their special thanks to their Honorary
Local Secretaries for their efforts so cheerfully and readily made on behalf of
the Society's work.

The Committee have to announce with regret the death of six members of
the General Committee since the last Annual Meeting, viz. —

Earl of Carnarvon.

Col. Sir Henry Yule, C.B., E.E.

Sir George Burns, Bart,

General Sir Howard Elpliinstone, K.C.B.

George Jackson Eldridge, Esq., C.M.G., H.B.M., Consul-General,

Beyrout.
Rev. H. Hall-Houghton.

The Committee propose that the following gentlemen be invited to become
members of the General Committee : —

The Duke of Norfolk.

Major C. M. Watson, C.M.G., R.E., War Office, Horse Guards.

Sir John Coode.

der Stuart Muri'ay, Esq.
Reginald Stuart Poole, Esq., LL.D.
H. Rylands, Esq., F.S.A.
Bishop of Lincoln.
Bishop Blyth, of Jerusalem.
P. Le Page Renouf, Esq.
James Melrose, Esq.
Rev. James H. Rigg, CD., Principal of the Westminster

Training College.
Dr. D'Erf- Wheeler, Jerusalem.
J. R. Barlow, Esq.
T. Rymcr, Esq.
Rev. W. H. Rogers, D.D.
Herbei't Birch, Esq.
Rev. Thomas Harrison.
' H. C. Kay, Esq.

The Chairman. — We have the pleasure of having Mr. Petrie with
us, and I should like to know whether he would like to add anything to
what has been said in the Eeport.

ANNUAL xMEETING. 151

Mr. Flinders Petrie. — I do not wish to suggest any additions
to that Report as a Report. I have stated in it as briefly as I can
the principal heads of information, and I think that will be all that I
should wish to state for the present in the Annual Report until you
shall decide what form the further and more detailed publication will
take. ,

Mr. Walter Morrison.— Everything I can tell the Committee has
been stated by Mr. Flinders Petrie. I should like to ask Mr. Petrie one
question. In the Report it is mentioned that he identifies Lachish with
Tell-el-Hesy. I don't know how far this is from Umm Lakis.

Mr. Petrie. — They are about 3 miles apart. It has been supposed
that Umm Lakis and 'Ajlan must naturally be Lachish and Eglon, which
were near togethei\ But neither of these sites can be ancient, as they
only contain? ai. small depth of Roman pottery. Tell Nejileh, which I
suppose to be'Egl5n, is about 6 miles from 'Ajlan.

Mr. Morrison.— We know that in Oriental countries an important town
does shift about. We have, the cases of Memphis and Cairo, of Delhi, and
of Jericho.

Mr. Petrie. — My reasons f6r identifying these sites are that we know
Lachish and Eglon to have been the two principal towns of the Amorites
in the low country, and Tell Hesy aird Nejileh are the most valualile
positions in that district as commanding constant springs, whereas every
other place depends on wells. As moreover I find' at these places the only
two great Amorite cities that I have seen in all the district, it seems
almost certain that these are Lachish and Eglon, which must have been
in this part. My supposition is that after the Jews .were removed the
Bedawin would push up into this country, and naturally seize on these
springs for their flocks and herds.. The Jews returned hei« in feeble force,
and were not strong enough, to eject the Bedawin ; they therefore occupied
the nearest points they could within sight of the old places, on the
opposite hills ; the families from Lachish founding Umm Lakis (which
implies in Arabic "a descendant of Lachish"), and the families from
Eglon founding 'Ajlan.

Mr. Morrison asked a question with reference to the masonry of the
south-east corner of the Haram area being Herodian.

Mr. Petrie. — That is just a question how long those signs as masons'
marks may have existed. One can hardly use it as a conclusive argument.
The question of the stone-dressing seems to me very important. A
certain peculiar form of tooling, " claw-tooling " or "comb-picking," is
known in Greece before it is. ever known in Egypt. Sub.'sequently we
find it used in Eg_ypt in Greek times, and it is abundantly used in
Palestine. That is entirely absent from the masonry we now know
belonging to the period of the Jewish kings ; there is no trace of that,
and as it belongs entirely to the Greek period in Egypt, it is a very strong
argument that where we find this tooling we must sujipose it to belong to
the Herodian period in Palestine.

Mr. Morrison.— I follow that. What does Major Couder aay about it 1

152 ANNUAL MEETING.

Mr. Petrie. — It was satisfactory to see that the method of dressing
the stone at Tell Hesy, probably 900 or 1000 B.C., was exactly similar to
that on the column at the Russian Church, viz., by flaking it away so
that the surface appears to be hollowed out in a series of flakes, and that
was further reduced by pick-working, which left the surface what I may
call the pocke surface. I found only one such stone re-used in the Triple
Gateway of Jerusalem.

Mr. Morrison. — We use the claw-tool, or comb-i^icking, now. A sort
of hammer with a number of sharp points.

Mr. Petrie.— They use that also in the East. At present my belief is
that it was a Greek invention, imported by the Greeks into both Egypt
Palestine.

Mr. Morrison. — Major Conder is very strong about that.

Mr. Petrie.— There is no question it is the essential means of judging
of the period of the stone, and I think we have now much firmer grounds
for our judgment in having got early masonry of which we can be certain
of the date to within a century. There is a point I should be glad to
hear the opinion of the Executive Committee on, which might almost be
laid before the present Committee, as to whether the circumstances will
justify us in adopting the name Lachish for this site provisionally, instead
of referring to it as Tell Hesy, which does not convey a definite idea to
most people. I don't know how far it might be suitable to assume that
identification and proceed upon it, but it will simplify matters rather
in writing on the subject if we can at once venture to adopt this identifi-
cation of this place as Major Conder suggested.

Mr. Guy le Strange. — Was the identification made before you went
there ?

Mr. Petrie. — Yes. Major Conder suggested it some time before that.
I now can prove it to be distinctly an Amorite fortress from the section
shown, and a fortress of great strength and great importance, and that
the Umm Lakis is certainly of the Roman period. We have destroyed
the rival, and we have greatly strengthened the case for Tell Hesy by
finding the eaily wall and proving the early date of it. The distance
between is three miles.

Mr. Guy le Strange. — Is there a place called Ajlan there now ?

Mr. Petrie. — Yes, between Tell Hesy and Umm Lakis ; almost
midway between the two.

Mr. Guy le Strange. — Umm Lakis is not known in the old Arab
chronicles. There is mention of 'Ajlan in that part of the world in the
early chronicles, but only once, though. There is the well-known place,
AjlAn, east of the Jordan, but tliere is an AjlAn in the chronicles
mentioned in that part of the world too, once or twice only.

Mr. Petrie. — I may say that Tell en Nejileh is within sight of the
place now called 'Ajlan ; they are only about .5 miles apart.

Mr. Basil Woodd Smith. — In the absence of Lord Sidmouth I beg
to move the adojjtion of the Report. It does not require a speech from
me, because Mr. Flinders Petrie has made a more efi"ective speech. An

ANNUAL MEETING. 153

unlearned and untravelled Englishman could not deal with it so
exhaustively. It must be very gratifying to us to find that the Fund
is still so vigorous, and that it promises to go on doing even greater
things in the future. I have been looking at the new raised contour map
and it strikes me as being very effective indeed. It gives me a more
vivid idea of the contour of Palestine than I have ever had before. It
presents to the eye clearly and distinctly the qualities of the surface
of the land. I have great pleasure in moving the adoi>tion of the
Eeport.

Mr. Henry Maudslay. — May I add a word ? In the case of blind
people that map would give the finest explanation possible ; they would
pass their lingers over it and ascertain in a moment the main features of
the country. To my mind it is one of the most beautiful and effective
things I h:5ve seen.

Captain A. M. Mantell, R.E. — We have to congratulate ourselves
that so much has been done during the last 12 months. I remember
in '80 or '81, when I had the pleasure of going out with Major bonder,
there was a great talk of our getting a new Firman, and that talk lias
gone on until 10 years have elapsed, and it is a great satisfaction to think
we have now succeeded in getting rid of the obstruction. I have much
pleasure in seconding the adoirtion of the Report.

The Chairman. — Having that Report of Mr. Petrie before us and
Ml-. Petrie himself here, I should like to move tliat' our best thanks be
given to Mr. Petrie for his exertions. When he was at Jerusalem it was
very cold, and I know he has gone through very great extremes of heat
and cold, as those who go to Palestine generally experience. I trust the
experience he has had in that country, the good work that he has
done, are indications of other good works that he will be induced to
follow up next year, for I did hear when he was there — and I didn't
wonder at it at all, frozen one day and melted the next — under tho.se
circumstances he would go there no more. I hope, however, and I know
I am not alone in that, that he will see his way, "as it is only broken
ground," to use his own words, to follow up the work next year ; to start in
the good time, and knowing as he does the country now, and knowing
the people and others, that we may have to thank him another year for
the services he will have rendered between now and our next Annual
Meeting. I would ask the Treasurer if he v/ould kindly second that vote
of thanks.

Mr. Morrison. — I should be very happy indeed to second that vote
of thanks. I am sure what has fallen from Mr. Petrie to-day is sufficient
to whet our apjjetite for fresh discoveries. It seems as though there
were a considerable field, and Mr. Petrie, with that instinct which comes
I suppose from practice — like the blacksmith's arm — will be enabled to
hit upon the right sjwt. No doubt in this particular case it was rather
a hurried matter, and there was not sufficient time for Mr. Petrie to go
out to make his way, and do full justice to the opportunities offered
to him.

154 ANNUAL MEETING.

A MET\rBER having asked if the Firman allowetl of excavations in any

part.

The Chairman said :— I was going to speak of that. Our Firman
was confined to ten square kilometres, but I am in hopes that directly we
can find another site, after having broken ground, we shall have very
little trouble in getting a new Firman. Ten yeare have passed of great
anxiety, but I can assure you that we have never forgotten that dropping
water will wear away a stone. Persevei'ance will gain our ends I have
very little doubt. I can only say we are greatly indebted to tlie Marquis
of Salisbury, and I think he never flagged for a single moment from the
first attempt, and I have no doubt we shall have the same assistance
when we apply again. Now, gentlemen, you have heard the motion.
The resolution was put to the Committee, and carried unanimously.
Mr. Petrie. — I thank you most sincerely for your very kind
expression concerning my vvork. It has been a very great pleasure indeed
to me to undertake what I have done, especially as I think that I have
been able to lay a foundation for future work by getting the pottery and
the masonry accurately dated, which will enable others, I hope, to be as
successful in examining sites, and with more certainty than they could
have done before. I am almost afraid that Egypt has greater attractions
for me than Palestine, but in any case it will be my pleasure to give any
assistance I can in helping others towards the work, or givhig any
information I can from the small experience I have had in the country.
(Cheers.)

The Chairman. — Gentlemen, there is another duty to perform. Mr.
Schick has done his work well. I had doubts upon some things, but it
took a load from my mind to hear from Professor Lewis, who has just
returned from a visit to Jerusalem, that the measurements that had
been sent to us were correct. He tells us every one — angles, direction,
and length of line, was found to be accurate. It is a very important
thing that we should know that anyone who -is there sending us informa-
tion is careful in his measurements, and doesn't jump at conclusions.
For the good work he has done for us, and the constancy with which he
has worked, I should like to ask the Committee to thank this coadjutor
who has worked so exceedingly well.

Mr. William Simpson. — I have very much pleasure in seconding
that. I think we could not do otherwise than pass a vote of thanks to
him.

The resolution was put to the Committee and cai-ried unanimously.
The Chairman. — Well, gentlemen, who would have imagined that an
over-wrought man, writing here, writing there, ever engaged in artistic
work, would find any time to devote to us ? Who would have thought
that Mr. Walter Besant, who is so enei-getically at work, and so usefully
in so many things, should find time to come here, so that what he had
done for us entitled me to move our thanks be given to him. That which
he has done has been effective, as is everything he does. It is an early
ove, as Mr. Petrie says his early love for Egypt will overcome his

ANNUAL MEETING. 155

love for Palestine. Mr. Besant is here. If he were not, I have a note
from him which is of an earnest nature, and I do ask }0U to give a warm
vote of thanks, and I feel sure, under the circumstances in which Mr.
Walter Besant is placed, that you will thank him, and thank him very
warmly for being with us. Everyone in the room, I know, would second
that, but. Professor Lewis, you know his work best, and I will ask you to

do so.

PRorEssoR Hayter Lewis.— I am extremely glad to second that. He
collects valuable information and puts it in a way which everyone can
understand and thoroughly enjoy, and he uses his interest in every way
for the advancement of the Fund. I am quite sure I should do my duty
very imperfectly if I didn't second, with my heartiest good will, the
resolution you have moved. (Cheers.)

The Chairman. — It is passed by acclamation. I need not put it to
the meeting. Mr. Besant, the meeting has thanked you for those good
services you have rendered.

Mr. "Walter Besant. — I really do not deserve your thanks. I have
been here very little indeed, and all the real work of this Society has been
entirely done by Mr. Armstrong. I have not been here for the last ten
days more than once. I am always very anxious to carry on the work in
which I have been engaged so long and so happily, and as long as I can
continue the work you may depend on me.

The Chairman. — I have yet one other motion. You see this contour
map, that map has been done entirely by Mr. Armstrong, not in his office
hours. There is a deal of work to be done here, no one knows it better
than I do. It is a map that, I think, answers all the desires that I have
heard expressed from time to time. Here we have something that speaks,
and will speak, to the good work of the Survey. Just see. So far as the
Survey extends we know everything. South and east of that much is
uncertain or unknown. How is this map to be reproduced ? It has been
a subject for thought, how it can be readily reproduced and how it can
be brought into schools and have a general application, even that appli-
cation which my friend Mr. Maudslay referred to just now, that the blind
would feel and know how deep a certain part was below the level of the
Mediterranean, and so in every other part of it. It is one that I feel
exceedingly ])roud of. Look how well these two maps — the raised contour
and new map of Palestine— will work together. This has been part of the
work in the past year, and therefore as Mr. Armgtrong has performed his
duties to my entire satisfaction, and in addition has prepared this map of
which I am proud, I should like to move that our thanks be given to
Ml-. Armstrong. I will ask Dr. Chaplin, knowing the value of the work,
to second this resolution.

Dr. Chaplin. — It affords me very much pleasure, sir, to have the
opportimity of seconding the vote of thanks to Mi'. Armstrong for this
very valuable work. I have had the pleasure of seeing it in the course
of its progress from month to month, and I know how very much labour
and thought Mr. Armstrong has bestowed upon it, and I also know what

156 ANNUAL MEETING.

has already been said, how very much occupied he is in this office, so that
I think the time he has bestowed upon it, and the skill and judgment
which he has displayed in connection with it are exceedingly creditable,
and we owe him really a very warm vote of thanks.
Mr. Armstrong briefly returned thanks.
Mr. Guy le Strange moved and —

Mr. Henry Maudslay seconded the re-election of the Executive
Committee. This was put to the meeting and carried unanimously.

Eev. W. J. Stracet. — Before we separate there is one more vote of
thanks which is due, and that is to our Chairman. I should judge by his
looks that he must be as old as I am, but he is a very much younger man
than I am myself really. I will only say, as regards Palestine, that I
look back to my short tour there ten years ago with the greatest
pleasure I almost ever had in my life. I never went anywhere where I
had so much satisfaction. I make a point of telling all my friends,
particularly the younger clergy, that they cannot do better for themselves
than to take a holiday of two months and go to Palestine. I beg to move
that our very best thanks be given to you, Mr. Chairman, for your
presidency on this occasion.

Mr. Henry Maudslay. — I have had the honour of being requested to
second this motion, and I shall do so in the very fewest words. The
Chairman has my most entire and hearty consideration, and I am quite
sure that his devotion to the work which he has done so efficiently warrants
and ensures its coniinuance. Without his application and perseverance
I think the thing would, perhaps, have died a natural death long ago. It
is reported that Queen Mary said she should have the word " Calais '
written on her heart. I am quite sure that our Chairman has the word
" Jerusalem" written upon his heart, and " Palestine" written in his head
and in his thoughts. I am quite sure he will carry out this woi'k as long
as God gives him strength, for the furtherance of the object that we have
in view. I beg to second the resolution.

Put to the Committee and carried unanimously.

The Chairman.— I thank you very much, because I understand that
this vote is not individually addressed, but to the Executive Committee
who aid me so well and so eliectively, and work so well. This I can
assure you, that all that is in my power I certainly shall do ; and knowing
this vote is to the Executive Committee, and knowing them so well, 1 am
certain they will do so. I hope that this time next year, as I have already
said, Mr. Petrie will be here to report again ; but I first wish to
express my individual thanks to him for the deep concern he has shown
in the interests of the Fund. I can only say, in the name of the
Executive Committee, I thank you very sincerely for the kind vote you
have just given me. I hope we shall have a good Report next year.
The Committee then adjourned.

157

NOTES ON PLACES VISITED IN JEEUSALEM.

Silioan. — The Isaiah tomb is now in custody of tlie Franciscans, who
have made it into a chapel, kept locked up. The published inscription is
not quite correct ; apart from the curvature it is

ICTUTHTePUJiCAIA
npO(D TOV

There is no trace of a letter between irpoc/) and to v. The surface is rough
picked, and rubbed down partly, before inscribing. Greek inscriptions
were used till crusading times here (as in the Anarulph inscription), but such
have the a made in the Coptic form ^ ^, <^ as ^, and not as here d).

Professor Lewis noted some small corrections in the restored plan of Herr
Schick.

Absalo7n's Tomb apjoears to be of several periods. From the position
of the entrance it was probably a rock tomb decending in the surface of
the open field originally ; the steps and rough chamber being of this age.
Secondly. It was cut around and isolated in the Herodian age. Thirdly,
the side recesses for bodies were cut in the sides of the chamber ;
certainly later than the moulding round the top of the chamber, which is
cut into by them. That the entrance at the top of the steps was used in
the second period, is shown by the relief circle carved on the stone over
it, which does not occur in any other part of the top.

The tomb of St. James, near it, has also been originally different,
as there are signs of a square shaft as the original entrance, altered by
being cut away on one side to form the present steps.

Church of St. Stephen outside Damascus gate. There can be no doubt
as to the general form and size of this building. A pier was found by us
just where it was required to match an existing one, so that there are
now four known, in two pairs. Theaj)se was plastered over on the outside
with plaster, with irregular flakes of limestone imbedded in it. This
plaster remains against the outer earth, after the stones have been
removed, and shows all the joints of the wall which existed there. The
jiresent blocks around the apse have all been roughly placed there by the
friars. They have also made up part of the apse outline with loose
blocks, but the steps leading up to the apse on either side are quite un-
disturbed, and are of fine red clouded marbly limestone. The great ex-
cavations in the rock are later than the church and its destruction, as they
are cut askew to it, and were filled with rubbish ; moreover pieces of the
broken columns of the church were used in the filling up of low parts of
the sides of the hollows.

158 NOTES ON PLACES VISITED IN JEKUSALEM.

A tomb lately opened there has the stone door, with iron ring for the
pivot, and iron nails for the lock. The inscriptions over these tombs
are —

H A n IJ1 eM B O/-T0Y

Mosque of El Aksa. — With regard to the age of this, the irregular
use of materials vk^hich are of the age of Justinian, the capitals which do
not match, the stumpy columns built up of odd material, and unsuitable
proi^ortions of the monolith columns in parts, seem to conclusively show
that it must have been built after the Arab conquest, as Professor Lewis
maintains. But it appears that its original foini was totally un-Arab, a
pure basilica, of nave and two aisles, with the clerestory arcade work,
above the nave arches, which is purely Eoman in design ; a Christian
architect was doubtless the constructor of this. The special point to note
is the extraoi'dinary thickness of the piers which bound the aisles ; these
seem to me to be the thick outer walls of the original basilica form,
pierced through with arches so as to extend the mosque into the Arab
type of a large number of low colonnades, or forest of columns. Professor
Lewis does not see any objection to this view of the independent basilica
form being the first, and extended later on, though he strongly holds to
the large area of the colonnades in early Arab times.

Rock Tombs. The regularity of many of these tombs suggested that
they were cut to measure ; and on measuring them it is found that the
same lengths recur frequently. Thus (in metres, the only measure I
happen to have here) there are lengths found of 2-22, 2-23, 2-24, 2-27,
2-28, 2-29, 2-30, and 2-31, all evidently intended for the same quantity ;
again, there occur 2-81, 2-83, 2-83, 2-84, 2-84, 2-84, 2-85, 2-87, 2-88, 2-90,
2-91, 2-93, 2-93, and 2*94 metres ; and this extent of variation is not more
than is often found in one single chamber owing to accidental errors in the
excavating. From those tombs which I have already measured it is
certain that more than one cubit was used, and in two cases there is
valuable evidence of a part being cut by one cubit, and a later chamber
being cut out with a dili'erent cubit The cubits found are — •

Inches ±
25-12 -1 One chamber of tombs of Judges, with other chambers cut

later with 22'5, leading from it.
23-83 -06 Four chambers of one tomb, near Judges, with later chamber

on 22 '5 cut from it.
22-55 -04 Eighteen tombs, tomb of Judges and others by it, and tombs

of Hiunom. No variation in amount in different places.
15-46 -08 Six tombs in valley of Hinnom, one with moulding and

therefore late. (Herodian.)

EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 159

The 25"12 is already known to be probably the sacred cubit of the
Jews ; and 22"5 is the double of the Pha?iiician foot. I should say that
all the results were worked out in metres, in which form I could not
recoo-nise the resemblance to known measures, which I am familiar with
in inches ; hence I could not have the faintest prejudice or inclination to
adapt the residts to cubits already known. T hope to obtain more material
and work out these results more fully in future.

Future Work reqiured in Jentsalem. — A great deal of clearance has
been made in Solomon's stables by the late Pasha here, and the inner ends
of the tri])le gate opened out on the Haram area. Thms much more can be
seen of the masonry ; and four j^eriods are traceable, probably i-anging from
Herod to Justinian. I am told by Professor Lewis that the lowest blocks
of the great wall on south-east are dressed with the "claw tool," or comb pick
as it may better be named. This tooling is, in Egypt, characteristic of
Greek work, and is well known early in Greece (Parthenon, &c.) ; hence
it gives a strong presumption that the whole of the south-east wall is of
Herodian work. If so, it is very unlikely that Solomon's wall occupied
that line, as if it did its lowest courses would have been buried in the
rubbish, and used by Herod for his foundations. Hence the most urgent
question is whether any trace of Solomon's wall can be found toithin the
line of the present v>'all. To settle this, some excavations in Solomon's
stables are needed. Probably the best place would be in the internal
an<rle between the ffreat corner tower and the east wall where two sides of
the pit would be of masonry, with ledges to fix timbering, &c., upon ;
thus we should learn whether the wall is backed (1) with earth, (2) with
vaults, or (3) with a rock scarp ; also (4) whether there is any sign of
Solomon's wall or foundations. Other pits might be sunk to find the rock,
and search for walls or masonry, between this and the outcrop of the rock
in the triple gate.

It is also very desirable to open and examine the vaults beneath the
raised platform of the Haram, but these are jealously guarded from any
chance view,

W. M. Flinders Petrie.

EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.

Early in I'ebruary a vizierial permission was granted for excavations
about Khurbet 'Ajlan, and an area of 9i square kilometres in that neigh-
bourhood. And as soon as the packing of my Egyptian collections was
finished, and they had been inspected by the Government, and a bad
attack of influenza had been overcome, I left Egypt for Syria, arriving at
Jaffa on March 9. The season was unusually late ; no rain had fallen till
Christmas, and the spring rains lasted heavily till the beginning of April ;
the last day of March there was a furious storm over all south Palestine ;
a white squall, which I saw tearing along over Jaifa at the rate of an

1()0 EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.

express train, breaking shutters and windows there in a way not known
for years.

Although the permission was signed, it unfortunately contained a
trifliug error of description, which for form's sake was rectified ; but this
produced so much delay that the paper did not reach Jerusalem, where I
was awaiting it, till March 29. For nearly three weeks, therefore, I was
unable to forward the business at all, as no steps could be taken until the
original document could be presented to the governor, Reshad Pasha.
This time was not, however, all wasted, as I was fortunately able to
examine and discuss the vaiious buildings and remains of masonry with
Professor Hayter Lewis and Dr. Chaplin ; anil thus I learnt, I cannot say
much, about the antiquities, but rather I found how provokingly little is
positively known, and in what a vast uncertainty almost every question
still remains. Perhaps to learn our ignorance, at fii'st hand on the best
authority, was as useful a preparation as I could have for appreciating
scraps of information. It is easy and simple to sj^eak of Solomonic
masonry, the Jebusite rock-scarp, &c. ; but when the positive proofs of
such ages are enquired into, the constant resource must be the answer,
" There is nothing certain in Jerusalem." If ever the history of the city
is to be clearly settled, it must be by learning the archaeology of Syria in
other and less complicated sites, and then applying the knowledge of
stone-workiug, of construction, and of pottery to fix the ages of things in
erusalem.
But while waiting I began on a fresh enquiry which had not hitherto
been opened. The abundance of rock-hewn tombs about Jerusalem is
well known, and many of them have been surveyed and published. Much
yet remains to be done in this matter, but it Avould need a considerable
time in Jerusalem to work out the subject. The dimensions of those that
are cleared are, however, easily taken, and hence we may examine whether
they were wrought by measure, and, if so, what measure or cubit was
used by the masons. Over fifty tombs I thus measured, from mere single
chambers, up to the complex arrangements of the " Tombs of the Kings."
From these it was abundantly plain that some measure was generally
used, not only from the regularity of the sides of a chamber, but also from
the repetition of the same length in ten or a dozen different tombs. The
details of the results must be published with reference to the already
published plans of several of the tombs : but the general results are that
far the conmionest cubit is of 22-6 inches, which is evidently the
Phoenician cubit of 22-3 at Carthage, and known in the Hauran. Earlier
that this, and in the " Tombs of the Kings," there is a cubit of 23-7 ; there
is also one tomb of a cubit of 25-1, which is the Hebrew, Assyrian, and
Persian cubit of 25-1 to "3, and in the valley of Hinnom only are tombs
cut to a cubit of 15"5 inches, which seems to be peculiar to Syria. From
the workmanship most of these tombs are probably of the Herodian
times ; but whether the 15-5 inch cubit of the rude Hinnom tombs is
earlier or later cannot be decided yet ; the presumption is that such a
near and convenient site for tombs would be early occupied. We have at

EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 1 Gl

least now a bisis of accurate information as to the various cubits and
their relative use, which will serve to start furtiicr studies.

So soon as the permission arrived Mr. Moore and I went to the
governor, who was most cordial and willing to facilitate matters in every
way. But further delays were due to the ofticial who was deputed to
receive everything that might be found on behalf of the Government. So
that it was not till April 14 that I could at last begin work, only one week
before Ramadan. I had already visited the various sites included in the
area of the permission, but found that all but one were of Roman age and
unimportant. The only promising place was Tell Hesy, in the Arab
country, six miles from the village of Burer, where we had to settle to
begin with But as Umm Lakis had been supposed to be Lachish, and it
was the nearest site to the village, three miles off, I determined to just
examine it, partly in order to get a body of men together who could go off
as far as Tell Hesy afterwards.

My expectations of Umm Lakis from the first view of it, were quite
confirmed. We trenched about all over the ground down to the undis-
turbed native red clay ; but there was only G or 8 feet of earth, and
pottery of Roman age was continu;illy found in it ; while, most decisively,
a worn coin of Maximian Hercules (circ. 300 a.d.) was found within 2 feet
of native clay. On a hill to the north some walls were seen, but they
proved to belong to a building with a large bath, jjrobably a Roman villa.
That Umm Lakis is the great historic city of Lachish is utterly impossible,
after over thi-ee days' digging over the site. Khurbet 'Ajlan appeared far
less promising than Umm Lakis ; there is very little extent of artificial
soil, very little pottery about it, and what there is shows Roman age ; as
it is all under crops I did not think it worth while to dig into it, after the
insignificance of the much less unpromising site which we had alreadv
settled.

We then moved and established ourselves at Tell Hesy, which appeared
to me to be a very important city of early date. In the absence of any
inscriptions it might seem very risky to draw a conclusion as to the
identification of a town ; but we will first notice what reasons thei-e are
for believing this to be Lachish, and then we shall see how valuable the
literary notices of its history become in undeistanding the site. Lachish
was one of the five strongholds of the Amorites, with Jerusalem, Hebron,
Jarmuth, and Eglon (Jos. x, 5). And it continued to be one of the
strongest places in the country down to the invasions of Sennacherib and
Nebuchadnezzar, to both of whom it was a special object of attack. It
must, therefore, have had some natural advantages, and from various
other notices (especially Eusebius) it certainly lay in the low country in
this district. Now at Tell Hesy is the only spring for many miles around,
a brackish brook trickles down horn Tell Nejlleh, where in ancient times
it was confined by a massive dam ; and at Tell Hesy it is joined by a fine
fresh spring, while the whole of the water is swallowed in the stony wady
wnthin a few hundred yards lower, and never reappears. It is certain
then that Tell Hesy and subordinately Tell NejUeh must have been

162 EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.

positions of first-rate importance from the time of the earliest settlements.
They woukl thus agree to the character of Lachish and Eglou. The
history of Tell Hesy begins about 1500 B.C., and ends about 500 B.C. ;
while Tell Nejileh, as far as can be seen on the surface, is of the same age,
or ruined even earlier. The absolute point of date is the position in Tell
Hesy — some way from the bottom of it — of the thin black Phoenician
pottery which is known in Egyptian remains as belonging to about
1100 B.C. While the close of its history is fixed by the fragments of
Greek pottery on tlie top of it, and the total absence of Seleucidan and
Roman objects. There are then no sites in the country around so suited
to the importance of Lachish and Eglon as these two Tells ; and conversely
there are no recorded places of such primary value as these must have
been, except the two Amorite capitals of the low country, which we know
to have been near together.

It will natui^lly be asked how the names of Unim Lakis and 'Ajlan
come to be in places which are some miles from these tells, and are cer-
tainly not the cities of Lachish and Eglon. A conjecture may be tolerated
that during the captivity the Bedawin spread over the south country and
seized these springs for their flocks ; that the "residue of Isj-ael" which
i-eturned were not strong enough in this outlying district to dispossess
the occupiers,* and that the men of Lachish and the men of Eglon (see
the local groups maintained in Keh. vii, 25-38) took wp lands in sight of
their old habitations, on the other side of the Wady Hesy, and gave them
the old names. Such a process seems very likely ; and the possibility of
it must warn us against placing too much value on the position of a name
alone. The name Umm Lakis might well be apjalied to a descendant
of the ancient city ; Umm Lakis being like Abu Daud in modern Arabic,
meaning " his father is David," and so " its mother was Lachish. I will
not venture to say whether there is an echo of the old Ajlan in the name
Nejtleh, but the tell is not more particularly grassy than other places ;
nor will philologists perhaps allow it j^ossible that the name of Lachish
may have been formed from that of the Wady Hesy, the town of " Hesy,"
Le-hesy.

The actual remains of Tell Hesy consist of a mound which is formed
of successive towns, one on the ruins of another, and an enclosure taking in
an area to the south and west of it. This enclosure is nearly a quarter of
a mile across in each direction, and is bounded by a clay rampart still
seven feet high in jiarts, and in one place by a brick wall. This area of
about 30 acres would suthce to take in a large quantity of cattle in case of
a sudden invasion ; and such was probably its purpose, as no bviildings
are found in it, and there is but little depth of soil. The city mound is
about 200 feet square ; its natural ground is 45 to 58 feet above the

* The feeble occupation of Lachish is shewn by the phrase " Lachish aud
the fields thereof" (Neh. xi. 30), while all the other towns occupied had
villages dependent on them : this sliows that there were not enough settlers to
fill up the Khurbets all round Lachish.

EXPLOKATIONS IN PALESTINE. 163

tream in the wady below, and on that the mass of dust and ruins of
brick walls rises 60 feet. The whole of the east side of the town is
destroyed by the encroachments of the valley, which here makes a great
bend that has enabled the winter torrents to eat away this side. But for
this fact we should have been unable to reach anything much of the
earlier ages here ; but in the section cut away in a steep slope above the
wady, every period is equally exposed. We can thus see the succession of
the walls of the town, and trace its history.

The earliest town here was of great strength and importance ; the
lowest wall of all being 28 feet 8 inches thick of clay bricks, unburnt ;
and over this are two successive patchings of later rebuilding, altogether
21 feet of height remaining. Such massive work was certainly not that
of the oppressed Israelites during the time of the Judges ; it cannot be
as late as the Kings, since the pottery of about 1100 B.C. is found above
its level. It must therefore be the Amorite city ; and agrees with the
account that "the cities are walled and very great" (Num. xiii, 28),
"great and walled up to heaven" (Deut. i, 28), and also with the
sculptures of the conquests of Ramessu II, at Karnah, where the Amorite
cities are all massively fortified. So far as a scale of accumulation can be
estimated, the foundation of the city wall would have been ;ibout 1500
B.C., and thus agrees to the time of the great Egyptian conquests of the
land, beginning under Tahutmes I, at that date. The need of defence
against such a well-organised foe, probably gave the great start to
fortifying in Syria. On both outside and inside of this wall is a great
quantity of burnt dust and ashes, with fragments of pottery ; and we
can now exactly know the character of the Amorite jjottery, and
its peculiarities, which are quite different to those of other times or
places.

The next period is marked by a stratum of 5 feet of dust and rolled
stones out of the valley below, lying in confusion on the ruins of the
great Amorite wall. These remains clearly show a barbaric period, when
the inhabitants were not skilled either in brick-making or in fortifying,
and when rude huts of the nearest materials were piled up, only to fall
soon into ruin. This accords with what we glean as to the period of the
Judges, and, coming immediately on the ruins of the Amorite city, the
historical relation of these remains can hardly be doubted. Above this
we meet a period of wall-building and fortifying, which goes on with
intermissions and various destructions until the end of the history. The first
of these walls is the most solid, being 13 feet thick, and this probably
belongs to Rehoboam's fortification of Lachish (2 Chron. xi, 9) ; for,
though David and Solomon doubtless did some building (2 Chron. viii, 2-6),
yet probably this was more in the outlying parts of the Kingdom,
and not so near home, where the strength of the inhabitants was
suthcient protection. Eehoboam, on the contrary, found himself with a
shattered country, which needed consolidating throughout ; and his
fortifications of the inner circuit of towns show how little David and
Solomon had thought it needful to attend to them. Probably to this

164 EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.

fortifying of Rehoboam we must attribute the wall which I have traceil
along the north and west of the town, forming a tower at the north-west
corner. But to trace the connection of walls in one part with another is a
difficult task, as they need to be cleared all along, and all the rebuildings
and patchings tracked out — a most tedious affair. The four rebuildings
which may be traced on the east face section must belong to some of the
fortifying mentioned as having been done under Asa, Jehoshaphat,
Uzziah, Jotham, and Manasseh. That the main building here
does not belong to later times than Nebuchadnezzar's destruction is
shown by the scanty remains of post-exilic times found on the very
top of the mound, a Persian coin and pieces of Greek pottery of the fifth
century.

On the south side a different character of walls is found ; one of the
later beiiis' a massive brick wall 25 feet thick, and still of a considerable
heio-ht. Probably this belongs to Manasseh's work, about 650 B.C. This
was built over a great glacis slope, formed of blocks of stone faced with
plaster, which can be traced for forty feet height of slope ; perhaps this
may be attributed to the hasty defences by Hezekiah at the time of
Sennacherib's invasion in 713 b.c. A flight of steps of rather rough
stones led up to an ascent of the glaeis, which has now perished in the
valley, and there is the gateway of a building at the foot of the steps, the
rest of which has likewise been washed away. As tliis building may be
attributed to about 700 b.c. or earlier, its character is important in the
question of stone-working. There is the system of drafted stones, with
a smooth edge, and a rough lump on the middle of the face ; but there is
no trace of the " claw tool," or rather comb-pick, as it may be more
intellifnbly described. On the masonry at Jerusalem this is a constant
feature, and we will notice later on the importance of this matter. This
glacis slope overlies the earth, which is piled 10 feet deep around a large
buildino-, the line of which I have traced on the east side. This building
is 85 feet long, with walls of clay brick, over 4 feet thick. It must be
considerably earlier than the glacis to allow of ten feet of accumulation ;
and as the glacis cannot be likely to be earlier than Hezekiali, the
building can hardly be of Ahaz ; but it rather belongs to the loug and
flourishing time of Uzziah. Indeed, on a regular scale of accumulation
of deposits, we should need to date it back to Jehoash ; but we can
hardly be too early in dating it to 800 B.C. Then ten feet more below
this is another clay-brick building, which we should accordingly have to
date back to 900 B.C. or earlier — perhaps 1000 b.c. It has, moreover,
been ruined and burnt, and then reconstructed out of the old materials,
very rudely. Though of clay brick, it had doorways of line, white lime-
stone, and some precious slabs of these yet remain, turned upside down in
the reconstruction. These show us a curious form of decoration by a
shallow pilaster, with very sloping side, resting on a low cushion base, and
with a volute at the top. We are here face to face at last with work of
the earlier Jewish kings, probably executed by the same school of masons
who built aud adorned the temple of Solomon. We see decoration which

EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 165

we must suppose to be closely akin to that of Solomon's time — if not,
indeed, as eax'ly as that itself. We learn that the Ionic volute, which the
Greeks borrowed from Asia, goes back to the tenth century in Asiatic
art ; and we can hardly fail to see its origin from a ram's hoi'n, thus
leading us to a pointed suggestion as to the form of the "horns of the
altar." Looking downwards from this, to test the scale of its age, we see
the oldest Amorite level, of about 1500 B.C., 32 feet below it, a distance
which would require us to date it to 1000 rather than 900 B.C., and which
shews that the age is under, rather than over, estimated in the successive
steps described above. The truth most likely is that this decoration is of
Solomon's own time. Beside these wall-slabs there are fragments of a
cavetto moulding from the door lintels, exactly like that of the early
Jewish monolith shrine at Siloam. Three of these pilasters have been
found, and though not thought worth removal by the Turkish officials, not
one of them can come to England. I have taken casts and photographs
of them, and carefully reburied them in known spots. Beside these, one
of the slabs had a graffito on it representing a lion (?) walking ; and as it
was upside down it must have been scratched in the time of the first
building. Unfortunately the remainder of this building is beneath
30 feet of earth, and the small prospect of there being anything else of
importance in it, makes it scarcely worth while to undertake such a
weighty clearance. No small objects have been found in the ashes
so far.

The great scarcity of small antiquities, and the rarity of any regular
stonework, makes this excavation seem barren after those in Egypt. Yet
every fragment bearing on the history of art in Palestine is of great value
from its very rarity, and the j:)resent results just described fill a wide sjjace
in our architectural knowledge which has hitherto been a blank. Another
matter of importance in itself, and of inestimable value for future
exploration, is the fixing of a scale of dated pottery. Poor as Tell Hesy
is in some respects, it is full of potsherds ; and the chance of such a grand
section as that of the east face from top to bottom, gives us at one stroke a
series of all the varieties of pottery over a thousand years. We now
know for certain the characteristics of Amorite pottery, of earlier Jewish
and of later Jewish influenced by Greek trade, and we can trace the
importation and the influence of Phoenician pottery. In future all the
tells and ruins of the country will at once reveal their age by the potsherds
which cover them.

The methods of stoneworking are another great key to the age of
work. In the Haram wall at Jerusalem all the stones are dressed with the
comb-pick (or "claw-tool"), down to the very base as Professor Lewis states.
This tool in Egypt is characteristic of Greek work, and it was used in pre-
Persian work in Greece, pointing to its being of Greek introduction. Now
in the masonry of the period of the kings here we have a strong test of
the question ; and in no part either of the gateway, steps, or pilaster slabs
is any traces of comb pick work to be seen. The evidence, therefore, is
strong that this tool is a sign of Herodian and later ages ; and we must

166 THE WORK AT TELL EL HESY.

ascribe the whole of the Haram wall to Herod. This also strengthens the
view that Ramet-el-Khallil is an early building, as no trace of comb-
picking is seen on the massive blocks there, but only on the later relining
of the building. 1

W. M. Flinders Petrie,

THE WORK AT TELL EL HESY, AS SEEN BY AN
AMERICAN VISITOR.

It is with pleasure that I accept your invitation to send you an account
of my visit with Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie. What you want, I am sure
is not any archajological dissertation, or any account of the " finds ; " but
rather a description of some of the things which would interest one new
to the country, and new to the work of excavating.

The trip from Jaft'a down the coast, past Ashdod and Ascalon, towards
Gaza, was a memorable one. The hedges of prickly pear in full bloom,
sometimes twelve feet high and twelve feet deep, which surrounded the
village, and the date-palms which lovingly moved their beautiful plumes
over the mud huts and queer conical- shaped ovens, made Pliilistia appear
to me more beautiful than any other part of Palestine.

These level sandy roads, though, impress one that the " way of the
Philistines" would have been just fitted for the chariots of Egypt, and
the worst road in the world for a band of slaves to take when attemi:)ting
to escape from the Pharaoh.

What could be more romantic than a journey over this historic " high-
way," sleeping in a khan at night, having a box for a bed and the sky for
a roof, and passing scarcely a town that did not have some granite shafts
or marble capitals — sometimes as richly carved as those of Baalbek —
built into its mud walls or used as a donkey trough at the village well ?

There was constant evidence that I was walking over ancient soil.
Not only was the summit of every mound that I visited covered with
broken pottery, but at Ascalon I was offered many old coins and an
image of a goddess, which I suppose to be Ashtoreth ; at ITmm Lakis, a
fellah tried to sell me a Phoenician menhir ; and at El Kustneh I descried
a raised platform surrounded by mats, and a heap of stones and a lamp,
which seemed to hint at the jjerpetuation of the ancient Canaanitish
worshij) even to this day.

Charming as was all this, however, I was glad when on the moining
of the 8th May, I caught sight of the end of my journey— a gashed and
broken tell lying by the water-brook like some hurt creature of the

' Full detailed reports of the 'results of these excayations, with plates
plans, and sections, will be published later on. Portions of the pottery and
other antiquities whic-li liave been brought borne will be exhibited at Oxford
Mansions in September, together with Mr. Flinders Petrie's Egyptian dis-
coveries of the past season.

THE WORK AT TELL EL IIESY. 167

geologic ages fallen in its dying agonies. In the distance this fancy was
encouraged, because of the many little objects which could be seen
crawling in and out of the fresh wounds. On appioaching nearer these
moving objects took shape as Arabs, who seemed to be mangling the i)Oor
carcase in a most reckless way, until the discovery was made that every
stroke of the pick was directed " from above," and that every puncture
and furrow and tunnel had some definite object.

These Arab picksmen looked picturesque enough in their single gar-
ment, and their wives no less so, as, unemcumbei'ed with very little
clothing excepting their necklaces and armlets, they carried away upon
their heads in ragged native baskets, and pitched over the cliff the results
of their husbands' manly toil. The cliff was formed by Dame Nature,
who, in her interest for Palestine explorations, ages ago sent a torrent
tumbling along tliis- wady, and sliced the tell from the top to bottom,
much better than any modern excavator could have done it ; thus leaving
a clean face for accurate chronological investigation of the various eras of
the mound's occupation. I am not sure whether this tell got its name,
'• The Mound of the Water Pit," from the hollows in the bed of the little
creek which yet runs through the wady, in which water can be found in
the summer after the stream is dried up everywhere else, or whether it
comes from the spring of good sweet water which trickles out of the rocks
at the base of the tell.

I was in the camp several days before I found this spring, and
delighted enough I was to find it, for it was the first draught of cool
water that I had been able to get for a week. It was a novel sight
to sit on the cliff in the evening and watch the Bedawtn girls crowding
about this spring, each seeking to be the first to fill her black jars
and lift them into the wicker baskets hung on each side of, her donkey's
back.

The Bedawin were plenty. At any time one might count half-a-dozen
camps in sight, each camp containing from four to forty tents. All the
details of their daily life became very familiar to us. Their fields of
grain were all around us. In one direction might be seen a large ungainly
camel dragging the little wooden plough ; in another, the shepherd leading
his sheep and calling back the strays with his keen quivering whistle ; in
another, the harvesters reaping the barley crop, or rather pulling it up, for
even those who had sickles did not pretend to cut the stalks of grain with
them, but only used them to collect more comfortably the handf uls, which
they then extracted by the roots !

Yet we may be glad that they are willing to " farm it " even as much
as they do. For untold centuries these "children of the East" were
accustomed to live in the desert, and then just about harvest-time they
would come up "like grasshoppers" as far as Gaza, and pitching their
black tents, help themselves. (Judges vi).

In Gideon's day it was a great encouragement to the Hebrew captain
to hear one of these thieves tell his comrade that he had just dreamed
that one of the stolen barley loaves had grown astonishingly large,

M 2

168 THE WORK AT TELL EL HESY.

and rolled down the hill against his tent and overturned it. Having
tried for some time to live on native barley bread, I can understand
how, after a heavy supper, one might easily dream that these loaves
could be used effectively as caimon balls, or as ammunition for a
catapult.

But that cannot be said of the Arabic bread with which I was served
at Tell el Hesy. I never relished a table dlwte better than I did there.
We were nomads, and had the pleasure of a perpetual picnic. Tinned
meats, and the preserves for which we longed as boys, were luxuries
which we enjoyed at every meal — and to eat -out of the can saved washing
a dish. We solved the problem of living comfortably without being
everlastingly tormented with the presence of His Highness, the chef de
cuisine.

Our most elal)orate repast only required us to wash two forks, three
spoons, two cups, tv/o plates, and a dish-pan ! That only took three
minutes, and who wanted anything more 1 Sometimes I ate with a case
knife, but generally used my pen-knife when it was my day to wash the
dishes. As for a bread-plate, that is all nonsense — what was the table
made for %

The only thing that disappointed me in Mr. Petrie was his luxurious
tastes. Actually, he insisted on eating every day on a mahogany table,
and would always use solid silver s]>oons with his dessert. I always
looked with some awe at that table after I learned that it was mahogany.
I examined the boxes that I laid on every night, hoping that I coukl
report that I slept nightly on a sandal-wood bedstead ; but unfortunately
the cracker factory that sent them out were not putting on much style just
then. After all, it might have sounded almost as well if I had only thought
to say that my bedroom furniture was made of pimis resinosa. That is
the way I shall report it in the United States. All the bedroom furnish-
ings we had were those three boxes and a tin basin. One thing I know,
I got good sleep every night.

One evening we were greatly puzzled to • know what to do. Some
aristocratic visitors came all the way from Egypt to see us. At any rate,
the last we had seen of them had been in Egypt until they suddenly rode
in upon us. One was a Prussian nobleman, the Count d'Hulst, and the
other an American nobleman, Dr. Goddard, of the Egyptian Explora-
tion Fund. At first I thought the mahogany table would have to
be used as a bed, but presently I found that our visitors had brought
a tent with them, and everything with which to make themselves
comfortable.

To be sure they had to sleep on 'blankets thrown on the ground
instead of reposing on a couch of sandal-wood or pinus resinosa, but I
only went so far as to pity them. I did not propose to give up my privi-
leges as a prior guest, even to such distinguished gentlemen.

What an evening we had together, though ! As we sipped our tea
and drank each others' health in delicious draughts of raspberry vinegar,
and talked over all our mutual acquaintances and their virtues, and

THE WORK AT TELL EL HESY. 169

settled all Egyptian affairs, arclipeological and political, I am thinking
that no more contented group of mortals could have been found inside the
continent of Asia.

Tliat is saying a good deal too, for there are few such happy-go-lucky
sort of people to be found in England or America . as are these Arabs.
They have nothing, and they need nothing, and they , v/ant nothing. To
have a turban and a shirt, and to be able to lie down during the greater
part of the day in the shade of a; great rock, in aweary Iniid, is the
immmuvi bonum. What a fool the pushing, struggling, perspiring Eui'opeau
appears to him ! Why get excited ? . Why work ? Will not Allah pro-
vide what is best ? If you can afford a knife and a gun you are well to
do. If you have a goat and a camel, and a wife or two to take care of
them, you are rich. Take thy comfort, thqu son of a day, and enjoy the
smell of the ground while thy nose is young !

That is good Bedawtn jjhilosophy. Nevertheless, while they seem to
be convinced that Allah will take care of them without work, they seem
to think that it would be tempting providence not to steal. This,
together with their warlike, disposition, makes them anything but agree-
able neighboui's. Every little while the news would come to us of some
traveller who had been waylaid and kept for ransom, or who had been
robbed and beaten, and left half dead in the desert ; and one day the
noise of a battle between two hostile tribes disturbed the, camp all day
long. It was reported afterwards that eight men were killed in the
light. A few days .before I an-ived a number of leading sheikhs had
been arrested and sent under a heavy escort to Jerusalem. . The fact
that our camp was never molested was due, I think, much more largely
to Mr. Petrie's exceptional skill in managing the Arabs than to the fact
of the Effendi being on, the ground.

He was very just in his dealings with them,. and very careful .of their
I'ights. An illustrative case is seen in his treatment of. the barley-patch
on the top and sides of the tell. The Arabs would race over this accord-
ing to the primitive law that one " can come into the standmg corn "
and "pluck the -ears," providing only he puts no sickle in the grain
(Deut. xxiii), but the,- director of affairs would not ]}\xt so much as his
foot over the path.

That leads me to say that the best thing I saw at Tell el Hesy was
Mr. Petrie himself. All day long he would go from group to group of
his workmen, critically examining the colour, and character of the clay
and any scraps of pottery that had been found. It was a constant
surprise to me, as we went prospecting together, to- see how, accurately
he could determine, even at a distance, the meaning, of , some, peculiar
formation. It was an equal surprise to notice how swiftly and cer-
taiidy he would expose any of the impostures which are so. frequently
attempted by the fellaheen. I think he scarcely needs to do more
than walk over a mound covered with pottery to tell the age of the
latest town to be found underneath, while, because of his long ex-
j)erience and minute observation, from a chip of tool or scrap of vase

170 THE SEA VISIBLE FROM JERUSALEM.

he can reconstruct the original as infallibly as a zoologist can draw tlie
picture of an animal upon being shown a bit of his skeleton.

May he stick his spade deep into Philistia and bring up great spoil I

Camden Cobern.
Detroit, Michigan,

Juneieth, 1890.

THE DEAD SEA VISIBLE FROM JERUSALEM.

JosEPHUS (" Wars " v, iv, 3) seems to imply that the Mediterranean was
visible from the Tower Pse]iliinus. Some, however, take his words to
refer to the Bead Sea. The Russian buildings can hardly be high enough
to command a view of the former, so that as to that sea one suspects
Josephus of inaccuracy. In 1875, my brother and I believed we saw the
Dead Sea from the battlements of the (so-called) Zion Gate. In my diary
for April 12th, I find noted, " We next entered by the Zion Gate, climbed
the tower from which we had a most glorious view of the Moab Moun-
tains (with just two strips of the Dead Sea visible), through the most
pellucid atmosphere, as the slanting i^ays of the sun shone upon the country
from behind us."

After searching many books, questioning a native of Jerusalem, as
well as an English resident of 20 years, and others, I find now no
corroboration from them of my belief, but rather the suggestion that we
mistook the haze for the sea. On« is reluctant, however, to accept this
explanation as final.

W. F. Birch.

THE DEAD SEA VISIBLE FROM JERUSALEM.

The Dead Sea can be seen from the roof of the London Jews' Society's
Boys' Scliool, and also from that of Christ Church, but only at a certain
hour of the day during the summer months. I have often noticed it
about 8 a.m., shining like a small speck of molten silver through a small
gap amongst the bare hills towards Mar Saba. This was all that, till a
few years ago, coidd be seen of it. However, since the erection of
the large church of St. Salvador in the Franciscan convent in the
north-west .part of the city, several lai'ge jiortions of it may be seen
at all hours of the day (unless the weather be hazy), if one will take the
trouble of climbing into the clock -tower.

J. E. Hanaurr.

171

THE ROEBUCK IN PALESTINE.

Ijt the " Fauna and Flora " Canon Tristram notes the Roebuck among the
animals of Palestine, but does not appeal to a specimen of his own
collection. He says it is found in the woods of Carmel, but that Sheikh
Iskandar is its most soutlierly station. He also states that it is called

the Yahhmtir, ^ ^^^ i^y the natives.

Major Conder, in "Tent Work in Palestine," i, 173, says that he
obtained a specimen from the charcoal burners of Carmel, and sent the
bones and skin to the museum at Cambridge. He also says that

it is called Yahhm(lr by the natives, and that a district of Carmel is
known as " the Yahhmtir," probably from the former abundance of this
animal.

The Yahhmllr of the Hebrew (Deut. xiv, 5) is ti'anslated " fallow-deer,''
but this is, in view of the above testimony, a mistake. The true
fallow-deer (the " hart " of Ps. xlii, 1) is the lyyal, which is not now
often found south of Cassius and Araanus, where it is still hunted.
Tristram says that it has been found along the Litany and north-west
of Tabor.

172 THE ROEBUCK IN PALESTINE.

Last summer, Eev. W. K. Eddy, of Sidon, procured a female of the
lioebuck s]iecies near Alma, in Nortliern Galilee. Unfortunately it was
skinned only with a view to making a mat of the pelt, and so no scientific
observations could be made. The bones were not preserved.

A few days since the same gentleman procured for me from natives a
full-grown male, of which the accompanying is a sketch, made from
the caicase, lying in an attitude which it assumed with ease when
stretched out and left to replace itself. The point of view of the artist
was 8 feet off from the feet and 4 feet above the animal. This gives
a little fore-shortening of the neck, otherwise the proportions are well
preserved.

The natives of the region about Q&na and 'Alma call this species the

Wa'l \ '^ ^ . The term Wa'l, however, belongs properly to the wild goat or

Syrian Ibex {Caper Beden).

The measurements aie as follows : —

Height at shoulder, approximately.

„ rnmp »

Length (stretched out) from tip of nose to end of rump

hind foot ....
n ,v »■ right horn....

left horn ....
The eye was almond shaped, with point forward :
Inside length
„ breadth

A peculiarity is that this animal liad no tail. The rump was rounded.
The coccyx, about 2 inches long, made no external projection.

The colour was grey, with a reddish-brown shade toward the posterior
part of the rump, and white between the thighs and on the belly.

The horns are three-branched, and, as depicted in the drawing, on a
straight line with the front of the face, which is quite flat.

If, as suggested by Captain Conder, this species furnished the venison,
which formed part of the daily menu of Solomon, it must have been
abundant in the age of that monarch. It has now become quite rare,
and, so far as known to the writer, no recent specimen has been
minutely described and figured. The present notes fix its identity beyond
a question.

George E. Post.

BeirAt, March 8tli, 1890.

ft.

in.

ItV

MASHITA. 173

THE EOEBUCK.

The existence of the roebuck in Palestine was, I believe, unknown
before a specimen was brought to me at Haifa in 1872. Dr. Tristram did
not know of it appai'ently when he published his " Natural History of the
Bible," in 1868, and he would, no doubt, acknowledge the source of his
notice in the " Memoirs." The specimen taken to Cambridge by Mr.
C. F. T. Drake in 1873 was pronounced to be the same as the English
roebuck. I ha^e also noticed its existence in the woods of Mount Gilead,
where it appears to be called IlanvAr instead of Yahhm'Ar the name which
I ascertained on Carmel. .

C.RC.

MASHITA..

I HAVE not Major Conder's last book by me at the time of writing
but I think he states in it that the question whether the conjecture which
assigns the building at Mashita to Chosroes is right, must depend upon
the deciphering of the inscriptions which may be found there. My wife
and I have visited Mashita twice; once in 1888, and again in April of this
year (1890) ; and on both occasions I made diligent search without being
able to discern any inscrijjtion whatever, except the " Wusn " maiks of
the Arabs. My wife, on the occasion of our last visit, took thirteen
photographs, and if these turn out. well on being developed at home, I will
send you copies. Some of the detail of ornamentation (which seems to
me veiy Persian in style) is exceedingly fine. I have no description of
the ruin by me, and may be merely rejjeating what is well known, when I
give the following particulars, but the place is so seldom visited that I will
venture. The main erection and enclosure are built to the cardinal points
of the comjmss ; the sculptured front, of the latter and the gateway being
to the south. The appearance of the ruin fully supjDorts the theory that
the buildings were never finished, as there is nothing like the requisite
amount of material on the spot for completion of the work, and no building
near in which the material could have been used up. The nearest building
is the Kli&n Zitza, on the Haj road, of which, if I remember right, there
is some account in Mr. Doughty's book. But this place was too far for
me to visit conveniently. There is no other building nearer than Madeba
(about four hours' journey;, where the houses are all recently built out of
cut stones found at that sj^ot, and, therefore, the material cannot have
been used up there.

The outside of the west and inside side of the east walls of the
enclosure at Mashita are much worn and decayed, whilst the inside
of the west and outside of the east walls are fresh looking. This is

174 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

IK) doubt dae to the west gales and rains. I think that the ground
round the building has been somewhat raised, as the beautifully orna-
mented string course in the sculptured south front is very near the
surface of the soil. And on the east side of the gateway I could see,
through an aperture, to a depth of three or four feet below ground that
the wall was continued downwards in regular courses of stone. Perhaps
this particular spot had been excavated as a tomb, as I saw a human skull
and some bones there.

The people of Madeba and the Adwan Bedawin call the piace
" Umshetta," not " Mashita." It is situated in the country of the Beni
Sokr, and to be quite safe one should take an escort of that tribe from
Madeba. But in the spring the Beni Sokr move a long way to the eastward,
and on neither occasion of our visits did we see anything of them. In 1888
we had four men of the Adwan with us, who, however, made considerable
objection to going, and observed great precautions — not allowing us to
stay more than about three-quarters of an hour. On our last visit we had
two Adwan and four men of Madeba with us, and were allowed to stay
fully two hours. The Adwan Sheikh told us that, except an American
gentleman whom they conducted at the time of the Amei-ican exploration
of the Dead Sea, we were the only people whom his tribe had escorted to
the place.

Gray Hill.

Jerusalem^ 5th Mat/, 1890.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sakona, 1888.

The numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; the maximum was 30'272 ins. in December.
In th? years 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1887 the maximum was in January, in
1882 in February, and in 1883, 1885, and 1886 in December, as in this
year ; the maximum, therefore, has always been in the winter months. The
highest reading in the nine years was 30'285 ins. in 1887. The mean of
the eight preceding highest pressures was 30'217 ins.

In column 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29-529 ins. in February. In the year 1883 the minimum
was in January, in 1881 in February, as in this year, in 1880, 1884, 1885,
and 1886 in April, and in 1882 in July. The lowest readings in each year
have taken place in the months from January to July. The lowest read-
ing in the nine years was 29-442 ins. in 1887. The mean of the eight
preceding lowest pressures was 29-507 ins.

The range of barometeric readings in the year was 0*743 inch ; in the
eight preceding years the ranges were 0-780 inch, 0-711 inch, 0-704 inch
0-579 inch, 0-757 inch, 0-680 inch, 0-621 inch, and 0-843 inch respectively.
The mean for the eight years was 0*709 inch.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 175

The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of reading in each
month ; the smallest was 0-168 inch in August ; in 1883 the smallest was
in June, in 1882 and 1886 in August as in this year, and in 1880, 1881,
1884, 1885, and 1887 in October. The mean of the 2>receding smallest
monthly ranges was 0'178 inch. The largest monthly range was
0-725 inch in December; in the years 1883, 1884, and 1887 the largest was
in January, in 1882 in February, in 1881 and 1886 in March, and in 1880
in April.

The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere ; the greatest, 29-977 ins., was in December. In the
years 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1884 the greatest was in January, in 1883 and
1887 in February, and in 1885 and 1886 in December as in this year.
The highest mean monthly reading in the nine years was 30-060 ins. in
January, 1882.

The smallest mean monthly reading was 29-672 ins. in July ; the
smallest reading in any month in the nine years was 29-653 ins. in August,
1887, while that in August, 1885, was nearly as small, being 29-657 ins. ;
in the years 1880, 1882, 1883, and 1886, the smallest was in July as in
this year, and in 1881, 1884, 1885, and 1887 in August.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in column
5 ; the highest in the year was 105° in October, the next in order was 98"
in March, and 97° in May. The first day in the year the temperature
reached 90° was March 5tii, and on six other days in this month the
temperature reached or exceeded 90° : in April on one day, the 1st, when
the temperature was 91° ; tn May on one day, on the 26th, when it was
97° ; in July on ten days ; in August on seven days ; in September on
four days ; and in October the temperature reached or exceeded 90° on
nine days ; the highest in the year, viz., 106°, took place on the 19th, and
on the 17th and 18th of this month the temperature reached 102° and
104° respectively ; therefore, the temperature reached or exceeded 90° on
39 days during the year. In the preceding eight years the temperature
reached or exceeded 90° on 36, 27, 8, 16, 14, 24, 16, and 25 days respec-
tively. In the eight preceding years the highest temperatures were 103°,
106°, 93°, 106°, 100°, 103^ 112°, and 100° respectively.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature of the air in
each month. The lowest in the year was 37° -0 on January 11th, and on
the 12th of January the temperature was as low as 39° '0, and these
were the only two nights in the year that the temperature was below
40°. In the preceding eight years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884,
1885, 1886, and 1887 the temperature was below 40° on 13, 2, 13,
2, 9, 3, 3, and 15 nights respectively. In the preceding eight years
the lowest temperatvires were S2°, 39", 34°, 35°, 32°, 38°, 37°, and 32° -5
respectively.

The yearly range of temperature was 68°-0 ; in the eight preceding
years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887, the yearly
ranges were 71°, 67°, 59°, 71°, 68°, 65°, 75°, and 67°-5 respectively. The
mean of the eight preceding yearly ranges was67°'9.

176 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

The range of temperature of each month is shown in cohxmn 7, and
these numbers vary from 26° in August, to 58° in March. In the year
1880 these numbers varied from 25° in August to 53° in both April and
May ; m 1881 from 29° in both July and September to 51° in May ; in
1882 from 25° in August to 47° in November ; in 1883 from 25° in July
to 62° in March ; in 1884 from 24° in February to 51° in April ; in 1885
from 22° in July to 52° in March ; in 1886 from 26° in August to 55° in
June ; and in 1887 from 27° in July to 54° in April.

The mean of all the highest by day, of the lowest by night; and of
the average daily ranges of temperature are shown in columns 8, 9, and
10 respectively. Of the high day temperature the lowest, 6I°'7, is in
January. In the years- 1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887, the lowest was in
January as in this year; in 1881, 1882, and 1883. in February, and in
1880 in December. The highest, 88°-5, is in July, whilst that in August is
of nearly the same value, viz., 88°-4. In the year 1880, the liighest was
in May ; in 1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886,aiid 1887 in August, and in 1882
in September.. Of the low night temperature, the coldest, 44° -9, was in
January ; in the years 1880, 1882, and 1884 the coldest was in January
as in this year ; in 1883, 1885, and 1887. in February, and in 1881 and
1886 in December. The warmest, 70°-3, was in August ; in the, year 1885
the warmest was in July, and in the years 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884,
1886, and 1887, the warmest was in August as in this year. The average
daily range of temperature is shown in column 10 ; the smallest, 15°-6, is
in December ; in the years 1880, 1883, 1885, 1886, and 1887, the smallest
was in January, and in 1881, 1882, and 1884, in February. The greatest
range of temperature in any month, 24° -4, was in March ; in the years
1884 and 1887 the greatest was in April, in 1880 and 1885 in May,
in 1881 in June, in 1883 in September, and in 1882 and 1886 in
October.

In column 11, the mean temperature of the air is shown, as found
from observations of the maximum and minimum thermometers only.
The month of the lowest temperature, 53° "3, was in January. In the
years 1880, 1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887, the lowest was in January, as in
this year ; in 1881 and 1882, in February ; and in 1883, in December.
That of the highest, 79°-4, was in August, as in the eight preceding
years. The mean temperature of the air for the year was 67°-7, and
of the eight preceding years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885,
1886, and 1887, were 66° "4, 66°-7, 65°-5, 65°-7, 65°-7, 65°-9, 66°-8, and 66^-5
respectively.

The numbers in columns 12 and, 13 are the monthly means of a dry
and wet-bulb thermometer, taken daily at 9 a.m. In column 14 the
monthly temperature of the dew-point, or that temperature at which dew
would have been deposited^ is shown.. The elastic force of vapour is
shown in column 15. In column 16 the water present in a cubic foot of
air is shown ; in January it was as small as 3i grains, and in August as
large as 8 grains ; in column 17 the additional weight required for
saturation is shown. The numbers in column 18 show the degree of

RR J. DREHER IMME]?^^' H MILE FROM THE
GET ABOVE SEA-LEVEI

James Glaisher, F.B.S. )

leading at 9 a.m.

4 ■

Eain.

-4-3

4.^

Elastic Force
of Vapour.

Mean
Amount

of
Cloud.

Number

of Days or

which it

fell.

1 Amount

Oohected.

49° 8

46° 1

grs.
•311

5-6

ins.
4-94

55-4

51-3

•378

6-6

2-74

60-0

52-4

•395

4^1

0-28

62-7

57-4

•472

5-8

1-12

65-1

59-3

•506

3-0

•i 0^28

70-2

64-7

•612

1-4

©•01

76-3

70-9

•757

1-9

0^00

750

68-7

•703

1-7

0-00

73-4

67-6

•676

2-7

©•GO

71-3

64-3

•604

5-5

1^67

57-9

53-2

•405

4-9

6^27

52-7

50-0

•362

G^3

11^53

64-2

58-8

t
•515

4^1

Sum. Sum.
62 28-81

METEOIlOLOGIC.iL OBSERVATIONS. 1 / /

humidity, saturation being considered 100 ; the smallest number
indicating the dryest month is 54 in March, and the largest, 83, indicating
the wettest month, was in December. The weight of a cubic foot of air
under its mean pressure, temperature, and humidity, at 9 a.m., is shown
ii) column 19.

The most prevalent wind in January was S., and the least prevalent
winds were N. and W. In February the most prevalent were S.W. and
S., and the least were N.E. and N.W. In March the most prevalent
were S, and S.W., and the least were N., E., and N.W. In A])ril the
most prevalent were W. and S.W., and the least were N. and N.E. In
May the most prevalent were N.W., W., and S.W., and the least were
N.E., S.E., and S. In June, July, and August the most prevalent were
W. and S.W., and the least were N., N.E., E., S.E., and S. In September
the most prevalent were S.W. and N.W., and the least were N.E., E.,
and S.E. In October the most prevalent were S.E. and N.W., and the
least was N.E. ; and in November and December the most prevalent was
S., and the least were N. and N.W. The most prevalent wind for the
year was S.W., which occurred on 86 different days in the year, and the
least prevalent wind was N., which occurred on only six times during
the year.

The numbe^^s in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m.
The month with the smallest is June, and the largest February. Of the
cumulus, or fine weather cloud, there were 106 instances in the year,
of which 24 were in September, 16 in July, and 15 in June. Of the
nimbus, or rain cloud, there were 63 instances, of which 15 were in
December and 10 in both .January and November, and only 5 from May
to September. Of the cirrus there were 64 instances ; of the cirro-
cumulus there were 23 instances ; of the stratus, 14 instances ; of the
cirro-stratus, 6 instances ; and 90 instances of cloudless skies, of which
15 were in August, and 13 in both June and July.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 11 '53 ins., in
December, of which 2'95 ins. fell on the 18th, 1*95 inch on the 11th,
riO inch on the 12th, and I'OS inch on the 16th. The next largest fall
for the month was 6"27 ins. in November, of which 210 ins. fell on
the 13th. No rain fell from the 4th of June till the 1st of October,
making a period of 118 consecutive days without rain. In 1880 there
were 168 consecutive days without rain ; in 1881, 189 consecutive days ;
in 1882 there were two periods of 76 and 70 consecutive days without
rain ; in 1883, 167 consecutive days ; in 1884, 118 consecutive days ; in
1885, 115 consecutive days ; in 1886, 171 consecutive days ; and in 1887
there were two periods of 132 and 63 consecutive days without rain.
The fall of rain for the year was 28'84 ins., being 016 inch, 11*35 ins.,
6'75 ins., 1041 ins., 8-78 ins., 8-75 Ins., and 11*78 ins., larger than in
1880, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887 respectively ; and 1*22 inch
smaller than in 1883 ; therefore it was greater than any of the falls of
the eight preceding years, with the exception of 1883, when the
fall was 30"06 inches. The number of days on which rain fell was

178 THE SITE OF CAPERNAUM.

62. In the preceding eight years, viz., 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884,
1885, 1886, and 1887, rain fell on 66, 48, 62, 71, 65, 63, 66, and 43 days
i-espectively.

James Glaisher,

Errata.

In consequence of the reading of the barometer at Sarona on April
23rd, 1887, as found by comjjarison with the reading at Jerusalem on the
same day, being too low by half an inch, the following corrections in the
Quarterly Btatement for April, 1890^ are necessary : —

ins. ins.

In general table opposite page 112, col. 2, April, for 29'145 read 29522.

„ 3, „ 0-848 „ 0-471.

„ 4, „ 29-765 „ 29-781.

„ 2, Means for 29-531 „ 29-662.

„ 3, „ 0-392 „ 0-364.

„ 4, „ 29-821 „ 29-822.

ins. ins.

On page 112, 10th line from top, for 29-145 read 29-442.
„ 16th „ „ 1-140 „ 0-843.

„ 7th „ bottom for 0-848 „ 0-843.

„ „ „ „ April „ January.

THE SITE OF CAPERNAUM.

In his "KobRoyon the Jordan" (7th edition, pp. 344-351), the author
has conclusively shown that Tell Hfxm is too near the place of embarka-
tion after the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and not sufficiently near
" the land of Genuesaret ; " and that Khan Minia, or some other spot on
the Plain of Gennesaret, corresponds to St. John vi, 17-21, and St. Mark
vi, 53.

Last spring I explored the rocky promontory to the N.E. of Khan
Minta, so far as the rank thistles (often rising far above one's liead) and
thorns would allow. On the highest part, about 242 feet above the lake,
are the remains of a fortification — possibly the station of the Roman Cen-
turion (St. Matthew viii, 5), — and here and there traces of buildings, but
everywhere I found broken pottery, showing that there was formerly a
large population dwelling on this rock.

THE SITE OF CAPERNAUM. 179

I am disposed to consider this to be the site of Ca]:)ernaum rather than
(or perhaps in addition to) the ruins to the south of the Kh;tu. At the
foot of the rock is the copious fountain 'Ain et-Tln.

If this be so, then it must have occupied by far the most prominent
))Osition of any city on the Sea of Galilee, and would account for the
i-emarkable expression in St. Matthew xi, 13, "And thou, Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell ! ''

The ruins of the Khan at the junction of the roads from Csesarea,
Jerusalem, and Pertea with the great Roman road leading noilh to
Damascus, probably mark the very spot where Matthew sat " at the
receipt of custom ; " and the outlying rocks at the foot of the clilf, to this
day the favourite resort of fish, indicate the spot where Peter would
naturally go to " cast his hook." (St. Matthew xvii, 27.)

The only difficulty in this identification of the Site of Capernaum is
the statement of Josephus, that the Plain of Gennesaret is watered by a
fertile fountain, in which is found the Coracinus, or cat-fish ; " the
peo])le of the country call it Capharnaum." Canon Tristram has
argued, and with great probability, that he refers to the Fountain
'Ain el Mudauwerah, about 2^ miles from Khan Minla, in which that
fish abounds (as I can also testify), but fails to show that there are
any ruins in its neighbourhood which would answer to such an imj^ortant
city as Capernaum.

This identification, though conclusive against Tell HAm, has far
less force against Kh^n Minia, as the fountain may have been named
after the nearest city of any note. According to the fishermen
with whom "Rob Roy" conversed the Coracinus is also found at
'Ain et-Tin, close to Kh&n Minta, which may have been used to
irrigate a part at least of the plain, though if Josejjhus used the word
biapherai accurately, I must admit that this fountain fails to meet its
requirements.

I confess I cannot agree with the laboured theory which would make
'Ain Tabghah the fountain which waters the plain of Gennesaret.' For
it would be a work of supererogation to bring water at a great cost round
the shoulder of a hard rocky promontory to irrigate what was already one
of the best watered plains in Palestine. Four considerable streams run
through it ; Tristram calls it " the marshy plain."

Nor would an aqueduct be needed for drinking water, for no one
would prefer the hot and brackish water of 'Ain Tabghah to the cooler
and sweeter water of 'Ain et-Tin which was close at hand. I very much
doubt if this cutting in the rock, now used as a pathway', is an aqueduct
at all. Our party were unanimous in holding it to be of considerably
higher level than 'Ain Tabghah. The photograph, No. 59 of the Palestine
Exploration Fund gives a good idea of its height above the plain. We
had unfortunately no level with us, but the pathway seemed to descend

' We could find no Coracinus in this fountain, and it is difficult to see how-
it could get there from the lake.

180 thp: cave of adullam.

on either side, and there were no traces of an aqueduct being continued
beyond the cutting. I should rather think that this so-called aqueduct
was of old ueitlier more nor less than it is now, a portion of the paved
road from 'Ain Tubgliah to Khan Miula, cut deep into the rock at this
point to avoid the inconvenience and danger of the natural surface of this
shoulder of rock which here slopes down to a precipice ; " resembling
more the great rock-cutting of the Eoman road at Abila, than any of
the rock-cut aqueducts of the country." (Conder, " Tent Work," ii,
185.)

I picked up tessarpe in the ploughed fields between 'Ain Tabghah (the
probable site of Bethsaida) and the wooden house just built by Ciennan
settlers in the middle of the little bay. The inmates told me they had
found several while digging their garden.

II
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM.

May I put in a plea for tlie traditional site of this Cave in the Wadj^
Khureitun near Bethlehem, as possessing superior claims in everything but
similarity of name to the ones recently discovered at 'Aid-el-Ma.

Without for a moment questioning the fact that there was a city called
Adullam in or near the Wady es-Sunt in the Shephelah, there may have
been more than one city or cave known by that name ; • indeed Josephus,
though he says it was " a cave near the city of Adullam," yet immedi-
ately afterwards implies that it was in " the desert," or wilderness of
Judaea.

The objections to 'Ald-el-Ma are as follows : —

(1) Neither the caves nor the hill in which they are situated are places
of very great strength, and are no more entitled to be called " the hold "
(1 Sam. xxii, 5 ; 1 Chron. xi, 16) than scores of others similarly situated
They are far too much exposed to be resorted to as hiding places.

(2) 'Atd-el-Ma is only 10 miles (as the crow flies) from Gath (Tel es
Safia), and it is hardly likely that the Philistines would tolerate the
presence of such a foe as David so close to their chief city.

(3) In their expedition to Rephaim and Bethlehem (1 Chron. xi, 16),
the Philistines would probably pass within sight of David, and it is
exceedingly improbable that they would leave such an enemy in their rear
to harass them and cut off their communications.

(4) Bethlehem is too far away, and out of sight on the other slope of
the watershed. It would take the best part of a day for the three men

^ There was more than one Kadesb, Carmel, Gibeab, Qilgid, Bethsaida,
Eamah, &c.

THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. 181

to get to Bethlehem and back. Besides, why should David so long for
watei' from the well of Bethlehem, when he had a much more cojiious
spring of better water at his feet at 'Ald-el-Ma ?

(5) David in taking his family to Moab would have to pass again by or
near Bethlehem, which does not so well fit in with the nai'rative as would
a place in the wilderness of Juda?a.

In favour of the traditional site : —

(1) It is one of the most remarkably situated caves in the side of one
of the grandest and wildest gorges in Palestine, the narrow jaath to it
blocked by a fallen rock, so that a few resolute men coidd defend it against
a host. Moreover, the existence of such a stronghold would not ,be
suspected. Our local guide from Bethlehem even was at fault and had to
get the assistance of a shejaherd to find out the entrance. There are three
caves opening one into the other, of which the first is lofty and of con-
siderable size, and could easily accommodate 400 men. We found the
floor dry and dusty even towards the end of the rainy season.

(2) It was in David's own country, " the wilderness of Judaja," where
he had been accustomed to feed his sheep (1 Sam. xvii, 28). Such a cave
would naturally suggest itself to him as a safe and almost inaccessible
hiding place.

(3) It was only three or four miles from Bethlehem (as the crow flies),
and from the hills above it Bethlehem could be easily seen encompassed by
the Philistines. In that " dry and thirsty land " we can appreciate David's
longing for " water from the well of Bethlehem," as his eye rested on his
beloved city.

(4) It falls in most naturally with David's bringing his parents from
Bethlehem, and then for further secui ity taking them on to Moab (1 Sam.
xxii, 1, 3, 4) for this cave lies between Bethlehem and Moab ; whereas
'Aid-el-Ma is on the wrong side of Bethlehem.

(5) In short it is impossible to conceive of a site, which in every par-
ticular (excei)t the modern name) agrees with all that Scripture tells us
about the Cave of AduUam.

Would that all traditions were equally forttinate !

I shall not easily forget our visit to this cave. Our guide had provided
lights and a ball of string so that we should not lose our way. But when
we were in the largest cave we forgot all about our guide, and explored on
our own account.

On our return, in the low and narrow passage connecting the first and
second caves, we heard groans and cries for help, and were amused to find
our guide, who had attempted to follow us, lying on the ground with light
extinguished, holding on to the end of the string, and " trembling like
an aspen leaf " — probably from fear of the ghosts that might haunt the
cave.

182 PELL A.

III.

THE PLACE OF ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE

Is near the edge of a hollow or sloping plateau, aliont 300 feet below the
actual south-eastern summit of Carmel, and probably close to a spring
which Tristram shows to be a never-failing one from the fact of the shell-
mollusc Neritina micJionii being found in it. The sea can be seen from
the shoulder of the mountain, about ten minutes' walk from this spot.
Hence it was not necessary for Elijah's servant to go to the very top seven
times, as some writers assert.

Everything here, as elsewhere, corroborates the minute acciiracy of the

Scripture narrative.

Henry Brass.
St. Matthew's, Eed Hill,

February, 1890.

REV. C. DE CARA AND THE HITTITES.

In a letter to the "Civilta Cattolica," the Eev. C. de Cara, S.J., has
recently announced : —

" Of the similarity of the characters of the archaic alphabet of Cypi'us
with those of the inscriptions of Hamath near the Orontes, no one has
sous'ht the reason which now I have found, and which seems to me
convincing, viz., that the origin of the archaic Cypriote is due to the
Hittites."

It is curious that the Rev. Father should claim a discovery already
indicated by I r. Sayce in 1880, and which I have endeavoured to
elaborate for the last three years ; but the result, no doubt inde])en-
dently reached, serves to show the soundness of a comparison so generally
accepted.

C. R. C.

PELLA.

Doubts having been expressed as to the position of Pella, and its identity
with Fahil, the following notes may be of use : —

Jabes, a large village, was six Roman miles from Pella, on the way to
Gerasa. Amathus, beyond Jordan, was 21 Roman miles from Pella,
towards the south (not the Amathus near Gadara, but the southern town
of the name). Arbel, beyond Jordan, was "in tinibus Pellge." Jabesh
Gilead was six miles from Pella, on the mountain in the direction of

Gerasa {see " Onomasticon " ). In the Talmud ^PDI HiHT^n or " the Hot
Bath of Pella" is mentioned (Tal Jer Shel)iith, vi, 1), evidently the
springs at Tell Hamma. The name of Jabesh is pieserved in Wady
Yabis. Amathus is Tell Ammata, 15 Roman miles in a direct line south

of Fahil.

C. R. C.

183

NEW "HITTTTE" BAS-RELIEFS.

In the important woi'k by MM. Humann and Puchstein, just published,
a new bas-relief with six lines of the Altaic Hieroglyphs is represented
(Plate XLIX), which, though unfortunately so worn as to be for the
most part illegible, still furnishes us with several new ideas. This figure,
discovered in 1882, comes from Marash (Figs. 4 and 5), and represents a
long-robed personage facing to the left. The hair is arranged in a curled-
up plait or pigtail. The beard is long ; the garment is fringed ; the
shoes, as usual, curled at the toes. A round skull cap seems to be repre-
sented. Marash lies at the foot of the Taurus, 70 miles north-east of the
head of the Gulf of Alexandretta, and several Altaic sculptures have
been found here previously.

The inscription differs from others, inasmuch as the whole of the lines

ajDpear to read from left to right, not alternately, as

at Haraath. On the Marash lion the text also reads

in the first line from the left (as does Hamath

Stone, No. IV), and we may, perhaps, suppose the

new text to be later than those of Hamath and

Jerablus, ' especially as the writing seems to be

more phonetic in its character.

The commencement of the text as shown in the accompanying

sketch is also, I believe, the same as that on the lion given below,

on the shoulder of which is a figure which may be regarded as a

fuller form of the common emblem of "speech." These four emblems

QQQO

should, I believe, be read EN-NE-ME-KE, signifying " speech " or
" invocation." The termination in mek is known in other cases on the

184 NEW "hittite" bas-reliefs.

Hittite texts, as, for instance, on the Haraatli Stones Nos. I, II, III,
where we may read the group ZI-KU-KU-ME-KE-LI, which, as an
Akkadian expression, I suppose to mean Zi Kukumekli, or " sj^irit
protectrng." ' The termination in meJc is very distinctive of Tui'anian
speech. In Turkish it forms the participle, the infinitive, and the

abstract. It also occurs in the ancient inscrip-
tions of Malamir in such words as tarmak,
" the totality " (Sayce, " Malamir," p. 74), with
the same abstract signification.

The new text, like the Marash lion, is
written in a very confused mannei-, and the
sketch given is quite illegible for the most part.
With the exception of the head and arms the
figure is covered as well as the field of the
block. This arrangement is the same which occurs on the Assyrian figures
in the British Museum. The common Hittite signs given below occur
frequently : —

ne mu tam ? pe ? e ? li he

A B ^ f ir^^

ho dii ? ga ? i ti a

The position of li as a termination af)pears to be the same throughout
as in the texts already known. As far as can be judged from the decayed
state of the text, there do not seem to be any new symbols unknown
before.

On the same plate (Figs. 1, 2, 3) is another " Hittite" monument from
Samsat (the ancient Samosata on the Euphrates), which lies far to the

1 The word KiiTcu, "to help," "protect," "defend," as an Akkadian word is
well known, and seems to survive in tlie Cantonese cAiM-^oo, " to helj)." It
appears also in the Susian ktiJcu, " favour," and in the Medic verb kkuta,
" to help," or "protect," or "favour"; and at Malamir ku/cuna, " of favour."
It may be connected with the old Turkish word kuch or koch, for " power," and
in Hungarian it again appears in kegi/, " favour." Although I pointed out in
the Quarterly Statement the connection between Akkadian and Chinese before
Mr. Ball commenced his interesting papers on the subject, it seems to me that
the Tartar, Turkish, and Mongol languages are far safer for comparison than
even the most archaic of Chinese dialects, because the phonetic decay in the
latter has (as is well known) been so great that comparisons are apt to be
misleading.

NEW "hittite" bas-reliefs. 185

north-east of Carcliemisli and south of tlie Taurus. This is also much
decayed, but consisted of nine lines. The deer's head (TAR) and the
other signs are the same apparently as in previous texts, and the rare
sign MI for " country " may, perhaps, occur in the last line.

MM. Huniann and Puchstein have also given cojiies of two texts (the
lion text and the text with two seated figures) from Marash, which were
already known, but of which new copies cannot fail to be useful. The
latter especially was not well copied before, but the extreme irregularity

tof the writing renders it unusuallv difficult
to follow. It clearly reads from the right,
and seems to be almost entirely phonetic.
The new texts seem, perhaps, to confirm
L what was before doubtful, namely, a re-
\i^^ ^'^S.'x duplication of the sign which (comparing

^^ with the oldest Cuneiform) I have sup-
posed to represent the sun with the value ut or tain. In fact I think
it is establislaed beyond doubt that this sign has the latter value in the
word Tam-zi (Tammuz) found on a seal and at Carchemish.

This is also shown in the new copy of the lion text as occurring in
the first line, followed by Ka-ne-ke Tarku. It is possible, however, that
these emblems have not been quite correctly copied, and that they
represent a late form of the emblem an, in which case the reduplication
may be read AN AN, meaning either " Gods " or " King."'

The general impression obtained from these texts is that they are
later and (as is natural) less ideographic than those of Carchemish and
Hamath, rejDresenting a northern extension of Hittite civilisation.

C. R. CONDER.

' By the light of these new copies we obtain the following commeneeuient
for the lion text,

ZU ?

TAR

ME
KE

GAL?
A

DU
KE
LI

RE
THE

TAR

NE
KE

KE
LI

This seems to be a dedication or invocation, for the second word is well
known as the name of a god — at Ibreez for instance. The commencement is
thus very like that of some of the texts on the old statues of the Akkadians at
Tell lo; and roughly speaking it seems to run, " lu vocations for Anu. . . . tlie
living god. ... the royal prince Tarku (or prince of gods Tarku....). It is
known that Tarku was the name of a deity in Asia Minor as well as a word
for prince.

l.SG MAR TUKLA.

THE MALULA DIALECT.

The interesting paper in last Quarterly Statement by Dr. Bliss on the
Syriac Dialect of Malula gives several indications of the archaic
character of the ordinary Fellah dialect of Palestine to which I have
lately again called attention.
As regards the phonology —

, (. pronounced ch (as in "chaff"), is the common Fellah pronun-
ciation of the letter.
•; pronounced without giittural sound is also not uncommon

among Fellahln.
c for hamza, is also a Fellah change (" Lanberg," p. 82, gives
many examples).
JL, pronounced (vj, as in sejratha, " tree," is the Fellah sejerah
for shejerah, " tree."

In grammatical forms —

0 for 3rd person singular possessive is the Fellah «. Abu, "his

father," for literary Ab-hu.
Phash answers to the common Fellah FiMsh.

Some of the words are also so used in Fellah speech, e.g., Shenna,
"rock" (as in Hebrew); Ho, or Hey, "this"; Blato (Fellah, Bldd),
" country " ; Biota (Fellah, Belled), " village."

The Fellah dialect, indeed, seems to have been but little affected by
the literary Ai-abic, and retains much of its old Ai'amaic character.

C. E. C.

MAR TUKLA.

In the paper on " Ma'lula and its Dialect," by Mr. Bliss, he says, " Mar
Tukla is said to have been a companion of St. Paul's, the tradition is
doubtless ancient." {Quarterly Statement, April, 1890, page 83.) This
would, I think, hardly lead one to understand that the story of St. Paid
and Thecla, as related in the apocryphal " Acts of Paul and Thecla " (to
which I imagine Mr. Bliss refers) was as old as 170 or 180 a.d., which is
the date Dr. Salmon assigns to it.

Leslie W. Troughton.

NOTES ON DR. POST's TAPER. 187

OREEK INSCRIPTION NORTH OF DAMASCUS GATE

In the Jerusalem volume of "Memoirs" will be found a collection of
numerous Greek texts of the same character as that published in the last
<tfuarterly Statement. They come from the W&dy Eab^beh cemetery and
from other parts of the town. In the Muristan I found such a Greek
text, which cannot well be older than 900 a.d. 9?/Kt bin^tpovaa Mjjm vrnp
Qirpov (.lerusalem vol., p. 456). At the church by Jeremiah's Grottu,
Lieut. Mantell and I copied another text of the same character. It was
originally written across two slabs, and we only obtained the right hand
halves of the lines (Jerusalem vol., p. 392). This was also a deacon's
tombstone.

The text from Boeckh given by Mr. A. S. Murray is only a bad copy
of the inscription on the tomb of Thecla Augusta (9th century), fully
described in the Jerusalem volume of the " Memoirs " (page 418). This
is one of texts in the cemetery of St. Sion, in Wady Eababeh.

The Christians were still powerful in Palestine under the Arab
Khalifs, and the tombstones are written with the same conti-actions and
general style, and seem not earlier than about 8th to 9th centuries, a.d.

C. E. C.

NOTES ON DR. POST'S PAPER.

I VENTURE to make a few notes on this paper. The existence of the
Beech in Syria is of some interest philologically, and it would be interest-
ing to know where it occurs. It is known in Asia Minor and in the
Caucasus, and grows on chalky soils.

The Papyrus is not confined to the Jordan valley. I have seen it in
several places on the coast near Sidon, in the Zerka, and further south, as
noted in the "Memoirs."

It is certain that the lion still existed in the Lebanon in 1,300 b.c.
(" Travels of a Mohar ").

It is certain that the crocodile exists in the Zerka, but I found no
native who knew of it in the Kishoii.

The wild boar is found in the mountains in all parts of Palestine
where cover exists.

I have seen supposed sjaecimens of Tin from the Lebanon.

Cholera sometimes spread.^ in the mountains. It reached Safed (3,000
feet above the sea) when I was there in 1874.

The " ancient language " is not confined to a few villages, I think,
being recognisable in Fellah speech throughout Palestine.

C. E. C.

188

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF EDREI.

Herr Schumacher has given us several Greek inscriptions which are not
in Waddington's great work, but those from Edrei are found in the
"Inscriptions Grecques et Latines de la Syrie," copied in 1862, and
published by Waddington in 1870.

The long text, which is No. 2070 e. of Waddington, has, however, been
better copied by Herr Schumacher (though some parts seem doubtful),
and the date is certain. The following are the parts which appear to me
to be quite clear : —

KyaQr^ Tu^^

1. YTrep <TCioT-qpia<: km veiKrjs tov Kvpiov rjfiav AvTOKpaTOpas

2. TnXirjvov 2e/3. eKTiadrj tov 2f,S. -npovoLus

3. (lovK)iov (IoiiX)iai/ov tov KpciTiaTov

4 laibwpov _

5. ....... M. AvTov. Ba(Ttrov AiXioi; Bacro- .

6. ov KM Zr]vo8wpov Tavpivov km ^a^ivov

ET. P. N.H.

The text is of the reign of Galienus, and of the year 158. Galienus
reigned 260-268 a.d., and the date is clearly of the era of Bostra(105 a.d.),
which gives us 263, or the fourth year of Galienus.

The Julius Julianus of this text is a person well known from two
other inscriptions— one at Bostra and one at Palmyra (Waddington,
Nos. 1951 and 2580). From the former we learn that he was Prefect of
the 1st Parthian Legion of Philip, or Commander of Parthian auxiliary
cavalry. Pliilip was an emperor of Arab origin, and Julius Julianus may
have been of the same race. Philip was killed in battle by Decius, near
Verona, in 249 a.d., so that Julius Julianus Avas a person of importance
some 14 years before the date of the inscription of Edrei, but not more
than 19 since Gordian III was murdered in 244 a.d.

From the Palmyra text we learn that Julius Julianus was com-
mandant of cavalry at Palmyra. He held the high rank of militia
quarta.

As regards the other names, that of Bassus is often found in the
Hauran. Zeuodorus, son of Taurinus, might be a relation of Eabbelus,
son of Taurinus, whose name occurs at Dekir, in Trachonitis (Wadding-
ton, No. 2537 g). Another Zeuodorus, son of Bathanus, is noticed as
dying at the age of 42 at Edrei (2070 I).

The Hauran texts are of the highest value for the history of Syria
from the time of Herod and Agrippa down to the first days of the Moslem
Conquest. Of these texts 1,600 are collected. They not only give decrees
of the emperors for the rule of the province, and for the discouragement
of the baksheesh system, with details as to the Koman forces, but they
show that as late as the time of Agrippa I the inhabitants of Bashau

MOSAIC AND EMBROIDERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 189

were living in underground caves, and had not begun to build houses.
Thev show us how late Paganism survived, a heathen temple having been
built in 320 a.d., in the Hauran, to Apollo Aumos, by Arabs. In another
case in Trachonitis such a temple appears to have been converted into a
church. The gods of Greece — Zeus, Helios, Selene, Kronos, Herakles,
Athene — were adored side by side with Arab deities, Dushera, Aziz,
Aumu, &c. The Arabs were early converted to Christianity, and a
Greek-Kufic bilingual of 586 a.d. shows that they built a church at
Harran only a few years before the Moslem Conquest.

Their creed was apparently heretical and Ebionite. They adored
Sergius and Bacchus, Martha, Marthine, Elijah, St. George, and Job,
side by side with " the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and with
Christ and the Virgin Mary.

The earliest distinctly Christian texts here, as in Italy, belong to the
3rd century, a.d. The Saints Martha and Marthine were adored, accord-
ing to Epiphanius (Adv. Hseres., II), by the Elkaisites and Sampseans in
Arabia (see Waddington, p. 570). These heretics of the 3rd century a.d.
were also found along the Euphrates, and followed a prophet of Hadrian's
time. They were great exorcists, and their doctrines as to the successive
incarnations of our Lord were shared by the Nazarenes of Syria, whom
the Elkaisites also resembled in their austerities. They appear to have
been still known to Moslem writers in the 10th century a.d. as Maghtasileh,
or "baptists."

C. R. C.

MOSAIC AND EMBROIDERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Mosaic wall decoration is generally acknowledged to be of ancient origin,
and I am inclined to regard this art as of extreme antiquity in Jerusalem,
and as being perhaps of Jewish origin. There is, I think, distinct
allusion to the use of mosaic ornament, or " embroidery in stone,"
in 1 Chron. xxix, 2, where King David is enumerating the materials
prepared by him for the temple — gold, silver, brass, iron, and wood,

onyx stones, QlfYkl?'? stones for setting, Q"ii«^'17^ — "glistering stones of
divers colours," n^pHl 'TIS "^^D,*^' '-^^^^ every precious stone "^pl, and
stones of marble, l';^'!';^'. The words, Mt^pll "TlQ '^i2t^' I'endered in

our Authorised Version " glistering stones of divei's colours," can be
translated more closely to the Hebrew words and construction by '' stones
of colour and embroidery." '^12 "Colour" may imply stain, or artili-

cially produced colour ; and nQpl' " embroidery," is rendered in Exodus
xxxviiii, 23, &c., &c.. Judges v, 30, and Psalm xlv, ] 4, as embroidery
and needlework in stuffs, and it carries with it the idea of overlaid,
applied (applique) ornament (still much used in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
Persia, &c.). Apjjlique embroidery appears to have been used for stuffs

190 MOSAIC AND EMBROIDERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

when parti-coloured pJ^pH designs were placed upon the material of
which articles of dress or furniture (curtains, &c.), were made. Travellers
are familiar with the bold designs thus placed as ornaments ujjon Egyptian
tents. The Fellaheen of Palestine still embellish in this way the cloth-
ing worn by men and women, thus perpetuating the art which was used
to decorate Joseph's coat of "?ftcmy ro/ocws," literally of " TOcray pieces,"
for that is the exact translation of □"'DD"in!3r\D (^Tenesis xxxvii, 3).^
"' Many pieces " of multi-coloured materials are employed to produce the
effect — as may be more fully seen in the splendid embroideries of Resht,
in Persia, and in the quaint patterns worked by the Turcoman women in
their encampments.

But to return to " the embroidery in stone," known as mosaic. Some
writei's have ascribed the origin of the art to Moses, the Hebrew Law-
giver. Be that as it may, there is in 1 Chrou. xxix, 3, evidence that the
art was known to King David and his people.

Josephus also appears to refer to it (" Antiquities," viii, 5, 2)
as having been used^ for wall decoration in the palace of King
Solomon : —

" To this was joined another house that was built for his queen.
[It is well to remember that the Hebrew word j~\"i3,, house, often means
' room,' though it is also used for ' mansion.'] There were other smaller
edifices for diet and for sleep after public matters were over^ and these
were all floored with boards of cedar. Some of these Solomon built with
stones of ten cubits, and wainscotted the walls with other stones that were
sawed, and were of great value, such as are dug out of the earth for the
ornaments of temples and to make fine prospects in I'oyal palaces, and
which make the mines whence they are dug famous. [This mention of
thin marble slabs for wainscotting reminds one of the sculptured slabs
used in Assyria for the same purpose which have been found at
Nineveh, &c.] Now the contexture of the curious workmanship of these
stones was in three rows, but the fourth row would make one admire the
sculptures, whereby were represented trees and all sorts of plants, with
the shades that arose from those branches and leaves that hung down
from them. Those trees and plants covered the stone that was
beneath them, and the leaves were wrought so prodigious thin and subtle
that you would think they were in motion ; hv.t the other part up to the
roof was plastered over, and, as it were, embroidered with colours and

PICTURES."

This passage brings before us the splendid walls — built of great stones
— marble-lined to a certain height ; scidptured Mdiere on a level with the
eye, and then high up, above the marble wainscot, enriched with glowing
mosaic pictures of many colours, set in " plaster."

Observe that only the higher parts of the walls were thus embroidered.
It is just in the higher parts that we find mosaic work in the Dome of
the Rock on Moriah, at St. Sophia at Constantinople, and in the Church

' So also in 2 Samuel xiii, 18.

MOSAIC AND E:\IBR0IDERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 191

of the Nativity at Bethlehem. These latter were discovered during our
residence at Jerusalem, when a hapi)y chance revealed (he fact that
beneath the whitewash that covered the walls of the nave lay preserved
the gold and coloured mosaic work, placed high (and in the Dome of the
Eock at an angle), so as to reflect, as only " glisterhig " mosaic could,
every ray of light coming from below or from above. The Church of the
Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem was decorated with mosaic in former times,
but this was destroyed by the great tire of 1808. I have myself picked
up many fragments of mosaic out of the debris from that tire, which still
lay (when first we went to Jerusalem) in heaps on the hill west of the
city beyond the Valley of Gihon. I still possess some of the little cubes
in red, green, blue, and well-gilded glass. I have also found similar
mosaics in the ancient baths, probably Herodian, which we discovered in
Solomon's gardens at Umtas.

Incomparably the finest specimen of mosaic decoration still existing in
Palestine is preserved for us in the Dome of the Eock on the Temple site at
Moriah — that treasure-house of exquisite design, execution, colouriug, and
form, which beautifies the otherwise desolated site of former Temple mag-
nificence. Here we find the sumptuous mosaics above the marble pillars,
in the rising of the arches up toward the spring of the great dome, where
but for the reflection from their bi^illiant surface the eft'ect would be dark
and sombre. The arabesques are boldly traced in colour on the golden
ground to shine and sparkle in a tliousand tints, produced by the play
upon the mosaic of the changeful lights that reach them through open
door or coloured window as the sun j^asses round from his rising over
Olivet to his setting in the west. There is here a faint reminiscence of
the Temple splendour, with its carvings wrought in gold — its metal work
in silver, brass, and iron — its onyx, its gems — its precious stones and
marble, and its mosaics in " glistering stones of divers colours " — " stones
of embroidery," used where blended tints and reflected lights could now
subdue and now enhance the glory, and bring out the full, rich harmonies
of tone and colour in that resplendent sanctuary.

The use of mosaic pavement in Palestine was evidently very ancient.
I have found the small stone cubes, red, black, aud white, scattered in
every pait of the country — among the ruins of towns and of villages,
and also loose in ploughed fields at a distance from any village. We
discovered remains of pavement, in various places, only hidden by a few
inches of soil, where little else remained to show that here had been some
dwelling or public building.

The finest specimen still extant near Jerusalem is the pavement which
covers the floor of the old Georgian Church, in the Convent of the Cross,
west of Jerusalem (now in the hands of the Greeks), which still bears
sad traces of the murders of the Christians who had sought shelter
within their sanctuary, when Chiroses, the Persian king, and his heathen
army bioke in upon them. The great purple stains testify to the fate of
those poor martyrs, while at the same time giving us some certainty as to
the age of this most interesting mosaic floor.

192 MOSAIC AND EMBROIDERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

While tracing back the history of embroidery in stone, the kindred
topic of embroidery in stuff claims attention. I have referred above to
the earliest allusion to api^lique work in the history (Genesis xxxvii) of
Jose]>h's coat of many colours, and we find repeated mention of the same
art ill the history of the preparation of the Tabernacle in the Book of
Exodus.

"An embroiderer," QpT^, was one of the artificers mentioned,
Exodus xxxviii, 23, as (listinct from the " designer " or " thinker/'

The embroidery in blue, purple, and scarlet, that is, the laying on of
thin and coloured material (for that is the meaning of the verb Qpl'
with which is closely connected the idea of thinness, as in Arabic,
•• and ^. ), was used for the hanging of the gate of the outer court
(Exodus xxvii, 16) ; for Aaron's broidered coat (Exodus xxviii, 4) ; for
his girdle and those of his sons (nTi^p"^) 5 " Appliqu^ embroidery" (trans-
lated " needlework ") is also mentioned in Judges v, 30, and in Psalm
xlv, 14. The word would also be accurate in describing embroidery
wrought on to stuff in gold thread, coloured silks, or braids, and in
Judges V, 30, this is spoken of as QTl^p"!' apislied embi'oidery, the
same on both sides. The women of Israel thus appear to have been
celebrated in the days of Deborah for their skill in embroidery, and to
have jDractised the art, still pi'eserved among orientals in Turkey if not
in Persia, of working so that both sides should do alike— the wrong side
as well as the right side ; for the word used by Sisera's mother means
"embroidery in double" (Authorised Version, "needlework on both
sides ").

Skill in original design is also expressly mentioned in the history of
the preparation of the Tabernacle.

The very same verse (Exodus xxxviii, 23) which mentions Aholiab as
the " embroiderer," QpT^ also mentions him as a designer, ^XZ^IH

literally " thinker " (Arabic \_,.~.j^s- to think, calculate). This word is
rendered in our Authorised Version " cunning workman." In Exodus
XXXV, 32, nilU^riL^ 11I?in means " thinker out of thoughts." " To
devise curious work," in Exodus xxxi, 4, n'HU^n?:^ ^.'Tll^nT'' " ^^ think
out thoughts," whether in gold, silver, brass, precious stones, wood, or
embroidery. Bezaleel and Aholiab were specially given skill in design
and in execution, that they might carry out under Moses' direction the
plans given upon Mount Sinai.

Who that has watched the "cunning workmen" of to-day in the
Bazaars of Jerusalem, Damascus, or any other Eastern city can fail to be
reminded of these illustrious artificers who were, to some extent at
least, founders of these arts in Israel.

The worker in metal, as he carries out the beautiful design which he
devises as he goes on, is no less interesting than the gem or seal engraver,
deep in thought as he turns the polished stone hither and thither, pro-

MOSAIC AND EMBKOIDEEY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 193

duciiifj the desired name or couplet, and beautifying it with here a flower
and there a leaf cunningly inserted among the flowing lines. Thus
(though probably without the added ornaments) were graven the golden
plate for the head dress of the High Priest (still existing in our Lord's
day), and the inscriptions on the precious jewels for his shoulders and for
his breastplate.

And so with the embroiderer. We see the survival of the art in the
rich effects produced by the Eastern craftsman as he sits upon his shop
front laying braid or fine gold thread in mazy and intricate patterns,
designing as he works, and embellishing the velvet, cloth, or silken
cushion, or jacket which he is making.

That gold thread was used in the Tabernacle embroideries is certain
from Exodus xxxix, 3, where, in speaking of the working of the Ephod,
it says that they "beat gold into thin plates and cut it into wires,"

literally " threads," for the word here, Q'^S'^riS' i^ *o t^^i^ '^^y "^^^ ^^r
the soft threads of lamp-wick, and the same word is used in Aiabic for
the same thing, i&'ee also "lace," for "braid," in Exodus xxviii, 28.)

This gold thread was made to work in with the blue, purple, and
scarlet with " cunning work " (design). The " cuiuiing work " of embroi-
dery was used not only for the Ephod, but also for the breastplate
(Exodus xxxix, 8, 15), for the curious girdle of the Ephod (xxviii, 27, 28,
39 ; xxix, 5 ; xxxix, 5, 20, 21).

It was in this kind of work that the Cherubim were wrought into the
ten curtains for the innermost covering (Exodus xxvi, 1), and for the
vail before the Ark (xxvi, 31). As to Aaron's coat, jljiniD (Exodus
xxviii, 4, 39), that was to be enriclied with X^y\^, " chequered " embroi-
deries. This is the very word used in Psalm xlv, 14, for the golden
chequered robe of the King's daughter, " all glorious within," as well as
on the outer or right side of the work. The chequered pattern of gold
thread embroidery among coloured silks may still be seen in oriental
work, and it is one of the most magnificent in effect. Enough oriental
art remains to this day to give us some idea of the splendour of the
embroideries in stone, and in gold and silk, as wrought by the ancient
Israelites for the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and for the Temple on
Moriah.

E. A. Finn, M.R.A.S.
The Elms, Brook Green, W.

Note. — For the use of the verb ^^^pf (*-^ think out), see Amos vi, 5, where
it if? translated " invent " (instruments of music like David) j and Daniel xi, 24,
" forecast devices."

194 . nehemiah's wall.

SUN-BIRDS.

On page 41, January Quarterhj Statement, Dr. Selah Merrill mentions
having seen and shot the Palestine Sun-bird at Jaffa, and in the Jordan
Valley. We saw some near Jericho in February, 1847, and obtained
specimens ; and we had in the museum of our Literary Society at
Jerusalem, a specimen which had been shot at Sidon by Mr. Abela, who
prepared it and sent it to Mr. Finn. We also, like Dr. Merrill, noticed
the great variations in the coming to Palestine, or to parts of the country,
of migratory birds. The natives always rejoice when great flocks of
storks come, as bringing good crops and prosperity. They eat the locusts.
Some years none were to be seen near Jerusalem.

We saw them in August, 1859, nesting in the pine trees near Acre.
(Ps. civ). It is very curious to see and hear them on tlieir departure
early in November — when they wheel in vast hollow circles over
Jerusalem. The numbers of small migrants also varied greatly.

I have also heard in October, on a still starry night, vast numbers of
bee catchers passing westwards (or south-westward). I tried in vain to
see them ; stnnding in the open air for some time. There was neither
cloud nor mist, yet they could not be seen though heard most distinctly,
and the snapping of thousands of little beaks had a most singular eflfect,
while the birds were invisible. This snapping sound is familiar enough
in the hot summer weather in the day time, when the liee catchers fly
and wheel after their prey, their bright plumage glittering in the sun-
shine. The storks, when wheeling in the air, also make a clapping noise,
with either their beaks or their long legs.

E. A. Finn.

NEHEMIAH'S WALL.

Mr. G. St. Clair holds (January Quarterly Statement, pp. 47-50) that as
the Upper City was (according to Josephus) surrounded by a wall of its
own, therefore the defences of the south end of the Tyropoean must have
formed a bay or loop line. This was the view taken by Mr. Finn and
myself when in Jerusalem, and we hold, as Mr. St. Clair does, that here
were the " two walls " between which Zedekiah escaped by the King's
garden to the Jordan Valley (Arabah), as Manasseh appears to have
attempted before him (2 Chron. xxxiii, 11), when the Chaldeans "caught
(or seized) him among the thorns," and as the Jewish leaders attempted
to do after Titus had taken the Temple.

" They caught Manasseh among the thorns" is closer to the Hebrew
than our translation —

Was the Tyroptsan even then a place for thickets of thorns 1 as it is

now, full of prickly pear cactus.

E. A. Finn.

THE TSINNOE 195

THE STONE MOUNDS ON THE REPHAIM PLAINS.

On page 22 of tlie January Quarterly Statement, Herr Schick mentions the
Seba' Rujum near Bait Safafa, on the Plain of Rephaim, south-west of
Jerusalem. These mounds of loose stone are of great size, and are tinlike
others in the country. It would be very desirable that they should be
examined. The accumulation of small stones in them is enormous, and
evidently ancient. We always regarded them as artificially made for
some special purpose — possibly as burial cairns on a battlefield, and
certainly erected with immense expenditure of time and labour. Can
they be memorials of the defeat of the Philistines by David ? (2 Sam. \ ;
1 Chron. xi, xiv).

E. A. Finn.

THE WATERS OF MEROM.

The Rev. Canon Gover argues (p. 52 .January Quarterly Statement^ that
the expression "the waters" should not be understood to mean a lake,
but rather a stream and its head waters.

An instance in point may be found in Joshua xvi, 1. " The waters
of Jericho," probably Elisha's fountain and the stream that flows from it.

A similar expression is used in Scotland — " Allan waters," " the water
of Gala," &c. Canon Gover also mentions Misrephothmaim, pp. 52-53.
I would suggest the great headland noi'th of Aci-e, now called the
" Musheirifeh," as probably Misre])hothmaim, even though the Hebi'ew
letter is Sin not Shin — Misraiphoth of the Sea — as in Symmachus. Was
not "the Valley of Mizpeh eastward" of Josh, xi, 8, the Valley of Safet ?
]10!J = nr!^?2- ^^'^'- Fiiiii held that Safet was Mizpeh.

It is well to note that the difference in Hebrew between Madom and
Marom would only be that between ~y and "^ (D and R) □'^^ or CT^Q.

E. A. Finn.

THE TSINNOR.

So much depends on the identification of the Tsinnor or "gutter" of
2 Sam. V, 8, at which Joab climbed up into the Jebusite fortress, that
I venture to contribute a few remarks on the subject based upon the
Bible nai'rative and that of Josephus, and the discoveries of Sir Charles
Warren.

First as to the meaning of the word Tsinnor, 'nl2!^- It occurs in
Psalm xlii, 7, where it is translated " waterspouts," but " gutter " or
" watercourse " would seem to be more correct if we take into account the

Chaldee form 'p'^]2!i> ^^ '^^^^ in the Targum of_Ecclesiastes i, 7, for Q*'~in2i
brooks (hollow channel).

190 THE TSINNOE.

Secondly as to the site of the Tsiiinor of 2 Sam. v, 8. Josephus, in
his paraplira.se of 2 Sam. v, 8, tells us that there were ditches at the base
of the citadel.'

It is most important to notice that Josephus declares that the Upper
City, " called by us the Ujiper Market-place," was that upper city which
King David took from the Jebusites and called the Citadel (Wars v, iv, 1,
and Ant. vii, iv, 1). The " ditch," therefore, by which Joab climbed was
a " ditch," gutter, or " narrow watercourse," at the foot of the Upper
City on the south-western hill, called in the Bible Zion.

This establishes the identity of Zion (though Josephus never uses that
word), the city of David, with the Ujiper City and Market-place of
Josephus, on which he tells us were the palaces of David ; of the Asmo-
nean Princes and of Herod. Now there is but one place connected
with the south-western hill, where a narrow watercourse has been
found sufficiently important to be mentioned, as the Bible and Josephus
mention the " gutter " and " ditch " in the description of the Fortress
Hill. That watercourse, ditch, or gutter, is cut in the rock just above the
lowest cleft of the Tyropcean, where it separates the east mountain,
Moriah, from the South Western Zion. It was discovered and thoroughly
examined by Sir Charles Warren, who came upon it at Robinson's Arch,
some 70 feet below the present surface of the ground. It is cut in the
side of Zion, only 24 feet above the bottom of the Tyroi^oean, itself a mere
gully at this jaart (and at jai'esent filled up to a depth of 89 feet).

At page 124 of " TheRecovery of Jerusalem," Sir Charles Warren says :
" The west wall of the Sanctuary at Robinson's Arch cuts through au
ancient system of rock-cut water ducts and tanks running along the
western side of the Tyropoean Valley," i.e., at the base of the south-
western hill, Zion.

The discovery was made while examining a pavement (deep down
below Robinson's Arch) — a jmvement belonging to a roadway evidently
of great antiquity. Upon it the great voussoirs of Robinson's Arch were
found lying huddled just as they had fallen at its destruction. Below
this ancient pavement, at a depth of 23 feet, were found two great vous-
soirs of an arch (belonging to a still older viaduct) "jammed in over a
GREAT ROCK-CUT CANAL running, from north to south, 12 feet deep and
A feet wide, its eastern side being about 12 feet from the Sanctuary wall
[the western wall], but it does not run parallel to it, and was probably in
use before this portion of the wall was consti'ucted " [by Herod the Great ;
for here we have his addition to the Temple, which he carried for sym-
metry's sake across the Tyrojioean on the base of Zion.]

Here, then, we have a canal, ditch, Tsinnor or gutter, worthy of mention
as a landmark. It was arched over. Sir Charles Warren examined it north-
wards. At page 107 we read : " Higher up towards the north this canal
was found to open into a circular rock-cut pool, of which only half is to
be seen, as it is cut through hy the foundations of the Sanctuary wall,"

^ Considering the then depth of the Tyropoean in its original condition
at its uarrowest point, Josephus may have held it to be one of the ditches.

THE TSINNOR. 197

which shows that it existed before Solomon built that wall ; for here we
reach the old ]iart that was built by hiru.

On page 109 Sir Charles Warren says, " the winding aqueduct wa.s cut
in the rock " befoi'e the Temple was built. That is to say, we have here
at the narrowest part of the Tyropcean, just above its bed, and on the
shelving base of the mountain, a vast cutting of 12 feet deep by 4 wide
in the live rock. This was on the eastern outer side of the Zion fortress,
and before the neighbouring mountain of Moriah was built upon or
walled, while it was yet the property, the open threshing floor of Oman
the Jebusite.' This gutter in David and Joab's time was a deep-cut
trench on the right bank of the Tyropo^an. From the Bible narrative,
2 Sam. V, 8, we learn that it was David who aj^pealed to his army to smite
the Jebusites (whose blind and whose lame scolied at him), and named
the gutter as the point to be reached. From 1 Chron. xi, 6-8, we learn
that it was Joab who first went up and won the chief command.

Josephus exactly confirms this : " The King, knowing that the j^roposal
of dignities and rewards would encourage the soldiers to greater actions,
promised that he who should first go over the ditches that were beneath
the citadel, and should ascend to the citadel itself and take it, should have
the command of the entire people conferred upon him. So tliey were all
ambitious to ascend, and thought no pains too great in order to ascend
thither. However, Joab, the son of Zeraiah, prevented the rest, and as
soon as he was got up to the citadel, cried out to the King and claimed
the chief command. And thus were the scoffers silenced."

Later, when the Temple fortress was built, and its stupendous walls
on Moriah crowned the left bank of the Tyropoean, this ditch became
" the fortified ditch " between the two walls of Zion West and Moriah
East, ^ee JosepLus, Ant. x, viii, 2, as to Zedekiah's escape to the desert.
In 2 Kings xxv, 11, Jeremiah xxxix, 4, and lii, 7, we read that Zedekiah
fled " by the way of the gate between the two walls which is by the
King's garden to the plain " (Arabah, i.e., Jordan Valley), where he was
caught in the plain of Jericho. The Temple was already in the hands
of the A.ssyrian army. Zedekiah was therefore fleeing from the citadel,
which had not yet been taken, down through the ditch between the two
walls of Zion and the Temple (on his way to the Kedron Valley). The
same thing was also attempted afterwards by the Jewish leaders in the
Upper City after Titus had captured the Temple (Wars vi, viii, 5).

But in David's time the ditch or gutter was not thus protected and
shut in. It was, nevertheless, an additional defence for the citadel of
Jebus just at the point, where, far up the face of the mountain, the
foi'tress stood upon the scarped cliffs visible to this day as we look from
Olivet towards Zion. Truly this part must have seemed to the Jebusites

' It is wortli notice that David paid Ornan 50 shekels of silver for the
threshing floor and for the oxen— (2 Samuel xxiv, 24) ; but that he gave
600 shekels of gold for the -place, that is for the whole Temple site— the
mountain, which Solomon walled round for the Sanctuary — (1 Chron.
xvi, 25.)

198 THE TSINNOR.

so absolutely invulnerable that we can understand the boastful insolence of
the blind and of the lame. The Tyroprean, in its then condition — 90 feet
deeper than it now is — a mere gully be-tween the two mountains — was no
insignitieant obstacle to any attack from this side.

Well did Joab deserve his promotion when he reached the ditch, and
scaled the rock, surprising the garrison, much as the garrison of Edin-
bui'gh Castle was surprised in days of yore, when the seemingly inacces-
sible rock was scaled by a daring soldier.

In searching, while we lived in Jerusalem, for the Tsinnor, we remem-
bered how invariably the eastern mount, Moriah, had been taken before
the upper city, Zion. It lies lower, and was more accessible to attack.
It must have been still more so in David's time, before it was walled and
fortified by the Temple buildings.

But we never could satisfy ourselves that the Tyropocan valley, as it
now is, fully answered the idea of a Tsinnor, though it faiily suited that
of a fortified ditch between two walls of Zedeki-th's time. But the dis-
coveries of Sir Cliarles Warren have revealed not only the amazing depth
and straitness of the Tyropnean gorge, and its true course, bending
eastwards, but have also at this very point traced out the great rock
canal at the base of Zion, and have demonstrated that this canal, a
veritable Tsinnor or gutter, existed before Solomon built the Temple, in
the days of David and of the Jebusites.

It is shown in "The Recovery of Jerusalem," in a picture on page 10.').
And the niuuth of it is shown just west of Herod's Temple wall, in
the elevation of south front of the noble Sanctuary, which also shows
the slope of Zion as it falls into the deep Tyropoean bed on the right
(page 119j.

If the elevation were continued westwards we could better under-
stand the full height of Moimt Zion, the Upper City, 110 feet higher
than the summit of Moriah (which is 2,440 above the sea level).

Moriah was the ]tossession of Oman — a royal possession indeed ; and
from 2 Sam. xxiv, 23, he would seem to have been the Jebusite king.
The Hebi'ew text here says, " All these did Araunah, a king, give unto
the Ishig."

This may help us to understand the references to the king's dale, and
to the king's gardens, in the Kedron Valley, between Moriah and Siloam
- — now and for many ages the property of the Siloam peo]>le. In looking
for any living relics of the Jebusite people who were still existing in the
days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and of whom some probably still exist as
native FellahhJn, the most likely villages would doubtless be Siloam —
Et Tur (on Olivet), Abu Dis, and perhaps 'Aisawiyeh, north of Olivet,
and Beit Sahliur, south of Siloam (Josephus, Wars, v, ix, 4, speaks of
the Siloam gardens and of the people as being then enemies of the Jews).
It is fiom some of these villages and ethers that Sir Chai'les Warren
obtained the sturdy hibourers who worked so well under him and his
Hoyal Engineers in tracing the mighty works of Solomon and of th«
Jebusites before him. E. A. Finn.

GIIION. 109

IRRIGATION AND WATER SUPPLY IN PALESTINE.

Mr. "William Simpson, in his' interesting paper (p. 55 January Quarterly
Statcmeat), mentions tlie system of pits for water connected with shafts
at intervals, and linked by an underground tunnel, as seen by the Rev.
Mr. Harper and the Rev. J. Niel in the Vale of Siddim, also found at
Surtabeh and Damascus.

Mr. Simpson found the same system in use in Persia and Afghanistan,
where the pit and tunnel are called Karaize. Sir R. Piurtou also mentions
them. The same system is still in use in Cyprus, where professional
well and aqueduct makers construct them as in olden times, in what
look like waterless districts. The word used in 2 Kings iii, 16, is |21^
(reservoir), and also in Isaiah xxx, 14, Jeremiah xiv, 3, and again of
the Siddim Vale in Ezek. xlvii, 11, where our version gives " marishes.''
The same word is still in use in Palestine, e.g., the well known Jebb

(k_,^) Yussuf between Siberias and Safet.

E. A. Finn.

THE STONE (EBEN) OP ZOHELETH.

As no one has yet produced an instance (1889, 44) from the Bible of eben
meaning a cliff., it may safely be concluded that such is not to be found.
Major Conder's note {id. 90) fails to meet the case, for he quotes Gesenius
as rendering chen rock (Gen. xlix, 24), but the dictionary says that "some
persons apply the term (^rock) to a stone of any size, and speak of boys
throwing rocks at each other — a supremely ridiculous expression."

In the verse above, the A.V. and R.V. render the word "the stone of
Israel." The Arabic Zehwele (for all that I know) may come from the
Hebrew Zvheleth ; but it is an utter impossibility for a solid cliff, however
slippery, at the village of Siloam, ever to have been the moveable stone
of Zoheleth, close to Enrogel, several hundred yards distant from that
village.

Several explanations have been given of the word Zoheleth. If the
expression means the stone of " moving to and fro," let me offer the
conjecture that it was a logan (or rocking) stone which will log again,
whenever the debris of centuries is thoroughly cleared away from near
Enrogel.

W. F. Birch.

GIHON.

On p. 124, Dr. Chaplin thinks it not improbable that the name Gihon
(Fountain of the Virgin) was derived from '"'' gahan, to bow down, to
prostrate oneself, and was originally applied not to the fountain, but to

o 2

200 DEFENCE OF THE GUTTEl!.

the canal which hrought the water from the fountain^'' i.e., it was applied to
the Siloam tunnel.

Thus, as it would be most unsatisfactory to have to take 1 Kings i,
33, 45, as speaking proleptically, when Gihon is named by David and
Jonathan, it must in this case follow that the Siloam tunnel existed in the
time of David.

Surely Dr. Chaplin does not wish to maintain- —

1. That the Siloam inscription in the tunnel is as old as the time of
David.

2. Or else that it was cut (perhaps hundreds of) j^ears after the tunnel
was made.

3. That the tunnel, therefore, is not the work of Hezekiah referred
to in 2 Chron. xxxii, 30 ; but was made in or before the time of David.

So critical was Hezekiah's position that there was reason in his making
the tunnel. It is not easy, however, to see why either David (who fled
before Absalom) or the Jebusites should ever have executed in haste
such a gigantic work. Accordingly, the proi^osed derivation seems
inadmissible.

Dr. Chaplin's paper satisfies me at last that the Pool of Siloah (the
ditch, Is. xxii, 11) was actually enclosed by a wall, i.e., the outer wall of
2 Chron. xxxii, 5 ; and that " the two walls " (Is. id., 2 Kings xxv, 4)
were not a loop-wall defending the pool, but the old city wall, and the
outer wall, which thus placed Siloam within the city.

W. F. Birch.

DEFENCE OP THE GUTTER (TZINNOR).

In Quarterly Statement, 1885, 62, I expressed my willingness to challenge
attack on this question. Let me then t]y to defend my theory against
the objections urged from time to time.

As the Fund being mutilated would end in Fun, so the quotation
{.mpra, 39) from Ewald probably fares likewise, through Major Conder's
not reaching to " the lame and the blind."

Though my interest in Jerusalem topography is owing to the accident
of some of Warren's plans having in 1868 been sent to me through a
postal error, still Mr. St. Clair wrongly attributes my theory to a guess.
It is due to sheer plodding, superadded to a slight acquaintance with
Hebrew characters, and to a resolute adherence to Scriptural Hebrew
usage, which neither allows eniek, ge, and nachal (1878, 180) to be inter-
changeable terms, nor " two hundred and a thousand " (as in the com-
monly accepted version of the Siloam inscription) to mean " one thousand
two hundred."

The perception (1878, 182 ; 1882, 56) that the Tyropreon was the
Valley of Hinnom forced me to place Zion (the City of David) on Ophel.
The only reason discoverable for choosing such a low site was the
proximity of Gihon, while Kennicott's explanation of 2 Sam. v, 8,

DEFENCE OF THE GUTTER. 201

revealed the fvill reason. As some one in the city must have helped JoaV)
to ascend a practically inaccessible sliaft, I was driven to search for a
traitor.

At this point I find Josephus dragging in Araunah, as not slain with
the rest because of his good-will to Israel and special affection for David,
while the extraordinary generosity shown to Araunah in his being
permitted to possess the hill just above the City of David, indicates
that the Jewish king was deeply indebted to liim. If Mr. St. Clair,
liowever, cares to argue that it was Araunah's grandmother who was the
traitor I shall be glad to answer him. My theory is no guess, no pro-
duct of a vivid imagination — the constant bane of topographical research.

Josephus, in rendering tzinnor by vTroKeifievcov (papdyycov, is no opponent
of mine, since Kennicott says this means "subterraneous cavities." The
plural here is of importance ; for surely it would not be necessary for
the assailant to cross more than one valley or ditch in order to take Zion.
Most interpreters agree (1878, 184) in making the word signify something
hollow and in applying it to water. Those who render the word vxder-
course (R.V., Sp. Comm.) are practically in agreement with me, since the
first length of 70 feet from Gihon (Virgin's Fount) into Zion is actually
an aqueduct. A watercourse, according as it is (practically) horizontal,
oblique, or perpendicular, forms an aqueduct, as at Gihon ; or a cataract
(as claimed by some for Psalm xlii, 7) ; or a tcaterfall, as interpreted by
Ewald, and urged by Professor Sayce ; only unfortunately on Ojihel (at
Gihon) the water is at the bottom when we first find it, and so both the
proposed cataract and waterfall would have to do without water at the
top — a most awkward arrangement.

Mr. St. Clair says my theory (or explanation) is " only a guess unsup-
ported by any coincidence with any description in the Bible or else-
where." Let me show how it is supported by coincidences with both the
Bible and "The Recovery of Jerusalem," and also with Palestine
topography and history in genei'al.

The account in 2 Sam. v, 8 is certainly concise and obscure, if not
elliptical ; but 1 Chron. xi, 6, supplies what is wanting (1885, 64). Two
words, however, in the Hebrew give us all we need ; they are "^^^^3
'\jyy\. Professor Theodores renders them "reaching as far as the
aqueduct." The extreme difficulty of discerning what was meant has
produced a variety of interpretations. Bochart, Ewald, &c., from the
verb ^^3 api^ear to have got the idea of hurling persons down the
waterfall (or that down which the water fell, i.e., the cliff).

To me, in the verse quoted, y^ji seems connected with the verb yy\
(indeed the letters are identically the same), which means to labour, to
exert oneself, particidarly to make strenumis exertions. I conclude, there-
fore, that he who was going to smite the Jebusites had before him a
task demanding almost superhuman exertions ; he would have to make
strenuous exertions (liteially) in the gutter.

Even getting along the watercourse in this luxurious age (when, as
Mr. St. Clair tells us, the water flows at a lower level than formerly)

202 DEFENCE OF THE GUTTER.

proved a dangerous matter, when Captain Warren was attempting to get
up the vertical shaft. He states ('• Recovery of Jerusalem," 245), " Once,
while the fellahiii were bringing in some frames, the spring suddenly
rosH, and they were awkwardly placed for a few minutes, being nearly
suffocated." How M'ould they have fared if the water, instead of flowing
through the tunnel, could only have overflowed into the Kidron I
Surely .Toab essayed an enterprise hazaidous enough in the first 70 feet,
and there were worse perils beyond, viz., the Thebez stone, and the
Jebusite sword, and possibly the deep pit.

I have ventured to take ^^i (2 Sam. v, 8) as referring to exertion
in the gutter ; but as there is apparently something wrong with the
passage, I must decline to deal with it grammatically. Certainly
Hebi'ew is a charmingly elastic and reversible language if this one word
equally well describes Joab's slowly going uj) (R.V. " Let him get up to
the watercourse ") and the Jebusites' quickly coming doic/i (Ewald, " Let
him hurl down the waterfall the lame, etc.). Therefore waiving this
di])lomatic word, let me show how the other word tzinHor of itself
establishes my theory.
T have to prove —

(L) That the fortress Joab took was immediately west of Gihon.
(2.) That the tzinnor meant the passage from Gihon leading to Ophel.
(3.) That it was practically inaccessible.
(4.) That, therefiire, there must have been a traitor.
(5.) That Araunali was that traitor, being spared and enriched.
Now as to these several points,

(1.) Has been proved in these pages (1878, 180 ; 1885, 104 ; 1888, 46),
and he that will dare to attack my arg-uments must be more venturesome
than even Joab.

(2.) "Was settled years ago by Kennicott, before the secret passage on
Ophel was ever thought of. As Gihon was the only spring hereabouts,
so this, consequently, was the only passage that could possibly be alluded
to. Let me add, however, that the tzinnor at Jerusalem is no solitary
instance of this kind of contrivance. The one at Rabbuth Ammon
mentioned by Polybius, and perhaps as old as Joab's time (1878, 190 ;
Jos. Ant. vii, vii, 8) gave Kennicott the clue to the truth. Another
at Gibeon is described and pictured on page 23. I believe there was
another at Samaria, and I am satisfied there was another at Bethel.
The proximity of the spring and the words in Judges, i, 24, 25, "the en-
trance into the city" {see also Jos. Ant. v, 2, 6) forbid my doubting it.
At the castle of Subeibeh there is also a passage, said (but vainly, I
believe) to reach to the spring at Banias. After such instances as these
it is rather for my opponents to prove that tzinnor does not mean the
secret passage at Gihon, and to show why the Castle of Zion was ever
built on Ophel, except for the purpose of obtaining water by such a
contrivance.

(3.) Is proved by the difficulty named above, and by Sir C. Warren's
account of his ascent in 1867 (Recovery of Jerusalem, 245).

DEFENCE OF THE GUTTER. 203

(4.) Naturally follows from (3). But here again I may add, that as
Bethel fared, so afterwards did Zion. From Bethel to Khartoum treachery
has always been a common and often the easiest way of taking a fortress.
Let the fcninder of the Hittite Luz witness this, or the CaUidus emptor
Oli/nthi and his gold-ladened ass, or Demosthenes (De Corona, page 324)
with his long list of traitors, or the Jotapata deserter (Wars, iii, 7, 33) who
might have told us something interesting about Josepluis himself. In
sliort, history and the east (if not the west) have always swariaed with
t raitors.

(5.) David was exasperated,' and Joab never scrupl'd to shed blood.
'I'o think that the Jebusites would receive any quarter is absurd. If the
]!ethelites in the north of Benjamin were put to the sword, why should
mei"cy be shown to an insolent enemy in the south ? Certainly the Bible
does not say tliat Araunali was spared at the capture of Jerusalem ;
but all statements in profane historians are not necessarily untrue; and
Josephus twice distinctly asserts that Araunah, for special reasons, was
spared, when the city was taken ; and from the Bible we further gatliei-
that he was rich, receiving from David 600 shekels of gold. Josephus, I
admit, does not positively say that Araunah was guilty of treachery ;
but it seems to me that either from tradition or his own common-sense
he knew this was the case, and that he meant his j'eaders to see it too.
Traitors, it must be remembered, do not like to be called traitors, and
after a certain shady transaction and suspicious-looking ]iredictiun con-
nected with Jotapata some years before, Jose[)hus piY)bably concluded on
redection that it was coming too near home for him openly to brand
Araunah as the betrayer of Zion (Ant. vii, 3, 3 ; 13, 4).

I claim, therefore, on the testimony of one Hebrew word, and of Sir
Charles Warren, &c., that my "Gutter"' theory, so far from being only a
ffuess, is amjily corroborated by " coincidence with the description in the
Bible and elsewhere."

Further, Joab's exploit seems to be alluded to in Prov. xxi, 22 : "A
wise (lit. craft ji) man scaleth the city of the miglity {yibborim in Ilybrew)
and casteth down the strenfjth of the confidence thereof." Joab was
crafty enough, the Jebusites confident enough (2 Sam. v, G), while Zion,
when it became the City of David, was garrisoned by men invjldy enough
(his gihhorim) ; though four centuries of successful resistance might well
have entitled the Jebusi'.es to the same distinction.

It is open to question how much of the underground passage (from
Gihon to the surface of Ophel) traversed by Ca])tain Warien was
covered by the term " Gutter ;" certainly the first 70 feet ; probably the
shaft 40 or 50 feet high ; possibly from this point Joab may have
advanced by the south-west limb of the cave now jiartly filled (1867,

' " Hated of David's Soul," 2 Sam. v, 8. Both here and in 1 Cliron. xi, 6,
smiteth occurs. Nabal barely escaped with his life ; the Aiiia'.ekites were all
slain (1 Sam. xxvii, 9) ; the Ammonites were tortured to death (2 Sam. xii, 31).
Surely at Jebus all would be slain, except the traitor and, it may be, his
family.

204 THE POOL THAT WAS MADE.

Letters, 39) with dry walls and (I conjecture) connected with " the passage)
apparently " blocked up " in the chamber at the bottom of the chasm.

Posthumous fame is so greedily sought after, that (I think) it is quite
possible that somewhere in the " Gutter "Joab had an inscription cut
commemorative of his daring feat. Some day it may be found and read.

W. F. BiRcu.

THE POOL THAT WAS MADE.

We learn from Nehemiah iii, 15, IG, that the wall of Jerusalem, in its
course from near the Pool of Siloah to the jiool that was made, passed ovei'
against the sepulchres of David.

It is certain {Quarterly Statement, 1879, 177 ; 1889, 209) that the
course described above was on Ophel (so-called), and enclosed the sepul-
chres of David, leaving them on the left hand (1879, 179), and that the
Pool of Siloah was in the Tyropceon Valley, at the southern end of Ophel.
Mr. Schick's discovery of the old Shiloah aqueduct has entirely removed
{Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 37) the great difficulty noticed by Thrupp
in regard to Siloam.

If, now, the position of the pool that was made could only be satisfac-
torily defined, we should be a step nearer, and possibly very near indeed,
to finding the sepulchres of David.

Recently, in a totally unexpected manner, fresh light has fallen upon
the position of this pool. In Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 51, I proved,
at least to my own satisfaction, that the Jebusites, for the sake of obtain-
ing watei', hewed the mysterious rock-staircases north of Joab's Well.
But if there was any need for this work, and otherwise it would not have
been made, they surely would never have allowed the waters from Gibon
(Virgin's Fountain) to run to waste, but rather have carefully stored them
in some pool. Such a pool must necessarily have been in the Kidron
Valley, south of Gihon, unless we suppose that Schick's aqueduct
{Quarterly Statement, 1889, p. 51) was made by them, and not by Solomon.
This seems to me most improbable.

Thus at last we gain a glimpse of a very old pool existing at Jerusalem
in the Kidron, south of Gihon, even as far back as the time of Joshua.
Curiosity eagerly asks, " Is it noticed in the Bible ? What was its name (
What was its approximate position ? "

For twelve years I have been probing this question of the site of the
pool that was made, and from time to time have supported or suggested
five difi'ereut positions {Quarterly Statement, 1877, pp. 202, 204 ; 1879, 180 ;
1883, 107, 155) for it between Siloam and the Virgin's Fountain ; indeed,
wherever within these limits I could find a pool existing or devise a
supply of water to fill one. This troublesome search became necessary
(as I stated in Quarterly Statement, 1877, 202) " in default of any evidence
of a pool situated further south {i.e., than the Virgin's Fountain) in the
valley of the Kedron," to represent the pool that was made.

THE POOL THAT WAS MADE. 205

Thus the conclusion fr)rced upon me, that the Jebusites themselves
made a pool south of Gihon, is most welcome, inasmuch as, by providing
a pool in the Kidron, it exactly meets the obvious requirements of
Neh. iii, 16 ; and so another difficulty of long standing entirely vanishes.

So confident am I that this theory is not a mare's-nest that below I
request the Executive Committee to undertake an excavation in the
Kidron ravine, in order to test and (I doubt not) also to prove the
correctness of my conclusion.

It seems to me, however, that one may safely go still further. Stanley
("Palestine," 513) gives the Hebrew word for pool as meaning an artificial
tank. I believe this opinion is correct.

As then every pool had, of course, to be made, it is most extraordinary
that one shouhi be described merely as "the pool that was made,"
without any addition whatever as to rohen, or where, or by tohom, &c., it
was made ; some such explanation seems absolutely necessary. Now,
Isaiah (xxii, 9, 11) says to the peojde of Jerusalem, "Ye gathered
together [or drew in, withdrew, i.e., into the city] the waters of the
lower pool. . . . Ye made also a reservoir [E.V.] between the two
walls for the water of the old pool." This lower pool seems to me to be
tlie King's Pool named in Neh. ii, 14, and to be identical in position with
the present lower Pool of Siloam ; while the reservoir seems to be the
pool which (2 Kings xx, 20) Hezekiah made in the Tyropoeon, close to
Ain Silw^n, at the southern end of his rock-tunnel through Ophel. The
result of this tunnel or aqueduct being made would be (1) that the waters
of Gihon, being thus diverted, would no longer, by means of Schick's
aqueduct, supply the lower or King's Pool ; and (2) that Hezekiah's pool
or reservoir (A.V., " ditch ") would receive the waters of (the Jebusite
pool, i.e.) the pool that was made ; by this I mean the waters which, but
for the diversion, would have flowed into that pool. Be it observed,
however, that Isaiah speaks of the reservoir receiving the waters of {i.e.,
which used to flow into) the old pool. The Jebusite pool would, indeed,
be pre-eminently the old pool. Hence I conclude without hesitation that
"the pool that was made" (Neh. iii) was identical with the old pool
(Isaiah xxii).

Further, as the words "that was made," without any addition, appear
to me (as stated above) to form an unmeaning description, I strongly
suspect that through some defect in the manuscript the Hebrew word for
old (n2lZ?"') ^^*^ he&a misread into " that was made " (n'^IIZ^V)'

I may add that the three pools (the King's Pool, the Pool of Siloah,
and the pool that was made) in Neh. ii, iii, seem to me to be necessarily
three different pools, being mentioned by one writer in one story, but I dc
not see any impropriety in Isaiah's subsequently describing one of them
(the King's Pool) as the lower pool.

It remains to consider the approximate position of the Jebusite, i.e.,
" old," pool, mis-entitled " that was made." (1878, 187, 5.)

Mr. Schick's excavations, narrated in Quarterly Statement, 1886, p. 198,
seem to supply a clue to the right answer. In his first shaft, A, in the

206 THE POOL THAT WAS MADE.

Kidron Valley, 350 feet south of the Virgin's Fountain, he says, " We
struck a bottom of very hard concrete a few incher thick, consisting of
lime and small stone chippings, with pounded bricks in it. Under it
there was dry mud, like the dej)osit in a well or a pool. . . . Has the
valley really been so deep here, or have I come into an old pool ? I
canuor. tell." Let excavation decide the question. I would, however,
observe that the Jebusite pool would need a concrete flooring, and this is
exactly what has been found, while the non-discovery of broken pottery
below the concrete seems to suggest that the latter was put down in very
early times. By excavation it might easily be ascertained wliether this
concrete is a part merely of a small cistern or of an actual pool.

If the concrete should be found to extend westwards to the Ophel hill
and to end at a point where the rock is perpendicular or scar|)ed, so as to
present a steep face, and if remains of an old wall should be found at the
top of this steep rock, or even if the rock at the top be found to be such
that it is suited for the foundation of a wall, then I am ready stoutly to
maintain that the concrete really marks the site of tJie pool that Avas made.

Nell, iii, 16, distinctly says that the wall was repaired to this pool, and
the Hebrew word (^V) used for to or unto (R.V.) in this chapter seems
to me to mean in this description rijht vp to or close to {see iii, 20, 21,
24). But tlie wall, so far as I can see, could only come close to the
pool, not by the wall descending into the valley, which seems out of the
(piestion, but by the pool itself reaching to the foot of the rock on which
the wall stood ; and this would apparently be effected by the rock being
cut down so as to present a vertical face, and cut to such a depth that the
water would reach the foot of the scarp.

Should excavation happily show the existence of a pool at the shaft A,
then the limits within which the sepulchres of David are to be found,
become greatly reduced. For then this pool, instead of the Virgin's
Fountain, would be the most northernly limit possible. Further, if those
sepulchres had been close to the pool, it would hardly have been worth
mentioning them as a landmark. I think, then, we n)ight safely strike otf
quite 200 feet from the end at Siloam, and measure otf nearly as many
from the southern end of the Jebusite pool. This would leave us a
distance about 100 yards long, north and south, wit! i in which it is
exceedingly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the sepulchres of
David are situated. The breath of the area need not now be calculated.
This discovery (that is to be, so to say) of the pool that was made, of
course, requires the city of David to be extended further south than I
have placed it on my phm (1886, 34 ; 1889, opp. 36), and the position of
David's tomb j)robably must go with it. I cannot litlp this ; but I stated
(1886, 34 ) that " How far the city of David extended soi/t/ucards is open
to question," and that "the approximate position of the sepulchres of
David is a still more difficult question." I earnestly hope that here once
more the Executive Committee will decide that the spade shall certainly
follow the pen.

W. F. Birch.

207

XOTE ON THK PoOL THAT WAS MaDE.

Further consideration satisfies me tliat the " concrete flooring" was
part of an actual pool, and not merely of a well. If excavation shouM
show that I am wroni^ in this conclusion, the precise position of the pool
that was made wdl still be unknown ; yet it is a point gained to tind that
it was situated in the Kidron.

On the supposition, however, that the concrete marks a pool that was
made by a dam across the valley, a considerable difficulty at once prob-
ably presents itself, inasmuch as Mr. Schick failed at shaft A to find
rock at 2,064 feet, although it is given on the contour plan as lying at
2,099 feet. Tliis difference of at least 35 feet implies that our knowledge
of the rock-surface at this part of Ophel is still very imperfect, and it
follows that any proposed line of wall based on such imperfect knowledge,
may easily be very far from the truth.

It may also apjjroximate to the truth. An examination of the rock
contours in the Jerusalem Portfolio leads me to the following admis-
sions : —

1. If the Jebusite pool really reached westwards, so as to be almost
lieneath the wall, then the wall must practically have approached the
valley to near contour 2,129. If, however, it should be found that the
water of the pool cnuld not have reached within 50 or even 8) feet of the
foot of the wall, then the meaning attached above to -y^ must be given up.
Nevertheless this would really prove a great help, since the loss of verbal
precision in this case would be a great topographical gain, inasmuch as in
Neh. iii, unto over against obviously implies a greater intermediate
distance than to or u7ito.

If, therefore, the Hebrew word for to should be found to apply to a dis-
tance of 50 or 80 feet, then as the wall was over against the sepulchres of
David, it follows that they were more than that distance from the wall ;
and so whenever the wall is found (a comparatively easy matter) there
will be no need to search the first 50 or 80 feet from the wall. It will
suffice to examine the rock beyond this distance.

2. As the placing of "the pool that was made" near shaft A, apparently
requires the City of David to have extended further south than is shown
on my plan {Qiiartedtj Statement, 188G, 34), and as the contour plan in the
Portfolio gives a steep or scarped corner of rock on Oi)hel, 250 feet north
of the Poul of Siloam, it seems to me very probable that the wall of the
City of David followed the line of this scarp. Accoidingly, I extend
the west wall southwards 250 feet, and thence across the ritlge of Ophel,
until on the eastern side it reaches to contour 2,179 feet. At this point,
the outer wall built by Hezekiah to defend his new reservoir, i.e., the
Pool of Siloam, came, I imagine, close to or joined the old wall of the
City of David, though whether the point of junction was here or more
to the west is open to question.

208 THE SILO AM IKSCRirilON.

As this point of jvinction, an important one as a landmark, is not
mentioned by Nehemiah, I can only account for its omission by supposing
that the Sepulchres of L»avid were opposite tliis point, or at any
rate sufficiently near to render unnecessary the mention of any other
landmark.

From Neh. iii, 16, it seems clear (1886, 34) that the Sepulchres of
Davad were within Nehemiah's Wall, and I am more and more inclined
to think that they were also within and not merely near the City of
David. On measuring up my plan I cannot make the part of my wall to
be over against these sepulchres, until a point is reached at least 350 feet
distant from Siloam. When a further distance of 150 feet has been
struck off from tlie wall running south from near the Jebusite Pool, there
only remains a length of wall amounting to 230 feet, over against which the
sepulchres could have been situated, while the breadth of the area avail-
able for the sepulchres of David, cannot, it would seem, exceed 130 feet.
Further, this breadth, for searching purposes, may, as aforesaid, be reduced
to 80 or 50 feet, in case the wall is not found to pass close to the Jebusite
pool.

I do not at present see any prospect of fixing the position of the
Sepulchres of David more precisely than I have attempted above, and
therefore, after twelve years' hunt, I must leave to some enterprising
explorer the task of bringing matters to a successful termination by
actually discovering the long-lost tomb of David.

Any reader observing any defect in my theory will oblige me by
pointing it out.

P.S. — The only reason I can suggest why the 148-foot tunnel {Quarterly
Statement 1889, 48) was made almost on a level with aqueduct leading
southwards from the grotto, is that the waters from that grotto, i.e., from
En-rogel, might thus be conducted to some point within the wall of Jeru-
salem. If this work had onl been finished, then (1) by walling up in
])art the southern entrance to the grotto the waters of En-rogel could have
been drawn from within the city by means of a sliaft or staircase leading
to the northern end of the tunnel ; and (2) the tunnel would have
afforded a secret way of exit from the city and so afterwards have helped
Zedekiah in his flight from the Chaldseans.

W. F. B.

THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION.

The commonly accepted version of the fifth line in the Siloam Inscription
is not entirely satisfactory, insomuch as it is inconsistent with Scriptural
Hebrew usage.

It stands thus in the Jerusalem Memoirs, 347, and Quarterly Statement,
1883, 210: "And there flowed (5) the waters from their outlet (or the
spring) to the pool for a thousand two hundred cubits." Professor Sayce
gives it again, as follows, in his " Fresh Light from the Ancient Monu-

THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION. 209

ments " (87), " The waters flowed from the spring to the Pool for a
distance of 1,200 cubits."

Professor Sayce (88) says, " The language of the inscription is the purest
Biblical Hebrew. If this be the case, the translations given above need
correction, since the words, as deciphered in the inscription, stand literally
as two hundred {and) a thousand. Dr. Neubauer, in the " Athenaeum "
(1881, 112), remarked that such an expression "is not Hebrew. The
thousands are always before the hundreds." We have, indeed, in 1 Sam.
vi, 19 (R.V.), the words, " He smote of the people seventh/ men (and) fifty
thousand men" but some explanation is obviously required, since there
could not be 50,000 men at (or even near) Beth-shemesh. Consequently
this passage virtually supports the above-named rule.

The letters in the inscrijition rendered two hundred are D^j~l^^^^^.
On this Major Conder observes (1882, 124), " There is no doubt room for

the disputed letters but I have not been able to find any trace of

the Q on either squeeze, cast, or stone." He adds (Jerusalem Mem. 352),
" The Tan in "'j^b^'i^D, seems to us to be very doubtful, though strokes
exist which may have belonged to such a letter."

Professor Sayce was content at first with a thousand eubits and in-
terpreted the letters "'JI^^Ti^D. *•' mean for a distance of, but he practically
abandons this translation and accepts the other, by " formally retracting
(1883, 210) his objection to the reading (translated) two hundred."
Accordingly there is no need to deal with his earlier translation.

The question now is, what is the original word that has been metamor-
phosed into this inadmissible two hundred?

We seem to have some six letters of which the first from the left
appears to be utterly illegible (really a space and nothing more
remaining), and the third from the left is very doubtful, though some
strokes exist.

Seven years ago when the true solution of the Shiloah difficulty first
presented itself, I wrote in Quarterly Statement, 1883, U)6, as follows : —
"Without question, then, the canal seems to me to be the work of
Hezekiah, and to be referred to in two passages in the Bible, 2 Kings xx,
20, and 2 Chron. xxxii, 30. I anticipate that the wording of the inscrip-
tion will finally be allowed to confirm the identity of this canal with these
works of Hezekiah.

On page 148 (1881) apparently,
^i^J^^;-f (5) represents J^^^IQ in 2 Chron. xxxii, 30.

Tl^?2 (5) represents ni:2^S ^^ ^ Chron. xxxii., 30."

Mr. Schick's discovery (1889, 35) proves that this passage in the
Chronicles refers to the Siloam tunnel. Thus the Bible account (R.V.),
" Hezekiah stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon and brought
them straight down on (rather with A.V. to) the west side of the city of
David," really answers to the record in the inscription, " Tlie waters
flowed from the spring to the pool (...."i...t^';2n) '■^ thousand cubits."

Now as the spring named in the inscription coincides with the spring

210 SUTEKII, CHIEF GOD OF THE HITTITES.

named in Chronicles, so I believed and now maintain (no other suggestion,
so far as I know, having been made) that the required Hebrew word, of
which t-ome letters survive, corresponds to straight, down in the Bibliciil
account. We are tuld tc/tence, and w/tither, and t/te distance the water*
flowed. The mutilated word (obviously not referring to the pool) most
naturally would and (it seems to me) 7nutt describe how they ilowed.

In 2 Chi'on. xxxii, 30, this how is desciibed as lemattah and is translated
in the Authorised and Revised Vei'sions as straight doicn ; but I am glad to
find that at least fifty years ago the word was explained to mean hy a
subterraneous cAirse ; while subterranean passage is the very term applied
to the tunnel by Professor Sayce in Quarterly Statement 1881, 141.

I need not attempt to show how Jemattah in Chronicles can have
assumed the particular combination of lettei's professedly found in the
inscription. It must, however, be assumed that in the inscription, the
first three Hebrew letters, viz., jf^^^ are correctly decii^hered by the
experts. All that remains for me is to complpte in the purest Biblical
Hebrew, the woid thus beginning (and to complete it) in such a way that
it may suitably describe the course of the waters through the tunnel.

The oirly word I can recommend is nm^5!23. ("-^ written in Isaiah xi,

8), meaning m the hole or cavern. Genesius says, " Eoot ~1"iy Arab

to be deep, to be ejpc'i'ato/." Accordingly I translate the fifth line thu-!,
" The waters flowed from the spring to the pool in the cavern (hole or sub-
terraneons passage) a thousand cubits."

Let nre frankly admit that mearah is not quite the word I should have
expected to meet with in this inscription. A nronotouous repetition of
n3pw (nxcav ition) would have been more in keeping with the stonecutter's
style or the composer's meagre vocabulary.

One, however, who has not seen squeeze, cast, or stone, cannot (where
there is obviously no collusion) challenge the unanimous decision of inde-
pendent ins|iectors unbiassed, at least, in regard to the first three letters
of the mysterious word.

W. F. Birch.

SUTEKH, CHIEF GOD OF THE HITTITES.

The more we learn of the gods of the Hittites, the more we shall know
of the Hittites themselves, for the ideal aim of nations and tribes is to
become like their own gods. Sutekh was clearly the principal deity of
the Hittites, for his name occurs the oftenest, and on the Karriac copy <>f
the Egypto-Hittite treaty he is invoked as the deity of many places.

What was his form and representation? And what was his precise
place itr the astro-religious system of the ancierrts 1 On the engraved
silver plate which contained the Hittite text of the treaty, the god was
figured in the centre. The silver plate has not come down to us. Yet
who knows but that the figure of Sutekh may one day be found surviving
among the hieroglyphs of some Hittite inscription ! The name is probably

SQTEKH, CHIEF GOD OF THE HITTITES. 211

Egyptian, compounded of Sut or Set (= Sotliis, the Dog-star) and ekh,
meaning ruler. We may look upon it as an Egyptian equivalent for the
Hittite name of the deity, or a« the name of an Egyptian god corre-
sponding to the Hittite deity, and the actual name used by the Hittites is
yet to be sought for. Sntekh is generally accepted as being another form
of the name Set. Set was a god whose worship was established among
the Hyks'os or Shepherd Kings, and who had once been in favour witli
the Egyptians, but had come to be regarded by them as a person iiication
of the Evil Princii)le. He thus becnme connected and confounded or
identified witli Typhon, as the murderer of Osiris. The place of this evil
deity was in the Underworld, the dark abyss below the horizon. This is
the astronomical position of the stars ushered in by Sothis, in the slow
motion of pr^'cessi m. These stars make up the constellation of the whale
{Cetus, Ki/Tov) which, according to the Greeks, is the sea monster from
which Perseus delivered Andromeda. According to Liddell and Scott,
the Greek Kjyrov, besides meaning sea-monster and the constellation of
the whale, seems to have the root meaning of gulf or depth or ab^ ss ; and
this is surely because the whale constellation is in the same dark region
as the abyss, as the abyss is located in the mythological system.

Sntekh, then, may be the god of the constellation Ketos, including as
its herald the bright star Sirius. So his worshi|)pers m'glit be called
Keteioi or Ceteans, just as the worshippers of Athene were called Athe-
nians, and the worshippers of Assur, Assyrians. The Moabites are called
in Scripture the children of Chemosh, after their god, and the Hittites
are called the children of Heth (Hebrew Cheth, Assyrian Kheta) — why
not also after their god ? Homer makes mention of some Ceteans (Odys.
xi, 521), and the Scholiast says they were "a people of Mysia of whom
Telejihus was king." Mr. Gladstone has suggested their identity witli
the Hittites ; and Prof. Sayce thinks Mr. Gladstone may be right. ("The
Hittites : the story of a Forgotten Empire," by A. H. Sayce, j). 120.)

The suggested etymological connexion of Kheta with Ketos does not
require us to believe that the Hittites borrowed a god from the Greek
pantheon, or a name from the Greek language ; for the borrowinf' mav
have been the other way. The worship of a sea-monster by the Hittites
(if that was so) was but as the worship of Dagon by the Philistines,
or the reverance of the Babylonians for Cannes the Fish-man, who
brought them civilisation. That the Hittites should reverence, as a o-od
of heaven and earth, a deity discarded by the Egyptians as a ruler of
darkness, was only what was charged also upon ti)e Hyksos, and upon the
Israelites themselves by their enemies.

The consort of Sntekh is believed to have been Atargatis or Derketo
a goddess half-woman, half-fish (Wright's '* Empire of the Hittites,"
Sayce's '' Hittites ") ; and this lends further support to the idea that Sulekh
himself was a Fish-man, the god of the deep.

Gecege St. Clair.

212

NEHEMIAH'S WALL AND THE SEPULCHRES OF

THE KINGS.

In the Quarterly Statement, April, 1889, I wrote a paper on Nehemiah'.s
Wall, in the course of which I showed the probable ])osition of the royal
sepulchres. Mr. Birch criticised my paper, and I replied. The argument
mif-ht very well have ended there. But Mr. Birch returns to the attack,
and it is obvious that the discussion might be prolonged indefinitely.
Mr. Birch apologises for his " tedious notes" on the ground that unless he
can show my errors the Committee will not excavate (on his site) and find
the sepulchres of the kings. It does not occur to him as possible that
they might excavate on my site and find them. However, I agree
with him that the appeal should now be to the spade. If the Com-
mittee will resolve to excavate on both sites they will i^lease a good
many subscribers ; and I, for my part, shall not mind which site is tried

firat.

George St. Clair.

Quarterly Statement, Octouek, 1890.]

THE

PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND,

NOTES AND NEWS.

The last numher of the Quarferli^ Statement contained a report of the work
iloiie hy Mr. Fhnders Petrie at Tell Hesy and its results. Extracts from
Mr. Petrie's journal are now published, which will be found of great interest.

The reports of Herr Schick give accounts of his excavations in connection
with the Siloam aqueduct, the discovery of an elaborate tomb near Bethany,
and other matters. The tomb, of which a plan and section are given, is
remarkable in having its chambers so arranged that each one is on a lower level
than that which precedes it. Herr Schick suggests that this is intended to
allow the rai/s of the afternoon stoi to penetrate the innermost chambers of the
Tomb.

Herr Schumacher's report of the sculptured figures at Kana is now
published, together with facsimiles of some of the photographs of the same
Major Conder has kindly contributed some valuable remarks on these curious
figures-

The concession for a railway between Haifa and Damascus has been granted
and disposed of to an English company. Engineers are already gone out, and
have commenced surveying the proposed route. The services of Mr. Schumacher
have been engaged, and it is hoped that as the work progresses important
archteological observations will be made and reported.

The work of Mr. Guy le Strange on " Palestine under the Moslems " was
published in April.

For a long time it had been desired by the Committee to present to the
world some of the great hoards of information about Palestine which lie buried
in the Arabic texts of the Moslem geographers and travellers of the Middle

21-1 NOTES Al^B NEWS.

Ages. Some few of tlie worts, oi* parts of the works, have been already trans-
ited into Latin, French, and Grerman. Hardly anything has been done with
them in English, and no attemjjt has ever been made to systematise, compare,
and annotate them.

This has now been done for the Society by Mr. Guy le Strange. The work
is divided into chapters on Syria, Palestine, Jerusalem, and Damascus, the
provincial capitals and chief towns, and the legends related by tlie writers
consulted. These writers bc^iin with the ninth century and continue until the
fifteenth. Tlie volume contains maps and illustrations required for the elucida-
tion of the text.

The Committee have great confidence that this work — so novel, so ilseful
to students of mediajval history, and to all tliose interested in the continuous
story of the Holy Land — will meet with the success which its learned author
deserves. The price to subscribers to the Fund is 8*. 6d. ; to the public,
12*. 6d.

The new map of Palestine, so long in hand, is now ready. It embraces
both sides of the Jordan, and extends from Baalbek in the north to Kadesli
Barnea in the south. All the modern names are in black ; over these are
printed in red the Old Testament and Apocrypha names. The New Testament,
Josephus, and Talniudic names are in blue, and the tribal possessions arc tinted
in colours, giving clearly all the identifications up to date. It is the most compre-
hensive map that has been published, and will be invaluable to universities,
colleges, schools, &c.

It is published in 21 sheets, with paper cover; price to subscribers to the
Fund, 24*., to the public, £2. It can be had mounted on cloth, rollers, and
varnished for hanging. The size is 8 feet by 6 feet. The cost of mounting
will be extra.

Mr. Henry A. Harper's work, on " The Bible and Modern Discoveries "
was published last December. It is an endeavour to present in a simple but yet
connected form the Biblical results of twenty-two years' work of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. The writer has al^o availed himself of the discoveries made
by the American Expeditions and the Egyptian Exploration Fund, as well as
discoveries of interest made by independent travellers. The Bible story, tVom the
call of Abraham to the Captivity, is taken, and details given of the light thrown
by modern research on the sacred annals. Eastern customs and modes of
thought are explained whenever the writer thouglit they illustrated the
text. To the Clergy and Sunday School Teachers, as well as to all those who
love the Bible, the writer hopes this work will prove useful. He is personally
acquainted with the land, and nearly all the places spoken of he has visited,
and most of them he has moreover sketched or painted. The work is in
one large, handsome volume of 600 pages. It is illustrated with many
plates, and a map showing the route of the Israelites and the sites of
the ijrincipal places mentioned in the sacred narratives. The work has had
a very gratifying reception. The Third Revised Edition is now nearly
exhausted. It should be noted that the book is admii'ably adapted for the
school or village library.

NOTES AND NEWS. 215

The first Tolume of the " Survey of Eastern Palestine," by Major Conder,
has been issued to subscribers. It is acconnmnied by a map of the portion
of country surveyed, special plans, and upwai'ds of 350 drawings of ruins,
tombs, dolmens, stone cii'cles, inscriptions, &c. The edition is limited to
500. The first 250 subscribers pay seven guineas for the three volumes ;
subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine " are privileged to have
the volumes for this sum. The jjrice vrill be raised, after 250 names are
received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are pledged never to let any
copies be subscribed under the sum of seven guineas. Mr. A. P. Watt,
2, Paternoster Square, is the Sole Agent. The attention of intending sub-
scribers is directed to the announcement on the inside of the cover of this
number.

Considerable progress has also been made with the second volume, which
consists of M. Lecomte's beautiful drawings, illustrating the Mission oE
M. Clei-mont-Ganneau in 1874. The illustrations for the third volume,
Mr. Chichester Hart's "Pauna and Flora" of the Wady Ai-abah, are nearly
ready.

The Committee have added to their list of publications the new edition
of the " History of Jerusalem," by Walter Besant and E. H. Palmer (Bentley &
Son). It can be obtained by subscribers, carriage paid, for 5*. Qd., by appli-
cation to the Head Ofiice only. The " History of Jerusalem," which was
originally published in 1871, and has long been completely out of print, covers
a period and is compiled from materials not included in any other work, though
some of the contents have been plundered by later woi-ks on the same subject.
It begins with the siege by Titus and continues to the fourteenth century, includ-
ing the Early Christian period, the Moslem invasion, the Mediaeval pilgrims,
the Mohammedan pilgrims, the Crusades, the Latin Kingdom, the victorious
career of Saladin, the Crusade of Children, and many other little-known
episodes in the history of the city and the coimtry.

The books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount
of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country,
wliich can be found in no other publications. It must never be forgotten that
no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete
with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and pro-
vided with all the instruments necessary for carrying out their work. The
books are the following (fhe whole set can be obtained by application to
Mr. George Annstrong, for £2, carriage paid to any part in the United
Kingdom only) : —

By Major Conder, R.E.—

(1) " Tent Work in Palestine." — A popular account of the Survey of Western
Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the author himself.
This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of
ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observa-
tions upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical

216 NOTES AND NEWS.

associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based
upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern
traveller has enjoyed tlie same advantages as Major Conder, or has used
his opportunities to better purpose.

(2) " Hetli and Moab." — Under this title Major Conder provides a narrative,

as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the expedition for
the Stirvei/ of l^lastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit
to North Syria, in order to discover the Holy City — Kadesh— of the
children of Hetli ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what dis-
coveries they made there, will be found in this volume.

(3) Major Condei-'s " Syrian Stone Lore." — This volume, the least known of

Major Conder's works, is, perhaps, the most valuable. It attempts a task
never before approached — tlie reconstructioji of Palestine from its monu-
ments. It shows what we should know of Syria if there were no Eible,
and it illustrates the Bible from the monuments.

(I) Major Conder's " Altaic Inscriptions. "^This book is an attempt to read

the Hittite Inscriptions. The author has seen no reason to change his
views since the publication of the work.

(5) Professor Hull's " Mount Scir." — This is a popular account of the Geo-

logical Expedition conducted by Professor Hull for the Committee of
the Palestine Fund. The part which deals with the Valley of Arabah
will be foimd entirely new and interesting.

(6) Herr Schumacher's " Across the Jordan."

(7) Herr Schumacher's " Javilan." — These two books must be taken in continua-

tion of Major Conder's works issued as instalments of the unpvxblished
" Survey of Eastern Palestine." They are full of drawings, sketches,
and plans, and contain many valuable remarks upon manners and
customs.

(8) "The Memoirs of Twenty-one Years' Work." — This work is a popular

.accauut of the researches conducted by the Society during the past
twenty -one years of its existence. It will be found not only valuable
in itself as an interesting work, but also as a book of reference, and
especially useful in order to show what has been doing, and is still doing,
by tills Society.

(9) Herr Schumacher's " Kh. Fahil." The ancient Pella, the first retreat of the

Cixristians ; with map and illustrations.

(10) Names and Places in the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha, with

their modern identifications, with reference to Josephus, the Memoirs, and
(Quarterly Statements.

(II) Besant and Palmer's "History of Jerusalem," already described.
(12) Northern 'Ajlun "Within the Decapolis," by Herr Schumacher.

NOTES AND NEWS. 217

To the above must now be added Mr. Henry A. Harper's " The Bible and
Modern Discoveries." Price to the public, 16*. ; to subscribers to the Palestine
Exploration Fund, 10*. 6d., carriage included. And Mr. Guy le Strange's
important work " Palestine under the Moslems," price to the public, 12*. 6d. ;
to subscribers to the Fund, 8s. 6d.

Branch Associations of the Bible Society, all Sunday School unions within
the Sunday School Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Weslejan
Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Eesolution of the
Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to
purchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced
23 rice.

Tlie income of the Society,. from June 2l8fc to September 20th inclusive, was
— from annual subscriptions and donations, including Local Societies,
£131 18*. 6ci. ; from donations for excavations, £24 7*. 6d.; from all sources,
£516 7*. dd. The expenditure during the same period was £464 8*. 9d.
On September 20th, the balance in the Bank was £827 19*. 6d.

Subscribers are begged to note that the following can be had by application
to the office, at 1*. each : — -

1. Index to the Quarterly,. Statement, 1869-1880.

2. Cases for Herr Schumacher's " Jaulan."

3. Cases for ihe Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate.

4. Cases for " Abila," " Bella," and " 'Ajlun " in one volume.

Early numbers of the Qitarterli/ Statement are very rare. In order to make
up complete sets, the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the
following numbers : —

No. II, 1869 ; Ko. VII, 1870 ; Ko. Ill, 1871 ; January and April,
1872 ; January, 1883, and January, 1886.

218 NOTES AND NEWS.

Sir W. Q. Ewart, Bart, has kindly consented to act as Honorary Local
Secretary for Belfast.

We have to acknowledge, with thanks, receipt of Smithsonian Reports for
188G, 1887, in 3 Vols.

While desiring to give every publicity to proposed identifications and other
theories advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of the
(Quarterly Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by
publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanction nor adopt
them.

The only authorised lecturers for the Society are —

(1) The Eev. Henry Geary, Vicar of St. Thomas's, Portman Square. His

lectures are on the following subjects, and all illustrated by original
photographs shown as " dissolving viev/s :" —

The Survey of Western Palestine, as illustrating Bible History.

Palestine East of the Jordan.

The Jerusalem Excavations.

A Restoration of Ancient Jerusalem.

(2) The Rev. Thomas Harrison, F.R.G.S., Member of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, 38, Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park, W.
His subjects are as follows : —

(1) Research and Discovery in the Holy Land.

(2) In the Track of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

(3) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science.

219

JOURNALS OF MR. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.

^\si March to 6th April, 1890.

I DID not mention that as I went down to Jaffa (or Yafa, as it should
he called) the sky became clouded, and a strong east wind that we had
had, broke ; puffs from the south-west came, and as I neared Eamleh
I saw a low light cloud bowling forward from the south-west below the
black overcast, and was astonished at the rate it altered (curls of it
rolling up as I looked at it), and the rate it went along, 30 or 40 miles an
hour apparently. Then came rain— most had passed to the north nearer
the sea ; we only had the tail of the storm, but such rain I have seldom
seen ; and the curtains which formed half the side of my conveyance
being — one gone and the other without fastenings, I had all my time
occupied in holding something as a shutter, while my saddle-bag of
clothing I gripped between my knees to keep it out of the water which
collected in the carriage.

After I got to Mr. Hall's I heard what a storm had raged there.
Wherever shutters were left loose the glass was all smashed, and they
referred to it as a sufficient test of the security of their roof, which looks
looser than it is, the top storey being smaller than the lower, with a deep
verandah all round, leaving an open-air promenade, Everywhere as I
have gone over the country I have seen the great effect of this storm :
fields high upon the hills are washed over with mud, and paths are con-
stantly cut b}; the waterfalls of the receding channels.

Wednesday, when I had intended to leave, was so wet in the morning
that I could not go out, so I had to postpone, and finished shopping in
the afternoon. Then there was an uncertainty about camels. It had
been so wet that none had come from the country to be hired, and my
man was very desirous of going off home in the evening and getting up a
man and camels, whom he wished to employ. So after some bother he
hired a horse and rode off that night to J imzu, beyond Lydd, where he
comes from. The camels came duly next morning by 9, and we got loaded
from the goods agent and the Hall's, and all off by 12. Thus we just got
to Yebna by dark, and pitched by moonlight.

Yebna, Jamnia, or Jabniel, is a dirty cluster of grass-topped mud
huts, which rises above the general level of the rolling plain of Philistia.
This plain, or wide expanse of slightly wavy ground, is one of the greenest
sights I have ever seen. Most of it is in corn, without a trace of break
or ditch or hedge from hill to hill. The separation of the different strips
can just be traced by the growth ; but each plot seems to be about
30 feet wide and over half-a-mile long, as it went on from the road up to
the top of the next rise, and where to I know not.

The straightness of the ploughing is striking — seldom could I see six

220 JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS I^ETRIE.

imhes of beml in tlie line. Some regions are all left in pasture, some in
heather or wild })lants, some in fallow. Everywhere the west boundary
is the mass of sand-dunes, which gradually eat up the laud, now covering
some four or five miles wide from the sea coast and ending in steep slopes
which stand up 20 feet or more above the cultivated plain. Next day
we went on past Ashdod, which has been jmrtly swallowed by the sand-
dunes, but still bears a mass of green- topped houses on its heap. After
looking over some sites on the way, I pushed ahead of the camels to
Jrlureir, and looked out for the best camping. I could get no shade of
trees, but found a wide meadow east of the town beyond the well, which
was good ground, and sloped down sharply into a little watercourse, so
tliat it is well drained. Here we pitched, with some cactus-hedged
gardens a little way off on three sides, and Bui'ier on the west.

During the night I was awoke by a dog getting in, and again by a
slight noise, and looking up, saw a gap in the tent — in it, a man's head
and shoulders, and heard the intruder fumbling over the tool-bag, too
heavy to carry off, and awkward to open. I challenged, he ran, and four
bullets went over his head to improve his pace. I had noticed the
chance of an opening being tried there, and had put all small articles far
from the place, which was an ill-secured and needless doorway. Next
day I sewed it all up, and generally improved the arrangements. I went
to the Sheikh, and he much wanted me to pitch in a dirty courtyard,
with beasts and fowls about. I could not, but proposed to have two
guards out near the tents, so as to make the village responsible.

The Sheikh is an oldish man, quiet and sensible, and I think there
will be no troubles there. It is curious to hear, not only of El Kuds
(Jerusalem), but Kucles, as some say, much near Kadesh. The Arabs,
in whose region 'AjlAn is, ax-e not called " Amarin" so often as El Amar,
exactly the Egyptian name of Amorites. I expect it is the same name,
and perhaps more from the locality than from the origin of this tribe.
The people here use subterranean corn and fodder bins ; and I saw
several letting down baskets and pulling them up full of stuff. The places
are much like the cisterns, apparently, with a round hole flush with the
ground. It suggests that many old cisterns, as we suppose them to be,
in the ruins may be granaries. One of my guards was for four years
servant to an English doctor in Constantinople, as he says. I explained
my object and intention to the folks, but I find trouble in under-
standing their Syrian with my Egyptian. I went off next day for a
round to see the country. [77)17)1 Lakis (su]^posed to be Lachish) is
nearly all cultivated, and the surface stuff is Roman ; so I do not
see much to try for. 'AjlCm is worse. There is vexy little pottery
about ; what there is, is Roman, and it is all with barley around,
and on the top an onion garden, a hovel, and an old man. Tlien I
went to Sukariyah (where there are also Roman things) to see the
head Sheikh of the Bedawtn of the district —the Amarin. I found
him a pleasant fellow sitting under an enormous flat tent, with a number
of his following. I did a deal of silence, for that is orthodox ; and in the

JOURNALS OF UR. FLINDERS PETIUE. 221

intervals stated my business. Soon after I arrived there was a chorus of
dogii, and a man cjime up bearing a wide wooden bowl on his head, with
the midday meal. It was set before us, and we gathered round, about
half-a-dozen at once. The mixture was bread in sour curds, and plenty
of butter melted amongst it, with a layer of pieces of fat mutton on the
top. I smelt the sourness, and judiciously grabbed a good bit of plain
meat, which, kept me in play as long as the others. It was amusing to
see them grasping handsful of the fearful mixture, and stuffing it into
their mouths. When one set had put down enough, they rose and nnother
party squatted round the big bowl, until at last there was little or nothing-
left. Some favoured folks, not in the first circle, had bones and lumps
handed over to them before the second or later circles of squatters came
on. Before beginning, the best society rinsed hands, and when done, they
Avent across and rubbed off the grease on a flap of the black goat's-hair
tent, and then rinsed again. After coffee, I bid good-bye, slipjjing a
napoleon into the Sheikh's hand as a smoother for future business.

Then I went to Tell Hesy, a striking place. The mound is about GO
or 80 feet high, cut away on one side by an encroaching stream. Thei'e
was much pottery about, but none of it Roman — all earlier ; and I think
this is worth a dozen of all the other places put together. But it is mostly
cultivated, and is six miles from here. The nearest village, Khurbet
llazzarah, is nothing to notice. Tell abu Shukf has much pottery about,
as its name implies ; but it is half cultivated. The pottery seems to be
mainly pre-Eoman. Khurbet Summeily has also some early pottery, but
it is not important. The astonishing matter to me is, how closely these
Bedawln cultivate the ground. There is but a small proportion of
pasture, nearly all being arable, some fallow, but mostly in barley. This
will make any thorough work difficult, as we must buy out the crops.

7th to I6th April, 1890,

A curious survival, or revival, is seen here in the pottery. The black
pottery found in early Greek sites is considered Phrenician ; here all the
pottery in common use is black, and is made at Gaza. Moreover, the
ancient was painted with red lines, and so is the modern, only with
red lead instead of ochre. Around modern tombs they do not build welis,
as in Egypt, but open courts or enclosures. Around the inside there are
niches in the wall, in which lire is burnt on potsherds every Friday.
Also stone tables are built against the wall, and within these lamps or
stands with lire are placed. These are identical with the curious arrange-
ments all round the inside of the so-called Phoenician temple at Hagiar
Kim, in Malta. Then on these tables, and also on graves, are placed
old mill-centres or querns, which do not appear to be worn out. These
are all found in old sites, and, I hear on inquiry, are not made now.
They remind one of the conical black stone worshipped at Emesa, of
which Elgabalus was priest.

I have been twice over to Gaza now, and made friends with

222 JOUR.^ALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE.

Rev. R. Elliott, M.D., medical missionary there, and his wife and her
sister. He is a north Irishman, capable and energetic, and as kind
and helpful as he possibly can be. He is excellent friends with the
Kainiakam (Governor), and will attend to any official matters for me,
and I am to stay with them any night that I may want to be in Gaza.
His dispenser, moreovei', is a most useful fellow, an Arab- Austrian,
who writes and speaks Ai^abic, Turkish, English, &c. I am really more
within "liumanity's reach" here than in the Fayum with such friends
(and a dispensary) only 12 miles otf. The j^resent Kainiakam in whose
district I am is veiy favourable. He has been a journalist most of his
life, and lived in Berlin, Vienna, &c. He has no fanaticism, and is much
Europeanised in ways and feelings. The Effendi never turned up until a
note came from Gaza on Thursday, asking me to go there about the business.
I went and found him at the Kaimakam's. He began with every sort
of objection to coming or doing anything, evidently wishing to spin out
the time of all pay and no work. The old Kaimakam quite took my part,
and answered "a fool according to his folly " more than once. Afterwards
they came to Dr. Elliott's, and we had another talk. Dr. Elliott said very
soon to me that he had seen many men object to their work, but he never
saw one so set against doing anything.

At last, Monday, 14th, I began at Umm Lakis (called Laggis), and
it turned out much as I expected, all Roman or Cufic. I made trench
pits in many different parts, and everywhere the result is 4 to 8 feet of
earth and burnt dust, &c., with Roman and Arab pottery. Beneath that
is clean, untouched, red earth, veined with white intiltration, evidently
UJidisturbed soil.

The latest date of surface pottery is probably about Omayyid or
Tulunid, but pre-Crusading. I doubt if the place was much occupied
before the second or third century, a.d. It is tolerably certain that
therefore, in spite of the name, this cannot be Lachish ; nor does the
distance from Beit Jibrin accord with what Eusebius states. Tell Hesy
is nearer the right distance, and is certainly a great city and early,
agreeing better to Lachish being one of the fenced cities of Judah, and
being besieged by both Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar.

What with too much tea, and men talking, and dogs and donkeys, and
my man being inside my tent because the Etfeiidi had the other, I only
got two hom-s' sleep last night, and this morning there was a steady misty
rain, which makes it wretched for standing about in wet grass, and which
did not clear for two or three hours.

So far nothing appears which is probably pre-Roman, and we found a
worn coin of Maximin just about where 1 should have expected, 2-3
feet above the native soil.

IGth to 2lst April, 1890.

The third day's work at Umm Lakis only confirmed what I had
already noticed. Within a couple of feet of the bottom of the made

JOURXALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 223

ground a very worn coin of Maximin Hercules was found. And on
a rise near the town I noticed pieces of Avails, which proved to l)e part of
a Roman villa with a bath, as far as we cleared the place. It being then
pretty evident that Umm Lakis is not Lachish, and that there was
nothing pre-Eoman there, I moved over to Tell Hesy, which is 6 miles
from Bureir, and therefore too far to go every day (to those without a
detailed map I may say that Tell Hesy is 17 miles east of Gaza). This
is entirely in the Aralo country, and though those gentry do not pay
any land taxes to the Government yet they are considered to have a
certain right to the ground, simply because no Turkish Governor is
strong enouuh to reduce them to obedience. There is not a house in
sight all round the country, only straggling groups of low, brown tents.

I had intended to go to the principal sheikh of the district, make
friends with him, and offer to pay liberally for Arab guards as appointed
by him, as a means of giving cash, slice by slice, according to time ; but
the Effendi would not hear of my saying anything to the Arabs, because
of their rapacious expectations, but he would attend to all that by
asserting his official authority. In fact, it was just a question who was to
get the pickings^ the Arabs as de facto masters of the situation, or the
authorities as dejvre masters. And the Effendi guessed that if I paid
one party I should cold-shoulder the other. So as he took all the
responsibility I left the matter entirely to him, and he had to attend
to it with a vengeance. For two whole days he was in constant parley
with interminable sheikhs of all the neighbourhood. Some decent and
and friendly, some demanding money, some threatening, and all feeling
their way. He had once to begin a letter to the Kaimakam at Gaza,
asking for some soldiers to be sent before one fellow would knuckle
under, for the one thing these Arabs dread is a party of even pacific
soldiers, as their horses would be turned loose into the standing barley
and wheat to feed.

The final situation is that the Arabs will not get backshesh, and our
guards consist of two from Bureir (the Constantinople doctor's servant and
one who knows all the Arabs here very well), one Arab from the nearest
settlement, and one appointed by the big sheikh. So everybody is
responsible for us. All this is needful as the whole country is very
unsettled, though not unusually so. Only the other day a big Effendi
of Gaza and some others were stopped within a few miles of the town and
stripped of everything. The work is overrun all day by lounging Arabs
from the neighbourhood, wiiom I get on with very well as they are
pleasant and civil enough, when not out for plunder. A few small jokes,
and especially a little mimicry of any peculiar manner or ways, will set
them all laughing, and make us good friends for the time, and probably less
touchy afterwards. So far there is no difficulty in getting people over
from Bureir to work, as I have increased their wages to Is. a day for
a man and woman or girl. But they are poor workers after the Egyptians,
not doing more than one-half or two-thirds of what my old hands in
Egypt would have done. I am getting them better fixed to the work

224 JOURNALS OF :\irw flinders petrie.

now, but at first they were all over the place, talking and smoking —
anything but work. How we shall get on in Ramadan is doubtful. I
want them to begin woik directly after their last meal before sunrise,
and (with a short pause) go on till 3 p.m., after which they can sleep
on their liuuger till sunset, wlien the feasting begins. They and the
EtFendi all highly approve of such a plan, so I hojje to get some work
out of them. Now for the place and results.

The place roughly is a high mound, cut away on the east by the
stream, and a circuit of natural ridges around a slight valley on the south
of it. All of this area has pottery scattered over it, and the mound
itself is artificial, consisting of about 60 feet of successive town levels
piled one on the other, and the river-worn stones laid down for floors to
the rooms, showing all over the sides of the mound as lines of blocks.
All my digging in the mound is on some given floor, which we clear.
The top of the mound is all cultivated, and, if needful, I shall buy up the
crops ; but the man wants £4, which is rather much for it, so I wait to see
what we can do around the wide sloping sides of the mound and on the
river face.

This is an excellent place to work, as the storm floods have kept up so
much scour as to leave the face a clean section from top to bottom of the
mound, so I can work at any period I wish. I have three parties (six
men) at the top level and as many at the bottom level, besides others at
the sides, we have already found plenty of potsherds, and some walls of
rough stones which we are following. Outside of the town circuit on the
south-west, is a sand hill with much pottery buried in it, the purpose of
which is not clear. The pots are intentionally buried, generally jars with
a basin or cup on the top ; often there is a smaller vase inside ; they are
altogether filled with clean white sand, like what they rest on, but
cleaner than the brown humus sand around them. In one or two some
small bones were found, and some bones in the sand without jars.

It reminds me much of a great burial of jars at Zviwelen near Tanis,
of about 1000 B.C., which contained animal bones ; and probably this is
a cemetery of the sacred animals of the Amorite age. Perhaps where
no bones can be found they buried the sacred flies of Baal-zebub !

Now, as to chronology. This cemetery pottery is mainly of little
brown flasks, which I have this season precisely dated by finding them in
a tomb about 1100 B.C. at Illahun. So that j^retty well dates the cemetery
to the time of the Judges. Then certain peculiar handles in this pottery
are also found in the lowest part of the town which is, therefore, probably
quite as old.

Then in the top of the town is peculiar pottery, which I know at
Naukratis, to be about 600 B.C., and two bits of black Greek ware have
been found about the same age. I conclude, therefore, that the place is
as old or older than the Judges, and was destroyed at Nebuchadrezzar's
invasion. This tallies very well with what we know of Lachish. Cer-
tainly out of thousands of sherds that I have looked at here, I have
seen only one stray piece of Roman age, lying on the surface. As we

JOURNALS OF Mil. FLINDERS PETKIE. 225

have only worked for two days yet, too much must not be expected of
me as to preciseness or detail of history. We are badly^ off for water,
our three sources being : (1) springs here, clear but too brackish to drink
comfortably ; (2) surface ponds of rain-water, contaminated, at Bureir, to
be brought 6 miles on a donkey ; and (3) deep well at Bureir, stagnant
and veiy green, and rather salt, but probably not contaminated. The
last is what we trust to, and though I boil it well, yet the colour and
taste of it are almost too much for me. When boiled, it is three courses
in one— soup, fish, and greens.

It is very curious how akin the pottery on the top of the tell here is
to the Naukratite ; and, strangely, not so much like the Daphniote, which
is so much nearer. There are the same large jars with sliced surface
around the lower end and massive loop handles, the same drab dishes of
thick stuft', and the same pinched up saucer lamps, and some purely
Greek pottery of black glaze and red face. So far as these give a date,
I should say between 600 and 550 B.C., and being like Naukratis and ?wt
like Defneh, it appears like a Greek settlement, and not a geographical
link across from Egypt. I have suspected that the Jews may have
employed Greek mercenaries like the Egyptians.

22nd to 29th April, 1890.

At last I got down here another tent from Jerusalem, to supply the
place of the one I had to give up to the Effendi. For more than two
weeks I had never had an uninterrupted night's sleep, and generally had
to go out to silence the guards and men about. Haviug to be about all
day as well, I was becoming rather helpless in consequence ; and so
I pitched the fresh tent about 100 yards oif, with a slight rise between
it and our present camp. There was a great talk about the insecurity
of my sleeping there, and the EfFendi said he would go rather than assent
to it ; but I calmed him by agreeing to two of the four guards extending
their region out to there, under promise of strict silence at night, and
so now I have necessary sleep. The constant noise, and impossibility of
shutting it out, is the great trouble of tents, instead of walled dwellings.
Tiie town is developing. On the north side, at the base, I have found the
wall of the first (Amorite ?) town, thirty feet thick, of brickwork ; and we
are now clearing along the inside of it. There, at the top of the same side,
I have the wall of the last town, possibly Rehoboam's fortification, but
most likely rather later ; and there is the gap of a gateway, and outside,
a platform of stones and probably steps leading down the mounds. Then
on the east (river) face I found a part of this same wall remaining,
though most of it has fallen away by the scour of the watercourse. On
the south I find the first town wall, I believe, again ; and I am tracing
other walls on that side also. I have begun a plan of the place, but
it is not much time I can take from looking after the men.

It is an unpromising place for a temple or sculptures. During the
Jewish period it is not likely that there was any shrine here, and to

226 JOURNALS OF MR, FLINDERS PETRIE.

re;icli the temple of the Araorite time we should need to remove all the
Jewish stuff, mau)^ mouths' work and heavy cost, before baring the
Amorite level. The only reason that I can work in all periods at once
is by the denudation of the river face ; but that only touches one
side of the town, and there may likely be no important buildings just
there.

I examine all the potsherds (and from 500 to 1,000 a day we
turn out) for marks, but as yet only three have been found, all of
the later period, in and by the last wall. This cannot l)e later than
the reoccupation after Sennacherib's attack, 713 B.C. (2 K. xviii, 13, 14,
xix, 8), and may be possibly Eehoboam's wall, 960 B.C. (2 Chron. xi, 9). In
it was a pot marked with the potter's marks, and not owner's. Unfortunately
1 know nothing in detail of Egyptian pottery between 1000 and 650 B.C.
So the difference can hardly be settled, but I incline to the earlier date.
Our further work has suggested that there is a series of walls, one over
the other, which I can trace by cleaning down the east face, from the
thirty feet Amorite wall to a thinnish wall at the top, probably about
700 B.C.

I find that there is another great and important town near here,
Tell Nejtleh, which, like this, was never occupied since Nebuchadrezzar,
or more probably Sennacherib. Unluckily the whole of it is covered with
an Arab cemetery, so that ordy just the edge of the slopes could be dug
into, until the day when these useless Arabs are cleared out, and a
reasonaltle people settled here. I dmed with the biggest sheikhs the
other night, and could not but feel what total barbarians they were ;
manners and customs I set aside, as they depend on taste ; but the utter
ignorance, and lack of all ideas outside of their daily life, and impossibility
of talking on any matter but what they had already talked of hundreds
of times, was crushing. I urged on the sheikh that if they would only
dam the deep watercourses and hold up the winter rains (which all run
down to the sea at present), they would have good water, and could
cultivate as they like with it, instead of being dependent on showers.
He only said that no one had a head to do that, and they did not care to
cultivate (beyond the interminable barley), as they might go anywhere,
at any time ; so the sooner they are moved off the better. They pay
5,000^. a year to the Government for what might bring in five millions in
proper hands.

ZOth April to *lth May, 1890.

The post brought in not only its regular allowance, but a lot of
arrears — letters from home, and newspapers. Probably these had been
detained for the Turkish censor to examine, for there is a long list of
proscribed papers and books in this enlightened rule, and prohibited
journals have to be sought for.

On the Tell we have been tracing the fortifications on the north and
west sides, where walling 10 or 12 feet high remains, buried in rubbish.

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 227

Also I found a wall to the great outline of the iuclosure, about 1,000 feet
across, which I must trace out. On the Tell one or two dated things
Jiave turned up : a Greek vase with pattern, which looks as late as the
Vth cent. B.C., and a chip of early red figured vase, about 450 B.C., or
400 probably ; showing that the Tell was reoccupied after the Captivity,
though only very slightly. Also a small coin, Persian or of Tarsos ?
bearded head. Rev. king attacking a ramj^ing lion. But as yet no
sculpture, inscription, or metal work, has been found. 1 see from Perrot
and Chipiez, however, how very little is known about Syrian pottery,
and how much the work here will help to put that on a firm basis. On
the river face of the Tell I have had the surface all cleared down at the
north end, and have spent hours there tracing out the sections of the
various brick-wall fortifications of the town. These are far the best
source for its history, when combined with the notices in the 0. T. of
Lachish. I can find 9 successive wallings : a huge Amorite wall, 28 feet
thick, two Amorite rebuildings on that ; then is a period of no walls,
but ruined habitations of rough stone, overthrown and spread about,
probably of the Judges' period. Then a fairly stout wall, 13 feet thick,
which must be Rehoboam's, then four small walls, rebuilt on the ruins
of that by different kings ; and, lastly, a thin and hasty wall on the top
of all, which must, I think, be due to Josiah, when he tried to keep out
Hophra, in 610 b.c. No one later than that would fortify down here
probably, and the Persian coin was just above the bottom of this
wall. The artificial mound is altogether 75 feet high, and the hill
under it 45 feet, making 120 feet altogether, in one slope down to the
stream.

The weather has been very tolerable till to-day, when it is 104° in
the shade ; and, as you may see, I cannot touch my writing without
smudging the ink, I am so moist. I have finished a plan of the place,
with 20-feet contours all over, which I have sent to the P. E. F.

There are some stirrings here ; for when I came there were 150
soldiers down in the Gaza district after some unruly Arabs, and they
seized and carried oif 13 sheikhs in irons to Jerusalem. Now, the other
day there was a skirmish between the Terabin and the Azizin down at
Nejileh, where I went last Sunday, with the result of eight killed — 5 of
one and 3 of the other — only leaving happily a blood balance of 2 to be
wiped out in future. The Effendi is, no doubt, of considerable use here,
as he is well known to be a Pasha's man at Jerusalem, and they would
think twice before getting into a scrape by interfering with him. So
far we are on very good terms with the sheikhs here, though the under-
lings do continually steal our men's donkeys, and try to screw a ransom
for them when discovered : the four donkeys taken have all been
recovered. The country will never be worth anything until all these
savages are thrust back into the deserts they came from, and kept there
by a border garrison. Then, with proper water storage, which would
cost next to nothing, this might be a thickly populated land, and very
profitable. As it is, most of its profit goes into the hands of corn dealers

228 JOURNALS OF ME. FLIKDEKS PETKIE.

of Gaza, wlio buy up the Bedawin ci'ops, and export them to France, &o.
Oh 1 joy ! here is a cool wind down to 96\ and I am feeling quite lively.
Next day is better, a pleasant west wind, only about 95°. It is miserable
work driving these wretchedly lazy Syrians this hot weather in Ramadan.
They are desperately thirsty, and I constantly find a man lying down
asleep. Sometimes a fellow who is out of the way does absolutely nothing
for hours, between one visit to him and another ; and dismissals seem to
have no effect on the survivors, for I clear off' about one-quarter to one-
third of the men every week, and have fresh ones, who prove even laziei'.
It is most untoward that I should have been cast on a hot Ramadan to
work such people.

We have had a fine pair of snakes dug out in the work, 7 feet long
each, bright and steely grey. Though hot, it is very dry, as may be
imagined when the wet bulb is 28° below dry, 96° and 68°.

I have said nothing yet about the awful subject of coinage here. It
stands thus : every place has its own valuation of all the coins in an
arbitrary standard which does not exist. Thus the sovereign is 137
piastres at Jerusalem, 154 at Jaff'a, 274 here. And every other coin
varied in proportion. That there is no such thing as the nominal piastre
in existence is a fearful puzzle to the beginner. Why the rate varies
thus in each place no one can tell ; it is supposed to somehow be a device
of the Jewish changers for securing profits, but no one knows why or
how. Then the small coins are all odd fractions of the nominal piastre—

b O l-g S 3 0 12

worth respectively about—

5d. ^\d. \d. \d. \d. \d. j\d.
though I always think of them in Egyptian piastres or francs,

(2.) From a Letter.

I went over to dine at the biggest sheikh's the other night. A blessed
simplicity in going out to dinner without collar or socks, and kicking oft"
your boots and sitting squat, barefoot. The notion that Ramadan fasting
mortifies the body is a monstrous fallacy ; true, great discomfort and
incapacity result from it, but as it is made up by gorging at night with
extra delicacies, and thinking of nothing but the perfect gorge all the
weary day, it is hard to devise a more perfect way of making the question
of the stomach all in all. We all sat round the mutton and
messes put in the dingy copper-tinned dishes, waiting for the Gaza gun,
which announces the lawful moment for feeding. Once or twice it was
thought to be heard, at last every one grabbed snatches of flesh off" the
sheep, and pinches of rice and sundry odd dainties. To get any conver-
sation out of them was impossible. I tried to make talk to the sheikh,
but in vain. They seem incapable of connected ideas or thoughts ; at
first I thought I misunderstood them, but it was too true. The Arab
has a vast balance of romance put to his credit very needlessly. He is as

JOUKNALS OF MR. FLINDEES PETRIE. 229

disgustingly incapable as most other half savages, and no more worth
romancing about than Red Indians or Maories. I shall be glad to return
to the comparatively sensible and shrewd Egyptians.

Gth to \2th May, 1890.

Around the walls of the north-west we have done a good deal. The
whole of the main wall of fortification (Rehoboam'sj is now found at that
part and planned ; we have also found the thickness of it at several
parts, and I am clearing out the north-west tower, which is a good piece
of ground to work, as it is clear of crops, with a steep fall around it to
carry away the stuff, and some large stones already uncovered there in our
work. Outside and below that I am tracking along tlie outside of the
first Amorite wall, mainly for the sake of the chance of early pottery in
the black ash earth. It would be too heavy a business to work it all
along, as the earth is about 20 feet deep outside it.

On the south side, just at the edge of the cliff washed away by the
wady, we lit on some masonry ; and by the level I should say it could not
be later than Rehoboam, and might probably be earlier. There is but
little left, about two courses of small stones on each side of an entrance 5
feet wide ; unhappily most of the building it led into has been washed away.
But this masonry is very valuable, as it is drafted work with rough
central lump, but there is no trace of comb-pick dressing, it is all the
hammer-work, which I already believe to be Phoenician. At last we
have some positive datum as to stone dressing, which is absolutely clear
of the suspicion of Herodian origin. I have photographed the stones.
There are two steps at one side of this masonry, which we are clearing
and following. Then at a rather higher level, but well within the mound
in level strata, and about half way up, or not later than the early Kings,
we found more masonry, some fine white limestone paving, broken
blocks, and a slab of wall facing. On this block is a precious example of
ai'chitectural decoration, about 4 feet high. In low relief, about an inch
forward, is half of a pilaster with volute top. The edge of the block
is slightly projecting : perhaps a corner ornament of a room, with a
similar half on the other wall. I had a paper mould on it within a couple
of hours, and so I shall be able to make a plaster slab cast in London.
The block itself is broken in two, and happily the Effendi and the
Kaimakam are not impressed with it, and will probably not want it re-
moved. If it could go straight to any safe museum, it would be well, but
probably it would never reach Stambul, and if it did, it would be used for
old stone in building. So I contemned it to the authorities, and probably
shall be able to leave it buried here for some future opportunity. It is
too large and heavy for me to wish to do anything with it at present.
But it is a very interesting find, as we have no such complete piece of
Jewish decoration before.

It is most like the pilaster in the chamber by the Haram at Jerusalem,
but the main value is its completeness, showing the base and the volute

2:iO JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE.

entire. I cannot photograph it until the work hole is larger, so I have
turned it face down for the present to avoid injury.

The chamber fallen in, as I thought it to be, now proves to be a well,
but I am not certain about clearing it out, as it will be 60 feet deep to

INSCRIBED FRAGMENT OF POTTERY FROM TELL HESY.

water, and I have no rope ladders, as they were borrowed long ago by
Schumacher. Moreover, I see the side of it still extends up to the level
of about 700 B.C. ; and may have been higher still, so that we should not
get any early things from it.

To my surprise. Dr. Cobern (whom I met in Cairo waiting to go to
M. Naville) turned up on Thursday, and has stayed on with me for five
days, a very pleasant change of society from the continual Etfendi. Then
Count D'Hulst and Dr. Goddard came on Friday and stayed a day on
their way to Jerusalem.

And then the Kaimakam and officer in command at Gaza came over
to stay a day or two with the Effendi. Happily the Kaimakam quite
agrees with the Effendi that the broken pottery is quite useless and
insignificant.

I2th to 19th May, 1890.

There is very little to report, as we have been mainly clearing away
stuff from large spaces. The general state of things is that I have cut
into about every space available without working in crops. To dig the
crop land would be fully double cost, as not only must we buy the crops,
but the Arabs insist that we must level the ground again. All the
trenching, sometimes over 20 feet deep, and all the clearing of the section
on the east side, on the valley cliff, has only produced two stone buildings.
Tioth are, happily, in regions which I can clear out, so that, having
traced the walls as far as I can, I have now put nearly all the men on to
these buildings.

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 23 1

One is masonry, in the north-west tower, or bastion ; it is very rough,
but built of squared blocks from an older wall. So we are clearing the
whole space of that bastion, as there might be bits of sculpture or inscrip-
tion used up in this later wall. The other building is by the east face
and under the bare south slope of the tell ; it is where we found the
])ilaster slab last week and some drafted masonry. On clearing about it,
I see that the pilaster slab belongs to a much earlier date than the drafted
masonry, perhaps 900 and 600 B.c. respectively ; and the drafted stone
gateway and a flight of steps by the side of it were built in the later
wall, being the entrance to the town on this side, contemporary with the
wall.

To go far in this clearing would be serious. I am already cutting away
10 to 20 feet deep of earth to reach it, and to clear it from the crop land on
the top of the mound would be 30 feet deep. For the same reason I
have ceased to clear along the Amoiite wall on the north ; we had to cut
out 20 feet deep, and never fovmd anything but broken pottery. Some
way further on I tried a trench to reach it, but not finding it when about
20 feet deep I then tunnelled, and had to go a dozen feet in before I
reached it.

By trenching and undermining I brought down about 50 tons of earth
in a lump, and so saved a deal of cutting, as it was a hard wall.

I8th to 26th May, 1890.

As I was quite out of money, and Dr. Elliott had kindly drawn for me
at Jerusalem, I had to go to Gaza to get cash. I found Dr. Elliott and
Dr. Bailey, who has been loc. ten. at the dispensary while Dr. E. was up
at Jerusalem. This dispensary is a very serious affair, as they have it
three times a week, and out-patients as well, at the rate of 12,000 a year.
To get to Gaza is a long day there and back. I rode a donkey for 13 miles ;
then left it with Muhammed, and walked on five miles to Gaza, a matter
of six hours altogether, and six hours back again. The last hour was
dark, and we lost the road and had to track across fields by star guidance.
I was walking ; as Muhammed was so fagged by Ramadan, I let him ride.
In all, it was 20 miles donkey and 16 of walking for me. After about
eight days' work we have cut back the face of the cliff, a thick slice of
5 or 6 feet, and can reach more of the stonework. We find more pave-
ment with charcoal and burnt earth on it, evidently from the burning of
a building ; and another slab with pilaster on it, like the first one, so if
we could have duplicates I could have brought one away. However, I
have taken a good paper mould of it and photograph. The form of the
volute at the top is just the same, and also the slight swell out in the
shaft at the base.

With regard to the date, more details have appeared, and I do not
think it could be later than Uzziah (800 b.c), and more likely of Asa or
liehoboam (970).

Q 2

232 . JOURNALS OF MR, FLINDERS PETRIE.

I lind on that side of the town a tliick brick wall high np, some 35
feet through ; this can hardly be later than Maiiasseh, who garrisoned the
fenced cities (G50 B.C.), and is the last king recorded as attending to the
defences. This was built over the glacis of a previous defence, formed of
blocks of stone, bedded in the slope of earth, and plastered over smoothly,
at about 40" slope. This glacis may very likely be a hasty work before
Sennacherib's siege in 713 ; at least, it is not likely to be later. But this
has been made after some 10 feet of earth had accumulated by the aide of
a large brick building, 86 feet long, divided in chambers. This de|)th
would probably take a century to accumulate, placing the long building
back to Uzziah's buildings in 800. And the long building is 10 feet over
the pavement, and remains of the stone building, which would go back
therefore to about 900 B.C., or to Jehosa])hat, who did much in garrisoning
and building. I have taken the shortest intervals that are at all likely for
these successive stages ; and, looking at it in the broadest way, the pave-
ment is about half-way between the top (500 b.c.) and the bottom of the
Auiorite town, which I concluded to be 1500 B.C., roughly, so thus we
should get 1000 b.c. for the building, or rather later, allowing for the
slack time of construction under the Judges, bringing on to about 950 B.C.
So it seems fairly likely that this stonework must date to about 950 or
900 B.C. of Rehoboam, Asa, or Jehoshaphat. The drafted stone gateway
and steps which I mentioned befoi-e seem as if belonging to the glacis
period, about 700 B.C., as the steps lead up to the line of glacis^ in which
tlie staircase was probably continued, though now all lost in the valley.
Certainly the great 25-feet brick wall was built over both the steps and
the glacis. The curious volute on the jjilaster is evidently the Asiatic
type, which later became the Ionic capital. As such it is of value in the
history of Greek motives, as well as of unique importance for Jewish art.
It seems evidently designed from a ram's horn, and such a decoration of
wooden pillars would be not uidikely (compare the Greek decoration of
houkrania). But the iTumediate idea before the sculptor seems to have
been a horn of metal work, to judge by the uniform calibre of the volute.
"We can hardly refuse to see hei'e the form of the " horns of the altar,"
and not standing up, as usually supposed. There is nothing to prove
whether they were rams' or bulls' horns, and the binding the sacrifice with
cords to the horns, and Adonijah and Joab catching hold of the horns of
the altar, do not prove the shape either way. I do not remember any
other mention of the horns. The pavement remaining of this building
is laid on a bed of about 4 inches of yellow sand, which yet remains
where the stone has been removed. One slab of stone stands upright,
but has only been so placed by some re-builders, as on it is a graffito of a
lion (?), but upside down. I need hardly say that I carefully clean and
examine every surface of smooth stone in search of graffiti or inscrip-
tions. At last the misery of Ramadan is over and people venture to
use salt again, which they dare not, when they nnist not drink all the
day. As a negro guard remarked the happy evening it was over, " By my
God, Ramadan was beastly !" and howls and shouts of " Ramadan goes !

JOURNALS OF MK. FLINDERS PETKIE. 233

llamadan goes ! go to your father, oh son of a dog ! " greeted the last
sunset.

Probably people who have not seen the place will cry out aghast at
the idea of leaving any chance of a building of the Jewish kings not
being utterly cleared out ; but I have done all that was under the lower
part of the cliff, and now it is a matter of cutting 30 feet depth of stuff
to reach any more of that level, and, moreover, cutting into the crop land,
which will need some rowing with the Arabs about compensation. When
one has to remove the height of a three-storey house before reaching the
ground wanted, it needs a good prospect to make it worth while. I shall
take another slice off the face, four or five feet, and mine into it, leaving
buttresses, and then inform the Pasha that work is susjjended here for
four months, as he agreed for the hot season. If then this is prefeired
to any other place for work, it can again be attacked in October, but I
think some less encumbered sites would be better ; and, at least, this
cc)uld be taken up in future years if there is nothing better. There is no
chance of anyone interfering with such a tough place, and all the weather-
ing and falls of the cliff, which are sure to happen, will be in favour of
later work.

I have got some improvement in the men at last, and most of them
work at least just passably, so long as they are watched. At first the
only difference between watching them and not seemed to be that,
in one case you always saw them doing nothing, and in the
other you never saw them doing anything. But I have weeded
and weeded almost daily, until of the first 26 there are but 4 left,
of next week's 10 only 4 left, of the next 8 only 2 left ; and of 12
only 4 ; of 8 only 3, and this residue is the pick of the place, and
they do moderately. I had a row at the end of Ramadan, as, instead
of half-liour's rest at 10 a.m. and leaving off at 4, I gave 2^ hours at
lOj, so that they should be recruited for the afternoon work, and required
them to go on till 6. While I was at the other side, all of one-half the
men broke off at their own fancy about 5, and went down to their
evening wash at the stream. I sighted them and pitched into them, and
one or two were impudent. I paid off four at once, and only ceased dis-
charging on all the rest promising to keep to my hours in future. Next
afternoon I hung about that part making measurements, and, well sup-
plied with change in my pocket, and ready to pay off instantly any-
one who proposed to stop. But the effect of the four going (and
not being taken back after most urgent entreaty of everytjne up to
the Eti:endi) had completely settled them, and not one slacked in liis
work till I whistled them off. But I doubt if I could ever get them up to
Egyptian obedience ; at Naukratis I have known them go on working
after sunset, because I was delayed at some special point and could not
whistle off.

I now see that our building is not of stone, but only of mud brick,
like the rest of the town, though it had stone doorways, and these
pilaster slabs facing some part about the doors. There are also pieces of

234 JOURNALS OF MR. FLINl^ERS PETKIE.

cavetto-nionMing like that of the rock-shrine at Siloam, and of a rib
moulding which runs under the cavetto.

The whole place was burnt, and plundered for stone, and then re-used
with a rough re-setting of some slabs. I doubt if we shall get any more
stone by cutting further, unless we were to clear away a great distance
in, and so reach some other doorways of the same building. I have a
slight third dose of influenza, sore throat, very sleepy and lazy, developing
into a sort of causeless cold in head and chest. Happily the returns are
slighter and will wear away ; but it is astonishing what a virulent and
persistent infection it is. A third pilaster slab has been found, set upside
down in its re-use.

^Ith May to \st June, 1890.

This wretched influenza still plagues me, and I made it much worse
by dining with the Efl"endi and the Bimbasha out of doors one night. As
I had refused the Etfendi's invitation the night before, on the ground
of business, even when he announced that he would not eat unless I came,
I felt it would be uncivil not to go, even at the cost of a cold on the chest.
Happily his socialities are over ; he has gone again to Gaza, and will
oidy return here on his way to Jerusalem, on Saturday, end of the
month.

A grand riddance has been the harvesting here, leaving the ground
clear to get about. Hitherto I have had to go about five times the direct
distance round the crops, to get at the work, up and down hill too. I
tried buying out the crop on the tell, and a path to it, by ofi'ering fully
the value of the grain, when reaped and threshed, five weeks before it
was got in ; and the fool of an Arab thought to get more, and would not
take it. Then, about a week before harvest, he came round to my terms,
but too late, for I did not then want the ground or paths, and I had
bought fodder all the time for the donkey, and did not want the crop for
feeding. He was paid out for his troublesomeness, for the Arabs, who
came constantly to stare about the work, trampled his crops mercilessly.
He comes for eye lotion in the meekest way now, and he has learned some
lessons by this time ; among others, that what is said will be done ; and
instead of futile rows, such as we had daily at first, he is now quite
content with my assurance that I will level the crop ground again before
I leave. So soon as the reapers were over the ground within a few hours
I had the men sinking pits all about the crop land, to test the depth of
the earth. I find that the ground close to the tell is just like that all
over the enclosure ; only a few feet of made soil with Amorite pottery
and a little later stuff", and then native clay. The town had no suburb,
but was strictly limited by its walls.

A question of manners. Query, when a man greets you in a narrow
path by drawing his sword, flourishing it about, and seizing you by the
arm, what should you do ? I had no precedents, so I fell back on intui-

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 235

ti^/e perceptions, and tuMed him tinder the chin — a light and sufficiently
deprecatory way of meeting such advances, as I presume. I have made
the fresh cut down the face, but found no more stone, " and never
expected I should." I have cleared the fourth doorway, and found the
fourth pilaster slab, and we should have to go a long way into the 30-feet
land to reach to the west end. I am doing a little tunnelling along the
insides of the north and south walls, but the whole cliff is not worth
clearing, I think. There is some puzzle about these pilaster slabs, as the
later two I found were upside down (lining the side of the doorway),
according to our notions. That the stone in the building was re-used is
proved by the lion graffito upside down in one of the door-posts, and I
can only suppose that the pilaster slabs were inverted in order to get the
tliickest part of the stone, to cut the hole for the door lock or fastening.
But it is strange that all the half pilasters are left-handed. Another
point that shows they did not belong to this position originally, is that
they are not nearly high enough for a whole doorway, being 3 feet 9 and
4 feet \h high, so they must have been eked out by brickwork above, as
their top edges are not dressed flat. The stone lintels were only facing
slabs. I found one full heiglit (though broken) shewing both the top
and the under edge duly photographed (stereoscopically), measured, and
buried, also a second duly recorded. I have got some notion now as to
the classes of pottery and their range.

The Amorite pottery extends from about 1500-900 B.C., and the
Phcenician and Cypriote begins about 1000 and goes to "700 B.C. Then
the Greek influence begins at 700, and continues to the top of the town.
I get the approximate dates, by the age of the walls, from historical
presumption This is just what might be expected from quite other
considerations. The Jews were under Amorite (Canaanite) influences
entirely until Solomon. Then the Phoenician trade set in 1000 B.C. with
Hiram, and soon the Phaniician drowned out the native style by 900 B.C.
That the Greek influence should come in by 700 is not surprising, when
we know that by 670 the Greeks were stronger than the native Egyptian
troops in Egypt.

I had a good illustration of how hopeless it is to excavate without
constant watching. The morning my cold was worst I did not get out till
6.30, instead of 5, as usual. I found that the men had in two places been
carrying oif earthbanks, which I had specially made to cover over buried
blocks of stone ; result, labour wasted. I sat a long time watching them,
feeling too bad to stand, and at last, urged by my man, I gave full direc-
tions, and went back to my tent for two hours. When I came out again
I found that a man had cut right across a buttress which I had left to
support the earth-face, and so not only made the buttress useless but
dangerous as well. The result was that for a whole day he was occupied
in getting at the almost inaccessible top of the buttress and cutting it
away. The face being then 20 or 25 feet high, any undercutting below
was most troublesome to remedy. All this high cliff cutting is worked
into bays with buttresses between as the strongest way to leave such

236' JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE.

earth ; and now we are tunnelling in at the bottom of the bays. The
result of the tunnelling has been to find another doorway on the south
side of the building, which I have marked in as "door found later" on
the preceding plan. But there is only a threshold pavement, and no
side posts, or pilaster slab at the side of the doorway, as in the four
other doorways. It is most diliicult to get these fellows to go as
you tell them. I found a bit of brick face in a man's hole. sh(>w-
ing where the wall came, and specially told him to leave it, and deepen
the hole elsewhere ; in five minutes he had hacked away tlie very brick
J wanted ke])t. Another man's work I marked out exjH-essly to follow
the line of a wall, and explained to him. When I came round again he
Avas cutting away the wall, according to a whim of his own that it ran in
a totally different way. I have been racing the work as hard as I can
the last three days to track the great wall through the crop land, and 1
have just about done it. Bat the face twists and turns, with bends and
buttresses, so that it is very diflicult, and the bricks are all but the same
as their washed down diihris agahist them. I only get on by laying
out feeler pits in advance, so that wherever it turns we are sure to get
at it. This saves time, though it does not save labour.

I have now finished up, and shall pack in the next few days, and then
travel round the country for a week to Jaffa, as I liojie, my cold being
much better, and the weather fairly bearable — 80°-90^ So no more
letters need be expected till I arrive, which will; I suppose, be a fortnight
later than this letter.

\st to ^nth June, 1890.

I was reckoning on sending one of my village guards with the baggage
to Jaffa, and taking the other with nie as a walking companion, leaving
my man to go with my camel man. But all my plans dissolved merci-
lessly. First one guard and then the other said they must go otF to
harvesting. Then tlie Arab guards did not stay by day, and when my
man went off (as he was fond of doing) I was left entirely alone to look
after three tents, some way apart, and to do my packing.

Not a man could I get out of all my workers to come and fill in the
holes in the crop-land, everybody went to harvest. Then the difficulty
came to get anyone res]>onsible to send with my baggage to Jatta. At
last I agreed to oend 30 miles to Jinizu for the fiist camel-man I had.
But no one would go ; so I had to send one of my Arab guards. When
the camel-man came he was alone, for no one would come with the second
camel.

So he had to be sent to Jaffa with the baegao-e, in which there was a
large sum in gold, surjjlus funds, which I thought that the best way to
get back safely ; I put it in the bottom of a tin box full of photograjihic
plates, the weight of which would prevent thieves suspecting anything

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS I'ETRIE. 237

below them, and of course no one had a notion about it. Then my Arab
guards refused to go with me to tlie next village eastwards— Dawaimeli —
as they had a feud there and dare not show them.selves. So I had to
give up my zigzag exploring, and stick by the camel with my man,
Muhammed, only. In fact, not a single one of the villagers or of the
Arabs could I get to go a mile with me, one because of harvest, the
others because of their squabbles. The other day I saw dozens of sheikhs
all riding past to go and see the Pasha at Gaza. They fell out by the way,
and at a village, Beit Hanun, two were killed.

We slowly wound our way up from 300 to 900 feet into the hills,
and the only sites I could visit were er ResClm, where there are large
ruins of stones, but Roman age by a tablet, and a bit of moulding. Then
close to Dawaiineh I saw Mejdeleh, where a building of largish stones,
live courses in part, remains. Stones are drafted, and probably Herodian ;
Roman pottery lay about.

On the way I was astonished at the hills being covered with an
emerald crop of young durra (maize), which grows here without any rain
in dryish ground.

The Dawaimeh folk are a decent lot, but their water supply is tea
ready made ; when poured out in a thin stream from a kettle it is dark
brown, strong tea colour. The guards were most troublesome, however,
about talking at night ; they had talked all their lives, and the pernicious
habit clung to them. I only got stray dozes, until about 3, in despair,
1 rolled up some blankets and walked off down the valley, and found
a cave where I settled ; there was a hole at the end suggestive of
jackals or wolves, but I got some sleep there. I was not astir till
the sun was high, and so lost my time for looking over the ruins about
there.

I went to Mejdeleh again, and looked at the tombs there. Tlien after
breakfast we packed up, and moved on to Edh Uhaherlyeh. After starting
Muhammed went back and asked a man to come as guide, as the road
was of a very slight and rough kind over the hills. After some time we
reached Deir el Asl, and a huge well, Bir el 'Asl, now all but dry. I
went up the hill to look about it, but, as might be expected from the
name, it is all Roman. Muhammed and the guide stayed by the well,
and some of the men harvesting there from Dura were inquisitive as to
my baggage. We went on up the hills, a rugged trace of a path, where
the camel and donkey could hardly get footing. At the top the guide
said he would not go further, as he had objected at first to going all the
way, and Muhammed tried to persuade him to come on, yet strange to
say he did not clamour for his pay. We went a little fai ther on the top
of the hills, the camel straggling on in advance, I next, and Muhammed
riding the donkey behind.

Suddenly I saw a man, with his face tied across up to the eyes, pass
from one bush to another over the road, and I guessed mischief. Then
two, three, and at last four, showed themselves, all with faces titd
aci^oss.

238 JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE.

Tliey seized the camel and threatened to fire ; I also threatened,
being about 30 yards behind, and two of them tried to close behind me,
but I backed up a slope to one side, revolver in hand. I then reckoned
that there was nothing worth much on the camel, but as I had eight or
ten pounds in my pocket, I had better get rid of it. Meanwhile
Muhammed had run back to fetch up the guide (whom he found quietly
sitting down), and it was no use for me alone to tackle four, as there was
a pistol and foiir swords among them, and stones all about handy and
continually doing duty. So I backed away towards cover, and when
Muhammed and the guide appeared they and the camel load completely
occupied the four men, and I dropped my purse and bag of change into
two bushes ; leaving by accident, rather fortunately, a roll of j-mejidis
in my pocket, about 8s. or lOs. worth, and there was Jiothing worth the
risks of bloodshed on either side. The men were Fellahin and not
Arabs, and not at all bent on stripping us, but only on some small loot.
They did not attempt to search all the baggage, but grabbed out a new
suit and a couple of flannel shirts from my portmanteau, and got hold of
a waistcoat of Muhammed's, which had about 30s of his and, unluckily,
about bOs. which the camel man had entrusted to him for safety, and
which I did not know of. My revolver was the main attraction, and all
four made a rush for me ; as the money was safe I took it quietly, and
let them find that it was quite needless to grab me by the throat. They
were immensely disgusted that I had hardly any money (the j-mejidis
were enough for a show), and they turned my pockets inside out, felt
me all over, and searched for a money-belt, but in vain. The elder
man particularly returned to me my note-book, measure, and handker-
chief.

Altogether I think the business was conducted quite as jileasantly as
such affairs ever are. They then made ofi' down the road we had come,
to Deir el 'Asl. I had some difliculty in making Muhammed collect his
mind to the needful business of roping up the camel again, tying the cut
ropes, &c. I sat down to make notes of what was gone, by where my
money lay, so that if the robbers were watching to see if I ^aicked up
anything they should not detect it. I then pocketed it, and we went on.
I had forgotten to take off my watch, and one of the robbers was much
disposed to have it, but I immediately reminded him that it was
numbered, and that decided them to leave it. The whole afi"air was much
of a scuffle and there was not time to be too precise in one's arrangements.
Happily all my note books and papers are safe. We soon found our guide-
man gone on ahead. What share had he in it? He could not have con-
spired at Dawairaeh, as he was only picked up suddenly at Muhammed's
choice at the last moment. He cannot have conspired at Deir el 'Asl, as
he was with Muhammed all the time. But I think he saw the men go off
before us at Deir el 'Asl, and suspected mischief, and hence his reluctance
to go on. That he went on afterwards all the way looks, on the one hand,
as if he was not really anxious to return, on the other hand, as if he had
no thought of being charged with complicity. On the whole I should not

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 239

accuse him. The thieves were almost certainly not from Dawaimeh, as I
had there said to everyone that I was going by a different road to that
which the guide took.

We reached Dhaheriyeh about an hour before sunset, owing to the
delays, and pitched in a high north wind. The cold wind, after being
heated in the valleys, gave me a sore throat. Eeally the result of the
robbei-'s grip, as I had it for weeks after. I wrote a full account and
inventory of stolen goods to the acting Consul, W. H. Kayat, a Syrian,
at Jerusalem, Mr. Moore being gone to England ; and a line to the Halls,
as I thought they would hear some exaggerated report of it, and also
asking them to order a new suit for me at Jaffa. These I send off by a
horseman as soon as the moon rose, and expect now to hear of soldiers,
&c., in the next few days. The messenger was to be paid at the Con-
sulate ; he is a wild maundering-looking sJierif with long locks.

It is a very hot day with east wind and burning sun, so I shall do very
little until the evening. Everything feels hot to the touch, showing that
it is well over 98°, and here I am, 2,000 feet above the sea, so what it is
in the plain, I cannot guess. After, a cool west breeze sprang up and
blew hard, it was still 97° by the clinical thermometer. This is well
named Dhahertyeh, as it is at the back of the world in both senses, being
on the high ridge between the Dead Sea and Philistia, and being at the
end of all things without any settled habitation south of this, away,
away, right down to Arabia.

Three coins were brought to me, none worth buying as they had been
much ground down by the finders, and as I could see at a glance what
they were. Two were potin of Antioch under Trajan, and the other a
denarius of Trajan. They are good historically, as, being all of one time,
they point strongly to the buildings about here being of that reign, when
there was a great consolidation in the East, as witness the only coins of
Nineveh, under Trajan. There is a fine stone building just by my tent,
and a very civil man asked me to go round into a courtyard to see more
of it : arched passages, two great chambers and a staircase.

The people here are far from agreeable, quite a different manner to
the Dawaimeh folks. There is onl}' one pleasant and intelligent man I
have yet seen, who showed me the coins and the building. The others
are always prowling and peering about as if trying to see if they could
steal. When I went only a mile from the village, among the harvesters
of the place, I was cursed and tiireatened with a big stone, and now the
night guards began to refuse to come, although well paid. This is all so
nasty that I have buried what gold I have, and packed all my irre-
placeable note books and papers together, clear of my other baggage, and
ready to save them if nothing else. I can't expect every thief to return
my note books. The Sheikh is away harvesting, and every man seems to
do what is right in his own eyes. Happily, I can always get up to Hebron
on foot in foui- hours from here, in case of a row, and there is the German
inn to fall back on there. The people here refuse us water, except for
payment. I went all over the hills about this village, and though there

240 JOURXALS OF MFi FLINDERS PETRIE.

are plenty of natural cave dweliings, &c., yet there is not a bit of Amorite
or even Jewish pottery ; what little there is, is Greek or Roman. Then
I went on a round walk with a native, but he did not know much of the
country. However, he got great faith in the map, from my predictions,
and was willing to go as I wanted. We went to Shuweikeh (Socoh) but
all the buildings are late, and the main one is a moscpie. 'J'hen on to Deir
es Shems, but, as the name shows, it is Roman, late pottery and tesserte
abound. Then on to Es Semua (Eshtemoah), which is still inhabited ;
but Roman work all over the place, and a large castle which they attribute
to ^lamun, and probably is Arabic. Then to Ra-fat, but again a mosque
and late buildings. Then to Attir (Jattir), where the buildings seem
again late. Then to Zandta (Zanoah), where again there is a ruined
mosque. In short, none of these Jewish sites show a trace of remains
older than the Roman rule of the district, and the active civilization
which seems to have remained here into early Arabic times. I suspect
that the Jews here were a skin-and-wood-using people, and did not make
j)ottery any more than the modern people. Though there was a good
breeze all day, it was hot wind ; and I only took one bottle of water, and
was fearfully thirsty. At Zanfita I lay flat on my back for half an hour,
done for ; the thirst made my heart so troublesome up the hills ; for
though the actual distance was only about 16 miles, the hills were
certainly equal to half as much again.

The harvesting of the ants is everywhere to be seen ; and how anyone
can have doubted tliat the ants (either grubs or mature) do use grain,
seems impossil)le. Not only are the tracks leading out of the cornfields
converging all on to the mouths of the ant holes, but every ant hole has
about it a fringe of husks and chips carried out as waste naaterial. The
debris is proof positive that the useful material has been consumed. At
the present nK)n)ent there is a line of ants, ench struggling with a grain
of barley which they are carrying oft" from what is spilt from the dcnkey's
food

At last, after nearly three days, my messenger returns from Jerusalem,
with a reply from Mr. Kayat that he will make a strong representation
to the local authorities on the subject.

I want the soldiers to appear about here before I move to Hebi'on, for
otherwise I expect to be robbed again. My camel man (who has safely
delivered my boxes at Jafia) was stopped between Hebron and here, and
searched for valuables, on his way down this morning. I hear also that
the Arabs are busy, and have carried off" sundry cattle, horses, donkeys,
&c., in a raid.

I went on a short day's round with a man again, feeling rather lazy
in the morning after yesterday. I went first to Somerah (Shamir), where
there are many ruins, but all late apparently, with Roman pottery about,
and some very debased moulding. On two slabs I saw curious basin
hollows, with grooves, altogether too small for collecting rain-water ;
perhaps for clothes-washing, where water was scarce. Thence to some
wide-spread ruins called, altogether, 'Anab. A mosque remains there

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE, 241

entire ; but there is a puzzling point in the lintel having ornamental
crosses on it. Is it possible for Muslims to have not objected to putting
them up prominently thus ? Yet the kibla niche is certainly the same
age as the building. A short way oflf are the foundations of a church,
with a regular apse, and two pillars remaining. If Tiberias is the palace
of the king of the fleas, assuredly 'Anab is a "hunting box" of his.
While I was just measuring the mosque I welcomed a large population,
insomuch that I afterwards picked off 20 from the outside of my
clothes ; and how many more were inside, I will not venture to guess.
From 'Anab, I went to Aseilah and Eesm el Muketat, where are very
similar ruins, but the latter probably Herodian by the bossing of the
stones.

Then to Umm Deimnah (Madmanneh) where there are many mure
ruins, with two lintels bearing crosses, which prove the late date.

At Umm Kusab there were again similar ruins. Nowhere to-day
did I see a fragment of Amorite or Jewish pottery. The old Sheikh of
the village has turned up at last, very civil and pleasant, and will keep
folks in order, I hope. All my country of to-day is sown with darra, and
we did not meet a single person or see any one on the hills, from leaving
to returning to Dhdherlyeh ; the corn harvest in the other valleys occupies
every one.

Next day I made another round to Domeh (Dumah), where tliere are
Roman building and pottery and another early mosque. Then to Kurza,
where there are some more Roman buildings and a spring half way up the
hill, far above the level of innumerable caverns lower down. The water
is reached by a well aVout 20 feet deep, very narrow, lined with rough
blocks, and my guide went down and drank and washed and refreshed
himself for some time. Then on to RabAd (? a Rabbath) ; the west part
Roman, but tlie main hill is the first pre -Roman i)lace I have seen about
here ; the pottery is mostly about GOO B.C. and some perhaps 800 B.C. ;
but nothing Greek or Roman. Rabtyeh near it is nearly all Roman.
Here my guide— whom really I guide— stuck behind, praying, he says,
sleeping, I tliiuk, and didn't follow me up to £s Simla, and I saw nothing
more of him until long after I had got back to my tent. Es Simla is a
large place— streets of buildings of .Irafted stones. Tessera and Roman
pottery show the late date of it. This morning- a lad came and said he
heard I was packing up ; if not, when was I going ? This evening a man
lounges up, puts his head in, and cross-questions me persistently
as to when I am going, is it to-morrow, or in two days ? or in four
days'? All this looks as if some one was intending to overhaul oiu-
baggage on the way. There is no sign of soldiers, nor any result of the
"strong representation" from the acting Consul, though it is three days
since, and this is only 9 hours' ride from Jerusalem. I rather think of
quietly going off to Hebron and telling the Kaimakam that he must send
a soldier to escort the camel and bf.ggage.

Next day I determined to go up to Hebron with an escort of villagers
So after packing the things all ready <|uietly in the tent, I suddenly sent

242 JOURNALS OF ME. FLINDERS PETRIE.

for the Sheikh, who came, very reasonable and polite as before, and
appointed three men to go with us. Another man, a pedlar with a
tlonkey, was also going, so with the camel driver, Muhammed, and
myself we were seven. I got off as quickly as possible after letting
out that we were going, so as to leave less time for any party to waylay
us. What with the crops, and not going far from the party, I could
see but little of the ruins on the way. The two springs at Ain Dilbeh
and Ain Hejeri make a beautiful green patch of cultivation, and it
seems to me almost certain that they are the "upper aud the nether
springs" which Caleb gave to his daughter. From the account they
must have lain between Hebron aud Dhahertyeh, and nearer to
Hebron probably, and one being much higher up than the other exactly
agrees to the upper and nether. Khurbet Kan'an I went over, but
it is Roman.

As soon as I had pitched tent at Hebi'on, by the spring on the
Jerusalem road, I went off to see the Kaimakam as to my robbery, since
Dura is all in his district. He was not in the office so late in the after-
noon, but no letter whatever had come about the business. Here is
Thursday, and Mr. Kayat's " strong representation " was to be made on
Monday. If I had disregarded the consulate altogether and sent to the
Kaimakam direct, I should probably have had all my things by this time.
As it is nothing ha^ been done. The suspicious guide had told his
niece (who lives at Dhaherlyeh) that if I would give a little I could have
all my things again ; this proves that he does know the thieves, and,
moreover, that it only needs a touch of Government force to make them
restore the clothes, &c.

Next morning I went over to the Beit Khiiltl, the early ruin which
I saw with Dr. Chaplin. There I caught sight of an inscription, and then
lemembered how we had hunted for one said to exist by the well. This is

ADM N AC
A H M €-H

but very weathered. I presume it records one Domna, daughter of
Demetrius. The slip of ArjfXfTpi for ArjfirjTpt being a provincialism.
This lady must have been born about 210 a.d. (being named after
Julia Domna) and the inscription cut about 240 a.d. as a medium date.
Moreover, it was cut in its present place, as the inscription is on the
edge of the block which runs deep into the wall, and cannot therefore
be a re-used tomb-stone, as I at tirst supposed. This shows that
the building, &c., and the relining (in which this is) existed before the
time of Constantine, and cannot be his basilica. So far satisfactory ;
as my impression was and is that the building is Amorite or early
Jewish, and the relining is Herodian. I found the dressing marks
on the stones, and they are pre-Herodian being cut with a small
pick {long stroke dnssing I should call it) and not a comb pick. There

JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 243

are traces of a second inscription on a block by the side of Domna's :
this is BY IC /

I then went off after breakfast to look for the Kaimakam, but found,
contrary to what I had been told, that he would not come, being Friday.
So I made up my mind to stop a day and see him to-morrow. I let oflF
Muhammed and the camel man to go to the Haram, and wished that I
could have changed places with one of them, but it would be much as one's
life is worth to be caught inside.

Muhammed tells me that the masonry of the wall inside is like the out-
side, but much finer. Some day, when the French or Kussians come, the
Hebrouites will have their claws cut, and we shall be able to go all over
the place.

I then went off in the afternoon to see some other sites, but they all
])roved Roman. I heard a new variant on the regular Syrian curse.
Ikra heitak, " May your house be ruined ; " this was Ikra beit ahulc ala
natfit, " May the house of your father be ruined to bits." The Egyptian
ibn el Mb, " Sou of a dog," is here amplified to ibn sitash kaleb, " Son
of sixteen dogs," i.e., back to the great-great-grandfather, all were
dogs. I wonder if any one will write a comparative history of Curses ;
this is a fine subject to let, properly studied with reference to
countries and habits of the people. I can imagine comparative
tables, showing the racial proportion of (1) personal, (2) ancestral,
(3) possessional, (4) actional, (5) extra mundane, &c. Of course the
blessings must be treated with them as their nature is similarly direct
or indirect. " The comparative study of reflective wishes," is a neglected
branch of Anthropology.

I had another look over Beit Khiilil, but did not see anything fresh.
I measured the old lintels and door sills built in on edge in the relining ;
the door was bivalve, each half 4^ feet wide, 9 feet in all, and each half
was fastened by two bolts on the sill.

From the lintel being slightly shorter between the pivots than the sill
is, I suspect the doors swung to by their own weight, rising slightly when
l)ushed open. Next morning, at ten, I went again to the Governorate,
but neither Kaimakam, nor any other officials were there, nor would be
there till son)e time after noon. I could not stay indefinitely in Hebron
in this way, so I had to leave the matter to the " strong representation "
of H.B.M. Consular Agent.

We then went off to Beit Jibrin, over no sort of a road in some part of
the hills. I looked up one or two Khurbehs on the road. Beit Jibrin is
es-entially Roman, with mediaeval rebuilding, and all the places around,
so far as I have seen, are Roman also, with one great exception. Tell
Sandahaunah (mediaeval name Sant' Yohanna) is a high commanding
mound, all the surface of which is Seleucidan, so far as can be seen, with
only single scraps of Roman pottery. But at the north-west side, where

' A copy of this inscription, forwarded by Rev. J. E. Hanauer, was pub-
lished in tlie Quarterly Statement for October, 1889.

244 JOURNALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE.

it joins to the ridge of Khiirbet Merash, there is a large tract of Jewish
pottery back to the earlier kings, I should say.

My belief is that this is only an outcrop of the Jewish pottery not
buried by the Seleucidan town, and that the whole mound is Jewish
beneath. It is too high to have been all the accumulation of Greek times.
Now this joining Merash (which was evidently a great place, as the battle
(2 Chron. xiv, 9-12) was named after it), I take it that this Sandahannah
is the original Marasheh, the name of which has only clung to a spur of
the hills. This seems to have been a great fort commanding one of the
main roads into the hill country and Jerusalem ; and the tactics of Asa
seem to have been to let the Egyptians enter a valley j^ast the fort, and
then attack them with the army in front, and the garrison in the rear,
thus taking them so that their numbers were useless.

I think it would be well to cut into Sandahannah and see what there is
under the Seleucidan. There are plenty of Greek buildings to clear, the
walls of which show all over the surface, and they might give some
inscriptions. It is a good point finding the early date of at least a part of
this great mound, especially as it links on to history.

It is curious how very short the Syrians are as to thirst. In Egypt I
do not remember any difference between the natives and myself. Here
they are wanting water every hour or half-hour ; not that they take much
at a time, only half a pint or so. On the contrary, I go quite happily
for four or live hours, by which time I am a quart in arrear and begin
to be thirsty. Two quarts in arrear, I feel bad, and three quarts gone, I
can hardly stir. But these fellows are utterly miserable before they
need a quart. One would have thought that Eamadan would have
trained them.

From Beit Jibrin we went on to Akir (Ekron). I looked over Tell
Bornat, which seems to be later Jewish on the surface, certainly not
Roman.

Next at Dhikerln, though there are pieces of Roman and Arab pottery
about, I found some Amorite pottery on the top, showing that it is nearly
all early. I then came to Tell es Safi (supposed to be Gath), which is a
large mound on the top of a ridge of chalky limestone ; a village now
covers one side of it. Here I fomid Amorite, or early Jewish pottery, up
to nearly the top, and no Greek or Roman. A polite inhabitant sliowed
me a place wliere they have uncovered an ancient wall of drafted blocks,
which they were gradually quarrying away for stone. From the method
of the stone dressing I should suppose it to be Jewish.

Hence I went toMekenna (Meconna), where the slight mound appears
to be of the later Jewish and Persian period, but there was no Roman nor
later Greek pottery. At Umm Kelkah there is another of those strange
bottle-shaped caves, which I have not yet mentioned. They are common
all over the district of Beit Jibrin, and in fact wherever the rock is of the
firm, yet soft, white limestone. The usual form is thus about 25 feet
deep, and 20 to 25 feet across. They are probably early, but were certainly
used, and made d(jwu to Roman times, as some have rows of columbarium

JOUENALS OF MR. FLINDERS PETRIE. 245

niches. Some, I presume the later ones, have a winding staircase down
the side, entering by a side cut apart from the top hole. There is very
little pottery at Umm Kelkhah, probably both Jewish and Roman.

'Akir is entirely modern, apparently ; theie is no mound, the village
Ij'ing in a slight hollow by the well, and it cannot have been a city of
much size. I rather think that it had its reputation and importance from
the oracle of Baal-zebub, and was not a political or commercial place.
The only ancient thing I saw was a large mortar of black trachyte, with
handles pierced so as to turn it over on pivots to empty it. On one side
is a design, apparently the Egyptian tat, with the sun and moon on each
side, and palm branches above. The well at 'Akir is a pretty spot ; a large
wide spreading tree stands over it, a waterwheel with a band of rope,
with jars fastened on to it, is worked by a mule, and raises a constant
stream of water ; this flows into a tank, from which the cattle are
watered, and all the women and girls of the village bring their jars to fill
at the stream.

I have had a constant difficulty all this trip in getting sufficient sleep
at night ; what with guards, dogs, donkeys, and villagers, I have been
cut down sometimes to four hours, and I have been all day nearly
falling asleep on my donkey, and with a miserable headache. This
is a disadvantage in going about in the summer, the nights are only
ten hours, and there is not much time left out of that if you are
disturbed.

At Dejan the ground is being dug into for quarrying, and I could see
by a clean section that there is only 3 or 4 feet of stuff, and that is
Roman.

I then reached Jaffa and found Mr. Hall at home and most kind
in every way. I turned over the baggage, put together what should
go into store, and sent it off by the camel-man to Dr. Wheeler at
Jerusalem.

I saw a very interesting sight at Jaffa. On a piece of waste ground,
almost out of the town, were five miserable tents, and in them, or rather
under their shadow, were some of the wandering iron-workers, the
descendants of tlie primitive smiths, who went from place to place.

They were not at all of the Arab or Syrian types. Most of the men
were away, looking for jobs, but I noticed one with a close thick short
beard. The women varied much in type, one was of sallow complexion,
with very rounded features, another was of a European type, with fairish
skin, and a handsome intelligent face, with an enormous luxuriant head of
black hair. She was blowing double bellows of goat skins. They
reminded me more of gipsies than of any Semitic people.

I arranged with Mr. Hall about the sets of photographs of Syrian
types, of which he had sent out some already for me. They will go
to Dr. Elliott, at Gaza ; Revs. C. T. Wilson, Jerusalem ; H. Sykes, at
Salt ; T. F. Wolters, at Nazareth ; Dr. Torrance, at Tiberias, all of
whom are photographers, and one set remains at Jaffa for any one else
to see.

246 HEKE Schick's uepokts from Jerusalem.

I drew up suggestions to these gentlemen for selecting and plioto-
P;raphing groups of natives, classified according to the ancient race types
in such a way as to get statistical percentages of the different types in each
j)lace, and made six copies of the paper to go with the photographs. If
this succeeds we may learn a great deal as to the distribution of the
Amorite, Hittite, Hyksos, and other races in Palestine.

HERR SCHICK'S REPORTS PROM JERUSALEM.

The New Eoad North of the City.

Ix one of my reports made during last year, I spoke of some discoveries
made when the new carriage road along the northern wall of the City of
.T'liisalem was constructed. This report was published in tlie Quarterly/
Statement, 1889, page 63. It comprised the western part, and now I
have to report on the eastern part — namely, from Damascus Gate to
the north-east corner of the city.

The sill of the Damascus Gate is 2,471 feet above the Mediterranean,
and 200 feet north of it the ground on the Ordnance Suivey Map,
scale Tjioo) "'^ 2,481 feet, giving a slope of 5 per cent. This slojie is now
fj'reater, as the crossing-point of the new road is made about 5 feet higher, or
2,486 feet above the Mediterranean. It was made higher in order that
the new carriage road coming from the west sliotdd not descend so much
and ascend so much again. On both sides the hills of rubbish were cut
through, so that the carriage road is much more level than the former
road. South of Jeremiah's Grotto it was raised about 6 feet by filling up
the depression, and at the south-eastern foot of the Jeremiah's Grotto
Hill, where there is a little " tomb " building, lowered and cut through
the rubbish, so that at the crossing-point, where the road comes out from
Herod's Gate, or Bab ez Zahire, and goes northwards on the eastern slope
of Jeremiah's Grotto Hill, the level of the new road is about 6 feet
deeper than that of the old one. By this it was seen that there is no
"Roman road," as Dr. Merrill supposes in his little pamphlet, " The Site
of Calvary." If such had been here, it would have been cut through ;
but no traces of such a road were met with. Further east, in the
dein-ession of the ground, the new road was elevated by filling up,
forming a dam or causeway, with a small bridge for the water to go
through under it. Then, further east, in the fosse, it was lowered, by
which means it was shown that there is much earth in the trench, which
orioinally was much deeper. The real bottom was not seen in any place,
so the exact depth cannot be stated. By this lowering of the I'oad, the
wall, and especially the rock scarp, was laid more bare, and it was

HERR SCHICK'S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM. 247

seen that at the eastern part the ancient wall formerly stood several feet
further out, and ran more straight ; and the same is the case for 240 feet
alons the eastern wall. There are also some indications that the ancient
corner tower was somewhat longer and wider than the present one. Tt
seems also tliat before the fosse was made there had been a pool sunk
into the rock, which became destroyed when the fosse was excavated.
This pool had sides of unequal length and unequal angles, like the pool of
" Sitti Maryam," on the east side of the tower ; the latter is somewhat
larger than the former one had been. 1 always had an idea tbat if
excavations were made at the angle of the fosse, a door or outlet for the
water accumulating in the fosse might be discovered ; but unhappily
in making the road the neck of the rock had to be cut through, and a
bridge built over it for the road on a higher level which crossed it, so
that no excavations were possible. East of the said neck is a continuation
of the trench, the bottom of which forms the bed of the new road
for about 100 feet, and at the end, on the northern side, is some
masonry on the top and edge of the cliffs, which I consider to be the
remains of an ancient gate {see Ordnance Survey Maj), ^rioo)-

Here the new road makes a bend and runs south and south-east on a
course where much tilling up was necessary. Lower down, in widening
the old road, rock-cut tombs were laid bare, and partly destroyed. They
are the usual smaller kind of Jewish rock-cut tombs, and of no particular
interest. I counted five small chambers. So far the road was finished at
my last visit. In my next I will report what has been done further.
The level is, at the corner tower, 2,456 feet, and at its lower part, wheie
it meets the old road coming down from Stephen's Gate, or " Bab Sitti
Maryam," 2,351 feet — hence a difference of 105 feet in 1,400, or Ti per
cent.

II.

Xew Discoveries at the House of Caiaphas, on the so-called

Mount Zion.

The so-called " House of Caiaphas," outside the southern part of the city
wall, and 150 feet distant from it, belongs to the Armenians. It consists
of a little church, a small convent, and rooms embracing a small court,
the whole being enclosed by a high wall, withovit any windows or
openings, except a little entrance door on the north side. This wall had
been for a long time defective, and one day the eastern and part of the
southern side fell down.

In digging foundations for a new wall and other additional buildings,
an underground passage was found, and in the court under an arch, which
is also to some degree unsound, there was found, 5 feet deep under the
present floor, an older floor, laid throughout with fine Mosaics, of which

R 2

248

HERR Schick's reports from Jerusalem.

I give a pattern, as I could not find time to draw ont the whole. The
Mosaic cubes are of three colom-s — white, black, and red. At other

N?4
Mosaic found 8 feet under the flooring

OF THE so CALLED Cai PHAS HOUSE OUTSIDE

NEBi daud gate at Jerusalem.

By Baurath C. Schick

lnc}icsiz e

I r

Scule.

points, also on the same level, similar Mosaics were found, proving that
some building of importance once stood here.

■'■'ta

111.

A NEWLY-DISCOVKRED RoCK-CUT ToMB AT AcELDAMA.

In one of my former reports I spoke of a newly-discovered rock-cut
tomb near Aceldama, at a place called Es-Shamma. It was illustrated
by a plan and section, and a copy of the inscription found there. The
piece of ground in which this tomb and some other things (which I
reported at the time) were found was soon afterwards sold to the Latin
Convent, and is now their property. They went on excavating the
ground and found some more rock-cut tombs, of which I send plans and
section.

The newly-discovered one was certainly made in a quite different time
from that in which the others were made. The workmanship is rather
rough, and the floors and ceilings are slanting down, according to the
decline of the strata. Some of the kokim are rather wide and high,
especially one, which is also unusually long (8 feet), so that one gets the

HEKR SCHICK'S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM. 249

impression they were not intended to be for one corpse only, but for
several. At the door was found a very large stone with broken corners,
so that it might be rolled more easily when the tomb was to be opened or
shut, but it was far from being circular.

Another tomb, a short distance east of the former, has rather a large
court hewn out in front, with an elevated table of rock. This, and also the
inside, gives the appearance of being unfinished. The door is a usual one,
but the room is in every respect irregular. The inner room is only 7 feet
6 inches by 7 feet wide, and about 6 feet 6 inches high, without any mark
of koJdm or bench, but has in the floor a kind of pool, 3 feet wide each
way and 2 feet deep. This tomb also seems to be unfinished, and was
very likely used as a collective tomb, dead bodies being put one upon the
other. I saw no bones in it.

IV.

Newly-discovered Rock-cut Tomb near Bethany.

"When the road from Jerusalem to Bethany and the Jordan was made,
people had to gather not only small stones, but also material for covering
them — " hower," as it is called in Arabic. " Hower " is a kind of chalk,
and very good for roads. When digging to find such they came to an
opening, and on going in, found several chambers, all hewn in the rock.
When I heard of it I went there, examined and measured, and made the
adjoining plan. The tomb is in the valley which runs from near the top
of Mount Olivet southwards down to the Wady en Nar, or Lower
Kedron. The road to Bethany crosses this vallej, making a large bend.
The newly-discovered tomb is south of the road on the eastern slope
of the valley, just opposite the lower quai-ry where stones are broken
for buildings in Jerusalem. All this neighbourhood is of a soft or
chalky limestone, and in this the tomb is hewn very exactly and
regularly, the lines being straight with exact angles, as is seldom seen.
First, on the decline of the hill, the rock is cut down perpendicularly so as
to form a court 16 feet wide and long. On the eastern side of this court
a doorway, 6 feet wide and 7 feet high, is hewn in the rock, the partition
wall being 2 feet 4 inches thick, and two steps downwards lead into a
square chamber, 13 feet 4 inches wide and 10 feet deep and high. Floor-
ing and ceiling horizontal. On the eastern side, and close to the bottom,
is a doorway 2 feet square in a wall 2 feet and a few inches thick. To-
wards the west, or outside, the door is widened by three rebates, the outer
one forming a kind of cornice and arch over the entrance

Creeping through this doorway and downwards two steps, one comes
into a similar, but larger room, exactly square, 13 feet by 13 feet, and
more than 8 feet high ; Looking round one sees on three sides exactly
equal-sized kokim in the walls, and at the same height as the doorway.

250

HERE Schick's repoets from Jerusalem.

There are four in the northern and four in the southern wall, each 7 feet
deep, and three in the eastern wall. Of the latter the one to the right and

Court

PLAN OF ROCn-CUT TOMB

MEAR BETHANY

Scale.

_^o_

.SoFeu

SECTION OF LINE / B

to the left are similar to the others and of the same dimensions, but the
middle one is a doorway (opposite the former) in a wall only U foot thick.
Each of the ten Jcokim has on its outer end a cutting or fold around it into
which a stone slab was fitted, and so the hole shut up. I found these
slabs no more before the holes, but lying about, showing that the tombs
had been rifled ; also I could not see any bones, or inscription, or marks.
On the floor of the room there is sunk a pool about l\ feet deep, and 9 feet
by 8 feet wide

HERR SCHICK S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

251

Passing through the last-mentioned doorway, and also two steps down-
wards, one comes to a small and lower room, a kind of ante-chamber,
without any receptacle for dead bodies, 6i feet deep and 6 feet 2 inches
wide. Seeing on the eastern wall an opening, the exjilorer gets the
impression that there will be no end of rooms, one behind the other, but
on creeping in, and also two steps downwards, he finds himself to be in
the last, which is a regular tomb-chamber with three alcoves or niches for
dead bodies, on each side one, except the door side. These niches are
benches, covered with an arch of rock, as shown in the section. The rest of
the ceiling is exactly horizontal. On the bottom there is a pool about
H feet deep, 4^ feet by 6 feet wide. The i^oom itself, without the recesses,
is 10 feet by 9 feet wide, and 7 feet high. It is remarkable that the floor of
each room is about 20 inches lower than that of the one before it, for
which there must be some reason. All the rooms could have been made
on one level, and with the same effect if the doors had been put 20 inches
higher, except perhaps for one thing : in the afternoon the sun's rays can
fall even in the innermost chamber as it is now, but if all were on one
level this could not be, or at least only at sunset.

Note. — When reporting on the eastern part of the north wall of the
city and the new road going down to Getlisemane, I omitted to mention
that the rock on which the north-east tower once stood was laid bare. It
extends as far west as the bend-point of the modern wall. The present
tower, or Burj Lac Lac, is only 37 feet wide, whereas the old one was
about 76 feet, or nearly the same size as " David's Tower" and the one
found by M. Maus east of the Church of St. Anne. These obser-
vations are against the idea that the old city did not extend so much to
the north-east, but that the Moslems added this quarter to the old city.

In building shops outside the Jaffa Gate the foundation of the jiresent

town wall was laid bare at another point, and shown also here to stand on

252 HERR SCHICK S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

earth and not on the rock, as I reported in a former communication. I
observed also a capital and a pillar base which had been found at this
spot, built into the modern building, of which I give sketches one-tenth
of the real size. The pedestal is of red niizzy stone, but the capital of a
whiter and better sort of stone.

Another Eock-cut CkapEl at Silwan.

About ten days ago I was told that more rock-cut chambers had been
found in Silwan, the walls of one being covered witli old inscriptions.
As soon as possible I went down with two of my men, in order to see and
examine them. But it was a harder task than we expected. The people
told us no such things had been founrl, or, at least, that they had not
heard of it. Going through the village and inquiring, we hatl already
come without result to its other end, and I had become convinced that
the chambers which I some time ago examined and reported upon must
be meant. However, a man, very likely hoping to get bakshesh, at last
said he would show us such a place, and so our examination began, and I
will now describe the results.

Below the Tomb of Zacharias, in the Kidron valley, the road divides,
one branch going down the valley to the Virgin's Fountain, &c., the other
eastward and upwards, to the threshing-floor of the village. This is an
even horizontal terrace of some size, situated between the lower or western
cliff and the eastern and higher one. At its southern end the main road
or street of the village begins, having houses on both sides. On the
second house on the eastern side there was pointed out to me a depression
or niche in the wall, caused by cutting out a large piece of stone bearing
an inscription, which had been sold by the proprietor. As the spot is so
exposed, that any explorer visiting the village must have seen it, it is
probably one already known, and perhaps published. The man went
with us a little further, and then in a lane branching off eastwards from
the main road, and near its end, showed us a door in the southern wall,
passing through which we came into a court, having on its eastern wall,
which was formed of the upper rock cliff", a door, which stood open.
A child was crying inside, and the mother, appearing at the door, allowed
us to enter and see the caves. The child became quiet when taken up,
and so we could examine the cave at leisure. It is a double room, one
part behind the other, of no special interest. The rooms were never
tombs, but chambers for habitation ; as people now live in them, so it
was from the begiiining. They are entirely cut in the rock ; the outer
12 feet by 10 feet wide and 8 feet high, the partition wall about 2h feet
thick, with a door iu the centre. As there was much "nettish," or
brushwood for fuel in it, I could not get its dimensions exactly.

In order that this and my further explanations and descriptions

*Br-

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Plan of Chapels

IN SiLWAN.

By Baurath C. Schick.

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HERR SCHICK S REPOETS FROM JERUSALEM.

253

may be better understood, I prepared the adjoining plan of the caves
and surrounding houses, also a section and view of one part of

^ '

them. As I told the old man this was not what I wanted to see,
lie said there are some others, not recently discovered ones, but

254 HERR SCIirCK'S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

inhabited, and one of them with an inscription. So we went back into
the main road, and about 70 feet southward, in another lane which
branches up eastward, we found near the end in its southern wall a door
leading into a similar court, and with an opening in the cliff, or eastern
wall of the court. This door was locked, so we went back to the main
road, and in it, 25 feet further south, came to another lane which
branched off eastward (the fourth when counting from the nortli). This
lane ends at the cliff, or high scarp of the rock, in which several
doors or openings were visible. Along the cliff is a kind of passage,
in the northern corner a few steps lead up to the door of a room,
inhabited by a fellah family. On entering, we found this to be a
double chamber, entirely cut in the rock, but the outer part arched
or vaulted by masonry. The reason of this I could not learn,
but very likely it was because of unsoundness of the rock ceiling,
for I found this room only a little more than 7 feet high, whereas the
inner is much higher. The vault rests for the greatei' part on the rock
walls, but at the south-western corner, on a piece of a granite pillar-shaft.
This room is rather small, averaging about 10 feet by 7 feet, of an
irregular shape ; veiy likely it had once a door near the pillar leading
to the adjoining room, but as the wall is plastered I could not ascertain
whether this was so. In the centre of its eastern (the partition) wall is
a door like all the inner doors, and the curiosity is that immediately
inside the door there is on the floor a pit, 4 feet by 3i feet wide and
3 feet deep, and close to it further in two similar ones, as will be seen
in the Plan. The purpose of these pits is not clear. They were not
tombs or graves, being too short and too wide. They were either for
keeping water, or storing other things, when the rooms were used as
lodging-places, or, perhaps, when for a time this inner one was used as
a chapel, bones - not corpses — might be jjlaced there. When the rooms
were inhabited these pits required coverings, which must have been
of wood, as I found no indication of their having been of stone. The
inner room is (without the apse) 14 feet long, 10^ feet wide in the west
and 12i feet in the east, and about 10 feet high. The eastern wall had
a regular half-circled apse of 3 feet radius, which at a later time has
been much damaged by rock being broken off in the north and south,
as shown in the Plan. The floor of the apse is smooth, and about
8 inches above the main floor of the room. The rock looks rather
unsound, and is full of small cracks, and, it having been recently white-
washed, these cracks and marks of the chisel, or other unevenness, being
dark, give the appearance of writing. I explained to the proprietor the
real state of things, but he still believes the marks to be writing, which
only I do not understand. On the north wall, near its eastern end and
7 feet above the ground, there is really a small Latin inscription, which
I copied [see section), as it was impossible to make a squeeze, owing to
the unevenness of the surface.

On the southern wall 1 could see that there was once a door commimi-
cating with the next room, No. 6. The question arises whether this room

HERK Schick's reports feom Jerusalem. 255

has once been a special Christian chapel, as the apse seems to indicate ?
One is inclined to saj', yes ! although it cannot be definitely proved, as
even a dwelling, or a place where bones were stoi'ed, might have a shrine.
To me it seems that in the middle ages, or even later, a Convent or Laura
of Monks or Anchorets may have been here, using already existing Jewish
and Canaanite rock-cut chambers.

When we came out T was told that the key for the southern door had
been brought, so we went to it and found the door itself and surrounding
masonry to be quite new. A few rock -cut steps lead up from it to a higher
ledge, while the way goes horizontally into the room No. 5, which is on
an average 9 feet wide, 20 feet long, and about 7i feet high. It is con-
nected with another room, No. 6, which is on an average 13 feet long,
9 feet wide, arid about 9 feet high — a good deal higher tlian the former.
The partition between is only observable on the ceiling ; there is not an
arch but a kind of ledge projecting a little downwards, and immediately
under the ceilings of both rooms there is a cornice all round, the work-
manship of wliich is excellent. On the north wall there is a door, now
walled up, which led to No. 4, and also one in its western wall, once
leading to No. 9. As I could not go into the latter I give its size on
suggestion. On the eastern side of room No. 6 there is a large recess,
No. 7, about 8 feet wide, 7 feet deep, and 8 feet high, somewhat lower
than No. 6, also this recess has a cornice all round under the ceiling. On
its eastern wall is a door leading into another room, No. 8, done in the
same way, and 10 feet by 8 feet wide, and about 8 feet high, without any
apse or recess. That all these rooms were once human dwellings is with-
out question, and that Christians once lived in them is shown not only by
the Latin inscription with a cross over it, but also by a larger cross
chiselled into the rock, over the door of chamber No. 5. The cross is that of
the Knights of St. John, with 8 sharp points, standing in a dovible ring,
the largest nearly 2 feet in diameter. Over it, on tlie top of the scarp,
there is another room, mad'^ of masonry in a partly natural cave. To
climb up to it was dangerous for me, and it seemed to be without further
interest.

South of room No. 5 the cliff (or scarp) forms a kind of projecting
angle and here also a chamber of minor interest and smaller form is cut
into the rock. A few steps lead up to another corner now used as a kind
of hall or ante-chamber for the next house (see Plan). When leaving
this place and coming into the main road, followed by a number of people,
I was told that the door of No 10 was now open ; so we went there. On
the north side of the lane and partly under it, there is a cistern, called
— as the people told me — Bir el-Keniseh, i.e., the " Well of the Church ; "
it is cut into the rock or built into a cleft, and the arching stones
project above the surface of the road. East of its mouth there is a block
of masonry of considerable height, its purpose I could not learn, but think
it is the covering of a stair leading down into the cistern. Opposite the
latter is a door leading to the court already mentioned. Its level is nearly
the same as that of the threshold of the door in the cliff leading to No. 10.

256 HERE SCHICK'S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

This dooi- was also made lower and narrower by masonry. On
entering one finds himself in a room 12 feet wide and 7| feet high,
vaulted by masoniy, its fovir legs or resting points on small pieces
of masonry, but further in there is a part much higher, 15^ feet,
and at the same time also wider, the east wall rounded as a large
and regular apse ; but in some degree slanting. The floor of the
apse is 8 inches higher than the floor of the room, but it is partly broken
away now. It had in the centre a square hole about li feet long, 10 inches
wide, and 8 inches deep, with groove all round for letting in the cover,
which is gone. The apse has on the ground a diameter of 10 feet, but
about 1 foot higher, 13 feet 6 inches, with a radius of 6 feet 9 inches, an
arrangement which I observed here for the first time. Also its ceiling is
unusual, as will be seen from the Section. I found no inscription ;
perhaps, if the room were whitewashed, some might appear. The people
told me there was, formerly, also a communication between these rooms
and the others, the whole forming a " Monasterion," as they said. It may
be so, but T observed no indications of a door. That this chamber, No. 10,
was a chapel, is quite clear.

Some Excavations on Mount of Olivet.

An English gentleman, Mr. Gray Hill, has recently bought a piece of
ground on the northern top of Mount of Olivet, or perhaps already
belonging to the Scopus. He intends to make a cistern and to build a
house there, also to make a wall round about the land ; stone quarrying
and excavations are, therefore, going on, and some old remains have been
found. First, a small square pool, only 5 feet by 5 feet wide, and about
4 feet deep, hewn in the rock, with its " musfaih," or filter, at the side ;
further, two caves, hewn in the rock, which were originally Troglodite
dwellings ; the northern one is a square room, 7 feet 3 inches by 8 feet
6 inches wide, and somewhat over 7 feet high ; the roofing no more exists,
and its northern wall, in which was the door, is also for the greater
part destroyed ; in the western and eastern walls are small recesses.
The southern chamber is about 105 feet distant from the latter, the pool
mentioned above being between them. It is not so regular as the other,
is rather larger and of a rounder form ; there are also two recesses in the
wall, but much larger, and of irregular form ; one of these formed the
fire-place, as there is a chimney. A stair, forming a kind of trench,
led downwards to a square door, nearly 5 feet high, and 2 feet 4 inches
wide ; three of the steps are preserved. On the western side of this
trench, which is about 4 feet 6 inches wide, is a ledge of I'ock, in which is
cut a small channel to carry the surface-water to a small pool 2 feet
10 inches by nearly 2 feet wide, and about the same deep, situated pai'tly

HERR SCHICK S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM. 257

on the side, partly over the room close to the door. These arrangements
were made to avoid the surface-water running down into the room, and at
the same time to gather it as a supply. The greater part of the roof
being gone, the room became in course of time full of earth and debru.
When this was cleared there were found a pillar-shaft, 13 inches in
diameter, and 2 feet U inches long, and many hewn stones of peculiar
shape. Further were found pieces of Mosaic flooring, the tesserfe being
of white stones, and still holding together ; also jar handles and many
pieces of pottery, a small metal vessel, some old coins, &c.

VII.

Eecent Excavations at Siloah.
1. — Searching for a second Aqueduct.

The idea of a "second" aqueduct from the Virgin's Fountain to the
Pool of Siloah met with several opponents, although I had found such a one
or at least the southein part of such a one, for a length of about 400 feet
which I reported at the time and referred to on several subsequent
occasions {see especially Quarterly Statement., 1886, page 197, illustrated
with plan and sections). As it was desirable to look for traces of this
more to the north, and the Secretary wrote to me : " the Committee hope
that you will do something in the way of excavation," I made the neces-
sary arrangements and started work in the middle of April, althouo-h with
only a small number of men, in order to keep down the expenses. As the
Committee had not fixed the actual points where I had to dig, I chose
them to the best of my judgment, commencing high up on the slope of the
Ophel-hill, where I might be in some degree sure to find the rock on a
level a few feet above the bottom of the famous aqueduct of the Virgin's
Fountain. The point fixed upon is about 190 feet north of my former
shaft, C {see Quarterly Statement., 1886, page 198, and plan), and at the
contour of the present ground, 2,125 feet above the Mediterranean (see
Sir C. Wilson's Plan of Jerusalem, scale 2V00 > ^^ ^^^ C. Warren's port-
folio, plate iii).

On sinking a shaft there was found earth for 4 feet, then for about
4 or 5 feet small stones and small stone chippings, so that it was necessary
to put in wooden cases ; after this, at a depth of 8 or 9 feet, the earth was
hard, and we could go down to any depth, the earth being mingled some-
times with stones and boulders. At 27 feet the rock was found at a level
of 2,098 feet, falling towards the east, with a decline of 12°, but on the
north-west corner of the shaft a scarp was visible 2 feet 6 inches hio-h,
and opposite there was masonry, so one might think there had been here
an open channel from 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet wide ; but seeing no traces

258 HERR SCHICK'S REPORTS FROM JERUSALEM.

of any cementing, and at the same time the level being too high, I decided
to fill up the shaft, and to make another one 23 feet lower down, as we could
not drive a gallery. This second shaft, on a level 2,117 feet, is a little
more south, and only .55 feet west of the road in the valley. The nature
of the ground was similar to that at the first shaft, and the rock was
struck at 35 feet deep, level 2,082. It had a decline towards the east of
25°, which seems to be the average decline of the eastern slope of Ophel-
hill. The earth being hard, the workmen undertook to make a gallery
towards the site of the first shaft, but as the rock rises rapidly, they had
to make the gallery higher and higher, and so gradually filled the shaft
again for about 8 feet. Having worked westwards for about 10 feet they
came to a rock scarp, on the bottom of the gallery, so the latter was
driven further on the sui'face of the rock to a distance of 16 feet, where
a massive wall was met with which the workpeople, without having cased
the gallery, would not try to break through. If it is the same which was
met in the first shaft it must have a thickness of 5 or 6 feet. I wished
now to descend on the scarp, which was rather a difficult work, going on
very slowly, and when at 6 feet deep small boulders appeared I had to
give up the work. As in this ground, from level 2,082 to 2,094 feet, no
trace of an aqueduct was found, I tliought very likely the wall above-
mentioned, which is situated at the desired height, might be the very
aqueduct, and that the scarj) might be the wall of a jiool, into which
the water from the Virgin's Well came ; so I thought it best to make
a tlii}'d shaft, south of both, in the position where the wall would be
if it went straight, and so come upon the wall, and find the aqueduct, if
leally there is one. Unhappily no wall was found, nor any aqueduct, but
at 30 feet 6 inches deep, on a level 2,091, the rock was met horizontal I
I)isa2)23ointed, I made short galleries on three sides of the sliaft, but with-
out success. Convinced that what I looked for was not to be found here
I gave up the work, and filled the shafts again.

2. — Searching for Gate of CiU] of David.

During the time these three shafts were being made, four others were
also sunk, much more to the north, and not in connection with the
aqueduct, but rather w'ith a view to find out the old gate of the city of
Jebus, the gate at the end of the road coming up from the Virgin's
Fountain to the fortress of the Jebusites and the City of David. As in
the debris on the eastern slope of Opliel many pieces of old pottery are
found, the fellaheen sometimes dig in the ground in order to find them for
making "hamra" (pounded bricks), which is used for cementing cisterns.
Whilst doing this they came to a place where there were walls on two
sides, and having observed that further up the hill traces of walls were
seen in the same line, I thought that probably this once formed a kind of
tuiinel, with door at each end, and forming an underground access to the
City of David. I wished, therefore, to find out (1) if there were on the
bottom steps hewn into the rock ; and (2) if there were openings in both

SCULPTURED FIGURES NEAR KANA. 259

end walls. Shafts were therefore sunk, and the locality carefully
exanjined, but neither steps nor doors were found.

The tunnel is situated just where we should look for one, and runs in
the desiretl direction. It very likely formed an underground ajiproach to
the city, which became destroyed, and was not properly restored in later
times, but became converted into a pair of rather poor cisterns, which in
turn got out of repair and fell to ruins.

C. Schick.

SCULPTURED FIGURES NEAR KANA.

Last Saturday (24th) I returned from my trip to near Tyre, where, in
accordance with the desire of the Committee, I had proceeded to photo-
graph the ancient figures mentioned by Guerin and Eenan.

I started at six in the morning from the new Khan Skandert\na, a
tolerably clean native inn built close to the sea shore on the site of ancient
AJexandroschene, near Eas el Bayada, and proceeded to the white " ladder
of Tyre." This narrow defile, above the steep rocks of Eas el Bayada, is
becoming a rather dangerous path on account of the crumbling rock,
masses of which roll down to the road from the overhanging cliffs above
and partly narrow the path, partly in their fall ruin its borders on the
sea side. It is, too, becoming again a hiding place for highwaymen,
who, as I hear, lately committed several crimes here ; unfoi'tunately
the new " chaussee," which would avoid the Bayada road entirely
and cross the mountain higher up, is not yet finished. I continued
the usiial road to Tyre along the sea coast, and arrived at Eas el
'Ain at 8 o'clock in the morning. From here I took a directly east-
ward course, passed the column 'Amud el Atrash, followed the wady up
to the brackish 'Ain Furawtyat, left the small village Beit Hlllei to my
right, and arrived in a terrible sirocco heat at the " Kabr Hiram " at
about 9 30. This ancient monument has not been in any way destroyed ;
the proprietor of it and of the surrounding ground has excavated on the
north of the Kabr, and opened a rock-hewn tomb-cave, but the Governor
of Tyre stojsped his work, so that nothing as yet can be said of the
interior disposition of the cave. It seems as if it had a communication
with the monument, its entrance not being more than about 3 yards to
the north of the Kabr Hiram. I encouraged the proprietor to continue
excavating, but he declared he was not able to do so without a firman.
A few minutes later I passed the well-built and populous village of
Henaweh, leaving it on the right hand, and continued my road in a
south-easterly direction across tlie rocky shoulder lying between Henawei
and Kana, on which here and there remains of win? or olive presses
basins and cisterns, are found. The ride along the rocky road from
HenS,weh to Kana took me 50 minutes.

260 SCULPTURED FIGURES NEAR KANA.

My object now was to look for the curious figures above mentioned.
I enquired, but not one of the exceedingly suspicious and fanatic sect of
the Metaweli natives, with whom these mountains abound, would know
anything of them. I therefore examined, first, the slopes lying right of
tlie road and west of Kana (or Ana, as the natives pronounce it), following
thus the guidance of Eenan, as given in the " Memoirs" (vol. i), who says :
" turning to the right in the valley," &c, ; but I discovered nothing else
but cisterns, presses, and round hoies in the rocks of the upper slopes
which now are used as stone quarries. I also examined the W^dy Kan4,
north of Kana, but without effect. Finally, an old Moslem had an idea
that somewhere to the east of the road leading from Henawei to Kana
he had seen " tasawlr " (figures) on the rocks, but he was not able to
indicate their exact position. I continued nevertheless my researches, and
was finally lucky enough to find a large ancient quarry, and below this,
along a rock wall bordering the second third of the heights of the steep
Wady el 'Akk&b, strange figures cut into the rock. The spot where they
are found lies, therefore, in following the road from Kana to Han^wei,
about one mile north-west of the village of Kana, and 200 yards off the
road from this spot eastwards down the sloj^e of Wady el 'Akk^b.

The vicinity of the antiquities is a very rocky, wild one ; the rock
walls are built up in great terraces one above the other. I proceeded
without delay to photograph the figures, and succeeded in doing so. The
figures are carved on the perjoendicular and sloping sides of a worked
limestone rock /aciTi^' eas^ ; all look towards the rising sun. The figures
are found on two difFei-ent rock walls ; the first wall above has a length
of about 40 yards, along this figures of a very strange appearance are
found one by one standing in an upright position ; some are shown to the
breast, others show merely the head and a long neck. One figure, pro-
bably a chieftain, is stretching out his arms as if he was conmianding or
uttering a benediction ; two figures are worked in a corner of the rock
and stand on a small pedestal ; three others are folding their hands.
Every figure, or every group of two or more figures, is surrounded by a
round or cornered niche 2 to 3^ inches deep, the relief work on an
average projecting 3 inches from the rock. Special attention was paid to
a female figure, the only one among all of which the sex can be made out
with certainty. It has a female dress falling in folds, the left arm is
stretched as if holding a cane, the right arm is hanging down, the liead
is mutilated as in all the figures. To the left of it, on another portion of
rock, there is a probably unfinished figure — perhaps a hieroglyph.

There is another figure, which I hold to be also female. Unfortu-
nately it is worked on a detached piece of rock and is almost entirely
weatherworn and broken ; but the contour lines of the left arm seem to
show a higher skill and art than some of the remaining figures. Among
these figures, generally, as above said, surrounded by a niche, we find
others which evidently are unfinished ; such incomplete figures are seen
on nearly every photo., especially on Nos. 5 and 6, and on the general
view, No. 7. This upper row represents 20 finished figures and 11 uu-

SCULPTURED FIGURES NEIR KANA.

261

4Vil ^^t'-

'it.

'^mk

■^\

•^^/^

S^'^'

v**1

:fe^

C¥

'S^

rs'^

^.j

^'^1!

■Vfc^S

^rM.

'.«;

j,''^.*-^

\ \

"^^K

'Si^

r^^t.

v?;^*.

fJ^'

X''^?^

'---^-^u

P K'

■Hf-j

k>J

M. .V

•f*?*!

^^€

«\«!i

o
o
Pi

i%;

Z"^**?

>^^

if^iN

ij- J ,

7.4'

?^-r

iV.

„««fe<

jf^-e^

fe>^

^si.1

l>N

ifrsi

^;'

2G2 SCULPTURED FIGURES NEAR KANA.

finished ones. The figures vary in height from 2 to 2| feet, most are

2 feet 2 inches high. The work is very rude in general, only two or four
figures show a more developed art, but the principal obstacle which pie-
vents a thorough study of these highly interesting figures is the fact that
they are without exception almost entirely defaced ; the heads, feet, and
fingers broken by human hands, and, as the limestone rock is not very
compact, also greatly weatherworn. Most of the figures do not show
anything more than outlines ; no physiognomy whatever is discoverable,
therefore my thorough search for inscriptions and hieroglyphs was not
reM'arded by any favourable result. Above the central part of the upper
line of figures I discovered on the rock a smooth portion framed by a
simple cornice, which may once have contained inscriptions, but now none
are discoverable.

The second series of figures is found on a rock wall 25 yards below
the above-mentioned ; this rock wall is not straight like the other, but
the figures are hewn on the perpendicular sides of a rock of round shape.
They face east and south. Whilst we found among the upper row figures
showing some skill and art, we could not discover any such art on the
figures below ; they all without exception show merely a round ball,
representing the head, and a long straight neck placed on the remainder
of the body formed by a simple quadrangle. This quadrangle often is not
broader than the head, and therefore of a very lirimitive apj^earance.
Most of the figures are in a niche ; they are in relief of 2 inches to

3 inches. Most of these lower figures are evidently unfinished, and like
the upper ones entirely weatherworn.

On photo. No. 9 we find several figures close to each other ; none of
them have any peculiarity, only the middle figure is higher than all the
rest ; it has a height of 4 feet 3 inches, and stands in an own niche.
One figure on photo. No. 8 seems to be of the following shape, but I must
confess that I could not make out whether it originally was like all the
others of the lower row and defaced by the influence of the weather, or
whether it really was of a different kind. Photo. No. 10 shows alsa
some figures of the lower row, which contains in all 15 finished and 12
unfinished figures. I venture to think that the figures of the lower row
represent a more ancient period than those of the upper, but it is very
difl^cult to state at what epoch they may have been created. I think
Guciin is right in calling them anterior to the Greek-Roman epoch,
probably Egypto-Phoenician. The bearing of the upper straight wall is
due north-soiith ; the spot is, according to the barometer, 70 feet lower
than Kana.

Ecnan speaks of a third series of figiues hidden in the bushes. I
found, 35 yards below tlie second low, a large natural cave, with a
smoothed rock covering it, but no sign of any sculpture ; in fact, I ex-
plored the whole vicinity without finding any other works than the above-
described. Bushes, in fact, exist no more in this part of the country, the
slopes are bare, naked rocks. I also could not find any " sitting divinity,"
" towards which three men and a woman march in procession," as Guerin

SCULPTURED FIGURES NEAR KANA.

263

h}Lixia-aSa».a ^gaS,j

264 THE FIGUllES NEAR KAN A.

states ("Galilee," ii, p. 402), unless the corner figure (photo. No. 1) with
the neighbouring figures with folded hands are meant.

My road homewards Ly the Wad er Rasas, the village el Keneiseh, and
Mutniyeh, offered nothing of general interest.

Schumacher.
Haifa, May 2mh, 1890.

THE FIGURES NEAR KANA.

It is satisfactory that this point has been cleared up ; but the expectations
raised by M. Guerin's account have not been fulfilled. I do not think
that these figures can be assigned to a very remote period. In size and
character, and in their arrangement in niches, they resemble other figures
which I have drawn in various j^arts of Syria.

It is to be observed that they are all full-face, which may be taken as
an indication of late date. The Egyptian, Hittite, and Assyrian has reliefs-,
almost without exception, represent figures in profile.' On the other
hand, the busts carved on rock of the Greek and Roman period are
usually full-faced. If any inscriptions had been found, they would
probably have been Greek.

At Abila of Lydanias I copied several such busts over tombs with
Greek inscriptions, not earlier than the second century a.d. Near
Amman such a bust, but better executed, has been noted in the
" Memoirs." The figure from Wady et Tin, near Tyre {see " Syrian
Stone Lore") is of the same tyj^e, but rather better executed. Neai-
Es Salt I found a similar pair of busts inside a tomb which had been used
as a Christian chajiel. The tomb had loculi and not kotim. Anothei'
bust of the same class was found on a tomb of about the second century
A.D., which I discovered at M Iva/if, in Moab.

I should suppose that these, as well as the figures lately found at
Sairs, belong to the Roman period and represent native work. The
Palmyrene statues of the second and third centuries a.d., though much
more considerable as works of art, are of the same class of rude native
attempts to reproduce classic types, and the great figures found at Tell
Nemrfid, on the U2:)per Euphi'ates, represent the same style, but are more
considerable as art productions dating from the century before Christ.
The size of the busts above mentioned is about the same as that of the
figures. Still rougher examples of this class were sketched in 1877 by
Sergeant Malings, R.E., at the Mughdret esh Shakl, near Alm4n
(" Memoirs " i, p. 108), over a tomb, aud at Kliurhet Ydrtn (" Memoirs " i,
p. 185), also near a tomb with loculi These busts may have been
intended to represent persons Ijuried in the tombs, and they have no
connection with Hittite or true Phoenician art. They may even be as
late as the Byzantine age. I found a small statue of the same class at
Kadesh, on the Orontes. C. R. Conder.

^ Sir C. "W. Wilson reminds me that the Niobe of Mount Sipylos is full-faced.
So is one face on the Kariiak Monument.

265

AN ASSYRIAN TABLET FROM JERUSALEM.
I SEND herewith a "squeeze" of an Assyrian inscription, with a translation

of tlSSLMnser. ''"'"^' ""^"^ '°' "'' "'■ *"•■ '=' ^'^''^^ '^""S'.

2G6 ZOAE.

He states that it is a fragment of an inscription of Sargon (b.c. 721,
705), and comes from tliat monarch's palace at Khorsahad.

The tablet from which the inscription was taken was found at Jeru-
salem at the Convent of the Sisters of Sion ; and Miss Amy G. Smith, who
procured the squeeze of it for me, was informed by them that it had been
found many years ago (they thought more than fourteen), when the sisters
were making excavations near the Vifi Dolorosa. From that time until last
autumn it had been laid aside and neglected. When found it was
perfect, but is now broken in half.

T. Hayter Lewis.

76. as-kup-pi abnu pi-li [kabuti daadmi kisitti kata-ia]

77. si-ru-us-sun ab-rig (l) [ma a-snrru-sin usaashira ana tabraati]
usalik 4 saru 3 niru [1 sussu Ih sa 11 amtu misiikti dAri-su

78. askun ma ili sadi-i zak [ri usarstd timin-su]

79. ina ri-e-si [u] arka[ati ina sili killallan mikrit viii gari]

80. VIII b;tbt apte-ma ilu [Samsu musaksid irnittia ilu Eammanu

mukin]

81. higallia sunu abullu

'=>'■

" With large slabs, hewn out of blocks of stone, upon which I had
chiselled representations of the prisoners I had captured in war, I lined
the walls, and I set them forth for admiration for marvelling).

" I made the mass of their walls 16,280 cubits, and I laid their founda-
tion stones upon a rocky bed ; in front, and behind, and on both sides
towards the eight winds T made eight doors open.

" Samas makes my strength to conquer (?) " and " Kimmon the estab-
lisher of my kingdom," called I the names of the doors, &c."

ZOAR.

It has not been noticed in the Quarterly Statement that the Se})tuagint
seems to have considered the Zoar of Gen. xiii. 10 a different place from
the Zoar of Gen. xix, 22. In the former passage we read — ecas f\6fiv els
Zoyopa ; in the latter— etViyX^ci/ els ^rjyaip. I take it that neither name
is declinable, and that Zogora and Segor are not the same place.

This, as far as it goes, confirms the identification of the Zoar of
Gen. xiii with Zar. But there is no authority for suggesting that Zar or
Zor should be read in Ps. Ixxviii, 12, 43. The Septuagint translators
must have known the localities in Egypt perfectly well, and in this
psalm they read Tanis or Zoan.

J. H. Cardew.

2G7

AN ANCIENT HEBREW WEIGHT FROM SAMARIA.

When recently at Samaria, I purchased from a peasant boy a hematite
weight of the size and shape here represented. It is flattened on one

;i;;t^.'b;v^;'^

ANCIENT WEIGHT FROM SAMARIA.

side, SO as to stand on a smooth surface without rolling, and on the upper
part there is an inscription in two lines of ancient Hebrew characters.

In the " Athenajum " of August 9th, Professor A. Neubauer writes
respecting this weight :

" Professor Sayce has communicated to me the following inscription on
a small weight found on the site of Samaria, and purchased by Dr
Chaplin last spring : Face 1, "''^^^^'^ ; face 2, ^^J^J^^'H '■> which seems
to read Jtj^ ^^^-^ h'j^ yi'y, ' a quarter of a quarter of a ;|^^.'

" Ml-. Flindei's Petrie, to whom Professoi- Sayce communicated this
intei'pretation, writes that he has discovered from other sources that the
standard weight of Northern Syria amounted to 640 grains, of which
the quarter of a quarter w^ould be 40 grains, that is, exactly the value of
the Samaritan weight in the possession of Dr. Chajilin. Whether J^^ is

derived from the root ^^i cannot be decided yet, but the use of '^'^ is
important at the probable date of the eighth century b.c, which the

forms of the characters indicate, and in the northern kingdom. '^'^

Avhich is a contraction of ~i ';^*=~i 'n'll?^) is found in Canticles, wliich is
considered a production of the Samaritan kingdom, in Jonah, and in

Ecclesiastes. The early use of ^*^ might perhaps help to bridge over
the gulf which Professor Margoliouth has found between classical
Hebrew and that of Sirach."

Mr. Petrie adds : —

" In discussing the weights which I found at Naukratis iii 1885, I
fountl a standard of 80 grains in common use, and suggested that it might
be an eighth of the 5 Assyrian shekels ; again, at Defenneh, in 1886, I
found the same standard, and I then proposed its identity with the
standard indicated by the tribute of the Hittites and Syrians on the
Egyptian monuments (' Nebesheh and Defenneh,' pp. 91-2). The weights
showed a variation of 77 to 83 grains, and by the tributes I deduced 77
to 80 grains. I concluded that it was five Assyrian shekels halved
successively into 320, 160, and 80 grains, and used in Syria and imported-
thence to Egypt.

"Now all this, which was a tentative deduction, is exactly confirmed
by Dr Chaplin's weight, and explains that weight. It is 39*2 grains.

268

A STONE MASK FROM ER-RAM.

and is said to be ' quarter of a quarter of a Netzeg.' The Netzeg was,
therefore, 627 grains, which is well within the variations of 5 shekels ;
and it was divided by halving down to a sixteenth. The one-eighth is
73'4 grains, which agrees with the 77 to 80 grains wliich I had previously
reduced for this Syrian standard. So we now know that the Syrian (or
Hittite ?) name for 5 shekels was Netzeg."

Thomas Chaplin, M.D

A STONE MASK FROM ER-RAM.

As I was riding through Er-Eam one day and enquiring for
" antiques," a woman brought me a very curious stone mask, which T
immediately purchased for a small sum. It seemed, liowever, that the
object was regarded in the village as a sort of talisman which it would
not be well to part with, so a number of men ran after me with their
guns and demanded it back. Fortunately the Arab is always open to
argument, and I had not much difficulty in persuading the men that it
was to their own interest, if not for the good of the village, to let me take

STONE MASK FROM RAMAH.

the thing away ; and I was soon permitted to ride off with my prize. It
is of the variegated reddish limestone of the country, of the shape
represented in the drawing, and measures about 7 '3 inches by 5 "7 inches

METEOROLOGICAL OBSEIIVATIONS. 269

Its thickness to the broken tip of the nose is 3 inches. The back is
hollowed, and the sockets representing the eyes there are very deep,
particularly that on the right side. The place of the mouth also is
scooped out behind, but there is no mark for the nose there. The mask
seems to have been handled a great deal, as its edges are worn very
smooth. Mr. Flinders Petrie thinks it is probably of Canaanite origin,

Thomas Chaplin, M.D.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Sarona, 1889.

The numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the
barometer in each month ; the maximum was 30-185 ins. in December.
In the years 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1887, the maximum was in January in
1882 in February, and in 1883, 1885, 1886, and 1888 in December as
in this year. The maximum, therefore, has always been in the winter
months. The highest reading in the ten years was 30-285 ins. in 1887.
The mean of the nine preceding highest pressures was 30-223 ins.

In column 2, the lowest reading in each month is shown ; the minimum
for the year was 29-494 ins. in July. In the years 1883 and 1887
the minimum was in January, in 1881 and 1888 in February, in 1880,
1884, 1885 and 1886 in April, and in 1882 in July, as in this year ; the
lowest reading in the ten years was 29-442 ins. in 1887. The mean of the
nine preceding lowest pressures was 29'510 ins.

The range of barometric readings in the year was 0-691 inch ; in
the nine preceding yeai's the ranges were 0-780 inch; 0-711 inch;
0-704 inch ; 0-579 inch ; 0-757 inch ; 0-680 inch ; 0-621 inch ; 0-843 inch ;
and 0-743 inch. The mean for the nine years was 0-713 inch.

The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of readings in each
month; the smallest was 0-201 inch in August ; in 1883 the smallest was
in June; in 1882, 1886, and 1888 in August, as in this year; and in
1880, 1881, 1884, 1885, and 1887 in October. The mean of the nine
pi-eceding smallest monthly ranges was 0-172 inch.

The largest monthly range was 0-542 inch in December; in the
years 1883, 1884 and 1887 the largest was in January, in 1^82 in
February, in 1881 and 1886 in March, in 1880 in April, in 1885 in
September, and in 1888 in December, as in this year. The mean of the
nine preceding largest monthly ranges was 0-628.

The numbers in the 4th colunm show the mean monthly pressure of
the atmosphere ; the greatest, 29-967 ins., was in November. In the years
1880, 1881, 1882, and 1884 the greatest was in January ; in 1883 and 1887
in February ; and in 1885, 1886, and 1888 in December. The highest
mean monthly reading in the ten years was 30-060 ins. in 1882. The

270 METEOROLOGICAL OBSEUVATIONS.

smallest mean monthly reading was 29'648 ins. in July, this being the
smallest reading in any month in the ten years. In the years 1880, 1882,
1883, 1886, and 1888 the smallest was in July, as in this year; and in
1881, 1884, 1885, and 1887 in August.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in
column 5. Tlie highest in the year was 102°"0 in April ; the next in
order was 100° in both May and June. The first day in tlie year the
temperature reached .90° was on March 4th, and on four other days
in this month the temperature reached or exceeded 90°. In April on
three days, the highest in the year, viz., 102°, took place on the 20th ; in
May on four days ; in June on four days ; in July on six days ; in August
on five days ; and in September on four days, when the temperature
reached or exceeded 90° ; therefore, the temperature reached or exceeded
90° on 31 days during the year. In the nine preceding years the
temperature reached or exceeded 90'^ on 36, 27, 8, 16, 14, 24, 16, 25,
and 39 days respectively. In the nine preceding years the highest
temperatures were 103°, 106°, 93°, 106", 100°, 103°, 112°, 100°, and 105°
respectively.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature of the air
in each month. The lowest in the year was 38" on December 30th ; and
on both the 26th and 30th of November the temperature was as low
as 40^ ; thus on only three nights in the year the temperature was
as low or below 40°. In the preceding nine years the temperature was
below 40° on 13, 2, 13, 2, 9, 3, 3, 15, and 2 nights respectively. In
the preceding nine years the lowest temperatures were 32°, 39°, 34", 35°,
32°, 38", 37°, 32° -5, and 37° respectively.

The yearly range of temperature was 64°-0 ; in the nine preceding
years the yearly ranges were 71°, 67°, 59°, 71°, 68°, 65°, 75°, 67°-5, and
68°'0 respectively. The mean of the nine preceding yearly ranges was
67°.9.

The range of temperature of each month is shown in column 7, and
these numbers vary from 23°-0 in August to 58°-0 in April. In the year
1880 these numbers varied from 25° in August to 53° in both April
and May ; in 1881 from 29° in both July and September to 51° in May ;
in 1882 from 25°-0 in August to 47° in November ; in 1883 from 25°
in July to 62° in March ; in 1884 from 24° in February to 51° in
April ; in 1885 from 22° in July to 52° in March ; in 1886 from 26° in
August to 55° in June ; in 1887 from 27° in July to 54° in April ; and in
1 888 f i-om 26° in August to 58° in March.

The mean of all the highest by day, of the lowest by night, and of the
average daily ranges of temperature are shown in columns 8, 9, and 10
respectively. Of the high day temjieratures, the lowest monthly value
was 64°-2 in January. In the years 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888 the
lowest was in January, as in this year ; in 1881, 1882, and 1883 in
February, and in 1880 in December. The highest, 88°-4, is in July,
whilst that in August is of nearly the same value, viz., 88°"3. In the
year 1880 the highest was in May ; in 1888 in July, as in this year ; in

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 271

1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887 in August, and in 1882 in
September.

Of the low night temperature, the coldest or lowest monthly
temperature, 47°"8, was in February ; in the years 1880, 1882, 1884, and
1888 the coklest was in January ; in 1863, 1885, and 1887 in Februaiy,
as in this year ; and in 1881 and 1886 in December. The warmest, 70°'3,
was in August ; in the year 1885 the warmest was in July ; and in 1880,
1881, 1882 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, and 1888 in August, as in this year.
The average daily range of temperature is shown in column 10 ; the
smallest, 15°-2, is in January ; in the years 1880, 1883, 1885, 1886, and 1887
the smallest was in January, as in this year : in 1881, 1882, and 1884 in
February ; and in 1888 in December. The greatest range of temperature
in any month was 23°"8 in October ; in the year 1888 the greatest was in
March ; in 1884 and 1887 in April ; in 1880 and 1885 in May ; in 1881 in
June ; in 1883 in September ; and in 1882 and 1886 in October, as in
this year.

In column 11, the mean temperature of the air is shown as found from
observations of the maximum and minimum thermometers only. The
month of the lowest temperature, 56""5, was in January. In the years
1880, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888 the lowest was in January, as in
this year ; in 1881 and 1882 in February ; and in 1883 in December.
That of the highest, 79^'3, was in August, a.s in the nine preceding years.
The mean temperature of the air for the year was 68° "4, and of the nine
preceding years, 66°-4, 66°-7, 65°-5, 65°-7, 65°-7, 65°-9, 66°-8, 66°-5, and
67°"7 respectively.

The numbers in columns 12 and 13 are the monthly means of a
dry and wet-bulb-thermometer, taken daily at 9 a.m. In column 14
the monthly temperature of the dew-point is shown, or that temperature
at which, moisture would have been deposited. The elastic force of
vapour is shown in column 15. In column 16 the water present in
a cubic foot of air is shown ; in December it was as small as 3| grains,
and in August as large as 7f grains. In column 17 the additional weight
required for saturation is shown. The numbers in column 18 show the
degree of humidity, saturation being considei^ed 100 ; the smallest
number, 54, indicating the month with the driest air is October ; and the
largest, 82, indicating the month with the wettest air is January. The
weight of a cubit foot of air under its mean pressure, temperature, and
humidity, at 9 a.m., is shown in column 19.

The most prevalent wind in January was S., and the least prevalent
was N. In February the most prevalent was S., aiid the least were N.,
N.E., E., and N.W. In March the most prevalent was S.W., and the
least was E. In April the most prevalent was W., and the least were
N.E. and E. In May the most prevalent was S.W., and the least were
N.E. and S. In June the most prevalent was S.W., and the least were
N., N.E., and E. In July and August the most prevalent was S.W., and
the least were N. N.E., E., and N.W. In September the most prevalent
were S.W. and W., and the least were N., N.E., and S.E. In October the

272 METEOEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

most prevalent were N., E., and S., and the least were N.E. and S.E. ;
and in November and December the most prevalent was S., and the least
were W. and N.W. The most j^revalent wind for the year was S.W.,
which occurred on ninety different days in the year ; and the least
prevalent wind was N.E., which occurred on only nine days during
the year.

The numbers in column 29 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m. ;
the montlis with the smallest are July and October, which are of the
same value, and the largest is Janvary. Of the cumulus, or fine weather
cloud, there were 109 instances, of which 29 were in August, and 18
in both July and September. Of the nimbus, or rain cloud, there were
52 instances, of which 15 wei-e in January and 11 in December, and only
7 from May to October. Of the cirrus, there were 43 instances. Of the
cirro-oumulus there were 23 instances. Of the stratus, 35 instances. Of
the cirro-stratus, 9 instances. Of the cumulus-stratus, 2 instances ; and
92 instances of cloudless skies, of Avhich 15 were in October, 14 in
November, and 13 in Jul}-.

The largest fall of rain fur the month in the year was 5'85 ins. in
January, of which 0'95 inch fell on the 7th, and 0'86 inch on the 26th.
The next largest fall for the month was 3"46 in December, of which
0"63 inch fell on the 25th, 0"59 inch on the 22nd, and 0"57 inch on the 11th.
No rain fell from the 25th of May till the 21st of Sej)tember, making
a period of 118 consecutive days without rain. In 1880 there were
168 consecutive days without rain ; in 1881, 189 consecutive days; in
1882 there were two periods of 76 and 70 consecutive days without
rain; in 1883, 167 consecutive days; in 1884, 118 consecutive days;
in 1885, 115 consecutive days; in 1886, 171 consecutive days; in
1887 there were two periods of 132 and 63 consecutive days ; and in
1888, 118 consecutive days without rain. The fall of rain for the
year was 13'50 ins., being 15"18 ins., 3"99 ins., 8'59 Ins., 16'56 ins.,
5'23 ins., 6"56 ins., 6.59 ins., 3*56 ins., and 15"34 ins. respectively,
smaller than the falls of the nine preceding years. The number of
days on which rain fell was 50 ; in the nine preceding years rain fell
on 66, 48, 62, 71, 65, 63, 66, 43, and 62 days respectively.

James Glaisher.

273

RELATION OF A VOYAGE TO TADMOR

IN 1691.

By Dr, William Halifax, of C.C.C., Oxford, Chaplain to the Factory at
Aleppo, from the original manuscript in the possession of Mr. Albert
Hartshorne.

The following Relation of a Voyage to Tadmor is an exact reprint of a
manu.script now in the possession of Mr. Albert Hartshorne, which was
obtained in Eome in 1774 by Mr. Thomas Kei-rich, afterwards Principal
Librarian to the University of Camliridge, and a well-known antiquary
and connoisseur of his day.

It appears to be the earliest exact account of Palmyra in modern times
that has been preserved. Since it has been set in tyjje, a MS. copy,
similarly written, was found in the possession of Mr. E. (j. Western. In
Mr. Western's copy the following note apj)ears : — " Published in ye
Philosophical Transactions of 1695, by Dr. William Halifax, of C.C.C.,
Oxon., Chaplain to the Factory at Aleppo."

On comparing Mr. Western's copy with the Philosophical Trans-
actions of 1695, it was found that some of the inscriptions in Mr.
Hartshorne's MS. were not included in the Transactions. It has,
therefore, been decided to reprint the MS., together with all the
inscriptions in facsimile.

A RELATION OF A VOY^ TO TADMOR BEGUN Y^

29™ SEPT. IC91.

The Name of Tadmor occurring in Scripture among y<= sumptuous
buildings of K. Solomon, and y'= acct. of mines of an extraordinary
Magnificence still remaining there, having bin brought to Alep° partly
by y'= inhabitants of y'^ countrey and partly by those who had occasion-
ally passed by y' place, together w'h its vicinity not being a^ to be above
.3. or .4. dayes distant from hence, excited y^' curiosity of some of our
Merch*^, together w% D'' Huntington, An" 1678, to make a voy« thither :
But these Gentlemen were no sooner arrived there at Tadmor, but they
fell unhappily into y*^ hands of a Comp"^ of Arabian Robbers, comanded
by one Melham, to satisfy whom they were constrained to part w*h their
very clothes ; w<^h great los & y^ tfright together so palld their curiosity y'

274: VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

they staled not to take a more exact survey of y'' ancient ruines, but
imediately returned home & glad to escape so. Since y* misfortune tho
yo voyc liad bin often discoursed of yet none had y« courage to undertake
it, til having obtained a promise of security from Assine K. of y*^ Arabs,
& one of his own people to shew us y'' way, on y« .29"'. Sept. 1691, we
ventured upon it a second time, making in all IFrankes and serv'^ about
30 men, well armed. The first day of our road pointed S. & by E. &
in .4. hours we came to a fountain called Caphor Abiad, leaving old Alejj"
about an hour on y'' right hand : here we made but a very short stay, but
proceded to a better fountain at y^ foot of a very high hill covered w*li
loose stones, y'' Ruines of a village called Brocder, of W^h there was not
one house remaining, & dining there, we advanced in Ij hours more in
ye afternoon, through a fertile open plain to a place called Emghire,
famous for y'^ best wheat y* is brought to Alep°. This we made our first
staffe, & mounts again in y"^ morning about .5. a clock in les than h hour
past by an uninhabited village called Urghee, our road pointing as before
through y<^ same fi'uitfuU plain even & pleasant : But when we came to
ascend y" Hills, when I reckoned we entered y^ Desert & were to take our
leave of Mankind, at least of an inhabited countrey for some dayes, we
had a troublesom passage over loose gr^^ stones w'hout any appearance of
a road. Our Guide had promised to conduct us through pleasant groves
& fforests, but no such thing appeared unless we would bestow y' title
upon some low withered shrubs y* grow in y"^ way : only one tree we saw
w^^h was of good use to us, serving as a landmai'ke, & when we were
come up w*h it, being left at a little distance on y" right hand, we gained
y<' prospect of a remote ridge of hills before us, & on y*^ top of one of
them an old castle, w^'h we were told was known by y« name of Gazur
Eben Wordan, but what it anciently was, or in what condition it is at
present, I could not learn ; therefore not unwillingly I turned mine eyes
from it to a little round hill more on y"^ left, by w^h we were to direct our
course, & about ^^ hour from w^^h stood a Sheckes house called Sheck
Aitha, where we were to bait, and a well of water by it ; but such y* we
had but little gusto to tast, though it served our horses ; all y*^ countrey
thereabouts is stored with gazells, and there is a barbarous sort of people
there, y* have nothing hardly else to live upon, but what of these they
can kill ; & necessity hath taught them to be no mean artists in their
way, for they lie down behind y*' stones, & as y" poor harmles creature
passeth by, shoot them, & though their guns be ordinaiy, exceeding
heavy & thick, w'h match locks, & instead of bullets they have only
round stones covered w% a thin plate of lead, yet are such excellent
marksmen y* they kill many. This morning we travelled about .5. hours
to reach Sheck Aitho's, yet finding nothing to invite our stay there,
though there were .4. or .5, tombs not ill made according to y*' Turkish
mode ; about. 1. a clock we mounted again, bending to y" S.E. or somewhat
more E. In our way we had 2 remarkable Prospects, one on y'^ right
hand, of y" ruines of an ancient citty called Andrine and sometimes-
Londrine, w"=h we were told had bin formerly inhabited by firaukes, & y*

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 275

therei many inscriptions there, but it was too far out of our way, & too
dangerous too, for Rogues, for to take a view of them. The other on y<^
left hand was another Tree, not far from w'^h our Guide assured us of
good water, where we designed to take up our lodging. Y" hopes of y*
water made us slight a well we past by, at w'^h we afterwards repented
we had not staled : for when we came u]» w'h y*' tree from w'^h we had
declined a great way to y^ right, but found our water still at a very great
distance, & were constraind to take new directions from a white chalky
hill, almost as far as we could see, & yet not much beyond y" place y' was
to be our stage : on therefore we proceded, til sunset very weary, &
almost w'hout hope of coming to water y' night, tho at y*^ same time near
dead w'h thirst, & what y*" more surprised us, our guide was advanced a
great way before, out of our sight, upon w' design we knew not ;
but upon his return we found it was only to assure himself y<^ better
of y"^ way, & in an hour or two he brought us to y*' side of a Bog
called Zei-ga, where such as it was we had water enough ; but it was
neither palatable nor wholesom, neither did y"^ ground seem proper to
sleep on, yet we were forced to be content, there being no removing hence
y* night.

Oct. 1st. — We dep"^ from Zerga about .2. hours before sunrise, & as
soon as it was light had y" Prospect of a very high hill, w'^h was to be
y^ bounds of our travell y' day : to this we made as directly as we could
look, finding notliing in our way observable, except a multitude of holes
made in y'' sandy earth by ratts, serpents, & other animalls, w^ rendred
our riding a little troublesom, as we had found it on y^ same ace* y^ after-
noon before about .2. hours short of our Stage we were shewn .3. little
round hills lying to y° right in a direct line, known by y*^ name of Tenage,
where we were told there was good water, & it is for y* reason only they
deserve y notice of those y* travel throw such a thirsty desart : y<= place
to w'^h we directed our course was called Ezree, where we found to our
great satisfaction y' oifr guide had not deceived us in his promise of ex-
cellent water : here we could discern y*^ tfoundations of a sj^atious citty,
& a piece of a thick wall built of a chalky stone was standing, w<=h we
judged to be y^ remaind"" of a Castle situate of a hill, so as both to defend
& comand y^ citty : on y<^ top of y'' hill above y^ Castle stands y^ mines of
a ffabrick in appearance very ancient, built of a hard stone, yet exceed-
ingly worn out by y** weather : it is of an oblong figure pointing near to
y** N.E. & S.W. w% only only one door iny*^ E. end, W^h was once adorned
w% extraordinary good carvings, of w'^h some yet remain, but y'' greatest
part is either worn away or purposely defac'd, & those markes of antient
beauty y* rem* are very obscure ; the outside of y<^ wall is beautified w*h
Pilasters quite round, w*h their Pedestalls & Capitalls regular & handsom ;
but y* roof is all fallen down, & w%in appears notliing w'^h lookes like
either great or beautiful y« situation & placing of y<' door hindreth one
from conjecturing it to have bin a (christian oratory or chappel, & therefore
in probability it must have bin a heathen temple ; & if so, then y<' piece of

I were, evidently omitted : M.S. p. 3 ; line 9 from top.

VOYAGE TO TADMOE.

y« Castle being of a softer stone must be mucli raoi'e modern. The
goodnes of y'-' water brings y*' Ai-abs wh rove up & down tliis Desart, & y"
Turkmen frequently hither, w*^!! hath occasioned a great many graves
about this temple, & some have had leisure, & what is more ditticult to be
imagined skill enough to scaitch in y'' walls y*^ first letters of their Names,
& many other words in Arabick caracters, w*^!! we could make nothing of
no more then of an Arab Inscription w'"h lay hard by, but aj^peared not
ancient.

Oct. 2d. — We dep*"^ from Ezree about 1 h hour after midnight, and in
6^ hours arrived at .2. wells of water .18. ffathom & .2. foot deep known by
y^ name of Impnialea giub : through y"" greatest p* of tliis Stage we had
a beaten road, & where y' was not discernible we guided our selves by a
ridge of chalky Hills under w*=h y^ wells lay. The water we found ex-
ceeding bad, of so noisom a scent y* we could not endure it so much as at
our noses : W^h made our guide laugh at us, who told us y'^ Arabs, and
even y" K. himself used to drink freely of it, w^h I am sure our horses
would not doe, though they were under a necessity of drinking y* or
none : as for our selves we had brought sufficient from Ezrce for one day
at least : in our way hither we were shown y" true Plant w'^li they burn
for soap ashes, W-'h has no leaves, but a soft juicy stalk shooting into
several branches & something resembling our Sampierre, only it is more
round then y'. Y<^ ashes likewise we saw Av'^h were made not far from y^
wells, w'^'h in burning run into cakes, not much unlike y'' cinders of a
forge, only they are heavier, not so full of pores nor so hard as they. In
>*= afternoon we proceeded on our voy"^ 2^ hourstoaj)lace called Almyrrha,
passing rather between then over y'= Hills, tho we had sometliing of an
ascent too : this we did to shorten our stage next morning, for we were
told before hand we should find no water on those mountains, so for our
selves we lived y' night upon our old stock, & our horses were constrained
to pass y*" night w*hout water ; our journey had bin hitherto altogether
southerly, & but little varying to y^ E. of y^' 8.

Oct. Sd. — We mounted from Almyrrha between .5. & .G. in y*^ morning,
making to y«' point of a high ridge of mountains through an uneven
Desart way, frequently interrupted w*h guts & channells, probably made
by y'^' descent of sudden rains : we came to y'' ascent after about .4. hours
travell, w'^h we found not difficult, & when we were on y<^ top we had a
pleasant prospect of y« Countrey, & what Ave vejoyced in most, we were
shewn a little hill behind w'^h we were told lay Tadmor : this mountain
was covered on both sides w*h great plenty of Turpentine trees, w^h was
an object very pleasing, having seen but very few greens in our whole
journey. This tree growes very thick & shady, & some of them we saw
loaden w*h a vast abundance of a small round nut, y<^ greatest use
whereof is to make oil (tho some eat them & ace' them as great aregalio as
Pistachee) their outward husk is gieen & more oily then y* of Pistachees,
& w'hin a very thin shell is containd a kernel 1 both in color & rellish
very much resembling them, but those y*^ eat them seldom take y*^ i^ains
to search for y*^ kernell but eat husk, & shell & kernell & all together

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 277

w=h have no ungrateful tast : from this hill we had a tedious descent, &
coming at y"' foot met a narrow gut, winding this way & y' way between
y'' Mountains ; our passage seemed long, hot & tiresom : our want of
water however obligd us to proceed, whereof we now began to be in
great necessity, especially for our horses & mules, w<^h had had none y*
night before nor all y* day : w*h this we had hopes of being supplied .2.
different wayes : having had a showr of Rain y<' night before, we hoped
to have found water in y'' Hollowes of y** Rockes, but either y* Rain had
not reached so far, or not in such plenty, as to fill those naturally hewed
cisterns : our other expectacon was from y*^ Wells y' were in y<^ road, but
these, our guide advancing before & examining met us w*-h y*^ unwelcome
newes y' they were all di-y, & y' y*" best advice he could give us was to
pitch where we were, & content our selves w*li y^ remains of what we
had brought .2. dayes in our Caravelts til our horses & mules might be led
to a fountain .2. hours out of y^ way, & being watered there y™selves bring
a fresh supply for us : this was w^h some difficulty assented to as most
eligible : we resolved therefore to send our guide first w*h one or .2. of
our serv'^ in search of y^ water, & afterwards others w'h our horses,
while in y*" mean time we pitched our Tent, it being then about .2. in y®
afternoon : As soon as they were gone, a small drisling rain w*=h we had
had for \ hour encreased to a very plentiful shower, w<=h put us on pro-
ducing all y<^ vessels we had to catch it as it fell from y"^ heavens, or ran
down y^ skirts of our tents, our horses at y^ same time greedily sipping
it from y^ ground ; but we might have spared our pains, for in les then
an hours time, our camp was in a manner afloat, & we were furnished
w'h water not only for us sufficient, but for an army of .20/000. men :
those hollow gutts we passed over w^hout y*^ least appearance of moisture,
were by y"^ cataracts w^h descended from y^ mount^ become rivers, & a
cavity w^h those servan'^ we had sent out passed over dry, was swoln to
such a torrent, y' they were put to some difficulty to rejms it ; so jjlenti-
fully was God pleased to jjrovide for us in our greatest strait : & what
encreaseth both y« wonder & y"^ mercy, y^ next morning when this
quantity of rain was past away, in about .2. hours riding we could hardly
discern y* they had had any rain at all. This memorable place is known
by y^ name of Al withal.

Oct. 4th. — fi'rom Al withal we proceeded for Tadmor, some of y<^ mines
of W^h we pswaded our selves we could see y'' day before, phaps it might be
y^ Castle, Wh is more than ^ hour distant from y® citty : our way lay
S*^, but y« gut in w'^h we travelled, would not pmit us to keep a direct
course : however, in about .1. hours walk we passed by y® Auter Moun-
tains (our guide called them Tul Anter) through a gap or Rent, both sides
of W^h so exactly answered one to y'^ other, they would tempt a man to
believe they were separated^by art for an Entrance into y® Countrey ; but
it must have bin a work of prodigious labor & charges to cut through
such vast Mount^ : & if any one was so hardy as to attempt it, he must
certainly have grown weary of his undertaking, for y'' ground is levelled
but a very little way & almost as soon as we were well got w*hin y« open

278 VOYAGE TO TADMOft.

space, we were obliged to ascend another hill ; & so our road continued
through hills & valleyes interchangeably all y" way. On y« left hand, at
some distance from y« road, we saw a Shecke's house on y« top of a high
hill, w'^h made a better shew then usually those buildings doe ; but
beino- assured by our guide it was a modern structure, and eager too to
come to y principal place we aimed at, we would not prolong our stage
so much as to turn out of y'^ road to see more of it ; so pressing still
forwards we hardly proceeded ,4. hours, when we came to y« brow of a
rocky Mountain, separated from y' whereon stands y" Castle of Tadmor,
but by a narrow valley : In w<^h hill by y^ way appeared some quarryes
of very fine stone w'=h probably might afford Materials for y" curious
buildiuo-s in y* Citty. Our guide here according to his accustomed
diligence advanced some few paces before, & having espied .3. or .4.
countrey fellows driving asses towards us, he caused us to make a short
halt, to give them opportunity to come nearer to us, resolving to speake
w% them to know whether y« coast was clear or any of y*^ Mountain
Arabs then at Tadmor or not : after a little space, w*h our arms in our
hands, we marched in as good ord' as y^ way would pmit, down a rocky
& steep precipice into y"^ valley, & our guide making greater speed then
we could, galloped after y« poor affrighted countrey fellowes who seeing
such a comjj'' unexpectedly descend y* hdl, left their asses, & fled towards
y« citty with all speed possible : But they were soon overtaken & brought
again to us, to whom they related y^ good newes y' there was no force at
all in Tadmor, y* we might proceed w*h courage & see what we would
w'h all safety, w<=h newes obtained them their liberty to return again to
their asses, & we continued on our way in good ord^ As soon as we
came under y« Castle, we could easily discern y* it was no old building,
retaining no footsteps of y« excellent workmanship & ingenuity of y«
antients, & upon enquiry we were informed y* it was built by Man Ogle,
a Prince of y'' Druses in y*' reign of Amurath y'^ 3^ who florished An".
1588, but I know not how to give cred' to y*^ story, because I find not
this Man Ogle or any Drusian Prince was ever powerful in these parts,
their strength lying in Mount Lebanas, & along y'' coast of Sidon,
Barute, &c. It is a work of more labor than art, & y« very situation
alone is enough to render it almost impregnable, standing on y« top
of a very high hill enclosed w^h a deep ditch cut out of y'' very rock,
over w=h there was only one sole passage by a draw bridge : its
bridge too is now broke down, so y* now there is no entrance remaining
except you will be at y'^ pains to clamber up y<^ rock, w'^h is in one place
feasible, but w^hal so difficult & hazardous y* a small slip endangers yo""
life ; nor is there any thing w'hin it to be seen sufiicient to recompence
y« trouble of getting up to it, y« building being confused, & y* rooms
very ill contrived ; upon y* top of y« hill is a well of a prodigious depth,
as certainly it must be a great way to come to water from y* top of such
a rock, y« ditch y* surrounds it not having y« least appearance of moisture
therein, w'^h made it therefore seem more strange y* a wild Boar should
rush out thence amongst our horses when we rode up to take a more par-

VOYAGE TO TADMOK. 279

ticular view of y" place. This Castle stands on y** N. side of y* town,
& from hence you have y« best iirospect of y^ countrey al about : you
see Tadmor under you enclosed on .3. sides w*h long ridges of Mountains
w<=h open themselves towards y<= E. gradually to y*' distance of about an
hours riding ; but to y'' S. stretcheth a large plain beyond y** reach of y«
eye : in y" plain you see a large valley of salt affording great quantity
thereof, lying not above an hours distance from y«^ citty, and this more
probably is y*^ Valley of Salt, mentioned 2 Sam. 8. 13, where David
slew .18U00. Syrians then another W^h lyes about 4 hours from Aleppo,
w<=h has sometimes passed for it. The air is good, but y^ soil exceeding
barren, nothing green to be seen therein save some few Palm trees in y«
gardens here and there above y*" Town, & from these trees I conceive it
obtained y*' name, both in Habrew, Tadmor w<=h signifies a palm tree, &:
in Latine, Palmyra, & y** whole countrey is from thence denominated
Syria Palmyrena, & sometimes Solitudines Palmyrense, or y^ desarts of
Palmyra, so y' y" Latines did not change, but only translate y« old
name, W^h therefore still obtaines in these Eastern parts, and j" more
modern is wholly unknown.

The Citty it self appears to have bin of a large extent, by y« ruines
y' lie scattered here & thei^e at a good distance one from y« other but
there are no footsteps of any walls discernible, nor is possible to judge
of y** antient figure of y'' place. The present inhabitants as they are
poor miserable dirty people, so they have shut themselves up to y«
number of about 30 or 40 families in little huts made of dirt w*hin y«
walls of a spacious court, w^ inclosed a most magnificent heathen Temple.
Hereinto also we enterd, y'^ whole power of y^ village if I may so call
it, being gathered at y^ door, whether to stand upon their defence in
case we proved Enemies, for some of them had their guns in their hands,
or meer curiosity to stare upon us I know not : however our guide being
a man known among them, we had an easy admittance, & w*h a great
'.uany welcomes in their language, were conducted to y^ Shecke's house,
w'h whom we were to make our abode & to mention here what y'= place
at first view represents, certainly y« world it self canot afford y^ like
mixture of y"' remains of y^ greatest state and magnificence together
w*h y^ extremity of filth & poverty : ye nearest parallel I can thinke of
is y« Temple of Baal destroyed by Jehu, & converted into a draught hous
2 Kin : 10, 25, and if, what is not improbable, this was a temple of
Juppiter Belus y"^ similitude will run upon all four. Being thus lodged
in this place I shall begin w'h y« description thereof, & then proceed to
what observed remarkable w'hout. 'J'he whole space enclosed is a square
of 220 yards each side encompast w% a high and stately wall, built of
large square stones & adorned wHi Pilasters w'hin & without to y«
number, as near as could be comi)uted of w* is standing of y« wall w<=h
is much y*^ greater part, of .62. on a side, & had not y'= barbarity of y«
Turkes, Enemies to every thing y' is splendid & noble, oixt of a vain
superstition purposely beat down these beautiful cornishes both here & in
other places, we had seen y« most curious and exquisite carvings in stone,

T 2

280 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

w'=h phaps y^ World could ever boast of, as here and there a small
remaind'^ w<^h has escaped their fury doth abundantly evidence. The
West Side wherein is y« entrance is most of it broken down, & near y«
midle of y" space, another higher wall erected out of y<= mines w«h shewes
to have bin y^ ffrout of a Castle, strong but rude, y" old stones, & many
pillars broken or sawed asunder being rolled into y'' tfabrick & but ill
cemented. Whin were to be seen y'^ foundations of another wall, w<=h
probably might answer y« ffront, & y' y" Mamalukes, whose workman-
ship it is most likely it must have bin, built y« Castle here for y^ security
of y^ place Before y*^ whole length of this new ffront except a narrow
passage, w^h is left for an Entrance is cut a deep ditch, y" ascent whereof
on y<^ inner side is faced w'h stone to y"^ very foot of y'' wall, w'^h must
have rendered it very difficult to assault it. The passage to, & y« door
it self, is very narrow, not wider than to receive a loaded camel, or y'
.2. footmen may walke abrest, & as soon as you are Av*hin y** first door,
you make a short turn to y" right & pas on a little further to another of
y*^ like bignes w^h leads into y*^ Court : but all this is but a new building
upon an old, & by y*' outward wall is quite shrouded y^ magnificent
entrance w^h belonged to y« first ffabrick, of y*^ statelines whereof we
were enabled to judge by y« 2 stones y* supported y"^ sides of y<^ great
gate, each of W^h is .35. foot in length, & artificially carved w'th vines &
clusters of grapes very bold and to y^ life : they are both standing in
their places, and y<' distance between them, w'^h gives us y*' wideness of
y« gate, is .15. foot. But all is now walled up to y*' narrow door before
mentioned. Over this little door there is an Inscription in Greek, & also
another in another language & caracter, w'^h I never saw til in Tadmor :
from y' we hoped for some information ; but it will be evident to any y'
reades it that y^'stone was brought from another place & casually put in
there ; it is thus —

TO MNHM6ION TOY TA<t>€(jONOC €KTIC€N
€ZIAIWN CenTIMIOC OAAINAGOC OAAMHPO-
TATOC CYNKAHT[IKOC] AIPANOY OYABAAAA-
eOY TOY NACIOPOY AYTtO T€ KAI YIOIC
AYTOY KAI YItONOIC €IC TO nANT€A€C
AlWNION T€IMHN.

Underneath this was y« unknown caracter as well as it could be taken —

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 281

The € in MNHM€ION is not upon y« stone, but was doubtless
omitted by mistake, & y Inscription nothing else but y*^ inscription of
a Sepulture, y*' like to which we saw several, & shall have occasion to
mention some of them hei'eafter ; & as for y** other caracter, it being
added almost under every Greek inscription we saw, & very rarely found
alone, I am apt to beleive it y*" native caracter & language of y'' place, &
y*^ matter it containes nothing else, but what we found in ye Greeke.
As soon as you are entered w'hin y<= Court, you see y* r-emaind"'^ of .2. rowes
of very noble marble pillars, 37 foot high, w'h their capitalls of most
excellent carved work, as also must have bin y« cornishes between them,
before by rude & supstitious hands they were broken down : of these
there are now no more than 58 remaining intire, but must have bin a
great many more for they appear to have gone quite round y^ whole
court, & to have supported a most spacious double Piazza or Cloyster of
this Piazza y« walk on y'' west side, w'^h is opposed to y'' ffront of y«
temple, seems to have excelled y^' other in beauty & greatnes & at each
end thereof are .2. niches for statues at their full length, w% their
pedestals, borders, supporters, & canopyes carved w*h y*" greatest artifice
& curiosity. The sjmce w'hin y^ once beautifull inclosure, now filld with
nothing but filth and vermin, I conceive to have bin an open court, in
y** midst whereof stands y« Temple, encompassed w'h another row of
pillars, of a different ord'' & much higher than y'' former, being about
.50. foot high : of these remain now but .16., but there must have bin about
double y* Number, w«h whether they inclosed an inner Court, or suported
a Cloyster is uncertain there being nothing of a roof remaining, only
one great stone lies down w'^h seems to have reached from y'^ row of
pillars to y^ wall of y^ Temple. The whole space contained w*hin these
pillars we found to be .59. yards in length, & in breadth near .28. In y<"
midst of this space is y^ temple, containing in length more than. 33. yards,
& in breadth about .13. or .14. . it points N. & S., having a most magniti-
cent Entrance on y" W. exactly in y^ midle of y« building, W^h by y«
small remaines yet to be seen seems to have bin one of y'' most glorious
structures in y« world : I never saw clusters of giapes cut so bold, so
lively, so natural in any place ; and we had doubtles seen things abun-
dantly more curious, if they had not bin malitiously broken to pieces :
Just over y« door we could make a shift to discern p' of y** wings of a
large spread Eagle, extending y'' whole wideues thereof, y"^ largenes of
w«h led me at first to conjecture it might have bin a Cherubin over-
shadowing y* entrance there being nothing of y« body remaining to
guide ones judgm', & some little angells or cupids appearing still in y''
corners of y^ same stone : But afterwards seeing other Eagles upon other
stones w% were fallen down, I conclude this must have bin one likewise,
only of a much larger size. Of y" temple there is nothing now but y«
outward wall standing : in which it is observable y' as y« windowes were
not large, so they were made narrower at y^ top than below. Whin
these walls y^ Turkes have built a roof suported by small Pillars & arches,
but a great deal lower as well as in all other respects disproportionate

282 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

& inferior to what y« ancient covering must have bin, & have converted
yo phice into a Mosque, and to y" S. end of this they have added new
ornam'^ after their manner w% Arab inscriptions, & sentences out of
ye Alcoran written in fflourishes & wreaths and not without art But at
y« N. end of y^ building Wh is shut out of y« Mosquee, are reliques of
much greater artifice and beauty : whether they were in y" nature of
Canopies placed over y" altars there, or to w* other use they served I am
not able to conjecture : they are beautified w^h most curious fFretwork &
carvings in y<" midst of w<^h is a Domo or Cupola above .6. foot diameter,
w^h we found above to be of one piece, whether hewed out of a rock
intire, or made of some artificial cement or composition by time hardened
into a lapideous substance, seems doubtful, tho I am rather inclined to
believe y^' latter : It is in fine a most exquisite piece of workmanship, &
on what I could have bestowed more time in viewing then what was
allowed us, hastning to other sights.

Having taken a survey of y** Temple we went abroad, where our eyes
were presently arrested w'h an amazing sight of a multitude of marble
pillars, standing scattered up & down for near a mile of ground this way
& y*, but so dispersed as to afi'ord no solid ffoundation to judge what sort
of ffabricke they formerly made. I past by y"^ mines of a mosquee W'h
directing our course N.ward, was y*' first thing occurred to our view, after
we came out of y" court of y** Temple, w«h tho of a more artificial frame &
composure then many I have seen yet is not worthy to stop us in y^ way
to things both of greater antiquity, & every way more noble and worthy of
consideration. Having therefore past this, you have y*' prospect of such
magnificent ruines, y* if it be lawful to frame a conjecture of y« original
beauty of y" place by what is still remaining I question whether any
citty in y'^ world could have chalenged precedence of this in its glory :
But it being impossible to reduce them to any regiilar method, I must be
forced to give you a rude ace* of them as they come in sight, and w'^h will
fall much short of y greatnes & statelines Wh they shew. Advancing
then towards y" N. you have before you a very tall & stately Obelisk or
Pillar, consisting of .7. large stones besides its capital, & a wreathed work
above it, y« carving here as in all other places being extraordinary fine :
ye height of it is above .50. foot, & upon it I conceive may have stood a
statue, W^h y^Turkes (zealous Enemies of all Imagery) have thrown down
and broken in pieces, it is in compas just above y^ pedestal .12. | foot.
On each hand of this towards y" E. & W. you see .2. other large Pillars,
each a quarter of a mile distant from you, w<=h yet seem to have some
correspondence one to y^ other, & there is a piece of another standing
next to y* on y** E. w^h would incline one to believe there was once a
continued row of them. The height of this to y« E. I tooke w'h my
quadrant & conclude it to be more then .42. foot high, & y« circum-
ference is px^oportionable. upon y« body thereof is this following in-
scription

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 283

H BOYAH KAI OAHMOC AAIAAMGNA HANOY
TOY MOKIMOY TOY AIPANOY TOY MAGGA KAI
AIPANHN TON RATePA AYTOY €YC€B€IC KAI
<l>IAOnATPIAAC K[AI] HANTI TPOHW [€Y]C€IMWC
AP€CANTAC TH HATPIAI KAI RATPIOIC 0€OIC
T6IMHC XAPIN 6TOYC N Y A MHNOC HANAIKOY.

& under this was y« caracter & language before mencoued, w'=h not
being understood was neglected. I pswade my self it would be but lost
labor to spend time in making reflections upon this or y^ foil ; insciiptions,
as for y« knowledge they may exhibit to y" world, yo^ own thoughts will
more happily lead you into it, then any thing I am like to suggest : it
seems however evident they were a free State, governed by a Senate
& people, tho phaps under y« protection of greater Empires, y" Parthians
first & afterwards y« Eomans, who for a long time contended for y«
mastery here in y* East : <!t this governm* might continue among them
til about ye time of Aurelian, who destroyed y** place, & led Zeuobia, wife
to Odenatus, captive to Eome, who tho shee be called Queen, yet I find
not y' ever her husband had y^ title of King,(a) but was only one of y«
chief inhabitants, a leading man in y« Senate (as it is probable this
Alilamenes & Airanes were afore him) who while y^ Eomans were busied
in Europe made himself great here, & by his own force repelled y«
Parthians, who having mastered whatever was held by y" Eomans on y*
other side of Euphrates, made an incursion into Syria, but were by
Odenatus beaten back beyond y« river. In y" course of these warrs
Odenatus was slain, but his wife Zenobia being a woman of a masculine
spirit, not only kept her ground against her enemies abroad, but
maintained her authority at home, keeping y« government in her hands :
afterwards, out of a desire to cast off y<= Eoman yoke, she caused y« whole
garrison, w<=h was left there by Aurelian, to be barbarously cut of, W^h
bringing Aurelian back w% his army, he quickly tooke y^ citty &
destroyed it, putting y« inhabitants to y<' sword, & carrying Zenobia
captive to Eome. Tiiis custom of theirs, of running their pedigrees up to
ye 4 th QY 5 th generation, shewes them to have borrowed some of their
fashions from their neighbors y« Jewes, w*h whom they had doubtles of
old great commerce, & prhaps many of them were descended from y*^
people, Zenobia her self being said to have bin a Jewesse ; or else this
must have bin y manner of all y« Eastern nations. Their sera, or ace' of

(a) He was saluted Cesar by y^ army in his warrs ag'' y^ Parthians, & was
one of those 30 Tyrants who usurped y« Empire under Galdenus, & were
suppressed by Fl. : Claudius.

284 VOYAGE TO TADMOE.

time, they begin from Alex' j" Great, as y*' Syrians generally doe, y«
very Xans at this day foil, y"" same usage : yet tho they marke y<' date of
ye year by Greek numeral letters, you may observe they place y™ a
different way from y^ Greekes, setting y"^ lesser number first, as if they

were to be read backward from y"^ right hand to y*" left ; as N .Y here
denoting .450. The 3"^ letter, A I take to stand for y<^ day of y" month
vis' y<' .30.*'^ of y'^ month Xandicus, y' is w*h us April, this & other names
of months w<=h are found in other inscriptions being borrowed from y"
Macedonians w'th very little variation. That they were idolaters is plain
by y'' mention of their Countrey gods, both here & in other places so y'
their commerce w*h the J ewes did not it seems bring them to y<^ know-
ledge of y<'.true God, or else they must have degenerated therefrom,
& relapsed into Idolatry. The other pillar towards y^ W. in height &
circumference answers this, & hath u^wn y'^ side engraven y foil, inscrip-
tion.

H BOYAH KAI O AHMOC BAPeiX€IN AMPICAM-
COY TO !APIBtjOA€OYC KAI MOKIMON YION
AYTOY €YCEB€IC KAI <l)2AOnATPIAAC T€IMHC
XAPIN . . . .

the date of this is not legible, neither doth one know what judgm' to
make of y® thing it self : y* such a Pillar should be erected onlj^ to
support y<^ Inscription, & convey these mens names to after ages, w*hout
pticularizing what they did to deserve y^ honor is something strange
unles we may supose it was a prevailing vanity in these Eastern countries
thus to endeavor to eternize their fame : an instance whereof we have
in Scripture, in Absalom's setting up a pillar .2. Kin. 18, 18. and phaps
before him in Saul y'' .1. Sam. 15, 12. otherwise it may appear no impro-
bable conjecture y* y pillar was erected long before upon some other
occasion, & afterwards made use of to this end, & I looke upon it as past
all doubt y* several other inscriptions W^h we saw were much more
modern then y" Pillars on w'^h they were engraved.

Proceeding still forward directly from y^ Obelisk about. 100. paces, you
come to a magnificent entrance vastly large, & for y"^ exquisitenes of y"
workmanship, nothing inferior to any thing before described, I wish I
could ad y* it had not suffered y^ same fate w*h y<^ rest, & then we might
have seen a rare piece of y<" antient beauty of y^ place. This entrance
leads you into a noble Piazza of more than ^ a mile long .938. yards
according to our measuring, & .40. foot in breadth, inclosed w'hin .2. rowes
of stately marble pillars .26. foot high, & .8. or .9. about : of these remain
standing & intire .129., but by a moderate calculate there could not have
bin les at first then .560. Covering there is none remaining, nor any
pavem' at y" bottom unles it be buried under y'' rubbish : but upon
almost all y« pillars we found insciiptions both in Greeke & y<= lan-
guage unknown, of w<=h we had time to take very few, & those not very

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 285

instructive : But sndh as they are I'le present you them here, w'hout
observing any other ord"^ then as they hapned to be transcribed

lOYAION AYPHAION Z€B€IAAN MOKIMOY

TOY Z€B€IAO AC GtOPOBAIAAOICYN A[Y]TtO

KAT€A0ONT€C €IC OAOr€CIAAA GNnOPOIAN
€C THCAN AP6CANTA AYTOIC T€IMHC XAPIN
ZANAIKCO TOY H N <^ €TOYC.

I give you these inscriptions, as those before, just as I found them
w%out any amend"^'^ so much as of literal faults, only when a letter or a
piece of a word was not legible, where I could make a probable gues what
it ought to be, I have ventured to ad itw^h this inclosure [ ]. This seems
to have bin put up in memory of an Embassy pformed by those men
y' are named therein, for settling commerce & traffic, w'=h was to their
satisfaction accomplished ; but w^h whom til I can find what place is
meant by OAOFCCI AAA I m^s* remain Ignorant. I am unwilling
to entertain any thoughts of Getia, in Macedonia, or of Olgassus a place
mentioned by Strabo in Bythinia, w^h comes a little nearer y" name,
being both so remote, & y« citty of Tadmor so ill contrivd for a place of
trade being far from y« sea, & w*hout y<' advantage of a river: yet y«
magnificence of y^ place shews they wanted not riches among them, &
their salt is a com« which stil brings them considerable advantage. The
ord'' of y<= numeral letters you may observe is again inverted, but taking
them ye right way y*' yeare .558. falls in w*h y*^ last year of Alex'' Severus,
w<=h is of our Lord .284.

About ye middle of y" Piazza, on another jjillar, was this foil :
inscription

H BOYAH KAI O AHMOC lOYAION AYPHAION
ZHNOBION TON KAI ZABAIAANAIC MAAXOY
TOY NACCOYMOY CTPATHTHCANTA €N €ni-
AHMIA eeOY AA6HANAPOY KAI Yn€P€THCANTA
RAPOYCIA AIHN€K€I POYTIAAIOY KPICHCINOY
TOY HrHCAM€NOY KAI TAIC €niAHMHCACAIC
OYHZIAAATIOCIN AfOPANOMHCANTA T€ KAI
OYKONICtjONA <|)€IAHCANTA XPHMATWN KAI
KAAtOC nOA€!T€YCAM€NON COC AIA TAYTA
MAPTYPH0€NTA YHO e€OY lAPIBtOAOY KAI

YnO lOYAlOY TOY €EOXC0TA TOY

€nAPXOY TOY I6POY HPAITWPIOY KAI THC
HATPIAOC TON <t>IAOnATPIN TGIMHC XAPIN
6TOYC A N <l>

286 VOYAGE TO TADMOK.

This is one of ye most pfect inscriptions y* I met w*h, by y« help of w^h
we may make a jiidgm' of all y^ rest, at least thus far, y' they were put
up in memory of some who had behaved themselves in those publick
offices w<-h they bore, either in their own Kepublick, or under y« Komans
w% comendation, this being a publick place where their names & publick
actions were recorded & so transmitted to Posterity. W I further
observed was y« want of y^ name after lOYAIOY. and tooke notice of
a like space vacant m y« Inscriptions of y^ other language under it : & in
both places it seemed to be not worn out w'h time but voluntarily
scratcht out, W^h confirms me in y" opinion y* they are both one, & y* y^
unknown was y^ vulgar & y" greek y" learned language of y^ place upon
another pillar in y^ same wall was this

CenTIMION OYOPtOAHN TON KPATICTON
€niTPOnON C€BACTOY AOYKHNAPION KAI
APOAn€THN lOYAIOC AYPHAIOC 6AAMHC KAC-
CIANOY TOY M..A6NAIOY innGYC PtOMAItON
TON <t>IAON KAI HPOCTATHN €TOYC H 6 0 . .
MHN€I [Z]ANAIKtO.

under w^h was another in y^ other language, of w^^h for another specimen
thereof I have set down a part, tis to be read by those y* are able,
towards y^ left.

the rest of this we took not, nor I supose will any one ever find so much
in this, as to be troubled for y^ want of y« other part from another pillar
in ye same Piazza was transcribed this broken inscription w^h followes,
w^h I have endeavored to make up from y^ preceding, believing them in
substance y^ very same w*h some little alteration of names.

C€nTIM[ION OYOPWAHNJ
TON KPA[TICTON €niTPO]
nON C€BAC[TOY AOY K]H
NAPION KA[T APOAn€]THN
lOYAIOC AY[PHAI]OC €[AAAMHC]
HYIACOC M[EAGNAI]OC MAAtO
XA NACCOYMO[Y] O KPATI
CTOC TON [<l>IAON] KAI HPO
CTATHN T€IMHC €N€K€N
6TOYC . . . [MHN6I EJANAIKU)

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 287

This is so like y"* former y* I thought I might fairly take y" liberty to
make these additions to it, & it appears highly probable from both &
divers others of a like import y* as y" State, y<= Senate & ye people did
sometimes honor those y' had bin in publifik trusts, w'h inscriptions upon
these pillars, so where y* was not done by them, piivate psons had y®
liberty to doe y*' same for their ffreinds : & I shall give you an instance
by and by of an Husband who engraved one in memory of his wife : upon
several of these pillars, are little pedestals jetting out, sometimes one way
only, sometimes more, w^h seem to have bin y" bases or standing places
of statues but none of these are remaining, neither is it to be expected
they should, in a place w^h has bin so long in y<^ hands of y<= Turkes On
these pedestals we saw many inscriptions, sometimes w" there were none
on y'' body of y" pillar, & sometimes when there were. As for instance
this y' foUovves upon y® pedestal thus

cenriMiON aipanhn oaainagoy ton

AAMn POT AXON CYNKAHTIKON.

& upon y"^ body of y^ pillar this im^fect one, w'=h I have not venturd to fill
up, but I shall give it you as we found it

€ZA . . . NTtON AYPHAI P HAIOAWP

CTPATItOTHC A€ KHC TtON nATPWN

T€IMHC KAI €YXAPICTIAC XAPIN 6TOYC f 1 ^.

we see they esteemd it a very hon^''' thing to have their memories thus
preserved, but it is but little knowledge of them we can get from thence,
save now and tlien y'' time when they lived. As here .563. years after
y« death of Alex'' reach to y** year of our Lord .239. under this was
upon y^ same pillar an inscription in y other caracter, w^h because it
was very fair, & I think well taken, I will here ad, not designing to
trouble you w*h any more of this kind.

U \ 3B i^ h 1) vM. ^ '^ V k"^/^ • 'y isi ^,

if this should chance to come to your hands when you have little to
doe, ^haps you may be tempted to throw away h hour in considering these
odd caracters, w^h I wish you may doe w'h better success than I have
done, who remain wholly in y" darke about them, nor have hopes of
finding out what they contain. But if you are inclined to let them pas

288 VOYAGE TO TADMOR,

w'hout further notice, be pleased to walke on in y^ same Piazza, to another
inscription w"=h is as folP.

H BOYA[H KAI OAHMJOC C€nTIM]*ION TON
KPATICTON €[niTPOnON C]€BACTOY AOY
KHN]APION .. .] €OAOTHN THC MHT[POKOAtO]
N€IAC KAI ANAKOMICA[C]AC CYNOAIAC €EI-
AIWN KAI MAPTYPHe€NTA YHO TtON APX€M-
nOPtON KAI AAMRPCOC CTPATHTHCANTA KAI
ArOPANOMHCANTA THC AYTHC MHTPOKOAtO-
N€IAC KAI nA€ICTA OIKO0€N ANAAWCANTA
KAI AP6CANTA TH T6AYTH BOYAH KAI TU)A-
HMU) KAI NYN6I AAMRPWC CYMROCI APXON
TCON TOY AlOC BHAOY l€[P]CON T6IMHC
€N€K€N ET EANAIKIO.

this affords a suificient confirmation of what I before observed, y*
there were Honorary Inscriptions in memory of those y* had behaved
themselves well in publick offices, of w^h there are several mentioned here,
whereof some are very well known, and y** others not easy to be met
wth in Bookes. By the word MHTPOKOAWN6I A we may be
assured, y' tho y« citty was reduced by y*" Eomans into y" form of a
colony, yet it had a peculiar mark of Honour set upon it, to signify y'
it was y<^ cheif of their colonies in these Oriental parts, that y" autho-
rity also of their Senate & people was continued to them, & besides y'
there was a Society of men either curators of y" Temple of Juppiter
Bel us (to whom y^ Temple before described fhaps was dedicated) or over-
seers of y'' sports & festival solemnities, W^h were celebrated in honor of
him : of w"=h Sodality this Septimius was, when this inscription was
made y« Symposiarch, |]haps their chief and governor : By this too we
find they did not wait for y^ deaths of those they thus honored, before
they provided for y« preservation of their memories : but famous men
were thus registered for after ages, even while they were alive, upon
one of those little Pedestals before I described, not far from y'' former
was this foil: inscription, w^h I valued y more for y« little remaind^
it has preserved of y" name Palmyra, by w<^h y^ place was known to y^
llomans

* Brackets so arranged in M.S. — (Copyist).

VOYAGE TO TADMOE. 289

VniAION OYOPCOAHN [CYNKA]HTIKON KAI
BOYA6Y THN HAAMYPHNON BHAA KABOCAP-
CATON <|)I[AON] T€IMHC XAPIN €TOYC O ^

The upper end of this spacious Piazza was shut in by a row of pillars,
standing somewhat closer then those on each side, & phaps there might
have bin a kind of banquetting house above, but now no certain foot-
steps remain thereof : But a little farther to y'" left hand, & it may be
once continued w% y<= former, by y'' mines of a very stately building, W<'h
I am apt to beleive might have bin for such an use : it is built of better
marble, & hath an air of delicacy & exquisiteness in y*^ work beyond
what is discernible in y'' Piazza : the pillars w<^h suported it are of one
intire stone, & one of y'" that is fallen down, but so firm & strong, y' it
has received no injury thereby, we measured & found .22. foot in length,
& in compos .8. & .9. inches. In these ruines we found y<= only latine
Inscription we saw in y** place, & y* so imj^fect there is but little of it
intelligible

. . . Es orbis Sui, & propagatores generis humani D. D. N. N.
Dioclesianus. . . . simi Impp. & Constantini, & Maximianus nobb. Csess :
castra foliciter condiderunt.

And upon y'' same stone, a little lower

. . . nets ossiano Hieroclete . V. P. Prees. Provincia;. D. N. M. O.
eorum.

The name of Maximianus who was partner in y'= Empire w*h Diocle-
tian, W^h should have followed in y*' inscription, seems to have bin on
purpose scratched out & defaced, for what reason I canot gues. The
rest is lost by y'' breaking of y^ stone. In y*^ W. side of y^ greater Piazza
are several openings for gates leading into y« court of y<= palace, two
whereof one would easily believe, when they were in their j5fection were
y*^ most magnificent &, glorious in y'' World, both for y" elegancy of y"^
woik in general, & particularly for those stately Porphyry pillars w% w^h
they were adorned. each gate had .4. not standing in a line w'h y"
others, but placed by couples in y^^ front of y*^ gate facing y" palace, .2. on
one hand & .2. on y^ other : of these remain but .2. intire, & but one
standing in its place They are about 30 foot in length, & 9 in circum-
ference, of a substance so exceeding hard y* it was w'h great difficulty
we broke of a few shivers to bring home w^h us for a pattern of y<' stone,
y"^ art of making w<=h I thinke is quite lost. We saw several other
broken pieces of Porphyry, but neither of so accurate a mixture & com-
position nor so large as y<= former : the hard fate of one I could not but
regrett, when I saw it debased to suport y"* corner of a little Hutt, scarce
good enough for a Dog kennell or a Hogsty. The Palace it self is so
intirely ruined, y' no judgm* can be made w' it was in its ancient splendor,
either for y"^ figure or workmanship thereof : there is only here and there
a broken piece of a wall remaining, beat into pieces by violence, and
consumed by time to y* degree, y' without y*' help of tradition we could

290 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

be hardly well assured y* a Eoyal Palace did once fill y« space : we may
gues however y' it fronted ye famous Piazza before menconed, & was
surrounded w'h rowes of pillars of diiferent ord''^, many of w'li are still
standing, some plain and some wrought & channeld as those in y"^ Temple,
& upon those little Pedestals in y« midle of some of them, I observed
several Inscriptions, but could not conveniently take any more then one,
w'=h together w'h y'= pillar y' supported it was fallen to y*^ ground, it was
thus

MAP0€IN AA€ZANAPOY TOY KARAAHTOY
OYABAAAAGOY TOY CYMWNOY COPAIXOC
AIPANOY ANHP AYTHC MNHMHC €N€K€N
M€N[€I] AYCTPW TOY H Y €TOYC.

If y*^ rest were of a like nature w'h this, we have lost no great matter by
not taking them, this being only a memoiial wh a kind husband
caused to be set up in honor of his Wife. The month Dystrus answers
our March, & y*' year .490. from y^ death of Alex''. y« great y' of our
Jj^ 166. I omitted to mention before y* under y*^ long walke, runs a
current of hot sulphureous waters, & there is a well & other passages
down to them, but whatever they may have bin of old, they are not now
so convenient as another about 2 a mile W. ward from hence, where
there is a very good descent into y'^ "Waters, and it is still used by y*
people of y« countrey to bath in, near to w'h upon y*^ Pedestall of a
broken pillar (or |]haps it might be an altar) remains this foil. Inscription

All YS'ICTU) MenCTtO KAI €nHKOC0 BtOAANOC
ZHNOBIOY TOY AIPANOY TOY MOKIMOY TOY
MAGGA €niM€AHTHCOH AIP€0€IC €<1>KAC
nHTHC YnO lAPIBWAOY GGOY TON BU)[forsan
BCOMON]* 6ZIAIWN AN€0HKeN €TOYC A O Y
MHNOC Yn€PB€P€TAIOY K

I am pretty confident y* y<' woid I have marked w'h a line under it is
rightly taken, & therefore believe it to be a proper name of y*^ fountaine.
& upon y' suposition y'' Inscription is easily intelligible, shewing y' Bolanus
son of Zenobias &(f. being elected overseer or Curator of y^ fountain under
laribolus built this altar to Juppiter in y* year of Alexand"" .474. i.e. of
our Lord .150. & on y*" .20. Oct., if y« last K. be a numeral as I supose it

• Bracket not closed in MS.

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 291

must. But who this laribokis was, on whom they bestow as generally
on y'^ Roman Emperors, whose names occurr in their inscriptions y^ title of
0EOC is not so facil a conjecture. They were under y« Parthians
before y'' Romans fell in among them, but y*^ date shows this to be after
y'' time of Hadrian, & so after their coming nay & in an Inscription
before mentioned w'=h is of a later date then this by .80. yeai's we have
y« name of y*^ same j]son. Hot sulphureous bathes are things very frequent
in this countrey, & thence it was y' it obtained y'= name of Syria Salutifera.
The scent of y« Waters here is much like those of y^ Bath in England, but
not so strong, neither is y<^ tast so offensive on y<^ contrary when they
have run in y*^ aqua-duct so far from y<^ fountain as to become cold, they
are very potable, & are y" only waters y** inhabitants use. But we during
our stay there, sent to a fountain of very excellent water about an hour
distant from y« citty. On y« E. side likewise of y" long Piazza stands if
I may use such an Expression, a wood of marble pillars, some pfect, &
others deprived of their beautiful Capitalls, but so confused, y' it is not
possible to reduce them into any ord'', so as to conjecture to what they
served. In one place are .11. together in a square after this manner

: • paved at y« bottom w'h broad flat stone, but w'hout any

roof or covering, & at a little distance from y*, stands \<' ruines of a small
Temple w<=h by y*^ remaines seems to have bin for y'= workmanship very
curious, but ye roof is wholly gone & ye walls very much defacd &
consumd w% time. Before y*^ entrance w"=h lookes to y*^ S., is a Piazza
suported w% .6. pillars, .2. on one liand of y*^ door & .2. on y^ other, &
at each end one, & y*^ Pedestalls of those in y'' front have bin filled w*h
inscriptions in both y« Greek and y*^ other language, but they are now so
obliterated & worn out as not to be intelligible. See an instance of y*
next y^ door on y<^ right hand as you enter

AOYKIOY AYPH[AI]OY HAIOACOPOY

O rT€l]MHCXAPIN GTOYC

[MHNOC An]€AAAI[OY]

you see where I thought I might venture I have filled up y'^ vacancy
y^ rest I am forced to leave impfect as I found them, there being .3.
whole lines wanting together, except this single o. in y<^ middle of one of
them. The month Apellavis answei's our Dec"", upon y* to y*^ left hand
opposite to y<^ former, is this.

MAAHN TON KAI ArPinHAN lAPAlOY TOY
PAAIOY rPAMMATGA reNOMGNON TO A€Y-
T€PON €niAHMI[A] 0€OY AAPIANOY AAIMMA
nAPACXOTA Z6NOIC TE KAI nOAGITAflC]

292 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

And a little below

€NH...N Yn€P€THCANTA THT . . . CTPAT€YMA

TOY . . . YnO H KAI TON N AON TON . . .

AlOC. .. N TtOT

I should have imagined y'' KAI to have bin a Copulative, & y*' second
name Agrippa distinct from y*" former, but y words foil : will not admit
of such a construction. The pson then in memory of whom this inscrip-
tion was made must have bin Malineus Ca'agrippa who bearing such an
office as scribe or y^^ like in y expedition of Hadrian y Emperor,
pfornied an act of publick beneficence and generosity both to strangers &
citizens denoted by y* word AAIMMA "w^h signifies unicion, phaps he
distributed among them sweet oils to be used in or after their bathings,
tis pitty what foil, is so impfect, & especially y* we canot find out y'=
date, for this might have directed us to y^ precise time of Hadrian's
Expedition into these oriental parts, where he made great conquests, &
enlarged y« bounds of y" Roman Empire. But as great a curiosity as any
were their sepulchres, being square towers .4. or .5. stories high & stand-
ing on both sides of a hollow way on y^ N. side of y"^ citty, stretching for
about a mile, & phaps formerly they might extend a great deal farther,
at our first view of them as we enterd y'' place we could not conjecture
what they were, some thought them y'^' steeples of ruiud churches, &
were in hopes we should have found some footsteps of Christianity here ;
others tooke y™ to have bin Bastions, & p' of y<^ remaining fortifications,
tho there is not so much as any foundation of a wall to be seen : But
when we came, a day or two after, more curiously to enquire into them,
we quickly found their use. they were all of y^ same form but of
diflferent splendor & greatnes according to y"^ circumstances of y"" founder.
The first we viewed was intirely Marble, but it is now wholly in ruines,
& nothing but a heap of broken stones among wh we found y" pieces of
.2. statues, one of a man & another of a woman, cut in a sitting or rather
a leaning posture, y"^ heads & part of y*" arms of both being broken of, but
their bodies remaining pretty intire, so y' we had y'= advantage of seeing
their habits, w<'h aj^peared very noble, but more aproaching y« European
fashion, then what is now in use in y® East, w'^h inclined me to believe
they might be Romans, upon broken ])ieces of stone tumbled here &
there, we found some as broken inscriptions, not intire enough to give any
sense : but being short, & y^ unknown caracter of a larger size than else-
where, I will not omit them

3INU)NON AYTOY RPOC AAB€IN KAC . . . .

& underneath this

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 293

upon anothei stoue in y same mine were y'' foil: Greek and other
caracters

....APCeCI€ni TW KATAMHACN ATPOHON K....

Upon another piece of stone in y*^ same ruin were these

H6T00KAYIOIC KAIYIWNOIC

If y"^ first word were to be changed into -AYXtO KAI &c., it would
agree w'h some other inscriptions we find upon these monum'^, but at
present I can make nothing of it. Several others there were as much
gone to decay as this, W^h therefore we past by to goe to two w<^h stood
almost opposite to oue another & seemd most pfect of any, tho not w'hout
markes of y^ Turkish malice : they are .2. square towers rather larger
than an ordinary steeple, & .5. stories high, y^ outside being of common
stone, but y"^ partitions & floors w'hin of marble, & beautified too w'h very
lively carvings & paintings, & figures both of men & women as far as y<'
breast & shoulders, but miserably defacd & broken : under these statues,
or by their sides are, in y^ unknown caracter probably y*" names of y<^
psons there buried or by them represented or else some other memorial
of them ; but these, not understanding we did not transcribe. we
entred one of these by a door on y^ S. side, from w''li was a walk cros y*'
whole building just in y" midle but y floor was broke up, & so gave us y*"
sight of a vault below divided after y<' same manner, the spaces on
each hand were again subdivided into .6. partitions by thick walls, each
particon being capable of receiving y'' largest corps, & piling them one
above another, as their way appears to have bin, each of these little spaces
might contain .6. or .7. bodies, for y<' lowest, 2"^. & ..3'^. stories these
partitions were uniform & altogether y same, save from y'= 2*1 ffloor, W^h
answered y main Entrance oue particon was reserved for a stair case,
higher than this y"^ building being something contracted towards y« top,
would not aflbrd space for y^ continuation of y^ same method, therefore
y'' .2. uppermost rooms were not so parted, nor phaps ever any bodies laid
therein unles it was y' of y*" founder alone, whose statue wrapt in funerall
apparel & in a lying posture is placed in a Nich or rather window in y
fi"ront of y<= Monum'. so as to be visible both w'hin & w'hout. Near to y-
statue is y^ foil, inscription.

294 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

TO MNHM€ION €KTICAN €AABHA€C MAN-
NAIOC COXAI€IC MAAXOC OYABAAAA0OY
TOY MANNAIOY TOY €AABHAOY AYTtO KAI
YIOIC 6TOYC aTy MHNOC HANAIKOY.

it is a little doubtful whetlier AYTU) should not rather be read
AYTOIC because of y'^ verb plural, or else there must be a fault in y"
verb, & all those are but 7"= names of one single pson I leave every one
to chuse W^h likes him best. the other monum* on y« other side y^ way
is very much like tliis, only y<^ front & Entrance are towards y*" North, &
it is not altogether so polite nor so well painted, but y*" carvings are as
good, & shews altogether as magnificent and stately as y^' former : besides
it has y advantage in age of a whole century of years, as appears from
y" date of y" foil, inscription : tis placed above a Nich in y" stone adornd
w*th handsom borders & cornishes y" place doubtles of some statue, &
probably y* of y'^ founder

MNHM€ION AltONION r€PAC tOKOAOMHC€N
nXOC MOKIMOY TOY KAIAKIAACICOY TOY
MA OY€IC T€ €AYTON KAI YIOYC KAI

erroNOYC €toyc a If mhngi zanaikoo.

this is y<= most ancient inscription I met w*h in Tadmor. y" .314.
3^ear from y« death of Alex'' y« great preceding y" birth of our blessed
Saviour .7. or .8. years, the other also is between .20. & .30. years
before y^ time of Hadrian, & conse((uently both of them before
y"-' Romans got footing here, & from these sumptuous stnictures
these costly Mausoloea, we may reasonably conclude they were a potent
& opulent people, before they became subject to y** Koman Empire, &
were not obliged to them for their greatues & now I beleive I have
wearied you sufficiently, by leading you up & down this famous & antient
citty of Tadmor, & giving you such a dry ace' of our employm' for y«
.3. or .4. dayes we abode there we had at least tired our selves in y^ time,
roving from ruine to mine & rumaging among old stones from ■w<^h
little knowledge was to be obtained ; for this reason & w'hal thinking
it not safe to linger too long in a place, where should y'' mountain Arabs
who are enemies to Assine Abas our friend, have intelligence of us, they
might either fall upon or endeavour to intercept us in our return, for
w^h reason also we had all along conceald our intended course, under a
pretence of proceeding for Damascus on Thursday

Oct. 8t/i. — About i hour after .4. in y« morning we dep"^ from
Tadmor, being well satisfied w'th what we had seen, & glad to have

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 295

escaped so dreaded a place w'hout any trouble or pretence upon us, but
else w'h some regret for having left a great many things behind w«h
desei-ved a more particular & curious inspection, our road lay almost
due E. or a little inclining to y« N. & on y" left hand a ridge of hills
stretched along for a great space, sometimes about k hour distant from y«
road, & sometimes opening wider these hills, we were told were stored
w'h rich veins of divers mineralls, & atforded all y' vast quantity of
marble, y<^ remaines whereof we had seen at Tadmor, & it was from a
fountain called Abnl-faras at y« foot of one of them y* they fetcht our
water W^h we drank there, y inhabitants contenting themselves w'h y'
w^h runs from y« hot springs. To y« right hand lay a vast barren plain,
pfectly bare, & hardly any thing green to be seen therein except it
were a few gourds, w4i our servan*^ found on y« side of a little rising
ground, where there was no shew of any thing moist to feed them : our
way being plain we had y^ sight of Tadmor especially y" caslle for
above i ye stage, til we came to an old Caphar house. We made indeed
but a short dayes journey in y'' whole, finding a fountain of excellent
water in about 5 1 hours riding, wh as it was a most wellcome refreshm'
to us in such a thirsty desart, so was y'' only good water we met w'h, til we
came to Euphrates, w^h was not til y"^ 'i^ day from y^ place, at y«
fountain we pitched near to w<^h is a village, but almost wholly ruined &
deserted : twas some time before any body would be seen, for they were
afraid of us : at length .3. men came to our tent, spectacles of a
miserable Poverty, occasioned by their being frequently pillaged by
y^ mountain Arabs, & to a great duty they pay to Assine their King for
his protection. Three hundred dollars they pay him annually, when one
would think y*' whole village could not make up y« sum of q" .100. yet
being y'= remotest place y' way under his jurisdiction, they often suffer
by y« inroads of y" other. The name of y" place is Yarecca, a name it
received, as we were informed, from a victory obtained thereabouts by
y« Turkes over y« Mamalukes.

Occ. 9— From Yarecca we mounted early & travelling N.E. or
thereabouts in .7. hours arrived at Souckney : y"^ road we found
much like what we had y« day before, lying over a barren plain, only W3
had hills on both sides, & sometimes closing w'hin i an hours riding one
of y« other. The village has its name from y^ hot waters (for so y" word
imports) wh are of y« same nature w% those of Tadmor. herein they
bath frequently, y^ same little dirty hole serving both for men and
women, only they have so much modesty remaining that they have
different hours for one & y« other, & to say y" truth it was y" only
marke of modesty I could observe amongst them. In other respects
they seemed a confident or rather impudent generacon of people : before
we could pitch our tents they flockt about us in multitudes, men,
women, & children, and of y« last many of them as naked as ever they
came into y** world, & so numerous they appeared y' if we had reason to
think Yarecca wanted inhabitants, we had no les to conclude Souckney
overstockt. At this place usually resides an officer of Assine's, who is

u 2

296 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

ther Sub Basha or Governor ; he whom we found there was called D'ov
of a good family among y^ Aral)S, to whom we made a Present, & he
civilly returned it in barley for our horses : afterwards he came under
our tent, & invited us to an entertainm' w<^h considering y'' circumstances
of y<' place was very splendid, tho it was nothing but Pilaw at last
a little diversified by dressing, & to speake seriously I judge we could
not have les then a bushel of rice set before us : his jjalace indeed was
not stately there being few cottages in Eng'' but might vye w'h it. Lo
y^ room wherein we were entertained, wh doubtles was y'' best, if not y
only one he had, we were forced to clamber, rather then ascend, by
broken steps made of stone & dirt ; but when we were got in &
comodiously seated after y*^ Turkish mode, it seemd large enough lor
about .12. or .16. people. At y^' upper end was a little space separated
from y^ rest by a ridge made up of earth w'hin w<'h I suppose he slt:))t.
The walls were mean, but y'' roof much worse, having no other covering
but faggots, so y^ certainly it could not be proof ag^' a shower of rain w'^h
fell y' night, & forced us out of our tent, into an old ruined Cave for
shelter : however it served well enough for our afternoon's collation, &
we had come away w*h a good opinion of y'' gentlemans civility, had he
not afterwards endeavoured to make a pretence iipon us, & so would
have forced us to pay dear for our rice : he pretended to a customary duty
of a chicqueen a head for all tfrankes y* past y' road, tho probably neither
he nor his grandfather before him had ever seen a ffranke there before :
but when he understood by our guide y* we were not easy to be so
imposed upon, & w'hall y' we were Assine's fFreinds, & in our way to
his tents, & especially our Ti^ar a pson he very much esteemed, who
therefore would be sure to acquaint him w'h any exaction or injury
offered us, his mouth was quickly stopt & he grew so sensible of his error
y'' he sent to excuse it, and presented our Trear w4i a fan of black Ostriche
feathers : & not only so but in y« morning came himself, and begg'^
pardon desiring y' nothing might be s'^ of what was past, & so conducted
us about an hour on our way. this village payes to Assine q^ 1500
a year.

Oct. 10.— Continuing our voyage still to y'^ N.E. or somewhat more
Easterly, we found it another pleasant, & easy stage to another village
called Tiebe, so called as they say from y^' goodnes of y'' waters, y'"
word signifying good, but we found them not so over excellent, they
had y" tast, & were doubtlesly tinctured w*h y'' same mineiall w'h those
of Suckney & Tadmor, tho not so strong, but y« village it self made a
better shew than usuall, & y'' people a]:)peared of something better fashion
& more civilized then those we had left : it is pleasantly situated, i'^.
makes a good appearance as one comes up to it, y" prospect being helped
by a well-built steeple, to W^h is now adjoined their mosquee : but 1 am
ant to beleive it y*" remaind'' of a Christian chui-ch, being built with more
art & Beauiy then you shall easily find in Turkish tfabrickes. There are
also several ruines about it, w^h speake it to have bin a more famous
place then now it is. Within y" Mosquee, w'=h we were permitted to enter

VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 297

w'hout any disturbance there is a stone clapt y« wrong way into y« wall,
w% y^ foil. Greek inscription upon it : —

All M€riCTtO K6PAYNIW Yn€P CLOTHPIAC
TPA: AAPIANOY C€B : TOY KYPIOY AfAGAN
r€AOC ABIAHNOC THC A€KAnOA€OC THN
KAMAPAN COKOAOMHCeN KAI THN KAINH
€ZIAIt)ON AN€0HK€N €TOYC IE M Y MHNOC
AWOY

& under this was another in y« same strange language & caracter w'^h we
had seen at Tadmor. I was surprised to find such an Inscription in this
place, nor can any way gues how they should come by it, & y'' mention
of Decapolis makes me still more in ye darke. if one extend y« bounds of
Decapolis as some are s<i to have done as far as all Coelosyria, & comprise
under this name again all Syria, Phoenicia only excepted, then need it
not be brought from elsewhere, but set up first in y^ place : but this will
not be allowed by those who make Decapolis only a part of Palestine.
The matter of fact it containes is only an ace' of y magnificence of this
Agathangelus Abilenus whoever he was, who for y« safety of y« Emperor
Hadrian, erected at his own charges, & dedicated to Juppiter the
thunderer a royal banquetting house (for so I take KAMA PA
to signifie) & a bed of State, for after KAI N H there is doubtles a letter
omitted, and it ought to be KAINHN. the date, .445., agrees to y«
year of our L'^ .123., w<=h was y .7."^ of y^ Eeign of Hadrian, & y** month
AU30C is our Augt. this village lyes in one of j" roads from Alep° to
Bagdat & payes to Assine an annual tribute of q" .1,000. from hence
we mounted again in y^ afternoon & preceded about .2|. hours further
to shorten our next daye's stage having travelld y« day in all between
.7. & .8. hours, the place we pitched at was a fountain known by y^^
name of Alcome but neither town nor house near it, neither was y«
water fit to be drunk being of y" same nature w% those of Souckney,
& almost as warm

Oct. 11. From Alcome we rose about Ih hour after midnight our
guide grooping out of y<^ way by y^ help of y« stars, W^h now bended
more to y« north then formei-ly. As soon as it was light enough to look
abovit us, we found our selves in a wide open desart, y« ground in some
places covered w^i a sort of Heath, & in others quite bare, nor had we
marched long after y" sun was up, before by y'' help of a rising ground
we discovered Arsofl'a y'' place whither we were bending, w<^h gave us
hopes we should be quickly there ; but having a dry tiresome plain to
traverse, & y« hot sun causing our Mules a little to slacken their pace it
was after .10. a clock ere we reached it, & what was more vexatious still,
finding no water any where near, we were necessitated to proceed forward

298 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

to y« river Eui^hrates wh we found .4. hours distant from hence.
Arsotfa or as y" Arabs call it Arsoffa Emir, seems to be y"^ remaines of a
Monastery, having no town nor village near it, & being one continued Pile
of building, of an oblong figure, stretching long wayes E. & W. and
inclosing a very spacious area, at a distance it makes a vei-y glistering
shew, being built of Gypsine stone, or Eock Izinglasse resembling
Alabaster, but not so hard, severall quarries of W^h we past by in our way
to it. where y'' sun shines upon it, it reflects y'' Beams so strong y* they
dazle y^ eyes of y*^ Spectator. Art or accuracy in y Workmanship you
find none, & but very little carved stone, & y' mean enough, nay the
very cement they made use of is but little better then dirt, so y' it is no
great wonder to find it in mines, though it hath not the appearance of
any great antiquity. Eound about were y** little apartm*^ or chambers
for ye monkes, built archwise, only one story above ground ; but under-
neath are several cells or vaults, larger then y*^ chambers, w''h ;phaps might
serve for their schools or working houses In y*^ midst of y" area stand
ye mines of several buildings some of W^h seem to have bin cisterns for
water, & it may be bathing jjlaces ; but y^ most remarkable was one w^h
was probably y^ Abbot's or Bishop's house, there having bin something
more pains bestowed upon it, then y^ rest, & another w4i was y'' Eelickes
of their Church This was formerly no unhandsom structure, being
built in y*^ form of our churches, & distinguished into .3. Isles, of w<^h y
midle one is supported w'h .18. well turned marble Pillars w'h Capitalls
upon them, not of Marble, but of a sort of clay cast into y shape they are
in, but of a color exactly resembling y'' pillar it self. That w-^h per-
swades me to beleive them cast is a Greeke Inscri})tion to be seen upon
all of them, y« letters whereof are not made by incision in y'^ stone, but
seem to be stampt standing out higher then y^ distances between them,
& in one of them by Mistake they are so placed as to be read after y
manner of y^ Oriental languages from y«^ right hand to y" left j^ words
are these w*h y^ Crucifix before as foil :

►i^ EniCEPnS EniCK. T8 CYNTEN MAPONIS T8

xtoPEnicK!;

The name of Maronius made me conclude it a monastery of y*" Maronites,
who were formerly very numerous in Syria & inquiring of one of their
ffathers here, I find they had a monastery of this Name, but he apre-
hended it to be beyond y"^ river Euphrates : but y* is an easie Mistake, &
tis more proba.ble it was this place, W^h is but .4. hours from y'' river.
Our guide lead us to y« river by y^ assistance of .2. little hills w4i are
known by y<= name of Affdien our way lying to y'' N., a little bending
to y-' east. the sight of y*^ river was a pleasing prospect, & to o\n-
great comfort we found y*' water very clear, hapning to be there before y
rains & after y« snow waters, W^h swell & disturb it in summer time,
were all past, and our hapines seemed y" greater having had so tedious

VOYAGE TO TADMOll. 299

& thirsty a journey of at least .14. hours, & neither our selves nor horses
touched a drop of water all day. We pitched upon a reach of y« River
where it was not very broad, not being above h a Musket shot over.

Oct. 12. This morning about Sun rise we proceeded on our voy" keeping
along y<^ bankes of y'' River, w<^h for y'' main led us W. or N.W. & here
we had pleasant travelling, having y** river on y*" right hand, & hills of
Marble on y** left or other fine stone, & delightful groves of Tamarisk,
Mulberry & other trees to pas through : here every thing about us looked
fresh and verdant, & we met frequently men & women j^assing on their
occasions, a thing to w^h in our former travails we had not bin accus-
tomed. Wee had also a Prospect of y*^ opposite shore, & could see a
great way into Mesopotamia, but could meet w'h no convenience to crosse
y^ river, w'^h we were very desirous to have done There are no places
of note remaining on y"" River, either on one side or y'' other, only on y*^
farther side we saw an old Castle called Giaber, w'^h made a good shew,
being situate on y^ top of an high hill, & both for y' & y*' way of building
very much resembling y' of Alep", only y' is y'' larger & in y« midst of
a citty, this les & has neither town nor house about it. On y*^ other
side we past by a Sheekes house called Abul Rarra & y^ ruines of a town
a little further Avliere there was a square tower built of very ordinary-
brick, but pretty intire. after we had left these ruines we rested to bait
under y*" Shadow of a rock wherein were many apartm*^ & conveniences
cut to lodge in, w'^h I supose are made use of in y" winter by y«^ people
who during y'^ summer pitch among y" trees by y^ river side. In y«
afternoon we continued our journey as before keeping allwayes at a little
distance from y^ river, till a little before sunset, we came to a very con-
venient place upon y<^ bankes, where we took up our lodging for y<= Night,
having travelld between .7. & .8. hours y*^ whole day

Oct. 13. This day we had y^ same satisfaction as y*" day before pro-
ceeding as near y'' river as y*' road would pmit, & having made a stage
of about .6. hours, we rested under y^ shade of y*^ Tamarisk trees by y**
river side, hoping to have found conveniences to have crost it ; but we
ould not. In our way we saw nothing observable, but y<= ruines of a
citty called Baulus, where y" Turkes had formerly a Sangiacke but now
there is never an inhabitant in y« place, nor house standing, nothing
but y* ruines of houses, & an octagonal tower of a considerable height
viz. .107. stejis & beautified only outside w'h flourishes & an Arabick
inscription round about it. it is a handsom structure, & probably y*'
worke of y^ Mamalukes since whose time little has bin done to adorn,
but much to destroy & wast y<^ countrey. After dinner we mounted
sooner then usual because, hoping to reach y** tents of Assine, we were
unwilling it should be late when we arrived, yet we made it near sun set
before we got to Fay, a fountain by w<^h he lay. We had travelled still
by y<= same point N.W. & had y« prospect of y"^ river y** greatest p* of
y^ way, y^ nearest reach thereof being not above .1. hour's riding from
y*' fountain. On y'' load we met several Bandieras of y^ Emirs soldiers,
who knowing our guide & understanding we were going to him, gave us

300 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

a very courteous Salaru, who else ;phaps might have treated us w*h
another sort of civility. The Kings tents spread over a very large plain,
& tooke up so vast a space y' though we had y*' advantage of a rising
ground, we could not see y" utmost extent of them : His own peculiar
tent was pretty near y midle of y" rest, wh were pitcht about it not in
a circular maimer, but stretching out in length as y plain opened for y"
batter convenience of a current of water, w<^h form y fountain ran through
y« midst of them. It was not all distinguished from y'= rest but by
its bignes, & a little more company about it, being all made of a sort of
hair cloth w'^'h seemed hardly a defence ag'' either rain or sun : But
certainly they must find otherwise else their necessity spending their
whole lives in such moveable habitacons, would have taught them to
have contrived something better. It canot well be doubted but they are
descended from y^ old Arabes Scenitte seeing they live just after y<^ same
manner, having no settled abode but removing from fountain to fountain,
as they can find gras for their sheep & camells, & water for them & them-
selves. They themselves love to derive themselves from Ishmael y*^ son
of Abraham, & it may be they are descended from him, but I beleive
they would be hard put to it to prove their pedigree. As soon as we
alighted we were attended by y'' officers of y'^ Emir, & conducted to a very
noble tent built after y^ Turkish mode, & pitcht next to his own.
hither he sent to bid us wellcom & to inquire how we past in our voyage,
& presently after we had a repast of several dishes of meat set before us
to stay our appetites till a more plentifull supper could be got ready :
But before supper y*" King himself made us a visit in person bidding us
Wellcome to Fay, & asking what we had seen in our travells y' pleased
us ? how we liked Tadmor ? & whether we had found a treasure there 1
for this notion stickes in y« heads of all these people, y' the Frankes goe
to see old Ruines only because there they meet w'h Inscriptions w'=h
direct them to some hid Treasures, & therefore tis no imusuall thing w^h
them, when they find a stone w*h an inscription on one side to turn y'
down to y'' ground, y' it might not be seen or read of any : But we
assured him we went with no such Expectation, but only out of a desire
to see y" place ; neither had we brought any thing away w'h us but a
piece of Porphyry stone W^h upon his request we shewed him : we let
him see, too, a rude draught, w<=h we had taken of y*" place wh he seemed
to like : he made his visit y*" shorter y' he might not incommode us after
our journey, but desird y' we would live after our own pleasure, & to our
satisfaction & command freely whatever y" Camp would aflfbrd, ordering
some of his people constantly to attend upon us. When there was men-
tion made of our design to be gone next morning, he answered it must
not be, himself was invited y*" next day to a great entertainm* by one of
his Grandees, & we should accompany him ; but y'' day foil : he would
goe out w'h us & hunt p' of our way towards Alep°. When supper was
brought in, there was victualls enough for .3. times our rximber. A large
dish of pilaw in y« midle & .12. or .15. dishes of severall sorts of meat
about it, all drest after their manner but exceeding good, & such as one

VOYAGE TO TADMOE. 301

might have fed heartily upon, had he not spoiled his appetite before,
after we had eat & drank what wee pleased, we rose np & y'' serv*^ sat
down in our places it being y'^ custom of y<= Arabs & Turkes too, from y**
highest to y*' meanest, all to eat at y"^ same table : The best sort sit down
first, & so in ord'' till a'l are satisfied, & then what remaines is carried
away, we might if we had pleased, lodged in y<^ same Tent where we
eat, but, having tents of our own pitch t, some of our comjj" chose rather
to retire thither, to avoid being disturbed by too many visitants

Oct. 14. — The next morning about .10. a clock we were told v^' King

o I/O

was gone to y^ entertainment & expected we should follow him, & y' .2.
young camells were killed to furnish y*^ sumptuous feast, w*^h is y'"
highest piece of Magnificence & greatnes, to w<^h these people whose
greatest riches consists in camells can arrive. The tent was above a
furlong from us, so mounting our horses we rode to it, & found it
surrounded wMi a numerous train of Guests, .300. at least, of difierent
sorts & qualities : it was very large of it self, & still to be more capacious
it was left open to y«^ West : The King was seated at y<= N. end, about y*^
midst of y<= Tent upon a place raised w'h Cushions, & quilts, & carjaets
before him, neither did he sit cros leggd, as all y** rest of y** Comp"-'
were obliged to doe, but in a leaning posture, they seemd to observe an
exact ord"" in their places, & when any pson of note enterd, those y' were
near his place rose up, & stood til he was seated : But y'^ far greatest p'
could not come w'hin ye compas of this Ring, but stood behind y'' backes
of y'' rest, leaving a spacious area in y« midst. When we entred they
made room for us on y*^ Kings left hand, wh here is esteem d y"^ more
honorable, where we sat down in y<^ same i)Osition w'h those about us
cros leggd upon a thin Carjiet. Before midday a Carpet being spread in y«
midle of y^ Tent our dinner was brought in, being served up in large
wooden Bowles born between .2. men, & truly to my aprehension load
enough for them. Of these great Platters there wei^e about .50. or .60. in
Number, pei'haps more w'h a great many little ones, 1 mean such as one
man was able to bring in, strewed here & there among them, & placed for
a border or garnish round about y*^ Table. In y'' midle of all was one of a
larger size than all y^' rest, in W^^h were y<= camell Bones & a thin broth in
w^h they were boiled : y*^ other great ones seemd all filld w'h one & ye
same sort of provision, a kind of plum Broth made of rice, & y"^ ffleshy part
of y*' Camells, w'h currans & spices being somew' of a darker color, then
what is made in our countrey, the lesser were for y'^ most p' charged
w'h rice, dressed after severall Modes, some of them having Leban a
thick sour milk j^oured upon them. This Leban is a thing in mighty esteem
in these hot countries, being very usefull to quench thirst, & truly we had
need of it here, for I did not see a drop of any sort of liquor except a dish
of Cofiee before dinner drunk at this splendid feast. Knives, forkes, spoons,
trenchers, &c*. are silly impertinent things in y"^ esteem of y'' Arabs ;
however we being known to make use of such things, had large wooden
Spoons laid before us. when y« table was thus plentifully furnished, y*
King arising from his seat, went & sat down to y'' dish w'li was directly

302 VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

before him, & so did y'' rest as many as it could contain, \v<=h could not
be much short of .100. & so w^hout further ceremony they fell to,
thrusting their hands into y'' dishes & eating by handfuUs, neither was
there any occasion of carving, only, because y« dishes in y" niidle were
too remote to be reached, there was an officer on purpose who stepping
in among them, & standing in y*^ Spaces designedly left for y* end w«h
a long ladle in both his hands, helped any one according to his desires.
when y** K. had eaten what he thought lit, he rose up, & washt, & retired
back to his former seat, & we also did y** like, others being ready for to
till our places : nor did we continue much longer under y'' Tent in y'
numerous crowd : for Assine perceiving y' we were a little uneasy, &
suposing y' we had now sufficiently satisfied our curiosity, tho not our
appetites, told us we might take our liberty, & if we thought fit retire to
our tents. This favor we gladly accepted, & w'hout any Ceremony
returned, several of his attendants waiting on us back. Here we* [had
another] dinner set before us, & having some of our own [wine &J watei-
to drinke w'h it, it went down better- \vH\ me [than] y*^ famous camell
tfeast. In y"" evening y^ K. mounted to [see] y'* ffiight of a new Hawke,
& stayed abroad very late, his Hawke ffiying away ; but shee was after-
wards taken up by his fi'aulkenor : otherwise he had not bin in a good
humour y' night, being a man y' delights very much in Sport : after his
return from Hawking we went to wait upon him at his own tent to return
him thankes for his most courteous & Royall acception of us, & to desire
leave to depart next morning, here we found him surrounded w% y*
cliiefest of his people, & being placed again on his left hand, he entertained
us w'th a great deal of pleasant discourse & asked such questions, as
shewed him to be a j^son of extraordinary capacity & judgm'. As for
learning, they have no such thing among them and therefore it is not
to be expected y' he should be a scholar ; but were he not a j^son of more
then common piudence & understanding, he could never have managed
y' wild and unruly people, as he has done ever since his advancem' to y^
throne, w<^h must therefore have bin y^ more difficult, because as he came
to it by y'' deposing of his ifather (tho not imediately) who now lives w%
him as a private man, so has he never wanted competitors. To his
ffather he payes a great deal of outward respect, but is forced to keep a
very watchftil eye over him. After about an hours discourse we were
dismist, &

Oct. 15. — In y'' morning Assine not being at leisure to goe out a
hunting, we proceeded on our voyage homewards w'h a great [& joyful]
alacrity, & finding nothing remarkable in our [way, after] about .Sh.
hours arrived Serag, & hence, after a sh[ort] repast, we continued our
journey to Shirby fountain, [w]<^h took us up y« like space of time
here we accounted our selves as good as at home, being at a place w*h
wi^h we were well acquainted, & to w'^h several times in y" year, some or
other of our nation usually resort, either for Gazell or Hog-hunting,

[* M.S. torn away ; words in brackets supplied by copyist.]

NOTES ON THE VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 30

according to their seasons, nor had we hence above .7. or .8. hours to
Alep°.

Oct. 16. — Getting up pretty early in y*" Morning, we resolved to hunt
y« greatest part of our way home, as we did, & dining at y*" famous round
Hill, whereon has bin spent by y* English more money then would pur-
chase y« fee simple of it & a noble Estate round about it. In ye afternoon
we arrived safe and sound at Alep°. God be praised for His gratious
Protection and Providence over us.

NOTES ON THE VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

The discovery of Palmyra by the English from Aleppo in 1678 is the
first hasty visit mentioned in this account. Already, in 1714, Reland
(p. 526) published two Palmyrene texts, but it was not until 1751 that
Dawkins and Wood made good copies (published in their standard woik
on Palmyra — Paris, 1812). In Reland's time, however, the Palmyrene
alphabet was already recognised to be a Semitic alphabet of 22 letters.
It is, however, unknown to our travellers.

With four exceptions, all the texts given in this early account occur in
Waddington's collection; buttheeai'ly copies are interesting, and made by
a oareful student who understood well both the language and the history
connected with them. The differences from Waddington's text are few,
and of no great importance. The unknown characters are Palmyrene, and
these texts are given by De Vogiic. Being unknown to the earlier writer
they are, as he admits, imperfectly copied, but he was quite correct in
supposing these texts to be the bilingual translations (in native letters and
language) of the Greek. The dates, however, do not, as he supposes, reckon
from the death of Alexander (324 B.C.), but from the era of the Seleucidse
(26th September, 312 B.C.), which era was used at Palmyra and in Syria
with the Macedonian calendar, the same found in the works of Josephus.
The native calendar was at Palmyra the same as among the Jews, except
that Marchesvan was called Kanun as among the Syrians.

The first text dates about 230 a.d. (VVaddington, No. 2621), being
the monument of Sejjtimius Odenathus, who was the father-in-law of
Zeuobia. The Palmyrene version has been given by De Vogliu (No. 21).
There is no date. The Greek agrees letter by letter with that of
Waddington, including the word M N H M I O N for jj-vrj^ifiov. It was
copied by Waddington, and found in the same position over the door.
The original is in two long lines.

The second text, also bilingual,- is No. 2586 of Waddington, and the
Palmyrene is No. 1 of De Vogiie. Waddington gives the date as NY

or April, 139 a.d. The third numeral can hardly be the day of the
month, as in that case it would stand after the month name, and the date
seems, therefore, to be really 169 a.d. The proper name is A A I AM El 2

r,04: NOTES ON THE VOYAGE TO TADMOR.

and there are two other inscri]:»tions of this personage, one (Wadd. 2617)
in which he is also called Zenobins, and another (Wadd. 2571 c) in which
as Zenobius he raises an altar in 162 a.d. This seems to show that the
date in the present text (169 a.d.) is more correct than that of Waddington.
Zenobius was a priest of the moon god, as we shall see later.

This text appears to have several errors ; for A HAN O Y "«'« should
no doubt read Alpdvov, and for [EYIXEIMnS Waddington has
>i>iXo7e/|icor, the rots appears to have been omitted before TruTpiois according
to Waddington's copy. The original is written in seven lines of Greek,
and is complete, the last line ending with a leaf.

The third text is Waddington 2587, and the Palmyrene version is De
Vogue's No. 2. The Greek has no date, but the Palmyrene gives Nisan
450, or a generation earlier than the preceding, viz., 139 a.d. The pillar
was raised in honour of Bareiches by the Council and people. The text
is in four line.^, and apparently comjjlete.

The fourth text is 2599 of Waddington, and is also bilingual, the
Palmyrene being No. 4 of De Vogiie. The letters of the present copy
are correct, but the spacing is incorrect. The Greek in the original
occupies seven lines, and is complete. The date is April, 247 a.d. The
column was raised by his caravan com})anions to Julius Aurelius Zebeidas.
He appears to have been the leader of one of the regular caravans to
Vologesiiis near the Tigris (Ptol. v, 20, 6). This shows the extent of
Palmyrene ti'ade in the time of Zeuobia. For A2 0X2PO Waddington
reads 'AaSapov. The sjieculations on this text would have been controlled
had the traveller found Waddington's 2589, which showa that trade and
not " an Embassy " is intended, and mentions Vologesias with another
place in the same region, and with the title tvuoSidpxTis or " chief of
caravan," as early as 142 a.d.

The fifth text is Waddington, No. 2598, and the Palmyrene version is
De Vogue's No. 15. It dates 242-3 a.d. The original is in 19 lines.
The name which has been hammered out after Julius and is so described
by our author, was Philip according to Waddington — the prefect of the
Pretorium The inscri^ition is raised by the Council and people in honour
of Julius Aurelius Zenobius, serving under Putilius Crispinus (with
others) in the army of Severus Alexander, who, in 229 a.d., marched
through Palmyra against the Persians. This Zenobius is thought to
have been the father of Zenobia. He merited well, it appears, of his
country, and of the god Yaribol, who, as his name shows, was the
moon god — Lunus. For MAPTY PH0€NTA Waddington reads
MapToprjdrjvui. There are, as before, several errors of spacing in the early
copy, but the rest of the lettering is correct.

The sixth text is Waddington's No. 2609, and the Palmyrene is
De Vogue's No. 27. The date is April, 267 a.d. The Greek of the
original is in nine lines, the last with the month name having two small
leaves, showing that the text is complete. This with the next is one of
several in honour of a Palmyrene named Worod, and with the Roman

NOTES ON THE VOYAGE TO TADMOR. 30o

name Septimius. The word APOAHETHN should be ' ApyantTrjv,
and, according to De Vogue, means commandant of the fortress.

The seventh text is Waddington's No. 2608, erected two years earlier
to the same Worod. The Palmyrene version is illegible, and the npper
lines of the Greek (ten in all) are injured. In both this and the preceding
for EAAMHZ we must read 2aX/^i?j?, and for £ (AAMHZ) ^errTLfi:os.
The first is evidently more probable, the latter (in 2608) is a more careful
copy. In the former case (2609) also we are controlled by the Palmyrene.
In the present text (2608) Waddiiigton asserts that the engraver has
written 2eTTvt.fiios in erroi\

The next text, No. 8, is "Waddington's 2600, and the Palmyrene
version is De Vogue's No. 22 ; it is the most imjioitant of all, being in
honour of the brothei' of Odenathus TI, husband of Zenobia, called in the
Greek, Epiarch of the Palmyrenes, and in the Palmyrene, " Head of
Tadmor." It dates from October, 251 a.d. The Palmyrene supplies
several lacnuse in the Greek, and allows of a much better copy than that
given by our traveller. The Greek in the original occupies nine lines,
but is much damaged towards the centre. Odenathus is here called
"Stratiotes, of the Cyrenaic Legion," but in the Palmyrene, "of the
Legion of Bostra" — Bostra being the head-quarters of the third Cyrenaic
Legion, as we learn from a Latin text (Waddington, 1942), and another,
also Latin (1956), which have been copied at Bostra itself. It appears
that Odenathus I died in 251, and was succeeded by- this Heiran or
Hereunius, the elder brother of Odenathus II, who succeeded him as
early, at least, as 258 a.d. (Waddington, No. 2602).

The next text, No. 9, is Waddington's No. 2606a, consisting of 17
lines of Greek, and is in honour of Worod, according to Waddington.
The month is April, but the year is erased. The copy by Waddington
contains minor improvements. There are four other inscriptions in
honour of Worod, dating 262, 263, 265, and 267 a.d. He was one of the
principal inhabitants, a caravan leader, and subsequently procurator for
the Emperor and Judge of the City.

The next text, No. 10, appears not to be in Waddington's collection.
It carries on the history of the same Worod to the year 268 a.d., as a
Palmyrene Senator.

Text No. 11 is Waddington's No. 2592, and is nearly a century earlier,
i.e., March, 179 a.d. Instead of KAFIAAH Waddington reads /cul 'la8fj.
The Greek in the original occupies six lines and is complete.

Text No. 12 is Waddington's No. 2571c, and written on an altar of
Yarhihul, the moon god ; it has already been noticed under No. 2, being
by Aailmeis Zenobius, dating from 20th October, 162 a.d. The altar
was a gift from Zenobius to the deity at his own expense. The spring of
Ephka, mentioned in the text, might perhaps be the famous Afka fountain
in Lebanon, or (as the name in Syriac means " sjiring ") some other nearer
Palmyra.

Text No. 13 is Waddington's No. 2581. It has a Palmyrene text on

306 INSGIiirXION FROM THE CHUKCII OF ST. STEPHEN.

the other side of the base, now illegible. The Greek occupied eight lines,
which would not be guessed from the copy of our traveller. It is in
honour of Lucius Aurelius Heliodorus, but the date of the year is lost.
The month is December.

Text No. 14 is Waddington's No. 2585, and has a Palmyrene version
(De Vogues No. 16) which gives the date 130-1 a.d. This text fixes
Hadrian's visit to Palmyra as having already occurred, a statue of the
Agrij^pa here mentioned being raised in memory of his services to the
Emperor. The naos, according to "Waddington, was consecrated to
Helios — the sun. The original Greek occu]:)ies twelve lines. The first
])art of the text, 'H Bov'Xr] Koi 6 S^^os, is not given by our traveller.

Three short texts, 15, 16, 17, which follow, are not given by
Waddington, and are too imperfect to be of any great value.

No. 18 is Waddington's No. 2615. He reads MaXtxojfor MAAXOZ
and avToh for AYXri- This is the tomb of the family of Elabel, and
dates from 103 a.d. The Greek occupies four lines.

No. 19 is the tomb of lamlichos, one of the finest at Palmyra, dating
83 A.D. It is Waddington's No. 2614, and the Palmyrene is No. 36 a b,
of De Vogiie. Both Greek and Palmyrene are twice repeated. The
Greek occupies five lines.

The text (No. 20) from the village of Taiyibeh is Waddington's No.
2631 ; it dates from 134 A.D., and is in honour of Hadrian, by a certain
Agathangelus, of Abila, in the Decapolis. This text is now in the
British Museum. The Palmyrene text, which accompanied it, appears to
have been lost. Waddington has Kujiepav for K A M A P A N • The Greek
is in nine lines.

The last text (No. 21), from RisafFa, is much later. It is Waddington's
No. 2631 a, and is Byzantine and Christian.

The Palmyrene Greek texts being dated show us how early the uncial
forms of the Greek letters were used in the East, sometimes side by side
with more classic forms.

In spite of his diligence, our traveller did not exhaust the riches of
Palmyra. Some 100 Palmyrene texts are said to remain in the ruins,
and of Greek ones more than 60 have been copied, out of which he gives
only 18, including, however, some of the most important.

C. E. CONDER.

INSCRIPTION FROM THE CHURCH OF
ST. STEPHEN.

The inscriptions on page 158 of the July number just received, from the
Church of St. Stephen at Jerusalem, are clearly the opening words of
Psalms Ixxi and xci (Ixx and xc in the Sejjtuagint), only very roughly
and incompletely written.

THE MOABITE STOXE. 307

The first begins —

(TTi (TV (=: trot) K^vpi^e tj'KTria-a firj KaT(ai(TXVV^(it]v eis rov aiatva).
"O Lord ill thee have I trusted, let me uever be confounded."

The second — -

+ o KaT0iK(i){v) iv ^o{r)6(ia) rov v{-<\fi(no^y.

"Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most high."

Possibly some of your readers may have collected similar Christian
inscriptions in Palestine tending to show the liturgical or general use of

certain psalms.

Faithfully yours,

John Sarum.

THE NATIVE NAME OP PALMYRA.

The revised version has given us Tamar for Tadmor (1 Kings ix, 18),
but retains Tadmor in 2 Chron. viii, 4. Tadmor in the Wilderness,
according to the detailed account of Josephus (8 Antiq. vi, 1) was the
later Palmyra, and the name Tamar signifies " Palm," yet it is allowable
to doubt whether the reading Tadmor to which we are accustomed is not
the true one, for we have a bilingual text of Herennius, son of Odenathus I,
dating about 251 a.d. In the Greek he is called i'^apxov iraXuvprjvwv, and
in the Palmyrenp Tl?2"Tn II?"^- Tluis down to the middle of the ,3rd
century a.d. the Palmyrenes called their city Tadmor. The alteration
might therefore very well have been dispensed with, being contrary to
the balance of even literary evidence.

C. E. C.

THE MOABITE STONE.

It is much to be regretted that attempts have been made to cast
discredit on one of the most important of the monuments of Palestine,
and even countenanced by a learned Hebraist, though not by any other
scholar. I have not had the opportunity of reading M. Clermont
Ganneau's recent paper in defence of the stone, but it seems to me that
there can be no two opinions as to its genuineness, for many reasons.
It was found before the forgeries of Jerusalem forgers began to multiply,
and by a missionary whose character sufficiently attests its genuineness.
It is carved on hard basalt, difficult to engrave and heavy to transport,
and the worn surface of the stone could only be produced by age.

The cavils are of three classes : 1st, as regards the letters ; 2nd, as
regards the language ; 3rdly, as regards the history of the conquest and
the geographical names.

308 THE MOABITE STONE.

1st, as re,^ar(ls the letters. If the photograph of the stone i^ j^laced
side by side with that of tlie stone of Jehiimeiek, king of Gebal, it will
be seen that it presents the same appearance of antiquity. It has been
argued that the letters are sharp, and may have been engraved on an
old monument by a forger. Such sharpness of incised letters is common
on other genuine texts whicli I have found in ruins. It is due to the nnid
which fills the letters, and thus preserves them while the face of the stone
remains exposed.

2nd. As regai-ds the language, it seems to have been supposed that at
so early a date the Moabite should coincide with Hebrew. The objectors
have called the dialect Chaldee, and " full of grammatical blunders." It
is clear that they have given little attention to Phtienician inscriptions,
and have not been acquainted with Assyrian grammar. The Moabite
peculiarities it shares with these two dialects, as for instance, "T^^, " I,"

as in Pho?nician ; j~\^, "this," Plioenician and Assyrian. The plural
masculine is Aramean. The verbal forms to which exception has been
taken, as not being ancient, occur in Assyrian. There is not a single
objection that has been urged against this inscription that cannot be met
by comparison -with yet older texts.

3rd. The date given by the objectors for the stone is too early by half
a century, and is not founded on any solid basis. The objections are also
in some cases due to following the earlier and less correct translations of
the stone, and they disa]5pear when more correct renderings are followed.
The word Aral does not mean a "chanqjion," but an "altar." Whether
we are to understand an altar of the god Dodo (well known to the
Assyrians as a Phoenician god), or whether we understand by Aral Dodo
Ariel of David, a town conquered, it is equally certain that the term does
not apply to human beings.

Difficulty has been made as to the notice of Machferus in the text. It
seems to me very doubtful if Machserus is mentioned at all, and possible
grannnatically that the word so rendered only means " afterwards."

If a forger had attempted such a work he would probably have
written in Hebrew ; at all events, he would not have used verbal forms
only known in Ayssrian, unless he was himself a good scholar. Nor
would he have invented the peculiarities of the alphabetical forms on the
stone, which are of the greatest value, or the name Istar-Chemosh, which
preserves the old Akkadian form Istar instead of the Biblical Ashtoretli,
another most inqiortant note of antiquity.

It will be highly interesting to compare the newly-found Aramean
text of Panammu with the Moabite Stone. Language and lettering alike
will then be elucidated further, for the text shortly to be published is
even older than that of King Mesha. Meanwhile, it may be asserted
with coniidence that the genuineness of the stone is only disputed by
those whose monumental studies are not far advanced, and who forget
that Moabite is not Hebrew.

C. K. CONDER.

THE BATTLE OF KADESH.

A PASSAGE ON THE MOABITE STONE.

369

On the Moabite Stone the word ^X^^^ has been taken in two senses :
Line 12, "I carried off;" and line 13, "I caused to dwell." Is it
not possible that in both it answers to the Hebrew y^f, " I turned " {cf.
1 Sam. XV, 31, from the root ^1'li,>). In Assyrian the aorist takes a as a
prefix (cf. asib, " I sat "), and the Moabite dialect approaches Assyrian in
some particulars (pronouns, jDlural, and verbal forms). This change, if
there is, as I suppose, no real grammatical objection, makes a great
difference in the historical meaning of the text —

n^n^ • • « ]n^ ur^^ j^h^ ra n\ir«i

"And I turned thence (from Ataroth) to Ariel of David, and I pulled it
down before the face of Chemosh by war, aiid I turned by it to the
)nen of Sharon (and . . . .) afterwards."

The fourteenth line records the taking of )~f^^, either Nebo or Nob,
where the altars of Jehovah " were pulled down, but this word is used in
the Bible of pulling down the walls of a city (2 Sam. xvii, 17).

In tliis case if, as is generally supposed, the Ariel of the Bible is
Jerusalem, King Mesha claims to have taken Jerusalem and to have gone
on to Sharon, and to have overthrown Nob in the time of Omri's son
Ahab, or more probably later, after his death {cf. 2 Kings, iii, 4). The
victories of Mesha would follow Jehoram's attack, and in the same reign
(2 Kings, viii, 16-22) there was a general revolt from Edom to Libnah,
which would agree with this rendering. But we do not know for certain
where Ariel — the " city where David camped" (Isaiah xxix, 1, 2, 7) should
be placed, and the term Sharon was applied to other grazing plains besides
that near Jaffa — notably to one near Tabor.

C. E. C.

THE BATTLE OF KADESH.

(3rd Sallier Papyrus, " Eecords of the Past," II, pp. 67-78.)

The conquest of Kadesh by Eameses II was preceded by a surprise
nearly fatal to the king. He was told that the Hittites had retired to
Aleppo, and riding alone to the north-west of Kadesh, was cut off from
his army by the Hittites, who were in ambush, and who came out by the
ditch south of the town west of the Orontes.

The position of the Egyptian army in rear is minutely described.
The legion of Amon was behind the king {i.e., towards the south), the
legion of Phra was by the ditch, west of the town of Sabatuna, divided
by a long distance from the legion of Ptah " in the midst," which was

310 JEWS AND GENTILES IN TALESTINE.

near the town of Arnama. The legion of Sutekh was on the road,
apparently at the " Lake of the Land of the Amorites," or of " Amuli."
They were all at a considerable distance from Kadesh and from Rameses,
on their way from the south.

This account is easily explained if Kadesh be placed at Kades close to
Tell Neby Mendeh. Arnama will then be Hirmil in the Orontes valley,
Sabatuna, Zabim further south, and the Lake of Amuli, the great lake
of Yammtlneh on the east slope of Lebanon. All these places I have
visited. They lie on the direct road between Kadesh and the Lebanon
Pass to Afka. This agrees also with the statement in the poem of
Pentaur, " He marched through the valley of the River Orontes." The
Egyptian corps were each 14 miles or a day's march apart.

C. R. CONDER.

16«A June, 1890.

CONQUESTS OF EAMESES IN GALILEE.

In his eighth year Rameses II attacked Galilee, and took the towns of
Shalama (Shunem), Marona (Merom), Ain Anarain (probably Engannim),
Dapur (Tabor), and " the town Kalopu on the mountains of Beitha
Antha."

This last is apparently Beth Anath in Upper Galilee, which Sir C. W.
Wilson fixed at 'Ainitha. Looking at the map, I see that the ruin
Shelabun is on the hill to the west of Ainitha. The site (Mem. 1, p. 245,
Sheet IV) is ancient and important, and may very well be the Kalopu of

this campaign.

C. R. C.

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

To draw a picture of Palestine about the Christian era, it is necessary
not only to understand the Jews, but to know also all that can be known
of the non-Jewish population of the country, and to judge their relations
to the Jewish population. Outside the New Testament we have no literary
aid except in the works of Josephus ; though the Mishna, put into its
present form about 190 a.d., no doubt represents the conditions of Jewish
society before the destruction of Jerusalem. Our monumental information
is confined to a very few inscriptions in Hebrew and in Greek, but it is
here proposed to show what light can be thrown on the subject by the
occurrence of foreign words in the language of the Talmudic books ; and to
carry down this inquiry as late as 500 a.d. This philological inquiry
may be divided into three parts : First, as regards the words used in the
Mishnah in the second century A.D. Secondly, those occurring in the
Jerusalem Gemara, the Bereshith Rabba, and the Targnms in the third and

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE. 311

fourth centuries. And thirdly, the additional foreign vocabulary of the
Babylonian Talmud in the fifth century a.d.

The Greeks in Palestine are mentioned in the New Testament (John
xii, 20 ; Acts xi, 19) ; but without the aid of philology and of inscriptions
we should hardly be able to discover how important an element of
population the Greek-speaking people of the country must have been.

Greek first appears in Palestine on the coins of Alexander and the
Seleucidse, then on those of the later Hasmoneans, of the Herods, of the
Procurators, and down to the reign of Titus, after which the inscriptions
of the imperial coinage are Latin. Greek architectural ideas form the
basis of all the Syrian styles from the second century B.C. to the third
century a.d., or for five hundred years.

As regards other inscriptions, we have in Syria, as yet, none of the
time of the Seleucidae in Greek, but at Hosn Suleiman, in the mountains
west of Horas, there is a Latin text of the second century a.d., which
includes a decree in Greek of one of the Antiochuses. The discovery of
texts written in cuneiform and in Greek (bilingual), shows us that the
use of this langiiage early spread much further east than Palestine, and
the recent discoveries of Humann and Puchstein show that about 70 B.C.
Greek was the court language of the kings of Kommagene near
the Euphrates. Antiochus the First already calls himself about that date
" the friend of the Eomans and of the Greeks ; " but though he places
Eome first, and was himself half Persian by birth, the language of his
inscriptions is Greek.

That Greek was extensively understood in Palestine in the days of our
Lord, is proved by the Greek inscription from the Court of Herod's
Temple, discovered by M. Clermont Ganneau, and by the inscriptions of
Herod's Temple at Siah, in the Hauran, which are of special importance,'

» See Waddington, Nos. 2364, 2365, 2366, 2367, 2368, 2369. They belong
to the time of Herod the Great and Agrippa II : —

BacnXtX 'HpibSti Kvpiui 'Ofiaiaarog ^aodov tBtjKa tov dvSpiavra raiq tfialg
dairdvaiQ

'Eirl $a(Tt\iioQ iiiyaXov 'AypiTnra ^iXoKctiaapoQ ivatfiovQ Kal ^iXopw/iaiov
TOV iK Pa(Ti\EU)Q jxtyaXov 'AyptTnra (piXoKaiaapoq tiatfiovQ Kal ^iXpouDfiaiov
'' k<paptvQ ainXivBtpoQ kuI 'AypiinraQ v'ioq dviBriKav

'O 'drjpoe 6 TbJV 'O/SaKTJjfwv iTsiprjatv MaKiixaSrov Moaifpov inrepoi
KoSoprjffavri to 'ispov dpiTriQ re Kni ivatfieiag x«P"'

2s£(j;v(i)v TO Koivbv dvfSrriKav MaXft^aS^ji A.vitov tov Moaiipov oTi KUTta-
Kivaag to U\_pbv Kai to^v iripi auT\_6 iravra KOff^/iov

MaXtixaBoQ a5(tou tov Moaiipov
MaKiixn^og Moaiipov,

312 JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

as showing no less than others of later date that Greek was understood
by a native population, and Greek tests carved by people to whom
.the language was not entirely familiar. The longer text in honour
of Malichathus, son of Ausus, at this pagan temple of Herod's east of
the sea of Galilee is bilingual, the other script and language being
tlie Aramaic, which in the time of Christ was the native speech of
Palestine.

Immediately after the destruction of the Temple, we find the power of
Eome recognised by the Palmyrenes in 79 a.d., when a tribe, called the
"Claudian tribe," after the Emperor Claudius, existed in the city
Another Greek text from Palmyra dates from 83 A.D. The trade of
Palmyra with the East is witnessed as early as 240 a.d. by a Greek text.
lu the third century the Palmyrenes assumed Eoman names, but the
texts are bilingual, the native Aramaic being the language of the populace,
and Greek appai'ently that of the rulers and traders.

Under the great Emperors, Greek was the literary language not only
,of the East, but even in Eome itself. The inscriptions of Eoman
governors and military chiefs in the Hauran are in this age all written
in Greek, and among these the most remarkable is the decree attributed
to the Emperor Anastasius, which regulates trade and military affairs
(Waddingtou, 1906). After the separation of the Empire, the language of
Christianity in all parts of Syria continues to be Greek, though we have
evidence that the native tongue and script continued also in use, and that
Cufic was found in use among the Christian princes of the Hauran when
.the Moslems broke in from Arabia.

Latin was much less frequently used in inscriptions by the Eoman
jMilers of Palestine than was Greek. A Latin text of Vespasian's at
Beirut dates about the time of the fall of Jerusalem. The Eoman mile-
stones of the second century ai'e also inscribed in Latin, and Eoman fune-
rary texts are in the same language. So too are the texts describing the
making of the military road at Abila, and the dedication of the Baalbek
temple ; at Jerusalem the statue of Hadrian also bore a Latin inscription ;
two other texts occur at Husn Suleiman, and at Nejha (Wadd., 2720a,
2559) ; but the first of these, though heade^i with the Imperial order in
Latin, whereby Valerian and Galienus confirm the ancient rights of
the inhabitants of the town, contains the details of those rights in
Greek. There are also two Latin texts at Bostra of the time of Marcus
Aurelius. Hence it appears that Greek must have been much better
known to the native population than Latin, and indeed it was
evidently used much as French is now used in Turkey, as the di^jlo-
matic language.

It is evidently natural therefore that the Gospel, intended for Gentiles
as well as for Jews, should have been written in Greek ; and Josephus in
like manner uses Greek in writing for the information of the Eomans.
As regarded the use of this language and character among the Jews
themselves, we have various indications in the Talmud, which show con-
siderable differences of opinion. According to the Babylonian Talmud

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE. 31b

(Sota, 49 a) it was forbidden during tlie war against Titus to teach
children Greek or " Ionian " (n"'3V)> ^ut in the Jerusalem Talmud {see
BuxtorfF, col. 942) it appears that notes on the Scriptures were to be
written in Greek, no doubt to prevent such notes from being copied after-
wards as part of the text. The Rabbis allowed children to be taught
Greek where it was necessary, and a knowledge of Greek was esteemed
an accomplishment for girls. Even the phylacteries might, according to
another account (Megella, 9, «), be inscribed in Greek. On the other
hand, the more prejudiced view is expressed in the words, " cursed is he
that rears swine, and he who shall teach his son the wisdom of the
Greeks " (T. B. Sota, 49 b). Yet logic, arithmetic, and astronomy might
be learned from Greeks. It appears even that the Greek translation of
the Scriptures was used in Palestine in some synagogues. Eabbi Levi
went to Csesarea (which was reckoned to be outside the Holy Land) and
found the Jews reading the Shema (" Hear, O Israel ") in Greek. He
desired to prevent this but Eabbi Jose approved it (Tal. Jer. Sota, vii).
Another Eabbi said it was lawful to teach Greek wisdom [XVIV H^^n) ^o
a son, in a time which should be neither day nor night — because of
Psalm i, 2.

From such passages we may judge that the old hatred of the Greeks
which dated from the days of Judas Maccabaeus continued down to 500
A.D., yet that it was found impossible entirely to forbid the study of the
Greek language.

It is now proposed to Inquire what were the classes of society in
contact with the Jews who must have spoken Greek even before the
destruction of Jerusalem. Our guide in this matter is found in the foreign
words used by the Jews.

The Eev. A. Lowy (" Proceedings Soc. Bib, Arch.," April, 1884) gives a
good many such words, not all here enumerated, but he apparently
includes very late Eabbinical writings not here mentioned. He classes as
fdUows the technical words of the Hebrew Scriptures : —

Artificers' work

160 words,

Building

140

Implements

130

Garments

Food, di-ink, ointments

Weights and measures

Colours

Weaving

130

Total ....

700

The language of the Mishna is the literary language of the Jews of
Palestine in the 2nd century of our era. It is much purer than that of
later centuries, yet at least forty Greek and Latin words used in the

:^14

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

Mishna will be found in Buxtorff's great Lexicon. These which I have
there noted are as follows' : —

E^e'Spa "Porch" (of the Temple), Middoth, 1, 5.

"Ayyapos "A porter," Baba Metzia (78, 1) cf. Mark
XV, 21.

'OiwpeX. " Wine and honey," Sabbath (39 b).

Amphora " Wine jar," Baba Metzia, ii, 1.

Stadium " A city square," Aboda Sara (16).

2roa " A cloister," Nidda (59 b).

2Tpd/3tXor " A millstone," Baba Bathra (65 a).

^rpaTe'ia " A name list," Kiddushin (76 a).

'Eaxdpa " A cooking pot," Pesakhim, vii, 1.

Scutella " A dish," Moed Katon, iii.

'Ao-o-apioj/ " A farthing," Cholin (end), Matt, x, 29.

'EiriKafios "Dessert," Pesakh (119 6).

Epieureus "An Epicurean," Sanhedrin, xi, 1.

Bvpaevs " A tanner," Ketuboth, vii.

ZuSos " Egyptian beer," Pesakh, iii, 1.

Tabula " A tablet," Erubin, v.

TvTTos " A type," " copy," Gittin (26 a).

MaXay/xa " A plaster," Shebiith, viii.

Mercurius " Mercury," Aboda Sara, iv, 1.

No'/xo? " Law," Gittin, vi.

Ndi/os Nanus, " dwarf " (pillar), Middoth, iii, 5.

^iTwvris " A provisioner," Demai, ii, &c.

27royyos " A sponge," Sabbath, xxi.

^vpiKov " Syricum " (red colour), Kelim, xv.

cjitd'Kr) " A vial," or " bowl," Sota, ii (Rev. xvi, 2).

ndXe/xos " War," Parah, viii, 9.

JJepiypa " Compass," Kelim, xxix

IlapdiiKrjTO!; "An advocate," Pirke Aboth, iv, 11

(1 John, ii, 1).
"An accuser," Pirke Aboth, iv, 11 (Rev.

xii, 10).

Upo(T^okr] " Defence," Sabbath, x, 3.

KdXXa " Paste " (for books), Pesakhim, iii, 1.

' Those cases in -which [the chapter and verse is quoted I have, as a rule,
verified in the Hebrew of the Mishna.

"Yl^''l5p ^arriyopos

t^Sip

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE. 315

P^T'lp KoWvdov " Discount," " agio," Bechoroth, ix.

D^^blp KoXi'ar " A species of fish," Sabbath, xxii.

t^''^1^p Cimolia " A kind of earth," Sabbath (89, 2).

p\'^ Kavovv "Basket," "sieve," Kelim, xvi.

J3*^P"iT^P KapS.cucof " Heart disease," Gittin, vii.

These thirty-five words, to which others may perhaps be added, refer
to government, law, medicine, coins, tradfi, and in two cases only to the
Eoman philosophy and religion. We may fairly conclude that the upper
and middle classes with whom the Jews came into contact spoke Greek,
and, as has been noted, some of the words are used in the Greek of the
New Testament.

The relations of the Jews with Gentiles may be gathered from many
passages in the Mishna which agree with the deductions thus reached.
The tract on " strange worship " (Aboda Sara) contemplates trade with
idolaters, but precautions were to be taken lest the Jew should even seem
to encourage or take part in any idolatrous custom. The feasts of the
idolaters are explained (1, 3) to be " the Kalends, the Saturnalia, and the
Quartesima." Certain things were not to be sold to idolaters (I, 6),
because they would be used for idolatry, but Jewesses were allowed to
have pagan nurses for their babies (ii, 2). Medicine might be bought of
l^agans (ii, 3), but not for human disease, only for "property." Food
might be jjrepared for them under certain restrictions (ii, 6), and cooking
vessels bought from them (v, 12) if purified before use. It would seem,
therefore, that the relations between the non-Jewish and Jewish popula-
tion of the country must have been intimate.

The Jews themselves were engaged in trade. The most famous and
honoured Rabbis were artisans or traders in many cases. The Jews are
described in the Mishna (Sheviith, v, 6) as agriculturists ; also (Sabbath,
vii, 2 ; Pesakhim, iv, 6) as bakers, shearers, dyers, weavers, butchers,
tanners, scribes, builders, goldsmiths, porters, tailors, barbers, washers,
and shoemakers.' Many of these trades (especially as dyers) they
continued to follow in the Middle Ages, and down to the present time in
Palestine. A Jewish colony of traders was established in Palmyra in
Zenobia's time, and their descendants were found there by Benjamin of
Tudela about 1160 a.d. The trade with India and the East was as old as
Persian times (c/. Ezek. xx, 19), and Josephus (" Contra Apion," 1-12) says
that trade was carried on along the coasts. This is probably why the
word Canaanite, or "lowlander," takes the meaning of "merchant" in
certain 2)assages of the Bible (Job, xl, 30; Pro v., xxxi, 24 ; Isaiah, xxxiii, 5 ;
Ezek., xvii, 4 ; Zeph., i, 1 1). Yet it was not only by trade relations that
the Jews came into contact with Gentiles, for we learn tlxat " astronomy
and geometry are ornaments of wisdom " (Pirke Aboth, iii, 18), and these

' In the twelfth century, Benjamin of Tudela speaks of the Jews in Palestine
as shipowners, glass-makers, and dyers.

H16

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

sciences we see that they were allowed to learn from the Greeks, though
Josephus complains that his " nation does not encourage those that learn
the languages of many nations " (" Antiq.," xx, xi, 2).

II.

We may next consider the foreign words, Greek and Latin, found in
the Early Targums in the Bereshith Rabha (before 400 a.d.) and in the
Jerusalem Talmud {circa 370 a.d.), of which about 200 are noted in
BuxtorfF's Lexicon. The large majority are Greek, as in the Mishna also.
"We have here to deal with a period when the capital had been removed
from Rome to Constantinople ; yet the use of Latin words is not entirely
discontinued, and trade with Italy continued to exist. The words to be
studied related to (1) government and the army ; (2) medicine and
disease; (3) trade ; (4) the sea and sailors; (5) objects bought or sold,
furniture, &c. ; (6) the Pagan customs and idolatry ; (7) philosophy,
science, literature, and architecture ; (8) names of trees and plants ; and
a few other words connected with the lower classes and with various
other matters. These will be considered in order.

In this list it seems unnecessary to give references, since they can be
found in Buxtorflf, and since I have not the opportunity of verifying his
citations, which, though in the case of the Mishna I have found generall /
correct, are here and there misprinted. The star put to certain words
indicates that they also occur on the contemporary or earlier monuments
of Palestine and Syria, due to the Romans and to the native Greek
writing population.

Greek Words.
Government, Law, and the Army.

"EvhiKoi " Legal."

Kv^fVTia " Authority."

'hTijxrjTos " Precious."

'A|i(o/:^u " A pleading or axiom."
('EvreXXco) ' A prefect."

'AiTt'StKos " An adversary."
STretpa ' A cohort " (Matt, xxvii, 27).

'ATr6(f)a(Tis " Judicial sentence."

'E7ri(cpiT'/s "A Judge."

^Eirapxia " Prefecture "

"Eirapxos " Governor."

'Apx<*^«^s " Prince."

'Apxf'iov " Archives."

JEWS AND GEiN TILES IN PALESTINE.

317

* Dn^p

Ti^DTp

pD"^'^I5:^"ip

D^lO^^p

B,v\fVTT]S

Baaikevs

Tevas

Tevicrig

''Evyfveia
HyfUcov

'Uyffxovia

Zrjfiioca

Zrj^ia

TdCts

Tvpdvvos

'Ap)(l8ikos

Mi'yidTot

M?jrpo7roX(S

Mdpayvav

'PpayeXXiov

2vve8piov

'SivyKuBebpos

IloX(p,ap\os

^vKdaaoiv
Upoarayfia
Kocr/ioKpdTOjp
Kvpios

KaXXi/uos

KoXa«7T)js

'Kopfi>Tapt]aios

Kpi.Tr)s

KaEoikiKiavos

"Councillor."

"KiDg."

" Noble."

" Birth."

"Nobility."

" A chief."

" A prefecture."

" To fine."

"A fine."

" Order," " arrangement."

" A rnler."

" Chief judge."

" Magnates."

" A metropolis."

" A scourge."

" A scourge " (Matt, xxvii, 26)

" Sanhedrin " (also in Mishna).

" An assessor."

" A captain.'*

" A guard."

" An edict."

" Prince of the world."

"Lord."

" A precept."

" Noble."

"A torturer."

" A criminal judge.''

" Judge."

" A treasurer."

2. Medicine, Disease, and Doctors.

(Av8p6s and Xoi/ios) " Pestilence."
^.TOfxaxos " The stomach."

'Aae^vijs "111."

^dpfiaKov " Spices."

'imriarpos " A horse doctor."

318 JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE

D1?2^11 Boi3\t/xos

Mrjrpa

MeXavia

OepuTtfia

" Diseased hunger."
" Melancholy."
" The matrix."
" Melancholy."
" Medicine."

" Gangrene.

3. Trade, Coins, and Weights.

fr")n« "O^pvCov

^n^2^i^

Q,vr](TiS

ponrsi^i^

'OXoxpvcrov

jmErti^

ElXTTOpOl

Dt:D^:i

^avfiaTTjS

P^IT

Aa>pov

]^T72r[

'Hpiva

]n2DI5

Orjaavpoi

t^^i2^:]

XcikKoop-a

ponD

Xpvaou

rh^D^'^2

XpvcTOTTebiXos

i^rh^72

Mr]\a>Tr]

Di:iD

2ayavov

D"i:i1DD

'S.cpayls

* pn^lD

nav8oK{7ov

D^tor2:nD

IIpayp.aT(vs

t^^iDo:i^D

Upaypareia

D^nnD

Ilpea^vs

«J^"ID

^epvt]

]i:"is:«-^D

IIapd(f)fpva

«IODp

Zea-TTis

^h^zp

KdTn]\a

^r^nn

TpiTrj

D^D^i3^i2:«

KvTLXprjcns

"Fine gold" (Pliny, H.N.
xxxiii, 3).

" Sale."

" Pure gold."

" Merchants."

«' Creditor."

" Gift."

" A coin " (tenth of sextarius).

" Treasure."
"Ore," "bronze."
" Gold."

" A gold anklet."
" Lambs' wool."
" A seal."

" A woollen dress."
" An inn."

" A merchant."

" MerchandLse."

" Messenger," " interpreter,"

"Profit" (LXX, Exod. xxii,

15).
" Bridegift."
" Sextarius, a coin."
" A market."
" A third."
" A kind of usury."

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE,

319

4. The Sea aTid Sailors.

Di:]^pii^

'i2ACfai/6f

"The ocean."

Dii2D:i^t^

Apyearrjs

" A storm."

^r^j

raKTjVT)

" Smooth sea."

DIlS

AfvKos

" White " (fish).

X^h

Aifirjv

" A port."

i^l51]

'NavTTis

" A sailor."

h^D-'i

N^trof

" An island."

Di:iS^D

IleXdyoy

" The sea."

5. Objects Bough

t and Sold.

■^SirsD^

StoXj;

"A robe."

t^r^pDI^J

rXcocrcroKO/ioi'

"A basket," or '-box.'

pi5ni5«n

AidrpT/TOV

" A glass cup."

Dipon

AiVkos

" A dish."

^PD^tO

T/joTrefa

" A table."

h^iiiS

AdyxV

" A lance."

^021^12

Mera^a

" Silk material."

rviyn'hi^

MeXiVw/xa

"A sweetmeat."

JV^^IDID

noTi7piov

" A goblet."

XleXe'/cus

" An axe."

^d/ceXXo?

" A cap."

r^?"ip

KoWdpLou

" A collar."

Din7ip

KoXXiiptov

"Eye salve" (Rev. iii, 18)

KoXcuStcoK

"A kind of dress."

Dip^lp

KoUKOV/XtOl'

"A pot."

t^^::ip

Kui/n/iov

" Cinnamon."

h-^iirsp

KdpToWos

"A basket."

^Try\)

KapoiiKa

"A chariot."

6, Pagan Customs

and Idolatry.

)^iD^^r5« (P1-)

AdXrjTrjs

" Athlete."

F.lKU>VlOV

" Image."

Ba\avfvs

" A bathman."

r^'^^^rh

AfVTlOV

" Towel " (John xiii, 4, 5).

Dinin

Mco/xos

" Comic mask."

320

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

D"i3?2:^

Movofiaxos

" A gladiator."

]mnDn

Mvarrjpiov

" A mystery."

^c^i

^Vp(f)T]

" Nymph," " bride."

«::2"'D

~u^avnv

" A towel."

h^^r2:i2inQ

Upoyafiita

" A wedding gift."

7. Philosophy^ Scie7ice, Literature, Architecture.

i^^Dl«

'Ouo-t'a

" Substance."

«l^D^«

'H^epo

" Day."

D^:''r:TTr:t^

^ Avbpoyvvos

" Androgyne."

«D^:i^i::«

'Avriypacjyrj

" A copy."

'Ap>ayKT]
'A<TTp6\oyos

"Fate," "necessity."
" An astrologer."
" A school."

D"ii5pii^^:3^«

'Ap)(lT€KT(OV

" Architectus," " architect.'

pibini^

ilpoKoytov

" A clock."

nh^-'Din^

^ Adavaaia

" Immortality."

'(V^^Dl

BatriXeioi/

" Eoyal."

^p^^D3

BaatAi/cr)

« A Basilica."

D''c^i:i

Tpacpfvs

" A scribe."

^riTn

Aeiyfia

" Figure."

«^:!iDV-r

Aidraypa

" A copy."

D^^Tn

Auvapts

" Power " (Gnostic term).

Thrr\ir\

YSpavXos

" An organ."

Terpaycoi/ov
Ko/xupa)0"is

" A tetragon."
"A vault."

V^V^P

XapaKw^a

" A fortress.

MeXadpov

" The centre."
" A beam."

p:::i:t:)

Mdyyavop

" A machine."

\^r)^12

Meaou

" The middle."

b^?2D^D

2v(T(TT]pOV

" A sign."

«t:3D^C1D

26(pos, Sophista

" A wise man.''

«:n:nQ

Ylaihayuiybs

" A schoolmaster."

* '^h'^^

nCXt]

" A gate."

P:i:d:d

nevrdyavos

" A pentagon."

DpOD

niva^

" A book."

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE,

321

D^pM')^

Hapdbo^ns

"Paradoxical," "incredible."

]^p^72^^p

KoajuLLKOS

" Ornaments."

pS^

Kt'jXov

" A canal."

Kdfjiivos

" Chimney."

v-^^p

Kafj.dpa

" A vault."

i^hB^p

KfcbdXaLov

" Capital " (of a pillar).

8. Trees

a7id Plants.

D^t:Di^

'Itrdrtf

" A purple flower."

pt^pi:c«

SraKTi)

" Balm."

S^m-ir^D^^

2rpd/3iXoj

"Pineapple," "fircone."

di:i^i:d«

' Aandpayos

" Asparagus."

p^D^l

BdXaapov

" Balsam."

i^^^n::^

KivvalSapii

" A kind of cedar."

^^Z2^:iiiD

Tpayt]fi.aTa

"Fruits."

^^n^Dpinr^

Tpcb^lpos

"Endive."

i^'':ics^n

M'fkonfTTovfi

" Melons."

112^1I0''^1D

UoKvTp exov

"A kind of herb" (Plinv,
xxii, 21).

prt^p^s

liv^LVOV

" Box wood."

p:^DpD

Ylv^os

"Box tree."

P'P

KlKt

" Castor-oil tree."

D^2:p

Kavva0is

" Hemp."

D^rp

Kivvapos

" Artichoke."

^VP

KavKaXis

"An herb."

]'it:):np

KrjpivSou

" A kind of flower."

Dir^^in

Qeppos

"Lupine."

• yi^m

Tiyyldiov

"Anherb"(Pnny, XV, 5).

9. The Loioer Classes.

hypios

" Peasant."
" A mob."

Di^n

Arjpos

" The people."

iDvin

'ldl(OTT]S

" A fellow."

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

10. Other Wo,

I'ds.

Di^^:^*'^

"Eroifios

"Prompt," "ready."

Mfievos
"Actcotos

"Tame."
" A guest."

^t^CDb^

2ntWr]

" A sword."

Dir^iiiiT^^

OlKOVOflOS

" Steward " (Luke xii, 42, &c.).

Din^l

Aft/ios

"Fear."

D"i2i^Qn

'Hytt/oi/Off

"Mule."

Za)/JOS

"Juice."

XeXuff

Xo'XiJ'Of

"Tortoise shell."
"A bridle."

AajU7ra(8or, 5'eyi.)

" Lamp" (Dan. V, 5, Ixx).
" Eobber."

D1p"lS

AvKos

" Wolf."

12^1:1^

May OS

" Magian " (of Persian origin).

Miiyfiptlov

AflVVTTJpiOV

SaXTTi-y^

" Kitchen."
" Armour."
" Trumpet."

2r]iJL(pov
2vvr]6eia

" A sign."
"To-day."

" Custom."

D^D

2^9

" Small worm."

'^:i^Q

nijyj;

"Spring" (cf. ^^ vx
'Ain Fiji.)

1:52Sb^ or ^t^^O

'Awai/^j/o-tJ

" Meeting."

pn:o:DD

^aXTJjptoj'
KAelj (KXetSos)

"Psaltery" (Dan. iii, 5).
" Key."

D-nnp

Ki^npij

"Harp"(Dan. iii, 5).

fc^^lD or i^iitir

^ap^uKT}

" Sackbut " (Dan. iii, 5).

With regard to the Greek in this list, the words are not always
native to the Greek tongue. Suidas says that "Ayyapos was a Persian word
used by Greeks, and as the Talmudic ^^"^JJi*^ has not the Greek ending,
it may have been separately derived. Mayor also appears as Magush on
the Persian monuments, and as the Talmudic 'I^IJ'3 is not spelt with ^,
which usually represents the Greek tr, it is perhaps more probably derived
straight from the Persian. Zv6os may be an Egyjitian word for beer, and
"Sap^vKT] is said by Strabo to have been a foreign word in Greek. But
these represent a very few exceptions compared with the large majority

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

323

of true Greek words used by the Talmudic writers. Xpvabv for " gold " in
Greek {cf. Sansk. kiranya, Zend. Zaranya) is believed to be of Semitic

origin (Assyrian hurasu), the Hebrew being Y^'^'7 ^^^- ^^viii, 14 ;
Prov, iii, 14, viii, 10, xvi, 16 ; Zech. ix, 3), but the Tahiiudic 'JIO'^13
is Clearly only a transliteration from the Greek.

pn^S";

DpSip

«^7^op

p^bltO^Dp
DtDi"^-Tlp

Latin Words,

Augustus

Strata (Italian
Strada)

Liburnse (pi.)

Dominus

Tormenta

Limax

Moneta

For an Emperor generally.
"A road."

" A light vessel."

" Lord."

" Siege machines."

" Snail."

" Money."

Macellum " A meat market " (1 Cor. x, 2.)).

Marmor " Marble."

Sudarium " A towel."

Stationarius "A sentinel."

Spiculator "A satellite."

Palatium " A palace."

Politicum "Civilised " (not rustic).

Folleralis "Small coin."

Papilio " A pavilion."

Calamadum "Aninstand."

Colocasia " A plant so called."

Camella " A kind of vase."

Candela " A candle."

Cancelli " Eails."

Castellum " A castle."

Quadrans " A coin."

Corallium " Coral."

There are other Latin and Greek words which might be added, but
chiefly from late writings.

IIL

The additional words of interest found in the Babylonian Talmud now
follow, but do not represent the language of Palestine.

324 JEWS AND GENTILES IX PALESTINE.

Greek Words.

'Arjp, "air" (also Targ. .Ton.) ; SvXivos, "wooden"; Sevbs, "guest";
'O\lru,viov, " military pay " ; ^rarr^p, " a coin " ; Opu^o, " rice " ; Vaarrjp, " a
jjot " ; Tv-^09, " gypsum " ; Atnycoi/, " diagonal " ; Ad(f)VT], " laurel " ; To>oy,
a "volume"; rpDrfii/T;, " a weight " ; Tpio-KeT^rjs, "a table"; Itlapr], "jas-
mine"; Miixatpa, "a sword " ; Me'kiav, "the ash-tree"; MaXuKia, "soft-
ness" ; McoAos, "a weight" ; Mo/nr), "an ulcer" ; Svin/yopoj, "an advocate" ;
A/ivXos, " unground " ; Tlo8aypos, " Podagrosus " ; Ui6os, " a vase " ; *oXXtj,
" a small coin"; IIo/iTr)), " a pomp," or "ceremony"; ^nvos, "lantern";
IlapaSetiTos-, "a paradise"; IIpcoo-oTros, "face"; Kvl3(pvi]Trjs, "rudder";
Kf 8pos, "cedar" ; Kapr/, "hair" ; Kijpos, "wax" ; Kcodcov, "cup" ; Kwrjyia,
" hunting " ; KaOecpa, " chair " ; Kparos, " mighty " ; QijKr], " box."

Latin Words.

Evangelium, " gospel " ; Stabula, " stable " ; Casfra, " camps " ; Trihula,

thrashing machine " ; Notarius, " notaiy " ; Poh/pvs, " polyp" ; Familia,

"family"; Furnus, "oven"; Comes, "Count"; Calamus, "pen";

Calathus, "a vessel" ; Contus, "a club" ; Costus, "a sweet root" ; Velum,

" a veil " ; Patronus, " master " (Midrash, Ps. 4) ; Tricliniurn, " table."

Persian Words.

As might be expected in the literature of the Babylonian school,
Persian words also occur, of which the following are instances : —

DiltD' Tunny, Cholm, 66 b, said by E. Solomon to be Persian, and

i^pi"7 ^(^v'lKT}, a coin known in Pel^sian. The word i^^lt^^tl? (lO^^i— ')
Siiltdn, used in the Targum, also comes from the East, and apjjears to be
non-Semitic, though very ancient in Mesopotamia.

IV.

The language of the lower classes was not Greek. The V'^b^n Di^>

" sons of the soil " (a term also used in Phoenician for the populace),
.spoke an Aramaic dialect not very remote from that of the Jews of the
same age. They have left us monuments of this speech in the Palmyrene,
Nabathean, and Sinaitic inscrij^tions of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries,
and in the Christian Cufic text of Harran in the 6th century, before the
Arab in"\'asion.

It is interesting to note that some of the words above mentioned still
survive in the peasant dialect of Palestine.- The following are known to
me as in common use : —

^JjlL "table" h?^lti: Tahula

^L^\ "sponge" T\^D ^noyyos

JEWS AND GENTILES IN PALESTINE.

525

" ounce "

" stable "
"port"
" lupine "
" marble "

' soap

" wise man "

" boxwood "

"paradise"

" a pot "

" candle "

"map"

" lantern "

" inn "

" colocasia '

"pen"

" small coin "

pCD

p^-r^io
Dp^^p

in^lp

Stahulum

Marmor
Sapo (sapmiis)

IIv^o?
Hapabeiaos

KoVKOVfJilOV

Candela

XdpTr]i, Charta

<bavos

HavboKeiov

Colocasia

Calamus

<E>oXXtff

. Though remarkably free from foreign words, considering the condi-
tions, the Fellah dialect has absorbed Turkish, Persian, and Italian words
in a few instances. Words relating to the Government and the Army-
are naturally Turkish. Other examples are :— ^l-ili" "summer house "
(Persian); c3j^^ "cucumber" (Persian); i_^_ "sentinel" (Turkish);
l/iiLj "stool" {scamnum, also Persian and Turkish); i\^ "poi"
(Turkish) ; dJj^. " macaroni " (Persian) ; ^J-As- " wages " (Persian) ; !rj
" gypsey " (Persian i.j:_^:>- = gitano) ; ( cJLj {stivare, Italian) ; \ ',j^^

>•

" sweetmeat" (Persian) ; i .^aL "a copper" (Turkish) ; AjU^-= "slipper"

(Persian ^.:>'); Li^\ "room" (Turkish); OjUrsT^ "workman" (Per-
sian y f^y> <^^y "orange" {Portugallo, Italian); ^j_ "tower'
Italian, Borgo) ; \i ^\,<, "food" (Italian mangiari, "to eat"). The
weights Jco Modius, tUj, "ounce," JfJ. Airpa, are of more ancient

326 MONUMENTAL NOTICE OF HEBREW VICTORIES.

origin, as noted by Mr. Guy L'Estrange (" Palestine under the Moslems,"
p. 48). These foreign words have, as we see, in many cases come down
among the peasantry from the time of our Lord. In others they denote
tlie influence of later civilisation, Persian, Greek, Turkish, and Italian,
on the peasantry, exactly as foreign influence on the Jews is marked by
the 280 words detailed in this paper.

C. E. CONDER.

MONUMENTAL NOTICE OP HEBREW VICTORIES.

Most of the Tell Amama tablets refer to affairs in the north of Syria,
but three appear to refer to the south of Palestine, as rendered by
Professor Sayce (" Proc. Soc. Bib. Arch.," June 4, 1889, and June 5, 1888).
These letters are as follows r —

" To the King my Lord and my father I speak, T . . . thy servant.
Arudi . . . seven times and eight times I smote . . . when he
made a raid, Milki, son of Maratim, against the country of my Lord the
King, commanding the forces of the city of (ilaturri, the forces of the
city of Gimti. He took the country of the city of Rubute, (belonging) to
the country of the King for the Ahiri people. And again entirely the
city of the Hill of Ururusi, the city of the House of Baal, whose name is
Marru, (belonging to) the place of the men of the city of Kilti. And

twelve cities of the King he led into revolt and (belonging

to) the count]y ... of the men of the race of the ^ Ahiri . . ."

The second letter—

"To the King my Lord, my God, my Sun, by letter I speak, Suardaka,
thy servant, the dust of thy feet, at the feet of the King my Lord, my
God, my Sun, and seven times seven I prostrate myself.

" The King of the Land of . . . gave command to make war. In
the city of Kilti he made war against thee the third time. A complaint
was brought to me. My city belonging to me (. . . to me). Ebed Toh
sent to the men of Kilti. He sent 14 pieces of silver, and they marched
against my rear, and overran the domains of my Lord the King. Ebed
Tob removed my city from my jurisdiction. The ... of my Lord
the King and the fortress of Baal Nadanu., the fortress Emeri from him
and his justice he removed. Lubapi (or perhaps Laaba, " the lion '") with
(wicked) speech he, together with Ebed Tob, occujjied the foitress of - .
nu . . ."

The third letter—

" . . . . and again the city of Pir . . a fortress which is east
of this country, I made faithful to the King. At the same time the city of
Khazati (or ^Azati), belonging to the King, which is on the shore of the
sea west of the land of the city of Gimti Kirmila fell away to Vrhi, and
the men of the city of Gimti. In ... I rode a second time, and
then we marched up and Lahapi (or Labaa), and the country which thou
boldest revolted a second time to the 'Abiri people with Milli-Arily and he

MONUMENTAL NOTICE OF HEBREW VICTORIES. 327

t-ok the sons as (hostagesV Also he makes request to the men of the
laml gf Karti, and then we defended (or perhaps " became free ") the
city of Uriu-si; all the men of the garrison whom thou hadst left in it,
Kliapi, my envoy collected. Addasirakan (is) in his house in the city of
Khazati (or 'Azati) . . . ."

With regard to these letters, Professor Sayce has recognised the
names of several of the towns as places in the south of Palestine as
follows : —

Kirmila is probably Carmel of Judah, south of Hebi'on.

Gimti, mentioned with Ashdod by Sargon, is supposed by Dr. Delitzsch
to be Gath.

Kilti—the Hebrew Keilah, now KUa,

Karti, one of the places called Kirjath.

Gaturri, probably Gedor or Gederah.

Kkazati, or Wzati, Gaza. In this case the cuneifoi'm Kha stands fur
the Hebrew gutteral Ain.

Urursi is a doubtful reading, and Professor Sayce is tempted to read
Eru-sha-Um, or Jerusalem.

Aril is the Hebrew Ariel, " the Altar of God."

As regards the people of the 'Abiri, Professor Sayce reads Khabiri
"confederates," but, as above noted, the cuneiform Kha stands in the
name of Gaza for the Hebrew Ai7i, and indeed 'a is one of the values of
this sign.

It is evident that there was a general outbreak of people from the
Judean mountains into the plains, even Gaza being taken from the
Egyptian governor. What I would now urge is that the 'Abiri are the
Hebrews (Hebrew 'Abri^), and that this account represents the victories
of two Hebrew chiefs called Arod and Ebed Tob. The first is a Hebrew
name, "the wild ass" (Num. xxvi, 17), which belonged to an important
family of the tribe of Gad. Ebed Tob, " the servant of the Good (or just)
One," might also be a Hebrew name. Labapi, or Labaa, was apparently
a deserter who joined them. If this explanation be correct, we have in
these letters the earliest notice of the Hebrews in existence, and a con-
temporary account of the wars of Joshua, or of his successors, in the
Philistine plains.

The objection which will be taken to this view is that the letters
belong to an age before the Exodus. They were written either to
Amenojjhis III, or to Ameno])his IV, about 1450 B.C., and scholars as a,
rule have accepted, unquestioned, the date of the Exodus given by
Dr. Brugsch, about 1300 b.c, but the argument on which this is founded is
of the most vmsatisfactory nature, and several scholars of late have
lejected this late date, and have placed the Exodus earlier.

' The word Abirti, plural Abiri, means the people from beyond ; either
referring to the Abarim or regions beyond Jordan, whence the Israelites came,
or, as is more generally supposed, to a derivation from beyond the Euphrates
{see Gesenius' Lexicon),

;28 MONUMENTAL NOTICE OF HEBREW VICTOKIE.S.

In the 1st Book of Kings (vi, 1) it is stated to have been 480 years
from the 4th year of Solomon to the date when "the children of Israel
were come out of the Land of Egypt." The 4th year of Solomon dates
about 1014 to 1011 B.C., and is fixed by the date of Necho, King of Egypt.

If we accept the Bible account, the Exodus, according to the Hebrew
version, must have occurred either 1480 B.C. or 1520 B.C., approximately,
according as we understand the 40 years in the wilderness to be include<l
in the 480 years. Consequently the conquest of Pale.stine coincided with
the latter years of the reign of Amenophis III, and the reign of his weak
successor Amenophis IV, who, as we see from these letters, were not able
to resist the rebellion in South Palestine, while in North Syria their
Governors were being attacked successfully by the Hittites.

The Baal whose name was Marru, recalls the word Mara or Mama,
" Lord " or " our Lord," applied by the people of Gaza to their chief god.
The Melech, son of Marratim, might perhaps be the " King ruler
(mar) of Marrati, which recalls the town of Maarah, now Beit Ummar,
in Judah.

Milki Aril might mean " King of Ai'iel," which appears to have been
a name for Jerusalem (Isaiah xxxiii, 7). " The city where David
encamped," as in the Bible Melech Arad is "the King of Arad."

Gatiirri I should suppose to be Gederothaim, near Beit Jibrin and Gath,
now Khwhet Jedtreh.

The country east of Gaza is described as that of Gath and Carmel,
two of the most important towns of that region.

Karti I should suppose to be either Kirjath Jearim, or Kirjath of
Benjamin (Kuriet el 'Anab).

As far as I am aware, this suggestion as to the 'Ahiri being Hebrews
is new, and I am not aware of any objection that can be raised against it,
except that of date, which is not really tenable. It seems to me that
we have to do with the time immediately following the death of Joshua,
and before the bondage under Sisera, who lived in the days of Rameses II,
and whose name appears to me to be Egyptian, viz., Ses-ra, " the servant
of Ra," who oppressed Israel with iron chariots. Iron was known in
Egypt in this age.

It is a very important fact that the Egyptian Governt)rs of this period,
whose names are Semitic — apparently Assyrian or Babylonian — use the
cuneiform character in writing. It was apparently used by the educated
class in Phoenicia, and among the Hittites also in one instance at least, as
well as by this unfortunate Governor, whose name Suardaka is also
Assyrio-Babylonian.

It seems to me that we may thence deduce that the ali)habet was not
invented in 1450 B.C., and when we reflect that the earliest alphabetic
texts yet known are not older than about 900 b.c, this seems to be
probable. About the time of David the power of both Assyria and
Egypt had declined, and it is about this time that the alphabet begins to
appear, as a native script of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, Moabites, and
Arameans, who were then subject neither to Assyria nor to Egypt.

NOTES ON THE QUARTERLY STATEMENT. 329

The three letters here quoted are thus the earliest luouumental notices
of the Hebrews, carrying back our history to the time of the conquest ;
while Hittite history is carried back even to 1600 b.c. in the annal of
Thothmes III.

Southampton, C. R. Conder.

16th Jiinfl, 1890.

NOTES ON THE QUARTERLY STATEMENT,

JULY, 1890.

Identifications.— Mx. Flinders Petrie says that in fixing ancient sites
we have been obliged to " trust to names," but such a method is not safe
by itself. I have often pointed out that ancient remains must also occur.
We have trusted mainly to the farm of tomb, which has now been estab-
lished in consecutive periods. I regard this as perhaps safer than
deductions from pottery, which are apt to mislead.

Pillar at Tell el Hesy. — It is important to have a drawing of this.
Pillars such as Mr. Flinders Petrie seems to describe were used by the
Romans in Palestine. Still the volute was used in Assyria (or in Elam)
about 600 B.C., and in later times in Phoenicia.

IsaiaKs Chapel. — This illustrates the mediseval notice of Isaiah's
Tomb (traditionally so-called) by the Boi'deaux Pilgrim, speaking of the
Kedron Valley : "in unum positus est Isaias Propheta et in alium Ezechias
rex Judseorum."

John of Wirzburg places the Quercus Eogel at Siloam, where Isaiah
was said to have been slain. Isaiah's tomb is also mentioned in the
" Citez de Jherusalem."

Drafted Masonry. — No monument is known in Phoenicia with such
masonry before the Greek period. The old part of the Tyre aqueduct,
which is pretty cei'tainly Phoenician woi-k, is not drafted. It is curious
that so little is ever said in considering this question of the palace at
Arak el Emir, which is described in the " Eastern Survey Memoir."
Here we have masonry very like that of the Jerusalem Haram, dating
from 176 b.c.

It is also curious that all writers assume the marks on the lower
courses of the temple wall to be Phnenician letters. That Dr. Deutch
thought they were so is well known, but when he wrote we knew very
little of such matters. The chief group of these markings does not recall
any Phoenician shapes, and another mark H is certainly not an early
Phoenician form. It is the form of the letter H) '^^ used about rhe
Christian era, or it might be the Greek H. The only other distinct sign,
^ is most like the Greek T {Gamma). There is not a single clearly
Phoenician letter among the marks on the wall. Greek mason letters
occur at Baalbek.

Lachish. — There is no reason for accepting Umm Lakis as Lachish on

;^,:',0 THE (•; UTTER.

account of name. It is spelt ^^^il ^^ , and the letter j is the Hebrew
-). The place is the Malagues of the Crusaders, so that the M is not
a modern addition. On the other hand, pf and 3 are often inter-
chano-ed, and consequently Elhesy is much closer to Lachish as a wortl
than any other name in the region. Robinson's errors, unfortunately,
survive as well as his great discoveries.

Sun- Birds. — The sun-birds of Jaffa are mentioned in "Tent- work in
Palestine."

Sutekh. — Mr. St. Clair seems to forget that we have a statue of this
«od. He is represented with a head resembling that of an ass, and Set
was ass-headed, according to the Patristic writers. Set Ra also has the
Set head, ajjparently of aTi ass. For this reason I have su])posed that
the ass-headed god of the Hittite hieroglyphs was Sutekh or Set.

THE GUTTER (Tsinnor).

In Mrs. Finn's identification {supra 195) of the "Gutter" (ii. Sam., v. 8)
with the great aqueduct under Robinson's arch, two points seem to call
for notice.

1. The wall that cuts through the rock-hewn cistern connected with
that aqueduct is Herodian, not Solomonic. In " Jerusalem Recovered,"
\i. 319, Sir C. Warren writes, " A square of 300 feet at the south-west
angle I suppose to have been built by King Herod." The cistern is only
150 feet north of that angle, so that only by a misapprehension can it
be said to be demonstrated that the aqueduct existed before Solomon
built the Temple.

2. Two passages are quoted from Jose])hus (" Wars " V, iv. 1, and
"Ant." VII., iii. 1), and are said to establish the identity of Zion, the
city of David, with the Upper City, or Market-place. But if here, in
the " Wars," Josephus practically in one instance speaks of the Upper
(^-'ity as being the fortress which Joab entered, still in his later work, the
" Antiquities," he four times distinctly describes the very same fortress
as the Acra ; and every reader of the "Wars " will know that the Upper
City and the Acra were two distinct hills. It is most unreasonable to
suppose that Jose|>hus, who was well acquainted with Jerusalem, should
repeatedly in the " Wars" give the existing title of Acra to one hill, and
afterwards in the " Ant." give the very same title to the other. To do
so would be utterly to bewilder, and not to instruct his readers. If,
however, he found out the error of his solitary statement in the " Wars,"
that "the Upper City was called the Citadel ((ppoipiou) by David," he
would, like an honest writer, correct his mistake in his later work.

Again, if here, in the "Wars," Josephus practically places the city of
David (in whole or part) on the Upper hill, it must also not be overlooked
that 1 Maccab. recognises Acra alone as the site of the city of David, and
that in the Biblical passages, in four cases at least out of the live, the

GIHON. o'n

part of Jerusalem described as the city of David must be that which was

afterwards called the Acra.

As I stated in Quarterly Statement^ 1888, 108, the City-of- David

question is really as clear as a sunny noon, and as easy as A B C, until

Josephus' guesses at truth are weakly taken to be truth. It is certaiuly

remarkable that generations of writers should, in this one instance in

the " Wars," accept Josephus as infallible, and shut eyes and ears alike

to all the counter evidence in the " Antiquities," 1 Maccab., and the Bible.

Surely it is time to cease doting over one casual observation, and to

take in the new idea that Josephus could change his view as well as his

side.

W. F. Birch.

GIHON.

Referring to the Eev. W. F. Birch's remarks on my paper respecting
Gihon : (1) I cannot share his view that it is "most unsatisfactory to
have to take 1 Kings i, 33, 45, as speaking proleptically." Such pro-
lepsis in connection with names of places is repeatedly met with in the
Old Testament. Thus, in Gen. xii, 8, we read that Abraham " pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west and Hai on the east ; " although fi'om
Gen. xxviii, 19, we learn that the place got its name of Bethel from his
grandson a century and a half later. Unless, indeed, there were two
Bethels. In 1 Sam. iv, 1, we read that the Israelites "pitched beside
Ebenezer;" whilst from 1 Sam. vii, 12, it appears that the place was not
so named until many years later. Unless, indeed, there were two Eben-
ezevs. (2) The date of the construction of the tunnel is a point ujjon
which I did not venture to speculate, there being so few data from
which to form an opinion. That such "a gigantic work," as Mr. Birch
justly calls it, should have been constructed in haste I find it hard to
believe, as for the greater part of its extent only two men could have
worked at the same time, namely, one at each end. And if relays of
labourers were employed so that the work might go on without inter-
mission, a very long time must still have been consumed in completing
the task. I am rather inclined to think that Hezekiah's work of stopping
the upper outflow and bringing down the water to the west side of the
City of David only involved the short side tunnel and Warren's shaft.
Perhaps the same king may have excavated the whole canal in the
))eaceful days which preceded and followed Sennacherib's invasion.
(Ecclesiasticus xlviii, 17.)

Thomas Chaplin, M.D.

332

NOTE ON FIGURES IN THE CAVE OF SARtS.

With reference to the figure on the east wall {Quarterly State^nent,
April, 1890, p. 71), presumably that of our Blessed Lord on the Cross, I
venture to suggest that the ornament on the face represents only incisions
in the rock wherein to impress the features, probably worked out in
])laster. The whole figure seems flat, and may originally have had the
bodily form woiked out in the same medium.

The eight lines above the head may rejjresent the nimbus.

E. F. Hutchinson, M.D

"MA'LULA AND ITS DIALECT," BY F. J. B.

This interesting paper would have been more valuable if the sounds of
the vowels had been accented, as a guide to pronunciation. Without
marks we are in doubt.

Thus on page 88, hson (ray horse) the circumflex does not tell us
exactly whether the word is hson or hson or hsrtn.

The close resemblance of many of the (?) MAluld, words to their
analogues in Hindustani is curious. Thus on page 89 —

Eaisha.

Head.

Eiis Ea!s-logh (head people),

'Aina.

Eye.

Aina {lit., glass).

Furshta.

Bed.

Farsh.

Sftjratha.

Tree.

Shajar.

Hwoya.

Air.

Havd.

Ara.

Ground.

Ardzi.

Shoptha.

Week.

Haftah.

Shirasha.

Sun.

Shams.

Nura.

Fire.

Nur (lustre).

(Page 91) Kutal.

He killed me. Qatlkiya.

I might multiply examples, but these will suffice to illustrate my

position.

E. F. Hutchinson, M.D.

SOiA July, 1890.

TTY CENTER LINRARY

3 3125 00666 2312

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