^ r. tXul>Iication of the piogress of disco- veries in full detail — An apj)eal for funds to the la4^1ics of England .......... CHAPTKK II. PALKdiTINB. The cxpo8celief respecting it— Ramleh, the ancient Arimatlwa -Lady travellers- An ancient cr>jiy of the Pentateuch— Arrival at Jenisa'em — Two views 21 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. JERUSALEM. I'AGB Description of Palestine— Probable former condition of the Jordan Valley — The mountain range of Western Palestine — The jour- neys of Abraham and Jacob— The climate — Fevers due to rapid changes in temperature — Palestine likened to Wales— Its popu- lation—Delay in the arrival of the firman— The English Consul's advice — A linaited permission to work obtained frqm the Pacha— Several sites of ancient cities more conspicuous than Jerusalem— The stronghold of Zion, the characteristic feature of Jerusalem — Its disappearance— Eemoval of topogra- phical diificulties by the identification of its site, and the replace- ment of the " little hill "—The vision of Ezekiel and Zechariah — Tlie hills — The position of the ancient city — The modern city — The ancient walls and towej-s — The destruction wi-oiight by the siege of Titus — Preservatian of the garden . . .40 CHAPTER IV. THE TEMPLE. « The Temjjle of Jerusalem as described by Josephns— The direc- tions given by King David to Solomon — Solomon begins to build the Temple — The quadrangular court — Solomon's porch, the border of Jerusalem — The palace of Solomon and its destruction — " Herod's Temple" — The wonder fill walls of the gi-eat inclosure — The cisterns — A comparison of dimensions and resources— Strabo's account of Jerusalem — Tacitus on the strength of its walls — Comparative dimensions — The great causeway — The gates — The Royal Cloisters — The Castle of Antonia — Its extraordinary strength — The Talmud ic account of the Temple— Dimensions of the Holy House— The Golden Gate — Additions and alterations made by the Roman Emperors —Facility of identification — The author's abstinence from controversy ......... 58 CHAPTER V. VISITS IN JERUSALEM. Jerasalem a city of contradictions — Its aspect in the time of Titus— The city of to-day — The city of the future — A hotel in the Holy City — The traders from Bethlehem — Bethlehem carvings — An eccentric and unsatisfactory inn-keeper — Arbi- trary charges— Travellers in Palestine — American tourists — CONTENTS. IX l-AOK The method adopted towanls their clergy l)y American cougrcgations, and its worthiness of imitation in England — Insignificance of English influence — Izzet Pasha— His deter- mination to thwart the author's purjxjse — The author obliged to keep on good terms with liini — The Anglican bishoj) in Jerusjilem — His difficult position — Christian interests in Jeru- salem — Schools — Connection Ix-tween Greek and Anglican Churches — Services in English, German, and Arabic — The JcAvish Missi(jn and its converts — Dr. Cliai)lin — Sister Charlotte from Kulscrswerth — The German Orphanage . . .82 CHAPTER VI. DESERT OF JCDAU. Delay in the arrival of instnmicnts — The author arranges for an excursion among the Bedouin — The expedition starts for Beth- lehem — The lull country — A casual congregation — The Kidron — Food — The hill tomb of Nimrod — The purple wall of Moab — Druses, and their antics — The convent of Mar Saba — Beturn to Jtrasjikm by the southern gate — The author starts again for the cam]t — A dinner in a desert tent — Lel>en — Photograph- ing the wilderness of Judah — An extortionate Arab — Physical peculiarities of the Arabs of the desert — A tempest — The aque- ducts — The Pools of Solomon — The Sealefl Fountain — The Frank Mountain — The Gardens of Urtas — The Cave of Khu- reitun — Its resemblance to the description of the Cave of AduUam — The author's doubt of the suggestion of Josephus . HI CHAPTER VII. EAULT EXCAVATIONS. The excavations arc commenced — Anger of the Sheikh — Historical reminiscences of the eastern gate of Hcrotl's Temple— Saint James " the Just" — The Sheikh of Siloam — Interference of the Military Pacha— The Vizier's letter— Exclusion from the Nobk- Sanctuary — A happy mistake, and how the author profited by it — Overthrow of Mr. Fergusson's theory by the results of the excavations— Opi>isition of the Pacha, and want of money and implements militate again.st the work— Serious oi>erations commenced in 1871— The people of Siloam — Incapacity of the Nubian and other workmen, and accidents arising therefrom — Nervous affect ions among the workmen — The merits of Corporal Birtles — Difficulty of jtrocuring stores — Progress of excavations — Fresh items added to our knowledge of old Jerusalem . . HU CONTENTS. CHAPTEK VIII. JERICHO. PAGE A Syrian body-guard and their notions of duty— The Demetrius of Abu Dis— Uselessness of a fixed rule for travellers in Palestine —The hill country— The wadies between Jerusalem and Jericho —The parable of the man who fell among thieves— Disappear- ance of the road between the City of Palms and Jerusalem — The aqueduct across Wady Kelt— The convent of the Kelt— The atmosphere of Jericho— Baseless hopes— The Valley of the Jordan — Its naked and barren mountains— The lower plain — Constant shiftmg of the river within historical times— The overflow at harvest time— The tribes of the Valley— Their dances— Wanderings in the plain— Curious pottery— Photo- graphing the aqueducts— The site of Jericho marked by a solitary palm . . . * 162 CHAPTEE IX. THE MOUNDS OF JERICHO. The Caves of Kuruntul — Quarantana, the traditional site of Our Lord's temptation — An abode in the hills — A Christian dervish — The lower cells and the later hermits — Prevalence of venomous insects — Climate of the Valley of the Jordan — The hornets — The tells — Excavation commenced— Its results — Crumbling jars — Disappearance of all objects found on their disinterment — Several mounds excavated — Mounds probably the remains of ancient castles — Eoman Jericho is still hope- lessly hidden — A ruin on the supposed ancient site of Gilgal — The author's incredulity — His incredvility is afterwards jus- tified — A murder among the Bedouin of the Ghor — Terror and flight of native women on seeing the explorers— Arrival at the Jordan — A new camping-ground — The site of the Temptation —The supposed fortress of a Crusader — The coney and its habits— Illness of the author — Arrival at Nablns . . . 185 CHAPTEE X. SAMARITANS. Preparations for visiting the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim — The Samaritans so few that they are denied a seat on the town council — Numbers of the different creeds in Nablus — The CONTEXTS. X I PACE Moslems ten to one — Carping spirit of all — The interest of Nal)lus centres in the Samaritans — Their distinj^iifihing marks and colours — Who are these iKJople? — Tho account given by Josephns — The celebration of the Passover on Mount Gerizim by the Samaritans— NiibluK, or Shcchcm, in the history of Syria — Moslem traditiun respecting the burial of Joseph — Abimdaut water in Nablus — Loveliness of the situation — The tomb ol Joseph and the well of Jacoli — The l^Iount of Blessing and the ruins of the Temple of the Samaritans — The Holy of Holies — The place of Jacob's dream — Extraordinary ceremonies of the Samaritan Passover — Subsequent quarrels — Amram the priest — The Turkish Mosque in Nablus — Samaritan claims to immense antiquity — The roll of the Pentateuch — A valuable relic, and an inadequate reward . . . . . . 2(>i'< CHAPTES XI. KURN 8CBTABEH. The descent of Gerizim— A recalcitrant Sheikh — A glorious view of the Jordan Valley — A large camp — A wedding — Across the desolate plain — Too late for the gorgeous colouring of the plain — The course of the river — The theorj' of Kum Surtalteh — Lieut. Conder's opinion — The argument against it — The author's theory — A Eoman bridge — The Sheikh again — A fantasia by the fellahin — The five fords of the Jordan — Their history and identification — The author's conclusion that Our Lord's baptism took place in Judea and not in CJalilee . . 23G CHAPTER XII. ATTENDANT DANGERS. A false alarm — Ilide-and-scek — The cultivation of the Gh'r — Difference in reports caused by changes of weather — Flocks and pasturage — The Gawarineh— The Ujtfter and Lower Plains — Ilainfall — An atlvcnture — A plague of earwigs — Abusive Bedouin— Ks Sumrah — Sultan and his blood feud — Changes in the names of the wadies — Taiyil>eh — Excavations at the camp of Es Sumrah — Discovery, and sudden fading of frescoes — Cedar-wood roof, now at South Kensington — The reputed tomb of Moses according to Moslem tradition — Contest of opinion concerning the ix>sition of Pisgah — Ancient convent at Neby Mlisa — Return to Jerusalem — Desposition of Izzet Pacha — A lapse of three months — The author settles jx^rmanently at Jerusalem. ......... 204 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XIII. DIFFICULTIES, PAGE Turkish bad faith— Difficulties thrown in the way of the explorer —The broken promises of Fuad Pacha— Difficulties made in England — The author obliged to prosecute the dragoman of the English Consulate— The history of the case— A " Eraser," or secret court— The trial— The defence— Dismissal of the drago- man—The British residents tender thanks to the prosecutor— The consulates ready to aid in the work — A nice and knotty point of Tui-kish etiquette — Chibouk or cigarette — The work- men opposed in the Upper City — Appeal to the consul — Sergeant Birtles arrested by order of Nazif Pacha — The Turks alarmed at threatened consequences — The sergeant released — The author insists on a written acknowledgment of the error — Attempts at cajolery by the Pacha — They prove useless, and the Pacha yields — The Sanatorium — Progress of the works — Visit of the aiilitary Pacha— The road 286 CHAPTEE XIV. THE ROYAL CLOISTER. Vexations — Delays in remittances and letters — Death of a pet leopard — Eesults of excavations — Discovery of the remains of the Xystus— Antiochus Epiphanes — Possible site of the gym- nasium gardens — The discovery of the pier of the great arch — The tactics of Titus^His orders for the destruction of the Temple difficult to execute — Mr. Eergusson in error — The author's claim to have correctly defined the site of the Temple — The addition by Herod— A lamp found in the aqueduct— The possibihty that the knowledge of bridging by means of the arch was of Asiatic, not Italian origin — The author's impression — Discovery of a drain enabling the explorers to reach the Wailing Place of the Jews— The way stopped by a house — Eesume of discoveries — Aqueduct of extraordinary construction 310 CHAPTEE XV. DISCOVERIES. A disheartening position — Insolvency of the expedition suspected in Syria — Showing a bold front — A satisfactory telegram — The " Fund " in reality a " Debt "—A fresh departure— A ludicrous circumstance — Friendly Americans — A consjDiracy against Tui-kish rule— The author obliged to clear himself of supposed CONTENTS. xiii PACK complicity — Commencement of excavations witliin the Temj)lo areA — The autlior's Kuocessfnl perKuasion of the MosUmuk to allow him to dig in the Double Passape — Sacnxlncss of this Praying Place — A guard kept outside — Inmates of the Sanc- tuary — Danger of discovery — The resnltH — The "Tomb of Aaron's sons " according to Moslem tradition — Negative results — Ramadan — Exhaustion of the men through hunger and cold — An exi)odient, and its failure — An exiK'etween native Moslems and native Christians— Scen(>s at the Church of the Holy Sfjiulchre — Anomalies— Who are the Syrians of Palestine? — Anecdote of a Greek, a Moslem, a Native, and the author — Honey or treacle — The author vindicates the accuracy of the Scriptural version — Syrian sheep — Curious cu.stoms of the shepherds — Sheep fed on leaves — Milk— Palestine a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig-trees, and pomegranates— Miserable remnant of protit left to the iioople — Darns in Palestine— The jmlm no longer a characteristic of Palestine — Tlie oak — The vine— Making of wine by the Christians — Grapes on sandstone formation — Remains of vineyards — Locusts — Their ravages in Palestine comparatively small — No roads in Palestine except that leading from Jaffa to Jenisalem — A plea for the Holy Land . . -108 CHAPTER XXn. TBADES IN JEUU8ALEM. The industry of Jenisalem— Table of trades, arranged according to creeds — The Ashkena/im — Future embarra.ssment likely to ari.so from this mendicant race — Some trades contined to particular socts— Comparative lists— The Suk el Ikizar — The xvi CONTENTS. PAGB Suk el Bir— The Suk Lahameu — Christian Street — Necessity for the merchants to conceal their wealth — Improvidence of the Protestants in Jerusalem— Barbarous dealing with goods at the customs gate — 111 treatment of market women by soldiers and ciistoms men — Oil — Trade at Bethlehem— Soap-making — Olive-trees — Alkali — Description of a soap factory — Mode of manufacture — Indigo dyeing— Stone-cutters— Potteries — A re- cord left by Herodotus — Clays used in the potteries — Manu- facture of glass at Hebron — The market places of Jerusalem — Costume, and its influence — A son of the desert in his native attire — The same in Euroi^ean clothing. .... 490 CHAPTEE XXIII. THE MOABITE STONE. Disorders in Jerusalem in 1869-7-The Bank robbed — Freemasonry — Eemoval of Nazif Pacha — The author in the Lebanon — Visit to Jerusalem of the Crown Prince of Prussia — Visit to Jerusalem of the Emi^eror of Austria — Cross purposes — An original notion of an Emperor's requirements — The author lands at Jaffa, and starts for Jerusalem though ill with fever — Sufferings on the way, and lasting results — Work recom- menced at north-east angle of the Noble Santuary — Erroneous opinion prevailing respecting the rock features — The Birket Israil — The Valley Kidron — Perilous excavation close to the Moslem burying-ground — The workmen strike the Sanctuary AVall — Discovery of a passage in the old wall of Haram Area — What the wall is — What the pool ^^robably is— The author's task draws near its conclusion — Correspondence on the sub- ject of the Moabite Stone — Misapprehension of the author's account of his actions with regard to the stone — The fragments given away to France — The author's " grievance " — He resigns his charge — Departure from Jerusalem — A brave little girl — A sad funeral — Last days at Jaffa -A real remedy for fever . 522 CHAPTEE XXIV. CONCLUSION. Peculiar difliculties attendant on excavations at Jerusalem — The mere act of digging excites uneasiness in the people — They are not brought up to trust anybody — The system adopted essentially a bad one — The excavations atEomc conducted on a different plan, and the workmen there unmolested — Advantage CONTENTS. XVII PAGE of the author's not havinp worked under Govornnicnt — Ho is free to si)oak liis mind to the puJtlic— Su^'^'cstions for future undt'rtakings of a similar nature— Monty for two years' supply Khould l>e collected K-foreliand — The agent's reports should bo attended to — He should have a good staff, and a position which the Pacha, if a fanatic, will recognise — The work will 1)0 l)est carried out V)y a i)rivato society — Nothinp should l>c published while the work is in progress— All plans should l>e made on the sixit — A complete record should Ik' puMislnd when the work is done— Supgcstiim for tliL- estuliiislimeiit of a Biblical Musium — Need of arrangement at South Kensin-^ton — The next attempt should l>e made in the Temple Area — Future of the Palestine Ex|)loration Fund. .... 551 LIST OF ILLUSTliATIONS. Jews' WAiLiN(i Place . ... Sketch of Jerusalem in the Time of Vesi-asian The Temple op Herdd .... Uauam Area, or Noble Sanctuary Robinson's Arch ..... Shaft, S.K. Angle .... Incised Characters .... Stcne C of Second course ok Kastern Wall Plan ok Jordan Valley Pottery Trade-Mark .... Plan of Gerizim ..... Samaritans at Prayer .... Ford over the Jordan Lamp (Robinson's Arch) VoussoiR of fallen Arch Seal of Haqoai ..... Rock-cut Passage AmtVE Virgin's Fountain Lami' (Virgin's Fountain) asukenazim ...... Wilson's Arch (View) .... Capital of Pilaster, Masonic Hall Old Gate: Eastern Knd ok Vault C (Causeway) Fruntispitce. . Page 54 to fact 62 1) 64 >» 69 140 143 146 to face 162 193 217 to face 227 „ 259 319 320 323 to face 331 332 to face 359 ., 368 370 372 XX LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. Base of Column .... Gallery at S.E. Angle of Sanctuary Incised Characters Painted Characters . Ancient Marks on Handles of Vases Gallery at Golden Gate . Newly discovered Passage in the old wall of Haram Area PAGE 396 418 421 421 423 529 533 UNDEimilOUND eTERIISALEM. CHAPTER I. 1XTR0DUC1H)RY. The Palestine Exploration Fund is now so firmly and strongly establislied as a society in this coinitry, its connections so numerous and powerful, its work so tliorouglily appreciated far and wide, in Europe and America, that few who know and admire its labours can look back at its small beginnings, so short a time ago, without feeling gratified that it should have got past its term of struggle and diflieulty to which it was subject, and have made a real start in a life of honour and usefulness ; few, who think of the great object it has in view, can doubt that its labours have been greatly helped. In tlie following narrative of a portion of my life in the Holy Land, I must needs refer now and again to the action of this infant society ; when describing the difficulties in which I was placed, the instructions I received and carried out; in doing so let it not be thought that I wish to refer in any manner to the society as now organised. To its early life only 1 2 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. allude, when its swaddling clothes prevented action, when it was feeble and imperfectly organised, directed gratuitously at intervals by one so talented yet so overwhelmed by his professional work, and without a secretary. As such it was impossible everything should go smoothly at all times — everything did not go smoothly ; but this only reflects the more credit on its present condition : its vitality has carried it through all difficulties. Wli en finally I returned from Palestine I was anxious in justice to myself to mention some of the difficulties which arose, but, on request, deferred doing so, lest its position might be endangered, its 3'oung life checked ; that precaution is now no longer necessary. The little society, once feebly progressing under the protection of Mr. George Glrove, has grown into healthy and vigorous life, able and willing to think and act for itself; its organisation has become nearly complete, it no longer lives spasmodically by fits and starts, but has, by the tender care and indefatigable industry of Mr. Walter Besant, the secretary, deve- loped to what it is, and will, we may reasonably hope, by his energy continue to develope, until next year we may see that it has become one of the established societies of the country ; for do not let it be supposed that when the survey of Palestine is complete its labours are over. It is then that the great work begins, then that we shall be enabled to reap our rich harvest (of which nn earnest has been already given)— a harvest, the garnering of many years, leading to a more thorough knowledge of the Book by means of our work in the land of its birth. INTUODUCTORY. •> To Mr. Walter Besant is due the credit of directing tlie financial ways of the society in the right course, of appealing to the masses who love the Land and the Book, as well as to the wealthy few who pive their liundreds liberally in aid of the cause. To him is due the present institution of annual subscribers, quarterly reports, itinerant lecturers, and other arrangements which have made the society take such a strong position in the country, by bringing the good work to the knowledge of the people. Scarcely a decade of years have yet passed since the Palestine Exploration Fund, with a true sense of the meicies of providence, sent out an expedition to the Holy Land, without money or materials, to under- mine the Holy City, to survey the country. The conception was grand, but I may say almost unique in the history of scientific societies. The party was to commence operations, and by its researches call the attention of the jniblic.to the work, andtlius electrify the scarce breathing body of the little Palestine Exploration Fund, and bring it into life. "Give us results, and we will send you money!" was the inspiriting cry which reached me in Palestine ; in vain 1 replied, " Give me tools, materials, money, food, and I will get you results." The answer was, " Results lurnished, and you shall have the money ! " Now it is all over, I feel satisfied that I had not inquired into the solvency of the Palestine Exploration Fund before embarking on my enterprise ; with its goodly array of names on the general committee, I had not thought of seeking as to its organisation, and was not aware that it was practically in the ham! 4 UXDERGBOUND JERUSALEM. of one man, a very busy man, the indefatigable Honorary Secretary. I turned a deaf ear to the remarks of my friends that the whole undertaking was chimerical, that I should neverget paid, and that before I had been out six months the Fund would be broken up. And yet it was quite true ; for during the first ten months of my sojourn in the country, I had not only to do the work but also to advance more than half tlie money, until by November there was a debt due to me of nearly a thousand pounds sterling. Had I known that there was the least prospect of this occurring, I should not have been desirous of trying the experiment ; hard indeed it was to carry out the work itself, but to have to pay for it also was more than I could have looked forward to, and more than I could afford to do. I had not in my instructions been restricted to any particular expenditure. I was " to exercise economy as much as possible and consistent with the due progress of the work," and to carry on excavations in Jerusalem, and survey the country outside at the same time ; work which, including all pay, allowances, and other expenditure, I performed for 200/. a month ; a sum which I had reason to suppose was well within what the Palestine Explora- tion Fund had calculated on and could afford, as it was less than the expenditure of the previous expedition, which had not made any extended excavations. But I am anticipating. I was in the sitting-room of the Charing Cross Hotel on the night of the 1st of February, 1867, the eve of my departure, when Mr. Grove paid me a visit, handed me over 300/. for my preliminary expenses, INTHODUCTOHY. ;» ^avo me liis blessing, iiinl tuKl nio fu go and piopcr. Witli due regard to my feelings lie refrained from drawing aside the curtain and displaying the skeletons in the cupboard of the Palestine Exploration Fund — skeletons of money-bags and subscriptions. Not f()r him was it to s<'iy, " This is our last liirthing ; wlien you have exhausted it we have no more." He had too good a habit (jf looking on the bright side of the subject, and kept me in happy ignorance of the prospect there was in view — the months of anxiety whicli were to follow, when each day the Fund became more and more indebted to me, until at last I bad scarcely wherewitli to find my piUsSJige home to England. Instead of this, an invigorating couvj^t- sation ensued regarding the prosj)ects of the Fund, and in his kind and genial manner he assured me how much I should like the country, and closed with the remark that if I felt it cold in Jerusalem, 1 must go down and get warm in the Jordan Valley, where I should next hear from him. How well I remembered those words ; for it was on the other side of the Jordan Valley I did first hear from him — but not during the cold weather; it was not until sj)ringhad ri|x;ned into summer, and summer had verged on autumn (in the month of August), that I first received a letter from him, after I had been eight months in the land without money, and without in- structions additional to those I had received t>n leaving in February. What would have happened if 1 had not been fortunate enough to succeed in an undertaking which many pronounced ho|)eless, it is iLi|»osr'il)le now to 6 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. speculate upon; but there can be no doubt that it was a critical year for the well-being of the yoims: Fund, and for myself it is a year to which I look back with a considerable amount of pride. I was heavily weighted on the side of failure, but perse- verance, diplomacy, and tact (these words I borrow) carried me through all the difficulties, and I now feel convinced that the position which I took up was the right one, and that the fate of the Fund hinged upon what was done in that year, and on the hold the subject then took upon the public mind. My instructions desired me to excavate about the Noble Sanctuary, my visierial letter strictly forbad such work ; and yet, in the teeth of this letter, in direct opposition of the Pacha's orders, and contrary to the advice of the Consul, I succeeded in carrying out the instructions of the Fund ; and at the same time so disarmed the various kinds of opposition one after another, that in every case where I found a difficulty and overcame it, I made a friend instead of an enemy out of my opponent. And although my work was entirely contrary to the feelings of the Moslems, yet I so managed that they should not be aggrieved, but on the contrary, the strictest Moslems, towards the end of my period of work in the city, were proud to send their compliments to me in public, a proceeding which would have been quite foreign to their natures, had I not persuaded them that I was doing no harm to their religion. But this did not come about all at once, it took months of hard battling to accomplish ; the harder because I had not only no authority for the execution INTRODUCTORY. i of tlie work, but the visierial letter actually was worse tliaii useless, for it excluded the Noble Sanctuary and all Moslem and Christian shrines. Fortunately, by |X)intinf:; out errors in this letter I was enable«l to refer it for reconsideration, and thus was not obliged to present it for nearly two years, when I h:iil liecome a recognised person in the city, and liad made a position from which the Turkish Pacha could not dislodge me. It was only by keeping constantly on the alert, and never allowing the Turk to surprise me, that I was enabled to carry out the work, " Wheedling and coaxing " the Turk was siuiply out of the question ; it was by keeping him in his proper place that 1 kept in mine ; had 1 sliown any disposition to coax him, he would iiave stopped me at once. The English Consul could give me no help, and told me to go to the Pacha, and settle matters myself. The Pacha forbad my working near the Noble ^^anctuary, and Mr. Grove, not perceiving the difticulty, did not give me any instructions. My position was most singular, reminding me of an incident I had witnesvsed on board a troop-ship. The connnander sat down to whist witii three red coats, one of whom (his partner) knew little of the game, except the art of revoking frequently ; after several revokes the commander, losing all patience, exclaimed, throwing up his cards, '* I can fight two soldiers, but three are too many for me." I found myself in tlui position of the commander; friends and foes alike did not assist me ; but there is an old saying that lookers-on see the most of the game, and in my aise the lookers-on not only s;iw the game. 8 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. but assisted me to such an extent, that I \vas not obHged to throw up my cards. The pubhc who passed through Jerusalem saw what was going on, saw the difficulties I had to contend with, promised to help to rectify the difficulties, to organise a working committee and get a paid secretary, and on returning to England, were a centre from which interest in the Palestine Exploration Fund circled. They could speak, for they had seen the work, had been down the shafts, had traversed the sub-structures : the work was for the public, and I took measures to allow the public, both English and foreign, to see all that was going on, and the result was an enthusiasm which no appeal by itself could have raised. It was the people who had actually seen the work who planted the interest in the public mind ; and it has always been a great source of gratification to me, that the facilities I rendered were so fully taken advantage of, that when Mr. Grrove did appeal in his vigorous and forcible style after I had been ten months in the Land, the public was ready to respond, and did respond so heartily, that the debt to me was paid up, and we were enabled to continue our work for some months without anxiety about financial matters. In the account of the difficulties met with, both moral and physical, I cannot give any idea of the manner in which our work was retarded without referring to the attitude assumed towards us by Nazif Pacha, the Governor of Jerusalem, during the time when my hardest battles were fought ; but though I was constantly under the necessity of INTRODUCTORY. •♦ actiiif!^ in opposition to liis wishes, and pusliin*; rny way in spite of his efTorts to restrain me, I must avow that no personal ill-feelinjj^ towards liim ever existed on my part ; I felt that he was acting aji5 he thoufi^ht hest ; I rather liked him as a Moslem, and when our difficulties were not in a state of activity we were on excellent terms personally and 1 could respect his character; for I helieve him to have heen an excellent Moslem, during his residence at Jerusalem, of the stricter sort, the old school, who, guided by a few illiterate dervishes and the more fanatic of his citizens, could only see in the Franks rival nations of unclean barbarians ; and wanting the keen percep- tions of the generality of Turkish governors, was unable to conceal his dislike to them; and being himself an honest and weak man, became the willing tool of such of his advisers who were not averse to making money at the expense of the good govern- ment of the country. Such I believe to have been his character, and coming as he did after a governor who was imprisoned for keeping back a portion of the tixes he drew from the people, and for other crimes, it is not to be wondered at that he should adhere to the strict letter of the regulations, and allow himself no latitude in estimating the powers of my visierial letter, but rather curtail them as much as possible. He was appointed in April, 18G7, at- a time when a reaction was at work in Turkey, which enabled the Porte to take so independent an attitude in the differences with the Government of (rreece ; and it is possible that it may have then seemed j)olitic to send an orthodox Moslem to Jeru- 10 UNDEKGROUND JEEUSALEM. salem, who would by his discourtesy to cousuls, and general behaviour, help to weaken the bonds of the " Capitulations," which w^hile they secure to Franks a partial immunity from the oppression of the Porte, and enable them to trade in the country free of the iniquitous exactions to which the rayahs are sub- jected, at the same time call into j^lay the rivalry and squabbling of all nations in the country, and prevent any development which might in any manner be put in motion. Nazif Pacha in the fire of his zeal appears to have on several occasions overstepped the bounds of prudence, nearly causing complications ; and it is significant of the estimation in which he was held by the Porte, that on the visit of the Emperor of Austria and Crown Prince of Prussia to Jerusalem, he was recalled in great haste, and a polished gentleman, Kamil Pacha, sent in his place to receive them. But Kamil Pacha did not long keep his appointment ; he was not a Moslem of the Arabian school, and had shortly to be transferred. I have said that my visierial letter was of no value to me^ for it left everything to the discretion of a Pacha who was afraid of responsibility, and there- fore considered his safest policy to be obstruction. Nay, rather, it strengthened his hand against me, for it forbad me to do that which he also considered I should not do — to excavate in the Noble Sanctuary and other shrines. But my very object in Jerusalem was the examina- tion of these places, not only inside the Noble Sanctuary, but also on the outside along its walls, INTIiODLCTOKV. 1 ' and in tlie ruins about. Now it so happens that almost all the old ruins of Jerusalem to the Moslems are Siicred slirines ; even the vaults under the «z;reat causeway they pronounced to be sacred. The letter thus would, if taken literally, have debarred me from any excavations in interesting localities, and this the Pacha tried to enforce ; but I would not accej>t this renderinf^ of the letter, it confused the Sanctuary of Jerusalem with that of the more jealously guarded precincts of Hebron, and was so palpably written without a knowledge of the place (this is the most favourable interpretation of its purport), that I only looked upon it as a dead letter ; and, while asking for one more exact, ignored its contents. I had but two courses before me — either to effect my object by stealth, or else to go straight forward and see if the perseverance of an Englishman would not at last overpower opposition. The first course could only have succeeded for a short time in the hands of an honest man, for it would have entailed a life of duplicity, or a descending to "wheedling and coaxing " quite foreign to the habits of our countrymen, and which could not possibly have been effective very long. It was only then left for me, if the work was to be done at all, to go on very cautiously, always moving on, but never rendering myself lialjle to a severe check, until at last I should obtain by the law of custom those rights which the religious scruples of the Pacha prompted him to deny to me. I^ut my object was never simple opposition, it was pressure continued until my adversary began to 12 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. yield, and then when he felt he must give way, I endeavoured to make arrangements by which he should have the appearance of bestowing gracefully ; and this before he should feel bitterly disposed by the prospect of exposure of his failure. Therefore it would often seem to lookers-on that we could go where we liked and dig where we liked, while in reality each day's work brought a hard struggle for the mastery. Thus from the time (in July) when I first gave Nazif Pacha a decided check, I gradually gained one concession after another, in spite of the efforts of the officials to obtain money either directly from me or else by working it through the Pacha, until at last after two years' warfare we were able to work all round the walls of the Noble Sanctuary with his cognisance and tacit consent ; while at the same time his protest against any such proceeding was still in force. I do not mean to say that the same results might not have been obtained by the aid of a plentiful supply of bakshish, for I am of opinion that the vested rights of the Efifendis and the objections of the officials could have been bought up; but it would have taken a very large sum of money : in fact, if the principle of feeing officials had once been admitted, and if I had given more than the actual value of the damage done to the crops by our work, together with a small present, the demand would have rapidly increased, and in the end pro- bably a large proportion of the money available for excavations would have been expended in bakshish : INTRODLXTORY. l-» aiirobably to be lost in a rapirl. It is impossible to say what might have happened had tlie Consul been present during the whole time I was at work ; 14 UNDERGEOT^ND JERUSALEM. but I bad borne tbe brunt of tbe Pacha's opposition and gained the most important concessions while he was on leave in Europe, and therefore he had not been able to follow me through the greater portion of my difficulties. It is moreover due to him to say that on some occasions, when he learnt from me that I had made up my mind to a certain course of action, he did more than give advice and supported me well ; and I have to thank him for several acts of courtesy in the execution of his duty, and for having visited the works on several occasions, thereby letting people know that I had his sympathy. It cannot be denied that the nature of my work placed him in a delicate position, and therefore the more independently I acted the less embarrassing it was to him ; at the same time the very independence which was desir- able to relieve him, gave me a responsibility of a very grave nature, and obliged me to decide for my- self and often to take a very bold course ; a course which success has justified. To the foreign consuls my warmest thanks are due, for they not only expressed great sympathy with our work, but they also assisted me in various ways, putting matters in a favourable light before the Pacha, and assuring him that our work was viewed with interest by Franks in general. Considering the religious strife among all religions for which Jerusalem is renowned, and how easily our work might have given rise to unpleasant feelings between the several sects, it is with the greatest satisfaction that I look back upon the general eye of amity witli which we were regarded by the leading INiUoLUJCrOUY. !•> members of tlie Greek, Ljitin an«l otlicr Clmrcbes, the chief Rabln'ns, and principal Moslems, wlio otherwise, by tlieir coldness alone, might have greatly hindered us ; and 1 feel it was due in a great measure to our refusing to get mixed up with any parties, and the zealous conduct of the subordinates in ol)evine: their instructions. At the same time I must not omit to say that the high position taken up by the few English residents in Jerusalem, and their ready help and advice, was of the greatest assistaiice. To Dr. Chaplin in particular I think I owe the first kindly feeling of the Jewish population, who could not speak in higli enough terms of their " llakim Inglesy," the doctor who thought more of the comfort of the poor Jews than he did of his own ; and I cannot in my mind separate the English from the German residents, for they were, so far as we were concerned, so bound up by conuuon interests and pursuits, that we were often apt to forget that we were of different nationalities. I must not omit the name of Mr. George Jackson Eldridge, our Consul-General at Beyrout ; his advice I often asked and followed, for I highly valued his sound opinions. It was through his good offices that I was enabled to appeal to the Governor-General of Syria, Reshid Paclia, when hard pressed by Nazif Pacha, and obtained an answer saying how much he was interested in our work, and that they were " destines a jeter une vive lumiere sur les tenebres qui enveloppent le paFse, a attirer rattention du monde savant, et a faire revive les mines qui dornjaient d'lin sommeil S€*culaire;" and at the same time he sent 16 UNDEKGEOUND JEKUSA \EM. me a letter to give to Nazif Pacha, urging him to help me as much as he could. I mention this in order that it may be seen that though I acted in direct opposition to Naz^f Pacha, yet I was at the same time, with his knowledge, in friendly communi- cation with his immedi? uperior. Reader, as to the succeosful results of which I am about to speak in future chapters, let me here say a few words. On my passage out to Palestine, an eminent civil engineer tried to persuade me to give up my mission, and said, " There is nothing to be found at Jerusalem. Go to Athens or Ephesus, and you may be successful ; but as you value your reputation don't go to Jerusalem !" Since my return Mr. Fergusson has stated: " Except by one accidental discovery, which he failed to carry to its legitimate issue, 1 do not know of any fact he has brought to light that aids us in elucidating the disputed points in the topography of the Holy City." Here, before you, may be found two reasons why the work I carried out has not received that com- mendation which it merits. The practical man of the world refuses to allow Jerusalem to be anything but a shadowy myth ; and work done there must be as unreal and un- substantial as the place itself. Had I done the same in Rome or Athens, it might not have been so well known to the people, but it would have been better appreciated by practical men. 0,n the other hand, the theorist of Mr. Fergusson's INTKODUCTOHV. IT scliooi I'ouiid (.VLiy discovery go against Ijis views; every foot of rubbish displaced showed the more how greatly in error he had been. Mr. Feigusson had to choose between his theory and facts, and has kept to his theory : consequently he must fain believe that I made no discoveries, he .v -^st shut Ids eyes to the results of my three years' s . urn in Palestine. And yet Mr. Fergusson is a member of the General Com- mittee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and was foi- long a member of the Executive Committee, where he could influence its counsels by the majority he conunanded ; for strange as it may appear (to tho.^e who know how few of the general public accept his views), during the greater portion of the time I was in Palestine the actions of the Fund were swayed by those holding his opinions; but since then I am glad to think a more even distribution of parties prevails. Now if practical men (but not all) have refused to look at Jerusalem and its topography : and the theorists, then regulating the aflairs of the Palestine Exploration Fund, would not recognise the results of my work, but only the energy displayed, to whom was I to look? To the public. Fortunately for me and for the work, it was to the public I instinctivelv turned from the commencement, and it was through the public interest excited that I was enabled to proceed. The enthusiastic reception by the public which I met with on my return, by the hundreds assend«le(i in the Royal Institution, and the number of letters I iiave received tVoiii persons with whom 1 previously (• 18 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. bad no acquaiiitauce, let me know who really ap- preciated the work done, and to whom I must look for its future development. For this work has not yet been given to the public. I sujDposed as a natural sequence to the work, that a record would be published, but on my return to England I found, to my intense mortification, that in lieu of this I was to be called upon to contribute to a book which, though called the ' Recovery of Jeru- salem,' was partially devoted to Palestine, and which would not contain on the subject of Jerusalem more than the substance of one hundred and thirty-five pages of one of the Palestine Exploration Fund Quarteily Statements. How was it possible that I could do any justice to the details of my work in less space than I had given to a three months' tour in the Lebanon and Land of Grilead ? Add to this, I was seriously ill while the book was hurried through the press. The account of our work in detail therefore still remains unpublished. Now it appears to me a satire on the expenditure of 8000/. upon excavations at Jerusalem, that money cannot be found to publish the results, considering that the work done was wholly and solely for the public. Can anybody doubt that if they had favoured Mr. Fergusson's views, if they had proved his wondrous theories to be correct, can anybody doubt that the details would have been duly recorded with a flourish of trumpets ? But how could Mr. Fergusson use his vigorous pen in aiding the publication of results which show his theories to be imaginary ? He cannot do so ; and as the principal INTRODL'CTOKV. 19 ofTicers of tliis fund also liekl Mr. Fergussou's views:, could they have a <2;n at oj)inioii of the value of the results. * Smith's Bihlical Dictionary ' is wedded to Mr, Fergusson's theory, the ' Bible Atlas ' is in the same condition. 'Smith's Ancient Atlas' has the same adiiesion, and is edited by Mr, George Grove ; thus are the standard works of the country given over to Mr. Fergusson and to the honorary secretary of the Palestine Exploration Fund. And yet I must do Mr. Grove the justice to say that though he does support Mr, Fergusson's views, he has borne public testimony to tlie value of the work done in Jerusalem, and in November, 1867, said to me, " You may safely boast that in these nine months you have discovered more than all previous travellers in a thousand years;" and if this could be said of nine months' work, what is to be said of the three and a third years which found me at Jerusalem ? Why, simply that I have put the whole subject of the topogra}>hy on a new footing; that many of the merest conjectures are now certainties, that some of the strongest theories have been proved in error; that whereas nothing was certain but the Mount of Olives and Moriah, now there is a plan of the Temple courts, founded on existing remains, and general questions are narrowed to details, I have found the little hill of Zion, or rather the spot where it stood, and the Kidron Valley ; I have shown that the Valley of Hinnom is to the east of the city. There is yet work to be done at Jerusalem, but it may not be done in our generation. Let us not delay for its pro- * c 2 20 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. blematic completion the publication of the work we have now on hand, for we may never have an oppor- tunity of learning more. I appeal to the ladies of England, to the " better half" of the public, whether they are content to wait, but would not rather that what is known should be published in detail, not as a popular work, but as a record, so that the rising generation may obtain the benefit. A small fund is required for this purpose, but it would bear a very small proportion compared with the cost of the ex- cavations. Will not the ladies who went down the shafts at Jerusalem help in this matter, and thus give to the world the results of the work for which I gave away my health to accomplish, and which the Pales- tine Exploration Fund cannot afford to publish ? ( -'I ) CHAPTER II. i'ALKSTINK. " Thus far into the Jewels of tliu land Havu wc niurclicd on without inijicilimcnt." A', liirhard 111. To those who look forward to the possibility of Palestine ag-aiii bccomiug- a centre of civilisation, the exposed condition of her coasts })resentii a formidable difficulty. From the Bay of Iskanderun on the north, to Port Said on the south, a distance of four hundred miles — as far as from Plymouth to the Clyde — there is scarcely at the present time a spot where one large vessel may safely take shelter during the prevalence of the westerly gales which rage so furiously on that shore. The very ports themselves have disappeared, and the people ceased to be of a seafaring nature. And yet this was the coast which fostered the mighty cities of the Phoenicians, the earliest navi- gators of the globe, wlio not only traded with our own native land, but who made distant voyages of three years' duration to Oi>hir, and even coasted around Africa from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Gibraltar (if Herodotus be rightly understood). Itisdilhcult to ascertain precisely the cjiuses of the rise of Sidon 22 UNDEKGROUND JEEUSALEM. and Tyre : whether owing to the genius of the people, the suitahiHtj of the ports at that time for the ships then in use ; or the experience which the dangers of the coast lent to a people who, owing to a redundant population, were forced to bring up a portion to a seafaring life. In early days, as in the time of the Romans, the population of Phoenicia was greater than the land could support, and we find Solomon giving to the king of Tyre corn, oil, and wine in exchange for the building materials for the Temple. Strabo leads us to suppose that it was the knowledge of astronomy which made the Phoenicians so pre-emi- nent among early navigators, enabling them to sail by night as well as by day, and thus allowing them to make ocean voyages. But whatever may have been the causes, they now" cease to exert their influence, and the low coast-line of Syria lies in- animate, beaten by the heavy surf rolling in from the full length of the Mediterranean, and accumu- lating on her once fertile plains, year by year, fresh layers of shore-blown sand. This unprotected nature of her coasts was impressed on the minds of our party on board the Charlotte, when buffeting off Jaffa and unable to land on the morning of the 15th of February, 1867. There was a sufficient gale to make the passengers feel uncomfortable, but nothing more than is to be met with three or four times a week throughout the year between Dover and Calais, and yet it was too much for the safety of boats passing through the surf, and our ship in consequence held on her way towards Beyrout. Besides my party of three corporals of Engineers, there were no other PALESTINE. 23 English on board : all the first-class passengers, nmn- beringover thirty-five, were from the United States ; and it was curious in the Levant to find everything viewed from a standpoint of New York or " Frisco." Tlie SL'Cond-class passengers presented an odd as- sembly of comparatively wealthy Eastern merchants, wlio endeavoured as mucli as possible to hold aloof from the deck passengers. The latter were deposited in cages or pens running down one side of tlie vessel, so that we were in rather close proximity to them on the quarter-deck. About midships there was a con- fused mass of tents, bedding, dragomen, and servants clustering round the funnel, regardless of the smell so long as they kept warm. Apart from other deck passengers on the quarter-deck, was a long-faced miserable, who lay and groaned out the voyage, evidently as much alarmed as seasick. I was some- what puzzled to find so dirty and unkempt an individual allowed out of his pen on our portion of the deck, and considerably more surprised eventually to see him change himself into a Turkish officer of high degree, returning from a mission to Egypt, and received with some attention on landing. The large number of passengers made it very desirable that we should not be carried on further than was absolutely necessary ; and we had scarcely got beyond Jaffa before a change in the wind allowed a pos- sibility of" landing : the captain most good-naturedly listened to our clamour, put back again, and after some hours' delay the sea was sufficiently calm to admit of the boats coming off to us. We felt we were fortunate, for it not unfroquenlly happens tliat 24 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. several steamers in succession have to pass Jaffa without landing passengers; and indeed they are often again carried back to Alexandria without being able to land. Not a few whose time has been limited have thus lost their chance of seeing the Holy City. Bishop Gobat mentioned to me a case of a friend of his who was urgently required at Jerusalem, and who was, I think, carried past Jaffa five times before he was enabled to land. While such difficulties exist, especially during the winter, the busy time of the year, it is evident that Palestine must remain commercially in the background. About 3 P.M. the shore boats surrounded us, and then goodbye to all order and method : our heavy packages were got up and swung into any boat that lay alongside, or into the sea if the boat was not handy ; so long as they cleared the ship, the super- cargo was content. Fortunately, on this occasion, there was no loss to us, and everything was speedily loaded into clumsy lighters, which in spite of their appearance were evidently good surf boats. We set off in a line one after the other towards a reef of rocks which is supposed to mark the limit of the ancient harbour made by King Solomon ; we could only see before us a line of breakers, the boats disappearing over them. As we approached, however, an exceedingly narrow portion of less troubled waters was apparent, towards which we were propelled, and passing through on a wave, we had a clear view of the grinding rocks on either side. We now found ourselves in smooth water of about PALESTINE. 2.> six fathoms, and passed on to the custom-lioiise on the small (inav. And here we were, witliout a doubt, in the same harbour in which the stores for the build- ing of the Temjde by Kin^:^ Solomon were collected. Here was the cedar wood and fir gathered together which Iliram king of Tyre caused his Sidoniau woodmen, assisted by above thirty thousand Israelites, to cut down in the forests of Lel»anon, and thence float along the sea-coast to Jafta, where he handed it over to a deputy from King Solomon. Then Jaffa be- came the seaport of Jerusalem, though no doubt it previously had existed as a port for small craft. Although there are few remains visible to connect Jaffa with the past, yet unquestionably it is one of the most interesting sites in Palestine : it is one of the few cities which can claim a place both in early biblical and classical history. It is to be regretted that the diflicultios of landing at present are so great that travellers are apt to consider it only a disagree- able point of disembarkation or departure, and are not generally inclined to linger over its reminiscences. All geographers except Strabo are in favour of its being the s}>ot where Andromeda was exposed to the seegun to envelope our proceedings before we were fairly out of these diiliculties, and then others pre- sented themselves. Among our packages was one weighing about half a ton, and it was a question how this could be removed through the narrow streets of JalVa, for it had taken six English railway porters to lift it. As soon as its weight was ascertained there was a shout for Said, who proved to be the Samson of Jaffa; a strong-limbed man, who after lifting one corner declared his willingness to try. With dif^culty the great box was lifted on to his back, and he staggered away up the steep, narrow streets, with a mob after him yelling in triumph. After this feat the carrying of the gates of Gaza was to me quite intelligible. At that time there was no regular hotel at Jaffa ; travellers either rode on to Jerusalem, went into tents, or put up at the convents, Latin, Greek, or Armenian. While the three corporals went to the Greek convent, I was taken to the hosj)itable abode of Mr. Ilabib Kayat, and was glad to see the house of a Syrian gentleman and learn his views regarding the country. He had received his education partially in England, and was most anxious that we, as a nation, should take a little more interest in the prosperity of his country. Ilis house is charmingly situated, commanding a view of the gardens of Jaffa, the ancient cemetery, arid the American colony, of which I propose to give an account hereafter. It is built similar to those at Reyrout, with a spacious 28 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. covered hall, from which the other rooms open, rendering it airy in summer. Mr. Kay at undertook the bargaining for horses to carry our baggage to Jerusalem, and I was glad to receive a lesson in the correct method. It commenced about 7 P.M. that evening, continued at intervals till past 10 P.M., commenced again early in the morning, and was consummated about noon. To those who love a bargain, Palestine appears to be a Paradise,but to those who feel the continued chaffering to be a waste of time, the correct method would not be inviting. As a general result, after fifteen hours' chaffering, the price per horse to Jerusalem was re- duced from ninety to seventy piastres, and with this we were forced to be content, as there was a great demand. My many visits to Jaffa gave me a gradually in- creasing acquaintance with the place ; I must therefore speak of it as I knew it after some months. The town, emphatically a filthy place, is surrounded by a wall, and its one land gate defended by a guard ; the flat- roofed houses are crowded one' upon another, but tlie hill on which it is built is so steep that there is plenty of air in the upper rooms of many of them. The streets, narrow and crooked, are crowded with a more busy throng than is generally met with in towns of Palestine, and the market-place is a scene of activity. The European finds himself dragged off to see coins and other curiosities, and if he is careful may succeed in getting the value for his money ; but he must not expect to buy anything cheaply ; the Arabs are sharp enough to know the market price of most articles, and are apt to keep their wares until they are useless I'aj.lsiim:. liu rather tli:iii j>;iit with tlieiii lielow tlie price tliev fancy. The instructions I had received as to my mission were extremely va^ue on some points, and I did not know how ilir I was to invest in coins and sucli Hkc. Consequently, whenever 1 saw anytliing I thouing myself a portion of my expenditure. The Cufic coins I have given to the Bodleian Library, but I am still the possessor of several hundreds of Jewish, l*t(»lemaic, Greek and Koman coins, which I would be deliglited to dejjosit in the Palestine Department of the Imperial Museum, which prophetic visions declare to be looming on the Thames Embankment, or as a semi-annexe to the Albert Hall Buildings. In addi- tion are several little heathen gods from Ascalon, which, as I will relate, for the sake of their small compass I exchanged for three leather beds, when leaving Jerusalem in the midst of the unusual phenomenon of a snow-storm in Aj>ril, 1S70. The bronze K(mian C(^ins of Cdustantine t<^ be obtained :it .lalV:! nvr cxt ii-mrl v clcMn ;nid in good jU'fservatioii, 30 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. and a few jicnce may well be laid out in tlie purchase of some. There is something extremely delicious about the climate at Jaffa in the early spring, owing no doubt in some measure to the extensive groves of orange, lemon, and citron trees, which scent the air with their balmy fragrance, most perceptible perhaps as dark- ness deepens towards midnight. In the early morning the climate is perhaps equally delightful, and it was with no small disappointment that I learnt that there were Franks, in so delicious a climate ill with fever in the American colony. The fact is, through no fault of the colonists, what should have been a great success became a miserable farce. The Americans, hailing from the tribe of Ephraim (as far as I could learn), were landed on the coast without proper shelter, and were engaged at first in getting the lumber for their houses from the waters; the exposure to which they were subject, together no doubt with the dampness of the material, made their otherwise well-built dwell- ings unhealthy. One by one the colonists succumbed, until in 1868 only one was left. At the time of my first visit there were several still struggling against their destiny ; it was unavail- ing, they were doomed to sow what others were to reap. Their houses have passed into the hands of the prosperous Wiirtemburg colony under Pastor Hoffman (of whom more anon), and these accidental misfortunes, which were really far removed from the climate, have been cited to prove that Jaffa is not a place for colonists. One of the most curious traits in the character of the American colonists appears to me to be their intense IWM'.STINE. -^1 conservative customs ; they would not accept the Arab system of cultivation, hut must needs introduce their New World experience, and thus teach their neigh- bours before they had learnt tliemselves. Thus in pre- paring the land for their grain, it was not sufficient to scratch at the soil as do the Arabs, but they must plough it, in order to obtain a yet greater harvest than even Philistia is accustomed to bestow. They succeeded in producing a wonderful crop of a nature such as had not been seen for many a year; but it consisted of t/tisflfs, wliich quite choked up their corn and left them without any results. The fact was, they had turned up a portion of soil whicli had lain fallow for many years and contained the thistle- seed sown during the years when the land had lain desolate ; these being brought to the surface by the plough, rapidly sprung to life and gave back a sorry return for all the good care bestowed on tlie grt)und. The dilliculties between the colonists and the Turkish Government about the land I will not enter into, for I could not understand it. I>adly as they were treated, they appear to have suffered as mueli from tlie hands of their own agent, as from the Turks; and wliere nearly all were ruined, it is yet probable that one or more of their number may liave retired enriched witli the proceedings. To pass again to the old world. It has been suggested that the tradition of Jonali and the whale gave rise to the account of Andromeda and the sea monster. The whole poetry of one's nature revolts from such a gross theory. Josepluis relates that even in his dav the chains with which Andromeda was 32 UNDEKGROUND JERUSALEM. bound had left their marks upon the rock, attesting the antiquity of the fable. There is little now to lead one to identify any spot as likely, but it is pleasant to wander about to the soutli of Jaffa and dreamily to think over the shadowy nature of the earliest classical myths, and then going into the town to read of the authentic but earlier account of Jonah, written with all the precision and soberness pertaining to facts ; to see Jaffa at that time (b.c. 800) a busy seaport of the Hebrews ; and to know that even to the present day there are on the coast enormous sharks capable of swallowing a man. The interesting question whether Strabo was right in his assertion that Jerusalem could be seen from Jaffa was not settled ; but I have littte doubt that the tower of Psephinos could have been seen, because it is mentioned that from Psephinos thg western sea could be seen : from Nebi Samwil, Jaffa is plainly visible at the present day. There is yet one site of interest in Jaffa which appeals more directly to the inner man, and that is the traditional site of the house of Simon the tanner. To a soldier the account of St. Peter's " vision of tolerance" must be more particularly/ interesting, for we there find that even during the corrupt days of the Roman Empire, a centurion of the Italian band could perform his duties as a soldier and yet remain a devout Grod-fearing man : and further we find that St. Peter, having being taught at Jaffa to look upon all men as made in one image, received this soldier, as the first Gentile convert, into the Church. The house occupying the traditional site of that of PALESTINE. *^3 Simon the tanner is a modern dwelling:, j)r()l»al)ly l>nilt early in the hist century, and contains a Moslem oratory which replaced a church huilt to commemorate the site, existing in the time of" the Crusades. The Moslem tradition, like many other of their accounts, is a distortion from holy writ, and represents the table as coming down at once covered with food wlien the Lord Jesus asked for a meal. The Moslems were in early days very scrupulous as to receiving any site as sacred, and their independent testimony pronounces strongly in its favour. The " house is Ity the seaside," and within the court is a well of \\'att'r, which may have been used fomierly for tanning purposes. As we were anxious to break ground at Jerusalem as soon as practicable, we started in the afternoon of the KJth of February with a string of eight baggage- mules very heavily laden, and arrived at Ramleh at sunset, passing Ludd on our left : the ancient Lydda or Diospolis where St. Peter cured ^T^neas. Although St. George is also claimed by other nations, yet our early English battle cry of " St. George and Merry England " has helped to make us regard him as peculiarly our owji patron saint, and Ludd the site of his birth is as interesting to us as it is to the ^[oslems, who suppose that here will be the final combat between Christ and Antichrist. The church, which was one of the most picturesque ruins of Palestine, is said to liave been built by English Richard Coeur de Lion : and foreign travellers 1 have met apj)eared to regard it as being naturally a site which would idtimately fall into English hands ; the D 34 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Greeks, however, have been before us, and have obtained possession of the old church. There was no hotel at Ramleh, the ancient Arimathaea, so we all put up in the Russian Hospice, a building subsidised for the reception of the swarms of Russian pilgrims who for religious-political purposes each year flock to the Holy Land. On the top of a small roof is built a set of low chambers, each with a door opening to a central court, and in these rooms travellers who could afford it were accommodated. The place was thronged, the fare meagre, dirt and fleas prevailed, so that our night was not agree- able ; and though the next day was Sunday, life for twenty-four hours longer in that hospice appeared unendurable. At 3*30 a.m. I was relieved to hear the Moslem from the minaret announcing that it was better to pray than to sleep, and calling on the faithful to arise ; acting on his advice I turned out our party and endeavoured to get off*, but we were not fully under weigh till 7 a.m. As soon as we emerged from the shelter of the town we found ourselves exposed to one of those searching tempests which blow in the spring and appear to freeze the body through and through, though not excessively cold by the thermometer. They are called the " drying winds," and opportunely arrive after heavy rains ; but though I have frequently encountered them at other times, and found them extremely disagreeable, I never experienced such a piercing wind as on that of the 17th of February. There are authentic accounts of these winds taking the life out of thinlv clad fellahin near the Lake I'ALESTINE. .^5 Huleh ; not by tlie actual cold, but by their excessive dryness searching out and reducing the temperature of tlie body in tlie most surprising manner. The wind on this occasion was from the east, and blew a hurricane ; so much so, that two of our fellow travellers were morb than once blown off their horses and had to walk on until they could get under the shelter of a block-house before it was possible to remount. Our heavily laden boxes were caught up 4 and the mules thrown over every few minutes, and we were continually at work assisting to reload ; fortunate it was for the muleteers that we could lend four pairs of strong hands to assist tliem. To add to our discomfort, the country at this time was one vast quagmire, with the beautiful green corn just peeping through, and the mides appeared to select the deeper quags to fall into. AVe had started at 7 a.m. and expected to arrive at Jerusalem soon after noon, but we did not reach it till 8 P.M. ; we were thus seventeen hours between Jaffa and Jerusalem on the track, a distance of thirty-six miles, which since the coach road has l)een made I have ridden over in less than four hours. While en route a queer-looking person put in an appear- ance moimted on an Arab horse and saddle, and gave herself out to be Mrs. Ducat ; she wore a kind of hat, her eyes were streaming with tears, owing to the violence of the wind, and she rode her horse like a man. A Russian widow of a German savant, she stated she was in possession of the oldest Hebrew copy of the Pentateuch in existence, written by a son of Aaron. 8he asked me to examine it on my i» 2 156 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. arrival, and I did so. Professor Krans, who was lodging in the house, described the merits of the volume. It is not a scroll, but is bound up as a quarto book : it is written on parchment, and is ascribed to a grandson of Aaron the high priest. It is incomplete, wanting a few chapters at the beginning of Genesis and end of Deuteronomy. Professor Kraus had many proofs of the antiquity of the volume, but these will not be understood by the general reader ; and as the book has been exhibited in England I will not further allude to it, except to say that it bears a strong resemblance to the quarto Pentateuchs of the Samaritans. It has a long legend, which can be seen in the photograph of the Palestine Exploration Fund, in which the name of the writer is stated. It is called the " Fire tried," there being a tradition that it had been exposed to the flames and escaped unhurt during the time of the Jewish captivity. Mrs. Ducat's method of riding without side-saddle was novel to me, but when I mentioned it to some American ladies the next day I noticed sufficient embarrassment to cause me to change the subject; and on making inquiry afterwards I found that these ladies also were journeying in the same manner, and that it was not an uncommon sight in the Holy Land to see ladies galloping about Amazon fashion. With the continual interruptions our road appeared to be interminable. "Where wilds immeasiirably spread, Seem lengthening as I go." Goldsmith's lines were intensely applicable on this PALESTINE. ^i occasion. Wlieii at last we arrived uear the city we liad no time to feel disappointed at the intrusive ap- pearance of the Russian huilding-s situated on the site of Titus* camp and overlooking the city ; our thoughts were centred upon the hurrying up our animals to the gates before they were closed for the night ; this we just succeeded in doing. Our approach in some manner became known in the city, and soon several dragomen came out to greet us, bringing bonbons in their pockets to com- fort our weary souls. After arranging for the entry of our baggage we clattered through the streets of the Holy City and put up at an hotel in the Moslem quarter. How much the opinion one forms of a city is obtained from the bodily comforts or discomforts the hotel is re- sponsible for, can only be thoroughly realised by those who visit it under various circumstances. I visited Jerusalem by myself and with my family, putting up at the hotel, in a tent, and in my own house, and am bound to say that on each occasion I gained a fresh idea on the subject. If it were not fur the filtliy ways of the people, I should have wished to have entered with the Russian pilgrims, with the Jews, with the Armenians and Copts — in order to see the city from all sides, for it is not only with our eyes and ears, but also with our inner senses, that we must judge of the city thoroughly. To the Christians who will, as I have seen them in Teneriffe, crawl up the nave of a church on their knees, the iioly sites must present dift'erent attractions to what they do to those who prav with a stilV neck; and 38 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. unless one can see witli the eyes, and hear with the ears, and use the understanding of all parties, it is difficult to make due allowance for their differ- ences. For me the name Jerusalem immediately presents to the inner vision a city under two aspects : Jerusalem at unity with itself, as described by the Psalmist ; this view can be obtained to great ad- vantage from the Wady of Fire, the Kidron Yalley, whence looking north all the valleys rending the Holy City are obliterated and we see rising over us the Temple Mount as joined to the Upper City, deep valleys separating it from Olivet on the east and the hill country on the west. From this point Jerusalem still appears formidable and capable of defence, and we may bridge the lapse of time and in imagination go back to an early period in her history. The other view of Jerusalem is that from the north-west looking towards the Dead Sea ; from here, looking down the great valley running south, we may see the city split up into two parts, east and west, the minarets scattered in graceful confusion, and the purple wall of Gilead and Moab standing out in the distance, as clear as though it were four miles instead of forty away. With this scene I like to speculate on the future of the city when its troubles are over. This view has not yet been depicted, but when the artist has caught up its spirit and put it on canvas, it will no longer be said that the Holy City has no beauty. As to the present aspect of the city, which I am going to describe, but little imagination is wanted ; it is a city of facts. Some stress has been laid upon PALESTINE. 39 the rocky nature of the ground, and perliaps, as com- pared with other cities of the Holy Land, its site may be considered as somewliat peculiar ; Imt putting aside all enthusiastic dreaming, nnist we not consider that the site of Jehus on a rock resulted from the plentiful supply of water at hand, which never failed in early days, even in the longest siege, but which from one cause or another has disappeared in later times — either conveyed into other channels by King Ilezekiah and now lost for a while, or else diminished by the felling of the forests during the siege by Titus? 40 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. CHAPTER III. JERUSALEM. " By cool Siloam's shady rill How sweet tlie lily grows!" Ileher. Before describing the city, let me give a brief de- scription of the land of which it was so long the capital ; and in order to understand the peculiar characteristics of Palestine, we must take a more extended view of the land forming the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. If then we take a model or outline map, it will be observed that the coast from Asia Minor to Egypt, from the Bay of Iskanderun to Port Said, runs nearly north and south, with a slight inclination to west, and that at a few miles (from twenty to thirty) inland there exists a deep crack on the earth's surface running nearly parallel to the shore line, and entirely cutting it off from Arabia. This crack or crevice is most strongly marked, and can be distinctly traced from ancient Antioch up the River Orontes to the head of the valley near Baalbec, thence down the Leontes through Coele-Syria to the foot of Hermon near Dan, and thence down the Jordan through Tiberias to the Dead Sea, and through the Desert of Zin and Gulf of Akaba to the Red Sea. The Peninsula of Sinai, Canaan, and ancient JERUSALEM. 41 Phoenicia arc thus distinctly cut off from Asia, and form a sort of neutral ground between that continent and Africa. Tliis deep and narrow crack is one of the most extraordinary physical features the face of the earth now presents, and must in some measure assist in producing the singular climate of Palestine, and possibly may have influenced the history of the peo}>le. These features can be more readily under- stood by noting the fact that at the present time the whole of the Jordan Valley is below the level of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, as is also the Desert of Zin south of the Red Sea for about half its length, the remainder being only slightly elevated at the highest point to 500 feet above the ocean. Suppose by way of illustration (for no sane person could propose such a work as a commercial speculation) a canal were cut through the Desert of Zin, letting tlie waters of the Red Sea into this deep crack or crevice : we should in a short time have an estuary of the sea stretching up nearly as far as the foot of Hermon, 150 miles in length from north to south, and 20 from east to west ; the rich plains of the Jordan Valley would be covered over in some places to a depth of 1300 feet, Tiberias would disappear, the deep cut wadies, such as Wady Kelt, Zerka Main, &c., would become narrow gulfs stretching far up into the hills and causing many of the mountain cities to become seaports. It is probable that at no very remote geological period this gulf actually existed, but whether at that time the valley of Coele-Syria was sufliciently depressed to allow of the Red Sea having a free access f<> tin' T^mv "f Iskanderun it is not 42 UNDEEGKOUND JEKUSALEM. possible to establish. The subject is merely men- tioned in order to show clearly the peculiar features of that country of which Palestine forms so important a portion, features which are more marked along the borders of the Holy Land itself. Thus at the northern extremity of Dan, at the foot of Hermon, are the copious springs of the Jordan, which pour out their streams from a point only 600 feet above the ocean. The fall is so rapid, that at Huleh the level of the sea is reached, and thence all is under its level, Tiberias about 600 feet, and the Dead Sea nearly 1300 feet. But it is not only as a river below the ocean that the Jordan is singular ; as its name " the Descender" implies, it has a remarkably rapid fall, so that even as a large river, between Tiberias and the Salt Lake, it falls 600 feet in 60 miles, or 10 feet per mile. Thus from Dan even to Beersheba, the Descender and the Salt Lake form a boundary to Western Palestine, and it is physically as well as historically a peculiar country. Leaving the Jordan, which I shall describe more minutely when I detail my visits to its banks, let me draw attention to the country to its west, generally called Western Palestine. Its mountain range has been described as a back- bone reaching north and south ; this bone puts out ribs on either side forming spurs, divided by narrow ravines often exceeding 1000 feet in dejjth. The crest line or watershed is about twice as far from the Mediterranean Sea as it is from the Jordan, is elevated about 3000 feet above the ocean, and consequently 4300 feet above the Dead Sea ; to the east of it the hills fall abruptly in steep precipices JEKUSALEM. -^ down to the Jordan Valley, forming a wild and beautiful country, wliicli if carefully cultivated would be very productive ; to the west tliey fall more gently, and are terminated by a broad level plateau called the Plains of Philistia, Sharon, &c., which once exported corn to support the great cities of Phoenicia, but now barely grow more than sufficient to sup- ply the wants of the people, owing to the system adopted by the Turkish Government. It has been stated that the watershed is about 3000 feet above the ocean, and it is to be noted that though somewhat undulating, there is along it a moderately good track from north to south ; but attempt to pass only a few hundred yards on either side of this crest, and the traveller finds himself quickly inextricably involved in the tortuous ravines which are comparatively easy to descend, but which cannot be crossed on horseback. Thus in ancient times, as now, there was not only a road running north and south along the coast, but also one on the crest of the hills, along which all the larger towns will be found situated. Abraham and Jacob in their journeys appear to have always taken the route along the watershed, and it was much used by the Hebrew nation ; whether the Romans employed it to any extent is a matter of doubt, for in their days navigation had come to such a state of j)erfection that roads to the ports on the coast would be of first importance. I cannot myself feel the wonder so often expressed as to the cities of the hill country of Palestine having been in early days equal in importance with those along the coast ; at a time when water-carriage was in tlio hands of 44 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. one gifted nation, when the unknown horrors of the dee23 were so highly magnified, and rumours were in existence of the sea swelHng up and devouring the dwellers of the plains, it is natural that the secure rocky fastnesses should he of more consequence than the open country, and that great cities should arise among the hills. What does appear to me surprising is that the Hebrews, who had through their wandering in the desert become a hardy warlike nation, should have subdued and taken the mountain cities and yet have been unable permanently to subdue those of the plain ; it is possible this may have been owing to the greater advance of the Philistines in the making of swords and spears, for we find in later days, when the Hebrews were in low circumstances, that the Philistines would allow no smiths in Israel, and that the ploughshares, mattocks, &c., were sent down into the plains to be sharpened. Briefly let me refer to the climate, which, following the peculiarities of the country, may be said to be unique, and differs in a great degree from that of other lands lying in the same latitude ; for being a fringe to the extensive Arabian desert, it is influenced to a great extent by the winds from that quarter, which, carrying fine sand, and destitute of ozone, irri- tate the nerves of the inhabitants, and even colour the city walls yellow on the side exposed to them. From the varied nature of the country, the moun- tainous tracks and depressed plains, the scorching winds of Arabia, the snows of Libanus, and tropical climate about the Dead Sea, it has been observed that JERUSALEM. -i«> there is no oUkt district on tlie face of tlie earth possessing so many climates, and it may be added, no other wlierc the aUornations are so rapid or so trying-. In tlie early spring months it is often Iiot and stifling in a valley, while on the top of the hill the wind is blowing with freezing intensity ; and in the Jordan Valley in February, a traveller may encounter the strange sensation of being frozen on one side of his body and scorched on the other, with a hot sun behind him, and winds from icy Ilermon in his teeth. The malignant and fatal fevers so common in Palestine are no doubt due in a great measure to these rapid changes in temperature. No care will guard against them, for it too frequently hap})ens that chills are taken during sleep ; a hot damp wind is blowing, the sensation insufferable, the bed clothes are thrown off; when suddenly, during the restless sleep, the wind changes dry and cold, the perspiration is checked, and the sleeper awakens with a fever of three to twenty-one days, according to circumstances. Europeans can endure the climate, and enjoy it so long as they live in tents or lightly- built houses. It is in the houses where there are thick walls and domed roofs, as at Jerusalem, that so much sickness exists. In early days they built more suitably to the climate, but now that all the wood in the hill country is cut down, stone only is available ; and to supi)ort a stone roof a wall is required thick enough for a dungeon. Palestine has been likened to Wales as to position, shape, and size, and some have expressed a doubt how so small a country could ever have taken up such 46 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. a position in the world as it did in the reign of King Solomon. But when we look at the leading countries of the Mediterranean, they were none of them large ; the whole Peloponnesus with its several states is smaller than Palestine, the province of Rome was considerably smaller, so was Carthage. The states of Phoenicia were smaller than Palestine. Even at the present day, England — which is colonising the world and sends emigrants and missionaries everywhere except to Palestine — is not of huge proportion in comparison. The population of Palestine would probably have been most dense, and the number of the people must, in a great measure, have given importance to the state. A people who on their entry to Palestine could send 40,000 fighting men across the Jordan, from two and a half tribes, was in those days a mighty nation, quite capable of taking a place and asserting a posi- tion even between Egypt and Assyria. On our arrival at Jerusalem we found the weather most disagreeable, for February was at that time the wet month in Palestine, when it sometimes poui's down each day. As my firman had not yet arrived, I was in some doubt as to what I should do, and called upon the Consul to ask his advice. On telling him that my special mission at Jerusalem was to work in and around the Noble Sanctuary (Haram Area), he frankly assured me that it would be out of the question, that the Moslems would not allow of it, and that I must not expect the firman to give me much power, so that I was at once placed in difficulties. With him I called upon the Pacha, JERUSALEM. 47 Izzet, wlio in tlie absence of my firman gave me l^ermission to work about Jerusalem for a few days ; and havinn^ so far succeeded I was enabled to commence operations and examine tlie city. Jeru- salem has been described as emphatically a mountiiin city, and this is most true, not only of it but of scores of other inland towns mentioned in the Book of Joshua. On the spurs of the hill country of Judea, in the most conspicuous positions, stand out the remains of the ancient cities ; wherever there is a hill-top with sufficient space and a prospect of water l>eing broup^ht in, there most certainly would a city have been placed, and there ruins now are found. This rather points to the efforts of the early inhabitants to render their habitations impregnable to the attacks of their neiglilx)ur8 of the plain, who made war in chariots and on horseback. Thus the Prophet Isaiah, in following the course of the Assyrian host to Jerusalem, exclaims, "at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages," for the mountain passes would no further allow of their transit. Even in the plain we find the same disposition to take advantage of any eminence; in some cases arti- ficial plateaux were raised, and in others the sloping hills were scarped down. There are many sites of ancient cities far more conspicuous than that of Jerusalem, as for example, Kurn Surtabeh, Marsada, Betir, Hasor ; and although it was a good type of a mountain city, it would not as it at present exists have offered peculiar advantages as the capital of the kingdom, so that we must look for other qualifications it may have possessed. One no doubt was the abundant 48 UNDEBGKOUND JEKUSALEM. supply of water which then existed ; plenty within to refresh the garrison, and drought without to destroy the besiegers. As Strabo informs us, " It was a stronghold situated on a rock, well fortified and well supplied with water within, but externally, entirely parched with drought ;" to this there may be added the proximity to the north road. But it appears to me that Jerusalem with all this is not so pre-eminent a stronghold as we should expect. The fact is, the old fortress has disappeared ; that strong- hold Zion, which defied the Hebrews until the time of David, was cut down with great care in the time of the Maccabees, and thus the characteristic feature, that which gained it its renown, is now lost to view. That little hill of Zion, of which the Psalmist exclaimed, " Mark well her bulwarks," was found to dominate the Temple when occu^d by the Mace- donian garrison, and the Maccabees when in posses- sion spared no labour night and day until they had obliterated it, and thus caused the Upper City to be the highest. All the misunderstanding about the topo- graphy of Jerusalem has resulted from the removal of little Zion ; but when its position is found and the hill replaced, all difficulties vanish. This I hope to show clearly during the course of my explorations. Jerusalem does not rest upon the watershed itself, but a few hundred yards off that line to the east, at the head of the steep ravines which, growing more and more precipitous as they descend, tumble their waters during heavy rains in cascades into the Dead Sea. Every drop of rain-water which falls on Jerusalem and runs along the surface of the ground ji:i:l'.sai.i:m. vj is carried oflf eastward, down tlie wadies into tlie Kidron Ivaviiie, or ^'alley of Fire, j-a.^t Maisaba and so to tlie Dead t^ea soutli of Jias al Feslikliali. •hi the vision of Ezekiel and Zecliariali \ve read of the Mount of Olives being cleft in twain and the waters of Jerusalem carried through it : " Then said he unto nie, these waters issue out towards the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea : which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed." In this case the waters would be
  • out. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so is tlie Lord round about His city." Tbis passajL:;e is most apposite, for tlie mountain spurs compass and out-top her on every side ; and yet tliis only enhanced the marvels of the Temple and towers, which con Id be seen for miles on either side. Jerusalem stjinds upon four hills, surrounded east, west and soutli by deep ravines; thnt to the west and south running' into that to the cast, called tbe Kidron Valley or Wady en Nar (of Fire). Tliese four hills lie two to the east and two to the west, and are divided by a shallower valley running south from the Damascus Gate ; thus looking south, Jerusalem may be seen divided into two ])ortions, Zion and the Upper City to the west, and Moriah and Bezetha to the east. The former are rather more southerly than the two latter, and the Tyropceon Valley, which divides Zion on tbe north from the Upper City on the south, runs due east until it meets the centre of Moriah and tlien turns south into the central valley. Bezetha is cut oft* from Moriah |)artly by an artificial ditch or valley and partly by a natural depression. Jerusalem of the present day difl'ers from the past in a great measure in the configuration of the ground ; valleys have been filled up, hills levelled, the city itself has been abandoned in its southern portions, and the portions within the tbird or iiortbern wall are more built over than formerly. Josephus' account can still be fully applied to tbe eity, and I will tiiicc out ibc wall, following bis E 2 52 IJNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. description and adapting it to present circum- stances. Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with impassable valleys, namely, on the east, west, and south, for in such places it had only one wall. The city proper was built on the two western hills, opposite one to another, lying north and south, and having a valley (the Tyropoeon) to divide them asunder, falling from west (at the Pool of Hezekiah) to east, at which valley, on account of its depth, the rows of houses on either side were cut off one from the other ; the first wall also separated them on the northern brow of the southern hill. Of these hills, that which was to the south sus- tained the " Upper City," and was much higher and more compact ; it was by King David (who gave it its walls) called the " fortress," but the Jews in after ages called it the Upper Market Place. The other hill, to the north, was called Akra, formerly Ziou, and sustained the Lower City ; it was very steep on two sides, to the east and to the south. Over against this to the east was a third hill, Moriah, naturally lower than Akra, and parted from it by a broad valley, running north and south, now called " El "Wad " (the Valley), and extending from the Damascus Grate to the Pool of Siloam, thus divid- ing the whole portion within the walls into two parts, east and west. However, in those days when the Asamoneans (Maccabees) reigned, they filled up that valley with earth to a depth of sixty to eighty feet, and had a mind to join the Lower City to the JEKUSALEM. o3 Temple. They then took off part of Akra, formerly Zion, thus destroying that ancient stronghold, and reduced it to a less elevation, that the Temple might be superior to it, because in the time of the Greek occupation, the Macedonian garrison who occupied Zion donn'neered over the Temple, and disturbed the worshippers who went there from tlie Upper City. Thus was Zion removed, and the principal feature of Jerusalem ol)literated. Now the Tyropceon Valley was that which separated the Lower City from the Upjicr City, and commencing at the Pool of Hezekiah falls east into the T5road Valley, Kl Wad, which found its way down to Siloam, the name of a fountain where there was plenty of sweet water available for the garrison of the city during a siege. On the outside, except to the north, the hill was surrounded by precipitous valleys, one 200 feet deep, whieh by reason of their steepness were everywhere impassable. Now of the walls, the old one or first wall was hard to be taken, both on account of the valleys and the high ground above them. Besides this advantage, it was built very strong, David, Solomon, and the following kings being very zealous in the work. The first wall began on the north, at the tower of llil»picus, and passing the towers of Pharsaelus and Marianme, was carried along the northern brow of the Upper City as far as the Xystus, or gymnasium, in the 15road Valley ; there crossing that valley in the form of a causeway, as at present, it joined the western cloisters of the Temple at the Council House, the modern Mahkemeh, or Judgment Hall, where 54 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. the Cadi sits. If we take it the other way from Hippicus, it was carried south, forming the west wall, as far as a place called Bethso to the Gate of the Essenes (near the site of the present British ''''W%||^i\v Scale \ -t Bir EyuA Sketch of Jerusalem in the Time of Vespasian. 1. Site of Solomon'3 Palace. 2. Piece added on by Herod. 3. Antonia (the Castle). 4. The Sheep I'ool. 5. Well discovered. 6. Robinson's Arch. 7. Xystus and Stadium. 8. Af^rippa's Palace. 9. Golden Gate and Bridge. 10. Gates. 11. Herod's Palace. 12. Bethesda or Struthion. 13. Psephinos. 14. The Altar. 15. Tower and Gate. 16. Royal Quarries. 17. North Gate. Cemetery), and then east, facing to the south, until it bent over the Pool of Siloam, going romid that pool so as to protect it on three sides, and have it as a JEUU8ALEM. 5u protection or wot ditcli at :m (»tlier\vise vuliierjilde jioiiit; thence to the Tool of Solomon, or Kn Ilogcl, the niodern " Viri!:in'.s Fonntain," and thence to north, passin*^ Oplilas, until it joiniMl the cloisfrrs (»r the Temple at south-east angle. The cloisters oftlie Temj)le, built on a ma^i^niticent wall of icus, running along the head of tlu' Tyropoeon Valley by tlie west side of Gihon in the valley (the modern Pool of Ilezekiah) ; turning to the east at the northern edge of the pool, it ran for about iU)0 yanls, and then tinning again to the north, ran towards the Damascus Gate, again turning to the east opposite the tower of Antonia, crossing the Brt>ad Valley. The reason of these bends will be explained hereafter. The thiid wall commenced at tlie tower of Ilippicus, anetore. Tin's In- mranged by takinp^ in tlio palace of Soloinoii and a small unoccupied piece of j^round overhanf^inc^ the valley to tin? south-west (where Kohinson's Arch now is). Hy this means he increased the length from north to south, making the outer wall four square nearly, with an average outer side of (lOO cuhits. A })art of this wall he built from the foundations, and we have at the present time a convincing proof of the lateness of the building : for, while with other portions of the grand old wall the stones are carefully cut even from the foundation upwards, as though to be exposed to view, that jtortion built by King Herod at the south-west angle is constructed of stone with rough faces until a certain lieight is reached ; because during the lapse of ages the valley had begun to fill up, and the stone need only have been cut fair to see above the pavement of Herod's time. But though the faces were thus rough, the joints were well made and fitting lor the heavy weight the stones were to bear. Although Herod thus left the stones rough below the pavement of his time, he did not allow the portion exposed to view to be much inferior to the portion built by King Solomon. A proof of this may be seen in one of the stones of King Herod's time still remaining i?i ffitu at the south-west angle, in length 38 feet 9 inches, and w^eighing about ninety tons. The largest stone in the wall of Solo- mon is a rival to this ; it stands at the same height in the wall at the south-east angle, weighs rather over ninetytons, andissix feet in htiL:"ht. fniininir a portion 64 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. of the large course which I first brought to notice. These stones now mentioned are in some degree heavier than any others to be met with ; yet stones forty or fifty tons in weight are probably to be found in great numbers in that old wall. The portion of the wall thus added by King Herod extends over the bottom of the Broad Yalley and diverted several of the old water-courses, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land. From the lowest point in the valley to the artificial level in the Temple area there is here a height of 130 feet, while at the south-eastern angle there is a height of 140 feet from the floor of the cloisters to the foundation of the wall ; giving the cloisters a height of sixty feet, we have the wall towering up at these two angles to a height of 200 feet — truly a majestic wall. In the middle of this south front, however, our excavations have proved that the wall was m modo arcis constructum, as Tacitus has it : in the form of a bow, not on plan, but in elevation, the hill rising in the centre of the wall to the sill of the Triple Gate. Tacitus, however, probably was not referring to this peculiarity, but rather to the strength of the position. On the east and west this wall was not less noble in its proportions, overlooking the great and deep valleys ; and on the north, at the edge of the present Dome of the Eock Platform, it stood over a dip in the rock which cuts it off from the Antonia, situated on the southern part of Bezetha. There was also an artificial rock-cut ditch here, to further protect this northern wall. Let us not mistake these rock-cut THE TEMPLE. 65 ditches ; between tlic Temple and Antonia was a cut ditcli, between Antonia and Bezetha was a cut ditch, and between Bezetha and tlie outer country was again a cut ditcli, wliere the third wall crossed, and the Royal Quarries were exposed : thus three rock-cut ditclies across the line of eastern liill reaching from north to south. The walls of this great enclosure are of such gigantic proportions even now, that few can realise their actual dimensions, except by comparison. Let me give a few data for this purpose. The southern face of the wall is at present nearly the length of the Crystal Palace, and the height of the tr.ansept. The area within these walls was more extensive than Lincoln's Inn Fields, or Grosvenor Square, and the south wall offered a larger frontage and far greater height than the Chelsea HospitJil. The earth which brings up the surface to a level, within the walls, if deposited in St. Paul's Church- yard, would reach far above the surrounding houses, and cover over the whole cathedral except the dome. The cisterns if filled with water would hold enoujjh to give to each person within five miles of London a gallon of water for two days. Such was the magnificence of tliese piles of buildings tliat the fame of the Temple spread abroad, and in spite of the jealousy which the Jews excited against themselves, the historians concur in allowing the wonder of the place. Strabo says Jerusalem was a stronghold situated on a rock, well fortified and well supplied with water within, but externally entirely parched with drought. A ditch was cut in the rock, GO feet in depth, and in widtii 250 feet. On 60 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. the wall of the Temple were built towers, constructed of the materials procured when the ditch was exca- vated. The city was taken, it is said, by waiting for the day of fast, on which the Jews were in the habit of abstaining from all work. Pompey filled up the ditch and threw bridges over it. Strabo was not then aware that Jerusalem had been rebuilt by Herod the Great, since the time of Pompey ; and his account shows that even in the earlier days Jerusalem could not have been taken easily except by attacking the Jews on the Sabbath, when according to their recent pharisaical custom they even neglected to defend themselves from their enemies. Tacitus, who lived some years later, gives a very full account of the strength of these walls when recording the siege by Titus. "■ Jerusalem, standing on at eminence naturally difficult of approach, was rendered still more impregnable by the forts and bulwarks by which even places on a level plain would have been completely fortified. The extremities of the works were abrupt and craggy ; and the towers were built upon the mountain, 60 feet high, and in the low ground to a height of 120 feet. The work presented a spectacle altogether astonishing ; to the distant eye they seemed to be of equal elevation. The Temple itself was in the nature of a citadel, enclosed in walls of its own, and more adorned and massive than the rest. The very cloisters which surrounded it were a strong defence. A perennial spring supplied the place with water. Subterranean caverns were scooped out in the mountain, and there were basins and tanks as reservoirs of rain-water." THE TEMPLE. ^>< Thus when Roman historians relate the grandeur of Jerusalem and its Temple, let us not be tempted to turn a deaf ear to tlie Jewish historian Josephus, because lie was describing the magnificence of his own ca})ital city ; he was writing it at Home, where all his errors would be pointed out, where his enemies did attempt to assail his historical accuracy, so far as the Jews are concerned. He must then for liis own sake have kept within the bounds of truth in his descrip- tions ; but he had no means that we are aware of for quoting correct dimensions. Let us follow up his account then, giving him every credit for desiring to tell tlie whole truth, but remembering that while his descrijitions may be fully relied on, his dimensions are inaccurate, for the mind can for years remember events, scenery, costumes, with great correctness, but cannot quote dry figures. We must not therefore put liis figures too much to the test, or we shall find they do not agree ; he gave them as best he recollected them, but generally some- what indifferently. As an instance of the dift'erence Ik.'! ween his descriptions and his dimensions, I mention one case. In the midst of many dimensions of courts, pillars, &c., given in figures, he mentions one in another way. He says that three persons joining hand and hand could just compass the great pillars of the royal cloisters; now this is a dimension we may be sure of. If he had said the pilljirs were 6 feet in diameter, we may have well supposed he could not have carried the l>are dimensions so many years in his head ; but with regard tn tin re persons encompassing the pillar, he V 2 68 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. probably recollected having done so with two friends in his youth and thus have fixed it on his mind. Now leaving the interior of the Temple area for a while, let us loqk at the outside, its approaches, its subways, its annexes. The western wall still exposes to view much of the surface which was seen in the time of Solomon, but there is a much greater amount now covered up by rubbish. The courses in the wall are about 4 feet in height. In the western wall were four gates, the first and most northern led down to the Akra or lower city by a subterranean tminel ; the road descended down into the valley from the Temple by a great number of steps and thence up again. This was the old passage leading from Zion to the Temple, and may once have been spanned by a bridge; but in the Roman period it was as described, and I have identified it in the souterrain which I found piercing the west wall a few feet south of the Gate of the Bath. Next to this gate, about the middle of the west wall, was a gate leading over the great causeway which toined the first wall of the city to the Temple ; this led over the valley to King Herod's P^tlace in the Upper City, and also to the Palace of Herod Agrippa above the Xystus, at the north-east angle of the Upper City. This was the bridge which divided Titus from the insurgent Jews in the Upper City, when the last attempt was made to bring them to terms. This causeway still exists, but it has been doubled in width, possibly since the time of Titus, and the great arch of fifty-two feet which now spans the lower part of the valley is evidently of a late Roman period. TUE TEMPLE. ^i'J probably of the time of JuNtiniaii ; remains of an older arch were found embedded in the rubbish below. The other two gates led to the suburbs ; the one, by means of a souterrain within the Temple area, allowinj^ of a sloping;' passage, bringing the roadway out about 30 feet below the present level of ground outside, and 4G feet above the bottom of the valley. This gate is still to be seen in the great wall, it is about 27t) feet from the south-east angle ; it has a height of 30 feet antl a width of 19 feet, and is covered by an enormous lintel, over 24 feet in length and 6 ft. 10 in. in height ; the sill of the gate on the roadway is 46 feet above the rocky valley below. Whether there was a causeway, or whether the earth at this time had accumulated to this height, we do not yet know. The top of this great lintel is at the present time just visible below the Moors' Grate. The fourtli or remaining gate also led to the suburbs and Xystus, and was situated at the south- west angle, being a handsome termination to the Royal Cloisters ; it allowed of an exit from the level of the cloisters to the suburbs below by lueans of a flight of steps on piers and arches. There were probably only two arches. The pier and one arch has been found; the width is 51 ft. 6 in., the span 41 ft. 6 in., and the height from the crown to the rock below, 80 feet. The abutment of the arch was first noticed by Dr. Robinson, and it has since gone by the name of Kubinson's Arch. The fellow arch stones themselves and the remains of the pier were found durijig the excavations at a depth of 14 feet below the present surface. 70 UNDERGKOUND JERUSALEM. This portion of the Temple wall, together with the hridge, was the work of King Herod the Great, and does not form part of the old Temple ; below were found the old aqueduct (cut through by the extension of the wall), and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land. The Xystus or GJ-ymnasium was instituted and built at the time of Antiochus Epi- phanes, with a desire that the Jews should be assimi- lated to the Pagans ; it extended from the south-east angle to the causeway for 600 feet, but was on the other side of the Broad Yalley, under the cliff of the Upper City : a portion of it was uncovered during the recent excavations. Oh the south front were two gates dividing the wall nearly into three equal portions ; these gates were each double, and led up with a gentle slope to the level of the Temple area. They are still in existence, one called the Double or Huldah Grate, the other the Triple Gate ; the latter has been added to in late Roman times, but the remains of the old gate are still in situ. The enormous pillars still existing in the Huldah gateway and the beautiful tracery of the vaulted roof are fine specimens of ancient work, said to be Judeo-Roman. Above were the Royal Cloisters, with three pa- rallel walks, which reached in length from the east valley to that on the west. And this cloister deserves to be mentioned better than any other under the sun — so says Josephus ; for, owing to the depth of the valley, its bottom was scarcely visible, and if one looked down into the depth from the vast elevation of the cloister, the head swam and the eyes refused to THE TEMPLE. 71 Beiiich into tlio abyss below. In tiiitb, Josepbu.s ha.s not much exaggerated in this account, for the deptli he looked into was nearly 300 feet, a siglit which will turn many heads giddy. Tliis cloister had pillars in four rows, the fourth row being engaged in the outer wall ; and the diameter of each pillar was such that three men joining hands might encircle it ; this gives a diameter of 5 ft. 9 in. for each pillar. The middle walk was 45 feet wide, and the side walks 30 feet each. They extended to the west in the great passage already alluded to as leading to the suburbs, the remains of which are now called Robinson's Arch. In this south wall far down was also found the opening by which the ducts made their exit from the Temple, carrying the refuse from the altar to the valley below ; the description of which is given by Josephus. And at the south-cast angle was found the pottery remains, with the sign El Melek (the King) thereon, in the Phuenician or Hebrew character. In this wall is also to be seen a great course of stone six feet in height running about 600 feet to the west from the south-east angle. On the east side ran a double cloister, called the Porch of Solomon, for it was originally built and ornamented by that king ; the wall still exists, but all trace of the Porch lias disappeared. At the northern end was the Gate Shushan, by which the high priest made his exit to Mount Olivet on the great day of atonement ; it is now represented by the Golden Gate, and though much of that gate is of the late Roman period, there yet remain portions of the old pillars in situ, and also some old columns with Ionic capitals of a curious typo. 72 UNDEKGEOUND JERUSALEM. Tlie east wall was probably the first portion of the outer wall of the Temple area, built by King Solomon. On tbe northern side the wall possessed but one gate, which did not lead out of the Temple area, but was a secret passage by which the priests and Levites could go out from the inner court to the Castle of Antonia, where their vestments were kept. The tunnels leading to this gate have now been identified and will be described. The gate opened on to the excavated ditch, and thence northerly between double cloisters or walls to the Antonia. There was a sacred oracle which prophesied " that then should their city be taken as w^ell as their holy house, when once their Temple should become four square." And it was the demolition of the Antonia and the cloisters leading to the Temple by Titus, wliich left the Temple four square, and thus carried out the terms of the oracle. Now as to this Antonia : it w^as a citadel standing to the north of the Temple, of extraordinary strength ; it had been built by the Maccabees to protect the Temple, and in it they deposited their sacred vest- ments. King Herod also used it for a like purpose among others. This Antonia was built upon a rock 50 cubits in height, at the end of the cloisters leading from the north-west angle of the Temple. The rock is still to be seen at the north-west angle of the present Noble Sanctuary, with the ditch to the north to divide it from Bezetha, and a ditch to the south to divide it from the Temple ; this latter ditch was that which Pompey had filled up when attacking the city. TUE TEMPLE. "^ The liuck ut' Antoniji orig-inally formed a knoll ot" BczctliJi before the nortliern ditch was cut. It was square on plan, and had a castle in the centre and towers at each corner 50 cubits in height, but that which lay on the south-east corner was 70 cubits in height, and from these the whole Temple might be viewed. Its interior had the form and size of a palace, and was divided into all kinds of rooms, for receptions, bathing, &c.,and open spaces for soldiers to be quartered. On the corner where it joined the cloister of the Temple, it had passages down to them both, through which the guard (always on the alert) went their several ways through the cloisters, arms in hand, on the Jewish festivals, to watch the people lest they miglit initiate any innovation. For the Temple was a fortress which guarded the Low^er City, just as the Antonia did the Temple. The Antonia thus guarded the three. The Upper City was guarded by the troops encamped in the King's Palace, south of Hippie us. And now we may return to the Temple itself. As before mentioned, it was built by the priests, and not by Herod, in a year and six months ; for Herod himself, not being a Jew, could not enter the Temple or any of the court.>^, but he had a secret passage from the Antonia to the east gate of the Court of the Women, that he might have access for his soldiers should thi'v be required to keep the people in order in case of sedition. The Temple itself is not well described by Jose- phus; the account in the Mislina is far more explicit and apj^ears to be very correct. The Talmudic account 74 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. can be taken in preference, for, whenever there is a disagreement with Josephus, the internal evidence shows the latter to be in error ; the Mishna measure- ments appear to have been taken on the spot. To state it briefly, the Temple and Altar, as erected in the time of Herod, were exactly in the same position as those of the time of King Solomon, the Holy of Holies and Altar being on identically the same spot. The extensive walls of the Temple were altered and made larger, and wings were made to the porch, so that it measured 100 cubits from north to south, and 100 cubits from east to west. Josephus has obviously exaggerated in his descrip- tion of the Holy House, for he mentions stones com- posing it, white and strong, the length of each 25 cubits, height 8 cubits, and a breadth about 12 cubits. This carries with it its own refutation, for the thick- ness of the walls of the Temple was only 6 cubits, and stones 12 cubits thick could not have been there placed. As a maximum size for the stone, we may take 10 cubits length, 4 cubits in height, and G cubits in thickness ; even this is more than probable, and would represent stones weighing 100 tons each. The stones Josephus mentions would have weighed over 2000 tons each, and are quite out of the question ; they would have been greater than the three large stones of Baalbec, the wonder of Asia and Europe. The floor around the Temple was 24 feet above the general level of the outer court, and measured 185 cubits by 135. Around were the courts where the services of the Temple were carried on, where the tiil: temple. 75 sacrifices were slain, cut up, and cleaned, where their skins were washed, where the priests and Levites slept and ate, and where the Sanhedrin sat ; half of the rooms were holy, on the inner side ; those on the outer side were kept for more secular purposes. At the east end was the court of the Israelites, and through the gate, and descending steps was what is called the Court of the Women, a court measuring 135 cubits square, used as the place where the offerings were bought and sold, and tables of the money changers. It was here that our Lord over- turned the tables, and turned out those who sold doves. In each corner was a large court, used for various purposes connected with the Temple service. This Court of the Women was the first above the ground level of the outer Court of the Gentiles. It can thus be seen that the inner courts or platforms of the Temple were considerably raised above the Court of the Gentiles which surrounded it outside. This dift'erence of level was effected by means of rows of fourteen steps running up to a berrae around the outside of the Inner Temple called the chel. At the bottom of these steps in the outer court and at some distance around was a stone partition 3 cubits in height, with pillars at equal distances one from another, declaring the law of purity, and ordering, some in Latin, some in Greek, that " No foreigner should go within the sanctuary." One of these stones has been discovered through the instru- mentality of M. Ganneau, embedded in an old wall ; the stone itself has been placed in a Turkish museum, but the cast is now in England. 76 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. There were no gates on the western side of the inner court, but three to north and three to south. Of those to the south, one was close to the draw well, and in connection with the water service of the Temple : which entering by the causeway from Solomon's Pool, would have filled the tanks which then existed there, and still remain. Of the three northern gates, that to the west was called Mokad, and that to the east Nitsots ; both these have been recovered, Nitsots is immediately above the Sakhrah Cave, through which those who wished to leave the Temple went down steps into the long tunnel which is now to be found extending north under the chel, and thence through the Gate Tadi to the exterior of the Temple enclosure. Mokad is in production of a passage now in existence leading to Tadi. The Mishna says that Tadi means " obscurity," and that it was used by the priests to return by, should they have become un- clean during their service in the Temple, It states further that all the gates of the Temple had lintels except Tadi ; there two stones inclined one upon another. Again it says that Nitsots had a door into the chel, and that to the house Mokad were two doors open to the chel, and in the north-east chamber of Mokad they descended to the "House of Baptism;" and again it is related that the priest, when he wished to wash, rose and went out into the gallery that ran under the arch, and candles flared on either side until he came to the House of Baptism. Rabbi Eleazer, the son of Jacob, said that in the gallery that went under the chel he passed out through Tadi. THE TEMPLE. 77 It is clear that tlie passa^re to tlio House of Baptism was down in some underground vault, and further accounts describe a winding staircase from the north- west room of Mokae •lepended upon : the German flowers are generally honestly put on, according to the places where they are picked, but the French flowers have names affixed tt) them indiscriminately. I have seen on some the words, '* Via Dolorosa " and on others, "Golgotha." 88 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. It is many hundred years since flowers can have grown on the " green hill far away, hard by a city wall," and it is extremely disenchanting to find such names written on the papers, leading to the conclu- sion that none are genuine. The hotel was kept by a proselyte from Germany, a right good fellow so long as he made small gains, but apt to lose his head and become captious should a sudden influx of travellers cause him to imagine he should suddenly make his fortune. Wanting in the most common sense, and yet shrewd to an extreme, he presented a mass of contradictions, most entertaining to those who Hke to study human nature. Whether a man was honest or a rogue he had no instinctive knowledge, and would sometimes lose as much money by one of the latter as he would make by a half-a-dozen of the former. In my eyes his most unredeemable fault was that he could not look with the eyes of his guests, but gauged their wants by his own aspirations — a fatal bar to the success of a hotel-keeper, who, whether he supply the wants of his guests or no, should always study and understand them. I could not persuade him that English people liked potatoes twice a day at dinner and luncheon, and that Americans often eat them at breakfast as well ; he did not love them himself, and gave them us but twice a week, saying we must get tired of them if oftener served up. Even though the whole -party of forty at table would ask for potatoes he would give in at the time, but would deny them to the next batch of travellers. This was not because potatoes were expensive, they were very cheap, but because VISITS IN JERUSALEM. H9 he could not realise that we could like what he did not love himself. It was the same with the ciiuli- flowers, which grow to an enormous size and in great profusion on the sloj)es of Ophel, the finest I have ever seen. He would give us these when small and out of season, but when good and plentiful they were not to be seen at the hotel, because they were so cheap, he was ashamed to buy them : when we did get them he fried them or burnt them in oil, but entirely refused to believe they would be good if simply l)oiled in water. By threatening to leave the hotel, if not served to my liking, I would get well served for a day or two, but he quickly relapsed into his former habits ; it was all his goodness, thinking he knew better what we liked than we did ourselves. Married to a hard-working German Christian, she kept the cook- ing establishment in order while he superintended generally, and a hard, venturesome life they had. The trade fluctuated so considerably from day to day that they scarcely knew from one hour to another whether the house would be full or empty. A telegmm would order thirty or forty places, and when all was ready another would arrive to say that the steamer could not land at Jaffa, and all on board liad gone on to Beyrout. Then there was a rival liotel whose manager went out on the Jaffa road, and there hooked many a passenger bound for our hotel : this our landlord would descril)e as most dishonest conduct, yet if he had a little spare time himself he would go and do likewise. The time to see him in his gl(»rv was just after 90 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. thirty guests had departed ; jingling the gold in his pockety and hearing that thirty more visitors were clattering down the street to his hotel, his spirits would soar aloft, and then was the time to hear his opinions as to the Gentile nations : for, though a Christian, he did not cease to be a Jew of Jews. He could not at that time allow a prospect of an equal future life to all Christians, but the Gentile Christians must come in on the coat-tails of the Jews ; the arrogance of his sentiment was most repulsive and yet interesting : after all, it was only a momentary enthu- siasm, an exhilaration caused by the touch of gold and the prospect of more, for in his sober senses I had no doubt he was ashamed of his former opinions. I can now see my little friend, with his tarbush fixed fiercely on his head, bowing profoundly to an English " Milord," giving a cold shoulder to an English missionary from India : treating each as he thought he was worth in cash, without any other gauge of human value : and I must thank him for many an hour's amusement at his expense, which I felt I had a right to avail myself of as he was so unequal in his hotel charges. I took up my lodgings in the hotel and stayed their nearly fifteen months, during which time I paid a fixed daily rate, and actually supposed that it should be lower than any casual traveller, but such was not the view of the keeper. He had a sliding scale by which, with the same rooms, food and attendance, some paid thirteen shillings a day and some only five francs a day. My charge was between the two ; and, as I paid the VISITS IN JERUSALEM. !'l same during the hslack summer as during tlie busy winter season, I considered myself being over-charged. If my friend could afford to take in people ;it five francs a day, he ought to be able to take nie in for the same ; however, lie satisfactorily proved that his five-franc customers were a loss to him, but he could not afford to lose their custom. His argimient was curious ; there were some persons who came and did not bargain, these he charged thir- teen shillings a day, as a standard price ; if they had made any bargain with him he would have charged them less, that was their fault. The difference he re- served for those who made very strict bargains, or who could not afford more than five francs. He had many different scales, but I only mention about the extremes. His argument then was this : " If I charge a fixed rate, I must exclude some who cannot afford more than five francs, and thus reduce my average to twenty persons per diem ; but if I over-charge some and under-charge others, I keep an average of twenty-five persons per diem at the same rate throughout as though I charged a fixed rate per person." But as I lived at the hotel throughout the year, I must be excluded from this calculation for the season and pay a fixed rate. He claimed a good deal of reason for his system of acting, and if travellers did not bargain and were content to pay for their poorer brethren on the road and thus be charitable, 1 ought to acquiesce in such an equital)le arrangement. The visitors at the hotel were mostly English or Americans, both because they are the principal travellers in Palestine, and because many of the 92 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. French and Germans went to their National Hospices. One of the most singular differences in the travellers of different nations was that, among the Latin, the principal wanderers appeared to be from the lower middle class, while the English and American and German Protestant travellers were usually well-to- do, and even wealthy. The English come to the Holy City rather later in the year (March and April) than the Americans do, so that at times the hotel would be for days full of Americans and then again of English. The Americans were particularly interested in our work in Palestine, and showed themselves very friendly in every way ; and sometimes, when I was the only Englishman at table, the peculiarity of this position in the Levant was very amusing. I remember on one occasion — Washington's Anniversary — we were all assembled at table ; and after champagne had been ordered round, there were general murmurs and glances at me. I did not at first understand what was intended, until the spokesman very diffidently asked me not to be offended if they drank the toast of the day. Till that moment it had never struck me that the Americans could imagine that we har- boured any resentment against Washington. ' Little Arthur's History of England ' had early taught me that he was one of the greatest men that ever lived : and even the History compiled for the use of the military cadets extols the militia colonel at the expense of the " brave but ignorant " officers of the regular forces of his day. I felt indisposed to let the Americans monopolise VISITS IN JERUSALEM. i>3 Wasliinj^ton, and said I should be glad to drink his health, hut would like first to propose a toast : this was acceded to in some surprise and uncertainty ; but the doubts of the party were quickly cleared up when I called out "George Wasln'ngton, one of the greatest of Englishmen." They were delighted, for they had been apprehensive that some tinge of jealousy as to his acts might be lingering in my Knglish constitution. This is just one indication of how little we know of the minds of each other, even when in constant communication. They had none of them an idea that we looked upon Washington as a great man of our own nation, and were proud of liim as such ; to them he appeared American from his earliest youth, although at that time he had dis- tinctively English sympathies ; to me he was the first English president of a friendly State. I must admit that the manner in which many of the Americans were well grounded in Palestine topo- gniphy surprised me ; they accounted for it by telling me that their clergy make a point of explaining and describing it from the pulpit frequently. Besides this, many of their ministers are sent to Palestine by their congregations, in order that they may refresh their minds and take in a fresh stock of Biblical lore ; in return for this they send home a letter each fort- night describing their wanderings, to be read in their churclies. What a boon it would be if our Eufrlish confrresra- tions would every few years make up a present, and send their hard worked clergy on a two months' cruise with their wives and families. 94 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Among these Americans I always found a hearty desire to co-operate with the English ; and as they can, from their national system, take no political part in Eastern questions, they look to the English to act ; and they help us in many ways, spreading our joint language far and wide. Considering the stake we have in the East, and the great societies which send out missionaries over Syria, I fully expected to find England foremost among nations at Jerusalem : such may have heen the case at the outset; it is not so now. The Americans help us, but we help to extend German influence. Every English appointment but three was filled by Germans or Swiss : men well fitted for their work in every way, the very persons I would choose for a Swiss mission field ; the only fault I have to find with them is that they are not English. Why can we not employ our own people ? The American societies employ Americans, the German societies employ Germans. Look at the result of this system : the Germans have increased and multiplied, until, at the present day, at Jerusalem^ they number three hundred, while the English are quite out of the field. At the present moment I do not think there is one English resident at Jerusalem. Is the Swiss mis- sionary more submissive to the central committee, or less expensive, or more energetic, or more per- suasive ; or does he acquire the language with more facility ? Why do our missionaries go everywhere but to Palestine ? One of my first duties on arrival at Jerusalem was to pay visits to those with whom I should be prin- VISITS IN Jf:KUSALEM. Ua cipally connected durinp^ ray stay. The first on the list was Izzet Paclia, the civil governor of the city : a man who sliortly after my arrival was removed from his post, owing to the .accusations substantiated against him at Constantinople. I can say little about him, for my firman had not then arrived, and he could only give me leave to dig on his own re- sponsiltility : and as I was much away surveying I saw little of him, but what I heard did not prepossess me in his favour. He appears to have combined the faults of Frank and Turk in his person without any of their good qualities. The work of a civil Pacha is enormous, it never seems to cease ; from morning till night he gives audiences, and dispenses, what he is pleased to con- sider, justice ; continually, when visiting him, check clerks are seen running in and out with papers to sign. He cannot intrust any of his work to his secretary, or deputy, but must do it all himself. The result is an absolute plethora of work, so that sometimes he is occupied deep into the night ; but even then it cannot be properly done, it is too much for one man — for ten men — and until the work of the country is systematised, and the minor matters handed over to the city councils, it will be impossible to expect any Pachalic to Ixi in order, even with the most conscientious, painstaking man. The Pacha receives a small stipend from the Porte for the conduct of his work, and must increase his im-onio as best he can. At the time I visited him he lived in a Serai, awkwardly placed at the north- west angle of the Haram area, near the gate of the 96 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. inspector ; but his residence has since been moved to the Moslem building called the Palace of Helena, situated on the eastern slope of Zion. The military Pacha commands the troops in the district, and has special care of the Noble Sanctuary. I paid him a visit in February, and found his con- versation very instructive ; he was full of Ireland and Lord Palmerston, and gave me much information on the subject ; whether he thought that Ireland, Eng- land, and London were three large towns on top of a mountain in the clouds where the sun never shone, or whether they were three islands, appeared un- certain : and his further communication regarding his own country left me in doubt as to whether he was capable of possessing any clear idea on geographical subjects. He was much pleased to talk of the prowess of his soldiers, some of whom were fine, soldier-like men ; and he ordered a review for the following Sunday for my benefit. 1 asked him to choose some other day, and it was put off, and never did come ofi", so far as I was concerned, for I would not go, unless it was on a week day, as I had been warned that his proposal was merely a trick. He expressed much astonishment at my mission : what could it be for ? there was nothing to learn about the Noble Sanctuary! He could tell me what was under every stone. He then went through the several well-known legends regarding the sacred rock and the Sanctuary : wind- ing up with the assurance that it lay on the top leaves of a palm tree, from the roots of which spring all the rivers of the world : and that any attempt of a VISITS IN JEHUSAXESli,-^,^.^,^*?*- 95^ ' V- . ^^^ Frank to explore tliem would oiily"^ foHoweu by some fatal catastrophe. All sympatliy, all cliaiice of friendship, with him was evidently impossible ; he would, it was clear, in every way in his power, thwart our elVorts to explore the place, but yet it was necessary to keep on good terms with him. My next visit wa.s to the head of the North Europe conniiunities, the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. As the Greek patriarch represents the Greek Christians of all nationalities, and the Latin patriarch those of the Latin Church, so the Anglican bishop represents all the Protestant people, whoever they may be, and however divergent their creeds; this may not be correct always in particular cases, but it is so gene- rally. The people of the country cannot recognise a thousand (liffcrences ; for each difTerence involves a separate jurisdiction, each church is the centre of a community. This is true so far, that even the Jew- hating Samaritans were obliged to get a certificate from the chief Rabbi at Jerusalem that they were in religion an oft'shoot of the sect of the Jews. This is the key-note of many of the dillicultiesso rife ; and so hard to understand at home. The people of Syria hang together by religions and not by nationalities, and when an Arab changes to Church of England or to the Protestant faith, he says he is an Enerlishman ; if to the Latin Church, he becomes a Frenchman. The Anglican bishop, then, occupies a very delicate posi- tion in the Floly City, a very necessary centre for Pro- testants to rally round : but yet moie than a religious centre, ho has a position in seeul.ir iii;itt(Ms. for thc^ 98 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. Moslem cannot separate one from the other : his reli- gion is his life. I had heard much of all the old Jerusalem difficul- ties, but was free from all party questions, and looked upon the bishop as the head of our community. In the East, owing to the magisterial power given by the capitulations, the consuls have taken the lead ill many of the communities : but it is evident, when the matter is considered that the consul is only a magistrate, and has nothing to do with the subjects of his country except when acting on their behoof ; in the community itself he is only a private indivi- dual holding his position in society according to his personal influence. He is not the governor of the community. The Anglican bishop is only one of many bishops in Jerusalem, and if the exact posi- tions of the others were known properly, many of the difficulties which have arisen on the subject might have been avoided. The bishops and patriarchs have no territorial jurisdiction, and have only to do with the Christians and their rites within what is called their dioceses ; such being the case, there may and ought to be a bishop to every sect of Christians in the country. The Latin patriarch, whatever may be his title, is recognised by the Turks as the head of the Latin Christians ; so also with the Armenian and other patriarchs, they are all patriarchs in Jerusalem and not of Jerusalem. So is the Anglican bishop. He is bishop in Jerusalem of all the Christians of the Church of England in his huge diocese, extending from Bagdad to Abyssinia. VISITS IN JERUSALEM. 99 Bishop Gobat received me with ranch courtesy, and wilHiio;ly entered into an account of his doings in Jerusalem. lie is, as bishop, licad of the Cliurch Missionary Society and tlie London Society for Promoting Christianity among tlie Jews : and is also in con- nection with the German United Church, but his chief care is in fostering the schools and providing Bible-readers all over the country : in this he has done mucii : not in bringing over the peoj)le from the Greek Church, but in enlightening them. Xow and then they do come over, but it is frequently for worldly motives, and the good bishop thoroughly appreciates tliese ebullitions. On one occasion a whole section of a village joined the Church of Eng- land: a house was built as a chapel for them, and when all was completed they had made up their quarrel, and returned to the bosom of their church, but yet the opportunity w^as not lost, for the building became their school. The country was miserably off for schools a few years ago ; but owing to the energy of Bishop Gobat a great change has taken place: wherever he established a school, the Latins and Greeks did likewise, so that with careful management, by making it large enough for one-third of the population, he secured school accommodation for the whole. At the time of my visit he had thirteen in working order. He entirely deprecated all idea of proselytism amongthe Greeks and Latins, but, as he truly observed, " If thev insist on cominc: over, are we to forbid them ?" II 2 100 UNDEKGEOUND JEKUSALEM. The bishop is a Swiss by birth, and acted for many- years as missionary in Abyssinia, and knows the Eastern j)eople thoroughly ; he speaks Enghsb, French, and German, and is fond of letters. He delights to tell his flock how he has forced his way Tip in life through all obstacles, how in his youth, when in extreme poverty, he would scrape together a few handful s of corn and climb up into the moun- tains to study until his food was exhausted, and then return and work until he could get more. Such lessons are very necessary to the proselyte community at Jerusalem, who are in afl&uence at one season and in poverty the next, owing to the spasmodic influx of visitors, on whom they chiefly depend. There is a school in Jerusalem, under the direction of the bishop, built on the scarp wall of the Upper City near the English cemetery ; the master, Mr. Palmer, is a German : it is well arranged, and the boys strong and healthy. Dr. Gobat is the second bishop. The next nomination lies with the English Government. The London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews has a large establishment, most of the officials being Germans ; this is, no doubt, partly occasioned by the fact that a great number of the Christianised Jews talk German. The Rev. Joseph Barclay, LL.D., was the incumbent ; and from the time of my first visit to him until my departure from Jerusalem, he never failed to assist our work in every way in his power ; and a great assistance he proved, for his personal influence w^as very considerable, and the Moslems and Jews looked at him with respect. He was incumbent of the English Cliurch in VISITS IN JERUSALEM. lOl Jerusalem, a cluireli left by bequest in tlie hands of his society. It was built some years ago under pecu- liar circumstances; for, while the restoration of an old church was not a diflicult mutter, the erection of a new one did not find favour in Moslem eyes, and it could only be built on the understanding that it was a consular chapel : it was therefore built in con- nection with a house called for the occasion the consulate, and when brighter days dawned this was used as the incumbent's residence. Even yet the church shows how carefully the Turk has watched its growth, for it can boast no tower or spire. It is a building of the plainest aspect inside, and strikes with wonder not only the Moslem and Jew, but also Christians of other denominations. Frequently is Divine service interrupted by incursions of fur-capped Armenians : who cannot comprehend why they may not wander about at will, as they do in their own church. These visits became such a nuisance that at one time it was found necessary to lock the church door after the second lesson. There are several buildings belonging to the mission around the churchyard (the cemetery is with- out the city) occupying the ground on which once stood the palace of Herod ; and the remains of the tower of liippicus overtop the church and dwaif its dimensions. Under the incumbent's house is a rock- cut aqueduct leading along the northern brow of the upper city. The Anglican bishop's palace is adjoining these premises, close to the Jaft'a Gate ; it is a hand- some building with large reception rooms, and well suited as his residence ; it commands a grand view of 102 . UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Olivet and the eastern quarter of tlie city ; it belongs to the dragoman of the Austrian consulate. The Enquirers' Home, House of Industry, and other premises belongiug to the Mission are situated in another quarter of the city, and it seems a pity that they should not be moved, if funds could be provided, so as to be close to the church ; there are many old Turkish houses around which might be taken down to advantage for this purpose. Near at hand is a boys' school, which M^as superintended by the Rev. W. Bailey (who has since returned to England), and a Jewess' Institute, girls' school and class room, with a lady suj)erintendent. In the churchyard itself is a Bible warehouse, and the en- quirers or converts are very handy at book-binding, carving, printing ; the Jerusalem translation of the Mishna, by the Rev. T. Barclay, LL.D., was printed at the Mission establishment. The whole arrangements might be made very com- plete with a little additional outlay ; but it appears to me to be absolutely necessary that all the officials in connection should be English, or else Jerusalem converts : the admixture of other nationalities is an element of discord, and until some change is made in this respect I do not expect to see matters working smoothly. For as the mission is of the Church of England, whose rigid rules cannot be made to un- bend and meet those of other sects, the result is that no compromise can be effected, only discord and difficulties can result. It appears to be one of the views of the Mission that there will eventually grow up a native Judeo- VISITS IN JERUSALEM. lO.'i AtigHcan Churcli in Palestine in communion with the Church of England ; tlie time is very far distant when this can take place, for we know as a fact that converts of principle are so tormented hy the fanati- cism of tlieir relations that they have to flee the country, leaving only a remnant, who are no better or worse than remnants in other sects and societies. But if ever a native church of converted Jews does arise, it bids fair to become a church of united Lu- theran and Calvinistic tendency ; for the gravitation at present is in that direction. It probably appears to many a matter of little moment which form of Christianity the convert assumes so long as he does truly change ; I mu.st confess I do not tliink it is a matter of so little moment. I should like to see the Church of England esta- blished in Palestine for two reasons ; one is merce- nary, or call it what you will. The position of Palestine will some day be of much importance to us as a nation, and the sooner we make a good foot- ing in the place the better ; we cannot do this better than by implanting the Church of England by Eng- lish clergy, because the people adopt the nation to which the religion belongs. The second reason is that it appears to me that the discipline of the Clnn-fh of England is more suited to the Eastern mind than that of any other Protestant church. The people are accustomed to rigid discipline, they are incapable of governing themselves, and they must have the hierarchical system and ritual. I have con- versed witli many clergy of other denominations about this matter, and it apjKnirs to me that they feel the ]04 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. want of a liturgy until the people are more advanced. I was taking the opinion of a Presbyterian divine on this subject, a gentleman who thoroughly knew Syria and Asia Minor. I asked him what form of Western Christianity was most suited to the people ; he answered, " Unquestionably, the Church of England ; they are not free enough yet in their minds to be able to govern themselves according to the free churches, they want to be kept in order ; when they are more civilised, they may belong to our churches." The whole subject of the Anglican Church in Palestine is one of the greatest interest to an Eng- lishman. The connection with the German Church is most embarrassing : they derive no benefit. If the connection were severed, and the Mission conducted entirely by English and English-speaking Jews, there would quickly be a change, and a more complete dis- cipline established. The bishop also might act as bishop and not as dean in Christ Church ; this would obviate any difficulties about the conduct of the service. It appears most essential also for the welfare of the Church that the next bishop should be an Englishman, accustomed to our system ; if he also knows the country well, so much the better. What a discipline might be effected in the Church if a gentleman of the knowledge and mental calibre of the Rev. Dr. Barclay could be prevailed upon to accept the charge ! for it cannot now be many years before the present reverend bishop, loaded with years and honour, must seek repose from his arduous task, so well performed, but which is suitable only to a man young in years. The services in Christ Church are most varied as VISITS IN JERUSALEM. 105 to langimgo, At a.m. each morning, matins in Hebrew, read by one of the clergy on duty for the week. This of itself ])rove8 their work to be no sinecure ; morning after morning during the summer montljs I have seen Dr. Barclay riding off to cluircli from the k^anatorium at 5.30 a.m., to attend this service. During the summer the English residents cluster in tents around a building belonging to the Mission outside Jerusalem on account of tlie un- healthy state of the city. On Sundays there is an early service in Spanish for the Sephardira converts ; in the forenoon in English for all, and in the afternoon, one Sunday, a German Anglican Service, and on the other Sunday German United Service ; the latter service thus held once a fortnight is the only one at which the German pastor oflBciates. And therefore the cost of the service to the Germans for the use of the church may be esti- mated at 2.')/. a Sunday : rather a heavy charge. Hebrew, Si)anish, Enghsli and German languages are thus spoken in this church, but no Arabic; the congregation will attend the German United or the Anglican services indifierently. Christ Church is essentiallv a cburch of Enicland, and natives who attend are obliged to take off their tarbushes or turbans when they kneel at the Lord's Table. The Church Missionary Society conducts an Aral)ic service in a chapel for tlie Arabs. In this native con- gregation it was a moot i)oint whether the custom of the country or of the English Church should be followed : it is natural to suppose that in a native church the old native custom <>f Cbristians wf>uld 106 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. obtain, and that shoes should be taken off, but I do not know whether the question has been settled yet ; probably, like many other burning questions, it will be allowed to settle itself, according to English system. The mission to the Jews naturally assumes an aggressive form ; that is to say, the glad tidings are poured into unwilling ears, and the Jewish proselyte who weekly preaches a sermon to the Jews floating 23ast the Jaffa gate, courts martyrdom : for he is ex- posed to insults and missiles from his brethren. Much has been said for and against the Jewish mission, especially at Jerusalem ; for my own part, I cannot but speak in its favour, for I believe it has in a great measure toned down the fanaticism of the Ultramontane Jewish party, and led them to look with less dislike upon the Christians. Those who know the Eastern mind must agree with me that the conversion of an adult Jew or Moslem is, humanly speaking, an impossibility : and yet such conversions do take place, not only among those beings who are equally lukewarm and indifferent, whatever religion they may profess, but among earnest men. I have met with men who, I feel convinced, were thorough Christians, who had been converted late in life : and yet I still think it is almost an impossibility to con- vert an adult. One very earnest man told me that there were times when he could not believe in Christianity, and felt that his old faith was right ; but yet he knew that this was but a temporary failing, one which would pass away. One of the difficulties attending the Mission is that, on account of the ill feeling induced by a conversion, VISITS IN JERUSALEM. lOT tlie proselyte is rarely able to continue at Jerusalem, and must go where he is not known ; thus the repu- tation of the Mission suffers, as it is asked where are the results. Those who know the country cannot fail to see the results far and wide — not in particular instances, but in gradually ameliorating the condition of mind of the whole peojde. One very strong Jew, a Rabbi of Rabbins, said, " Yet there must be some- thing in a religion which will lead people to come out here and take care of our sick ; we can under- stand you sending out fanatical Christian clergy, but why do you send doctors and organise a hospital ? It speaks well for your religion that you practise what you preach, charity." This leads me to mention the hospital of the Jewish Mission Society, so ably man- aged by Dr. Chaplin, to whom this Rabbi referred. They here can make up twenty -five beds for sick Jews, and give them every comfort, according to their re- ligious regulations, and there is no attemi)t to convert them when sick. These poor people feel this kind- ness and consideration, and often, when it makes no impression on their outer lives, it leaves a soft corner in the heart for the Christians. Dr. Chaplin was so much beloved by the Jews, that they appeared to for- get he was not one of themselves, and paid him all the deference they were capable of; on one occasion when he had been ill and absent from Jerusalem, they turned out and lined the road to give him greeting. No person could have been chosen more suited to the work than Dr. Chaplin, or more capable of giving the Christians a good name among the Jews; and the Society is to be congratulated on its officers. 108 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Dr. Chaplin possessed an intimate knowledge of Jerusalem, had studied the subject well, and gave me much valuable assistance during the progress of my work. He lived in a house overhanging the northern brow of the Upper City, on the foundation of the first wall, and next door was the Jewess' Institution. The Church Missionary Society employed two agents in Jerusalem, Dr. Sandreczki and Rev. F. F. Klein. The former, besides his Ta'amireh schools, visited the school of the bishop, and did much work among the native Arabs ; the latter took the Arabic church services in the Native Church of England. Dr. Sandreczki, always most energetic, often assisted me in my work, especially in the Arabic church orthography. Of the German Deaconess' Institutions I can only speak in the very highest terms of praise, for I have not seen anything equal to them elsewhere. Whether it is that they have a higher form of discipline, more rigid rules, or less difference of re- ligious opinion, I cannot say : but there is no doubt that they are kept together, and in order, with far less difficulty than our mixed societies of Germans and English. They appear to have all the advantages of the societies of the English Sisters of Mercy, without any of their disadvantages, and I earnestly wish that we possessed similar institutions in our own country. The school, Talatha kumi, is an admirable institu- tion ; in it they bring up a great number (about eighty) of girls of all ages, orj^hans or lent by their parents. The school is a branch of the Kaiserswerth establishment, and is superintended by Sister Charlotte, assisted by eight Deaconesses. The cleanliness, neat- ^^SITS IN JERUSALEM. 109 ness, and onler al>oiit this scliool always struck me forcibly, and only led me to regret the English want of method in such matters. However, Flieduers do not grow on every tree, and perhaps I am attri- buting to a nation a system which belongs more propeily to Theodore Fliedner. There is a good hos- j)ital attached to this establishment, with a deaconess apothecary of great energy, who, as an instance of her perseverance, on the occasion of our requiring her assistance with a sick lady to east of Jordan, rode 180 miles in four days, without flagging. There is also a German orphanage for boys outside the city ; it was instituted after the massacres in the Lebanon, and has since been continued for other orphans. The Leper Hospital is now also taken up by the Germans; it was, when I visited it, under the management of Dr. Cbaplin, and the lepers were then only coming in an trial ; they did not like being separated from their wives and families. Dr. Chaplin Nvius treating them with the juice of the Osha plant, which is used for a similar purpose in India; there were no results aj)parent while I was in Palestine. It is lamentable that these unfortunate people should be allowed to live together and increase their com- munity ; all their children become lepers, and are tlius born to suft'er a fearful death. The prie.st of the German conmiunity is of the United Church (Lutheran and Calvinistic), and is appointed by the Prussian Government ; as before mentioned, he holds a fortnightly service in the English church, and visits at the several German schools. I am not aware what other advantage, beyond this service, the Germans gain, except the 110 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. alternate nomination of the bishop, in return for the 15,000^. they have handed over ; and, putting the interest of this at 600^. per annum, it appears that tliey pay at the rate of 251. per service held in the Anglican church ; rather a heavy price. They might have built and endowed several churches in Palestine on the interest of this 15,000/. since the bishopric has been established, and it seems scarcely equitable that it should be continued, now that the G-ermans are building a church of their own at the Muristan. My visits were so numerous, that I cannot record them all in detail. Patriarchs, bishops, consuls, rabbins, sheikhs, effendis, pachas : all to be seen, and canvassed, so that my time at Jerusalem was very much taken up. I must proceed to the journeys and excavations, but before I close this chapter, let me refer to a remark (page 84) that Indian sepoys mutter English oaths. One day when Corporal Birtles was employed at the south-east angle of the Noble Sanctuary, he found himself accosted in the most violent English, consisting of strings of oaths ; looking up 150 feet above him, he saw that they issued from the mouths of black faces ; as the black men at Jerusalem do not talk English, this was a remarkable occurrence, and on making inquiry it was discovered that these men were deserters from our army in India at the time of the mutiny, who had sojourned in secret at Jerusalem, but they were so excited at the sight of a red coat, and being in the Sanctuary, and 150 feet above Corporal Birtles, they could not resist the inclination of swearing at him ; on an Indian officer going up to pay them a visit, they were overcome with fear, and fled the country. ( 111 ) CHAPTER VI. DESERT OF JUDATT. " Ho is tho freeman whom the truth makes free." CoiL'per. IIavixo now performed my visits of ceremony, and established the p.irty at Jerusalem, I was anxious to get into the open country and commence the recon- naissance which I was to carry out ; unfortunately the (jrande tv7^.y.vt% which was to bring out my aneroid l»arometers and other articles so expeditiously, had signally failed us, and I was without some of the most essential articles, and was in despair: for a telegram I sent oidy made more mystery at home, the word " boy" being substituted for box, and it thus, on its arrival, read "Boy not arrived, make iii- (|uiries." I therefore wrote and ordered an aneroid to be sent out as a parcel by the P. and 0. Company, and pending its arrival, arranged fur an excursion among the Ta'ann'reh Bedouin, with Dr. Sandreczki, in order to study their characteristics under so good a guide. We were to do the tour on the clieapest scale possible, and consequently had to sacrifice our cieature comforts very much. In fact we were to live very much in the style of the Bedouin, and move al)out with them. 112 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Our party to consist of Dr. Sandreczki, Corporal Phillips, and myself from Jerusalem, and Mr. M from Bethlehem ; a deacon of the Church of England, who had come out from Germany a few years ago as an artisan, and was now keeping a school for children drawn from the ranks of the Bedouin. These chil- dren were to be brought up as teachers and sent back to their tribes when old enough : the idea, if practicable, appears a very good one ; but it seems to me that, after living in a European house for so many years, the hand would forget its cunning, and they are more likely to drift into the towns as dragomen, and what not, than return to the hard fate of the child of the desert. The boys were dressed in tidy European costume, and appeared to consider Mr. M and his wife in the light of parents. March Ibth. — Our scheme was to take Jerusalem animals as far as Bethlehem, and there to transfer everything to Bedouin camels, keeping our saddle horses ; and on arriving at Mr, M 's house in the morning, the transfer accordingly took place. Our cavalcade did not get off till the afternoon ; when, attended by two Ta'amireh, we plunged down into the wilderness to the east, past the traditional field where the shepherds watched their flocks by night ; passing over the aqueduct which should bring the water from Solomon's Pools into Jerusalem, but which was now allowing its treasure to flow to waste into the desert. The remains of terraces, and other signs of cultivation, showed that the wilderness of Judah now very far exceeded its ancient bounds, and there is little doubt that a large portion of tlie DESKHT OF JI'DAH. 1 i;'« present tract occupied by the Taamireli was lorinerly inhabited by a settled jwpidation ; indeed, it is not many years since this tribe even brought tlieir flocks to ^raze under the walls of Jerusalem, on parts now cultivated, so that even now, by slow stages, the country is progressing and re-developing its rich resources. After four and a half hours' wandering through desolate hill country, well depicted on our photo- graphs we arrived at our destination at the foot of Koron-hnjar (horn-stone), (Beth-IIaccerem), one of the most conspicuous mountains in the district. Bedouin tents were scattered all over tlie country in groups of four or five, and our sheikh's encampment, to wliich we directed our steps, only consisted of four. iSheikh Ismail is chief of one of the four tribes of the Ta'amireh, who in former days lorded it over lieth- leliem and Jerusalem, but who now pay tribute to the latter, which to some extent they extract in form of black mail from the former. Ismail was robed in a black aba, witli white drawers, and his head graced with a yellow and red turban ; reclining on a couch of sheepskins we found him, and though he treated us with courtesy, it was evident that he had a good opinion of himselt, and would have liked to have been rude. Compared with other sheikhs I liave since met, he certainly was wanting in that native polite- ness which sits so gracefully on the true Bedouin ; but the Ta'amireh are now but a degraded, mongrel, though fierce race. On our arrival we were greeted with the barking of maTiv dogs, a necessarv evil in a Bedouin encanip- I 114 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. ment ; more particularly a nuisance to us living among them, for we could not venture a foot out of our tent without our hands full of stones ready to throw at them. Our camels having arrived, we proceeded to pitch our tents ourselves, for we had only one helper, Khalil, who could light a fire, and read the Arabic Bible, but beyond that his acquire- ments were not extensive. Our dinner, consisting of chicken, Bologna sausage, and cheese, was a hearty meal, and after its conclu- sion the mission work commenced. The Sheikh and a few men silently dropped into our tent, and Dr. Sandreczki read to them St. Mark i. They listened most attentively, continually grunted sounds of approval, and asked several very pertinent ques- tions ; certainly, if our societies could only afford it, missions of this nature must improve the condition of the Bedouin. It need not be supposed that the Mahomedans have any objection to the use of the New Testament, it is only among the most fanatical that such is the case. I was assured by many of un- doubted learning that they may read it, and some of the chief officials of the mosques have shown me their copies, which they are in the habit of reading ; for the life of our Lord Jesus Christ is to them the life of one of their great prophets, and it is only jwrtions which relate to His crucifixion and Godhead that they entirely condemn : the remainder is classed among their inspired books. March 1 4:th. — At sunrise we were awakened fr Jfn a refreshing sleep by a great clamour, the Bedouin calling u\)on Allah, the sheep bleating, the doi DESKRT OF JL'DAH. H^ liowliiig; our lite was to be as tliatot'tlie J}c'(Jouiii,aiul we lost no time in risin^^ and breaktasting ; again chicken and sausage. We struck our tents and prepared to march, for Ismail's sheep were found to be afllicted with the itch, and slieikh as he was, he must go into quarantine and be separated from the peoj)le. Wady Alya was our destination, and to it we journeyed ; but first we ascended to the summit of Koron-hajar, from whence we had a splendid view of .lerusalem and the Frank Mount;iin, and the country lying between ; having no aneroid, I could not ascertain the lieight, and was obliged to be con- tent with noting the point down as one availal)le in a future trigonometrical survey. We arrived at our lazaretto in about three hours, th«.' junction of Wady-en-Xar (the Kedron) with Wady Alya ; here was a })ool of black and nuiddy water, swarming with insects, but it was all we could get, and when well-l>oiled, made very good tea. We occupied ourselves with phcjtographing the Bedouin ; at first they were somewhat shy, thinking it was contrary to their religion, but being shown that this was not so, they allowed us to t^ike two groups. After this it was the turn for the women. J was anxious to depict their method of cooking ; accord- ingly they put the big family pot upon three stones in the orthodox manner, and near it another three stoile^ with the iron curved pan on which the bread is l^ikcd, and clustered around. The caldron re- quires no comment, it is a large iron gipsies' kettle ; th# articles to be l)oiled.or stewed are put in, in the ordinary manner ; but the baking of bnad is peculiar I 2 IIG UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. to the Bedouin, and entirely different to that of the townspeople. The flour, after being kneaded up into dough, is portioned off into small quantities, sufficient for each loaf, as we must call it, but it is more like a thin pancake than a piece of bread. This piece of dough, by being thrown down constantly with a dexterous twist of the wrist, is made to spread itself out until it becomes as thin as a wafer, and about the appear- ance, but larger, than a pancake ; it is then baked on the curved pan, and is turned out rather crisp, similar to a piece of cloth in texture, but very delicious to the taste — nothing like bread. As soon as we discovered the excellence of this bread I could eat no other, until I happened to see the dirty hands of the woman who made it, when I was obliged to desist for a day or two, until I reflected that the other bread was probably made in no cleaner manner. Bologna sausage being our staple food, it became monotonous, and Dr. Sandreczki proceeded to make an omelette ; it, however, turned out like leather, and I showed him how to make a Spanish omelette ; upon its merits, however, |We could not agree, and we called upon the Bedouin to decide which was the best omelette maker. Most shrewdly they refused to do this until we had exhausted nearly all our eggs upon them, and then they declared they could make one better themselves ; and certainly, on another occasion, proved they had not been boasting. March I5th. — The noise at early dawn stirred us up ; and after a hasty breakfast we started for a ruin DKSKKT OF J U DAI I. 1J7 called Mini, wliicli Dr. Sandrecx.ki had hoard of, but which (lid not appear hitherto to have been ex- amined, \nn do Velde, however, shows it on his map as K. Mardeh, some miles to the north of its real position, so that it is ai)parent that he heard the name and put it down as correctly as he could ascertain its position. It was situated about a mile from our camp, and on our way there the choleric Ismail, enraged at our starting off without his escort, dashed alter us, and seemed to be beside himself; in his ebullition he vented his temper on his horse, and consequently nearly received a fall ; the sight of him so excited our nerves that we laughed in chorus, upon which he calmed down. The fact was, he wished to have consumed a day in a palaver about this wonderful ruin. It proved to be an isolated hill, of rounded api)ear- ance, scarped in places, and united with the sur- rounding hills by a wall, on top of which was an aqueduct leading into rock-cut tanks. This aqueduct was about three-quarters of a mile in length. The site was evidently that of a town of considerable' im- portance, and the amount of labour bestowed upon the scarps can be estimated by observations of the two photographs which we obtained. There were remains of terraces around, and on the top of the hill a stone trough hollowed out and fluted inside, apparently for crushing olives. Thus this country also appears to have once been cultivated, though it is now a picture of desolation. On the summit are tombs, and one is assigned to Nimrod, from whom, according to two Bedouin, it derives its name. The same legend 118 UNDEKGKOUND JEEUSALEM. regarding Nimrod being afflicted with a wasp or mosquito is told here as was found extant in the Lebanon. Dr. Sandreczki identifies this ruined site with one of the chain of forts belonging to the Crusaders, reaching from Jerusalem round by the shore of the Dead Sea to Kerak, of which Marsada was another ; but what Mird was originally seems uncertain. The nearest identification is that of Mered (1 Chron. iv.), if it can be shown by M.^ Ganneau, who pro- poses it, that Mered was a city.rof Judah, Perhaps < it may be the Middin of Joshua xv. :. . •» ' This evening we were occupied with preparations for the morrow, the Bedouin having determined to try and cure their sheep by ablution in the warm springs of Feshkhah, some 4000 feet below us. This may mark the site of the town Phagor of the LXX. (Joshua XV. 60.) March \Qth. — We started for the Dead Sea, the sheep having preceded us by a few hours. After advancing some miles to the east, we suddenly came upon the precipitous crags overhanging the Sea of Lot, as the Arabs call it, and took in a magnificent panoramic view. The purple wall of Moab was no longer one unbroken line, but was indented with dark gulleys, and on the shore opposite us a bright green fringe of palm trees set off the peculiar blue of the waters of the sea. Our horses could proceed no further, though the ascent on horseback is not so difficult ; not even the little donkey, astride which Mr. M managed to progress, his feet as often on the ground as not. We passed a stone with DfiiKUT OF JUDAII. 11'' ;i hollow iiii(Jeniealli, into wliicli, .so tradition tells us, an Arab woman inserted her new-born babe, while she went down to the 'Ain to fetch water, to take back to her camp in time of dearth. It is not uncommon to see the women carryin<^ their babes about tlie day after their birth, but this act of the woman appeared to be considered a feat, even among tlie hardy I^douin. We arrived at the 'Ain at 10*30 a.m., a copious w ;irm spring" (about 85° Fahrenheit) of brackish water, sulphurous apparently, and renowned as goo<.l for complaints such as our sheikh's sheep suffered from. The sheepwashing by the Bedouin was a very in- teresting sight ; like children, tliey became intensely e.xcited over their work, and delayed its progress considerably by their little scpiabbles about trifles. Getting tired of our situation in the hot, reedy marsh adjoining the 'Ain, I wandered away by myself, and forgetful of the wild nature of the country, ascendeil the cliff, plucking the wild sorrel as I went, and arrived alone at the camp, where I found a party of Druses — travelling gipsies — who were showing off their antics, 'i'he princij)al man acted in a state of nudity, and per- formed many of the feats of strength to be seen at a country fair in southern Europe; eventually, some of their performances became quite brutal, and I gave them money to be off to the next camp. On the return of our sheikh, T was roundly al)used for going off by myself, as he said it was as much as his head was worth should any accident have hai> pciird ; and with strange parties about, such as the l)ru.ses in camp, it was impossible for him Ut Im» 120 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. certain that a single Frank would not be maltreated. The next day being Sunday we remained near camp, and in our rambles were given milk out of a leathern bag, into which the shepherd milked his camels ; the bag would only hold about a quart, and was like a long purse. March 18M. — Dr. Sandreczki went into Jerusalem to meet a gentleman sent out by his society to report on the work of the mission, and Corporal Phillips and I went over to Mar Saba to take photographs of that curious convent in the wilderness. This monastery is built on the precipitous side of the Wady en Nar, a continuation of the Kedron Valley, and has existed since its foundation by Saint Saba in the fifth century : when the steep sides of these rocks were pierced by thousands of cells, inhabited by hermits. They cer- tainly could not in all Palestine have selected a more weirdly picturesque spot, and the peculiarities of the structure of the building makes it one of the most curious sights in the country. Absolutely clinging to the face of the rock, the walls are supported by enormous buttresses, which reach up from the bottom of the abyss to the heights above ; and being built in rows have a most extraordinary effect. The convent is a fortress perfectly impregnable to the attack of the wandering Arab, though in times gone by they have captured and looted the place by treachery. The place is also secure against the attraction of the female sex, who are on no account allowed to enter. There is a most valuable library of old books within, but the monks are now very particular about letting them be seen, on account of abuse of former hospitality ; DKSEUT OF JUDAII. 121 portions or whole volumes having been carrit-d ofl' hy unscrupulous })arties. The monks are of the Greek rite ; tliey eat no flesli, and are extremely abstemious ; they spend their life in contemplation and in the taming of the numl)erieS8 st:irlin*i;'s which live in tlie rocky lioles above them. On our return to camp I found a message had been sent from the Pacha requiring the sheikh to appear before him ; ho was not willing to go, but proposed to send a de[)uty, and as I wished also to go into tlie city, it was agreed I should accompany him. February/ lOM. — Accordingly passing up AVady en Nar, we reached Jerusalem from the south, entering at the southern gate. Leaving the Bedouin at Dr. Sandreczki's house, I proceeded to my hotel, and ex- amined several sites for excavations during tlie day. On tlie following day I heard from Dr. Saudreczki that he was too ill with fever to accompany me out, and started in the afternoon for the eamj) witli the Bedouin, retracing our steps down Wady en Nar. On arrival at the encampment I saw to ray surprise that Mr. M and our tent had disappeared, and I found myself alone among the Bedouin. Darkness had already come over us, and I deemed it useless to attempt to follow Mr. M , for as we could only converse by signs, I was quite unable to gather whether he had gone off of his own accord or had been summoned to Bethlehem. Since the sheep- washing, quarantine had been given up and the people were gathered together again : their tents, numbering about thirty, being drawn up in an ••\:il form; thev all turned out to receive me when they 122 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. found I was to be their guest, and seemed much amused at the adventure. I was conducted to the guest tent, which is kept up for the reception of strangers, such as the Druse gipsies, in every encampment, and shown the particular goat-hair cover under which I was to sleep. Then I returned to the tent of the sheikh's deputy, who proposed to kill a goat in my honour : but I was far too hungry to think of such a thing, and begged to be given food at once. Accordingly they feasted me on what there was ready in the camp, and when I state what it was, I think it will be allowed that I fared sumptuously. I was desperately thirsty, and do assert that of all drinks calculated to quench thirst, leben or sour milk will bear the palm ; nothing else is so agreeable to the palate, nothing is so soothing to the system. Who that has felt its influence under a hot sun, or has found it take away the over-weary feeling which ex- cludes sleep, can doubt but 'that the butter in a lordly dish presented to Sisera was delicious, freshly-curdled leben in a milk-white wooden bowl. After quaffing this delicious febrifuge, my dinner was spread out before me sitting cross-legged. First several loaves were brought in, thin as wafers and larger then pancakes ; one I spread out as a plate, curling it up at the edges ; another I laid before me as a napkin ; another lay ready for any emergency ; and a fourth was quickly made up into a series of rough spoons ; then turning up my cuffs, T made signs that I was prepared. Then was laid before me a de- licious omelette, which pi-oved that they were not DESKTIT OF Jri)AH 123 wrong in asserting tlieir powers in such matters. Tliis being disposed of, in succession I was given sour milk, curdled milk, pressed curds, sour butter, curd cheese, and last of all, Ta'amireh junket. Deliglited to find I so appreciated their efforts, they brought the best they had. The junket was delicious ; and on inquiring, they stated they turned it with the inside of the kid, the rennet, of which I was shown a piece, just as we do in England. Coffee finished my meal, and as I could not converse with them round their fire of goat-dung, or move about the camp on account of the vicious state of the dogs, I soon turned into my tent and lay down under a goat-hair quilt. Sleep, however, was denied me. I had scarcely got quiet before I found myself the victim of myriads of fleas, attacking me from all quarters ; they swarmed in the guest tent, and were so exacting, tliat I was filled with the dread that they were visitors of a different nature to fleas, the constant companion of the Bedouin. The moon was shining briglitly, and lier silvery light sparkled through the open camel-hair tent cover- ing, which however proved itself more impervious to the showers of rain which fell without penetrating. I was perfectly devoured by the insects, but yet I could not get away from them: for whenever I attempted to leave the tents, the whole colony of watch-dogs got wind of my movements, dashing around me, showing very plainly that though they might fear a stone in the daytime, they knew their duty far too well to ht a stranger wander about by night. Returning to mv mat, I endeavoured to comix)so 124 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. my mind and think upon the passages in the Bible relating to tent life ; but my tormentors would not allow of it, and thankful I was when at cock-crow, about 2 '30 a.m., I heard the women beginning their daily toil. First they went to fetch the little water the pool would yield, and then commenced that interminable grinding of corn in the querns for their daily meal. One by one the signs of life revived in the camp, sheep to bleat, lambs to ba-a ! hens to chuckle, children to cry, dogs to bark, and soon man arose to his labour, the latest riser of the community. All, however, were up before the sun^ and right glad was I to be able to get outside from all the bustle. The Ta'amireh tents are small, and of the usual shape. Starting soon after sunrise with a Bedouin, we took a westerly course ; but I was quite uncertain whither he was leading me, as I could give him no instructions. I only imitated Mr. M riding on his donkey as well as I could, and thus indicated where I wished to go. After passing through a thorough wilderness of dry valleys and still drier hills, in this most blooming- month of the year, we suddenly came in sight of Jebel Fureidis, the Frank Mountain, where are the remains of one of the cities (Herodium) called after Herod : that in which he was buried. At the foot of this mountain a great many Bedouin tents were pitched of several tribes of the Ta'amireh, and a little further on I was delighted to see our own tent shining white beside the black tents of the Bedouin. Now I hoped to get a wash, and be clear of the hundreds of fleas which had taken DESKIIT OF JUDAH. 125 possession of my person. IJut tin's was not tE.SERT OF JU DA H. 127 l»aii(la;;cil u|>. The wound liad eoinplctcly healed, and his nose was as good as before. I was miicli astonished at tliis at first, and was inclined t<) attri- bute it to tlie wonderful healing of the arnica plaster; but exjX'rience afterwards proved to me the raj)idity with which Bedouin flesh will heal. They arc so free from inflammatory tendencies, that the flesh is no sooner torn before it l>egins to close together; often so quickly that the parts do not get into proper position, and unite unevenly. Surgical operations are thus with them of little imi)ortance com- pared with what they are to the Frank, unless indeed the body is thoroughly out of health, or a shot has to be extracted. The great and accomplished surgeon with tlie Arab is the blacksmith, and his instrument a hot iron. Firing is most commo!i among them for rheumatism and other complaints : and cauterisation in case of the loss of a portion of flesh or a liml>. One man with whom I was ac(piainted had a black spot between each bone of liis spine, where the iron had touched him. Though the Arab is tlius so liee Irum danger witli regard to wounds retjuiring surgical skill, lie is very much inferior to the Frank in resisting the attack of fever and cholera. It is not unusual for him to die in a few hours from an attack whicli, as far as I could ascertain, would liave assailed a Frank several days before he would be overcome. He seems suddeidy to collapse and to die out without making any effort. 1 h:iving known cases of men going sick off our works in the morning and the women wailing at their demise in tlie eveni?ig. 128 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALE]\r. At Ismail's camp we arrived in the afternoon, and found ourselves surrounded by very threatening clouds, so much so, that it was decided that our aged commissioner should not sleep in the little tent provided for him but must come into ours ; we were thus a good deal crowded up. Rain fell all the evening, and towards midnight a tempest commenced, through which I slept profoundly until awakened by finding the wet tent flapping about my face, and heard the word " Gawam " (make haste !) shouted at intervals by Mr. M like minute guns. Our tent was nearly over ; the ropes had got loose, and the pole was on one side. We were most anxious that our commissioner should not suffer any injury, as he was in a fragile state of health : and we crept out in our shirts into the storm, vainly endea- vouring to secure the ropes among the loose stones and muddy soil which a few minutes before had been dry dusty earth. The whole weight of his responsibility now struck Mr. M so heavily, that without con- sidering where the help was to come from, he con- tinued to call " Gawam ;" whether it was Jerusalem and Bethlehem that was to come to our aid, we were left in uncertainty. The commissioner lay patiently in bed, Mr. M holding the pole and calling '' Gawam," and Dr. Sandreczki and I holding the tent so as not to flap upon the commissioner. The oddity of our surrounding was too much for the doctor and myself, and we were so convulsed with laughter that we could scarcely hold our own against the storm. Soon some of the Bedouin, washed out of their own DKSEHT OF JT1»\II 129 Iciils l>y tlio viok'Ufc of llio tonqiost, civpt into ours, and liolped to till it up and asaist uh. One of them credited a commotion hy shaking a scorpion out of ln'8 sleeve among us; until the doctor placidly assured us that the tent was j)rol)ahly full of scorpions, as they would make for it out of the rain. We were not sorry to see the day l)egin to dawn and to find the wind lull at the sj^me time; and although it was Sunday it was considered desirahle that the commissioner .>eing restored, as they object to water entering first at the high point of the city, which is the Christian quarter ; they think it desirable that the Christians should be de|>endent on thern for wufi-r. .'«m1 »<> it i-. Iiv. >iih>iKRT OF Jl'DAH. Ki3 These pools are near to places of fjreat interest, namely, Tekoa and llerodiuni : tlie mention of these two by Josej)hus is so explicit that there can be no (piestion as to their identification. Tekoa consists of extensive ruins of hewn stone, situated on a plateau in tlie highlands ; it was evidently a large city even in modern times : there are the remains of an early church, and a beautiful rose-coloured marble font, similar in some respects to that in the Church of the Nativity at Ijethlehem ; it is still in a perfect state of preservation. A spring liard by points to the origin of the city. At the j)resent time the wilderness has (pn'te swallowed up Tekoa. At a distance of only about one mile is tiie Frank >b»untain, a most conspicuous hill, the upi)er |)ortion <»f which had been added by man. Josephus (Ant. XV. ix. 4) tells us, — ** This citadel is distant from Jerusalem about three- •score furlongs. It was strong by nature, and fit for such a building. It is a sort of moderate hill, raised to a farther height by the hand of man, till it was of the shape of a woman's breast. It is encompassed with circular towers, and hath a straight ascent up to it, which ascent is composed of steps of polished stones, in numlter two hundred. Within it are royal and very rich apartments, of a structure that pro- vided both for securitv and for beautv. About the bottom there are habitations of such a structure as are well worth seeing, both on other accounts, and alsi) on accoinit of the water, which is brought thither fn»m a great way ofl', and at vast expense ; for the 134 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. j)lace itself is destitute of water. The plain tliat is about this citadel is full of edifices." The remains are just as described, and here Herod was buried, and probably his body still exists within. M. de Saulcy traced the outline of the ancient keep. From the summit is one of the most splendid views in Palestine ; the day was balmy, the wind was rather fresh, we conld see far over the hills into Moab ; all around were signs of ancient cultivation. Whether this was the ancient Beth Haccerem is not quite certain, though the juxtaposition with Tekoa is significant. " Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and set np a sign of fire in Beth Haccerem." I am rather inclined to think that Koron Hajar is the old beacon. As has been mentioned, the aqueducts Josephus describes still remain, leading from the Wady Urtas near Solomon's Pools, to the plain in front of the Frank Mountain ; near here are some large cisterns into which the water was probably received, and which the Bedouin now use. The gardens of Urtas are well worthy a visit : the finest peaches in the Mediterranean grow here, from stocks brought from the United States ; the ground is cultivated by a converted Jew, and he has shown what the Jews can do if properly trained to agricul- tural pursuits. The garden is situated in a narrow wady, and descends in steps or terraces, which are supported by heavy rough stone walls, rising some feet above each terrace. I do not know if those walls so arranged are thus built from experience, but' the effect of them is obvious. During heavy rains when DESERT OF JUDAU. 135 the wady is a slieet of water, it is dammed up by tliese walls and Hows through and over them, having still water on the surface of the terrace : if it were not for this arrangement the water would wash the soil away, such is its force during certain seasons. Monastic tradition has long accorded to the Cave of Khuroituii, the honour of having been the Adullam Cave of David's time; its spacious halls, winding corridors, and secure position no doubt in early days caused it to be a rallying ])lace of some importance : but recent writers concur in asserting there can be no doubt that it is not the ancient Adullam ; situated at the head of the narrow and precipitous portion of the valley, separating Tekoa from the Frank Moun- tain, it is on tlie border land dividing the rich gardens of Ktliam, cultivated by King Solomon, from tlie wild desert of Judah ; and it possibly is the valley of Etanj adjoining the rock of the same name on which Samson dwelt after his slaugliter of the Philistines. In this disc the Frank Mountain may be the rock Etam, and the fountain of Enhakkore mav be that of the 'ain in Wady Khureitun ; in any case the gardens of Urtas hard by appear to be the remains of those described by Josephus (Ant. viii. 7) as having been visited by King Solomon. The change in the valley from Urtas to Wady Khureitun is most abrupt. We find ourselves in a narrow chasm in the mountain side rather than a valley, at tlie bottom of which camels, rendered diminutive by the distance, are seen browsing ; on the eastern side are yet the remains of a monastery hanging on to the sides of the precipice ; and on the 136 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. east is a narrow ledge, an apology for a footpath, leading to the entrance of the cave, opening from the face of a cliff which shelves down precipitously into the valley. There are two loose blocks of stone lying against the month of the cave, and the passage along the ledge is well enfiladed from holes in the cavern, so that refugees within could not be attacked with impunity. These holes at the entrance are so arranged that any person entering would be put to great disadvantage. There are four large caves opening one into the other. The first lies about 30 feet from the entrance ; it is about 70 feet long and 30 feet high ; tlience is a tortuous passage leading into chamber No. 2 ; from this we descend into No. 3, and by a long narrow passage to No. 4. The whole length is about 500 feet, and the place is admirably adapted for the lodg- ment of large bodies of men in disturbed times ; the air appeared to be dry, and the water percolating from the roof only fell in particular places. The cavern was originally natural, no doubt, but it has been much altered by the hand of man. We went in search of the passage described by Dr. Tobler, in which he found some sarcophagi and Phcenician inscrip- tions ; this passage commences from cavern No. 4. On our way through it, we noticed a passage to the left, half filled with the refuse of bats, which we did not enter. After crawling for about 200 feet on our elbows and knees, we came to a shaft leading ujj wards, 15 feet in height ; thence climbing up this, we emerged on a passage 6 feet in height, leading north and south. To the north we went about 200 feet. DESKUT OF Ji:j)AII. 137 whore the passar^e ends in a cavern, from wliich are many pas.sa;j^es leading in all directions. To the south we went about lOO leet and were stopped by some bmkrn hewn stones. Over a little passage to east was a Jerusalem cross, marked on tlie wall, which had ])robal)ly been reached from another direction. Finding our time now short, we returned again to No. 4 cave, and in the nortli-west corner found a small opening, with, written over it, "No outlet here," and it was heie, as far as we could understand, that Dr. Toi)ler had found the inscrij)tions. Crawling up this jKissage was most dirticult, and only to be accomplished in one place by lying on the side and kicking tigainst the wall. After this we emerged into a passage about 30 feet in height, opening into a passage running north and south, where we had already found the Jerusalem cross on the wall. It would thus be easy for a future explorer to take this passage up from the first men- tioned passage, and so avoid the very narrow twists: but to explore the cave proj)erly would recjuire a day or two, and assistants nimble and quick at measuiing. We were more than five hours in the cave, although we penetrated such a little way. I had gone in company with Dr. IVteiniann, the learned Orientalist, and he was more particularly in- terested in seeking inscriptions in the place where they were previously found : my j)rinci])al object was to dig in the caves in order to ascertain whether there were any bones or bronze (►r llint implements to be tliscovered. In the first or outer eavr we (ipciifd up the lloor, 138 UNDEKGEOUND JEKUSALEM. passed through a quantity of pottery, and brought up the bottom of one jar and the necks of several, in a good state of preservation ; we reached the rock at seven feet, and found on its surface white dust or rotten rock fifteen inches deep. There were no bones visible, but the bottom for the most part was a loam filled with pottery. In the second cave, the rock was reached at 4 feet 6 inches from the surface, and a few pieces of worn pot- tery thereon. The rocky floor was pierced through, and below was found the same kind of white dust visible in No. 1. This continued for eighteen inches until we came to a hard malachi. No bones were seen. In the third cave, the rock was found at two feet from the surface, hard malachi ; no bones or pottery were found in the dusty loam. No excavation was made in the fourth cave. It is apparent, then, that the two outer caves only have been inhabited : the outer must have been used as a habitation for hundreds of years ; but there were no signs of its occupation by a primitive race. The whole of the winding passages appeared to me to have been used for some purpose, but what it was I could not conjecture. In one there was a trough cut along the bottom for some distance as though to collect water. If it were on a higher level one miglit suppose that here water was collected for the buildings around, but it is rather too low. The Arabs have a legend that the passages reach to Hebron, and another that it is in connection with Tekoa ; in any case the passages do not yet appear to have been thoroughly explored, and until then it I)i:.si:rt of .irDAii. I'.VJ would perlKijis \>g j^roinature to hazard a conjecture as totlie object of all the lalx)ur spent upon tlie j)lace. It does not aj)})car to me that it would he connected with any form of ancient worship. On p^oinf^ over the subject again, I feel very shaken in tlie recent unanimous assertions of several writers that the Cave of Adullam must he down in the lowlands of Judah towards Beit Jihrin. It ap- pears to me tliat we are not bound to suppose that the Cave Adullam must be close to the royal city AduUam : the only authority for such a supjv)sition is a remark of Josephus (Ant. vi. xii. 3) that David abode in a cave by the city of Adullam, when " every one in distress, and every one in debt, and every one discontented gathered themselves unto him ; and lie became a captain over them ; and there were with him about four hundred men." I know of no idace in Palestine so well fulfillin"- the requirements of the whole narrative as the cave Khureitun, and I think we should not hamper the whole subject with this casual suggestion of Josephus, wiio probably knew as little about the true site as we do ; the earlier pages of his works are plainly t^iken dimlv from the Old Testament. lil CHAPTER VII. EARLY EXCAVATIONS. My interview with Izzet Pacha over, I had lost no time in commencing work at the water passages, under the eastern of the two ancient gates of Herod's Temple, facing the midday sun. F'ortune favoured our enterprise, and in a few hours an old parting wall in the rock-liewn aqueduct yielded to our efforts, and we found our- selves in the substructures of tlie Temple itself; among the piers supporting the vast vaults, called the Stables of Solomon ; below where once stood the palace of that great king. Our j^rogress through these passages had been rapid, but un- happily the hammer-blows, resounding through the hollow walls in so unwonted a manner, alarmed the modern representative of the High Priest. Infuriate with anger, the fine old sheikh '^m ii/ic Y*2^ EARLY EXCAVATIONS. I H wouM listen to no reasoning : but repairing" to tlic south-east angle of the old Temple enclosure, mounted its battlements and summoned the Sheikh of Siloam to stand forth and answer for his misdeeds. Witli full tuiluin and long ilowing robes, edges tipped witli lur, the old man stood, on the edge of the steep masonry, st^imping his feet witli rage and bellowing imprecations. This spot has historical associations, and is the highest point of the old wall now in preservation, the gaps being filled in with newer work. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux here passed full fifteen hundred years ago, and seeing the remains of this angle towering high in the air, nuntions it as the ]>innacle of the Temple. Probably the la.st person who stood here, before the .lews clustered together and in their agony threw themselves headlong down from hence into the gulf below, was St. James the Just, first Bishop of Jeru- K;dem : placed here by the Pharisees just before the de- struction of Jerusalem ; hoping to secure his influence to stoj) the people following the Christians, thev ex- elain.ed, " Stand therefore on the gable of the Temple, that thou raayest be visible, and that thy words may be heard by all the people ; for all the tribes and even the (fentiles are come together for the Passover." Ikilow him on the ridge of Ophel, full one hundred feet, were the peopled assembled ; prejiaratory to entering the Temple enclosure by the southern gates. St. James from this spot spoke, but only to incense the Jews against him. Crying, "Oh, even the Just has gone :istr;iy." ihcv hurried in through the water 142 UNDERGKOUND JEEUSALEM. gate, up the sloping ramp to the Court of the Gentiles ; then turning round into the Royal Cloister, where St. James stood, they rushed upon him in their new-born hatred towards him, and cast him headlong down to the multitude below ; there the people, finding him still breathing, took up stones and cast them at him : and a fuller, coming out of his cavern hard by, club in hand, with which he pressed the clothes, completed the murder by striking the just one on the head. Immediately Titus commenced the siege ; and the rapidity with which this attack followed this crime (for all Jerusalem acknowledged St. James as " the Just ") struck the people with remorse and fear, and they looked upon it as a retributive justice. This must have come most vividly to the mind of these murderers when after the burning of the Temple they were assembled for the last time upon the Royal Cloister in thousands, and were either burnt in the flames lighted by the Roman soldiery, or in their frenzy cast themselves down on to the very spot where the just one had fallen. From this spot, as Josephus informs us, the head grew dizzy when looking down into the depths of the valley below, by reason of its great elevation ; and this in earlier days, in the time of Solomon, was the corner of his palace adjoining the Temple ; and sunk in the ground at a great depth did we find below this point, pottery with the name of " The King" in the ancient Hebrew or Phoenician character: and also Phosnician marks on the walls. Such was the vantage point taken up by the sheikh when he wished EARLY EXCAVATIONS. 143 to converfic with liis brother of Siloain, at a distance of 500 yards, across a deep valley, before all Jerusalem: INCISED rHAKACTEB8. on subjects whicli sliould not have been mentioned above a whisper. After waiting some time for him of Siloam, he thundered again across the valley, and Mi'NK c c y SKCUM) COURSE OF RASTERS WALL. taking liis long pocket handkerchief out of his bosom, carefully unrolk-d its vast length, cleared his throat, and then as carefully rolled it up again. By this time the Slicikh of Siloam appeared upon his liouse-top, far 144 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. away and below us, who were on tlie slopes of Opliel watching the proceedings. The mosque's sheikh, on viewing his victim, elevated his powerful voice and entered into a declamation lasting for nearly an hour : in which he accused his brother of nearly every crime under heaven, and threatened him with many punishments for having allowed his men to work for me. Siloam's sheikh answered with spirit, and soon the whole world might have heard a very distorted account of our doings, echoing among the ruins and rocks of Jerusalem, Such a scene could not remain long a secret, and the Military Pacha taking advantage of it, sent his Bimbasheh, the Town Major of Jerusalem, to report. A short and very fat jolly-looking Turk : he went into what passages he could squeeze, peeped into others, and finally ex- pressed himself delighted witli his visit, and left us. The Military Pacha, however, feared for his " Palm tree " (see page 96), reported violently against our operations, and consequently on the 1st of March all work was stopped. Subsequently, when I became on very excellent terms with the Sheikh of the Mosque, I asked him why he had behaved in such an outrageous manner at the south-east angle, injuring his own prospects as well as those of others. His reasons were many and various : but they appeared principally to be, that the Military Pacha had previously sent for him and told him he should be deposed from his post if he gave us any assistance, but also that he disliked the Sheikh of Siloam very much. I went to see Izzet Pacha, but he was obdurate : kai;ly kxc a nations. 145 saying I liad no vizierial letter, and that tlie Military Pacha was very strict in his religious views ; after con8idera])le difticulty I arranged with him for the nonce to work at some distance from the Sanctuary. I commenced work at one of the old gates of the first wall, near the English Cemetery, and also along the third wall near the Damascus Gate : but it was evident that there was a desire to tire me out and make the excavation impossible ; seeing this, I made a long list of places, and whenever we were stoj)ped in one, we commenced work in another, until the J*acha became quite exhausted in his objections, and then, having baflled him, I returned to the original j)laces ; this disagreeable kind of work continued for some weeks until I had got a firm footing in Jerusalem. One of tlie chief fears of the Military Pacha was that I miglit suddenly appear under the leaves of his " Palm Tree," and in order to secure it, all the time I was at Jerusalem an additional night guard was kept in the Mosque itself, to prevent the " Mole," as I was called, making his way in. Also an un- accountable rumour arose that I had arrived on a very sinister mission; that I was to place small ])acketa of gunpowder around the Sanctuary walls at a great depth, and then, when they had grown or developed during the course of years into barrels of gun|X)wder, I was again to come and fire them, in order to destroy the grand old walls. Whether this insiine notion was promulgated by the Military Pacha, J cannot say, but its object evidently was to cause dislike among the |X)oplc to onr excavalinns. J. 146 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. Fortunately I commenced to open up a deep cleft in the rock near the Russian Buildings, to the north of the city, and this, together with our actually finding water under the great causeway, changed the opinions of the people, and many of the fanatics then allowed that we might be looking for water ; but the Pachas could never look with favour on the undertaking ; and more than once my men were driven away from the works in my absence with a threat of imprisonment ; still by persevering con- stantly I gradually secured my position. The vizierial letter arrived early in March, and expressly excluded all work in the Noble Sanctuary. Fortunately it gave us a reason for this, that the Sanctuary had never been visited except by the Prince of Wales, they confusing it with that of Hebron. For at this time in Jerusalem all Franks might visit it, either by goiug to the English Con- sulate and paying ten shillings, or by going to the American and others and paying the regulated ■amount. This was a most happy mistake, for as long as it existed I assumed that there was no reason why I should not work in the Sanctuary if I could, and at the same time I did not present the letter, so that its exact terms were not known. I thus managed for several months to prevent any active measures being taken against my work, while gradually closing in on the walls of the Sanctuary and examining them. With our present knowledge of Jerusalem it is difficult to look back and realise tlie stride that has been made since 1867: for many of tlie points now set at rest were doubts which troubled the mind, but EARLY EXCAVATIONS. 147 (lid not quite influence the opinion. In those days a few people believed in Mr. Ferguswon's strange theories regarding the Temple, which he has since agjiin advocated so stoutly, in spite of every ju'oof against him; hut many more were troul>led and indouht: wiliiout in any way following him, they were per- plexed. One of the great results of the excavations is to overtlirow Mr. Fergusson's theory for ever, to establish the exact position of tlie Temple courts, and to allow people to discuss the minor details while all agree in princii)les. I say all, because I do not think there is anybody who has gone into the subject during the last ten years who can countenance Mr. Fergusson's theories; of course those few who followed him in bygone days cannot be expected to take up so intri- cate a matter again, and travel through the subject ; they will continue in their former opinions to the end. During the first few months of my sojourn in Palestine there were so many obstacles to our exca- vations, both from the diflicultios placed in our way l»y the Pacha, and by tlie want of money and mining- frames, that we were only able to work spasmodically. During that time I was frequently away from Jeru- sjilem, and Corporal Birtles was left in charge: and no sooner was my ]iack turned than the Pacha invented some excuse for hindering us. At last it became apparent to me that I must devote my attention entirely to the PToly City, and give up the survey : both on this account, and because it became apparent to mo that a trigonometrical survev onlv would suffice I. '2 148 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. for Palestine, and that any reconnaissance must even- tually have to be gone over again. I did not cease to press this view, until at last 1 had the satisfaction of seeing it taken up, and preparations made for carrying it out in 1871. The magnitude of our proposed operations at Jerusalem was never thoroughly realised until after we had commenced work ; writers and speakers, when in a poetic frame of mind, had alluded to the " sixty feet of rubbish " on which the modern city was built; but even this depth was mentioned with a certain uneasy reservation : and it was not until we had clearly demonstrated the great accumulation of rubbish, down even to depths of 130 feet,^ — covering massive walls, even now over 200 feet in height, — that the full grasp of the great work we were engaged in became a]3parent_, and efforts were made to assist me in a manner in any degree proportionate to the work in hand. I. was told I must get results ; not to go where I thought best for the work, but to go where every basketful unearthed would give information. I had to choose. My first efforts were about the southern wall of the Temple inclosure. I \vas told by Izzet Pacha not to work near it ; but that I could work elsewhere. However, his successor, Nazif Pacha, wlio arrived in March, 1867, rescinded all the former permission, and insisted that I must not open a pit anywhere without first obtaining his sanction. This was so contrary to the spirit of the open instructions he had received (he may possibly have received confidential EARLY EXCAVATIONS. HU directions), that I refused to notice the rules lie laid down, for it put me into a worse position than aiiy- lx)dy in the city ; any proprietor of lan«l could dig in his own ground, and if I made my hargain with the pro[)riet(tr I was really only diggi?ig for him. Accordingly, I picked out a spot along the south wall, about eighty feet from the south-west angle, concealeil l»ehind some j)rickly pears, where we worked down along the wall in security ; at the same time I also commenced another shaft at the south, about forty feet from the wall in the open, for at that distance it was not supposed 1 could get near the wall itself. We mined in this case down to the rock, and then run along its surface until we reached the great wall, and there w^e commenced our work, examining the masonry. All this time our men were being threatened by the Pacha with imprison- ment and driven away ; but after they discovered that I looked after their interests, they came back again, though sometimes intimidated, for a few days : all except the nervous ones — men that were not required. The people of Siloam are a lawless set, credited with being the most unscrupulous rufiians in Palestine ; perliaps such qualities make them good workmen in dangerous places. This at least I can say for them, that they were industrious, willing, and good-tempered, easily made to laugh. Siloam and Lifta, villages north of Jerusalem, supplied our works, from twenty to fifty men daily ; we also employed a few Nubians and men from the city. They were not allowed to work by families, but were mixed up as much as possible, so that in 150 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. case anything was found they would not be able to keep it secret. In the hands of these men we were constantly intrusting our lives, and always felt secure with them so far as their intentions were concerned ; but the accidental dropping of a stone, or even a crow-bar down a shaft, at the bottom of which we were working, was rather treated as a joke among them than as a matter for serious consideration. It took many weeks to drill these men into order ; at first they would do just as they chose, bat gradu- ally they learnt obedience. First it was necessary to establish three rates of pay, so as to encourage the industrious : and this was a very difficult matter to arrange, for it was contrary to their feeling of justice. Allah had made one man stronger than another ; why should the weak receive less than the strong ? Tliis had to be met in their own form. " Allah had made one man stronger than another, therefore, Allah intended that one man should receive more wages than another," Though this did not satisfy them at first, they gave way by our perseverance. Our first result was a general strike, and most of them took themselves off; but next week those who came in their place were paid at a lower rate than some who had remained and knew what to do, and so the strike assisted our efforts. When everything worked fairly, the rates were about l6\ od. to Is. 5d. per diem for work from sunrise to sunset. We paid about a penny a day more than the market jjrice, so as to secure our men, and soon found that a tight hold could be kept over them, especially when they dis- EAULY EXCAVATIONS. 1-''>1 covered that they received the full amount, instead of JKivin^ a jKjrcentage deducted by a middlenmn. Praying was a favourite excuse. A man, when he got tired of sliouldering the basket, wcndd suddenly face Mecca, and go through his furmuhe. Now we observed that they never prayed either before or after hours, or when they were working for themselves; in fact, that it was only an excuse for idleness ; and accordingly they were muret })ay for each prayer until they desisted. The villagers do not frequently go to the Friday prayers in the mosque, but they found they should like to do so while with us; this was very undesirable, because, when there, they were liable to be cross-questioned l)y the Turkish author- ities. I therefore arranged that one of their number, the head of a family, who enjoyed the distinction of wearing a green turban, should take the sins of the whole j>arty each Friday, and carry them to the mosque: this had a very good effect, for he was paid for this service, and he liked it, and being of tlie family of the Prophet he was much respected, and had inlluence among his clan. A little deference thus paid to tlie old heads of families allowed nic to be stricter with the younger branches. The fellahs, or villagers, have a very simple dress, a white skull cap, with a handkerchief rolled round it of red and yellow or white, to form a turban ; a cotton shirt fastened at the waist by a leathern pouch, and over this a woollen abba. Sometimes they wear a coloured cotton waistcoat under the abba, and in cold weather a sheep-skin coat, wool inside, witli tlie leather coloured bright blue or crimson ; !•■ lilc i slip- 152 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. pers completed their costume. When they go beyond their villages they always carry arms, generally a very long gun with a flint lock. When working hard they take off the abba and throw down their shirt, which remains suspended by the leather band, and in extreme heat they work naked. The fellahin, like other Easterns, do not know the use of the spade ; they only use the mattock ; striking towards them when they work : thus the muscles for throwing from them are not developed, neither are those for wheeling a barrow ; the conse- quence was that those men who were initiated into English working ways complained bitterly at first that they felt as though they had been well beaten ; gradually, however, the younger ones became used to the work, and were proud of their proficiency. A great deal of the work, however, had to be done according to the manners of the people : tbat is to say, by means of a mattock and bas^ket and rope. The baskets are made of rushes at Lydd, and will carry about 25 lbs. of earth ; the man draws the earth into the basket with the mattock, and then carries it off on his head, or fastens a ro^^e to it, and allows it to be hauled up by his companion. In some cases, where the ruins were near the sur- face, the earth all around was carried off: but where we had to go to great depths, shafts had to be made use of, and galleries driven ; both these ought properly to have been sheeted with wood, but owing to the want of frames we had to do much of the work without frames. Of course if tlie earth we mined through had been hard and tough, as it is in some EARLY EXCAVATIONS. 153 parts of tlic city, frames would nut liave been so necessary; Imt about tlie places where we worked there were often layers of stone chips many feet deep, tliroiip;h which we had to make oiir way, which had no cohesion and would run like water. The shafts were generally four feet square, outside the city, but smaller in the streets ; gallery frames three feet wide and four feet high. In commencing a shaft, the first four cases or sets t>f frames would bo laid in together, and then we began putting each frame one below the other as the earth was taken out : often the stones were so loose that it run down along the exterior of the frames and up again into the shafts, leaving the frames in the most perilous condition. In these cases wooden sticks were driven in and brush-wood stuffed in also, but this did not always prove successful, and often when the workmen were left alone for an hour or two, it would be found that there was alongside the shaft a hole running from top to bottom, quite un- supjiorted in any way, into which masses of chips would continually fall until some large stone wcnild be laid bare and lose its equiliJ)rium. This would descend with a ciush, dragging tons of debris with H, smashing one side of the shaft flat against the other, and breaking up the boards like so many sticks ; on these occasions it haj>pencd fortunately that no men were killed. They ran up the sides of the shafts at the first indication of the danger and escaped. Nothing could be done to prevent such accidents ; they wtre sinq)ly inevitable. I>ut we took every pre<':tiiti(in <<• jui'vont loss of life, :"iil liiid if not been 154 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. for the very stringent rules acted up to, there is no doubt that we should have lost many lives. I had in each shaft proj^er ropes for the men to come up by, but to save themselves trouble they would sometimes climb up by the frames alone, or else be hauled up by their companions, by the thin rope which held the basket ; both these methods were most dangerous and strictly against orders. I had on one occasion to be very hard, on an ac- cident occurring, owing to a disobedience of orders ; the man had insisted on climbing up by the boards alone, when the corporal was elsewhere, and when near the top fell back and broke his back. In a previous accident I had sent the man home, and paid his wages while he was ill, but now the man had to get his friends to take him home and receive no pay during his illness. This tended somewhat to check the careless, but still not very much. They are a remarkably fearless set of men when engaged on such work : and had they been more attentive to regula- tions, perhaps they would not have done such excel- lent work. I have often stated since my return to England that we were frequently in danger of being blown up by the loose shingles, which in an instant would destroy all our galleries or shafts, and I have found much difficulty in making myself properly under- stood. The stones or chips which form so great a portion of the de'bris around the old temple area have not only no cohesion, but they slide one on another with great facility, and the consequence is they approach in some degree to the character of a EARLY EXCAVATIONS. 155 fluid. As for cxHinple, on ii tank lull of those stones being broken into a few feet from the bottom, the stones flowed out of the small hole we had made for days as we cleared them away, until the mass inside reached nearly the level of our hole : just in the manner that corn flows out at the lower opening in an Indian granary, or in an English stable, only the stones flow much more freely and vigorously. It follows, then, in driving a shaft through several feet of this stuff (sometimes twenty or tliirty feet), that the stones will flow through every little hole, and that thus gradually around the shaft the whole mass is moving slowly but surely^ Should any un- toward event occur, a frame break, or a large stone, often fifteen to twenty tons weight, get dislodged, there will l»c a general movement, the shaft will become skewed, the loose stones blow up through tlie bottom and sides, and in an instant the whole become a wreck. Generally the men knew by a trembling of tlie whole fabric a few seconds before this tot)k })lacc and got clear; but it was a very hazardous work and gave me intense anxiety : for ai)art from the desire to prevent loss of life, there is no doubt that if 1 had met with any serious accident in which we were not ourselves killed, there would have been a very strong feeling raised in the city ac^ainst us by the Turkish authorities, and it would have at least stopped the work. The strain on the nerves during this work was intense, and required of the men the greatest amount of fortitude and self-control ; again and again they would entirely lose all power of restraining the in- 156 UNDEEGEOUND JERUSALEM. voluntary movement of the muscles, so that tlieir limbs refused to obey them, and again they would come to the work cool and collected. I was quite aware and familiar with this strange loss of power over the muscles, for I have found the same occur with men engaged in climbing over precipices for any length of time ; a day would come when the man would lose his nerve, often without any apparent cause, and it would be necessary to put him at other work for a week or so until he regained it. It was the same with these men ; they were put to work above ground, or at less perilous places, for three or four days, and on their return would have their nervous system restored. I was very fortunate in having Corporal Birtles with me. He had served with me for many years, and we exactly understood each other. I had taken great pains in former years in teaching him his duties in a meteorological observatory, of which I had the superintendence, and he had early learnt to be an accurate and close observer. I knew that all the instructions I gave him would be carried out im- plicitly, and that everything left to him would be done well. When I had asked him whether he would go out with me to Palestine, he had expressed his willingness to go with me anywhere, and I can confidently say that if my ten years' previous ex- perience of his worth had not enabled me to be certain of his acting exactly as I required, I should have been obliged more than once to pack up hastily and retire from the field : for matters were at times in so delicate a position that a slight divergence from EARLY EXCAVATIONS. 157 the instructions given would liave enabled Nazif Paclia to have put me in a false position, and thus have stopped our work entirely at Jerusalem. In ])aying this tribute to Corporal Hirtles' merits, 1 do not in any way wish to detract from the sterling work of those corporals who followed him; they all worked well as good men in their position would be expected to do : but they were young, untried, and inexperienced ; and even if fully equal in other respects to Corporal Birtles, they could not to me be the same, as in matters of so much delicacy as I had to deal with it was necessary to know beforehand how a man would act under different circumstances, and I could not expect to know any of them suffi- ciently well for this for several months. But I must not weary the reader with these matters, although they actually strongly influenced our work at Jerusalem. It is no easy matter for people in a civilised land to understand the difficulty of getting stores in Jerusalem ; we could get nothing but pickaxes and mattocks. There were a few planks to be obtained certainly, but the dealer, directly he heard we wanted them, put a double price on them, so that they were far cheaper to get from England. When I found that my necessities were not understood at home, I sent to Malta for some and received them, on pay- ment, from tlie War Department Stores ; the store- kee{)er being most ready to facilitate matters for re-payment. The mining frames, however, which were sent from Malta, would not stand the Syrian climate ; they rotted in a few weeks, so that they could not l)e used again, while those from England, 158 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. eventually obtained, after continued applications for them, could be used over and over again. Palestine is utterly destitute of timber, and the extremes to which we were often reduced at our work for want of proper materials made me on one occasion liken ourselves to the ancient Scythians cooking their victuals, according to Herodotus : who in their destitution, — in want of firewood, pots and such like, — stripped the flesh from the bones of their victims, stuffed it into the paunch with a little water, and burnt the bones underneath, thus making the ox or other victim cook himself. But I found it hard to get anybody to understand our difficulties. If I had had the money available, I could of course have ordered stores for myself from England ; but I was always unavoidably kept several hundred pounds in arrears, which I had to advance myself to pay the men on the spot. There were no less than twenty-seven shafts and excavations carried on during the time that I was away from Jerusalem, off and on, that is to say between March and June, before I had come back and regularly settled down to the work at the end of August. During the greater part of July and August, we did nothing in Jerusalem, pending the expected receipt of gallery frames from England, and an amended vizierial letter or firman. I will in this chapter refer only to the more important results obtained during these first four months, scattered about in various directions. The rock-cut steps were examined near the English cemetery, in the scarp, which there can be EARLY EXCAVATIONS. 159 no doubt, formed portion of the ancient wall of tlie Upper City : the first wall spoken of by Joseplius. These steps are just at tlio turn of the wall towards Siloam : tlie steps ljaeriences in the Jordan valley. M 102 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. CHAPTER VIII. JERICHO. " What shadows we are, what shadows we pursue ! " Burhe. My box of instruments having at length arrived, I commenced preparations for an examination of the Jordan valley, and with this in view, applied to the Consulate for the necessary guard. As I proposed to go out of the beaten track, and as the approaching harvest was attracting wild tribes from the other side, it was decided that the ordinary guard would not be sufficient, and consequently I was awarded the company of ten men of Abu Dis and a Bedouin sheikh, naraed Salah, belonging to a tribe friendly with that village. Body-guards in different coun- tries have their various duties : those in Palestine do theirs most thoroughly by running away when their charge is threatened, the object of which manoeuvre I will explain hereafter. I did not feel inclined for such a large retinue ; however it was declared that I must take them, and so I made them as useful as possible by turning them into navigators whenever the opportunity offered, for which, of course, they were paid extra. When I began to know the country better, and •iAIVHAftT L'TH PLAN OF THE JORDAN VALLEY. .iKKicHo. ig:j yet not. so woll ;us I do now, it mtju'iuvil to nic tliut, being so well known to tlio jKJOple, I might discard a guard altogether ; and on several occasions went to Jericho and back without an escort. The Demetrius of A1)U Dis at this became alarmed, for the village is nourished by the alms extorted from travellers; he therefore assembled his councillors, and after mature deliberation, forwarded to rae a discreet message, setting forth that they were, so far as I was con- cerned, quite willing that I should go alone on the road if I wished, but that they feared my example would be followed by other travellers, and that they should thus lose their livelihood ; they therefore felt sure that I should feel the necessity of going through the form of summoning: one from anu)n2: them, just by way of ceremony. Should I, however, think his company undesirable, then I must not be sur- prised if I found an ambuscade on my next journey ; and who could say what a stray shot might do ? The message was so entirely reasonable and business-like that I struck a bargain with them at once ; as I was aware from these appeals to their pockets that they were in earnest ; it was therefore settled that when we wanted to make an excursion we took one Abu Dis man with us. As I was now our for the summer months, it would have been too expensive to hire tents, camp ecjuipage, &c. I therefore bought them, and vciy well they lasted me. I engaged a cook, Khalil, and Ksau as dragoman, but he was not to j>ro\ ide footl ; I undertook the catering myself by the advice of friends in Jerusalem. I soon, liowever ^r 2 164 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. found that the game was not worth the candle ; the time wasted in making bargains and adding up piastres was worth more than the perquisites of a dragoman, and in future excursions I let him feed us at a fixed rate and take all the cares of tent-living upon himself. I had also been strongly advised to feed sparingly and live on milk diet during the warm weather, advice which I now consider very erroneous ; following it on this occasion cost me a very severe illness. I would recommend a traveller in these malarious districts to do as his system prompts him, eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, avoid sudden chills and getting fatigued on an empty stomach, and sleep with his head in a muslin bag. April 3rd. — Leaving Corporal Birtles to continue the excavations so well begun, we started off at 3 P.M., and rattling over the slippery rocks reached 'Ain es Sultan in three hours and a half. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho has been frequently de- scribed by travellers, and probably the reader at home has no clearer idea of any road in his imagina- tion than tliis : yet each passer-by views a subject from his own stand-point, and I venture to add a few observations to those already recorded. First, I must point out a fact which, I think, has not hitherto been noticed regarding the hill country of Palestine. While the back-bone or water-parting runs nearly due north and south, the ribs or spurs from it run from north-west to south-east : that is to say, on the west side of the parting they have a rather northerly direction of west, on the east side they have a rather JKlilCHO. i^^ soutlierly direction of east. Consequently any per- son landing on the coast and taking a path up any of the wadies, would find himself going south of east, and on getting on to the ridge and striking down, would find himself descending to the Jordan still to south of cast; if, on the contrary, he wanted, from the coast, to strike north-east, he would find himself crossing spur after spur throughout his whole journey. Thus if he were to take the first valley out of Jenisjilem, namely, the Kidron, and follow it, he would find himself down by 'Ain Feshkhah, near the Dead Sea. The wadies, however, between Jerusalem and Jericho are somewhat an exception to this rule ; the rocks here appear to have been exposed to ex- cessive convulsions ; the strata have not only been upheaved and curved, but they have split in the lines of the highest ridges, causing deep chasms extending h)w into the mountain sides ; thus on finding a wady dry of water, I ascended a spur to look down the next wady, but found between us a deep gulf cleft through the water-parting many hundreds of feet deep, — the Wady Kelt ; at the bottom of which, almost lost to view, was a foaming cataract fringed with oleander buslies; a striking contrast of green and freshness in a desolate white land. The eflect of these chasms is most jieculiar, and it is evident at once that some are tlie results of grand convulsions of nature and not of the gradual erosion caused by the fall of water over the clifl' side, year by year; add to this that on the northern side of the path the nu»untains are heaved 166 UNDEIiGROUND JEEUSALEM. up in a disturbed state, as though they had been a storm-tossed sea suddenly petrified : and on the southern side they are no less fantastic in their con- figuration, and everywhere naked and scathed by the fervid heat of the sun. The wildness of the whole surrounding enables one thoroughly to realise the parable of the man who fell among thieves : a scene which so far as the stripping and wounding is concerned is frequently enacted on this road at the present day ; it being no uncommon occurrence to meet naked men wandering home who have been beaten and stripped of their raiment by passing marauders : for though the road may be safe for months together, it may also at any time be infested for a few days by strange men who come up from the south, and for whose deeds the ordinary guards cannot be responsible. The entire disappearance of the great road uniting the City of Palms with Jerusalem, struck me with wonder : it seemed incomprehensible that so important a road cut through so rocky a country should have left no traces. I did not rest until I came upon a portion of it to the east of Khan Hudr, the half-way house ; here I found it cut in the side of the cliff and running along the southern scarp of Wady Kelt. It runs parallel to one of those grand old aqueducts which formerly conveyed water to Jericho, and it appears to me probable, that many of these were in a measure utilised as roads so far as a portion of the fabric could be made available. On subsequent occasions I was able to examine these aqueducts more fully and trace them up to jERicno. 167 their sources ; tliose in the Jordan valley itself I will describe as I visited them, but those in the Wady Kelt I will now mention. The remains, tlmuf^h conspicuous, are isolated, and require very Ciireful examination before their exact continuations are determine*!. Al)Out a mile east of Khan Hudr a fine aqueduct crosses the Wady Kelt ; it is built arch upon arch, and is about 200 i\iet above the stream beneath ; the masonry supportin*:^ it beini^ about SO feet high. The arches are round. This splendid piece of masonry appears to have carneense was spared in gathering it together : the irrigation which ensued from the surplus no doubt contributed to make the City of 168 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. Palms that " divine " place so much extolled by Josephus. As we passed down towards it from the hills the whole atmosphere changed, the dry scorch- ing blasts from the deserts ceased, the sun's declin- ing rays became tempered by the ascending mists, and the fragrance of a prairie of fresh flowers, notably the night scented stock, overpowering the scent of malaria, gave us a welcome which we were not soon likely to forget. We had left Jerusalem amid cold winds, often prevalent during the first week in April, and we found ourselves at Jericho in a delicious atmosphere, which made the mere breathing a pleasure. Our camp was pitched under one of the mounds near the 'Ain es Sultan, mounds which it was my intention to cut through. Travelling in Palestine generally entails a late dinner, also a hearty one, bringing on indigestion and nightmare to many who have not suffered from that complaint before ; but there is a difference, I have found, between the nightmare in a tent and the same in a stone house, as at Jerusalem. In camp, after a late, heavy supper, in which olive oil has taken a very prominent part, I have now and then been visited by the unwelcome intruder, which usually, on these occasions, took the form of my being surrounded in a defile and attacked hand to hand : invariably it was attended with the same results ; my revolver never missed fire, vnj cudgel never swerved from the heads of the victims, one after the other they were shot down or laid low, until, flushed with victory, I would awake, pleased to have done my duty towards my fellow-men, and in a healthy glow settle JERICHO. 169 to sleep again, feeling all the better for my supper, and at peace with the world. It was not only when well guarded that my dreams took such a pleasant course, it was just the same when among thievish villagers witli no other companion than the cook, the muleteers having gone to a more secure place ; and again it was the same when in a tent on a lonely spot to west of Jerus;ilem, the reputed haunt of thieves: there, where even my servant left me and my little dog disapj^ired, I tucked my clothes under the mattress to prevent their being stolen, buckled my revolver round my night-shirt, and slept as pleasjintly as though I had been in the most secure {x)sition. The insecurity of this spot was so well known that I wj\8 urgently advised to come into the hotel : I had no sooner done so than all my combats were reversed in their results. The revolver would not fjro ofl', my club hung in mid-air, I w;is cudgelled by my jissailants and slain over and over again. It was ever the same with me, I slept miserably in the thick-walled houses, but happily in a tent. Camp life is the life for Palestine. On this night of my arrival at 'Ain es Sultan, I was too full of the prospects of opening up the mounds to suffer from the heaviest supper. Grand visions of what existed in the interior dimly shadowed themselves forth and excluded every other view : the colossal figures which emanated from my excited imagination far exceeded anything obtained from Nineveh by Layard. And now that the dream of bringing them to England is over, now that this 170 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. draw in the lottery of life is a blank, can I say they were not met with, that others do not yet exist within those mounds ? In truth, I cannot. In excava- ting those remains of a bygone race, we were groping in a land of shadows and phantoms ; ever and anon, as the pick opened up the soil, the half-light revealed to us objects which evaded our grasp, which, on being brought to the strong daylight, vanished from view and returned into the dust from which they were constructed. The very bricks ceased to exist as bricks when exposed to the air. It cannot, then, be said that in these mounds, so thoroughly ripped open, there are not monuments of the greatest importance 3'et existing, but if so, they must be obtained in some special manner, for a few seconds sufficed to take away their appearance and leave but a yellow marly clay. I was not unprepared for this result, but I hoped against hope. Dr. Rosen, with his excellent good sense, as a parting piece of advice on my leaving for this enterprise, said, " Do not be disappointed if you find nothing in the mounds of Jericho, everything there must have been brick ; all their architectural ornaments will have perished, your results will be negative ; but, recollect, negative results are next in importance to positive results, only they are not recognised by the world." And he was right ; years s]3ent in negative results, by which the explorer blots out erroneous views, are soon forgotten, while perhaps one single identification and brilliant idea, and nothing more than an idea, is eagerly seized on and made much of. Strange it is that so much time must be spent in correcting the errors of those who .lEUICHO. 171 have gone het'ore. Why is it so? Not as a rule tlie explorer's fault, I assert, but the fault of you, reader, who will insist on reading enthusiastic passages as sol)er sense and skippinp^ over the dull truths. Probably the most thankless task, the sternest duty, of the explorer is the reducing to an absurdity some of the theories that at present exist ; so long as they are believed in he finds his efforts laughed to sct»rn ; as soon as he has overtlirown them they are forgotten, and his services likewise. It is the man who makes positive discoveries who alone can expect his services to be recognised by the world at large, and vet i)ossiblv more than treble the amount of labour must be s})ent on the subjects leading to negative discoveries, on work which will be forgotten. But as yet I had scarcely thought these matters out, fame was before me ; 1 h;vd but to touch the mounds and the sculj)tures of old Jericho would spring forth : fortunately, my dreams did not obscure my judgment ill my working hours, or in each brick might have been read the name of some old monarch, in each mound found a name embalmed in Holy Writ. In identifications I have been cliary of jumping to a conclusion, knowing from exj)erience the amount of useless lalK.)ur to which each rash assertion may .subject those who follow. And in sooth there is another reason, — the land is sacred, its ruins are true .wins, which have only to be faithfully searched for to be found. Let us not be in a hurry about it, let the identifications stand forth of their own accord so that none can deny them; then is the truth of Holy Writ magnified in the eyes ot all : but, on the other haml, 172 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. a faulty identification brings discredit on all and everything, even on the true site where it is found : for the usurper stands in the way and the sceptic points his finger of scorn and declares that they may be made to order ; thus is interest in the Holy Land reduced. The views of the society under whose auspices I was working were, I believe, always in accord with what I have thus stated ; do not therefore expect to find in eacli page some new site ; the most I can hope is to help those who follow after, and not to retard them by giving work to unravel. April 4:th. — A delicious morning gradually turn- ing into liaze and then into rain. The heat great after that of Jerusalem, for it has been at 80° Fahr. during the night and promises to rise higher during the day ; but who can vouch for an hour at this time of year, when chilling winds alternate with scorching blasts in rapid succession. The day was devoted to an examination of the ground, where we were to dig and where to photograph ; we paid a visit to the Jordan, and while on our journey over the plain let me give a description of it, not a long one, for we went quickly over the ground, so fast, that poor sheik] 1 Salah indignantly declared that I made his stomach ache ; for wliich I sympathetically pre- scribed a decoction of peppermint water from the wild shrub which grows so luxuriantly around. In describing the Jordan valley in which we were to pass so many days, I need make no apology, for very slight descriptions of it have hitherto been published, and, indeed, I believe that there are only JERICHO. 173 two Kuro|xjans now living who liave traverfied botli Itaiiks of the river : namely, Dr. riiaplin and myself. I-'rom the fresh waters of Tihcrias, whose surface is ahout ()0() feet hclow the level of the ocean, to the acrid waters of the Dead Sea, at a depth of 1300 feet, the Jordan, for (iO miles as the crow flies, flows throup-h a deep depression or crack on the earth's surface; the liills on either side, th(»iigh g-athcriiiii^ in and nearly meeting-, nowhere come sulliciently ch^se as to form a ravine or narrow gorge. These mountains, naked and barren, rise to a height of 4000 to GOOO feet above the plain, and are in places precipitous in tlie extreme. In early ages of the earth's surface, no doubt, the crack was nearly double its present depth, the moun- tains meeting at the bottom, and the lower portion, up to the ocean line, filled with salt-water from the l{ed Sea. In time the erosion from the moun- t-Jiins would have silted up the crevice ; more in one place than another, leaving deeper depressions at Huleli, Tiberias, and the Asphaltites. Then the rise of the land in the desert of Zin cut off this arm from the ocean, and left it to its own resources. Gradually, then, the waters shrunk from their former dimensions, the supply was not equal to the great evaporation, and the old silted-np bottom appeared : who can say now when this first happened, for the flat plains of Ccxjle Syria show as distinctly that they were once the bed of a v;vst inland lake as do the plains of the Jordan? As the water shrunk away, the springs of the .Ionian at Dan woidd aj»pear, the plains, the lake, the morass of liuleh, the lake of 174 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Tiberias, tlie great plain of the lower Jordan, nntil at last the Salt Lake was concentrated to its present size, evenly balanced with its issues and receipts. It hides away its one talent as it gets it, and gives back what it has received, neither more nor less ; it pays no interest, it makes no gains ; but simply gives back to the clouds what it has received from the rivers, and makes no use of the gift while in possession. The upper lakes were at first, no doubt, left salt, but the springs would soon have refreshed them and carried their salt to the lower lake ; soon also the land would be thus cleansed, though even at the present day the salt keeps up an efifloresence over the surface of the plain where it has not been sufficiently irrigated. The silted-up portion of this wonderful crevice, thus bared by the contraction of the sea, became the " great plain " so famous in our Biblical history, the earliest historical account the world yet possesses. The " upper plain " of the Jordan valley, or Ghor, varies in width from one to twelve miles, and falls from Tiberias to Asphaltites about 700 feet, or, roughly speaking, 10 feet per mile. Like a street gutter, it has a slope in its length and also from its sides to its centre of about two to five degrees. Thus 'Ain es Sultan, about 6 miles west of the Jordan, is elevated about 600 feet above it, and the ground falls in that distance as much as it does in the whole distance from Tiberias. In other words, the fall in the length is about 10 feet per mile, and from sides to centre about 100 feet per mile. JERICHO. 175 Tlie nisli of water into the Dead Sea fluctuates ronsideraltly, and this causes a rise and fall in its level, for the time of greatest evaporation does not coincide with that of the fresliets. Were there no other regulating arrangement tlian evaporation, there might possibly be a considerably greater rise and fall in the level, even as much as 40 to f)() feet in a few years ; but it so happens that, at the southern end, there is a vast tract of land only submerged by a few feet ; when this is covered the evaporation is great ; sliould the waters be unduly extracted this becomes dry land; then the surface water is reduced in area, and thus the income and output of tlie sea is pretty evenly balanced, comparatively speaking. But yet from year to year, as it is, there is a con- siderable fluctuation, probably as much as five to ten feet, and that this is so is proved by tlie long lines of driftwood which line the shores and make successive water lines. Possibly the fluctuation in thirty years may be as many feet ; but we know for certain from existing remains that during the last two thousand years the average height has kept very much at the same level as at present, and that there is no great change going on in the level of the sea. In the jtlain it is otherwise: as it became from 3'ear to year more and more laid bare by tlic receding waters, the .Jordan flowed through it, at first on the surface, but gradually (owing to the great fall and consequent swiftness of the stream) cutting for itself a deep clumnel. Owing, however, to its very lively action, it was not content with a fixed channel, but shifted about from year to year, gradually cutting a broad 176 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. " lower plain " out of the " upper plain " in which it would wander at will. This lower plain is about 50 to 100 feet below that above, and is more uniform in its slope from north to south and is about a mile in width. Within it, the Jordan, about 40 yards wide, winds its eccentric course, constantly doubling on itself and rushing from side to side ; increasing day by day its lower plain by undermining the banks and carrying the mud therefrom into the Dead Sea, there to form a delta. The falling of one of these higli banks would easily bar the Jordan, divert the stream, and thus for a while cut it off from below ; and there appears nothing practically contrary to the theory of those who would thus account for the manner in which the Israelites crossed the river during their march upon the Promised Land ; only the Bible narrative gives no reason for supposing that this was the manner in which the march was rendered practicable. To my mind the coincidence of the Israelites ap- pearing at the ford on the very day that a bank may have fallen in and obstructed the waters of the Jordan involves as great a miracle as the waters standing up of themselves. Of the constant shiftins; of the Jordan river within historical times there can be no doubt, for I have observed that the old Roman bridge which once spanned it at Damieh (Adam ?) is now lying isolated and useless ; the river having left its arches and taken another course. At one time when there was a question of the Porte making a l)ridge again across the river, I jERicno. 177 seized tlie opportunity and urged on the Pacha the desirability of ascertaining whether tliis fine old bridge could not bo utilised by again bringing the river bed into its ancient course, and offered my services in the enquiry — it could be done at a coni[>;iratively small cost, and thus open up the country of Gilead. ]>ut the Pacha considered that destiny had disi)osed of the bridge, and it woidd be unwise to interfere with the inevitable. It is without doubt the " lower plain " which is spoken of in the Book of Joshua, " for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest." There have been many ex])lanations of this passage by savants, owing to a misunderstanding of the locality. The simple fact as recorded requires no modification. I deter- mined this practically, for I was on one occasion obliged to walk more than a mile through the over- llowing waters of Jordan in the standing corn. That the Jordan should overflow its banks at harvest time may appear curious, but it is simply owing to the harvest being early in that semi-tropical district, and just at the time when the awakening sun begins to thaw frozen Hernion, and cans.' Inr waters to swell those of the Descender. In speaking of this ** lower plain," let it not be supposed that it has a uniform edge on either side east and west ; far horn it, its banks are most irregular, for each tributarv has also nuide a lower i>lain for itself, uniting with that central one of the Jordan. The banks being of an alhivial deposit, are fretted away in the most singular manner; streams that can be passed over almost drysli'"b mic tinbosdnicd by a 178 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. succession of marly cliffs, which they seem incapable of having excavated. Their rugged sides (there can be no doubt) have however been torn away by these streams, assisted by the fervid sun, strong winds, and heavy rains. Towards the southern end of the " great plain," where the Wadies Kelt, 'Nwaimeh, Fasail, and others join together, their banks are broken up for miles in a series of cliffs offering a most peculiar sight ; not a series of hills but a system of valleys, the original plain being left standing, here and there, isolated and forlorn, giving a perfect idea of what has taken place on a larger scale over a great portion of Eastern Palestine. It certainly is a marvel to see these little streams, not twelve inches deep or six feet wide, winding through lofty banks which they have excavated, nearly one hundred feet in depth, whose irregularities extend often to more than a mile from the streams themselves. Thus there are two plains in the Jordan Yalley ; the upper or original plain, left by the contraction of the Dead Sea, reached from the foot of the hills on one side to their foot on the other : and cut out of this on a lower level is the lower plain, through which the Jordan and its tributary streams flow. It is quite out of the question that the upper plain should have in historical times been subject to the overflow of the Jordan ; it depends for its former rich cultivation upon irrigation by water from the springs located at the foot of the hills, or brought thither by means of the aqueducts already spoken of. Number- less streams are utilised for this purpose even in the JERICUO. 179 present melanclioly state of tlie country; but in former days, the remains of the aqueduct.s attest tliat a hirge portion of tlie plain was cultivated, which is now a salt desert. Josephus describes the plain as in his time divine, and states tliat the ambient air is of so good a temperature, that the people of the country are clothed in linen only, even when snow covers the rest of Palestine. lie, however, makes a marked distinction between summer and winter ; during the former time it is a paradise, but in the latter, owing to the extraordinary heat, contains a very unwhole- some air, so that nobody cares to come there. As Josephus describes it, so we find it at the present day, making due allowance for the changes due to cultivation. Thus on the 4th of April we found the country verdant and spread with flowers, just a month before the period wlien all around would be scorched up and burnt. On returning from our examination we met some friends also encamped at the 'Ain, and for our amuse- ment the inhabitants of Jericho, a debased race of black fellahin, came up and performed their dances with oriental decorum, dances which may have come down to them from the earb'est period, and which appeared to me strangely familiar, until it struck me that they were like those of the gipsies at Grenada. They ranged themselves in a semicircle, in front of us, and having selected a fugleman, commenced a monotonous chant, to which they beat time by clapping their hands. The dancinof consisted of undulatins of the body, caused by shifting from one foot to the N 2 180 UNDEEGKOUND JEKUSALEM. other and swinging the body into equilibrium ; at the same time the head took part in the general movement, by nodding in time. The semicircle would sometimes close in upon us, and then the song of the men would turn into guttural wheezes and grunts_, which were, to say the least, unmusical. There was nothing pleasant, attractive, or picturesque in the dance on this occasion, and the only sentiment it inspired us with was disgust. A small piece of magnesium wire was lighted suddenly in their faces, but though evidently somewhat startled, they quickly recovered themselves and continued their dance without intermission. After we had stopped the performance, it was then our turn ; one of our friends having several Pharaoh's serpents, which were duly lighted and wriggled out their fiery lengths, greatly to the alarm and delight of the assembled people. They were not, however, surprised ; the fact is, they live surrounded by phantoms and genii, and have so strong an impression of the magical power of the Frank, that I think nothing he could do would cause any astonishment. He can bring down rain from heaven or fire from the earth, pictures from the sun, and ice out of white powders ; what is there he cannot do ! April 5th. — Up with the lark and wandered over the plain of Jericho ; sitting down on a knoll covered with ice-plant, and overlooking the tangle which perhaps covers many an interesting site, I commenced thinking of the mounds we were excavating. Sud- denly I thought I was in the fens of Lincolnshire, and on looking up to ascertain the cause, found myself in the midst of many larks, who fluttering in the air jERicno. 181 sang their raorniiig hymns. It was a ^reat pleasure io be greeted with notes I knew so well, anil t<> find them the same whether in Jericho or LincohiHhire; and I found no reJidier method of recallin;;: liomc associations, wlien in Palestine, than by wandering early in the morning under the song of the lark. Finding that I had insuflicent picks and mattocks, I sent in a muleteer to Jerusalem for some more, and in the meantime my ten merry men took it in turns to dig and delve on the top of the mound al)ove the spring-head, and to keep guard by night. They were a contented set and s;\ng cheerfully at their task, not troubling themselves with overwork, though they nn'ght be supposed to be working hard, for they stripped nearly stark naked during the heat of the day, whenever sheltered from the sun. I went down to the Jordan mouth to examine two curious tells there, but could see nothing but pieces of broken pottery. One is called Tel Koshidiyeli, the other, for which I coidd obtain no name, lies close to the swampy ground at the Jordan mouth, where two years after 1 spent some pleasant but fruitless hours with Kob Roy vainly searching for traces of the crocodile ; but none were to be seen. On our return wo made arrangements for photo- graphing the aqueducts which lie north and south of Win es Sultan. Tlie most interesting is an ancient bridge of four semi-circular arches, which once brought the water from 'Ain ed Duk over the Wady 'Nwamieh to Es Sumrah. The remaining arches of any size over the wadies are of later origin, and pointed : probably of the time of the Saracens, 182 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. anterior to the Crusades. The system of aqueducts was not thoroughly worked out, as only isolated portions still remain giving their directions generally, but an approximate idea was not difficult to obtain. Those already mentioned as existing in the Wady Kelt discharged into the great pool Birket Mousa which lies at the mouth of the pass at Kukiin, and one of these appears to have been carried at a later date on to the sugar mills. From 'Ain es Sultan one was carried south across the Kelt to the ruin at Moharfer, and the other doubt- less is a portion of that still to be seen at Kasr el Jeheudi, or Convent of St. John the Baptist, near the ford of Nimrin on tlie bank of the Jordan. The sugar mills are also supplied by an aqueduct from 'Ain ed Diik, which again has a branch from 'Ain el 'Aujah ; a portion of this water is also carried to Es Sumrah. With few exceptions these aqueducts may be considered as comparatively modern, but it is probable that they are constructed on the site of olden ones. In their ruined condition at the present time they seem to irrigate more than ten square miles, but in former days, when carefully attended to, they were sufficient to keep in cultivation the greater portion of the upper plain of the Jordan between Fasail and Kasr Hajla ; in addition to this they turned many small mills in their course, not to speak of the large sugar mills above 'Ain es Sultan. April Qth. — It being necessary for Corporal Phillips to go into Jerusalem to obtain some instruments, I continued sketching the country, and for this purpose JERICHO. IS3 scrambled up to tlie top of 'Akaheh beit Jubr, a bigh jwak on tbe soiitli of tbo pas8 leading up to Jerusalem. From here I could see far south over the Judean Avilderness, but the northern view was cut oft' by the headland of Ash el Gburub. After taking my round of observations I sat down and conversed with Sheikh Salah as to the merits of his Arab mare, amid the humming of bees and buzzing of insects among the aromatic herbs. Showing him my Colt's revolver, which, to my dismay, he pointed near his Arab mare, I asked him what he would lose if he killed her. lie made a very sporting offer : " Take a shot at her, and if you kill her she is yours; if you don't hither, you nmst give me the price I ask." A proposition which tickled my fancy, as at that rate I should either gain a dead horse or lose a large sura of money. Seeing that his knowledge of the precision of a revolver was most iusutlicieut, I was about to show him what it would do on a better target than his good mare, when we were both startled by loud cries for help down below us in the pass ; we scrambled down as fast as we could, expecting to find some travellers at bay, when to our surprise we saw our own muleteer and his fellah guide near a kicking mule. The cause of the disturbance was soon ascer- tained ; the muleteer was endeavouring to mount when the animal turned " stupid " and lashed out, kicking him in the hand and head, cutting a piece out of bis cheek the size of a halfpenny, causing his teeth to bite a small piece off his tongue, and knocking some of them out ; the exact injuries were only ascertained aftenvards, for at tlie time we thought 184 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. the boy was killed outright. He was still conscious, and we carried him into our camp with some trouble : he rallied during the night, and in a few days became convalescent. During my wanderings this day I was much struck with the singular resemblance between the peaks of Ash el Ghurub (the Raven's Nest) and Kurn Surtabeh ; both project into the Grhor, the former at a distance of eighteen miles : the latter at three miles, and being much smaller, appeared (near Jericho) to exactly cover the former, so that when the covering was not quite complete, there was the appearance of some optical illusion, the nearer peak having its outline sur- rounded by the further one. One solitary palm yet marks the site of those groves which gave their name to the city ; and very few are seen elsewhere in the Jordan Yalley, excepting on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, where the coast is thickly fringed with them, and in the deep ravines which issue from the east into that sea. There seems, however, no reason why they should not grow in all perfection now as formerly. Sa3wulf mentions all kinds of palms as growing at Jericho a.d. 1102. ( 185 ) CHAPTER IX. I in: MOUNDS OF jericho. "There lives more faith in honest doubt, «• Believe me, tluui in half the creods." Tennyaon. April 1th. — Reino^ Sunday, our work of excavating was stopped and the fellahin allowed a respite ; they amused themselves with shooting birds in the woods near. The temperature was delightful, and after morning service, which, by the way, I invariably read to my j)arty on Sundays, we w^ent off to see the caves of Kuruntul, the Arabic name for the Quarantana. This is a rocky scarp rising among the hills lining the west side of the valley, about 1100 feet alx>ve our csimp, and presenting to us an almost {perpendicular face. In this cliff are cut innumer- able cells of the anchorites who once used to frequent the spot ; the summit of the cliff is the traditional site of our Lord's temptation during the forty days, from which the name Quarantana is derived. It does not a])pear as the traditional site until the time of the Crusades, but the remains in the cells seemed to me to date from the early days of Christianity ; and I think it probable that the mountain side may have l>een pierced during the sj\me i)eriod as were 186 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. the rocks of Mar Saba. In those days when the Christian Church was succumbing before the in- fluence of sloth and luxury, and when its more earnest adherents saw no medium course and flocked into the wilderness to dwell, it is natural that the scene of our Lord's temptation should have been a spot eagerly sought after, and the summit of this perpendicular cliff of Quarantana is well chosen. In these days of unrest and turmoil, the sight of a real anchorite in such a locality is a glimpse worth obtaining, and at this time there happened to be just one hermit left ; I was therefore most anxious to see him, and after ascertaining whether our visit would be agreeable to him, we started off towards his rocky abode. He is an Abyssinian, one of several who used to sojourn in these cells some years ago, but who have since departed to their far-off home. Our way lay over some low swelling hills, on which the ruins of the sugar mills still remain, and the aqueduct which brought water to work them from 'Ain ed Duk. These mills appear to have been put up after the Moslem conquest, when the plain of Jericho was in a high state of cultivation ; even as late as the 12th century it was accounted the garden of Palestine. Passing over these hills and ascending a gentle slope of broken stone, we came to the foot of the mountain cliff rising precipitously above us like a wall, facing to the east and pierced with many cells, opening one into the other, tier above tier. After making several ineffectual attempts to find our way through the honeycombed mountain, we at last hit THE MOUNDS OP JEUICHO. 187 upon the rig-lit course. Our friend's abode was at no great liei«^ht above us, and we soon reached it ; it was furiiislied in the liuniblest fasliiun witlj a mat and water jug. Here the simple liermit spends many of his days, for he does not live here entirely but makes periodical visits to Jerusalem, and he requires no guard on his route ; his pockets are so empty he can sing before robbers. I was much interested in his life and wished to ascertain his views, but these were exceedingly dillicult to arrive at through the medium of broken Arabic, which he has added to his native Amharic. I could learn nothing from him except that he had led a comtemplative life unmolested by the Arabs, who invest even a Christian dervish with a certain halo of sanctity. I had no occasion to suppose that his life was anything but that of a simple anchorite, no reason to think him an olive-coloured Friar Tuck. He possessed a volume of the Scriptures in his native tongue. There was something very pleas;int in his face, yet a vacancy at times, as though years of seclusion had dimmed his mental energies ; perhaps he did not possess suflicient poetical temperament to rise to the opportunities offered by his al)ode, than which no l)etter site for such a life could be selected. A most glorious view stretched out before him, in which the ruins of the past were ever present, reading him a perpetual lesson. We clambered up from cell to cell by staircases and projections cut out of the rock, until we found ourselves above our camp by many hundred feet ; but though we had heard of a passiige leading 188 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. to the summit, we could see no indication of it, and were obliged to descend again somewhat disappointed. The cuttings in the rock reminded me of the galleries in the north front of Gribraltar. About midway up was a chapel, and in it, and in many other of the cells, still remain frescoes, remarkably fresh as to colouring, and representing saints of old, executed in the style appertaining to the fourth and fifth centuries. On our return we found the lower system of cells to be still used by the fellahin for storing up their implements as they were in the seventeenth century, when Henry Mauudrell visited them. To what an endless succession of hermits and monks this plain of Jericho seems to have been subject ! Remains of monasteries appear in all directions ; and even in earlier days, before the Christians had taken up a life of seclusion, Pliny describes with astonishment a race of celibates, living without money and with- drawing themselves from mankind, located in the Phoenicon or palm plantations near the northern end of the Dead Sea. The weather during the week had been somewhat warm, 90° Fahrenheit in the shade during the day, and 80° at night, but to-day it became perceptibly cooler and most enjoyable. We had been victims to flies and mosquitoes, now taken to flight ; my mosquito net, home made. Was so successful that I must de- scribe it. A piece of crinoline wire bent into a circle of about 18 inches in diameter, covered over with calico, and to its edges sewn a piece of muslin net gathered in all round, hanging down about 8 feet ; THE MOUNDS OF JERICHO. 189 Btrinpi from tlie centre of the crinoline, and a loop in the roof of the tent at a lieight of 6 feet. In the daytime this was hung on to the loop, and the muslin tieil into itself in a broad wisp; when night came on it was let down, and on getting into bed I drew it over me and tucked it in under the mattress all round. It was a simple and good arrangement, highly to be recommended. The scorpions and snakes about the 'Ain are very numerous ; some venemous insect under every stone, and on the weather cooling they took refuge in our tent and became very disagreeable. April Stk. — It was so cold and chilly, temperature going down to G0°, that if it were not for the con- tinued rain we hoped to have got much work out of the men ; but they were constantly wet througli, and being without any tent or covering were in- clined to l>e dispirited. We, however, made some holes in the mound.^^, which in the following spring I thoroughly cut through from end to end. But let me here put all results together and give an account of tlje tells of the Jordan Valley as I found them. This valley is not of uniform width, but very irregular; it may in a rough manner l>e divided into six districts. That from Tiberias to the bridge Mejamia al)out a mile in width, then for 8 miles to IJeisan (Ik'thshean) it is 3 miles in width; the plain of Bcisiin is an oval, about 8 miles from east to west, and from north to south. This is on the west side of Jordan, on the east side the plain is alxiut 2 miles wide ; it now sudiknly contracts, and the hills appioruh enrh nthcr iiifil tin- .Tmdan Hows 190 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. through a narrow valley, about a mile in width, for 10 miles, but in no case is it narrow enough to form a ravine ; it again opens out to a width of 7 miles as far as the headland of Kurn Surtabeh, where it is contracted, and after this again opens out for 20 miles down to the Dead Sea, forming the magnificent plain of Jericho, about 12 miles in width. The passes from the hill country into this plain from both west and east are generally tracks up the wadies which debouch upon the Jordan valley : and at their termination, a few hundred yards clear of the hills, on the plains, are mounds (or " tells," as they are called), to which little attention had been given previous to my visit, and which Dr. Robinson appears to have regarded as natural. Our excavations both on this and subsequent visits have proved them to be artificial, and the question as to their origin presents an interesting subject for speculation. Usually oval in plan, they rise to a height of about 50 feet above the surround- ing level, and are about 150 feet in length, by about 100 in breadth. They are usually isolated, though in some cases they appear to have been headlands cut off from the adjoining hills, and added to for greater command, as was the Frank Mountain al- ready spoken of. The most important point in connection with them is that they are for the most part situated at the foot of the mountain passes or wadies, as though to guard them ; some are also situated oppo- site the several fords of the Jordan, and there are several in the plain of Beisan, probably marking THE MOUNDS OF JERICHO. 191 the sites of cities, which tliey may have guarded. Ahhou^h ruins are found on tlie top of tljese mounds, tliey are for the most part comparatively modern, and it does not appear tliat any ancient stone guardhouses were erecte. Two isolated shafts 20 feet deep, and a cutting east and west 40 to 43 feet deep. Out of sliafts were brought up pottery, clay, tiint st(jnes, o 2 196 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. and limestone ; part of a stone dish and other fragments ; no layers were visible ; a quantity of black bituminous fragments were found at 13 feet, and a round pot of earthenware, which crumbled on being touched. No. 6. Two isolated shafts were sunk, and a cutting 30 feet deep from centre to west ; pottery, stone, and clay brought up ; a good deal of dark blue limestone ; two horizontal layers of bituminous stuff i to 2 inches thick, 8 feet below the surface ; at 15 feet below the surface was found a mortar about 18 inches in diameter. These mounds from top to bottom abound in fragments of pottery ; many of the jars were perfect until exposed to the air, when they were resolved into the same kind of clay as the rest of the mounds. A few small solid-looking jars were preserved, and they are now in England. A section of each mound was made. Nos. 7 and 9. Small mounds to east of Ain es Sultan, in the meadow land ; they were cut through, but nothing of importance found in them. As a general result on the completion of these excavations it may be said for a certainty that these mounds are artificial throughout, and that they probably are the remains of ancient castles. There is scarcely a doubt that the Ain es Sultan is that which Elisha healed on his return with the mantle of Elijah : and therefore these mounds sur- rounding it are probably the remains of the Jericho of that date. If this be so, I have to suggest whether it would not be worth while shifting the THE MOUNDS OF JElJlCllO. 11'7 whole moiiiKl witli the prospect of finding^ araonj^ the remains Koiiie record of the past ; this could be exccutod for 400/, lluviii*!^ thus a point to stirt from, it a})pears strang'e that tlie Roman Jericho should not be easily discovered, but it is yet hidden away ; probably all removed in after ages for the construction of Christian monasteries and Saracenic factories. Whether it yet lies among the tangled under- wood, to start out beneath the feet of some fortunate traveller, or whether its site is marked by the pre- sent castle of Er Riliah, or by the great Birket Mousji at the mouth of the pass of Kukim, is yet to be discovered. April dth. — On the evening before I left Jerusalem, Dr. l{osen informed me that Ilerr Zschukke had found a ruin which he supposed to be the aneient site of Gilgal, and asked me to go and see it. On in(piiry we found a ruin to the north of 'Ain es Sultan, called by the Arabs, Jiljul ; it has also the name of Es Sumrah (black ruin), and is situated on the Wady 'Nwaimeli, not far from the quarries of soft stone already mentioned. Although this might have been considered as an important identification, I was too cautious to make much of it, and felt very grateful to myself afterwards, as in the following year tiie name Jiljul had disap[)0;iird ; it was evidently not a true name. In 1871 the name reappeared at the Shajret el Ithleh, on the east side of Er Uihah, and was given to Lieut. Couder ; and again in 1873 it returned to the Es Sumrah ruin, and was there given to the Kussian 198 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Archimandrite. I have not myself the sL'ghtest faith in the name of Gilgal (Jiljul) existing as a true name among the people of the Ghor ; in fact, the Bedouin told M. Ganneau that it was a name belong- ing to the Franks. The knowledge we have that Arculf, in the seventh century, speaks of the church of Galgalis as standing in his time near Jericho, is sufiScient to assure us tliat there is no hope for any information from the Bedouin. Jericho was a centre of a nest of monasteries at one time, and the Church legends are likely to be engrafted on any true traditions the people may have been possessed of; we must, therefore, view with the greatest caution any stories which these people may recount, as they may have been obtained second- hand from the monks, and adapted to suit Moslem circumstances. After passing Es Sumrah (this fictitious Gilgal), where I afterwards excavated the apse of a church, we ascended the projecting headland to the north of us, and soon were on the summit of Ash al Ghurub, standing about 400 feet above the plain of the Jordan. No sooner were we up there than Salah's keen eyes discerned that there was something unusual going on ; he became greatly excited, and pointed out two strange Bedouins stealing through the brush- wood below us. But quickly his face brightened up, he shouted some words of warning, and the men turned in another direction, and disappeared in a hollow. He then told me that he had shortly before had intelligence that the Bedouin of the Ghor, to the TliK MOUNUS OF JKUlCHo. 1''^ iioitli of lis, were in a very excittMl and disturWl state, and that tlie sheikli of tlie Mesa'aid Arabs in Wady Ferali had licen murdered the day previous by his brother; tliat tliese men, lie had no doubt, were the f'li^ritives hiding? till the heat of the resent- raent of the tribe was over, and that he had given them some intclh'^ence which had altered their course. The great distance we could see, and which the voice could travel on that clear day, was simply marvellous; tlie men appeared like specks, yet perfectly distinct. This headland, the Xest of the Raven, so sin- gularly like a miniature of Kurn Surtabeh, has since been identified by Lieut. Conder as the Rock Oreb (raven), and a "Wady ed Dib (wolf), a few miles to the north, as the wine-press of Zeeb (wolf), and he considers his theory to have been positively con- firmed. The proposition is a happy one, and points to the care with which he has studied his subject ; at the same time, in the present state of our know- ledge, I think it can only be regarded as a coinci- dence on which nothing certain can be based. Ravens commonly inhabit the craggy tops of hills, wolves frequent the cover of the ravines : there are ]»robably many rocks of the raven in Palestine; it is certain that there are many valleys of the wolf. The fact, therefore, of a rock of the raven existing within a few miles of the valley of the wolf can scarcely l)e considered as a complete identification with Orel) and Zeeb. Had matters been reversed, had Zeeb been slain on the top of a rock and Oreb in a wine-press, and were 200 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. the peak of the wolf discovered near the wine-press (or low ground) of the raven, then the identification might have been considered a strong one, but as it is it must await further research. It has been suggested in the article " Oreb," Smith's ' Biblical Dictionary,' that Oreb and Zeeb were slain to the east of Jordan ; but this is not the impression resting on my mind after studying Judges vii. and viii. At the same I do not think that these Midian princes came down so close to Jericho as is this Ash el Ghurub; and yet is not this the very spot to which we have just seen the fugitives coming when spied out by Sheikh Salah, previous to their attempting to cross the Jordan at Nimrin ? As we went down and journeyed across the plain we came unawares upon a line of women carrying bags ; as soon as they saw us, our appearance over- came them, and shrieking, they threw down their bags and fled. We looked at their property ; it consisted of salt, and did not tempt us. Their alarm was probably caused by the sinister whispers abroad that there were maurauders about. We continued on through broken ground and scrub to the Shajret el Ithleh, a very remarkable tamarisk tree, which can be seen from all parts of the Jordan plain south of Kurn Surtabeh. Here I took some angles with my compass, and Sheikh Salah commenced telling me about the dis- turbances up north, and advised our return to Jerusalem at once. During the conversation my brass compass disappeared, and when looking for it, Salah proposed that the genius of the place had THE MOUNDS OF JERICHO. 2Ul absorbed it; it soon turned up, however, from a hole into which it liad fallen. This led to his making some jokes about brass, and to a history of the ruins there having once been a city of brass; and he gave a confused account of its having been taken by the Moslems on their way to Jerusalem, A full account of the legend has since been published under some of its forms, but there appear to be several varieties. They all, however, seem to be a garbled account from the Book of Joshua, probably obtained from Christians during the time that this part of the Ghor was covered with monasteries. But Jelal ed Din men- tions it also. We are still quite uncertain as to Jeri- cho's site, though the recent ventilation the subject has received may help eventually to lead to a correct identification. There can be no doubt, however, that the ruin close to the Sh;ijret el Ithleh is one of interest, and worth a detiiiled examination. I kicked up several pieces of tesserse and glass from the mound, which are signs of civilised habitations having once here existed. April lO/Zi. — To-day, having made arrangements for shifting our camp to 'Ain ed Duk, we started oil' to survey the portion of ground near the 'Nwaimeh ford of the Jordan. From the heavy rains which had fallen during the week the ground was strewn with gorgeous flowers, even in the desert portions, until we came upon the pieces of ground between the several wadies, where the saline matter still effloresces, and destroys vegetation. Arriving at the Jordan, Salah had a good wash and a full course of prayers. Wanting ♦<> Know 202 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. what time it was, I delighted him by obtainiug it from the sun's shadow on the compass : but when he wanted the direction of Mecca, and I used the same compass for that purpose, he did not Hke it; it was to him Hke blowing hot and cold with the same breath, and he insisted on my obtaining it from the aneroid barometer, a use to which such instru- ments can seldom have been put. In the evening we passed to our new camping ground at 'Ain ed Duk, supposed to be the ancient Docus or Dagon, where the water sjorings up beneath a terebinth tree, of which a photograph was taken. Ap?il lltli. — This day was devoted to a tour through the hills until we reached the peak of Kuruntul (Quarantana), which we had previously attempted to mount through the anchorite's cell from 'Ain es Sultan. The view from its summit, standing 1100 feet above the plain, was magnificent. Com- mencing our view at Kurn Surtabeh, we could see across the Jordan to Kulat er Rabad, thence south the whole sweep of the Jordan Yalley on either side ; the Dead Sea and wilderness of Judea as far as Koron Hajar, and to the west across the hill country to Abu Dis, Olivet, Tuleil Ful, Nejima, and the north. Truly a well-chosen spot for the traditional site of the Temptation. The top of the hill forms an artificial crater, like that at Herodium, probably from the crumbling of the ancient walls which formed the old fort or guard-house ; the greater part of the mound on which the fort was based appears to be artificial, about 150 feet by 75 feet; the west end is highest; walls THE MOUNDS OF JERICHO. 203 of slielly limestone. ( )ii a Iiigli point is an oratory or cliapel, 25 feet in length by 22 feet in breadtli. The foundations of the main building only remain, but an apse or mirhab, 7 feet 4 inches in diameter, still exists to a height of five courses. The stone inside is a compact limestone. It has been suggested by the late Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake, who visited it sub- sequently, that tliis was a Crusader's fortress; but as yet we have no authentic information giving a clear identification. April llth. — Taking leave of 'Ain ed Duk, we went over the hills, having arranged to meet our camp a few miles to north, on the Aujah, below tlie 'Ain. During the day we came upon a long stretch of sloping ground, al)out half a mile in length, and beautifully even. I took advantage of the oppor- tunity for testing the running powers of the "fleet foot" of our party, a tall, fine-looking black fellah, whose photograph was taken. Salah gave us a very good start, and we kept well together until near a tree — the goal — when the black suddenly stopped, quite pumped. Salah was surprised to find his black protege beaten, and his companions in camp laughed at him much, for he had been boasting. I paid for this race dearly, for having taken off my coat I omitted to put it on again, and caught a chill on the top of the next hill, which I thouirht nothing of at the time. I was very much pleased with the precision with which my black friend could sling smooth stones; he had no difficulty in hitting a bird sitting on a bush at 40 or oO vards, and he could throw considerably 204 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. further. I regretted afterwards I had not tested absolutely his precision in the exercise in which the Israelites so much excelled. He was also acquainted with the habits of the coney (wabr), an animal which lives among the rocks about these parts. I could not succeed in having any caught on this visit, but afterwards I sent a man of Siloam into Wady Kelt on purpose to hunt for them. He obtained several, but they were all more or less injured in the leg by trapping, and, not thriving, one by one had to be killed. The largest was about the size of a large English cat. They are very savage when prisoners (though timid enough in the mountains), and bite most cruelly if they get an opportunity ; the fellah who brought them was severely bitten on several occasions, and they even nibbled their way through the wooden bars of their cages. They certainly did not give me the impression of " feeble folks," for they will turn and fly upon one like a rat ; but no doubt the Psalmist referred to them in their wild and free state, when it is ditHcult to get within reach of them. They eat vegetables, and it was a curious sight to see the little creatures snap savagely at a bean pod, and then, on finding it very good, gobble it up. Apiil 13th. — We camped in the fertile plains of the Anjah, and this day went over the hills to join our camp at Wady Fasail ; passing by the fountain head, where there are fish, as in the other 'Ains, we went over undulating plains. My chill on the previous day now began to de- velope into a very sore throat, and I became so ill lilE MOUNDS OF JEltlCHO. 2i)o tliat I was scarcely aide to keep up to my hill sketching and ohserving of angles. On the next (lay, Sunday, I was so ill that I remained in my tent all day, .quite unfit for any work ; u (juinsy had set in on both sides of my throat, and the depression which usually accompanies that disagreeable complaint was considerable. I was now in a great measure suffering no doubt from having followed my friend's advice in living on Arab food in the Ghor, such as rice and milk, without malt liquor. April \btli. — Started at sunrise, and arranging to meet our camp at Nablus, went over the hills to fix points ; and joined on my survey to that of Lieutenant Anderson's. I was in an agony of pain all that day, and arriving at camp in the afternoon, in the valley of Xablus, took to my bed, quite exhausted, not liaviug eaten anything for three days. 206 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. CHAPTER X. SAMARITANS. " Smokes on Gerizim my sacrifice." Milton. April l(Jth. — Though miserably ill, I was obliged this day to go through all the ceremonies of visiting in a strange town and make preparations for my visit to the Samaritans now encamped on top of Mount Gerizim, getting ready for the Passover, to which I had been invited by Yacoob esh Shellaby, their spokesman. I called upon the Protestant schoolmaster, Mr. Felscher : as usual an industrious German working for an English Society, and obtained most valuable information from him. He was not on very good terms with my friend Jacob, and had no opinion of any of the Samaritans except Amram the priest ; he spoke much of the difficulties of his position in so fanatical a place, where his congregation were only lukewarm. In fact, the members of his sect were very small in number, so small that they were not allowed a seat on the Mejlis or town council, as were the othei- Christians, and this seemed to rankle in their minds. The Moslems in Nablus number about 10,000, SAMARITANS. 207 the Christians, Greeks, Latins and Protestants, 500 together, the Jews 200, and the Samaritans ir>0. Thus tlic Moslems were more than ten to one of the otlier sects, ami were not slow in exhibiting that bigotry which their snperior numbers allowed them to display with impunity. Whether it is the air of the surrounding district, or the blood of the in- habitants, or some other subtle cause, I cannot say, but certain it is that of all fanatical towns in Svria. Nablus stands out conspicuous. Moslems, Christians, Samaritans, all show that tur- bulent carping spirit so characteristic of old among the dwellers of Mount E})hraim. " Why hast thou served us thus that thou calledst us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites ?" may not be the language they now use, but the spirit is the same. Dissatisfied with everything, they are found, above all other people of Palestine, to give trouble to the Turkish Government, which tries in vain to curb their independent habits, but finds to its cost that they still retain the old spirit of the dwellers in Ephraim. But it is the Samaritans whose existence in Nablus makes the place so interesting. A few years back this strange people had outposts in Damascus and other cities of Syria : but now persecution, want, or natural causes have made them dwindle in numbers and gather together under their holy mountain at She- chem, where " they have also a different clothing and outward appearance from the people, for they wrap their heads in red linen cloth, as a distinction from the others; and the Saracens wrap their heads in white linen cloth; and the Christian men that dw.^ll 208 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. in the country wrap theirs in bhie of India, and the Jews in yellow cloth." This we find written in the fourteenth century, and it is even so at the present day ; red or brown turbans are the distinguishing badges of the Samaritans, except when at prayer. This account of the colours apjDertaining to the several sects may perhaps remind my readers of the twenty-fifth of the ' Thousand and One Nights,' in which the King of the Isles, half marble, lialf man, continues his miserable story to the Caliph, who had discovered him in his palace, and states that his wife, a sorceress, "by enchantment, abolished the houses, the public places and markets, and reduced it to the ground and desert field you may have seen. The fishes of four colours in tlie pond are the four sorts of people, of different religions, who inhabited the plain. The white are the Moslem, the red the Persians, who worshipped the fire ; the blue the Christians, and the yellow the Jews." The Samaritans have thus in the 14th century taken the place, as to colour, of the fire-worshipping Persians. But who are these people ; can they trace back their history to early times? Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew, visited this interesting colony in the 12th century and thus writes : " It is the abode of about 100 Cutheans, who observe the Mosaic law only, and are called Samaritans. They have priests descended from Aaron of blessed memory, whom they call Aaronim, who offer sacrifices and burnt offerings in their synagogues on Mount Gerizim. They do this in accordance with the words of Scrip- ture : ' Thou shalt put the blessing on Mount SAMAlilTANS. 20^ Gerizim,' and tliey pretend that tliis is tlie holy temple. On Passover and holidays they offer burnt offerino^s on the altar which they have erected on Mount Gerizim, from the stones put up by the chil- dren of Israel after they had crossed the Jordan. They pretend to be of the trilx) of Ephraim." Going further back to the time of Josephus we again find the same accounts of these people ; they were Cutheans fiom the land of Cuth, sent to re- jilace the tribe of Ephraim transported into Assyria. Owing to their having brought their strange gods with them, they were troubled with wild beasts, and obtained from the King of Assyria captive priests of the Israelites who taught them to worship the living (fod. They pretended to derive their genealogy from the posterity of Joseph. Although oidy mentioning the salient point*^, we have a direct line of history of these people back to the time when it is related (2 Kings xvii. 24-28) that the King of Assyria brought men from Cuthah instead of the Israelites, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, and gave them a priest of the children of Israel, because of the lions. " So these nations feared the Lord, and served their own graven images, both their children, and their childreirs children : as did their fathers, so do they unto this day." It seems clear then that from the earliest times they went through the Jewish ceremonials, but served their own graven inuiges : and even down to the present day there have not been wanting persons who have imputed to them a continuance of this custom. P 210 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. But it is not their inner life that we can study, it is the outward ceremonies which they alone of the descendants of Abraham (if we may so name them) have carried down year by year from the period when they were inaugurated. The Jews since the destruction of the Temple have celebrated the Passover with mutilated ceremony ; but the Samaritans, mindful of the injunction — Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of the gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee ; but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in — have (excepting a lapse of forty years) celebrated on Mount Gerizim, which, as I shall mention, they believe to be the Holy Mount. Their return to Gerizim after the Moslems had prohibited their worship there for forty years was brought about through the instrumentality of M. Finn the active and energetic English Consul, since deceased, who well upheld British influence in Pales- tine. This evening we moved our camp to the cooler heights of Gerizim. April 11 til, — I tossed about with fever'all last night, and whenever sleep favoured me, dreamed that I had three chronometers tied round my throat whose strings choked me whenever the hands came round to the hour : burning one moment, chilled with cold the next ; ear-ache, tooth-ache and face-ache — quite unable to swallow anything, I was in a pitiable state. I got up at dawn and found it very chilly after the Gh6r, thermometer down to 45° Fahr. and a thick mist overspreading everything and making our tent quite wet. We were now 3000 feet above the ocean. SAMARITANS. 211 wliile ill the Ghor we liail been lOUO feet l»eIo\v it. The Samaritans were all encami)ed in a deprcsnion on the mountain top, and we close to them. I was ^t'ttinn^ so seriously ill tliat I endeavoured to run my penknife into the roof of my moutli and lance the gatherings, hut I only made tliem Meed furiously, and knowingr that there is a large vein in the direction 1 was cutting, I did not like to plunge it too far. [ sent in Ksau, post haste, to Jerusalem for some caustic, heer, claret, and a hottle of arrack, and to ask instructions from Dr. Chaplin as to what I was to do. At this time I felt very much the disjidvantage of not having a felhnv lal)ourer who might take up my duties wliile I lay ill. Explorers, if possible, should work in couples : in this instance, 1 had thus, while ill, to make all ari*angemcnts for my work ; fortunately Corjx)raI Phillips was with me. A good Samaritan (who liaileetter, my head l>eing now not quite such an enormous size ; but I was getting very weak from not being able to touch any food whatever. In spite of my feeble comlition, I was, however, obliged to t^ct aboiif Miul vi'i' fn biih and 214 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. transported it with him through the wilderness until his own death. Joshua, having come into Syria with the Israelites, buried it near Nablus, or rather at Hebron, following a tradition much spread among the people. It is in reality at Hebron that his tomb may be seen, and it is well known that this belief is current among the people and it has not been controverted. " His tomb may be found in the sacred ground within the inclosure of Solomon, face to face with the tomb of Jacob, and in the vicinity of his two ancestors, Abraham and Isaac." At the present time Nablus is a peculiarly favoured spot, for here alone in Palestine, water pours forth in abundance ; here alone does it ripple in the ducts throughout the town in sufficient quantities, at all ■seasons of the year, to enable the inhabitants to use it liberally, instead of regarding it as a luxury. Whether it be in the drought of summer, or at the close of autumn, the springs, whether they be thirty- three or eighty-three in number, gush forth in never- failing plenty. The situation of Nablus is lovely ; it lies in a gorge running east and west between the two hills Ebal and Gerizim : Ebal on the north, Gerizim on the south. Clinging to the steep northern slojoes of the latter, it enjoys a certain protection from the sun's rays during a portion of the day ; in front to the east the cleft opens out into the rich plain of Mukhna, whose verdure visitors are never weary of extolling ; on either side of this gorge rise the steep slopes of the rival mounts 1000 feet above the city ; HAMAIUTANS. i^l^ and indenting their sides, just east of the city are the twin theatres in whicli the assembled hosts of Israel face to fice met together at the ceremony of reading the L;iw by their leader Joshua. The plain at the foot of these two theatres is about half a mile in diameter, and together they form around it almost one amphitheatre ; the entrances being the openings of the gorge east and west. No more fitting place can be found throughout Palestine for the ceremony there enacted. "Was I wrong, then, in suggesting that Joshua chose this site for the occasion, or was it chosen for him when lots were cast — for " the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord"? Beyond this amphitheatre further east, at the mouth of the gorge, on either side, about a mile and a lialf from the city, are the two traditional sites, the tomb of Joseph and tiie well of Jacob, about half a mile distant one from the other, — the tomb below Ebal, the well below Gerizim. The existence of a well of great depth, so near the many fountains about the city is a peculiarity for which a good reason should be assigned, and though there is no allusion to it in the Pentateuch, yet it is certain (John iv. 5) that Jacob dug a well in his parcel of ground at Shecliem, and that in the time of our Lord it was in ordinarv use. Dean Staidev has sufj^ii^ested that it is an " existing monument of the prudential character of the old patriarch," the fresh springs near at hand l>eing in the grasp of the hostile Canaanite in whom he could put no trust. This well is one of the most authentic remains existing 216 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. in Palestine, being undoubted by Jew, Samaritan, Moslem or Christian, and we may bope ere long to find that it has been cleaned out and is again in use : for a liberal-minded Englishman has undertaken the expense of so doing. Of the tomb of Joseph little can be said ; as before mentioned, the Moslem, the only existing tradition, places his body at Hebron, so that at the most the tomb would be but a monu- ment ; besides this, the present site would cause Jacob's parcel of ground to have taken up the whole mouth of the gorge, so that the inhabitants of Shechem would have had no means of free egress. In the seventeenth century the site appears to have been in the gorge just outside the town, close to the present cemeteiy where Major Wilson, in 1866, found the tomb of Sheikh (Joseph) lusuf. Much has been said by writers regarding the sterile Ebal and fertile Gerizim ; but in reality there is on the whole very little difference between the two : the southern slopes of each are barren, both on account of the dip of the strata, and their facing to the mid-day sun : the northern sides of each, for tbe opposite reasons, are fruitful ; as the fruitful side of Gerizim and the barren side of Ebal present them- selves towards the town of Nablus, their cbaracters have been judged by the appearances they there present ; nevertheless the springs which supply Nablus undoubtedly come from Gerizim, the springs of Ebal being far too northerly and are less plentiful. There are two paths up to Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing : one a scrambling route by the eastern side of the town, past the great theatre, over ledges of rocks SAMARITANS. - 1 > unci bonldei-s ; the other a mule track from the western end of the city up to the head of the springs, thence along a zigzag path up the steep hillside, and then on the crest of an ascending ridge, on the one side falling towards Nablus in a series of small precipices, and on the other side sloping gently to the south. Passing through the ruins of El Louzeh (identified as -^X SemU Ty.- A. Ociiigonal Church of Justininn. B. Square of Casilc or Fort. ('. Twelve Stones. I''.. Site of Suinaritai) Altiir. iF. Kuins with pavement. G. Shelving portion of nalurni r K-k. the second Luz), we arrive at the sacred j)orti()ii of the mount where once stood the temple oi' tlie Samaritans, where now the ruins are exposed. The site of this temple is remarkable. It stands on the edge of a steep cliff running north and sou]iets throng the mountain. Such are some of the sacred associations which the Samari- tans connect with their holy mountain, " Makdas." With such reverence for their own mountain, such contempt for the Jews that they jibe at them for having left no regular order of priesthood, can it be wondered at that the old spirit of rivalry should still exist among the people ? Even now, browbeaten, demoralised, diminished in numbers, they still fiercely hold their own and despise others. Dean Stanley has 220 UNDERGKOUND JERUSALEM. pronounced the Samaritans as distinguished by their noble physiognomy and stately appearance from all other branches of the race of Israel ; this did not strike me. With one exception (Jacob the Handsome) the Samaritans have a mean, sensual cast of countenance, well-depicted on our photograph, and have not the free air of the Jews, whether Sephardim or Ashken- azim : it is, however, scarcely fair to compare them with the Hebrew race, who have for hundreds of years been exiles from Palestine ; compare them with the native Christians, city Moslems, fellahin and Bedouin, they present no superior characteristics, and appear very much on a level. There are strikingly handsome men and women among other natives of Palestine; I saw none among the Samaritans. Before my arrival, a division had taken place among the Samaritans ; it had been settled that families should sacrifice their sheep separately, and eat the Passover at home, or by themselves, as do the Jews at the present day, and as did the Samaritans some thirty years ago, when they were debarred sacrificing on the mount. It appeared, that at the previous Passover, some men, more greedy than the rest, had taken more than their share of the feast, and others thought themselves defrauded. Jacob, in view of my visit, from which he hoped to profit handsomely, took much trouble with the aggrieved parties, and persuaded them again to meet as a happy famil}^ on the summit of the sacred mount. They were encamped in a hollow in the mountain, the tents close together, except two, in which some women were located for ceremonial reasons. SAMARITANS. 221 A/n-il \Sf/i. — ^I liad luen down to the tent of some friends to dinner, at Nablus, and it was towards stniset on the 14th day of the month Abil), accord in ;i; to tlie Samaritan calendar, tliat I ascended (Jerizim, to view the ceremonies about to take place on tlie anniversary of the Passover, There, on tlie rocky space in front of the ruined temple, were the male Samaritans asseml)linf>^, about forty-five in number, old and young. The w^omen being away in their tents. On the rocky plateau tliey were gathering for the most part, clothed in the costume for prayer, flowing white robes ; but some were in their best clothes, coloured, striped cotton garments, with cloth jackets. Soon they ranged themselves in a group, standing and facing east, towards their Kibleli, and began to recite some hymns alter their priest, who stood a little apart, and facing towards them, that is, to the west. As the sun began to get low, they changed their tone and quickened their pace, rattling the words out as quickly as they would como, and giving tongue like a pack of hounds in full cry. They were describing the plngues of Egypt (I was informed), and became so excited, that as they stood up and worked their jaws about, they looked as though frenzied ; this increased until, as the sun went down, their chant merged into furious, undulating, incoherent screams ; the priest all this time reading out of a Pentateuch of great age, but bound up as a volume, similar to that possessed by Mrs. Ducat. " Thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at evening as the sun goes down." No sooner was the sun down, and the words completed. 222 UNDEKGEOUND JERUSALEM. than they broke their ranks. Some got the oven ready, a hole built in the ground six feet deep, and three feet in diameter, in which they burnt green wood : while others brought up to the spot the seven sheep, and passed them on from one butcher to another, for there were several engaged in the slaughter. " Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of tlie first year, and the whole assembly of the con- gregation shall kill it in the evening " — as the sun goes down. At a given signal, as one of these verses (quoted) was being read, the men brandishing their knives, threw the sheep upon their sides, and in a few short seconds all was over, and they were seen witli their heads nearly severed off, bleeding, their limbs still working convulsively. Jacob now left the throng, to speak to me, and in his anxiety to explain all, I missed observing the sprinkling of blood : on the door-post it could not be, but on the foreheads of tbe children. " And the blood shall be given for a token." Prayer now recommenced, until the water, heated in a caldron, fairly boiled, when it was poured upon the lifeless bodies of the sheep to scald the skin, and the wool was plucked off with comparative ease. They then quickly removed the entrails, and cutting off one shoulder cast it aside to be burnt. Long poles were brought out to which the carcasses were lashed, and at a given signal, they thrust the seven into the oven and covered it with sticks, grass and mortar. " Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roasted with fire." This occupied until ten o'clock, when our party adjourned to my tent for SAMARITANS. 223 coffee. All this was but tlie preliminary stapce, the true ceremony was now to commence, at which only Samaritans could join. Soon after midnight there was aery that the feast was ready, and the males of the peoj)le gathered together around the oven-mouth : and as soon as it was opened the scene was one wliich Remhrandt nn'ght have wished to view. The moon's lit^lit struggling through the nn'st, the torch-lights flitting here and there, the glow from the fires and the smoke streaming from the oven-mouth, looking murky-black beside the many h'glits. 1 had expected a savoury smell from the oven when I saw the smoke arise, but it wms far otherwise ; and when the seven blackened and charred remains were brought out of tlie ]»it, the odour was most uninviting. " And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it. His head, with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof; and thus shall ye eat it : with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand ; and ye shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover." In strict accordance with these injunctions they now appeared, and crowded round the feast. Until this moment all had been decorous ; but suddenly the demon of greed seemed to possess them, and a fierce quarrel commenced about the sharing of the food, so that all religious sentiment as to the ceremony was rapidly lost. After some delay, they were so far con- tented and shamed bv Jacob and Amram into leavinjr the (piarrel until the morrow, on its l»eing represented to them that strangers were lo(jkingon : and each ate 224 UNDEKGROUND JERUSALEM. his food in haste. The women did not assist in any way in the ceremony, but pieces of the flesh were carried to them in their tents. The remains of the Passover were now picked up by the hght of a fire kindled for the purpose, and they were burnt. " And you shall let nothing remain of it till the morning,' and that which remaineth of it until the morning, you shall burn with fire." Weary with the sight, and yet very weak, for the fever was still on me, I was glad to get into bed, the air being raw and chilly. April Idth. — After the symptoms of ill-feeling one towards another evident during the midnight fes- tivities, I was not surprised to hear in the morning a hideous noise caused by the yelling of infuriated Samaritans, who woke with empty stomachs and felt defrauded of their just share. Jacob was not present to appease them, and so they were able to quarrel to their heart's content, coming as nearly to blows as they usually ventured to do ; that is to say, they shook their fists within an inch of each other's noses ; the women were also not behind-hand, and aided their husbands in the wordy warfare, until the whole camp arose in an uproar. As each seemed afraid to strike his neighbour, it bid fair to be an endless, if a blowless, quarrel, and I was becoming impatient at their not terminating it one way or another, when the wily Jacob hurried up to deliver us, and quickly throwing oil on the troubled waters, pacified them all in a few minutes. Jacob is truly a great man among his own, for he has so absorbed within his grasp all the reins of SAMARITANS. '^'^^ office, that whether for gos I was too ill to take a just view of affairs. Whatever may have been the cause, it certainly seemed as though the tahUaiix vivants were arranged very much to the liking of the European guests; that the actors were performing for the benefit of the s{)ectators so long as the keen eye of the manager was upon them. Amram, the priest, is a delightful old gentleman, the only one of the Samaritans I had any sympathy with. lie made several ineffectual attempts to see me alone, but Jacob was always at hand, or carried him off with him: at length he seized his opportunity and told me his melancholy state. He felt he was gradually dying day by day, and talked of being fe«l on poisonous food; poor old man, whatever was the 226 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. cause, it was evident he was sinking slowly, and that his energies were going ; probably his house in Nablus was filled with impure air from the bad arrangements within, or perhaps it was consti- tutional. As all Franks are ^' medicine-men," he was urgent that I should prescribe for him and eliminate the poison from his system. I felt very much sympathy for the old priest, who alone seemed to guard the trea- sures of the Samaritans : and prescribed charcoal for his disorder, which appeared to be a kind of dysentery, as I had often experienced its efficacy myself; he seemed, like Naaman, to think a simple remedy could do him no good, but he would try. It was clear that he had gradually been pushed into the background by the superior knowledge of Jacob : knowledge of the world, I must say, for, as far as I could ascertain, Jacob had received no education, and could not even read or write the Samaritan characters. While I was on the mount I was subject to much questioning about the effect of certain acids, and put- ting matters together with Corporal Phillips it was clear that the questioning was with the object of ascertaining a means whereby new parchment could, when written on, be made to look ancient. Finding that there was probably another volume of the Pentateuch in preparation, to be sold piecemeal to visitors, now that the old ones were getting exhausted, I avoided giving any information which would lead to such an imposition ; at the same time I gathered that their existing knowledge of such matters was considerable, and I would warn future tourists not to J^' U4 < 55 SAMAKITANS. --'< trust too implicitly in tlie a])pearance of tlie pages presented to tbcm. April 20th — This being our last week day on (lerizim, we made efforts to get good photographs of the Samaritjuis at prayer in the early morning. It was not an easy task, for as soon as they heard what was going on, their prayer towards their sacred rock was interrupted, and the photograpli ]iresented the ridiculous spectacle of men in the attitude of prayer wit) I their bodies in one direction and their heads turned over their shoulders looking back upon the ]>hotographer. These were so ludicrous that they were wiped oflf, and some shots were taken at the people when they were for the most part unaware of what we were doing : three of them succeeded well, two in which they were praying standing and one kneeling. I had also several groups of the men taken, and also Jacob and his family; these turned out excel- lently and are most vahiable photographs, the only ones of the kind I believe in existence. Jacob was most impatient, and wanted the corporal to take ten plates at once ; and although no time was lost, showed a childish anxiety to get it all over; it appeared as tliough he was not quite comfortable as to the pro- priety of allowing it to be done, and certainly if this was so he must have afterwards repented ; for a curious sequel occurred. It is well known in the East tliat the women of the family are kept from view as much as possible, and their pictures are not shown to the public: but, of course, Jacob was quite content thnt his familv Q 2 228 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. should be exhibited in Europe, or, in fact, anywhere except in his own district. Fortune however played him a sly trick, for by some chance a whole set of photographs were sent direct to the governor- general of Syria without a selection being made. The governor picked out those of Nablus (including Jacob, his wife, and family) and forwarded them to the Pacha of Nablus, who thought it a good joke to send for Jacob and point out to him the picture of his wife, and commented upon her appearance. Jacob was excessively annoyed, and rightly so, and complained to me. It was too late, however : I could only express my sympathy with him, and advise him to secure the photograph, as a Moslem should not have such things in his keeping. This is just one instance of the numerous difficulties which beset the path of an Exploring Society, working over a great number of years : it was of course out of the question that any one could have foreseen the use the present to the governor-general would be put to. On observing the figures in the photographs, one is struck with the youth of some of the married women, many of them appear mere children, one of them was only twelve years of age and yet a mother. One reason of these very early marriages is owing to the difference in numbers in the sexes, the males out- numbering the females as three to two ; this pro- bably assists in diminishing the numbers of this singular people, who, by their laws, cannot marry out of their community. In the afternoon, I visited the Turkish Mosque in 8AMAKITANS. '220 the city, and found tlie fanatical Moslem quite unconcerned with my entry tliere. I also examined the SamariaM IVntateuclis in the synagogue, in company with Am rain and Jacob. There are five Pentateuchs, of whicli three are scrolls, and two are quarto volumes ; at this time one scroll and one volume were kept up at Gerizim during the Passover week. The old scroll has been so often described that I will not dwell on the subject. The law is written on the inside of a long roll of parchment, column after column, from right to left, each thirteen inches long and seven inches wide. At each end is a spindle on which the parchment is rolled, and when a portion is unfurled on the left in reading, it is rolled up on the right-hand side, leaving a narrow space of about two columns expose-i to view. The characters are in the ancient style, similar to some extent to those of the Moabite Stone, the Jewish coins of the Maccabees, and the lion weights of Assyria. Much has been said as to the age of this scroll, but little is really known on the subject, and while the most learned disagree, those who know still less may speculate. Had the Samaritans any separate volume of the law of Moses in early times ? There can be no question that they had. The early fathers of our church mention the Samaritan Pentateuch, and Josephus relates that, in the time of Alexander, the Jews and Samaritans had a dispute as to whether, according to the law of Moses, the Temple should have been erected at Jerusilem or on Mount Gerizim. And it is 230 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. evident that for the consideration of the subject, the Samaritans, who were recognised as a rival sect, would have also produced their copy of the law. It would appear probable in still earlier times that they possessed a complete copy of the law, when an Israelitish priest was sent from Assyria to conduct their religious exercises. There would be much reason therefore, to suppose that they would have a copy of the law handed down from the times of their transference to Ephraim from Cuth. It is, however, somewhat startling to find that their scroll claims, according to their assertion, to bear the name of Abisha, great grandson of Aaron the priest, and thus to belong to a much earlier period than the Samaritans themselves, even to the time of Joshua himself. Worn and battered as that venerable scroll is, there can be few Europeans who would acquiesce in such an assertion. There is no reason, however, why this scroll may not be an exact copy of an original Pentateuch. During the early stages of the Hebrew history in Palestine, the site of the tabernacle was in Ephraim, and the copies of the law of Moses would thus have been kept at no great distance from Gerizim, at Shiloh, until a king was given to the people. When the Philistines captured and took away the ark from Eben-ezer the copies of the sacred law were probably dispersed among the people of Ephraim^ for Shiloh became an abandoned shrine ; and as both Saul and David were of southern tribes, it is very possible that they may not all have been given up, especially when the Ephraimites found Hebron, and afterwards SAMAUITANS. '^^Jl Jeriisjilem, in;ulc tho cliief seats of goveriiineiit instead of a city in their own land. From the time of tlie luas of the ark at Shiloh, until the accession of Rehoboam, less than two hundred years elapsed : and from the time of the dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem to the separation of Judah from Israel, and the estal)lish- ment of a separate wursiiip in Israel, only thirty years elapsed : that is to say, the united kingdom had only a united worship at Jerusalem during thirty years. Then a separate worship was esta- blished in Israel, and although Jeroboam by his evil deeds caused the priests of Israel to flock to Jerusalem, yet it is probable that some of them remained and that copies of the law were in their hands. It is not therefore improbable that the Cutheans, when introduced into the land by the King of Assyria, and given priests of Israel, should also have come into possession of a copy or copies of the law of Moses, from the original text. And as these Cutheans (intenningled with a remnant of the tribe of Joseph) have carried on their worship continuously on Mount Gerizim, from at least the time of Alexander the Great down to the present time, we should expect to find among them copies of the law in the ancient character. When therefore we find revered, almost wor- shipped, among the Samaritans of the present day a scroll containing the Pentiiteuch, written in the Hebrew language, and in the characters which were used before our era, it seems a natural conclusion that this is a copy or fac-simile of one of the ancient 232 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. copies of the law, if not itself one of the ancient copies. It should be understood that the Samaritans who now talk Arabic, formerly used the Samaritan dialect, which appears to be a corruption of the dialect of Ephraim : but that their sacred language is Hebrew, the language of the Pentateuch. Thus the peo23le at the present day possess two dead languages, that of the Pentateuch, and that of their original dialect, in which is written a version of the Pentateuch. But both these languages are written in the old character called Samaritan, which as I have stated, resembles the character on the Moabite Stone, and the Assyrian lion weights, so far as written characters may resemble those incised, with the exception however that the Samaritan bears a certain evidence of being later than those of the Moabite Stone. If the characters in the Moabite Stone, the monumental Samaritan, the MS. Sama- ritan, and the modern Hebrew are placed side by side, it will be at once apparent that the monumental is derived from the Moabite, and that the MS. Samaritan and modern Hebrew are branches from the monumental ; though the modern Hebrew appears to be of a far later or more removed con- struction. The fact that the words in the Samaritan Pentateuch are separated from each other by dots as in the Moabite Stone is another subject of interest. I now went with Jacob to his house, where he showed me a piece of parchment which he stated he had cut off the old scroll itself; of this I could scarcelv form an opinion, but it appeared to me that the characters were not executed in the same kind of SAMAUITANS. '-^.)0 golden ink : the piece however without such an introduction looked most venerable and antique and I p]aon ready in the tent, after which the slieikhs came and sat down and amused me with stories about their forays with other Bedouins. A/tII 2.'>/v/. — At ]ialf-|)astfive o'clock I was awakened out of a sound sleep by a violent shaking of the tent, and fount! that a flock of sheep were coursing over the ropes ; the ]ieople now began to gather round us anoetical than otherwise. As Dr. Rohinson truly remarks, Kurn Surtabeh ajipears to divide the desolate plain of Jericho, on the Miutli, irom the cultivated levels on the north; -tretching far out, almost to the river Jordan, it terminates in a conical cap rising most abruptly above the plain, and gives to the valley its most distinctive feature. On all sides for fifty miles around it is conspicuous ; from the salt rock of Usdum, south of the Dead Sea, from the heights of Nebo, from the high- lands of the tomb of the Prophet Ilosea, and from the famous Kulat er Kabad : from snowy Ilernion and from fanatical Safed : from the sacred heights above Nablus, and lastly from Koron Ilajor : observed of all observers, it stands forth a distinctive feature in the landscape. We left our camp at ten o'clock, our path lying for two and a half miles to south over a level plain: leaving the Wely of Abd el Kader and the Wady Sahartaba on our left, we arrived at the foot of the range at the ''ruins of the goldsmith," where was a ruined tower and heap of stones. Our path now ascended the hill through Wady Kurzeliyeh, passing a spring of simie name to our right, and then up another wari'.s of the plain, and, above all, the headlands topped with white welys or round tcnvers. Then far away i: -J 244 UNDEEGROU.ND JERUSALEM. in front of us the light blue tint of the Dead Sea with its coloured coast line. All making up a picture never to be effaced from the eye's memory. Clear above all we could see the junction of the Zerka with the Jordan above the bridge, a point about which there had been some doubt ; and the windings of Wady Ferah, far to south-east of our stand-point. While taking the observations a sudden faintness came over me, the last effect of my Gerizim sickness, from extreme weakness, as I had scarcely eaten anything for several days ; we had no water at hand, and I was obliged to go down until I reached 'Ain Kurzeliyeh, where I rested till near sunset and then went down into camp. Now let me allude to the subject of the name of Surtabeh ; I have found in addition to this, the name of Wady Sohartabeh due north of the mount, and wady and tell San Salaba, about five miles to south ; the late Mr. Drake also found the name Sabartala, and M. Ganneau, with his "lucky hand," has added Sarsaba (captain of the host) as a conjectural trans- lation of Surtabeh. With his usual sagacity he has seized upon an episode in the life of Joshua, and tracing a similarity between the names Surtabeh and Sarsaba proposes that it was on this mountain that the captain of the host appeared to the great leader of the Israelites. " And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand : and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries ? KUHN SUUTAIJKII. 21.j And lie s;iid, Nay ; but as Cii})tain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Josliua fell on liis face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto In'm, What sjiith my hinl unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoo from off thy foot ; for the jdaee whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." The whole subject, in default of further information, must for ever remain in the domain of conjecture, yet it is extremely encouraging to find that the exploration of the Holy Land is giving such good results, that even the merits of a proposed site where an angel stood three thousand years ago is now gravely discussed. It may be replied that the name Sarsaba never became settled into a proper name, and applied to any place; but this argument may be used with nearly cipial force against the name of Ed being applied to the mount, so also may it l>c applied against the site of Ai, where the hill (El tell) has come down to us as Thi' Hill, for "Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day." It is an argument which can only hold good in a degree aceonling to the nature of the subject. Lieutenant Conder has also put forward a theory regarding Kurn Surtal)eh, proposing that it is the site of the altar put up by the children of Reul>en and Gad as a witness (Ed), on their return to the east of .lordan, that Jehovah is God. A grave dinieulty surrounds the subject at the outset; for there is no name of "Ed" in our tnins- lation of the 15ible ; the word being an interpolation 246 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. in italics, apparently in order to render the sense of the passage more complete. The word " Ed " simply means " a witness " and was perhaps inserted by our translators of the Bible on the authority of the Arabic and Syrian versions ; but in any case it seems certain that it does not exist as a proper name in the Hebrew text generally received, nor does it appear as such in the Septuagint, and moreover Josephus gives no such name. It would therefore at first sight be unreason- able to expect to find any trace of a name which did not exist, even if the altar itself were found ; it must, however, not be lost sight of, that such words did gradually come into use : instances of this are most numerous as, for example. Bethel, the house of Grod ; Gibeah, hill ; Sharon, level ; Pisgah, the height ; Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah will see ; Galadd, etc. With such instances in the Bible before us, where ordinary words have crystallised into proper names, it is quite reasonable to suppose that the altar set up as a witness may, from the special conditions under which it was erected, have gradually assumed the title of "The Witness," or "Ed," just as " Ai" became "El Tell." Let us then see what are Lieutenant Condor's reasons for connecting the Kurn Surtabeh with this altar. First, he assumes that the two tribes and a half, without doubt, went from Shiloh (modern Seilun) by a mountain track, north to the Wady Ferah, and thence down the valley north of Kurn Surtabeh to the Jisr Damieh, where there is now a ford : in other words, in order to get to the fords of the Jordan, twelve miles due east of them, they went twelve miles to KURN SURTABAU. ilT iioitli-ea.st by north aiul then twelve miles to south- east by south. This route I think most iniprobal^le, nor does Lieutenant Conder give any reason for his positive assurances that they took this route ; the account (Josliua xxii. 0) simi)ly states tliat tliey departed, " from Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go into the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the Lord, by the liand of Moses." Not a hint is there here of these tribes having taken such a roundabout route to their country as that proposed ; on the contrary, there is every reason to suppose that they took a far more direct line. Joshua, with his armies, could get up from Jericho into the hill country without finding it necessary to make such detours, and wliere the whole of the tribes could go up a small }X)rtion of them might come down again. It must be recollected that they were armed brethren, "all mighty men of valour," returning to the land which Moses had given them, where they had left their wives, tlieir little ones, and their cattle; they were in light marching order and unencumbered with the usual hnpeduncnta; there was therefore absolutely no reason why they should not have returned by the shortest mountain passes, there was no reason why they should liave journeyed so far north in order to get into the wide Wady Ferah. The probable route for them to have taken from Shiloh (Seilun), assuming, as Lieutenant Conder does, that they crossed to the uplands of Gilead, 248 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. would have been due east down the passes of Wady Fasail, past Shejrat al Arak^ and thence to the fords about the mouth of Wady Ferah, and Fasail ; they would thus have passed several miles to the south of the road going up to the peak of Surtabeh. This is supposing, as Lieutenant Conder does, that they were simply going into Gilead, but it must be recollected that they were going back to the place where they had left their families at Shittim, But we have further proof that the route taken was not by Wady Ferah. The two and a half tribes were going back to their wives and little ones, their herds, and flocks, left behind them when they crossed Jordan, and it is stated that they erected the altar " at the passage of the children of Israel :" — that is to say they returned to the same passage of the Jordan where they had crossed over ; now the point of crossing is written as over against Jericho, there- fore the two and a half tribes had from Shiloh (Seilun) to make their shortest route to the Jordan, over against Jericho, to the south-east ; is it possible to suppose that for this purpose they would go twelve miles to north ? Their line of route is quite clear ; they would take some of the many passes south-east and go to their ford nearly direct. It is asserted that there " can be no question that the altar was erected on the western side of Jordan." On the other hand, Dr. Hutchinson, in his reply to Lieutenant Conder, shows most clearly that the altar was on the eastern side of the Jordan. Certainly it would obscure much that is now plain in the narrative if we must follow Lieutenant Conder's KURN SURTABEII. 249 view as to tlic location of tlie altar. Let us briefly examine tli<' account. We find the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh (having completed their obligi^tion entered into), blessed by Joshua and sent away. " And when they came unto the borders of Jordan that are in the land of Canaan " they " built tliere an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to. And the children of Israel heard say, Behold the cliildren of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the cliildren of Israel. ' The history then proceeds to relate how the chil- dren of Israel sent Phinehas and ten princes to ex- ])ostulate as to what had been done. Tlie answer of the eastern tribes is most explicit and can only apply to an altar erected within their own territory east of .lordan. " For the Lord hath made Jordan a border l)etween us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad ; ye have no part in the Lord : so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Loid. Therefore we said, Let us now ]u-epare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice." "God forbid that we sliould rebel against the Lord, and turn this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for H meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of theLnrdour Godthat is before his tabernacle." " And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar VA : for it shall be a witness between us tliat the Lord is God." It would confuse the whole text were we to 250 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. suppose an altar on the western side, and it would be quite unreasonable to imagine the two and a half tribes building and having an altar in the grounds of the tribes of Ephraim ; indeed, if it had been so, would not such an extraordinary course have caused a different action on the part of the western tribes ? I suggest they would in such a case have first removed the altar and then have asked why it was put up. As matters actually occurred there was clearly no trespass on the lands of the western tribe, the trespass found fault with was against Jehovah alone. It is proposed that the altar occupied a high and conspicuous position, but of this we have no proof; on the contrary, we are told it was by the bank of the Jordan, " at the passage of the children of Israel." Lieutenant Conder suggests that, " as a monument and not an altar, it may well have consisted of hewn stones, and in this it would have resembled the ancient beacons to be found in other conspicuous spots throughout Palestine," and further, that on the peak of Surtabeh, " the platform is long and narrow, apparently solid, and of a most puzzling character. It was at once evident that it was either Jewish, or, at the latest, Roman work, and intended as a gigantic altar or beacon." The whole evidence he brings to bear upon the subject proves to him that the remains at Kurn Surtabeh may be the remnants of the altar of witness. Now it appears to me that all the evidence is against such a supposition. The stones do not appear to be of an early type of Jewish construction, nor is it conceivable that a KURN SURTABEII. ^51 iioiiiaclic race returning!: to tlieir wives and little ones slioulil have made tlie slow progress surmised by Lieutenant Conder, and have gradually hewn <»ut and erected this monument. The castle, of which the ruins remain, must have talan months to erect, whereas the two trihes and a half ])robably were down at the Jordan hanks and among their families in three days from the time of their leaving Seilun. But there is a stronger reason against the altar of witness having been of hewn stone ; it was " the j^attern of the altar of the Lord" at Shiloh. Now we are not told how the altar at Shiloh was made, but at least we know it was nut of /irirn stone: " And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone : for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." Lieutenant Conder states, "It was no mere pile of stones put u\) in a single night, like the rude monuments of Jacob and Laban," but still less was it of hewn stone, otherwise, by the Mosaic law, it would have ceased to have been an altar. The most natural erection would have been of earth — an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me — and if we are to look for a great altar on the Jordan bank on the side of Gilead, near a ford, conspicuous from the hill country all around, we have not far to eiujuire, for at the Jisr Damieh (Adam?) we liaNc a large mound of earth exactly answering the description. On the other hand, if we {ire to look for the name Ed on the Jordan bank, we find, almost in a line between Seilun and Gilead, two 252 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. wadies entering the Jordan from east and west, each with tlie name of Wady el Ahyad, in which perhaps, may be found the letters of the word Ed. The remaining point to he noticed is that Lieu- tenant Oonder has actually found a name on the mountain of Kurn Surtabeh, corresponding in some respect to the word Ed, namely, Tal'at Abu' Ayd, and between the two words Ed and 'Ayd, he states, that no scholar can fail to see the identity ; on the other hand no Arabic scholar has as yet come for- ward to endorse the statement, and knowing, as we do, the difficulties of the subject, we may for the present put Abu 'Ayd, Obeideh (on the eastern side) and Abyad in the same categor}^ as names assigned to a "non-existent locality (Ed)." And now, feeling sure what Kurn Surtabeh may not have been. Jet us descend from the realms of un- certainty and ascertain what it actually was. " We have at least one identification as to this peak, namely, that Surtabeh is mentioned in the Talmud, as the station next after the Mount of Olives, where signal torches were lighted and waved to announce the appearance of the new moon" (Robinson). The flat portion of the platform on the peak was pro- bably used for this purpose. According to the Talmud, the time of the full moon was thus sent from Olivet to the captivity by way of the Hauran : the next station was Gryphena, which I have to suggest was Kulat er Rabad, close to Keferenjy. The identification proposed by Zschokke is also very probable, namely that the ruins on the peak are those of the ancient Alexandrium, built by KURN SURTABEH. '^'*'^ AlexaiKlcr JanueiiH, "a struii^liold, built with the utmost magnificence and situated upon a higli mountain." Joseplius gives the account of tliis fortress and tells us that Pompey, "jis he passed by IVlla and Scythopoh's, came into Corea, wliicli is the first entrance into Judea when one passes over the midhmd countries, when he came to a most beautiful fortress which was built on the top of a mountain calKd Alexandrium." The account pro- ceeds to explain that Pompey marched on to Jericho. We again in another account read that Vespasian, marching on Jericho from Nablus, passed Corea. It would thus appear that Corea was on the Jordan plain, at an opening into the highlands of Judea, midway between Nablus and Jericho, and just at such a spot at the present day is the plain of Kurawa, at the mouth of Wady Ferah, in the direct road from Nablus to Jericho, and from Scythopolis to Jericho : towering above it is the high mountain Kurn, the ruins on the top of which are probably those of Alexandrium. Whether the Kurn Surtabeh was a place of note before the time of the Ca})tivity can at present be a matter of the merest conjecture, but its position is so remarkable that it probably did {)lay an important part. It has been proposed as the site of Zeredathah, and it is curious that the Septuagint (IK. xiv. 17) places Zereda for the royal city of Tirzah, the beauty of whose position is celebrated (('ant. vi. 4), — " Beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem." Can it have been the early capital of the kingdom of Israel? -The name Z;ira I found, lower down in a liill between Kurn SurUibeh 254 UNDERGEOUND JEKUSALEM. and Ash el Ghiirub, this is possibly the remains of the city of Zeredathah. Aioril 24:th. — We had a battle royal last night regarding our proceedings this day. I had expressed my intention of going down to the bridge at »Tisr Damieh on the Jordan in order to photograph it ; to this the Bedouin strongly demurred, representing that bands of hostile 'tribes were now on the other side and that it was positively dangerous ; as usual, the matter took a long time to discuss, and eventually I settled that, as the way was so dangerous, Salah must go with the luggage with the fellahin to guard it, and that we could take care of ourselves and go with the Mesa'aid Bedouin. I did this in order to get rid of Salah, who evidently did not like the work before us and would have prevented our expedition. We were up at five o'clock in the morning, but could not get the muleteers ready ; the sheikh paid me a visit of ceremony and we smoked — the sun became fierce, still we smoked on ; then Salah's horse got loose and chased the sheikh's horse round and round the camp all among the tent ropes ; still the muleteers would not hurry, and we smoked on ; then came the Imaum of the camp, with bad eyes, which I had to doctor, and, lastly, I had another quarrel with Salah; he insisted on going with us, and I refused to go unless he went with the luggage, which was ordered to pass round the foot of Sur- tabeh into Wady Fasail : at last I wearied out Salah, and at 9 a.m. we started, after having been four hours settling about it. Our party consisted of the young sheikh, his KrRN SURTABEII. 255 l>rother, iiiicIl', and three attendant^, all mounted on a better class ot" Arab horses than I had yet seen ; each man had a spear, in addition to other weajxjns, and a black boy carried on horseback the plioto- •riaphic utensils. It was really a hot day, the thermometer stood over 100° Fahr. in the shade as we left camp at a.m. ; and a dense sirocco fog was around us ; the Bedouins were all pers|)iring copiously and seemed to feel the heat even more than we did. Crossing a level plain, the grass all burnt to tinder, we came upon a single palm tree and then passed the tomb of Mnifeh. Smoking a pipe jointly with Sheikh I lamed we arrived at the Jordan bank in an hour; descending the steep bank we were among the tamarisks and cane brakes of the lower plain. To our surprise we found that the old Roman bridge which I wanted so much to examine was on the eastern bank, so that all we could do was to photograph it, and this not very perfectly, for the collodion, on account of the great heat, could scarcely be jiersuaded to act properly, and Corporal Phillips, within his dark tent, was nearly stewed. Just at a critical moment in the photography a cry of " Be- douin ! " was raised, but nothing could induce us to leave, and as they proved to be only two reconnoitring we were not in harm's way. We could, from a vantage ground on the bank, see the confluence of the Zerka with the Jordan above the bridge, so that that question was set at rest. After drinking a great quantity of water, which came out immediately at the backs of our hands, we started down the banks <>f i^>>- .Tordan 256 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. and found that Wady Ferah runs parallel to Jordan, for a long distance, before entering the lower plain. The lower part of Surtabeh at south-east is called Umm tail ed Dib (the view of the wolf) where we saw traces of ruins, and here we found the banks of the Jordan very much broken. Our leave-taking was now to be gone through with the Mesa'aid; I presented them with 325 piastres for everything, and Esau wanted to promise a watch, but this I would not accede to, because those kind of promises lead to misapprehensions. We now went on by ourselves, feeling quite happy to be free, when suddenly from behind a rock Salah pounced out upon us ; he had seen our luggage safely deposited and would not be happy until he had again charge of our precious bodies. With all his faults Salah is really a good fellow, and if he would not talk so complacently of marrying an English wife I should feel quite friendly towards him. Again we saw a line of women, and came upon bags of salt left hastily in our path ; there was evidently some- thing very terrific in our appearance, for we saw the blue robes and black locks of the damsels flying in every direction from us. I was very much amused to see the whole operation of stalking and shooting a bird enacted ; it took about an hour. The Bedouin saw a bird and went after it ; as it dropped on a stone he crept up, as he got near it it flew to another stone, and then the Bedouin crept up again ; this would go on until at last the bird would light in a bush, then the man would put the muzzle of his gun in at the other side, and shoot not three KLUN sriiTAlJElI. 2r>7 yards from the bird — fire ! The bird gives a mocking chirp and flies off witliout losing a fcatlier. Sahdi's horse appeared to be in league with the birds, for whenever he attempted to fire, the horse would give his hand a jerk just as he pulled the trigger, and the shot would scatter most widely. We now skirted round Surtabeh and entered "Wady Fasuil. The heat was terrific, I have never felt it hotter : I wished to go into the cave near the aqueduct to lunch, but here the women filled it, and I would not allow Salah to turn them out, as he wished to do ; they had come down from the hills and had cut the ears from the corn, leaving the straw. We had to lie in the lee of our tent, the thermometer at 117° Fahrenheit in the shade, the highest registered while I was in Palestine. A man brought in some cucumbers, which were most acceptable ; we were too hot to look about us or do anything but lie and pant. April 2bth. — I wished now to go among the hills to survey to west of Surtabeh, and was up at five o'clock, after an extremely hot night, the thermometer having stood at 07° for some time after sunset. Going up Wady Ahmar, I found myself in a curious basin formed by the hills, at a certain height were wells in the hill- sides ; at Hafir I found a pool of water, and again abundance at Abu Deraj, so that there is no want for the flocks, which were scattered about in great numbers. I was occupied all day in travelling over the hills and sketching them, and returned to camp in the evening, when it was nirain extremely hot and close. On my return the fellahin enacted a fantasia; one of them got liimself up as a monkey and went 8 258 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. through several monkey tricks, very amusing-, but it was too hot for me to feel much pleased. This man who played the monkey was quite shortsighted with- out being the least injured in the eyes. As it was the first instance of short sight I had met with among the Arabs, I was rather interested in the matter ; subsequently, however, T found that it is a common failing, much more so than is usually supposed. April 2Qth. — Salah very grumpy this morning ; he wants to get home to his family. We started at 6.30, and took our course to the Jordan Valley. We had not gone far before we caught sight of a large boar ; dividing our forces we tried to surround him, but in the midst of our gallop Salah saw a string of women, and mistaking them for Bedouin, galloped off to our assistance, frightening the boar out of the even tenor of his way and causing him to bolt into the jungle of Shejrat el Arak. We beat about in hopes of getting a shot, but in vain. There are some ruins about here ; this clump of trees is a curious remnant in the plain, perhaps concealing a spring. On our way to the Jordan I found the wadies so totally different in their course to anything shown on existing n)aps, that I obtained quite a new conception of the subject. After some time spent in fixing their positions, I found that Wadies Ahmar and Fasail join together and enter the Jordan near an island opposite to a stream entering from the east, Wady el Abyad. This latter is probably the stream Lieutenant Lynch mistook for the mouth of the Zerka. All the rest of the wadies (seven in number) join together and flow south until they join the 'Aujah and then turn east fcjtliiiiUlClfciMliiiiSlawriiJw KTRN SURTABEII. 259 into the Jordan ; the gronnd about them is excessively broken up. Tlie waters of the 'Aujah l)ecome salt before entering the Jordan, from passing through some hitter e^irth about a mile from their exit ; this is also the case with the waters of Wady Fasail. There are five fords of the Jordan between Kurn Surtalx?h and the Dead Sea, they are at the mouths of tributaries, and are located at Jisr Damieli or mouth of Wady Zerka ; at Wady Fasail ; at Wady 'Aujah ; at Nimrim ; and at the Pilgrims' Ford at Wady Kelt ; there is also a bar at the mouth of the Jordan which is sometimes fordable. At the points above mentioned the bottom is hard and gravelly, but the fords are seldom really passable except in dry weather, at other times swimming must be resorted to. At Damieh, the water was about five feet deep, near this ford there are salt-pans ; in fact, a short distance below the surface salt appears to exist over many portions of the Jordan Valley. Knowing now the positions of the fords, it will be interesting to sj)eculate on the points of passage during ancient times. It may be asserted that the fords have shifted, but to this I demur ; the fact of the fords existing at the mouths of the tributaries is a proof that they have not shifted except with the tributaries themselves, as they are invariably formed on the up-stream side of the junction, caused by the check given to the Descender on meeting with another stream. Knowing now where the fords may have been in early tlays, let us endeavour to locate some of the crossings of the Jordan spoken of. B 2 260 UNDEKGEOUND JERUSALEM. First we have the account of Jacob's return with his family to the west country, and if the Jabbok can be rightly identified as the present Zerka, we ought to have no difficulty in locating the crossing. Jacob after crossing the Jabbok or Zerka named a spot on the southern bank Penuel, and then passing Succoth, went on to Shalem, a city of Shechem, where he bought a parcel of ground near Ebal and Grerizim. Now Sukut and Sukkot still exist as ruins on the western and eastern banks of Jordan near Scythopolis ; but we cannot accept either of them as representing Succoth, because this place was in the tribe of Gad, on the east side of Jordan, and south of the Jabbok. The line for Jacob to have taken after leaving Penuel would have been down to the ford at Jisr Damieh (Adam), and thence up Wady Ferah to Shechem ; this would have been his shortest road, and is now the route between Nablus and Es Salt near Tell al Jaludy (Mount Gilead). The next crossing mentioned in detail is that of the children of Israel when they left their encampment on Abel Shittim and went to Grilgal. This crossing does not necessitate a ford, as the river became dry land, but there can be little doubt that it was a ford, both because at the ford the footing is firmer, the mud being washed out of the gravel, and also because the two tribes and a half, on being sent home, appear to have recrossed at the same place, for there they built the altar of witness, " in the borders of Jordan at the passage of the children of Israeli It is to be recollected that these, the remnant of about forty thousand fighting- men, were returning to their wives and little ones KURN SURTABEII. 261 whom tlicy liud left on the other side in the plaiu.s, us Joshua liail said, " Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gjive you on this side Jordan." Now there is only one ford over against old Jericho (the 'A in es Sultan), and that is the great ford of the country, called the Nimrini or 'Xwaimeh ford, from the two streams of those names joining the Jordan near at hand. The ford at Wady Kelt to the south-east of Jericho can only be used in very dry weather. If this (Ximrim) is the ford of " the children of Israel," then it must be somewhere here on the eastern bank tliat we must look for any remains of the altiir of witness (Kd). At a later jjcriod we find Gideon crossing over when he pursued the Midianites, and on this occasion his course is very clearly given ; to Bethsliittah in Zerei-ath a portion of men fled and Gideon after them. Gideon after crossing the Jordan went to Succoth and then to Penuel ; in fact he reversed the journey of Jacob in this respect, and we may safely conclude that he took the same ford, namely, that at Jisr Damieh (Adam). There remains yet another watering-place in the south to sj^eak of, probably near a ford, namely, Betha- bara. Lieutenant Conder has recently proposed to identify tliis with a ford of tlie Jordan in the north called Makliadhet 'Ab'ara, Init in this I think he is mistaken. It may be said that the likeness of the name is a strong argument in its favour, but it must be recollected that an Arabic term, " the ford of the crossing over," is not a very distinctive name, in fact 262 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. each ford may have this term among some of the tribes living near ; probably to each sedentary black tribe the nearest ford would be so called. And in considering the subject there is a point to which too much attention cannot be paid, and which has often been lost sight of — namely, that the names we possess bear a small proportion to the whole number of names existing in the country. Lieutenant Conder with a staff organised for sur- veying purposes cannot have one half, I may say one quarter, of the whole names existing in Palestine ; these cannot be obtained until the survey is finished, for until then, there is no means of locating them on a map. Every hill-top, every heap of stones, every old tree has its name among some or other of the people ; until therefore all these names are obtained, we must avoid shifting a locality merely because a name somewhat similar to the original exists there. Now with regard to Bethabara where John was baptising ; a place as already mentioned has been found on the northern end of the Jordan near Tiberias called Makhadhet 'Ab'ara, and it has been suggested by Lieutenant Conder that this is Bethabara, on the grounds that it must be within thirty miles of Cana of Galilee, and that the name is similar. It appears to me, however, that the whole account goes to prove that Bethabara was not in Galilee but was in Judea, at the southern end of Jordan : near to Jericho, but on the eastern side of the river. " In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ; then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round KURN SURTABEU. 2t>3 alxjul Jordan, aiul were baptised of hiin in Jordan, confes>«ing their sins. Tliese things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptising. Then cj\me Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him. And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness forty days tem})ted of Satan. And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee." It seems to me conclusive from this that our Lord's baptism took place in Judea and not in Galilee, and therefore in the southern borders of the Jordan ; and that the principal ford of the Jordan where the Israelites crossed appears to be likely to have been the spot. Is it not probably the present ford of Nimrim (lieth Ximrah), for centuries supposed to be identical with Beth Abarah ? 264 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. CHAPTER XII. ATTENDANT DANGERS. " Nobody knows where to find the tomb of Moses." Merj-ed-dtn. Ajyril 27th. — We were up this morning early, our camp on the waters of the 'Aujah, near a ruined church, of which a photograph was taken. Rumours were rife last night regarding hostile Bedouins seen about, and two men came in with a most circum- stantial account ; they had come across a party at the ford at the mouth of the 'Aujah, and after hiding for several hours in a cane-brake, came under cover of night to let us know. After some cross-examina- tion we burst out laughing, and to their disgust they learnt that the warlike Bedouin all armed for a foray were our own selves, and there had they been hiding in the mud from us for hours. The country about here is highly irrigated and most fertile ; even at this burnt-uj) time of the year the land is green, and the trees are full of doves and jays. I take this opportunity of giving a short description of the cultivation of the Grhor. The plains of Jordan are only sterile throughout the year at the southern end for a few miles on the western side ; all else is capable of cultivation, and indeed ATTENDANT DANGERS. 265 has once been a very garden. North of Ash el Ghunib, on the 'Anjah, where w« were now, that is, about ten miles north of the Dead Sea, the soil is not salt on the surface, and will bear j)lentifully, so long as there is water ; so much so, that during the rainy season the Jordan plains for miles around are vast meadows abounding in flowers and grasses. The immense difference which even a few weeks of sunshine and dry weather will cause in the general appearance of the country, has led to very different accounts of this valley ; to some it is a rich pasturage on which thousands of cattle can graze, giving the idea of plenty ; to others, when the hot winds of May have burnt up the grass, and blown them about like sticks and straws, the plain only represents a barren waste, covered with stones and incapable of cultivation. During January, February, and March, flocks are brought down from the mountains around to feed on the rich pasturage of the plain, and to escape the cold spring winds. Each tribe has an agreement with the mountain village on the west side on this account, and they each have their allotted portions ; it is only on the eastern side that the miglity Beni Schur, like the Moabites of old, claim the lower pasturage of the Ghor as well as the far away high- lands of Moab, and send their cattle down without any leave from the Adwan. The cattle come within a mile of the river Jordan at these times. The cultivation of the plains takes place during the early months of the year, and is over by April ; then the village people come down and reap the harvest, give the Bedouin their landlord's share, and 266 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. return to the hills again until the following winter, when they will again come down to plough and sow. The cultivation of parts thrown under irrigation goes on throughout the year; wherever there is sweet water, there may be seen the black Bedouin, the hewer of wood and drawer of water, toiling at his task ; now leading the water down a furrow, opening a trench with his naked foot, now closing up another with his mattock ; always busy and toiling. It is not right to say that these people are all enervated and unfit for work, some of them are as industrious as any men in this country ; but they are slaves. The Gawarineh are the principal cultivators of the Ghor, so far as the irrigated portions are concerned. They are a tribe of black people inhabiting the plains of Jordan, and differ totally from the mountedBedouin. They are generally supposed to be the remnants of the ancient Canaanites, but this is very uncertain. They are a race of limited intelligence and degraded habits ; they are as slaves to all other Bedouins, and have no horses. Some on the western side, as at Jericho, live in huts, but for the most part they live in tents. They are assisted in sowing and reaping by the fellahin of the neighbouring villages or by runaway people from the towns, but they take all the work of irrigation on themselves. The upper plain of the Jordan is cultivated by hel]) of the streams and by irrigation from the springs : the lower plain by the overflow of the Jordan only. The portions at present under cultivation are : Wheat on the western side from Er Rihah to 'Ain es Sultan. Cucumbers at 'Ain ed Diik. Wheat for ATTENDANT DANGERS. 267 many acres at Wady 'Aujab ; also patches of wheat in Wady 'Nwaimeli and 'Ain Fasail. Many acres of wheat in the fertile plains of Wady Feral i. Large portions of the j)lain of Beisan are under wheat, and the southern end of Tiberias and east side of Jor- dan about Fahil (Pella) ; many acres of wheat about tlio mouths of Wadies Ragib and Zerka, and large tracts of ground about Wadies Nimrim, Kefrein, and Hesban ; besides these, which are all on the upper l)lain, there are small patches here and there of cucumbers, tobacco, &c. On the lower plain the ground is cultivated to the e- less ; in a few seconds 1 was like a ram in a tliicket, quite unable to move except one hand and wrist of hand in which was my revolver. In this condition I waited until a black Bedouin happened to come near, and looking as happy as I could, I shouted to him and pointed to the trees, as though I was shooting at a bird, at the same time I kept my revolver towards him ; then I bid him undo one arm and gradually my whole body, all the time taking care he should not play me false. I was very much tickled with the idea, for if 1 had not got out my revolver in time I should have been completely at his mercy, and as he was not a native of that side, he might not have been sorry to have caused trouble to his black neighl)Ours by cutting my throat. I had this day to go again into the hills above 'Aujah to fix some points, and brought down upon me the wrath of Salah by so doing ; so many hills I went up and down put him out of all temper. Other Hawajas, he said, were content with asking the names of a few places, but I must put them all down on paper, as though I did not believe him. Soon pacified, he came down and cut the bushes where I was observing, saying that he would perform any menial service for my sake, no doubt with a mental reservation, " so long as nobody is looking on," for the Bedouins have verv stron": notions of their caste. Then he became very angry again when I would go up another hill, and out of malice took me down 270 UNDEKGEOUND JERUSALEM. a most breakneck path towards our camp, turning round in the middle and asking most triumphantly how I liked it. I replied, in oriental form, that I liked one way as well as another, and was happy anywhere. This still further enraged him, and he turned away disgusted, declaring that he could not put me out. If Salah could not get a rise out of me the earwigs did, for the little insects brought down in such quantities from Grerizim had gradually distributed themselves over the Jordan Valley, all except a colony settled in the lining of my helmet, where they must have led a very hot life. The helmet had two skins, one inside the other, with a space of half an inch between ; at the top a hole, and at the edge a number of small holes, to give a good current of air. As I rode along, the little creatures who had got into this stronghold, like the coneys among the rocks, would every now and then dart out of the holes along the edge of my helmet near the peak, take a peep into my eyes, and then when I tried to brush them away, escape back again into the fort. They seemed so knowing about it, and exhibited so much intelligence, that they made me laugh frequently, much to Salah's amazement, who wanted to know if I understood what they said. As we journeyed to camp, Salah informed me that his black slave had been murdered by a hostile tribe, and begged me to interfere in the matter on my return to Jerusalem, and then suddenly changing the subject, wanted to arrange what he should do in England when he went there with me. ATTENDANT DANGKUS. 271 We were going to set out again from our camp at Es Sumrah, whore I wislied to excavate, when Esau rushed in and said that one of our fellahin hassibly be put in execution, but which from being so indefinite assumed the larger proportion ; still they refused and I insisted. Then the culprit who had taken the gun, a tall ferocious creature, came up, and was putting his arms round my horse's neck when I threw them off violently and bade him keep his distance. Gradually they seemed to waver ; then 1 seized my opportunity 272 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. and asked them if they would bring down vengeance on themselves for the sake of their comrade who had got the gun. This divided them ; they told him to give it up, but he would not, upon which a scrim- mage took place, ending in their snatching it from him and handing it to me. They then asked back- shish for their labour on my behalf, but for the sake of their morals I was obliged to take a high tone, and told them it was fortunate they had done what was right in the end, otherwise they would have been punished ; and then we rode slowly away, taking care to let them see we were not afraid of an attack. Salah was very loud on our return in his con- gratulations. He said they were a very bad lot, and he was greatly alarmed that it would end in a fight, and did me the compliment of saying that my words were like pebbles, smooth and hard, just what was wanted, as we had got back the gun and left the people in a good temper ; for I had taken care to fling one of JEsop's fables at them when leaving, a never failing remedy, I found, to put an Arab in good humour, however hard you have hit him, they are so fond of metaphor. The fellah was delighted to get back his gun, and shot several birds and brought them in without asking backshish. We now went on to Es Sumrah, where we camped, and where the tents were pitched, towards sunset. Corporal Phillips went to adjust the thermometer hanging to the outside of the tent ; a large scorpion- spider rushed at him from the top. We were very much amused with his acts, for he chose to keep ATTENDANT DANGERS. 273 guard over the thermometer for a long time, rushing down when anyone went near him ; at last he became such a nuisance tliat the Corporal struck him over with a stick, but we failed to capture him. The place was alive with venomous beasts. Salah now asked leave to go and see about his murdered slave and to stop away until Monday uifj:;ht,and I arranged for the fellahin to excavate at Es Sumrah, under Corporal Phillips, while I went to Taiyibeh in the hills to the west, April 18M, Sunday. — While I was writing in my tent this morning, suddenly in jumped Sultan, a dismounted Bedouin who was of our party. He was quaking with fear, and looked as though he wanted to escape into some hole and liide himself; after a moment's hesitation he crawled under the little table and tried to get under my chair. I saw that an attiick of some kind was innuinent, and, revolver in hand, went out to the door of my tent, where I found a Bedouin with his kerchief over his face quietly stalking down poor Sultan, his gun ready cocked, while five others were surrounding the tent. I put up my revolver to shoot, for the man was covering Salah with his gun, when the cook rushed out and pulled the man away ; and then suddenly there was a collapse in the tragedy, and Sultan was dragged out of the tent, relieved of his fear and thoroughly ashamed of himself; not for having run away, but for not having recognised his friends. It appeared that Sultan had a blood feud with a Bedouin ; he had murdered his brother near here, and was somewhat on the watch in consequence. T 274 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Six of Sultan's relatives determined to play liim a trick when they came to visit him, and covering up their faces surrounded the camp and stalked him down. Miserable man ! he thought he was going to be shot then and there in cold blood, and came for protection to me ; his friends, not knowing the quickness of a revolver, very nearly got a taste of it, had it not been for Khalel seeing that they were of Salah's tribe and coming in between us. Thus two days running I have been obliged to protect my own guard, in fact they are only useful as a guard against petty pilfering. They have no idea of fight- ing against odds, and ten men would give in to twelve without a thought of combat. I found out, however, the real use of a guard ; it is for running away when the Bedouin attack. The Bedouin are then known, and any damage they may do they will have to pay for in some way ; but if the guard did not run away, were out-numbered and killed, who could know what tribe had done the deed and how could vengeance be taken ? It is there- fore evident that the safest plan for a European is for his guard to leave him and note the enemy. The cry of a wild boar now saluted our ears, and we hastened off into the bushes and saw a sow with little ones in the wady ; we surrounded her, but could not get a shot on account of the thickness of the bushes. At ten o'clock Esau came breathless in to say that men were lurking about the bushes around the guard, and we again turned out, but our search was fruitless, and we supposed he had seen jackals, of which there were numbers about ; they cry like ATTENDANT DANGERS. 275 children, and tlieir noise at niglit time is most melancholic. April 29//i. — 1 had arranged the previous evening to go to Taiyibeh with a hiack Bedouin from the lower Ghor, who knew all the names of places, and accordingly started this morning under his escort, leaving the fellahin with Corporal Phillips, to ex- cavate at Es Sumrah. The day was wet and our road dreary ; we were constintly being pelted with hail among the hills, and found the journey anything but pleasant. Passing by 'Ain ed Dilk, up a very rough track, I came u})on the sloping plains reaching up to Taiyiboli. I then kept to south, along the Wady Makuk, until reaching the castle of Es Sik, and then crossing a wady went up to the village of Rumun, situated on an elevated knoll, and identified by Dr. Robinson as the ancient Rimmon, where the 600 left of Gibeah defended themselves for four months against the men of Israel. The Wady Makfik is here called Wady Sik, but Dr. Robinson calls it Wady Mutyah. I found on looking into the matter that the names of wadies do not extend far, some- times for only half a mile or one reaeh, and that they are called in their several parts by the names of villages, towns, castles, (fee, which do or did exist on their banks. Thus on hearing the change of name of a wady I used to inquire indirectly for the ruin of the same name, and have found several ruins in this manner. On this principle I should consider that if a wady has maiiv names, the ('(tiiiitiA- altont it has been T 2 276 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. thickly populated, or vice versd. It is from these frequent changes of names that travellers so often differ so much in the names they give. Thus two persons passing over the country a mile apart may in each case find the wadies as they pass over them under different names. I conjecture that the name Wady Mutyah occupies a short reach near the castle of Sik. With the exception of some caves and a ruined town called Kheila, there was very little of special interest in the day's route. We saw Taiyibeh towering above us, and arrived outside near sunset. A man came out to meet and welcome us, and like the Moslem sheikh who met Dr. Robinson there, he dissembled his religion. Thinking we were French, he said he was a Latin ; but finding soon after I was English, he declared himself to be the Protes- tant schoolmaster. I did not trouble m^^self to find out whether he was Moslem or Christian ; but to his entreaties that I should lodge at his house as a fellow churchman, I said I should go and stop with the one European in the village I knew to be living there, whatever religion he might be. I found he was a Latin priest ; he received me and my black guide most kindly, and showed the greatest interest in our work, especially desiring a lesson in the use of the prismatic compass, which I was glad to give. This village is proposed by Dr. Robinson as Ophrah, but he adduces no reasons except that its conspicuous position tells in its favour. Its position is certainly most commanding ; it stands considerably higher than Olivet, and enjoys a magnificent view. ATTENDANT DANGERS. 277 April 30M. — Taking leave of the good priest, I now went towards KetV Malik, skirting along tlie foot of tlje great Jebl Asilr and then down to Samieh, where I found a spring, wliich the fellahin said dried up in summer time. They spoke of an aqueduct which used to carry water from liere to the plain of Jericho, but I could see nothing of it. The hills here are most steep ; it took two hours to climb down to Samieh, and would have taken longer to scramble up the op}X)site slope, had it been practicable. I now turned south and went to the very high hill of Nejimeh, which, though overhanging the Jordan plain, is of the same height as Gerizim. It is a curiously shaped hill, somewhat of a hog's back, and from the top there is a grand view of the Jordan Valley. I returned early to camp in order to see about the excavation going on there. The foundations of several houses were exposed, and eventually the remains of a chajiel 27 feet long and 16 feet in breadth, with an apse G feet in diameter to south. It is to be noted that many Christian churches in Palestine have the apse to south. About forty feet from this chapel were the remains of a nearly square chamber, 18 feet by 16 feet 6 inches ; its walls decorated with frescoes, the designs of which were scarcely visible, owing to the state of the plaster. One portion, however, was well pre- served, on which wa:j a cottage with a high pitched curving overhanging roof and projecting balcony, very carefully executed. The whole rapidly faded away on being exposed to the air. The roof of the 278 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. chamber was formed of cedar wood, richly carved and studded with mosaics, jDortions of which have been forwarded to England, and are now to be seen at South Kensington Museum ; one window appears to have been closed with a white marble lattice, parts of which are well preserved. The village appears to have been Christian ; there were also here some burnt red bricks (black inside), the bricks at 'Ain es Sultan being sun dried. May \st. — I had now only to complete the southern end of the Jordan plain, and started early with this object in view. I visited the Kasr el Jeheudi, near the Pilgrims' Ford, where there is the ruin of a monastery, probably that of St. John, erected in the time of Justinian. The water to this appears to have been brought from 'Ain es Sultan (although the 'Ain Hajla is within a mile), and the remains of the aqueduct are still to be seen on the upper plain. I was here able to examine the work of nature going on in the formation of the ravines in the upper plain. Even since the Christian era many deep ravines have been formed, the foundations of walls and aqueducts now crossing them in mid air or lying broken at the bottom ; this was a very interesting sight, as it is pointed out that even within historical times the Jordan Valley may have changed considerably in appearance. With the exception of 'Ain Hajla, there is no fresh water in this portion of the plain, neither is there any sign of remnants of the cities of the plain ; the position I think they occupied I will explain here- after. The two ruins or tells existing at the mouth ATTENDANT DANGERS. 279 of tlie Jordciii on the western side, appear to me to have guarded ancient fords, wliich are now little visited. 1 atteni})ted to go over by the bar, at the mouth of the Jordan, but it goes so far out into the Dead Sea, and the ground is so soft, that my horse refused to take the water to any distance ; that there is a ford there I have no doubt. The Dead Sea looked so peaceful and pure, that it was difficult to realise that it should have so evil a reputation ; roots of palm trees were floating about, and as I passed along birds hovered over it, as though to disperse the statements of early visitors. They are right, however, in the main ; the climate is of a malicious nature, and delights in its victims. Maif 2nd. — 1 was this day to complete the hill sketching from 'Ain es Sultan to 'Ain Feshkhah, and to visit the Tomb of Moses according to Mahome- dan tradition ; and as this tomb is a curious anomaly, I will allude briefly to the Mahomedan tradition regarding it. Jelal ed Din informs us: — " Mahomed siiid, ' I saw Moses praying upon a dark-coloured sandy heap in his tomb.' He was standing, whence it is evident that Moses is alive within his tomb. When Moses died, no one of the children of Israel knew where his tomb was, or whither he had departed. No one can attain to the tomb of Moses but the vulture. Moses, it is said, prayed unto God, saying, ' Lord ! let me die within a stone's throw of the Holy Land!' Thus asserts the historian, Dhe-Addin-al-Mukaddisi. It is said that this tomb, thus remarkably signalised, is to he found in the Holy Land, near Jericho, hard by a 280 UNDERGKOUND JERUSALEM. red sand mound, by the side of a public road. But God knows. I have done." Merj-ed-din also informs us: "Nobody knows where to find the tomb of Moses. There is one oral tradition that it is east of Jerusalem a day's journey. It is surrounded by a building, in the interior of which rises a mosque. To the right is a vaulted passage shutting out the interior of a tomb, which is covered during the pilgrimage by a black silk veil ornamented with red and gold brocade ; it is generally believed that this is the tomb of Moses. The dome in question was constructed by El Melek ed Daher Baybars, on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca, when he visited Jerusalem in the year 668 " — a.d. 1269. It is evident from these accounts that the Mahome- dans are fully aware of the peculiarity concerning the death of Moses, and that the transfer of his tomb to the west of Jordan was an afterthought of a late date, probably done for some political purpose. This traditional spot has probably re- ceived more attention than it deserves, owing to M. de Saulcy finding Pisgah in Feshkhah close by. Whatever turn this subject may take, nothing can bring Pisgah, and the heights where Moses breathed his last, over to the western side of Jordan, and it is therefore useless to discuss the point. I will point out at another time the headland on the opposite side (Mushkar) which I believe to be Pisgah, close to a tomb of " the Servant of the Lord," the name Moses retained to the last. I conjecture that this tomb could be seen from the present site of Neby ATTKNDANT i>A^■GKl;i5. li'^1 Musa, and tliat during disturbed times, wlicn it was not convenient for pilf^riins to cross tbe Jordan, it may have become a practice for tliem to come to this spot and gaze U[X)n the older traditional tomb, and erect piles of stones, as did the patriarchs when tliey made vows. This site would then have become sanctified, and the building may have been erected and gradually assumed its present importance. In support of this proposition I may point out that there are spots on the eastern side where Neby Musa can be seen, where cairns are erected and where the Bedouin make vows. The building when I visited it was found to be in a very dilapidated state, and 1 was somewhat doubtful whether it had not once been a Christian monastery ; it is situated on a conical hill, and the red marl in the vicinity at once explains the reference to red sivnd in the traditions. We had no difficulty in visiting the building, and were allowed to look through the iron bars protecting the window of the vaulted tomb ; within we could see the embroidered cloth overhanging the tomb, and over the bars were tied numerous cloth rags, the reminiscences of many Moslem devotees. The site is the scene of an annual pilgrimage of devout Moslems from Jerusalem, and the time, which was formerly in the winter, is now so arranged as to coincide with the Greek Easter, although it naturally should alter from year to year with other Moslem festivals. The road from the Jordan to Jerusalem, passing by Neby Musa, is verv fair and far less rujriTcd than that bv AVadv Kelt, as it takes the course of one of the wadies. After passing this sanctuary, we climbed up on to 282 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. the plain on which Mird is situated, and then returned to camp and indulged in a fantasia at the expense of our guard. I had noticed since our arrival here that they did not keep proper watch, but fell asleep at night thinking we were now secure ; I therefore arranged a surprise for them. About mid- night, Corporal Phillips, Esau, and I quietly ab- stracted all their firearms and other weapons, and then blowing out all the lights, went into the midst of them and commenced a fusilade in the air. The result was most comical ; they all jumped up in terror, found their arms gone, touched each other and fled, each man in a separate direction, and disappeared in the underwood. The whole scene was so ludicrous that we could not keep up the joke, and when they heard our laughter they returned one by one most crest-fallen and ashamed of themselves. May 3rd. — I was this day to return to Jerusalem, but first had to go through the ceremony of visiting Salah in his camp and dining with him ; this I was very much pleased to do, for he had behaved very well throughout the journey. He had a large dinner served out, and gave me many delicacies, but was rather too fond of mixing sweet things with meat and putting them into my mouth with his finger. He was most anxious that I should properly qualify in the system of rolling up balls of rice and other things in the hand and tossing them into the mouth, but this I failed to do to my own satisfaction, and preferred a spoon of any kind as more cleanly. He expressed a great wish to go to England, his principal object being to bring out an English wife. ATTEXPAXT DAXGES& 20 evidently sapposiiig be had onlj to appear in England to be able to lake bis choice of ibe firsi in the land. He aaserted tbat one lady bad p ropo a ed to marnr bim, bnt tbat be conld not arrange it at tbe time and oonsequentlT sbe bad married another fiheikb; I ascertained afterwaids that bis aasertian was not altogether gToandless. After a oeremonioos fiuewell we returned to tbe Holy City, glad to get into civilisatioD. I had left Izzet Pacha still in office at Jeraealem. Just before my departure for Jericho, a romoor bad enveloped the city that he had been depoeed ior his sins, and then men's tongues were loosed ; bow freefy they wagged, accusing him of every unlovely crime and declaring their delight at his removal — every- thing seemed certain, he was to go on a certain day. But in the midst of the general joy there came a glamour on all, each man eyed his neighbour suspiciously, and the tongues ceased their oon- gratulations. To us obtuse Europeans there was nothing very ronarkable in this, and during lunch one of the party made some remark to the hotel keej^T as to his expressed opinion of Izzet ; the poor man turned jvale with fear, and letting f;\U a Kettle he w;\s carrying to ^ - -t attention, rushed up and Ivggvd the i' : speaker to say no more on the subject, for Izzet was a good and just man, and moreover his dragoman was opposite at table listening with greedy ears, a loathsome bKxUod Wallaohian Chris- tian, who acted jackal to the Turk. The whole subject was an enigma, until a Jew, Ix^lder than his 284 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. fellows, told us the cause. Izzet was not deposed, but had set on foot the rumour, and then sent his spies about in order to learn the estimation in which he was held and what was the worst tliat would be said of him were he to get into difficulties, for at that time some effendis had gone to Constantinople to complain of him. Having effected his object, and also by the manoeuvre made a considerable sum of money by influencing the rate of exchange, he let it be known that it was all a ruse, and imprisoned those he found to be his greatest enemies. This act caused consternation in the hearts of all who could be affected by his opinion, and the tongues which had declared his sins now extolled him as a wise and just man openly, with eagerness to efface what had already been said ; but Izzet could not baffle his pursuers, he had made too many enemies, and when I returned to Jerusalem I found that he had been replaced by Nazif. " Le roi est mort, vive le roi," is a saying inapplicable to the Holy City ; rather, out of the frying-pan into the fire ! so far as we were con- cerned, for Izzet had let us dig in a few places, but Nazif would not allow us to dig anywhere ; twice already had he stopped our work before my return with frivolous and vexatious objections. Yet I was still in hopes that a more favourable vizierial letter would be obtained to oblige him to put fewer obstacles in my way, not realising then the feeble fabric of a Turkish promise. In the meantime I again went away into Philistia for a month and to the south end of the Dead Sea, ATTENDANT DANGERS. 285 tlien finding no response to my letters home and iVesh obstacles at Jerusalem, I closed the works and went otY for a month to Gilead, in order to allow full time for the subject to be ventilated, for at that time I had not realised that it was not intended that I should do any work at Jerusalem, and that it was reserved for me to succeed in spite of the Pacha's opposition. I will not on this occasion lay before you our experiences during our three months' wandering over the country in ^fay, June, and July, but will take up the thread at the time when I permanently settled down to work at Jerusalem. 286 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. CHAPTEE XIII. DIFFICULTIES. " Civis Eomarms sum." August 20 th. — On our return to Jerusalem from Gilead, I hoped to find matters on a better footing. I wanted some authority for carrying on my hazardous work ; hazardous not only to us phj^sically, but also to my prospects, for I was uncertain how far I could advance in the teeth of the vizierial letter. I wanted assistance from the British Consulate, and less obstacles thrown in the way by Nazif Pacha ; but I found none of these, only letters from Mr. Grove, which contained little hope, for he depended on a broken reed, the words of Fuad Pacha, who was then in England and who had made liberal promises of assistance, which would not have been considered so valuable had the knowledge of the bad faith of the Turk been so complete in England as it is now. It was thought he really would help me ; but he never did and never intended to do so, for the work in progress was all contrary to Turkish views : Jerusalem through it being placed prominently for- ward while they desired it to remain in the back ground. But yet that meeting with Fuad Pacha IJIFFICULTIK.S. 287 was not without its advantages, for was it not in print; was I to leave such a testimony against the Turks themselves unregardetl ? By no means ; I caretully cut out tlie paragraph stating tlie promises made, and kept them as a safeguard against any untoward occurrence ; read it over several times to Nazif Pacha, and took care to let the effendis know its imjxjrt : and when driven to bay about my work, insisted that they were all acting contrary to Fuad Pacha's orders, for had he not promised all these good things after our success in baring the Temple wall had been published ? How then could I be doing wrong ? I can assure the reader that had Fuad Pacha only known the use I made of the promises in pushing the work at Jerusalem, he would have felt that they had been of more service than he ever anticipated. It was not only however in assistance from tlie Turk tliat I was to be mulct, it was also decided at home that I could not require shaft or gjillery frames. I had got on so well already without acciaths to his own country, sliould the Turk get scent of liis presence. It was a curious position, for he was an outlaw. I It- had tried hard to get a promise from me that he should 1k3 jnotected if captured when in my emjiloy- ment, but I had learnt too much of the ways of the Turks and Bedouin to hold out any prospect of such protection. Therefore it was arranged that he should come up to Olivet on Friday, the 10th of August, a Moslem day of rest, and that I should meet him there when the gates of the city were shut, and the soldiers at prayer in the Mosque, so that his life might not be endangered. Accordingly, at 11 a.m., I set out with a frieml and with Jacob Banayat to meet Goblan and pay him my debt, and tlie baksliish. (Jur leave-taking was most affecting, and Goblan's son, Fazil, learnt a lesson, for he had not been sufficiently attentive to me on the journey, and though he kissed my hand and was most abject, I thought it right, for tlie benefit of future travellers, to give him no bakshish or reward. It was represented to me that the heart of the old father, Gol>lan, would be wrung by such an example ; itut I had settled it so, and I have no doubt that on their way back to Gilead, Goblan put before his boy the advantages of looking after his guests. On our way back my friend asked me the price paid for the tabunjas, and on receiving my answer informed me that I had been cheated. On my return 1 desired my servant to ascertain the price of tabunjas in the market, and while he was making inquiries the Consular Cavass, Ilaj Mohanied, U 290 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. came and said that he had reported to the Acting Consul that I had been cheated in the matter of the tabun jas by Jacob Banajat. Shortly after, a Moslem, Abu Richi, a dealer in such articles, came and deposed that he had sold these tabunjas to a Christian Goumal at 150 piastres the pair. I at once went up to the Acting Consul, and brought the matter to his notice, for it was a very serious case, Jacob having charged me more than double the market price of the articles. The Acting Consul however, while allowing the matter to have a serious aspect, said he must leave the case until the return of the Consul, then in England. I entirely de- murred to such an arrangement, for the Consul was not expected for some months, and it was quite out of the question that a man charged with such an offence should continue to conduct the matters of the Consu- late, so far as I was concerned, for I must mention that much of the minor work is done direct by the Consular dragoman, with the Pacha, without the personal intervention of the Consul ; and as the Pacha was constantly interfering in my work, the dragoman's services would be required. I was quite unprepared to see the matter left sus- pended, and Jacob continuing in office. I therefore stated that I would prefer to close my works and go back to England, as it would be impossible to continue with Jacob as my spokesman with the Pacha, and in the meantime I should go to other Consulates for any assistance I required. The result was that the witnesses were called upon to give evidence, and they deposed that Jacob had bought goods for me for DirFICn.TIES. 291 7/. and solrl them to me for 17/., swindling me out of the difference. The offence seemed fo clearly made out, that I was astonished to learn that no action would he taken hy the Consulate itself, hut that I must prosecute ; this I was not at first willing to do, as the system of law appeared so different to anything I had heen accustomed to. I could get no action taken until Monday, the Iflth, when more witnesses were called, hut notliing done until I produced a pair of t^ihunjas which I had hought in the market for IfiO ]>instres, tlie fellows to those for which .lacoh had charged me 392 piastres. This was so direct a proof of something heing wrong that other witnesses were called, who made depositions which I did not understand ; and during their examination, Jacoh stood at the open window clapping his hands, endeavouring to distract their attention, and declaring that they were trying to injure him. When they had completed their say tlie Acting Consul turned to me, and, to my surprise, informed me that their evidence was confidential, relating to some intrigue of which he could not tell me; that he must hold a " Fraser " court, that is a kind of secret inquisition, as some great secrets were to be divulged ; that he would hold it next day, and that 1 must attend as prosecutor. Had I heen merely a tmveller in the country, I .should jKrhaps have been tempted to acquiesce in assisting at and learning something of the constitution of this secret court in which I was to be }>rosecutor, in which the defendant was to be interpreter to the witnesses against him. and to cross-examine them on r 2 292 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. behalf of the prosecution ; a court in which the pro- secutor was to be informed of all that I'elated to the case in point, but in which all that related to the great intrigue was to be confidential between the president and the defendant. My business, however, at this time was to get justice done, so that my work should not be thwarted, and I objected to such a court as contrary to English law ; upon this I was told that my presence would not be required, but that the court would be held by the president alone. For ten days the Acting Consul held this secret inquisition, and vouchsafed me no information, except that the evidence was dead against Jacob ; but on Friday, the 23 rd, he called to say again that he must let the matter rest until the Consul's return, and that in the meantime, Jacob would go on as usual as dragoman : on this I distinctly refused to go to the Consulate while Jacob remained in office, and that if action were not taken, I should send forward a com- plaint on the subject. On the same day, Haj Mo- hamed came to say that he had been dismissed the Consulate, and asked for a certificate that he had not cheated me regarding the tabunjas, but I could do nothing of the kind till the case was over. On the 29th, I asked permission to see the Order in Council regulating the Consular Courts, as I was desirous that something should be done to expedite the wheels of the legal machinery, but I was told it was among the archives and could not be seen. It appeared to me that the meanest Jew at Jerusalem should have the right to know the laws by which he DIFFICULTIES. 293 was to be governed, and I pressed tlie question, and obtained permission to read tbe rules governing the adniinisti-ation of the law in Turkey. Aw/u.st 'AOt/t. — I examined tliis document and could find no reference to this secret tribunal, but found that in certain cases, assessors should be chosen, and I asked that IIk-}' might be selected. Upon this, I was informed that Jacob would make the most humble a|>ologies, if the matter could be arranged. The matter, however, had now gone too far ; it was so clear, that I could make no compromise, and, moreover, deputations had come to me from the Jews, saying that Jacob preventeosition of trust as dragoman. After some further discussion, I said that if two respectable British residents were chosen a.s assessors to attend the court, I would abide by their decision if they agreetl, but that otherwise I should make a formal cora- [>laint to the Consul- General. lie could not arrange for assessors. I, therefore, oii the 28th of August, sent a formal complaint to the acting Consul-General at Damaf?cu8, detailing my grievance and sent it open to the Acting Consul for transmission, so that he should be able at the same time to answer my com- ments, I also ceased to go to the British Consulate until Septeml)er, when I found that another dragoman, Mr. Jerius Salame, had been put into office. In the meantime, Jacob wunt to Uama.scus to see tiie Acting Consul General and give his account, but, with all his finesse, before the searcliing inquiries of Mr. Rogers, lie was obliged to confess that he had tried to deceive nu*. and was told to resign his office as dragoman until the return of the Consul : his resignation was then confirmed in the following Noveml»er. Xo sooner w.is his place vaulted than 296 UNDEKGEOUND JERUSALEM. the British proteges assembled to give me thanks for the service I had nnconsciously rendered them. Hersch Berhna, at the head of the Jews, was loud in his congratulations, and said, now thej would be able to see the Consul without expense. I hoped that the matter was all settled, but Jacob was continually endeavouring to secure my good offices on his account, and constantly forwarded to me applications, or got others to do so, requesting me to obtain for him the office of dragoman again ; failing this, he threatened that as soon as I left Jerusalem he would a2:ain obtain the appointment. I, however, met him with one answer, that he must return the Fund the money out of which he had swindled it, and confess his delin- quency, before I conld in any way listen to his aj)plications or believe in his penitence. This was to be a test of his sincerity. It is natural to suppose that a matter of this kind would not tend to increase cordial relations with the Consulate, and yet, strange to say, whether it was owing to a new dragoman, or other circumstances, I found a very much greater attention paid to my wants, and I think Howaja Jerius Salame did his best to help the work. But it was in Jerusalem generally that I found the difference. All the Consulates were now anxious and ready to assist me, and did assist me in many ways, so that I found myself in a month in a very strong position ; moreover, the people themselves heard of the affair they thought that the man who could carry this matter through so effectually must have some very strong interest ; besides, their in- LtlFFlCULXlEii. lil». Ktlnctive love of justice — tlie only really p^ood quality the natives of all classes possess — made tlieni pleased with the course that had heen inken ; they felt they could trust us; and I am convinced that this little episoile in a great measure led to our signal success in our undertakings, in which though constantly coming into contact with all dilTcrences of opinion, Citnfinually liaving to arrange with sects opposed to each other anI. crowded market-places, so that all Jerusalem knew of it. On the way my servant met them, and asked the cavass if he was aware that he had taken an English- man prisoner, and would get into trouble for it ; but he replied that he knew his own business best, and refused to let the Sergeant go free. He took him to the chief officer of police, who asked why we were excavating, but the Sergeant very properly refused to give him any answer on the subject, asking by whose authority he had been made prisoner. The superintendent of police answered that if he an- swered his question he would release him; but Sergeant Birtles would not reply to this, and simply asked by whose authority he was imprisoned, and asked to see the Pacha. They now began to get alarmed, and asked Sergeant Birtles to go ; but he refused to be released in an informal manner : if anything had been done wrong he wished it to be properly sifted. Upon this they became more alarmed, and the Bim- bashah himself came out and begged Sergeant Birtles to consider himself released. He, however, refused to be released until he had seen me. Then the Pacha himself sent for him, and asked him to be released. At this juncture I appeared upon the scene, together with Jerius Salame and the Consular cavass, and went up to see the Pacha. There was great excitement in the Serai, for it was evident to all that a great mistake had been made by the Turks. I asked the Pacha if he had ordered Sergeant Birtles to be made prisoner; to pn^Ht LLlii.>. 301 tliis he would prive no direct answer, but said tliat lie had released him. For an hour we argued tlie matter; hut I insisted that eitiier it had been done bv his authority, in which case I should refer the matter home, or else it had not been done by his authority, in which case he must give me a written paper saying so. Sergeant Birtles had been publicly taken through the streets as a prisoner, and the disavowal of the legality of this act must l)e equally public. The Pacha endeavoured in many ways to get out of the difficulty : he got an interpreter of his own to try and shake the evidence of our witnesses ; but I refused to agree to any procedure which was not exactly according to custom ; and at last he pretended that he had an engagement, that he had to say his prayers, and made other excuses. When I had first gone into the room he did not give me a seat, and finding he was going to be rude, I sat down in the chair of honour next to him, much to the surprise and amusement of the witnesses ; and when he rose to go away I said it was a matter of indifference to me, I was very comfortable in the chair, and would wait an hour or even the whole afternoon till his return. Finding thus that (like the old man of the island on Sindbad's l»ack) there was no getting rid of me, he tried what cajolery would do, and offered me the first civility I had experienced at his hands since we had Ik'CU at Jerusalem. He sent for chil)Ouks, cofi'ee, and comfits, and we conversed on different subjects for half an hour, and became very friendly, having, 302 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. as he thought, arrived at the right moment, he asked me if now I was satisfied. All then thought that I had quite given in, and were greatly surprised when I returned to the charge, and said nothing would satisfy me but the disavowal I had demanded. The Pacha was very much puzzled what to do, and at last summoned the cavass, and ordered him to be imprisoned there and then, and asked me if I were satisfied ; but I was not to be hoodwinked with so transparent an act, and still demanded the disavowal, and said that he had the punishment of his officials in his own hands. What I wanted was a paper to show in the market-place if necessary, that Sergeant Birtles had been imprisoned in error. For two hours more we talked over the matter until he was wearied out, and promised to write the paper that evening, and send it to me. I wanted him to write it then, but had to content myself with his promise. We then left the Serai amid a good deal of ceremony ; the officials had got wind of the whole matter, and they treated me with a respect they had never before accorded. The dragoman also complimented me on the result of my efforts, saying he had no idea when we went to the Serai that I would have obtained such concessions. The fact was the imprisonment of Sergeant Birtles was entirely contrary to law, and the Pacha, seeiuglwas so firm, was obliged to give way ; and once having defined my position, I did not let him treat me again to a cigarette, but on my visits received the chibouk. This little episode had the most extraordinary DIFFICrLTlES. 303 effect ii|)on our work at Jerusalem ; previous to this our mvn had constantly been threatened witli im- prisonment and whipj)inp:8; but now tliey were un- rnolesteil for months, and it was fully understood that no officials couM interfere witli our work except by order of the Pacha sent to me. The people about looked upon me as the Consul of the kingdom of the Palestine Kxploration Fund, which in some myste- rious manner wjis connected with that of Great Britain, and tiie only trouble given me was by the host of applications I received from all classes around to get matters cleared up for them with the Pacha. If I would only speak to him for them it would be all right. Of course I could do nothing of the kind; but the fact of their coming to me showed their esti- mate of my interview with the Pasha, namely, that I had shown that I was strong, that we had l)ecoine great friends, and that I could get him to do wliat I wanted. I was very much indebted to Sergeant Birtles for the aeen awarded to him. As it was, the whole error lay with the Turk, so that I was enabled to push this delicate matter thn^ugh successfully. I was fortunate to have a soldier with me who could carry out mv wishes exactly as I required him. At this time tierusalem being unbearable at niirht 304 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. from the heat and smells, we were, by the kind per- mission of Dr. Barclay, encamped in the grounds of the London Jews Mission Society, in the yard of their Sanatorium on the Jaffa Road about half-a-mile from the city. There were several other tents around, and in the middle a building with a large vaulted hall and four rooms allotted to the missionaries' families. I stopped at the hotel during the day, but at night went out at about 9 p.m., at that hour the Jaffa Gate only is open, and sometimes even it", is closed ; when this was the case the sentinel wanted a bakshish, in fact shut the gate before the proper hour for the purpose, but I steadily refused to give any, otherwise it would have become a practice. Sometimes when I approached I heard him mutter " Consul Inglezey," and he pretended not to know where the key was, and I had to wait until at last he was tired and got it out: then I took to going into the guard room and waking up the Turkish officer and bringing him out ; this had a great effect as the officer did not like being woke up. Eventually, I discovered where the key was kept, and went into the guard- room each night, took the key out before them all and opened the gate myself. This went on for some time until some soldiers of a northern tribe arrived who were a very rough set, and one night on coming up, without any notice the sentry came down to the charge^ and commenced lunging at me with his bayonet, the men of the guard also crowded round me with their bayonets ; fortunately I had a thick stick wdth M^iich I defended myself until I managed to explain who I was. niiTi cr I, TiKS. :{ On leaving the gate I had to traverse the open country to the Sanatorium, whicli was not very safe, and I carried my revolver ready for use, but 1 never met with any mishap, except that I was once taken for a footpad. I was going across the fields to the Sanatorium hy no path, while a native gentleman was going there hy tlie path in front of me : seeing me come along he took me for an Arab dogging his steps, and in great excitement shouted to me in Arabic, " Stop ! stop!" I thought it was an Arab who look me for some defenceless creature he could rob, and waikeil u}) to him prepared to shoot him. As I came nearer he became more violent, and it was not until I was close to liim that I IouikI IVoiii his voice who he was; he was so excited that he did not recognise me in the least, and implored me not to rob him, and would not l>elieve that I could be any- thing but a robber. Ten minutes from the Jaffa Gate is the Sanatorium, where I generally (if my exit at the gate had not l>een delayed) founon the roof enjoying the cool air. At a reasonable hour we retired to our respective tents, which were often wet with dew : in fact at one period, at sunrise, they were wet through each morning and felt (pnte cold ; no .<;ooner, however, did tlio sun X 306 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. shine on tliera than they became unbearably hot and full of steam, so that I was careful to get out early enough. For some days during September, exactly as the sun began to rise, a hornet buzzed into my tent and tried to attack me, and. get under my mosquito curtains to me ; at first I did not like his furious onslaughts, but soon getting used to them, looked forward each morning to his advent : what he wanted I caimot tell, unless he was anxious for my health and desii'ed me to get up. The moment the sun had risen he buzzed oat of the tent and was away. I could gain no chie to his eccentric conduct. The hornets in Palestine are very numerous, and attack human beings in the most furious manner. I can readily conceive the rout of an army being occasioned by them, as is related. After getting out of the tent I generally went round the works in the cool of the morning, dressed at the hotel, and made a light breakfast, at about 6-30 or 7 A.M., of bread, boiled milk and the diminu- tive leg of a chicken, grapes and honey. I was in capital health all this time and ate up every thing before me. The real breakfast of the hotel took place at I'SO p.m., originally I have no doubt it took place at 11 a.m., and gradually got later and later: then we had three made-up meat dishes, a douceur, cheese and peaches, or grapes. Our choice of food was not extensive, for we had only pigeon, chicken, and goat ; mutton at this time of the year being unseasonable and worse than goat. The absence of beef in Palestine to an Englishman is a great drawback, for the mutton is most inferior, DIFFICULTIES. 307 and tlie black meat of the pigeon very insipid. Tlie soup had usually half an inch of oil floating on the surface, and the eggs just now were too bad even to try. If it were not for quince jam, tomatoes, and pcaelies, I slioidd say generally that no eatables in this country have any taste, but the flavour of these three articles is excellent. Our excavations were now })r(>grcssing without h't or hindrance ; we were working along the Temple wall, at the Golden Gate, and at various otiier points, but 1 wivs crippled at every point for want of mining frames. I wrote mail after mail, urging tlie necessity for sending me out a large supply, and, at last, find- ing that it was impossible to get on without them, I wrote at tlie end of September to say that if they were not sent out, I must come home, and that Sergeant Rirtles wished to come back also as he had oidy volunteered to serve with me. A few days later, finding no response, and that the money matters lia«l fallen so far in aiivar, that there was a debt of nearly a thousand pounds sterling due to me, which I had to advance the Fund, I wrote to say that 1 should come home by the mail of the 12th of November, unless I heard by telegraph to the contrary. In answer to tliis I received a telegram sjiying that the money would be paid up at once, one of the Conunittee most generously advancing it, and that the frames would be sent out also : this was very inspiriting and made me hope that affairs had now taken a turn, ami that I should l)e able to get on straight forwirds, for I must remark that th<' diflicult i.> wilji the I'aclia, al X 2 308 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. the Consulate, and tlien of getting tlie nature of the work understood at home, far outweighed the engineering difficulties, which however were not by any means insignificant. In the month of September, after my difficulty with Nazif Pacha, I had also the honour of a visit from the Military Pacha. He had not returned the visit I paid him in March, I had had some communication with him, but he had treated me very rudely : at last one day I had to pass him in the street, and did so without any salutation. This had the desired effect, for he sent next day to inquire whether I could receive him and paid me a visit : he made a great number of apologies, and we became on the most friendly terms and continued so during my stay at Jerusalem, for I had now got matters so much into my own hands that he could do little to prevent our work. At this time the new road from Jerusalem to Jaffa was just being commenced, and Nazif Pacha was anxious to get my adA^ce on the subject. I gave him a donation towards it, with which he was very much pleased, and I also pointed out how infamously it was being made, so badly that it would all have to be made over again : it was taken practically on the line of the old Eoman road, so that there was not so much cutting of the work to be done as might have been expected. The work was effected by forced labour, each village within a certain radius of about thirty miles having to send a fixed number of workmen, who must bring their food, baskets, and tools : it was estimated DIFFICULTIES. oUi> at thirty piastres (5.v. 'id.) for each man, or five days' lahoiir, but as usual tlie men li:i10 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. CHAPTER XiY. THE ROYAL CLOISTER. ' It is not linen you're wearing out. But human creature's lives." T. Hood. The weather, early in October, having become much cooler, I ventured into the city again to sleep ; still, however, keeping our tents pitched outside in case of a sirocco setting in, when the nights inside are most disagreeable. Even now the temperature registered 70° Fahrenheit during the coolest period. I had hitherto successfully tried the experiment of working through the summer in the Holy Land without mishap, the practicability of which had been doubted, and I had taken no holiday : indeed throughout my stay in the country, I had no holiday, even for a few days, for I could not leave the work, we were so short handed. I was at this time in excellent health, and took advantage of the time of year for the examination of a great number of tanks, drains and watercourses which are generally at other times full of water or sewage ; this was a month of discoveries and suc- cesses, one coming in after another, until they THE ROYAL CL01.STEU. 311 seemed to point out tliat wq must not give up tlio' work: yet all the montli 1 was ])reparing for my departure home on the I2th of November; for I liad no money or materials left, and had advanced to the Fund more than I could afford to do. I was then in a very une;isy state, not knowing what was to be the end of our work. All this time Mr. Grovo was away in Austria, wliiuli afterwards accounted to me for the delay in getting any answer to my letters. To add to my troubles, a small matter, but one in which I was much interested, I heard that the little leoi»ard, or rather chetah, I had brought from Moal), had died on pa.^sjiire home; it was a beautiful little animal, and was under the care of Corporal Phillips. He wrote me an affecting letter on the subject ; it was taken ill at Alexandria, he fed it with bread and milk, but it Itecame worse, and died in his arms like a child. One of the early results of our excavations this October, was the demonstration that Robinson's Arch never led across the central valley to the Upper City, and the discovery of the remains of the Xystus. Let me mention this latter first. Antiochus Epi- phanes, anxious to wean the Jews from their worship of the true God, when he had Uiken Jerusalem, built a j)lace of exercise or Xystus, in the valk-y between the Temple and the U})per City ; it does not jippear that a full-sized gymnasium was built, indeed there was not room for it there, l>ut only a stadium and a Xystus. Here he brought the chief young men under his subjt'ction, and made tliein wear u hat; and such was the height of (Jrcik 312 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. fashions, and increase of heathenish manners, that the priests had no courage to serve any more at the altar, but despising the Temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise, after the game of Discus had called them forth. The portion of a gymnasium which appears to have been built for these sports was the Xystus, consisting of a portico 600 feet in length, under cover of which in winter time the athletse exercised themselves ; beside this was the stadium, an oblong area with ranges of seats around, rising one above the other, from which spectators could view the foot races, games and contests, carried on among the young men, who on those occasions were generally entirely naked. Josephus mentions the position of this place of exercise on several occasions. It extended along the central valley on its western side, commencing from the first wall in a southerly direction ; and as this first wall touched the Temple about 600 feet north of the south-west angle, it follows that this Xystus fronted the Temple courts between the two great bridges, on the opposite side of the valley, over- shadowed by the cliffs of the Upper City. Here it was that Pilate sat upon his tribunal, when he collected the Jews to2*ether, and threatened to cut them in pieces unless they consented to allow the images of Caesar to remain in the city ; on which occasion these people gave a signal proof of their courage, and attachment to their religion, by baring their necks, and declaring themselves ready Tin: 1;UVAL C.Lol.STl::!;. -'A'-^ rather to he slain, than tliat their laws should be tr{iiisi:;ressed. Here it was also, when Flonis had enra<^L*d the people, that tlie prudent Ag-rippa assemhle«l them together, and, placing his sister the beautiful Bernice in a winartially fill up the duct. (Sea the woodcut, next page.) From whence can these have come but from an older arch than that which lies on the marble })avement above ? It is delicate ground to venture on, to suggest that this lower arch dates from the time of Solomon, or of the Kings of Judah ; for many are determined that arches used for bridging purposes were first used by the Romans. This may be so, but is not certain ; rather let us emancipate our minds from Roman influence and try to take a more general view. Is it not more probable that the knowledge of bridging by means of the arch was brought from Asia into Italy? Surely there were practical engineers in Asia long before Rome became known to the world. Why, even the remains of the Roman period itself in Asia aro superior to those 320 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. found in Rome, and wherefore ? Because art still flourished in Asia. My 'impression then is that this lower or older arch was a portion of a bridge joining Solomon's palace to the eastern side of the valley, across that deep portion now covered in by the addition of VOTSSOTR OF AN ARCH FALI,EN THROltiH ROOF OF ROOK-CTT PANAL. King Herod ; and that on this addition being made this lower arch was removed. Josephus tells us tliat Herod rebuilt the Temple Courts, and inclosed al)out there a space twice as much as before. That is to say, he joined on the old THE laAAl. CLOl.STKU. ^^-l ruined palace of Solomon at the south-east and added this vaeant jmrtion also to the soutli-west ; and so made the inclosurc up to nearly a square of (iOO cubits a side. Before our excavations commenced, there was no absolute certainty that there was any continuous west wall extendinjj: from the south-west ann^le to AV'ilson's Arch ; it was seen at a few points, as at tlie Wailing Place, but it was for us to determine that, built from the rocky bottom, it stretched up north in a straight line ; a well built and wonderful solid wall. This vexed question was set at rest, and fortune further favoured us, for we were not only able to extend our researches by means of the rock-cut aqueduct under tb.e houses without fear of doing damage, but w^e also found an old drain just above the pavement, adjoining the Temple wall, throughout which we were able to creep and examine its whole length lip to the Wailing Place. Heing most anxious to continue our researches throughout the rock-cut duct which at one time must have been the great water-channel running through Jerusalem, I cleared it out where necessary, and followed it up for about 000 feet to the north, nearly to the great causeway, where it was cut through l)y the foundation of a modern house. As I was always most careful not to do any damage under- ground, I was here obliged to take leave of the duct until such time as we could either buy the house or make arrangements for undermining it. To the south we followed the same duet for several hundred feet. It differs somewhat in capacity in different Y 822 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. parts, but where we broke into it under the arch it is 12 feet deep and 4 feet wide at the bottom ; so that one might ride along it on horseback. Here and there are large rock-cut pools, the bottoms of which are about 3 feet lower than that of the aque- ducts, and each has a hole in the roof to allow of buckets being dipped down into them. Shafts of masonry even now exist from the pavement on which the upper arch rests down to these pools, so that up to Herod's time at least they were used for supplying the inhabitants with water, perhaps even later. How tantalising to have found the brook, but to be debarred pursuing it up to its source ; but what could we do ? If we had touched the house which stopped our way, any crack during the next twenty years would be attributed to us ; even though the houses in the city are tumbling down each winter. How unfortunate it is that the land cannot be bought, as was done at Rome, so that the difficulties we met with should be obviated. But although not able to follow it up to the spring of water, we yet have learnt much. Let us put it together, A high-level aqueduct leading from Solomon's Pools round the west side of the city to the Great Birket Mamilla, thence past the Palace of Herod into the Pool of Hezekiah between Zion and the Upper City. After supplying these parts, the water was brought down the valley and joined the low-level aqueduct going across the causeway into the Temple, and sending off any superfluous waters to join the brook in the valley. This water passed down to Siloam, and then joined Tin: KOYAL CLOISTKU. 323 the water from the Pool of iIm.* \'ir^iii, Kn Rorrol. 'I'lie obstacles put in the way of our excavations here were very numerous. The owner of the g-round at Robinson's Arch would not allow us to dig there, under a very heavy bakshish, and we were obliged to have our opening further off, in the land of the Sheikh of the Moors, who was content with a fair rental ; nevertheless we did not work under Abu Sand's ground for nothing. Although we did his ground no damage in any way, he and his brothers were constantly paying me visits for money, and received a full share. The greediest family in Jeru- salem 1 found them. It was also during this month that we grasped the shape and appearance of the great south wall of the Temple courts. Ninety feet east of the angle, well concealed behind a thicket of prickly pears, I com- menced this shaft in order to examine the wall, and hapjx^ned to strike, as we afterwards found, immedi- ately upon the old bottom of the valley. At about twelve feet we came on the XRfi^\ pavement, which we read of as existing ^^^^^' in the time of the Crusades; l)elow this seal of haikjai was found the seal of " Haggai the son ^^^^^ ^ of Shebania," wliich some have attributed to the Prophet Haggai. Down to a depth of :U feet the wall was all fair to see, as at the Wailing Place, but below it changed. Here were remains of the sj^me pavement running round on which the arch stones were found resting at Robinson's Arch, and below this pavement the \ 2 324 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. stones were found to have rougli faces ; again it was clear that these stones below had never been exposed to view. Fifty feet down did we follow these stones, till at a distance of 84 feet from the top of our shaft we struck the bed of the valley, in which runs an aqueduct, now cut off from its source by the Temple wall. This aqueduct once carried water through the King's Garden, and follows the bed of the valley to the south, towards Siloam. It was half filled up with silt, and I had a very difficult task in exploring ; Sergeant Birtles, who was with me, stuck in the mud, and as the fellahin did not like the work, there was a pros- pect of onr remaining until the cold was too much for us. I had time to leave a broad arrow on one of the top stones, at the very end, 400 feet south of the Temple wall, and then we struggled back again, feet foremost, for we could not turn round. It took us many hours to crawl this 400 feet, there and back to the Temple wall. As the owner of the land, where our shaft was, behind the prickly pears, urged me to close it up again, I endeavoured to seek the site of this aqueduct outside. Our trial shaft was most suc- cessful. I had to obtain the position of the duct, right over the high city wall ; but such was our accuracy, that when we had sunk the shaft down 60 feet, we came exactly upon the stone on which I had smoked the broad arrow. Judge of the amazement of our workmen^ when they came to its upper surface and were told what they would find beneath ; the sight of our well-known broad arrow quite took the Tni-: ROYAL CLOISTEH. 325 spirit out of them, and they liiirried up tlie sbai't^ tliinkinp^ tliat we were in Icap^ue witli the Evil One. We were, as I have nientiuneil, called upon to fill up tlie deep shaft over this aqueduct near the Temple wall, and I was not sorry to do so, for it was in a most dangerous state, and nearly caused the death of the Frere Lievin, who eagerly asked to go down, and who, on his return, expressed a wish that we might get our gallery frames from England before he descended another. Many feet of this shaft were entirely unsheeted, and we depended upon the co- hesion of the earth, which though here and there firm, in parts was of a very treacherous nature, and often came down in volumes. After the experiences of this month, I found the anxiety too great to be borne, and determined to sink no more shafts without making them moderately safe ; and wrote home to say that the excavations must be closed if money was not forthcoming. I have said that the south wall has two entrances still existing on the remains of the old ones, the double gate and the triple gate ; but Ijesides these, between the triple gate and south-east angle is a single gate with a pointed arch, 0})ening in on the vaults called Solomon's Stables. These vaults extend from the triple gate to the south-east angle, occupy one-third of the Temple area to the south, and are built on the lower structure of Solomon's Palace ; but the piers and vaults themselves are of recent date, that is to say, probably of the time of Justinian, there only being one portion of the old vaulting still remaining at the south-east angle. 326 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. Now it happens that this single gate is situated at a point in the wall where the vaults are wider apart than they are in other places; this struck me as peculiar, and led me to think that there might be an old gate still existing at a lower level, leading into other vaults, as it was a question as to how all this filling up of the Temple inclosure was accomplished, whether with vaults or with rubbish. We were unable to commence here, close to the Temple wall, so I sunk a shaft 14 feet away from the single gate to south, and at 34 feet found the rock ; I thought we had gone too deep, and filled in 11 feet, so as to be on a level with a slab which I had found in another shaft near, and which seemed to me to have formed part of an aqueduct. Our work was most difficult, the fellahin con- stantly having to give in and call upon Sergeant Birtles, for the concussion in breaking through the rough stones, the remains of Solomon's Palace, brought the small chips upon us like water. We now drove in a gallery on this level immediately opposite the single gate, and having with great difficulty reached within a few feet, imagine my feelings when I found we could scrape together no more frames. We must wait ; and so we did, until having got some wood we made another effort, and found before us the hoped-for entrance into the Temple. But our anxieties of mind had made us both so ill that we could work no longer ; we had oth to take to our beds ; but this w-ould not do. Fever must be overcome in Palestine like any- THE ROYAL CLOISTER 327 tiling else, and thougli liot with it, I ordered our liorses, and started on a three days' cruise. Where, I did not care to think ; wlierever we went there was something to do, and on the UJth of October we tottered up to our horses, were hfted on, and started. I could hardly see or keep on for the first few hours, but jUs I had ex]>ected, towards sunset we both felt better for the shake up, having pounded away among the rocks beyond Solomon's Pools. Next day we went and examined the Wady Byar, from whence part of the water is obtained for the aqueducts, and then went on to Faghiir to ask some (questions Mr. Grove had put to me regarding the position of Gibeatb Saoul '\\)U Kisli. But it was a false scent, the real name was a very simple one ; it had notliing to do with rfaul the son of Kish, although approachine: so closely in name that there was fair reason for the supposition. It is called Jiba beni Keisiyeh, and tne reason is because it belongs to the Keis faction, distinguishing it from the Jil>a of the Veminiyeh. These two factions are fomid in the southern villages of Palestine, and no one can say whence the names have arisen, except that they have existed for at least twelve hundred years. I attempted to find some rule governing the distri- bution of the parties, but nothing could I find, except that generally speaking the Keisiyeh occupy the plain of Pliilistia and hills above, but that the Bedouin, notably the Ta'amireh, are Yeminiyeh. There is some mystery about these factions, which should be •worked out, for it may lead to our discovery of the remnants of tlie Jews ; or perliaps that the Keisiyeh 328 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. are the Philistines, and the Yeminiyeh their Arab conquerors. It is to be noted that the latter wear the white clothing of Moslems, while the Keisiyeh wear scarlet, which was the colour of the fire worshippers. No reason could I find for this difference, except one by a man of Keis, who gave it as his opinion, that his faction wore red because they fought well, and the other side white, because they were afraid. I found the Keisiyeh very lax or liberal in their opinio'is as Moslems, quite ready to think us Christians to have a heaven of our own : and at one village even they informed me that they were descended from Jews, a very remarkable statement for Moslems to make. Our three days' pounding gave tone to our systems, and we returned invigorated to the city and ready to commence work again ; the fever gone. The people in the city looked upon it as a novel method of curing fever ; but I have little doubt that had we remained in bed, we should have had it on us for several days and have got out of our beds weak and useless. We were now all to get to work below the single gate again, but it was not so easy a matter ; it was a square hole in the Temple wall filled with rubbish. Sergeant Birtles got in, and while clearing away, our hghts were blown out, a fall of stone took place, and on lighting up again he was nowhere to be seen. I thought he was buried, but on my shouting out, a smothered voice answered me from out of the mass that he was all right. He had fortunately got under a stone, and was unhurt, with stones all around him and completely covering him up. He got free and THE iiOYAL CLOISTER. ;i2U worked from the inside while I worked from the out, and ;it last we clearearcl:iy, in some uuaccouiitaMu manner, for ho was generally very accurate, had heen entirely misltMl ami mistook the main drain of the city, a modern masonry structure, for a portion of the rock- cut passage at En Rogel ; and Signor Pierotti con- nected it with the Sakhra. There cannot be a shadow of a doubt that they were entirely mistaken ; for this drain takes the sewage of the city through the valley and serves the cabbage and caulillower beds of Ophel, and is not connected on the one hand w ith the Temple, for it is high up on the west side of the valley, neither on the other hand is it connected with the Virgin's Fount, for it issues out a long distance away from that rock-cut passage. It was my fortune to find out the object of this rock-cut passage at En Rogel ; but as our adventures in connection with its discovery have been described elsewhere, I will pass over the subject in a few words. In the early days of the kings of Judah, Ophel was added into the city, but the Virgin's Fountain, an intermittent spring, was outside at the bottom of the hills ; away from the garrison, but accessible to an invading army. Such a position for this spring was most detrimental to the interests of the Jews, so much so that during one of the wars. King Ilezekiah was moved to say, " AVhy should the King of Assyria come and find much water ? so he took counsel with his prince and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city, and they did help him. So there were gathered much j)eople together, who stop{)ed all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land — the 332 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight clown to the west side of the city of David. And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit,- and brought water into the city, are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the Kings of Judah ?" Here are two matters mentioned, the brook of which we have already spoken, and the fountains ; of these En Eogel, the present Virgin's Fountain, was one, and the manner in which it was stopped, as regards the enemy, and brought into the city, is most ingenious. This fountain is reached by descending a few steps cut in the rock from the Wady en Nar (Yalley of Fire); from here a passage, cut 70 feet into the rocky hill side on a level, opens into a perpendicular shaft running upwards for 50 feet, then a flight of steps, a long broad passage, and again a flight of steps leading to a vault on the side of Ophel, inside the THE UOVAL CU)1STE14. '.VSu city wall. Therefore on covering this fountain over on the outside, it could be used by the people of the city from the inside ; and there can be no doubt it was so used during sieges. There were, when we discovered the passage, lamps ranged along the side, and some old crockery ware ; a water jug, glazed dish and plate of ancient date (copies of wliich I noticed throe ycnrs ago in the picture " Imogen," in tlie Koyal Academy Exhibi- tion). We also found an iron staple and ring fastened into the wall by which the bucket was lowered down into the shaft. All this we discovered this month ; the remaining portion of the passage of which I am about to speak was surveyed by us, but was known before. It con- sists of a winding rock-cut aqueduct leading right through the hill of Ophel for 1000 feet, from En Rogel to the Pool of Siloam, wliich it keeps filled. Its origin appears to be as follows : it being found that there was more than enough water to supplv the shaft in Ojiliel to which we have just alluded, and the passage to it being very incovenient, this long aqueduct was designed in order to unite the waters of En Kogcl with those that came from the city, in the Pool of Siloam. In doing this, this duct hap[)ened to come nearly below the vault already spoken of, and a sliaft was cut in the rock down to it, more than 80 feet deep ; this allowed the people at once to get their water from the vault, without obliging them to go so long a distance underground, down stejis and tlirough the corridor. There were other aqueducts opened (»ut at the 334 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. same time about Jerusalem ; one of them in tlie Wady en Nar was of a most extraordinary con- struction, and I am totally at a loss to the present day to account for its position, it is to me most mysterious. This is a rock-cut passage in the west side of the wady extending south for 1800 feet, from near the Well of Job. It is rather a tunnel in the rock than an aqueduct, and is approached by flights of steps going down from 70 to 90 feet below the surface, at intervals from 200 to 300 feet. This passage terminates or rather commences abruptly to the north near the Well of Job, and appears never to have been finished ; that it was only to water the gardens around I cannot think, and yet I can see no other use for it, unless it was to supply some town down the valley now forgotten. For weeks during the year this aqueduct runs with water now that we have cleared it out. ( 335 ) rilAl'TKR XV. DISCOVKRIKS. " These are the times that try men's soals." Tfiomas Paint. The continually shortening days of November crept on apace, aiul still I received no reply to my urgent letters, and l)egan to pack up and get ready for a start liorae. My position was most disheartening ; the del>t to me now amounted to nearly a thousand pounds ster- ling, and I was put to the greatest straits to meet tlie expenses, having even to give directions to sell out money in the Funds, in order to enable me to find my passage liome. I was completely destitute, and having a family to provide for in England, was filled with the deepest anxiety. The insolvency of our condition began also to be surmised in Syria, and if the people had ever really known the state of the case, 1 should have met with increased difficulties in the execution of my work. I scarcely knew which way to turn ; however, it was necessary to show a bold front, and accordingly 1 hung up a subscription list in the hotel, expecting that the tortuous Arab mind would suppose from this that I could not \)c 336 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. in want, otherwise I would not admit it. At the same time, the subscriptions which flowed in from visitors at Jerusalem were a guarantee to people at home of the local interest in the work ; later on I printed a list of the subscribers, at the office of one of our Missionary Societies, and sent a packet of them to England, for a friend to distribute. These papers thus printed in the Holy City touched the hearts and opened the purses of many who had been un- moved by the appeal in the Times. At last, when I was in despair of hearing from Mr. Grove, and thought that I should have to come back at once and appeal to the public myself, the longed-for telegram arrived. I had now been ten months in the country, during which time 2100Z. had been expended, but I had only received 1050Z. from the Fund, so that for the last five months I had supv^irfted the excavations entirely out of my own pocket, a most cruel position to be placed in, when there were so many rich people who could afford so much better, than I could to advance the money, and who would have done so, I have no doubt, had they been told the state of the cast;. I was very much perplexed with the position, for I did not want to allow all the shafts to be abandoned just when we were getting on so well, and had sur- mounted such great obstacles, yet I felt I could not go on another week ; the receij^t of the telegram therefore was a relief to my mind, for whatever it might say, it would cause me to follow some definite plan, and take some action at once, instead of going DISCOVEULES. 337 on increasing the debt day after diiy. I felt even tliat, if it told me that there was no money, I should be satisfied, for I could then act for myself; and I felt convinced that, with the aid of the numerous visitors this winter, I could, if unfettered, make some arrangements. However, I am happy to say, this was not necessary ; the telegram amounted to these words, " Remain at Jerusalem, money will l)e paid to your account this week." What an intense relief this was to me I cannot express, for I had not only myself to think of; those whom I had to provide for in England were put to the greatest discomfort by the non-payment of what was due to me. 950/. was paid to me this month, and though this was not all that was due, yet I was not again put into such a miserable strait as on this occasion. After this the Fund (if "Fund" it could be called, when it was always a " Debt " to me during the time I was in Syria) was not often more than 200/. to 300/. in arrears in its payment, though it was scarcely ever lc'S.s, and this in s|»ite of the stipu- lation I made this Christmas that the money should be paid in advance at the beginning of each month, so that I should know what I could go upon and keep within the amount. The fact was, the work had l)cen originally com- menced without anything in hand, and consequently the Fund never could get into good condition, for the amount I was empowered to spend was in excess of the receipts. The great increase to an explorer's burden, occ? - sioned by having to provide the money as well -s z 338 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. do the work, so impressed itself on my mind, that when I finally returned to England in 1870, I strongly represented that it was unfair to leave the agent in a foreign land quite destitute, and at the same time to urge him to continue the work ; and submitted that if there was any want of money, it should be the Committee or the Secretary, and not the agent, who should bear the brunt and make the advance, so long as the agent (as happened in my case) kexDt within the margin authorized. This was at once appreciated by the Committee, who always did endeavour to keep everything in order when they had once taken over the manage- ment of affairs, so that when my successor went out he was empowered to draw upon the banker of the Fund, as should have been the arrangement made with me. But I am anticipating ; wishing to clear off this subject — one which is only pleasant in that it ended well. I must, however, in justice to myself, mention it, for it influenced my whole proceedings in Syria, and without its mention the difficulties I was placed in would be unintelligible. Let me return now to the receipt of the telegram. Clear of financial diffi- culties, unmolested by the Pacha, invigorated by the assistance of the numerous visitors now flocking to the city, I felt another person. I had lost elasticity during the past month, and felt scarcely inclined to do more than the bare exploring ; works in which however I must mention there was plenty of exercise, for in most of our shorter shafts we had no ladders, and hand-over-hand rope-climbing was the order of DISCOVERIES. 330 tho ilay. Now, however, I felt inclined to Hkip about again from terrace to terrace, and kucIi waH the exuberance of my spirits, that I found myself in a very absurd position. I am now going to relate a very ludicrous circum- stance, and those who do not think that people of mature age should so place themselves, I warn them not to read this chapter; for myself, I must avow tliat at the piesent day, nearly teit years since this occurred, I still continue to l)e subject to moments of enthusiasm, when I stand on my head, run races on all fours, and go through other boyish tricks. I was on the receipt of this telegram so inspirited, that by the time I had reached the south-east angle of the Temple area, I felt an irresistible inclination to celebrate this turning point in the state of affairs by standing on my head ; for this purpose, I wan- dered to the slopes of Ophel, where the ground was built up in terraces, for the cultivation of the most splendid cauliflowers I have ever seen. Choosing a clean secluded spot under the wall of a terrace, I put down my handkerchief with some deliberation, and making one or two preliminary trials, threw myself upon my head, with my legs upright in the air. Now this place was gently sloping to the front, bounded by a terrace wall, and garnished with cauli- flowers; what was my surprise when standing on my head to see these plants gradually change ; the white tops became the turbans, and the green leaves the olive-complexions of a row of open-mouthed heads. Was I dreaming, or was the blood rushing into my head and obscuring my vision ? Still further z 2 340 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. was I astonished when this row of cauliflowers emitted a grunt in chorus. My ears could not deceive me ! I came to my feet, and in two strides reached the edge of the terrace, and thence leapt down into the next field ; where I saw creeping off a string of fellahin. These men had been passing by, or had followed me to ask for work, and being curious about my singular movements, had watched me ; and it was their line of heads along the terrace top which had taken the place of the cauliflowers. When these men saw me coming after them they stopped in a line, and gave me the deepest salaam ; it was not without a slight feeling of having made myself ridiculous that I passed the first of these men, it was with a sense of having made rather a hit that I passed the last. There was no mistaking the con- struction they put upon this act. To them I had been performing a religious ceremony, unlike the ordinary Christian forms, and not so different to their own, except that the Moslem stood on his feet facing towards Mecca and the Frank stood on his head ; whether it was a sign of madness, foolishness, or holiness, was to them an indifferent matter. They were introduced to a new religious ceremony, of which they had never heard, but which they evidently considered to be one of an exalted type, and I believe that if I had asked them (and their loose garments had permitted it) they would have followed me into this new heresy of praying, toes uppermost. After this exhibition of myself, I felt much refreshed in mind and body, and buckled to DISCOVERIES. 311 my work again, and made several discoveries in the Tem})le area wliicli I will touch upon. At this time the Americans began to invade the city for the season, and it was astonishing how quickly we were enabled to get on friendly terms ; no formal introductions were wanted ; a few words, and we were all at home. One morning on entering the breakfast-room, some ladies whom I liad never seen before, burst out laughing at my appearance ; on looking enquiringly at them, one of them gasped out, " Excuse my laugh- ing at you, stranger, yuu are so queerly fixed." 1 had only a Jerusalem-made Norfolk jacket, knicker- bockers and stockings, Spanish apolgates (tow shoes), and a sun helmet. I was obliged to adopt a costume whicli would not stick in the numerous holes into which I had to ferret each day, and also to wear something different to other travellers, so that natives who did not know me by sight would recognise my dress. There were other visitors, however, besides Americans. The war in Abyssinia had commenced, and Sheikh Goblan was most anxious to follow me to the battle-field, to support Sir Robert Napier : he came several times to urge me to take him ; and at last suddenly ap- peared with over twenty spearmen (concealed behind Olivet), desiring that I should lead them on, for he was sure they would be useful. We were to go through the desert east of the Dead Sea, with a free passport among the tribes, on account of our assisting against the Abyssinian Christians, and then to cross over the Red Sea in a boat to Annesley Bay. Imagine the astonishment of the commander-in-chief at our sudden 342 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. appearance, with spears ornamented with ostrich feathers (the sign of no surrender), for I had on one occasion told Goblan that if he ever came to help the English, he must engage not to run away in battle ; hence his idea that his services really would be accepted. He was very much hurt at my not going off with him, and insisted on my promising that if he were wanted I would send for him at once. But though we could not take part in these opera- tions, there were others very busy in the matter. One day several Europeans appeared at the Hotel, wearing fezes. They at first conversed in Turkish, but soon changed to a more intelligible language. What their actual business was is difficult to say, but it was given out that they were buying mules for the Abyssinian campaign, and were going to take them overland ; they were remarkably pleasant people and we became on the most friendly terms. They were evidently connected in some manner with the Turkish Grovernment, but the exact position was not understood ; in fact the greatest mystery sur- rounded their whole proceedings. They left Jeru- salem, and we heard that they had gone across the desert and attempted to pass some mules through the Egyptian lines, and had been stopped by that Gro- vernment ; however, of this we were uncertain, but there was no doubt that a party of Europeans similar to these people appeared soon after near Damascus, and attempted a rising against the Turks. Having been so friendly with them, I now found myself looked upon as knowing their designs, whatever they may have been, and thought of the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves ; where Morgiana DISCOVERIES. 343 goes up to the jar, and the robber within said softly, " Is it time ?" For mysterious messages came to mo saying '* Wliy are they in such a hurry ? we are not ready yet." It was all an enigma to me, I had not got the key or clue, and knew nothing, and wanted to know nothing of the whole affair. Of one thing I was assured, that there had been a deliberate discussion among the Moslem members of the Mejelis whether there should or should not be a general massacre of us Christians, and there had U^en a division ; the majority had said they would far mther be rid of the Turks ; and though there was great fear among the Christians that the projected massacre would take place, yet I felt sure myself, from what I heard, that there was no immediate prospect of it, unless it w^as absolutely stirred up and precipitated by the Government itself. At length the whole matter was cleared up ; there was a wide-spread conspiracy to overturn the Turkish rule, and an attempt was made near Damascus. It was successful at first, but want of money prevented it spreading, and the disturbers of the peace, whoso want of success made them guilty of an act of treason, w^ere led prisoners to Constantinojde. What l>ecame of them 1 cannot say; whether they were raised to the highest {MDsition in the state or poisoned in prison is to me unknown. This I do know, that my few weeks' acquaintance with them gave me a great deal of imneces8;\ry trouble, for I had constantly to be assuring the Effendis that I was not in their plots, and had nothing to do with their secret arrangements; but it also let me see the wheel within wheel in the 344 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. meclianism of native life, over which the mantle of Turkish rule is cast ; which, though at the moment it appeared before me was not a subject I cared to scrutinise (for I had my work to carry out whatever befel us), has since appeared very clear to me. Perhaps after what has been said it may not appear extraordinary that I was enabled this month actually to excavate inside the Temple area itself. It will perhaps be recollected, it was once thought probable that there was a succession of vaults on the south-west side of the Temple area similar to those on the south-east, and that the double tunnel, lead- ing from the Double Gate, was one of them. There seems, however, now no likelihood of this ; indeed, if there were such vaults, why should not there also be openings from them as there are on the other side? I persuaded those most interested to let me excavate in this Double Passage, which is one of the most sacred of the Moslem praying places ; being the pre- sumed site of Solomon's Palace. It seems actually to have been one of the entrances by which the people arrived at the Temple, — as saith the Mishna, " two Huldah Gates in the south which served for going in and out." It arrives on the Temple area by a steep flighf of steps, 260 feet distant from the south Temple wall; close to the assumed altar of Mr. Fergusson. This is another instance of the impracticability of his theory, for it is certain that the entrance from the south was into the Court of the Gentiles, and not into the Inner Court of the Temple. While Sergeant Birtles and I cut our way through JjlJiCUVEIilKS. olO the strong walls of this double passa^^, our faithful Moslem friends kept g-uard inside and outside and diverted the attention of those who wanted to como there to pray. In the Sanctuary live, for the protec- tion of the place, certain Africans or Nubian men, of the most bigoted nature, who think nothing of life or the loss of it ; to these the good keeping of the Sanc- tuary is left ; and their fanaticism knows no bounds ; but I found means to be friendly with these people. They once ate a very large pet lizard of mine which I wanted to send home to the Zoological Gardens in London, and I took advantage of the occurrence to make friends with them, so that instead of coming and throwing stones at me when I entered the Temple area by myself, they would stand up and deferentially salaam. However, I never attempted to test their good feeling too far, and on this occasion they were given a hint that they might obtain a smell of grilled lizard if they went in a certain direction. This was enough for them ; they are greedily fond of the large lizard, which happens to be my namesake, Warren, and were thus out of our way. The blows of our hammers resounded in the vaults, and soon our Moslem friends got into the greatest fright lest all would be discovered : however, we were in for it ; if we were to l)e set u[X)n and eaten up instead of the lizard, we might as well complete our work first. Accordingly, whenever we were implored to stop, we made the more noise until our friends lay in a corner tearing tlieir beards and }>lucking at their garments in the greatest state of agonised terror. It was very exciting ; we had visions of wonderful 346 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. vaults beyond us with sculptures and what not ; but, when we had got through the wall, we only found earth against it with rough face, or rather no face. There are certainly no vaults to the east of the Standing Place of Elias. We now changed over to the west side of the double tunnel, and commenced making our way into the traditional Moslem "Tomb of Aaron's Sons." This was more than our friends could bear; they rushed up and down in a frenzy until we beat a tattoo upon a hollow place, and made such a noise, that they stopped ; then we went to work again. This time we thought we must get hold of some new fact, and so we did, but only a negative one ; namely, that the vaults do not extend further to the west — and so we had put our lives in the greatest peril for these negative results, and could not mention the danger we run for fear of spoiling our after work. Now, however, it is all over, and the Moslems have forgotten it all, or would not believe it if they were told. As soon as we had done the work, we got our tools out of the passage in the same secret manner we had brought them in, and appeared under the clear winter sky — two very grubby-looking mortals, for we had been groping head foremost in the earth. We could not go outside in such a state, and mea- sures were taken to clean us up a little. It was very exciting, for by this time our Nubian friends had found that in the hunt after the lizard they were on a false scent, and that the lizard (Warren) they should have been after was in the double tunnel, and came back to find out what was going on ; but we had i»iscuvi:iiii:s. iiiT completed our work, and were not to be torn in pieces on this occasion. It is quite evident from our researches on this and subsequent occasions that the Aksa Mosque standing over the double tunnel has been rebuilt at various periods, and stands on the site of the church built by Justinian. Nothing can be more improbable than the site for this church proposed by Mr. Fergusson, over the weak vaults of the south-east angle ; the position of the present building exactly coincides with the account given by Procopius, the details of which I will, however, reserve for another volume. Kamadan commenced this year on the 2Gth De- cember, when for a whole moon the Moslems neither eat, drink, nor smoke between daylight and dark- ness ; this fast retrogrades close upon eleven days each year, and in the present year, 187G, it com- mences on 20th September. It was fortunate for our work that it then took place at the time of year when the days are shortest, for when it occurs during the summer time the unha[)py victims become so ex- hausted that they are unable to work : it is really a cruel sight to see the children, even those at the breast, kept from any nourishment during the weary hours of the day. This long fast is one of the many symptoms that the Moslem religion belongs to the tropical zone, where the days and nights are nearly the same length. It is possible to live without food during days of twelve or fifteen hours ; but how is it possible to live during Ramadan in summer, say in the latitude of Aberdeen, where during the middle of summer there is practically no night ? Ramadan 348 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. in such a latitude would be out of the question ; for the rule by which the Moslem knows when he may eat, is when it becomes so dark that he cannot dis- tinguish a black thread from a white one ; and he must fast again when they are distinguishable. At Midsummer in Aberdeen he might distinguish the white thread from the black one all the night through and never find his eating hour come round. The richer Moslems, during this month, sleep all day and carouse by night, and thus get rid of much of its weariness, but they heartily dread it, and try to shirk it ; however, the spies are too numerous, and the man who breaks his fast gets into great trouble. Several stories I heard regarding the way in which a neglect of this rule is punished ; it is looked upon as an offence against the law of the land. Many men told me that they would break it if they dared, but they were afraid of spies even in their own house- hold. We were unprepared to treat the case, and found the men getting quite useless — for what with hunger and cold (thermometer at 40° Fahr.), and the rain, they became rapidly exhausted. They have no idea of working for the sake of getting warm, and presented a ludicrously forlorn appearance — like a brood of half-drowned Cochin-China fowls. A notable plan presented itself to us : the shafts were dark, and the galleries darker still ; here they could not distiuguish a black thread from a white one. Why should not they eat in the shafts as though it were night. They eagerly caught at the idea, and would have followed it out had not some DISCO VEiaE^S. 'Mif bigoted companion mentioned it to tlie Turkisli authorities, and they received a warning. *' Your expedition into tlie sewer, on tlie doors, is quite heroic — everybody is talking about it." iSo wrote Mr. Grove to me this month, and right glad was I that this work had been recognised ; certainly it was a risky affair, yet not nearly so dangerous as other work wo were doing every day, only it could be described more easily, and understood more clearly. Indeed, our work was of such a nature that, I may say, every week Sergeant Birtlcs had to act in such a manner as would, on active service, have ensured him the Victoria Cross, or, under other circumstances, the Albert Medal ; but here it simply came into the routine of our work, and was commented on and passed over as a matter of course. Vet it should be recollected that, in addition to the risk, there was also here the acting in cold blood, without the excitement of emulation or the applause of our comrades. It may be said that we were not called upon to do the work, but neither do volunteers for a forlorn-hope do the work as part of their ordinary duty. Of this I am sure, and can assert with certainty, that if any one deserves a recognition for saving life, it is Sergeant Birtles ; for he has done it over and over again at the risk of his own. And as to wounds and con- tusions, he received as many as though he had gone through a three years' campaign. As this ex}3edition in the sewer excitj^d interest at the time, I will here allude to it. I have stated, page 04, that there are three rock-cut ditches to the north of the Temple ; one in front of the north 350 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. wall of the city, or Bezetha ; one to north of An- tonia, and one to north of the Temple itself. Now, before our examination of this part, there were several theories as to the position of a supposed ditch running through the modern military Serai, but the results we obtained quite changed the current of opinion. At the Sisters of Sion Convent, near the Ecce Homo Arch, there is a curious double rock-cut pool, which probably was the limit to the Antonia on the north, and is, I maintain, the Pool of Bethesda, spoken of by the Bordeaux Pilgrim. At the south of this double pool, which is now vaulted over, is a rock-cut passage, first observed by Major Wilson, but hitherto unexplored. It was then filled up with moist sewage; but shortly after our expedition this sewage was div^erted, and eventually was entirely cleared out. The passage is four feet wide, with smooth sides, and the sewage was from five to six feet deep, so that if we had fallen in there was no chance of our escaping with our lives. I, however, determined to trace out this passage, and for this purpose got a few old planks and made a perilous voyage on the sewage to a distance of twelve feet, to a bend from whence I could see a magnificent passage cut in the rock, lead- ing due south, thirty feet high, and covered by large slabs or stones laid horizontally across. Finding the excessive danger of planks, I procured three old doors, and proceeded with Sergeant Birtles to our work. The sewage was not water, and was not mud ; it was just in such a state that a door would not float, but yet if left for a minute or two would disco\t:ries. 351 not sink very deep ; at the same time a plank would go down rapidly with one's weight on it. We laid the first door on the sewage, then one in front of it, taking care to keep ourselves each on a door ; then taking up the hinder of the three it was pivssod to the front, and so we moved on. The sewage in some places was more liquid than in others, but in every case it sucked in the doors so that we had much dilliculty in getting the hinder ones up, while those we were on sunk down, first on one side and then on the other as we tried to keep our balance. After advancing sixty feet, we came to a dam built across the passage retaining the sewage on the north side four feet higher than to the south ; here we drew up our doors, and stopped some minutes to get breath. Everything had now become so slippery with sewage that we had to exercise the greatest caution in lowering the doors and ourselves down, lest an unlucky fiilse step might cause a header into the murky liquid — a fall which must have been fatal — and what honour would there have been in dying like a rat in a pool of sewage ? Having descended in safety, wo continued our operations for fifty feet to south, where the sewage became much firmer ; and after a few more feet we were enabled to walk on the surface with the assist- ance of poles which rested on the bottom and took off much of our weight from the quaking bog. All this distance was the roof gradually sloping down, so that after having reached 200 feet the pa.ssage was only eight feet in height, and blocked up at the end with 352 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. rough masonry. We were' now close to the Serai of the Pacha, so close that we could hear voices and the tramping of feet overhead; on this account we did not venture to break through the masonry, but this was done after I left Jerusalem in 1870, in the search for water which I induced several of the principal Eifendis to institute. This long passage is evidently one of the ducts by which water was brought to the Temple from the north, and existed before the building of the third wall; for it was once carried right across where is now the outer ditch. From whence that water is brought is not certain, but I am under the impression that I know the site of a sealed fountain not many yards north of Jerusalem, which I hope at some future period to be enabled to open out. The Europeans were somewhat interested in a Turkish execution which took place at the outside of the Jaffa Gate at the latter end of December ; for the executions now, as at the time of the Eomans, took place at the gate outside the city wall. A Bedouin, of the Ta'amireh, had murdered a Moslem of Jerusalem : such murders are not un- common, but it is not often that the criminals can be brought to justice, and still less often that they suffer the extreme penalty. The murderer was lying in prison, a miserable place where the unfortunate people rot away if they remain long enough. His friends, by bribery, prevented the execution taking place for some time, but the widow and brother-in- law of the deceased were determined on getting justice done, and at last had the temerity to telegraph DISCOVERIES. 35.T to Constantinople, and obtaincnl a firman for the execution. His family offered 200/. for liis release, so also did an Italian gentleman visiting at Jeru- salem, who was interested in the matter, for it ajv pears that blood-money can be accepted ; so it appears that justice with reference to murders in Syria is not a public matter, but is degraded to a case of private revenge. If there is a murder, the injured family take proceedings against the murderer, and may either have his life or a sum of money. The widow in this case was too vindictive, or j^erhaps too public spirited, to accept the bribe, and insisted that the execution should proceed. It was to be a case of 'lecapitation with a sword. The scene at the Jaffa Gate, at the time of the execution, was most affecting : the unfortunate man was brought out quite uncertain whether he might not still be reprieved, for it all depended upon whether this poor widow woman would relent or not ; but she was obduracy itself. A last aj)peal was made to her just out of sight and hearing of the victim, who endeavoured with eyes, nose, mouth, and ears to ascertain what was going on; his sufferings and anguish while his cause was being pleaded were intense. At last he was told that it was of no avail, and he seemed at once to collapse. The execution itself was most barbarous in its details. The executioner was a novice, the victim was unsteady. First, the blow swerved, and a cut was received acro.ss the shoulders ; the unfortunate man exclaimed, "You are hurting me!" Then blow after blow struck him wildly, hither and thither, 2 A 354 UNDEKGROUND JEEUSALEM. until at the sixteenth cut he was yet not dead. Then this ruffian, the executioner, turned his victim on his batjk, and sawed away at his throat as though he were kilhng a sheep, and at last severed the head and part of the shoulder from off the trunk ; they were left together during the day for the amusement of the multitude. Although in every way such a barbarous method of execution is to be deplored, yet there can be no doubt that the retributive justice this man met with had a good effect upon the Bedouin about Jerusalem, who had during the past few years committed many murders without much injury to their own interests. ( nn:, ) CITAPTET? XVI. THK WAILING PLACE. " T un a Jew : hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dJmonRions, nenscs, affections, passions?" — Merchant of Venice. TiiK elements have ushered in the New Year (1S()8) after a boisterous fiuihion, several steamers obh'ged, on account of the storms, to pass Jaffa one after another, and our letters wandering backwards and forwards between Alexandria and I^yrout in the most tantalizing manner. Jerusalem is begin- ning^ to fill with visitors, mostly from America, who are greatly interested in our work. Our religious superior, the Anglican Bishop, had a large party on New Year's Eve in his house ; the time was principally devoted to prayer, in which we were led by the several missionaries in a variety of languages, German, English, French, Arabic, He- brew, as far as I recollect, — a thorough cosmopolitan assembly. On the following day there was a service in churcli, and after that it is customary for everybody to call on everybody else, and a general good feeling pre- vails, quite foreign to the ordinary Jerusalem tone. I had discovered in the city a native who painted in oils the Greek pictures, and giving him the pho- 1> A 2 356 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. tograpli of my little girl, aged two years, described the colour of hair, eyes, &c., and set him to work to paint from it; he brought me the copy com- pleted this day, a most creditable production, and I was able to send it home as my New Year's gift. There is a good deal of talent and quickness of ap- prehension displayed by these native artists, but they are so much in the habit of painting from the rough church pictures, and not from nature, that their style becomes very wooden. The Jews about this time began to take very great interest in our operations, and before describing their proceedings I will give some account of them. The exact number of Jews in Jerusalem is not certain, for there is a large floating population com- ing and going, but it may be taken as 10,000 ; of these many are very old and infirm, who come to Jerusalem to die and be buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat, in order to save the long underground journey on the great day. Though the number of Jews, year by year, is increasing, yet it must be recollected that a large number of them do not assist in further increasing the j)opulation, and therefore that a large yearly immigration is required to keep up the numbers to the present standard. As trade increases, and disabilities are removed, no doubt the Jews will continue to increase ; not only those who idle away their time in ceremonial observances, but also those who devote their lives to industrial pursuits. There appear to be in Jerusalem Jews from every nation under heaven ; from all quarters THE WAILING PLACE. 357 of the globe they muster, Imt the greater nuinljer come from particular districts. Eighteen hundred years ago the Jewish nation had spread over Assyria, Asia Minor, Crete, Arahia, ])arts of northern A fricii, Greece and Italy. In the twelttli century they assembled in Arahia in great force, occupying and governing districts where they were 300,000 strong; they had spread from Persia into India and Cliina, and from Hgy pt into Abyssinia and Nubia ; they had also settled in Germany in great numlxjrs, on the rivers Moselle and Rhine. But now they are scattered over all the world, and travel incessantly from one community to another, keeping up constant intercourse. At present there is a sprinkling of Jews at Jeru- salem from the ends of the earth, l)ut the bulk of them hail from two distinct quarters of tlic globe; one })ortion from Poland and another from Morocco ; the former called Ashkenazim, the latter Sephardim. The Sephardim number about 4000 : they are rayahs, that is to say subjects of the Porte, and are not under the protection of any European power. They assert that they were colonists in Spain at the time of the Crucifixion, and therefore are not in any way subject to the curse uttered by the Jews of Jeru- salem : " His blood l-e upon us and on our children." Spain had risen and prosj»ered through the industry of these people, but Ferdinand and Isal)ella having suUlued the kingdom of Grenada, and driven out the Moslem Moors, determined also to get rid of the Jews; accordingly, in a.d. 1402, one half million, rather than renounce their ancient faith, chose to 358 UNDEKGROUND JERUSALEM. leave their adopted home, their vast property, and proceed penniless to the States of Morocco and other parts of the Mediterranean. Since that time Spain has ceased to prosper. Some part of these people have remained in Mo- rocco to till the land, others have wandered further afield, and some are now scattered over Palestine, known under the name Sephardim. These people still speak the Spanish language, though they also know something of Arabic ; they dress in Oriental costume, and have the same features as the Morocco Jews. That is to say, light, or often red, hair with hooked nose ; sometimes, however, the nose is straight. They are a robust race, industrious, and accustomed to hard work, honest, straightforward, and, as far as I know, cleanly in their habits. As with all other sects in Turkey, their religion is national, and the head of the sect, the Chief Rabbi, represents the community and is a recognised oflScial, They are very even in their religious feelings, quite different to their Polish brethren ; but when roused they are extremely vindictive and difficult to appease. One of my first visits in Jerusalem was to their chief Rabbi, who was exceedingly civil and agreeable : he had heard that w^e were searching for water, and desired that our work should prosper. The Caraites are Jews who reject the Talmud, and accept only the Scriptures ; they are very similar in their customs to Jews of England and America, they form a small community at Jerusalem, are mostly Russians, and are very well spoken of. The Ashkenazim, or German Jews, are a class of THE WAILING PLACE. 359 people wlio will cause some trouble in Jerusalem in future days, if they increase to any extent, witliout some orp^anization, for they are subject to the wild bursts of fanatical zeal which distinp^uishcd their race so many hundreds of years a^o, and wht-n under its influence nothing will stop their fury; tliey would rather be hacked to pieces tban submit. In Pales- tine the reminiscences and climate tend to inflame their religious fervour, and at times they seem scarcely amenable to reason, so carried away are they with their passions; for, being all of one poverty- stricken class living in a separate quarter of the city, there are no calmer strata of human bein^irs to separate them, none of their own up}K'r classes to influence them. It has been suggested tbat they are called Ashke- nazim from Asbkenaz, son of Gomer, who settled between Armenia and Russia; but if this were cor- rect tbey could not be the seed of Abraham. The rablnns at the present day call Germany Asb- kenaz, and therefore the Jews living in that part of the world are called after the country, Ashkenazim, just as the vSephardim receive tlieir name from Sj)ain whicb the rabbins suppose to be Sepharad. The Asbkenazim at Jerusalem are in number al>out fiOdO, and for the most part come from Poland, where the bulk of the Jews of the world are congre- gated, in numbers about two millions : these Polish Jews are therefore of three nationalities, Austrian, Prussian, and Russian ; tbose of the two former states are well looked after l)y their ronsnls. but the Russian-Polish Jews lose their prnf.-r'fu^ii imlf^Ks they oGU UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. return to Kussia once in six months ; and as this, to them, is an impossibility, they would become rayahs under the dominion of the Porte were it not for the good offices of the late consul of Jerusalem (Mr. Finn), by whose representations authority was given to allow of their being transferred to British protec- tion, when Russia had discarded them. This was a most kind and humane arrangement of our Foreign Office ; for they are Eurojoeans, quite unaccustomed to the cringing ways of the rayah and would not fail to secure to themselves religious persecution should they lose their protection. It may at first sight appear remarkable that Russia with her arrangements in Palestine should discard so large a section of her subjects : but the fact is they are not well-disposed subjects ; they are far too free-minded a race for a country like Russia ; they have all the abhorrence of slavery and serfdom that the Englishman possesses; consequently, Russia en- deavours to get rid of her Jewish population, and this act of hers in Palestine is only a portion of the recognised system. In Poland itself every effort has been made to overthrow the Jewish influence and to diminish their growing numbers, for they multiply in a remarkable degree. There is an irrepressible pride and presumption about this fragile wayward people of Ashkenaz that I could not help admiring ; dressed in greasy rags, they stalk about the Holy City with as much dignity as though they were dressed in the richest garments, and give way to no one ; years of oppression have in ■ no way quelled their ancient spirit, and if they could THE WAILING PLACE. 301 only l)e iiRluced to work and become united, tliey would he II very formidable race, for their courage and fortitude makes up for the want of stamina. They are among the most fanatical of mortiils and can only believe in their own observances, and look with disgust upon the freedom from ceremony of even the strictest Jews of our own country. Yet even among themselves there are great difl'erences ; for there are the Pharisees, who accept the Talmud, and the Cabalists or Assideans, who believe even mure than the Talmud, in oral tradition and in the words of wise men ; besides these there are several smaller sects, all considering their own tenets the only correct ones. The extraordinary system of paying the hallukah is one of the curses under which the Jews labour at Jerusalem, for if they had not this to look to they would be obliged to work; it also places our Mis- sionary Societies in a false position, for the baptism of a Jew is actually an act taking from him an annuity, as he thus loses this hallukah. This hallukah is money given to the Jews at Jerusalem in return for their prayers for those in other part.s of the world, who cannot aftbrd to come themselves; it is very unevenly distributed, the accounts are not audited, and the rabbins in consequence have the reputation of keeping a large portion for themselves : whether they take more than they are entitled to does not seem certain, if it be allowed that a rabbi's soul is worth those of forty ordinary Jews, and therefore his prayers forty times as effectual. The consequence of the uncertainty surrounding the dis- 362 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. tribution of the alms is, that the poor people are constantly expecting more than they ever get, and are always in want and misery. With all the fanaticism of these Jews, there is a frank admission of the value of anything they appre- ciate, even if it he contrary to their religious convic- tions, which an Englishman could not fail to sympa- thise with, for we have the same inclinations. In fact there is really much good feeling between them and the English. When Dr. Chaplin was ill, though he was attached to a proselytising establishment, they put up prayers night and day in the synagogues for his recovery and were most anxious about his health, a course most inconsistent with the rules of their religion. Attempts have been made among the Jews them- selves to better their condition at Jerusalem, and one of their number, Mr. Juda Tura, of New Orleans, be- queathed a sum of money for building almshouses for the poorer people. Sir Moses Montefiore put this work in hand, and the Montefiore Cottages now occupy a conspicuous position to the south of the city. The community also sent Rabbi Sneersohn on a mission to the Australian colonies for the purpose of raising subscriptions towards the erection of houses of refuge, a hospital, and other buildings in the Upper City itself, and his progress appears to have been very successful. He had also attempted to stir up feeling regarding the future occupation of Palestine by the Jews, pro- posing it as the only solution of a political difficulty ; and certainly if they could be brought up to govern TUi: WAILlNi; PLACE. 363 the country this would Ikj the right course to take : but for II long time the country must be goverued for tliem ; allowing the Jew gradually to find liis way into its army, its law, and its diplomatic service, and to gradually superijitend the farming operations, and work himself on the farms. There is no occasion to wait for him to find his way into the mercantile pur- suits, he has done so already. If by any arrangement this could be carried out for some twenty years the Jewish principality might stand by itself, as a separate kingdom guaranteed by the great powers. These Jews are constantly awaiting the advent of their Messiah, and looked upon my work at Jeru- salem as assisting in bringing about the end : they have an old tradition that when the tliird spring of living water is found the Messiali will come, but this had so many variations that I could get no clear idea of its proper form or how it might have originated. All the time that we were working, clearing out a cleft in the rock north of Jerusalem, tlie traditional wall of Gihou, they used to collect eagerly around and inquire after, and pray for, our success ; and were much disappointed when I at last gave up the excavation ; for we found it to be a natural cleft in the rock, filled with red clay, which got wider as wo descended, until we arrived at 135 feet from the surface. At this depth our work was stopped by a heavy storm of rain which filled up the cleft partially with water, reducing the clay to a state of mud, and producing a general ruin in our shaft, which was supported by a few scaffold poles and planks here and there. There are several of these clefts about 36 1 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Jerusalem, which penetrate to great depths under the surface ; they are natural results of the percolation of rain-water through the limestone rock over a great number of years. Finding that we still continued in search of water, they would come and sit for hours at the mouth of our shafts, asking as each basketful came up whether water had been found. Sometimes I tried to per- suade them to go down, but they seldom could be prevailed upon to do so. On one occasion, on a Saturday, there was a party of them standing about us, and on being asked to go down they said it was their Sabbath; upon this one of our missionaries proved to the great satisfaction of all that the Sab- bath day's journey could be taken underground as well as above, and then one of their number came down with us and went into ecstasies. No sooner did the news spread abroad that we had found a spring of water under the great causeway, close to the Temple than a general excitement sprang up among them and they crowded down to ascertain if it was a fact. Hundreds wanted to go over the works, but this would have been out of the question, as our excavations would then have been stopped ; I therefore told the Chief Rabbi that I could only take a limited number of the more learned men, and not more than twenty at a time, for I was apprehensive lest some accident might occur while conducting them over. Perhaps the best method of explaining the nature of the great causeway in which we made so many discoveries, will be by describing one of the visits I made there in company with a party of Jews. And THE WAILING PLACE. 365 when I niL'iitioii Jews I mean no particular sect, tor they all were excited about our work, but the Ash- kenazini in particuhir. In En<^lancl, wliere they are 6up{)osed to nnnilxjr only 12,000, we Consider the Jews as having; f)ar- ticular characteristics, dark eyes, hooked nose, dark complexion, ruddy or florid cheeks ; but these pecu- liar features are quite wanting among the Jews of Jerusalem : in fact, an English Jew who happened to be living there, was in no way whatever similar in appearance to others of his nation. The Ashkenazim are singularly unlike our tyi)e of Jew. They are in height above the average, but of very slender make — (piite fragile — but there is some- thing in their independent walk which tells of a greater strength than at first one is inclined to give them credit for. They have broad foreheads, straight eyebrows — often meeting together — straight noses, full lips, and narrow chins, dark hair and eyelashes, and blue or grey eyes. They wear their hair in long, straggling ringlets, at each side of the face, often twelve inches in length, and they let the hair on their faces grow, but it does not often exceed three inches in lengtli, and frequently the beard is but a few straggly tults. There is something very defiant in their faces, as though they had nothing to lose, and little to gain, l)y any Jiot of their own. They wear a coloured kind of fchirt, with a limp collar ; over this, a loose cotton, striped robe, gathered in at the waist, like a dressing-gown, very similar to what all the natives of the city weiir, aneople, and saw them praying in their striped garments. They were always most attentive. Ik'sides these Jews, we had all the Frank visitors to see those vaults, and they came to Jerusjxlem in numbers this year : indeed, as one of them remarked, walking tliroiigh Jerusalem was like pas.sing down Kolten iiow during the seiuson. A great number ot 378 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. ladies came down also, and for them I had special arrangements ; carpets laid down in places, the holes enlarged, incense burning to keep away the smell, for in one of the vaults a great amount of sewage had accumulated. I was asked whether I was not doing too much for the visitors, but I do not find that I did. I thought, as it was a public Fund, that all visitors should have facilities for seeing what was going on, so long as the work was not actually impeded detri- mentally. Of course it made us lose time, much time, for I often took two or three parties a day over the works — consuming most of the day thereby ; but we did not lose in the end. For each party went back full of interest in the subject, and prepared to push it through on arrival in England : in fact, I have no doubt that the great success of the Fund at the present day is in a great measure due to the course then pursued. The enthusiasm thus excited might not have been without substantial results, for a deputation of rabbins came and made a proposition, that all our reports should be published in Hebrew, and circu- lated to the Jews throughout the world ; for this 300/. was required, and they proposed that the Committee should obtain it by issuing a notice asking for three hundred guinea subscriptions from Jews for this work which, as they truly remarked, would do much towards promoting the interests of the work, they also wrote a letter to this effect, which I for- warded to the Committee. Unfortunately at this time there were no funds, and nothing could be done in the matter. liiE WAILI.NG PLACE. '61^ I will end this clia))ter with :i s[)ecimen of the numerous letters I received from all sides : the writer had been turned off the works for irregularities he had committed. " Captain Lieutenant Warren, " * Ask, and it shall be given you' " I the servant of the Lord, which have sinned ag-ainst your will, come humbly before you, and feel U) have done great stupidness in that I let those gen- tlemen go in the work, without your order, by which I lost my bread, being a great family keeper. Know- ing that you are like a father to the poor and needy, look you like a father for my family. I beg you for the love of tlie Lord to have j»ity upon me. I come therefore before you like that murderer which was crucified with Christ, who told his com- |)ani(>n that we received according to our deeds, and Christ took him into glory. I also say that I re- ceived according to my deeds, and hope to have a good answer for the sake of my children which are five. And from this day forward will not wrong with an}' uf your smallest commands. " Ever your huml)le servant, 380 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. CHAPTER XVII. NAZIF PACHA. " Moles, that would undermine the rooted oak !" Coleridge. Feb. l^th — An earthquake gave us a sharp shock soon after midnight ; the motion appeared to be from east to west ; the walls of our hotel were not cracked, but during the following week many houses in the city fell down : whether the result of the earthquake or by reason of the heavy rains, it would be difficult to say — probably the latter — for the houses of Jeru- salem constantly fall in the winter time. There is an old Indian saying, that the arch never sleeps, and as Jerusalem is a system of arches (every house being built of vaulted rooms), it may be said, that the Holy City never sleeps. This is certainly practically the case, for from one cause or another, the houses are constantly falling about the ears of the occupants. This fact was a cause of difficulty : the houses were so insecure, that if we came even within a few hundred yards of them, the people were inclined to call out and ask for compensation ; yet we never did any damage, and took the greatest care — they were as safe from our operations as they were from fire. A good deal of excitement was XAZtF PArriA. nsi caused at tliis time by our work under the great causeway, especially when I took the Jews over. Tlie Turkisli ollicials beciuue very jealous, and the Pacha having now recovered from the alarm I had given him in September last, exerted himself to stop us altor»;ether, and wrote many letters on the subject, absolutely ]irohibitii)g our work. However, I con- tinued evenly my course, and got on as fast as I could, heedlesg of all opposition, as it was evident that the day must come at last when I should have to succumb. It has been stated that the vaults of the cause- way are under the Justice Hall : on this account, therefore, the Cadi considered he should receive a large bakshish; 1o this I demurred, and only made him presents now and then, when I thought it desirable. At last he insisted that I must not work under his hall, upon which I put him in a dilemma, for I brought to his notice that some months afro, when a Moslem had dug under a Christian's house and the latter had com])laincd, he (the Cadi) had laid it down as the law, that the Moslem was justified in what he did. Here was he caught in his own meshes, and having no reply ready, he resorted to other expedients. He attempted to intimidate the workmen, and sent lor them to threaten them : but though greatly alarmed, they refused to obey him ; then he sent his servant to steal their abbas, while tliey were working, in order to oblige them to come. On hearing of this 1 purchased them from the men, and sent word to the Cadi that he had my property in his possession. This perplexed him the more; mes- sages were sent backwards and forwards, until at last. 382 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. not knowing what else to do, he attempted to replace them on the spot whence they had been stolen ; our watchman, however, was on the alert, and warned the servant carrying the coats, off the premises. Then I sent a message to the Cadi desiring him either to keep the coats or to send them to me at the hotel. He sent them up to the hotel, much to the amusement and delight of the native Effendis, who could not help being pleased to find their foreign Turkish Cadi put himself in so ridiculous a position. After this I became very friendly with him, and many a joke we had about the coats. Finding the Cadi did not assist him sufficiently, the Pacha tried other means of hampering us, and though we kept on for a time, eventually he very nearly succeeded in stopping our work. Although I had repeatedly invited him, he would not come to see the excavations himself, but sent some Effendis surreptitiously : a most dangerous proceeding, for it might have cost them their lives. On one occasion. Sergeant Birtles heard that a party was going round our works by night, and hurrying off found that one was in a deep shaft halfway down the rope-ladder, to which he was clinging. Having seized an axe, he commenced hacking at the strands of tJie ladder, much to the Effendi's terror, and would not desist until he promised to come up next morning to beg my pardon, and give his reasons for having thus gone down without permission. This he did next day, and told me that he had been ordered to go down by the Pacha ; but that he had had such a fright he would not trouble us again. NAZlF PACHA. 383 Still, opposition f^ot stronj^cr, and the Consul told me tliiit it was useless to go on without a more liberal firman, and that if more liberal instructions could not be obtained requiring the Pacha not to obstruct us with objections, he thought it would be impossible for me to continue the work. 1 had previously found that an intrigue was going on; and on the 22nd of January, 1808, sent a report iiome, of wliich the following is an extract : — " I have been watching the intrigue for three weeks, but have been obliged to let it run its course, for the end and object of it is bakshish, which I aiu not disposed to give to any except to those I consider are entitled thereto. Our system in exca- vating is to employ the tenants of the ground, and to pay them for any damage done to their crops, aiid also to give the landlords presents for the pri- vilege of digging in tlieir soil. This appears to be considered a fair and equitable proceeding, and we can now dig about most parts of tlie city at a dav or two s notice. " There are, however, a certain class here, holding office, wlio view with jealousy our proceedings, and who appear to think that they also ought to get bakshish ; and these now are bringing pres- sure to bear against us, in order that they may be bought oft'. If we were to buy them off, the works might as well be closed, as the market would l»e so much raised ; for our oidy safety is the impunity with which we can at present go about making tlie bargains without asking leave of any one. Once let the Turkish Government have a IkumI 384 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. in the matter, and we are lost. For example, in getting permission to dig, it would be necessary to fee all the officials employed, who would also ex- pect money from the landowners, so that we should indirectly have to pay them over again in that way ; and then the landowners, seeing that we were in the hand of the Government, would raise their prices immensely, so that what we can now do for 3/. to 4/. would without doubt cost 30/. to 40/. " Now this is what the party I refer to have in view ; and if by any chance they should succeed, the best method would be to close the excavations at once, and wait for better times. " The vizierial letter excludes the Noble Sanctuary from excavation, and the Pacha interprets it to mean that we are precluded from digging 7uar the Sanc- tuary wall; consequently it would be of no use asking permission to dig there when we know we shall be refused : the only way is to do it. " During the first fortnight I was in Jerusalem, I asked permission to dig in certain places, and kept a zapti on the works ; but I found it took so many days to get through the necessary forms, it cost so much, and the zapti became such a nuisance, always stopping the work, that I dispensed both with per- mission and zaptis, and have now for nearly a year been going on without asking leave from anybody except the owners of the soil. By degrees T have been able to get nearer and nearer to the Noble Sanctuary, and have excavated both inside and out. " I particularly wish to draw your attention to the fact that it is the Turkish Government, and not the NAZiF TACiiA. ^^^ |)ooplc, who have thwarted us throughout the work. The jHJople are quite content to get a little money, and are on the whole very obliging. Of course, if thev sec tliat by a successful opposition they can make more money than by allowing me to excavate, they will organise such a proceeding, and will call in their religious objections to their aid ; and it appears that they arc trying this on at present. " The l*acha, while the Consul was away in England, tried several times to stop the work ; but at last I t<»ok the matter into my own hands, and since then he has not interfered. Now that the Consul has returned, he is again trying to hamper me. " I enclose the letter and copy which has been forwarded to me I'rom Her Britannic Majesty's Con- sulate, my answer to which was, that * I have for- warded the matter to England for instructions.' " The Pacha, after forwarding Abu Saud's com- plaint of our excavating under his house (we are still several feet distant from it), goes on to say that the Government should have the veto on our proceedings, and that zaptis should be employed. That is tantamount to saying: 'Give us a large bakshish, or we will stop the work.' Certainly, the Pacha has the letter of the law on his side ; but then, as I have often told you })reviously, all the more important excavations are direct infringements of the vizierial letter, which is a piece of waste paper, doing more harm than good. We have now l)een digging for several months around the Noble Sanctuary — a precedent which the Pacha so far re- cognises, that al>out three weeks ago we fountl an 2 c 386 UNDEKGROUND JERUSALEM. Effendi of the Mejelis down the shaft at Robinson's Arch, in the middle of the night, and he stated he was making an examination by order of the Pacha." Our difficulties still increased, and Effendis were sent to inspect the work ; but they were all afraid, excepting one, to venture down at Robinson's Arch. The Pacha himself went down to the mouth of the shaft without letting me know about it, and began questioning the men as to where they were excavat- ing ; but nothing was to be got out of them, for their livelihood dejoended on their discretion : they gave the vaguest answers, and said that if he wanted to go down he must send up to the hotel and get permis- sion, on account of the danger. I had previously offered to take the Pacha down, or anybody he chose to send, but that was not his system of acting. The Pacha then sent up to the Consulate, to say that I must get his permission for every shaft I opened, have cavasses on each work, and enter into a written engagement not to go up to the Sanctuary wall. I told the Consul that I could not deviate from my course of procedure without the consent of the Palestine Exploration Fund Committee, unless he compelled me to do so ; that I would enter into no engagement about the Sanctuary wall, and that if cavasses were sent on to the works, I should dismiss my workmen, and throw the responsibility of doing so on the Pacha and the Consulate. ' The Consul communicated my decision to the Pacha ; and the " result of the friendly representa- tion " that he made at the same time was, that I NAZIF PACHA. 3»7 could " ^o on as I have Ikjcii doing- until t'uitlier notice." No notice was sent to me, l>ut sliortly after tliis several KlTendi.s were discovered one day cxaniiniii<^ our work under Wilson's Arch. The difliculty just now was that EfTendi Abu Saud was not content with the presents he had received, and, beinfj^ in the position of acting Town Major, appeared to tliink he could })ull the wires to his own advantage. The result of his endeavours was the following report, transmitted to me by the Consul : — Nacif Pdclm to Ml . Coil.'eral in its import. However, 1 was now working alongside the Temple wall, with the tiicit sanction of Nazif Pacha; for notwithstand- ing his strong prohibition already mentioned, 1 as- sured him he was quite mistaken in his reading of the vizierial letter, and went on as before. He had, however, taken advantage of my absence to block up the entrance to the vaults under the Great Cause- way, so that we were prevented continuing our excavations there, and were thus stopped in the midst of the solution of a most intricate problem. If 1 was to give an account of the next three months, 1 should have a long tale of sickness to relate. Corporal Duncan wa.s taken ill with fever. To my great sorrow he died on the lUth of August, and was buried in the British cemetery. He was a man above the ordinary level, with a very good education, and accurate knowledge of the Bible ; he was exactly suited to our wt)rk, and was a very greiit lobs. Dr. Chaplin had little hoi)es of his re- 396 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. covery from the time of his seizure, and though every care was taken of him, he eventually suc- cumbed. I attended him to the last; 1 performed the last services, for the Nubian servant could not be relied upon to do anything of this nature, and consequently they devolved upon me. His tomb- stone was an ancient shaft, brought up from the aqueduct, at Robin- son's Arch. Sergeant Birtles ar- rived in August, and shortly after, in Sep- tember, four corj)orals as overseers ; then Cor- poral Hanson, who had suffered somewhat from fever, was sent home. Corporal Z was now taken ill with in- flammatory fever, and was so affected, that it required four strong men to keep him in bed, so that I had to stop the works ; then as he partially recovered, Sergeant Birtles and the others in succession were taken ill, the change from the hot air above to the shafts below being so great, and the air in the sewers being so foul, for all the Tyropceon Valley is impregnated with sewage. When Corporal Z became better, and the others sickened, I took him during the day time into the office at my house, and endeavoured to give nazTf pacha. nf)7 him work which would occupy liis mind ; but I felt it a fearful responsihility, for I was often obligeer of times a day, and strictly keeping up all the forms of his religion. Now, having taken up this line, he could not possibly look with any favour on our work, which must have been most distasteful to him. He was quite unlike an ordinary Turkish Pacha in his conduct, and I was told, but of this I am not certain, that he was a native of Crete, and had in his younger days been fighting with the Christians there ; in any case, he was bound to his religion. Once a year, at the great Moslem festival, he was conducted with great pomp to the sacred rock of the Moslems, which rests on the palm tree, the Paradise on earth, the 2 i> 402 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. Gate of Heaven, Bethel, or what not. Here, having gone through ablutions and ceremonies, he mounted on the rock, and carefully swept up the dust thereon, and sold it to the poor for the purpose of curing their ophthalmia. My unhallowed feet also trod this sacred rock, which could only openly be touched by mortal feet once a year, and then only in perform- ance of a religious ceremony. I was visiting inside the Dome of the Rock one day, when I observed that there was something peculiar about the northern portion of the rock. It was early ; true Moslems were otherwise engaged ; and seizing my opportunity when quite unobserved, I vaulted over the high railing which encloses this morsel of Paradise, and examined it. The rock presents a large surface, but I directed my attention ^particularly to one point, where I found two pieces of flagging lying north and south, in tlie continuation of a known cutting in the surface ; at one place I could just get my hand in between, and found that there was a hollow. With all the wonderful traditions about this rock, this was not a chance to be lost; for though I could not get into the Well of Souls from the cave inside, might I not do far better here ? I had been told of a curious opening somewhere on the surface of this rock, where sixty years ago a man let down a plumb- line, and all" the string in Jerusalem would not enable him to sound the bottom. I had to be very secret, the risk was great, and not even the mosque guardians knew what I was about to do. For all these people are like children ; if they think over the THE SAKilUAH. I'J^ prospect of anytliiiig dangerous they get frightonod and slink out of it, — tlying a thousand deaths in fear- ing one. I always took them on the spur of the moment, and then wlien all was over, and no harm came r)f it, tliey forgot ahout their terror. Accordingly, I made arrangement for visiting the great dome in the morning a few days after, and carried with me, concealed in my sleeve, a small iron lever, just the lengtli of my arm ; on calling at the Serai, I found, as usual, two Government zaptis ready to watch over my actions, but I was equal to the emergency, for I was accompanied by three ladies who had courageously assented to assist in the under- taking. They were to distract the attention of the zaptis and other oflicials while I was working away at the stone. My other accomplice was the late Capt. E. Warry, R.A., who was to look out and give warning, and assist the ladies should any evil befall me. At the gate of Mahomet was Corporal Ellis, ready with a rope and ladder as a blind, and Sergeant Rirtles was to be late at another gate so that one of the zaptis had to go back for him, and he was to look for me all about, and, not finding me, to wander round with the zapti, but still near to the dome, in case we wanted to collect our forces. The other zapti I sent to admit Corporal Ellis, and he, having his instructions, kept him waiting ; and of course the zapti, knowing that the rope and ladder were with him, thought I could do nothing harmful under the dome, and supposed I was waiting for him. The Mosque officials and hangers-on then showed 2 n 2 404 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. the ladies down into the cave under the rock on which I was to work : and I, watching the last man in, again vaulted over the railing, scrambled up to the piece of flagging, and put in the lever to prise it up. All this time my Moslem friend of the Mosque, who let me do the work and yet forbad it, crept behind a pillar, eyeing all the doors in an agony of terror, ready to rush out, should I be discovered, and swear I was committing sacrilege. I tried my lever on the most northerly piece of flagging, three feet by two feet six inches, and three to foiir inches thick ; it was embedded in the rock with mortar, and as each piece crumbled off I carefully stuffed it down the hole I had made, so that should I have hastily to decamp there would be no sign of my having been there. After about three minutes the flagging began to loosen, and I was able to get my fingers under it ; but it was of too great a weight for one man, though I have powerful muscles for such purposes, and when I had raised the stone up halfway across the hole, I gave my shoulder a wrench, and my left arm hung powerless by my side. I had accidently injured again some muscles in my left arm which had been lacerated by a fall down a scarp which I had met with at Gribraltar some four years before. I was quite unable with my right arm to keep up the stone, and it fell with a crash into the hole below (which, proved to be only three feet deep), causing an echo which shook the building and reverberated all over the place. All this time the ladies were asking innumerable questions as to the sights within the cave : whether THE SAKHRAH. 405 the " tongue of tlie rock " could be persuaded to speak ; wlietlier Mahomet liad liis turban on when lie pushed his head up throuo:l» the roof; why Ehas, David, and Abraham should all have chosen praying- places so close together; and whether any voices could be heard in the " Well of Souls." Over and over again they insisted on the tales being told, and probably the s^howmen had never before found a jiarty so bent on learning Moslem lore. When at last they heard the crash above them, and th«: echo around, they showed no signs of emotion though It was impossible for them to imagine what had happened ; one, with woman's wit, silenced the arising suspicion of their guide by asking if the wind had not risen, as the door had slammed with a noise. All this time my Moslem friend was in agonies of terror, and conjured me to make haste : and at last, wlien I let go the stone, he became frantic, declared that we should all get murdered, and that I must go at once ; but 1 was on the rock, and he was not ; and, as he could not even touch it with his feet (when I was near), I was on vantage ground, and told him to send in a man to help me get up the stone again; but he said, with a grim smile, how could that Ijc, for even the Pacha was only allowed once a year to approach the stone ? and added that if it was left it could be put back again in the night. I asked him wiiether he would get the Pacha to come and do it for him, upon which he tore his hair, and begged me to come away : however, I had now to make my observations, having run the risk, and dived down below into tin- hole. 406 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. I found that these pieces of flagging conceal a cutting in the rock about two feet wide and eleven feet long, running north, and in that direction blocked up with rough masonry. It was only three feet deep at the time, but the bottom is soft earth or dust, and I had no means of ascertaining the real depth. It is not easy to determine the object of this passage. Sir John Maundeville, a.d. 1322, relates of this place : — " And in the middle of the Temple are many high stages, fourteen stej^s high, with good pillars all about, and this place the Jews call the Holy of Holies. No man except the prelate of the Saracens, who makes their sacrifice, is allowed to come in there. And the people stand all about in divers stages, according to their dignity or rank, so that they may all see the sacrifice." The Moslems, however, do not appear to have sacrificed here to such a great extent as to have needed a gutter for the purpose of carrying off the blood : indeed, some assert that the Moslems do not sacrifice at all ; but that is an error. All the Arabian Moslems sacrifice at irregular intervals : it is one of the remnants of their original religion still clinging to them. The solution I propose is that above this rock was the chamber of the washers of the Temple : here were the inwards, &c., cleaned, and this gutter carried the blood and refuse down to co-mingle with that from the altar, and then to run into the Kidron by the passage we discovered under the Single Gate. But all this time the ladies are waiting down in THE SAKRRAH. 407 the cave, and my Moslem friend insisting on my departure. Having taken my measurements, left the rock, and nrot on to tlie outside pavement, my friend was liimself again. 1 wanted to go on again to try to j>ut the stone in its place, when he became as frantic a« ever. Asking his reasons, he replied, " If you are found on the rock there is only one thing that can happen ; but if only the stone is found dis- placed, who can suppose that you have done it? It is Allah who has thrown it down." And said I, *' Will Allah get it up again to-night?" to which he replied that he was sure he would. There was nothing more to do here, for we could not clear out the gutter in the daytime, and at night two black men kept guard, ever on the look-out for me : whether they helped to get the stone back again I cannot say, but a few days after I found that it had been got u|) again, and put in its place. During this period. Dr. William Russell arrived at Jerusjilem, and, by the aid of his magic pen, assisted in poj)nlarising our work. I found him one wet and cold morning ]xuldling in his stockings on the pave- ment of the Mosque, over which I was irreverently walking in boots ; for the soles of my shoes had gradually become s;\cred. Tiie cavass who was taking him over had told him to take off his shoes when he reached the pavement, instead of when under the dome. I was very much annoyed with the sheikh of the Mosque for not preventing this, and made him bring a pair of his own clean slippers; but already the cold pavement had done its wr»ik and bruup-ht on 408 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. neuralgia. He accompanied me over our excavations, and afterwards I found him looking at the outside of the Holy Sepulchre, then shut, and which he could not get permission to see ; my compliments to the Latin Patriarch caused a side door to be opened at once. Again I found him within the Jaffa Grate, waiting for it to be opened, and fearing he should loose his steamer ; for it was Friday during the hours of prayer, at which time Moslems have a tra- dition that the city will be captured. I had not failed in former da^^s, when occasion made it necessary, to get the land gates of the fortress of Gibraltar opened at night : why should those of Jerusalem stand fast if an application be made ? The authorities could not open the gates for the Consul, but they might do so for me ; accordingly I sent up my dragoman to the Military Pacha, who, quite taken aback with such an uncommon request_, at once acceded, and we passed out in triumph. Dr. Pussell mentions in his Diary in the East, that there was a want of sympathy between the Consul and myself, and described it as a fault that we should not co-operate and work to the same end. But I ask how could there be any sympathy between us, on the subject of the work, for the prosecution of which only I remained at Jerusalem ? I was sent out to do that which the vizierial letter did not authorize, which the Pacha forbade, which the Consul urged me to abandon ; my work was one of active progression, in which each day I run the chance of getting into complications, but which I avoided by always looking ahead and playing my game carefully. I placed out THE SAKHRAH. 409 my pawns to advantage, and the Pacha, thougli often putting me in check, could never checkmate me. The Consul's official life was, on tlie other hand, bound to be one of passive endurance, to avoid difficulties. How could he then assist nie actively in the matter ? he told me at the very commencement he could not do so : lie told me to go and settle matters witli the Pad I a myself. I am far from wishing to throw any blame on the Consul for the attitude he assumed. The former Consul li;id actively asserted the position of our countrymen and proteges, and had in consequence found himself in difficulties. Jerusalem was the centre of religious disturbances, the Consul had been brought up in the East, and had lived there ; he knew more of Turkey, I knew more of England : how is it possible, then, that we could thoroughly sympathise one with another? With the Consul-General, and every other Consul I had to deal with, I found the greatest sympathy, but in Jerusalem it was difi'erent. The situation was so delicate and peculiar that I my- self do not in the least wonder at lookers-on thinking that there existed no sympathy between us: only do not suppose it was the man, but rather the situation which caused it. Mr. William Simpson, the artist, was also at Jeru- salem at this time, making" sketches for his gallery of Underground Jerusalem, from which several of the sketches in this book are taken, and I was much pleased to watch the meeting of these two magicians, — the one of the pencil, the other of the pen. Dr. Kusseil was going down ly the Muristan, after having 410 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. left the Holy Sepulchre, when the two met face to face under a combination of planets and all the signs of the Zodiac, which ornamented the gate leading in to the deserted Hospice of St. John. A mutual glance and then a cordial recognition. Where had these two met last ? Was it in the prairies of North America, the paddy fields of China, with a flying column in India, or was it before Sebastopol ? Faith, I cannot say. But they had met during stirring times, and yet it was the present that more concerned them, or rather the future. At this time we were in hopes that their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales would favour Jerusalem with a visit, and I felt certain that if they did come it would be of immense advan- tage to the progress of our work : I was only torn in my mind as to how the Princess could be accommo- dated, as I felt sure Jerusalem was unhealthy at this time. After thinking and talking it over with my wife, I wrote to the Pev. Lake Onslow and said that we should be very glad to put our house at the dis- posal of the Princess should they propose coming to Jerusalem, as it occupied a healthy situation and was well out of the city. For this purpose we would go under canvas, so that Her Royal Highness could have the use of the whole house and garden. I received a very kind letter in reply, from which it appeared that there was no prospect of their coming ; and, indeed, I think on the whole it was a wise ar- rangement, for the journey to Jerusalem at this time of the year was not very suitable to delicate persons. I must not forget to mention at this period the THE SAKHRAII. 411 presence of one of the worthies this century has pro- duced, Rob Roy. He had been down the Jordan as far as Tiberias, and I am tliankful to say attempted to canoe it no fartlier. I wrote and stronofly urged him not to attempt the lower Jordan, fur tlierc was nothing tliere to discover, it liaving been examined by Lynch, and every chance of a frail canoe getting lost in the rapids among the logs of wood and trees. He was at this time excessively keen on the subject of crocodiles, was most anxious to settle the question as to whether there were any on the Jordan, and persuaded me to accompany him on that mission; the result was merely negative, but I saw something quite as pleasing to me. I had often before noticed how quickly the Arabs could take up a joke. Rob Roy, finding no signs of crocodiles, suddenly began to act; he is a perfect actor. His caste this time was a cockney sportsman out for a day in the country. His action was inimit- able, several of the tableaux vivanis were his recol- lections from 'Punch ;' the fellahin and Bedouin were in fits of laughter, for though they could not take up the subject as an Englishman might, yet they saw enough to assure them that he was caricaturing, of which they are very fond. Just at this time also the Marquis of Bute was in Jerusalem, accompanied by Monsignor Capel. He took great interest in our excavations, and was so much distressed at the danger we ran from want of mining frames, that he handed me over a cheque for 250/., a princely gift : for mining frames only. Un- fortunately for me (fortunately for the Palestine Ex- 412 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. ploration Fund), this 250/. came in to pay the ordinary expenses of our work, for the till was empty, so that I had still to work on without frames. In the absence of any English service during Passion Week, Monsignor Capel was most anxious that we English at Jerusalem should at least have the full benefit of the Roman Catholic Service, and accordingly obtained permission from the Superior of the Convent of the Sisters of Si on to hold a service in English within their walls. Protestant England and Protestant G-ermany have no place within the walls of the Holy Sepulchre Church : except I presume that they would be allowed, if they chose, to have processions and mass in the portions belonging to all sects. Monsignor Capel wanted to adjust all this, perhaps, and bring some of us into his fold ; for this purpose he sent round a notice to the missionaries and visitors begging their attendance, as it was Passion Week, and would be the only English service in Jerusalem, We were not slow to respond, for we felt that if his address was in any way equal to his conversation, it would be well worth hearing. We assembled together at the appointed time, and where I had before found the black-hooded nuns and white-robed novices, I found the staunch Protestants of England and Germany, and a sprinkling of our clergy. The scene was impressive. All the pictures and figures were either removed or draped, and the church was as free from the ornaments our ecclesias- tical law forbids as our own churches can be. At the east end is an old Roman arch, the small THE SAKHRAH. li:! northeru passage of the Eoce Homo Bridge : an arch full 1 800 years old, well preserved and in situ ; cleaned and pointed up so that it had an appeamnco in keeping with a cluirch one side of which is the living rock ; for it is built against tlie north side of the ditch which guarded the Antonia. Under the arch and a little in front of it is the altar, on the steps of which stood Monsignor. The service was simple and strictly Evangelical, and then Munsignur commenced his discourse ; but I am thankful to say, for the sake of our faith, he did not on this occasion excel so much as he usually does, for two sparrows directly they heard the music of his voice began to twitter in concert, and the echo among the rafters was so great that nothing could be heard distinctly of his address to those behind. The incumbent expected Monsignor would come to our church in return to hear the other side of the question, and perhaps ask for admittance into the Anglican fold, but nothing was further from his intentions ; and he wrote to say that the rules of his Church prevented his accepting the invitation. Not- withstanding this, our incumbent was of course bound to pluck out the seed which had been sown in our hearts during the week, and thundered forth such a vigorous sermon against Rome that even the Greek priests heard of it, and begged for a copy to give the following Sunday in their churches. It was extempore, and no short-hand writer being available, it has been lost to the Greek Church. I continued my attendance on Monsignor Capel, 414 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. but did not feel in the least persuaded that our Thirty-nine Articles are in any way wrong : at the same time I think that the use of this convent for services in the English language was a good idea. Much anxiety had been expressed by Mr. Fergus- son as to an elevation of the west wall of the Triple gate, which he supposes to be the east wall of the Temple. The vaults (stables of Solomon) had been closed up the year preceding^ on account of some soldiers having secreted themselves there during the hour of prayer and afterwards deserted. At the time I went, for the necessary measurements, there were only two methods of entrance from the Temple area : the one by a loop-hole nine inches wide and nineteen inches high, on the staircase leading down to the Mosque of the " Cradle of our Lord Jesus," by a drop of forty feet, past an overhanging mass of crumbling masonry ; an entry only fit for cats, and one which, having once passed in safety, I am not anxious to try again The other entry is by getting down tank X, and then up again through an aqueduct into the vaults. First by a shaft sixteen inches square and thirty-one feet down to the roof of the tank, then we suddenly found ourselves twisting round in mid air, and being lowered twenty-four feet more were deposited on soft earth at the bottom of the tank. Then a ladder had to be lowered down to enable us to get up into the aqueduct, but it was only twelve feet long, so we sent hastily for another ; all that could be got was one of slender proportions, which had been used for THE SAKIIRAH. 415 allowing })i<^e()ii.s to liop up into their cote. Lashed together they did not reacli the aqueduct, and we had some difficulty in arriving at tlio vaults. When we did get there we found that the Triple gate was once a douhle gate similar to that called the Double or Iluldah Gate, and also that it extended the same dis- tance, so that there is every probability of these being the two southern gates of the Temple. More- over, we found that the west wall of the tunnel leading from these gates, which Mr. Fergusson calls the east wall of the Temple, is a wall built in an ir- regular manner ; here large and here small stones, with no signs whatever of its having been in any way similar to the wall at the Jews' Wailing Place — here was a most conclusive fact against Mr. Fergusson, and why was no notice tiiken of it ? why was it not instanced as one of the discoveries made that season ? I cannot say ; but this I know, that scarcely any notice has been taken of it ; and yet the sketch I then took, and which is given, page 230, * Kecovery of Jerusalem,' is direct proof that Mr. Fergusson is entirely in error. But if this is not sufficient to prove that the old Temple wall was co-extensive with the present grand wall of the Moslem sanctuary, what is to be said of our discoveries at the south-east angle ? of the cha- racter which such men as Yaux, Petermann, and Deutsch all concur in declaring to be Phoenician, Mr. Emanuel Deutsch came out purposely from England to see our work, and was not disappointed, neither was that great mind uninfluenced by what lie saw in Jerusalem. " 1 learn more of Jewish 416 UNDEKGKOUND JERUSALEM. customs/' lie said, " here in a, day than I can in England in ten years." And yet he was a Jew. How strongly this points out to us the difference between Judaism in England and in Syria. He was most enthusiastic about our prospects, and insisted on going to see Nazif Pacha in order to tell him what he thought of his proceedings ; the situa- tion was delightful. What did the Pacha know of the British Museum or of European savants? I sent word however to say we were coming, and the Pacha received us. Chibouks he did not consider necessary for my friends until I gave him a broad hint. Then Mr. Deutsch commenced an oration which puzzled poor Nazif terribly ; at last he turned round abruptly, and said, " What is the British Museum ?" for Mr. Deutsch had said he was one of the staff. This was a poser, and an explanation was necessary ; but it was worse than useless, for when the Pacha began to understand that he was one of the employes he became quite rude. However, I turned the subject by reminding him that the greatest men turned their hands to trifles, that I had seen the Grovernor of Gribraltar repairing his own watch, and that I myself dug and delved like any fellah, when necessary : in fact, it was our English custom. But he could not comprehend the matter : his only idea of a museum was the little room at the British Consu- late, where scarcely three persons could sit down comfortably, and which the cavass kept in order. Then how could Mr. Deutsch have to do with a museum ? it was too much for him. However, the visit did good, for he saw a twinkle THE SAKIIAUAII. 117 ill my eye, saw h.' was making a mistake, and yot lie could nut think where or how. At last he made up his mind to be civil, and we had a jJcasant chnt. The exposure of the south-east an;jrlc with its IMi along the Oplul wall and foiiiul it lo l)Ut (»n to that of the Temple some feet west of the ;m*^le. "With regiud to this wall of Ophel, it cannot be asserted too positively ihat it is totally of a different age and date from that of the Temple wall. The latter is built up from the rock with large drafted stones, the former is not built on the rock but its foun«hvti()n was placed on tlie hard red earth so that we could mine under it without dilliculty. More- over, the lower portion of this wall for about 2') feet is (piite rough and does not appear to have been exposed to view ; above this the stones are drafted, but are not nearly so large as those at the Wailing Place. This is without doubt a portion of the first wall of the city spoken of by Josephus as joining on to the Temple cloisters. And wlicn was it built ? We are told of King Jotham that on Ophel he built much ; but it is evident from the number of feet above the rock the wall is rough tliat it was built long, long after the Temple wall, and long after the accumulations of rub])ish had taken })Iace. 1 am inclined therefore to tliink tliat this Opiicl wall was built in the time of Herod. It is more than 14 feet thick at bottom, and is |ier|)endicular. This wall we followed round the Ophel hill several hundred feet, and attached to it were found the great towers that Josej>hus speaks of. As we got further away fnnn the Temple tliere is less accumulation on Ophel hill, until at la.st we came to a spot where the wall was lost altogether, for it was so near the surface that it had been taken away, piecemeal, by the fellahin for building jturjmses. 2 K 2 420 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. At the end of 18G8, we again directed our atten- tion to the south-east angle of the Temple, having now gallery frames, and sunk a shaft twenty feet from it, a representation of which is given at the commencement of Chapter VII. From the bottom of this, a gallery was driven in to the Temple wall, which we reached about six feet from the angle. The stones in tlie wall are like those of the Wailing Place, even at this depth more than eighty feet below the surface ; and on one of the stones we discovered three letters in red paint, 0. Y. Q. Here PAINTED CHARACTERS. was a grand discovery, for these letters should give some date to the stones. Now, you may ask, How is it certain that these letters were of the time of the building of the wall ? I will tell you. On the soft rock from which this great wall springs, there lies from eight to ten feet of fat, red mould, full of potsherds ; this was cut into when the THE SAKII A1;AII. 421 great stones of the Temple wall were laid, and con- sequently the first two or three courses have heen always concealed from view ; and it is remarkable that below this line only did we find the red-paint marks ; above it, tliey had been washed out or rubbed off nearly 3000 years ago. Thus these marks we found were those covered over on the building of the wall. How important, then, that a good opinion on the subject should be obtained, and that they should be well authenticated. We had at Jeru- salem, in the German Consul, Dr. Pctermann, one of the greatest Orientiil scholars of Europe ; to him I submitted the matter, and he unhesitatingly pro- nounced the characters to be Phconician, though he could not positively give the exact meaning of the words. Furtlier on we found more. On one stone Dr. Petermann considered he could read, in the Phoenician language, the words " a seal," but of this he could not be absolutely certain. On other stones were incised marks. jii>t as I INl Isrii 1 }\KV. \( I ; afterwards found on the old walls of Saidon, Damas- cus, Afka, and Haalbec. If these marks at Jerusalem 422 UNDEKGKOUND JERUSALEM. are Plioenician, and in situ, what again becomes of Mr. Fergusson's theory ? The following is Mr. Deutsch's opinion : 1. The signs cut or painted were on the stones when they were first laid in their present places. 2. They do not represent any inscription. 3. They are Phoeni- cian. He considered them to be partly letters, partly numerals, and partly special masons', or quarry, signs. Some of them were recognizable at once as well- known Phoenician characters ; others, hitherto un- known in Phoenician epigraphy, he had the rare satisfaction of being able to identify, on absolutely undoubted Phoenician structures in Syria ; such as the primitive substructures of the harbours of Sidon. In the view he took of the subject I quite con- curred. It appeared to me that these stones when quarried had received paint marks in order to desig- nate the position they were to occupy, and that these were the very marks which I discovered. The colour was vermilion, and Rob Roy took down brush and palette and obtained the exact tint. Photo- graphs also were taken of these letters, but they appeared too obliquely to be satisfactory. The prin- cipal object seen in the photograjohs is the flame of a candle, which happened to be in the field. At this angle also were found those pottery jar- handles on which is impressed a Winged Sun or Disc, probably the emblem of the Sun Grod ; around this are characters which denote that this pottery was made for royal use. Now, this is the south-east corner of Solomon's Palace, and what more natural Tin: SAKIIAHAH. 42a tliaii that some ot" tlie pottery imin tlie |»alaee should here aecuinulate ? Those, liowever, who follow Mr. Ferp^usson, have to start a curious and very far- fetched hypothesis : they assume that some museum containin;^ this pottery must have existed somewhere altout licre, aud that here the contents were thrown during one of the destructions to which the Temi)le was suhjected. The illustration headinj^ C'haptrr \'1I. f:;ives a good idea of the nature of our work, tJie great depth of the Temple w;dl helow the present surface, and its appearance at bottom; peiliaps it can he realized AXflKXT MAtlKS ()X IIAXDI.Ji' OF VASK- that all this, covered up hy millions of tons of ruh- hish, was once exposed to view. You may observe that a lady is being slung down to the bottom, ^he is seati'd in a chair, which was rigged up for the purpose, and which is being directed in its course by a man standing in the gallery half-way down ; tliat gallery led to the Temple wall, at a higher Iwel, and was carried alonjr to north more than 100 leet. 424 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. until the rising rock was met with : search was made for any signs of a pier on this side simihir to that at Robinson's Arch, but with no results, although above is the springing of an arch. Nazif Pacha was very curious regarding these characters, the marks of King Solomon, and I tried to persuade him to come down and see them, but he would not hear of the plan. He, however, sent some of the Mejelis to see them, when he thought I was not at hand; I caught them, however, in the act, and insisted on their going down every shaft, until at last they began to faint. Having thus got rid of the most of them, there was only one, a renegade Greek from Crete, who would venture down to the south-east angle. He was very easily made to understand that he must not be too curious, and went up and reported, of his own accord, that we were not at the Temple wall at all, but were working at the wall of Solomon, quite distinct from the present wall. ( 42o ) CHAPTER XIX. riiK HOLY I'll; I.. "Ill their feverish exaltations, In tlu'ir trinni])h and their yearninfr. In their passionate pulsjitions, • • • • • Tiie Promethean fire is burning." lAiuii/tUoiv, What is tliat fire wliich on Easter-eve liglits up the lamps in the Holy Sepulchre, and renews to the world that flame which durino; Passion week had been waning, and gradually I >ecome extinct? That a miracle attends the ceremony, there cannot be a doubt. But how came the ceremony? Is it a lin- gering echo of the history of the Dedication of the Temple, when the fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house ? or, is it a remnant of pagan ordinances, referring to the fire stolen from heaven by Prometheus, or to the habits of the Phoenix, the bird of Arabia ? Is it rather a Christian institution, in order to carry the worshippers back to the time of the Resurrection and the descent of the angels? or, can it refer to the Day of Pentecost ? However we mav reirard it. who can df»ubt this miracle of the 426 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. nineteenth century — the miracle that educated and learned men, leading the half of Christendom, should countenance and encourage so obvious a delusion, and induce their fellow men to assist in so unique a form of our common religion ? It is easy to comprehend ignorance and super- stition welling up from beneath ; but what can be said when it is propelled downwards from above ? when the magnates of the land, when the patriarchs and bishops, all concur in urging the weaker vessels to assist in these rites and ceremonies ? Pause and survey the subject. Can this be done for the sake of religion, or has it some occult origin, which we wot not of? Is it not rather at the present time a political demonstration, which ensures a steady influx of G-reek Christians into the Holy Land each year, and by collecting pilgrims from every part, keeps alive in their own country a sense of the wrongs and oppressions to which their brother Christians, the rayahs, are subject ? When the worn pilgrim, after months of hard toil, penniless and ague-stricken — when she returns to her far-off village in the steppes of Tambov, or the plains of Poltava, she brings with her a winding shroud, sanctified by the touch of the holy couch itself, and light in her lantern kept up ever since she obtained it, on the Easter-eve, from heaven. Then, when the villagers collect around the steaming tea-kettle, and listen to her tale, she will relate to them how the Tomb of Christ is in the hand of the Turk, and Christians of the land ground down in the dust ; their passions will be excited against the oppressor who THE HOLY Fiin:. IJT once ruled even in Kiissia itself, and enmity will be kej^t up, so dt'sirahlc in ordci- tli:it wai- inny lie popular. Is this so? and it" not, why is such an imposture countenanced? One wliieh could be discontinued without a chance of difliculty ; for the ])il«irrims nil come from diflerent parts, and with the thorouf]^h organisation which so distinguishes Kussian internal administration they might be kept in their own land until after Easter, or, at least, for a year or two, and have their passports so arranged that they should not arrive all together in the Holy City. As far as the native Christians are concerned, the advent of the fire is to them a grand fantasia, of the same im- j)ort as the other fires which they, indift'erently with the Moslems and Druses, keep up at tombs and other places. As an example, I mention on Mount Ilermon an instance, where I found lamps burning in a sacred grove, which the people considered to be sacred fire, and which they believed had never ceased to burn for thousands of years. Little do we know as to when this fire first was displayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but it is suspected to have commenced in the time of Charlemagne, about a.d. 800. Bernard the Wise, about A.D. 867, appears to be the first to mention it, and states that on Holy Saturday, while the Kyrie Eleison is being chanted, an angel lights the lamps over the sepulchre of our Lord. Gradually the power over the ceremony became a weapon in the hands of the Patriarch, whether the rightful Greek or the usurping Latin of the Crusades. 428 UNDERGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Ill tlie early portion of the twelfth century, during the reign of Baldwin, it was used as a means whereby the popular enthusiasm was raised against the enemies of Christendom. Then all Holy Saturday, all Easter Sunday, no fire came; Monday passed away, and still the people, in abject terror, found no response to their tears and lamentations. Suddenly, after three days' anxiety and suspense, while the king himself was heading the barefoot procession round the sepulchre, the flame descended, the lamp was lighted, the people felt that their Grod was again with them, and were ready to forget their jealousies and disappoint- ments, and fight shoulder to shoulder in the common cause. But those were days when our forefathers were wandering in the dim light, their path was clouded, and this miracle of the Holy Fire was only one of many peculiarities of the day ; now it stands out in relief, the one great miracle-play of the Eastern Churches. Sir John Maundeville, in a.d. 1322, relates, " And there is one lamp which hangs before the sepulchre which burns bright ; and on Grood Friday it goes out of itself, and lights again by itself at the hour that our Lord rose from the dead." There is something clear and explicit about this statement. It has the ring of the true tradition about it ; and places in the category of legends those statements that the Christians were in the habit of rubbing a chain which held the lamp with essential oil, by which the fire descended to the wick, after it was ignited at the top ; and others relating how a dove brought down fire from heaven, through the Tin: HOLY FIRE. ll'!' Open roof. Tliese I venture to assert .ire inerely ignorant legends; tlie true tradition is that whicli Sir John Maundevilie relates, and is obviously alleiro- rical : the lire goes out when our Lord surrenderetl His life; it brightens up again when he arose from the dead. As an allegory there is something toucliing and sini]>le about the transaction, but now that it is practised as a pious fraud, it has lost all its fragrance. And note that Sir John Maundevilie savs it liu-hted itself at the hour of the resurrection ; but now the lamp is lighted on the afternoon of Saturday ; thus the whole import of the original ceremony is lost and materialised. Even in tlie seventeeth century, accord- ing to Henry Manndrell, the Christians were im- mured in the church from Friday till Easter Sundav, so that the Holy Fire, if it did take place in his time, could not have lighted the lamp until the morning of Easter. This annual ceremony, then, is one in w^hich every Christian must be interested, however much it has degenerated, for is it not the exaggerated and dis- torted echo of some simple reminiscences which once used to linger around The Tomb ? We are at the present day repelled from the Holy Sepulchre be- cause of the extravagant worship carried on there. But if it was alone, neglected, unadorned, unpolluted, would not our souls fire within us, even we Pro- testants, to guard it, to keep it clean, to moralize around it ? We place monuments on the sites where our own countrymen have been killed, where their feet have trod, though their bodies are buried else- where : can we assert that we have no sentimental 430 . UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. attraction to the Tomb ? We cannot ; it is very dear to us all, but the horror of the scenes at present enacted, mars it, makes the feeling of repulsion the stronger of the two. I have stood near that spot and watched the pil- grims in the moments of their devotion ; watched them crawl in on their knees in agonies of emotion ; their eyes streaming with tears of happiness ; seen them kiss the pavement, the dirt, grovel on their faces, and I have thought those people to be enjoying real happiness. They have looked forward to this as the joy of their lives, they revel in the present, and will look back upon it with calm contentment. If human nature can so enjoy itself, where is the harm ? Does it demoralize them ? does it harm us ? But it is a different matter when they are brought to wit- ness the Holy Fire, for there they witness a sham, and no good can come to Christianity when the truth is absent. I had seen the miracle of the Holy Fire on a former occasion, but now I was to have a more complete view, through the influence of M. Ganneau, who had procured me a place in the Latin Gallery, to the north, and overlooking the Holy Sepulchre. Previous to this I had watched the passion-play of the Latins, Armenians, and others, representing the Crucifixion, a performance which may also be wit- nessed in Spain. On Good Friday all lamps burning with sacred fire within the chapels of the central church, and. also in those of Bethlehem and others, were extin- guished ; and during the interval until the afternoon THE HOLY KIUK. l-l of the fbllowin*^ day, tlu' cliurclj «^ra(lually fillcil witli pilgrims and devotees, wlio, collecting together in groups, passed the night around the Holy Sepulchre : a strange company ! As morning (lawiKMJ, ;ill ihc city l»ccanie astir. Soldiers assemhifd in the na now streeti<, and pilgrims traversed the city in i»ands according to their religion. (iraartakers in this mystery, hut now lookers-on. To the south, and opposite to us, were the Aiinenians ; tlie Greeks, whether natives or Russians, occupied tlie whole western portion of the Rotunda, excepting small hands in their midst, of Copts and Syrians. In our gallery no ladies were admitted, hut yet room was found for them in a chamber behind the organ-loft, from whence a good view was obtained. The gallery we were in extended round the Ro- tunda^ and was crowded : above again was another gallery, swarming with life; and high on to}) of the dome were to be seen pilgrims looking down with telescopes and glasses. Every vantage post was filled; Russian women lined the wooden beams of a scafl'olding high above us to our left ; and even the pmjecting cornices nnght boast of statuary 432 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. drawn to the life. Soon irregular fits of excite- ment troubled the living sea of mortals, and strife ensued. Then came the guardians of the church, the Turkish soldiers ; joining hand and liand in great good humour, they separated the combatants, and acted as a cordon between them. Soon mirth succeeds to passion, and the most playful antics are observed. Men coursing lightly along the heads of the crowd, running one after another. Then, as the crowd tightens its clasp, the wail of infants is heard, fainting women are pushed out of the way, and all become expectant, for the hour is drawing nigh. JFor a while the soldiers relax their vigilance, and a curious game of leap-frog commences, initiated by the native Christians ; in the excitement real athletic feats may be observed, ending with a stampede round the building ; men with men on their shoulders. This cannot continue without a fight, and again the soldiers come to the rescue and enforce order. Shortly after an armed company of soldiers is marched in, drawing a cordon round the sepulchre, and separating it from the multitude, for the miracle is about to be performed, and there must be no chance of collusion on the part of outsiders. Round and round the stout, hearty, old Turkish Kaimakam may be seen strutting, cheerfully flogging the Chris- tians into their places. While this is going on the natives sing the following refrain in chorus : " Christ came to us. With His blood hath He ransomed us. To-day are we glad. TIIK UolA' I'liCi:. l."W And the Jews are unhappy. The Snturilfty of the Li^lit is our ft-te. Tliis is the tomb of uur Saviour." But now a .siruorgle is to be witnessed, tlie Latin lookers-on must give way and allow the Greek pro- cession to emerge from their church, in grand })ro- cession. The bishops of the Greek Church can be (lounted by tens ; but where is the Bishop of Petra, the " Bishop of Lirrht " as the Arabs call him ? lie is not ! He died last year, and has not been re- placed ; what a rare opportunity for discontinuing the miracle! But it is in be; the Patriarch Cyril must take his place and work it. What he does inside, I will hereafter relate, I only now mention what we saw. Priests and monks accompany the bishops and Patriarch, the procession commences to tour around the sepulchre, against the course of the sun. They arc preceded by banners, which have descended from time immemorial to the ancient or more wealthy Christian families of the city. The sight of these banners arouses longstanding jealousies, and free fights commence for their possession, put down bv the strong arm of the Turk. Make way for the Christian Patriarch, who is about to perform the ancient toicc/f around the Sepulchre! The mob press hither and thither, and a narrow lane is opened to admit the procession, and then it closes over it. Thrice is the toiciif executed, and then the Patriarch, paler than usual with excitement and emotion, reaches the east side of the Sepulchre, fronting the door, which has been duly sealed by tho Turks, after the interior 2 I- 434 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. has been examined for presence of lucifer matches, or flint and tinder, and snch like. The Patriarch also himself has been examined and searched, for, strange to say, it is the Turks who attest the trnth of the miracle. Now is the excitement intense, as the Patriarch, who is a novice in the work, is unrobed. He is a venerable white-bearded man, who appears to have completed the allotted years ; and to cause him to take so prominent a part seemed most cruel. Scarcely could he reach the entrance, for now the crowd is past all control, and surges backwards and forwards, each moment carrying the venerable old man beyond the door, on this side or that, until I feared that his fragile form would be crushed. At last, seizing a favourable opportunity, he was thrust in with an attendant priest, but whether also with others I cannot say ; though I believe the Armenian Patriarch and Syrian Bishop should also accompany him to the outer room. I cannot say what then took place, but will give his own account hereafter ; we were all now in- spirited with the catching enthusiasm a large crowd generates, and watched with breathless anxiety the result of his mission. A hush pervaded the build- ing. The silence was felt ; one question seemed to stir the breasts of all. In spite of his age he is a novice at this work ; can he fail ? will his prayers be effectual ; will his tinder be dry ? The seconds linger as minutes, and yet no sign. Necks are craned forward, men upon men are seen crowding round the hole by which the fire is to be given out. i THE HOLY FIKE. 435 What tliu lirst iiuiu has jtaid fur the privilege none can say, for the fabulous prices spoken of vary in a marked degree. At hist there is a feeling that the fire is at hand, masses of tow are thrust forward, a flash at the open- ing is seen, the tow is lighted ; a lane is formed, and the favoured individual on tlie north side rushes like a rocket into the church beneath us. In a moment, as though by magic, the fire extends itself in all directions, the priests carry it off to tlie several chapels, and mounted men are waiting outside to i:allop off with it to Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Jaffa, and ether convents. The glad tidings are disjxjrsed. It is not now "The Lord has risen." In the excite- ment Christians have forgotten Christ, and, like the magi of old, turn to and adore the Holy Fire. What are those Russians doing up in that gallery ? Some are trimming their lamps, lighted with the Holy Fire, which they are about to carry away and keep up until their dying day. But what else are they about ? The fire cannot burn (so they say) therefore the fire-eaters put it into their mouths, until their hollow cheeks glow; they pass it under their arms, through their hair, between their legs ; soon we find it does burn, for singed hair is smelt all around, and not a few lose some of the greasy locks which adorned their heads. The women in the general enthusiasm forget all decency, and pulling up their petticoats on high pass the fire about their legs, as a cure for the rheumatics. Gradually all excitement subsides, the church be- comes comparatively empty, and we wended our way 2 F 2 436 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. homeward, too full of what we had seen to moralise on the subject. I was curious, however, to know how the fire really was obtained, and made many inquiries ; at last I found the following as a result from the various accounts. The miracle in the previous year was performed by the Bishop of Petra. It is well known that there is a handkerchief of Saint Yeronica in Europe, at the Vatican, I believe ; but perhaps it may not be known that the Greeks suppose that they possess this same handkerchief. It is this that the bishop took into the Sepulchre, within a silver case, and laid on the couch of the Sepulchre. On this the fire collected, and then, by picking it up by its four corners, the fire was in a bag, and could be ladled or poured into the goblet. I was most anxious to know whether the venerable Cyril would endorse this account, accordingly I paid him a visit soon after Easter. I had always been very friendly with the old Patriarch, only I could not kiss his hand, as he expected all visitors should do : however, I explained to him that it was not the custom for Englishmen to do so, and he forgave me. On this occasion, however, I felt very doubtful as to what reception I should have, for he could not suppose I believed in his miracle. I was ushered in, and in order to introduce the subject thought it desirable to make a statement about the handkerchief of St. Veronica. This at once gave the proper opening : he was eager to show that I knew nothing about the subject, and very THE HOLY HHE. 437 kiiully described lunv it all hapjK'ns. It is as follows. Alter he is tliriist in to the inner clianiber of the Sepulclire he finds himself alone ; he kneels down in front of the stony couch, facing north, and as he jirays that the fire may l->e manifest, it gradually appears. It does not descend from heaven, hut ap}>ear8 on and emanates from the stone itself. As he prays more fervently the fire becomes 6tronn:er, springing up in a soft flame about half an inch high ; this he collects together with both hands and c;ire- fully places it in a goblet, which fills itself up to the brim with the flame. He then hands it out of the Sepulchre into the vestibule, and those waiting, who should be a Greek, an Armenian, and a Syrian, receive a little in each of their goblets, and they hand it out through the holes to the assembled multitude. I asked liini if there was no truth in the story of the handkerchief: he said none at all. lie brought me out some Easter eggs, boikd with log-wood, of a deep chocolate colour ; on these are scratched pictures of St. Peter, the cock, the nails, and other symbols in a very quaint style, and he also gave me a book he had written in modern Greek, with a portrait of himself, dedicated to Canon Wil- liams, of whom he spt)ke in the most affectionate manner. lie is a kind, warm-hearted old man. But to return to our excavations. All this time, for two years and a half, we had been feeding on the hope that permission might at last be obtained for us to dig in the Noble Sanctuary under certain restrictions; but this was not to be. KlTorts Wore made thnniuh the ForeiL''n Ottico. and I 438 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. wrote myself to our Ambassador describing the man- ner in wliich our work was thwarted. He wrote in reply that the Porte had refused to entertain the re- quest he had made for permission to pursue our investi- gation in the Noble Sanctuary ; at the same time he sent a royal firman, signed by the Sultan himself, to replace the vizierial letters. It absolutely enjoined that no exploration should be permitted in the Noble Sanctuary or any of its buildings, and limited the period of exploration to one year. This put matters completely on a new footing : so long as the letters had been signed by the viziers, and were incorrect in their statements, I felt I had a certain licence, but now that the Sultan himself had forbidden the work I no more attempted to dig inside ; yet I continued the work along the exterior walls of the Temple, for custom and habit had already established our right to this work. Moreover, I was now on very friendly terms with the Pacha, having become so in rather a curious manner — by insisting on his paying me a visit in return for the many I had paid him. The Eflfendis, who are alive to everything that goes on, had noticed his want of courtesy in this respect, and had told me that his coming to see me would strengthen my hand very much ; I felt this also, and wrote and requested him to come. At first he refused, but gradually gave way, and at last sent an Effendi to enquire whether I wanted him to call in uniform. I should be very happy to see him in any dress, and told him so. Accordingly, a day or two after, with- out any notice, he was seen, surrounded by his suite, THE HOLY FIRE. 439 walkiiif^ up the p^ardon ; he \va« dressed in a jmrplo gown. My family liad just time to escape out of the drawing-room before he was ushered in ; tlien was the household in an uproar, grinding coffee, making lemonade, getting sweet urdett Coutts offered the large sum of 2r>,000/. for this pur- 4-iU UNDERGKOUND JERUSALEM. pofee. The matter was submitted to the Mejelis ot the city, and I was also requested by Sir Henry James, R.E., to make a report on the subject. He proposed to restore the full supply of water, provided the Turkisli Government would undertake to keep the works in repair. For the purpose of investigating the matter I had many communications with the Efifendis of the Mejelis, and found them against the scheme, because they thought they would have to pay in the long run for keeping up the fabric that Miss Burdett Coutts restored. The account which follows was written at the time. Jerusalem is for the most part supplied with water from cisterns attached to, and, generally, under the houses ; it is only towards the end of the dry season that water in any quantity is required from other sources ; and the amount varies very much each year according to the rainfall. This year (1868) is rather a favourable instance, as the rains were late in the spring, and the fall in Jerusalem was un- usually heavy ; the total fall from tbe commencement of the rainy season (end of November) to 15tli December was 87 inches, the yearly average for the whole season being only about 20 inches. The Christians this year (1868-9) appear to have required very little extra water, those who had small tanks borrowed from those who had larger. The Mahometans drew tbe little extra tbey required from the tanks under the Noble Sanctuary. What was brought up from Bir Eyub was sold principally to the Jews. THE HOLY FIRK. IN Towards the eiul of the season, on an avL'ia«^o, tliirty-five to forty donkeys were employed l)ringing up water from l^ir Eyulc ten trips each day, two skins or kibies each load, each skin containing about six gallons. This gives a 8iij)ply per diem of from 4200 to 4800 gallons. Dr. Barclay, page 515, 'City of the Great King,' records 25,000 gallons having been taken up from Bir Eyub on 12th September, 1853; a quantity six times as great as that which lias been taken up this year : perhaps the two statements may re- present the extreme of favourable and unfavourable years. The water from Siloam (tlie pool) is not liked by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, it is used only by the soldiers. In very dry seasons, however, water is brought in from Siloam, Lifta, Ain Karim, and else- where, and the people have to buy what they can gatj or do without, as it best suits their pockets. The rainlall takes place generally dm iiig December, January, and February, so that with tanks alone the storage room should be sufficient for over nine months' su]>ply. The water from Bir Eyub and from the Xoble Sanctuary is sold at the same rate, viz. : from thirty to fifty paras for a large skin (six gallons). Forty paras equal one piaster; one-huudred-and-ten piastres equal one j>ound sterling at ]iar ; lalK)urers' wages vary fiom six to seven and a-half piastres per diem, and skilli-d labour frnm fiftoen to IwtMity-five piastres. Three years ago the low-level acjueduet from Solo- •142 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. lu Oil's Pools was repaired by the Turkish Grovern- ment at the expense of the people. Strange stories are told of the privations some of the fellahin under- went ; and it is to be hoped that in the scheme for conferring such a benefit as water upon Jerusalem, care w^ill be taken that the Grovernment for the time being, cannot make it a pretext for ojDpressing the poor. The low-level aqueduct was only completed a few weeks before it got out of repair ; the unfortunate fellahin had had to bring their own stones and lime, and, of course, the work was scamped : the conse- quence is, that water only runs through to Jerusalem for a few weeks in each year, though to Bethlehem it runs constantly. At the present time, the water is running to waste about one mile north of Beth- lehem. When the water does get a chance of running into Jerusalem it is allowed to go to the Serai and the Mahkama (Judgment Hall), and then the surj^lus is turned off into the great sea at the southern end of the Noble Sanctuary, where it falls about thirty feet, and has eventually to be raised again in buckets by the water carriers. I understand that during the first week the aqueduct was in working order the water was allowed to run into the fountain in the lower part of the city. This low-level aqueduct gives at Bethlehem a sup- ply of about 500 gallons per minute : allowing one- third of this for the population of 5000 in that town, and two-thirds for the 10,000 quartered about the lower portion of Jerusalem, we have at the rate of forty-five gallons a head per diem, a quantity which THE HOLY FIRE. 4 13 even in these days must be considered more tlian ample for every pmpose except that of drainage; it would, however, be necessary to construct receivinjj tanks, as half this quantity would be running in during- the night, and would otherwise run to waste. It is probable that the low-level aqueduct would require new pipes before it could be put into good repair. At present, the pipes as far as Bethlehem ajipear to be uniformly of about ten inches diameter, but from thence to Jerusalem they vary very much. This aqueduct is fed from 'Ain Etan, and the surplus water from the Pools of Solomon. Finding that this low-level aqueduct will only supply the lower portions of Jerusalem, it is necessary to see what can be done for the upper portion. The inhabitants of this portion are principally Jews and Christians, the former being poverty-stricken and quite unable to buy water — begging what they may require for their barest necessities ; it is apparent that they must be supplied at a higher level, not lower than the JafTi\ Gate, in order that water may replenish fountains in their streets. For this purpose, the Sealed Foimtain above the Pools of Solomon can be taken advantage of, and brought down in closed pipes. In the six miles from the pools to Jerusalem, there is a head of over one hundred feet, which is ample to bring the water in a 3j-inch pipe; but if the works are intended to be permanent, it may be necessary to have larger pipes, in anticipation of the increased water supply from the fountiiins after 444 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. the many orchard groves that may have grown up ; for it cannot be doubted that within the last few years the planting of trees about Jerusalem has been on the increase. The water issues from the Sealed Fountain at about 130 gallons per minute, giving for the 10,000 in the upper parts of Jerusalem about 18 gallons a head per diem ; it could be taken to a receiving tank outside the gates and from thence distributed to fountains in the public streets. For the formation of this high-level aqueduct, it would be necessary to get a concession of the Sealed Fountain and any other fountain that may exist above the Pools of Solomon. This being done, the pipes could be either carried along, but above, the line of the remains of the exist- ing high-level aqueduct, or else by a tunnel through the rock into Wady er Rahib, along the course of the supposed third aqueduct. See Capt. Wilson's Notes and Plan. This latter course might, in some measure, be preferable : it would be somewhat shorter, the pipes could be easily buried, and it would have the merit of being carried quite away from the town of Bethlehem ; which in after years might be of importance if this latter town continues to in- crease. I visited Solomon's Pools on 18th December, 1868. The upper pool is full of water, but it is not water-tight ; the second pool was empty and out of repair ; the lower pool was repaired about three years ago, — it appears to be in good order and is empty. THE HOLY FIRE. 44') Water is running into tlie upj>er pool from tlie Sealed Fountain at the rate of 130 gallons per minute. When this fountain was visited in October 18G7, before the rains had set in, the flow was about the same. From the lower fountain, 'Ain Etan, water is running into the low-level aqueduct. N.B. — The rate of the water running into Beth- lehem was not taken during the dry season. The average durinf; which water is scarce in Jerusalem is four months ; the first rains are not generally allowed to run into the cisterns. 446 UNDEEG ROUND JEEUSALEM. CHAPTER XX. RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. " He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water springs." The land once flowing with milk and honey still remains accursed. " The showers have been with- holden, and there hath been no latter rain. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate, yet will I not make a full end. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee ; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee ; but I will correct thee in measure^ and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, Virgin of Israel. Behold^ I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth ; they shall come with weep- ing, and with supplications wnll I lead them ; they shall not stumble, for I am a Father to Israel and Ephraim is my first-born. And he shall feed in Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 447 upon .Mount K}jlnuini iind (Jilcud. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards ; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, wlien I have exacted jud;2;iaents upon all those that dtsjiise them round ahout them ; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God." Though, perhaps, few agree as to the exact mean- ing of the prophecies regarding the second entry into the Promised Land, there arc yet fewer who can refuse to assent to the fact that Palestine, at present, lies spell-bound under a curse : for call it by any name most agreeable to the mind, it yet remains a curse. Some say it is the wrath of God, others, the bad government of man ; some, that the climate has changed, others, that the people have grown ener- vated ; but it all amounts to the same in effect. The land lies fallow and uncared for, enjoying a long, long sabltath, waiting for the time when they shall not labour in vain, or bring fortli for trouble. It is not, however, these conjectural results I would speak of, but rather the practical bearing of the subject. Probably all agree that Palestine once was a most fruitful land ; do all concur in thinking it may become so again ? A practical man of the present day will assist almost any undertaking but those pro- jected in Palestine. The drainage of the Maremma is cried up, the colonisation of Central Africa well supported, money is laid out in the highly produc- tive Turkish and Honduras bonds; Brazils and the Argentine Republic, welcome our people ; but Pales- tine can get no help. It is the birtln)lace of our religion, it is hallowed ground, therefore its rich 448 UNDEKGEOUND JERUSALEM. soil must be left in idleness. A merchant may gather money for any speculation which can be men- tioned, so long as he avoids Palestine ; but the most practical scheme for the Holy Land would at once damage his reputation ; he would be voted somewhat unsound in his business-like views. There is a false sentiment enveloping the subject, Palestine can only be seen by our people from its religious aspect ; any attempt to assist the country in a practical manner has, to an Englishman, a serio- comic aspect. Would not Mrs. Grundy laugh at him if he takes any action ? Possibly, this feeling may shortly change : he has the reputation of not being blind very long to his own interests. If so, when he has firmly established the G-erman in the country, he will see what a mistake has been made, and begin to retrieve his error by the expenditure of money which should never have been required for such a purpose ; that the Englishman will eventually find it necessary to establish himself in the country, I do not, myself, in any way doubt. In the meantime, let me point out that it is a country where money may be made if proper measures are taken. In viewing the country, let me first enumerate the principal reasons why it is is now so unfruitful and unhealthy ; be they causes or results. 1. The rains have ceased to fall in due proportion to the requirement of the land. 2. The clouds have ceased to hover over the country in the spring time, and protect it from the sun. RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 449 3. Tliere ia not suflicieut po])ulation to till the land. 4. There is not sufficient capital for the culti- vation. T). Tlierc are no roads, waggons, harbours, or boats. G. There is not sufficient knowledge of husbandry, no attempt to sow in proper succession of crops. 7. The ground, which was once terraced up the mountain side, is now accumulated in the valley bottoms. 8. The perennial fountains have ceased to flow in nmnbers of cases. All these matters are really dependent one on another, and what is wanted to overcome all is a good government, a larger population, an energetic people, and sufficient capital. Let us see how far this may be shown to be the case. The first and foremost difficulty is the present bad government ; the people are oppressed, are wronged ; tliere is no feeling of security for property or person, no justice, no honesty among the officials. Bribery and corruption, according to our meaning of the terms, are mild words to use towards the infamous means by which money is extorted from the poor. And, un- fortunately, the maladministration commences from the top ; no Pacha could aftbrd to be honest, no Governor-General could venture to be just. The whole organism of the country lies on a rotten foundation, which is constantly being underpinned by the fortunes and lives of the Christians, and often, 2 o 450 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. too, by those of the Moslems, who have not been suf- ficiently wily to avoid getting into difficulties ; but nothing will ever make that rotten foundation solid. Based as it is on the Turks' view that the Christians and Jews cannot be admitted to an equal position in the country with the followers of The Prophet. The Moslem religion has entered into a phase which will admit of no prosperity in the land. Days were when trade by Christians and Jews was fostered, when the rulers of the country understood the art of govern- ing ; but now, nothing is taught but the art of misrule, for Moslem fortunes are in the hands of the barbarous Turk. During the palmy days of Saracenic learning, for four centuries, except at rare intervals, both Jews and Christians were permitted full freedom of wor- ship according to their religious rules, and a certain amount of civil liberty ; but the advent of the house of Seljuk the Turk scared liberty away. Now eight centuries have completed their years, since that on which the Turk, capturing the Holy City, imposed his iron yoke upon the Christians, dragged the Patri- arch through the city by the hair of his head, stopped divine worsliip in the Church of the Resur- rection, and so irritated and exasjDerated all by their savage barbarities, that the sympathy of Christen- dom was aroused, and Peter the Hermit, with his impassionate eloquence, fired the minds of the warriors of Europe, and led them to organise the first Crusade. Thus it was against the Turks that the arms of Europe were brought to bear : those shepherds of the RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 451 north, wlio, tli'sdaining the learning, science, and literature of the Saracens, have accepted from them only the worst portions of their religion, and have for 800 years grievously oppressed a large section of Clirlstendtnn. The atrocities of the mad Calii>h JIakem liad no effect upon the Christians of Syria similar to that exerted by the Turks ; for the Fatimites were after all of the same race as the Christians. The northern barbarians, on the other hand, had no sympathy with tlie Semitic races of Palestine, — they were Moslems but in name ; on them the reli- gion of Mahomet must always rest unconformably, for it is quite unsuited to their characteristics, and helps to make them the artificial people they still remain. They have never ceased to be a barbarous race since the time when they tore away from their Christian parents, and brought up as Moslems, the fifth son of each family, back to the time of Herodotus, down to the present day. They are essentially a people brought up to rapine ; neither good Moslems nor bad Christians are they. It is not the Christian alone of Syria that the Turk oppresses : the Arab Moslem is, if not equally, yet most hardly used. Many a time have the Arab Moslems said to me, " "When will you take this country and rid us of our oppressors ; anything is better than their rule." For the Turk has no afiinity of race or language to connect him with, or give him a right to rule the Arab. He has no power of sympathising with the Semitic races, and his religion is but in name. The Arab, if I may use 2 (} 2 452 UNDEKGKOUND JERUSALEM. such an expression, is a Moslem by nature; the Turk cannot become a Moslem by art. He is sent to Palestine to govern badly; he is given but a small salary, and is obliged to squeeze the people in order to pay his own officials and to live, to recoup himself for what he has paid for his appointment in the past, and to carry away with him something for the future wherewith he may buy a higher aj)pointment, or purchase immunity for the consequences of his evil deeds, should complaints be made against his rule. The Turk can never govern Palestine well ; and until he departs, the country must remain half desert, half prison : for it is his policy to leave it so ; he wants it to continue impoverished, so that it may not tempt the cupidity of stronger nations. This was brought home to me once, when, in con- versation with an eminent Turk, I was pressing the advantages of a bridge across the Jordan and other matters ; he answered me warmly, " We want no discoveries ; we want no attention paid to Palestine ; we want no roads. Leave the place alone. If it becomes rich, we shall lose it; if it remains poor, it will continue in our hands. God be praised." In vain I urged that if the country were well governed there would be no occasion for taking it from Turkey. His idea was, " If we make it valuable, you will want it. Let us keep it in poverty." Well ! he tries to keep it in poverty, and succeeds to some extent in reality, and to a great extent in appearance. If a peasant grows rich and looks fat^ and in- RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 453 dulf^es in luxuries, he fiiuls himself put in prison and eased of his wealth, so he grows rich and looks poor; but not all. Some grow poorer every day. As an instance of the resources of the fellahin, I may inention a circumstance which came under my immediate notice. In a miserable village, two youths in one family, cousins, were drawn for 6oldierining the country moist. This system of terracing has the same effect, it causes the water to remain in natural reservoirs ahout the tree roots, and in the hollows of the rocks, instead of tumbling down the hill-slopes at once to the sea; the rain water will thus be made use of which at present is lost. Exactly the same process may be seen on the east of Jortlan, in Gilead. After riding for miles through ruined cities in the glaring summer atmosphere, through a country denuded of her trees, the scorching wind nearly choking the breath, I have come upon a district where the ancient woods have not l)een burzit or cut down. Immediately a change was felt : clouds were seen hanging over the woods, the air within them was soft and pleasant, the sun's rays beat less fiercely owing to the vapours ascending, flowers were flourishing under the trees, l)lackbcrries on the brambles, water gushing from the hill-side, birds chirping in the shady depths. And this not due to any atmospheric changes during the ride, but entirely local and due to the presence of trees. So much so, that the climate may be changed in one hour by passing on the same level from the bare latid to that which is well-wooded. There should be no doubt of this result in the minds of men, for it is an acknowledged fact, that the climates of tracts of country had been changed by the removal of the forests. We are told that the climate of France used to be so cold and damp, owing to the forests, that the vine would not flourish 460 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. there until the forests were partially cut down in the fourth century of our era ; we know, at the present day, that the recent floods in the South of France are due to the cutting down of the forests on the hill-sides, allowing the water to flow quickly to the sea. The same has been said of Northern Africa fronting the Mediterranean, where the climate is acknowledged to have completely changed since the time of the Roman Empire. In confirmation of the prospects of altering the climate of Palestine, I jot down the following remarkable fact elicited from a friend by my observations. He states of the isle of Madeira, " I have been in a shower of rain when passing through a belt of pine trees scarcely two hundred yards across, with bright sunshine outside, and the thermometer 90° in the shade." Let it be granted then, that this change will take place by terracing and the growth of forests, notably olives, on the plateaus, and pines on the highlands ; what other result may we expect. Well, the next result is an increased rainfall ; at present it may be considered, over Palestine, as from 16 to 20 inches per annum ; a very meagre supply in such a latitude. The natural and inevitable result of clothing the hills with verdure will be to increase this supply considerably, probably to double it ; for in all these matters up to a certain point, rain begets rain, and drought, drought. Who that has travelled by night in a semi-tropical country has not noticed this, when the radiation is often so great, that in passing from bush to sand, and thence to bush again, even in the RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 461 horse's length, tlie traveller passcB from fien8il)le warmth to cold, and back to warmth again. Tlio rainfall will therefore he augmented, and we hhall have not only the first rain but the latter rain. At the present time there is but one rainy season, and then a long interval of drouglit and desolation from July, I might almost say May, to November. During this long period, scarcely a green blade can be seen as far as the eye can stretch over the vast plains — nothing but sticks, and stones and dust; the monotony relieved only by the noise of the gul- gul (wild artichoke) careering on the wings of the whirlwind, or by a troop of Bedouin rushing off on a plundering expedition. Towards the end of October there is a sullen stillness in the air, the atmosphere is loaded to the senses, and the soul is heavy with melancholy — waiting for the rains. Then the spell of drought is broken, a storm occurs ; for three days there is abundance of soft showers, with a few downpours, and again often some weeks of drought until the winter solstice, then there is a thorough break-up, cold and rain spreads over the land. In January the rain falls now and again for three days, with a week's interval ; but February is the real rainy month. I have known it rain every day throughout the month ; there is, however, no certainty in the matter — one year the rain is later than in the next. In March there are pleasant showers and storms, and in April there are showers, and often intervals of intA^nse cold ; even snow I have known at Jeru- salem during that month. 462 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. May is frequently a month of hot winds blowing from the east, from the desert ; but in June there are clouds and a few showers. Now it is this early portion of the year that would probably be most affected by the growth of trees, and the terracing of the hill-sides ; the April showers would be extended into May, the June clouds and showers into July ; the latter rains of June will fall in abundance, giving a second season — a never-ending succession of crops — when the ploughman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. The rich soil is well prepared to yield a second crop year by year ; all that is required is water and warmth, and this it will have, for water will now be found gushing from the rocks, from springs which have long been silent. Carried along the hill-sides in ducts, it may be used for irrigation purposes in the undu- lating country, and then into the plains to be used again ; or else it may assist in filling up the wells of the plain to near the surface of the ground, wells which are now 30 feet to 90 feet to water. The water so freely made use of will evaporate and form clouds over the land, without ever reaching the sea ; thus preventing the formation of the unhealthy lagoons of half salt, half fresh water, along the shore of Palestine, now so common. Philistia, Sharon, and the other plains bordering on the sea, are even now exceptionally fertile, but they may, by a regular succession of crops, be made to yield far more abundantly. And the advance of the rolling sand-hills may be arrested ; an advance RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 463 which, if not looked to, will soon overwhelm the fairest of the maritime plains. The rich ground l>etween Gaza and Ascalon, between Ascalon and Jaffa, which the sand has swallowed uj), must again be uncovered. United action is re(iuisite for this, for individual efforts can be of no avail ; the rolling sand-hills are a common enemy, and must be attacked by the nation. In 18G7, when visiting the coast about Ascalon, I found the sand making very serious encroachments, proceeding in a direction north-east by east ; the wind blowing it up from the sea-shore in a suc- cession of inclined planes, sloping at an angle of about 10^, until reaching a height of 30 feet to 50 feet, and on the other side, to leeward, a steep slope of 30° to 35°. Thus the sand is ever being blown up the gentle slope, and is ever falling down the steep slope ; so onward the mass moves, wave suc- ceeding wave, until the fair lands are engulfed and covered over fifty feet deep. These hills have hither- to been only temporarily arrested in their career by meeting with streams which carry off the sand nearly as fast as it rolls into them, but which are gradually becoming choked up. It is curious, in traversing these sand-hills, to note what the industrious hands of individual men can do, to come upon the site of some orchard which has, perhaps, been covered up, more or less, for hun- dreds of years. Suddenly the travellers come upon a crater in the sandy desert, some forty feet deep, at the bottom of which flourislies one apple tree, then, after a few paces, perhaps a fig tree growing under 464 UNDERGKOUND JEEUSALEM. the same conditions, and so on, until lastly the cotter's house is reached, with its little patch of ground, lying far beneath the level of the sand, and look- ing as though any tempest would engulf it, and the world know it no more. The husbandman's chief care consists in dragging up the sand in baskets from the bottom of the crater to the surface. If individuals can thus keep off this mighty rolling monster, what may not a good Grovernment do ? No doubt it could take steps to throw back the sand, to use the winds so that they might act on the sand only when blowing to the seashore, and thus of themselves to carry it back to repair the mischief they have done. But at least they can arrest the encroachment, for this has been done already at Beyrout — where European opinion in- fluences the Turk — by planting coniferce along the seacoast, and small hardy creepers by the shore, which effectually prevent the sand being blown up on to the land. When the country is transformed, how will the climate be ? This is a vexed question. At present it is decidedly unhealthy in parts for Europeans, but not so every- where, or for every race of Europeans. The change may be expected to improve it, but who can say ? In the Lebanon irrigation does not help the climate, but there matters are different ; it is over-irrigation which injures an otherwise fair climate. In Palestine it will be long before the climate can suffer from over- irrigation. Tent life can be endured and enjoyed by Europeans, and it is the life in the houses with thick RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 405 walls and domed roofs which is oppressive. It frequently happens that visitors to Jerusiileni in the spring liave to leave the houses because of the damp cold and take refuge under canvas. This would not take place if the houses were built properly. It is these houses which in a measure give the climate so bad a reputation. The fir tree, also, if thickly planted, w^ould do won- ders. The Arabs have a notion that villajres sur- rounded by fir trees are always healthy, and there api^ears much to be said on the subject. On the other hand, they dislike the fig tree near a dwelling — it is 8up})06ed to be poisonous to children sitting under it, and its juice injures the eyes ; in Spain the same opinion prevails. There are other matters which make the climate dangerous to Europeans. They do not care to study it, they will live as they have been accustomed to. The changes are very sudden, and clothing ought to be adjusted accordingly. The cisterns for rain-water are frequently built immediately under or close to tlie houses ; a most dangerous practice. Jerusalem it.'jelf cannot l)e made healthy until .some of its .sewers are cleaned out and filled up. There are tanks upon tanks full of sewage underneath the houses, and so long as these continue to send up their noxious efiluvia, so long the city will remain unhealthy ; but much could l)e done in a few months by more regular drainage, by flushing sewers, by clearing the streets and liouses, and putting the rotten garbage outside the town, and preventing its being stacked up within empty courts. The scavenging arrangement.s arc 2 n 466 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. simply atrocious. Sometimes for days the carcasses of doofs lie about the streets, and one summer I recollect the carcass of a horse lying outside a main gate for weeks, until at last I had to send and have it removed and buried, for it made us ill when passing it. It is all these disadvantages which render the Holy City so unbearable in summer ; the climate alone should not take all the blame. The temperature in Palestine is most changeable, and differs also much according to the locality. It may be said, generally speaking, that in winter it is similar to Southern Spain, but in summer it is very different, the proximity to the snows of Hermon and tlie hot winds of Arabia gives it a peculiar climate. A change of wind will often cause a rise or fall of 45° to 50° Fahrenheit. This liability to sudden change is certainly one of the causes of the sickness among young European children during the summer. Al- though I have compared the climate in winter to that of Spain, I think it is much more unhealthy, yet the emittent fever which is so dangerous in Palestine is also no stranger to Spain. The greatest heat ever met with is in the steaming caldron of the Jordan Valley, and curiously enough, probably the places which vie with the tropical heat of this valley are the tops of the hills, as for example, Nazareth, Nabhis, Jerusalem, Hebron — where during midday in Midsummer it often continues for two or three hours or more at 104° Fahrenheit. I have re- marked constantly that at 104° some compensating in- fluence appears to prevail, for the heat seldom exceeds that point. In the plains the heat seldom reaches 100° RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 467 Falirenheit, though on account of the lower dew-point it appears liotter to the senses. The Arab feels the lu'at excessively, and })erspires most freely. I found that I could with ease bear constantly a far greater heat than he could, and even sleep at midday in the broilinfj^ sun, while he was searching everywhere for a shady nook. The turban is a necessary protection against the sun, and so long as the head perspires the body is free from fever. In excessive heat the Arab pulls liis abba up over his head, so that he moves along breathing a vapour formed by his own body within the coat, this probably assists in keeping his head in a state of perspiration. When he goes to sleep in the sun he generally covers up his head and his stomach, and leaves the rest of his body to take care of itself. I never myself suffered from the heat of the sun ; but on the occasions when I took the fever, it was invariably from a chill, which generally came over me in the evening. In Spain there is a strong opinion that fever results from moving about in the air the hour after sunset, in hot weather ; when exhalations from the earth are falling back again. This is pro- bably also true of Palestine, for I have often ascer- tained that it is at this hour tliat the first chill of fever is felt. When it is once located in the frame, anytliing may bring it back again, even the passing thought of the place where it was taken. •J H 2 468 UNDEKGEOUND JEKUSALEM. CHAPTER XXI. RESOURCES OP PALESTINE. " And I will take one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." There is not sufficient population for the proper cultivation of the land. The country requires a great influx of people ; for of the size of Wales, and fruit- fulness of a Spanish Yega, she has now scarcely more than one and a half million of people. Grive her good government, quicken the commer- cial life, and they may increase tenfold, and yet there be room. The soil is so rich, the climate so varied, that within ordinary limits it may be said that the more people it contained the more it may. Its productiveness will increase in proportion to the labour bestowed on the soil, until a population of fifteen millions may be accommodated there. But the present people do not increase, and that they are totally insufficient for the cultivation, is shown by the fact that those from the hills come down to assist those in the plain, and vice versa. But when the country is taken in hand, each village will have as much work as it can get through, as the crojDS will continue to follow each other throughout the year. Possibly, if the young men were not drawn so often RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 409 for soldioriiig', the population mip^lit increase (jnicker ; but I doubt if this would make niucli difiVrence, for their widows quickly marry again. I say their widows, because when their husbands go a soldier- ing they are looked upon as among the dead. In one village in Philistia which 1 visited, I found a numl)er of women wailing together as though they had lost their nearest relations ; it was for their Inisbands, who were then marching off to war against the Cross. A few days after I found this village merry-making, for the widows were tiiking new husbands. "What people, then, would be suitable for colonising Palestine, to assist in bringing the country up to its former standard of cultivation ? Germans and English are constantly proposed, and no doubt a good sprinkling will lie requiretl ; but men are wanted to till the ground and perform services as farmers or fellahin. For this purpose I would propose the introduction of the Barbary and Morocco Jew. These good people, probably in part descendants of those driven out of Spain in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, are now located on the northern coast of Africa, and occupy villages, and till the ground as fellahin, probably the only forming Jews on the face of the earth. These people are hard-working, we know ; for when driven out of Africa in numbers in ISGO, they took refuge at Gibraltar, and were encamped on the neutral ground some months, doing good service in working for their bread. They love the northern Europeans, and would probably be glad to 470 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. exchange their present hard lot among the Moors for work in the cradle of their race, if protected from undue oppression. These people, poor and oppressed as they are, appear to be capable of rapid development, and are inclined to move forward. I have often conversed with them as to their prospects in Africa, which appear to be almost hopeless. They are a people who are strongly attached to the English, Irom so often having been helped by our country in their dark hours. That they would thrive in Palestine we may be sure of, for the Moslems from Algiers, who have migrated to Galilee, do well. But there may be many other means of repopulating Palestine. I only throw out this idea, in order to show what may be done in at least one direction. As to whether the present people of Palestine can be kept in order and easily ruled, I have not a doubt, for I have proved them. During my three years in the country, our work- men were drawn from two villages, two of the most turbulent in the country, whose people enjoyed the worst of reputations, and yet they were soon reduced to order. When they once understood that our system was based upon justice, they would accept our decisions, and would, at a few minutes' notice, march off twenty or thirty miles away, without question on their part, and would take the wages given to them without dispute. This perfection was not attained at first ; in the commencement of our labours they would haggle about farthings with us, as with all others with REiJOURCE« OF PALESTINK -ITl wlioru tliey have to do ; but when they Kiiriit by exi)eilence that tliey got no more, but rather les8, by tlieir waste of our time, they fell into our ways with a good grace. A good government would not fail to secure order amonuc such a people, who only require a tight hand over them, and justice. Bad as tliey are acknowledged to be, we constantly were •obliged to entrust our lives in their hands, and always felt secure ; mutual trust begat security. I may cite, as instances of their docility, what hap- pened on two occasions. In one case, I had sent over 200 men down into the Jordan Valley to ex- cavate the mounds of Jericho, and then had occasion to send on a party of fifty, by a forced march of twenty-three miles, up the banks of tlie Kiver Jordan, to the ferry of Damieh, in order to make a causeway for a palanquin to be landed on, which contained all that remained of one of our party. They were told off, and marched with military obedience, performed their duty, and returned in good order, toiling up and down the hot plains of the Jordan without a murmur. Again, on landing at Jaffa, from Beyrout, one autunm, I found it necessary to carry a sick lady up to Jerusalem on a litter, thirty-six miles. I tele- graphed to Sergeant Birtles at Jerusalem, requesting him to send down some men with the litter at once. He immediately went to a village, turned out the whole of the male inhabitants for inspection, selected relays, and sent them straight to Jaffa ; without a doubt, they put bread into their clothing, and, start- ing off, were ready to return with the litter next 472 UNDEEGKOUND JEEUSALEM. day. They carried the sick lady up to Jerusalem on it with the greatest care, in a manner to them quite unusual, and were paid what was considered a proper sum, which they received without a word. Now, had they not known us, and our system of acting with justice, they would have haggled and argued for hours before they would have undertaken such a job, and perhaps in the end have thrown up their bargain. These villagers I have mentioned are all Moslems, but of what race who can say ? There is a difference between them and the native Christians. The former are quick and contentious, but easily pacified, and have so high a sense of the ludicrous, that an angry gathering may be turned into a laughing group, by playing a practical joke on one of them, or by a play upon words. The Moslems may not be so difficult to keep in order, but with the native Christians I see some difficulty ; whether from being ground down for so many years, both by the Government and by their neighbours, or from a difference of race, or otherwise, I know not, they differ greatly from the Moslems, and I do not wonder at feuds between the two, for a more arrogant, insolent, conceited people do not exist. So many hundreds of years have they been ground down and oppressed, that they effervesce at the slightest removal of their yoke, and show a vindictive feeling towards their fellow Moslems, which I sincerely trust they may never have the misery of gratifying. No doubt, so far as the people are concerned, the greatest difficulty of the future in governing Pales- RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 473 tine, will be the kcepiiif^ in boundti the native Christians, and preventing tlieni IVoni ufl'ecting the harmony of the country, by endeavouring to perse- cute other sects. I cannot forget scenes wliicli may be met with at the Cliurch of the Holy Sepulclire at Jerusiilem : within the building, a Moslem with the keys, ready to Ciill on the Turkish soldiery should the Christians fight together within the sacred precincts of the church, while without Christians may be found fully armed with authority from the Porte, to beat any unfortunate Jew who may have wandered by acci- dent into the open piazza on which the church fronts, an authority which they do not scruple liberally to abuse. How is it possible that religious toleration can exist in a country where such anoma- lies arc to be found ? The only result is that the people continue to hate each other with the same liatred that existed from tlie early ages, and cannot amalgamate. Now, w^ho are these people, these Syrians of Palestine ? They are not Turks by any means ; they are for the most part not Arabs of Arabia — of the Desert. Who are they ? There can be little doubt that they are of a very mixed race, and that, Moslems or Christians, they are descended from the same stock ; and if the pressure be taken off for a few years, the feeling of rivalry removed, it is diffi- cult to sunnise whether either the Moslems or Christians would have any such strong feelings of attraction with regard to their nominal religions, as they liave towards those ancient pagan rites and 474 UNDEEGROUND JEKUSALEM. ceremonies which they have engrafted on and joined to their religious observances. For we must recognise in them the lineal de- scendants of the Canaanites, the ancient inhabitants of the land, the hewers of wood and drawers of water, who remained in the country with the Israel- ites, and have never left it. Those on whom the Jewish religion sat lightly, are mixed in blood with Jews, Grreeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and have continued in the land, now professing the Moslem or Christian faith, as circumstances prompted them, but retaining above all their ancient traditions — yes, and in many instances, their ancient observances. What percentage of any one stock there may be in the land, it would be idle to attempt to compute, but there remains the certainty that the present people of Palestine are in a great measure the old inha- bitants, though minished and brought low. But whether the Christians do not differ in degree from the Moslem is a matter not yet determined. As in many other countries which have sunk from civilisation into semi-barbarism, the peasants present many noble qualities, while the nobles or Effendis are mean and spiritless. Of the many natives of old family I have met in Palestine, I know of none for whom I have any respect or liking ; on the other hand, I have met many worthy men among the lower classes of Christians, and Moslems, who ap- peared to have simple, honest minds. There is one trait in the Moslem character which I cannot forbear to notice, which the Christian strangely wants ; he will not deny his religion. The Christian will shift RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 1T.'> his ground and declare himself Greek, Latin, Protes- tant, or even Moslem, if it serves liis turn ; but I believe the Moslem would on no account deny being a follower of the Prophet. The same want of stead- fastness is also observable in the sturdy Druse, upon whom we are accustomed to look with so much favour. On one occasion I was riding in the Lebanon with a Greek and a ^foslem : we met a native, who de- clared himself a Moslem ; the Moslem lagged behind, whereupon this native declared himself a Greek Christian ; the Greek lagged behind, and then the native, drawing close to me, said, " We are, sowa- soica, both the same ; I am a Druse, you are a Pro- testant; I believe in nothing, you believe in nothing, both the same." I assured him I was far more like a Greek than a Druse, but he declined to believe it. " The Protestants are Freemasons," said he, " so are we," I attacked him about denying his religion, but he only said it was the custom of his people. There was something despicable about this fellow, and I expressed my opinion to him strongly. But I have found the native Christian even more to be pitied, for he appears to have no moral back- bone, and is for ever gliding in slippery places, so that by his side a Moslem is to be preferred in dealing. " The l)ec is little among such as fly ; but her fruit is the cliief of swoot things." " Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." One of the results, the least pleasing in the study of the Holy Land, is the effect it often appears to 476 UNDEEGKOUND JERUSALEM. have on the mind in inducing a desire to prove that many of our old notions drawn from the Authorised Version of the Bible are wrong, and this without any sufficient foundation for the reasoning. For my own part, I feel a greater respect for the learning of the translators of the A.V. the more I study their translation, for it seems to me that in many cases they have been said to be wrong at one time, but gradually are being proved by experience to have been right. The meaning of the word which the A.y. gives as " honey " is one of those about which there has been a question ; and many writers go so far as to ask us to believe that the Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and treacle, and that the word used was intended to mean the solidified sugar of the grape, and not the fruit of the labour of the bee. Against this view there is very much to be said. How it came into being I cannot ascertain, but it appears to be based on an assumed scarcity of honey in Palestine, an abundance of this dibs or treacle, and the fact that the modern Arabic name dibs is nearly similar to the Hebrew d'bash. Now I will show how little dependence can be placed on this reasoning, and would call attention to the fact that it is emphatically the honey of the bee which is spoken of almost in all cases, if not all, in Holy Writ, for the honeycomb is frequently mentioned in connec- tion. First, regarding the name dibs, it is assumed that because it resembles the d'bash (honey) of Scripture, that the d'bash must also have been treacle. It appears to have escaped notice that the Hebrew RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 477 word for bee is Deborali, the first two conRonantH (Daletli ami Hetli) of wliicli are identical witli those of d'hash, wliile no word in connection witli the vine, grape, or vintage has any similarity: tlie fair infer- ence from tin's, so far as words are concerned, is that d'bash was bee honey, and that the Syrians, on learn- ing to make the treacle of grapes from the Romans or Greeks, gave it the name of the substance it most resembled. The reason why dibs took the place of hee honey in Syria, and is now so very plentiful, is very clear : it is sim[)ly because the modern Syrians and Arabians are for the most part Moslems and drink no wine ; this being the case, the grape would Ite use- less to them except for raisins or for treacle, and they would either have to leave off its growth or greatly increase the amount of treacle in use. In choosing this latter course the culture of bees would natiiially cease to a certain extent, and the term dilis would cling to the substance most in use. It appears to me that this difterence in the laws of the Israelite and Moslems has been overlooked in considering the subject, for it is most certain that the former drank the juice of the grai)e to a considerable extent, and therefore probably had very little occa- sion to make treacle from it. But to return to the honey. It has been assumed by some writers that it is now sccirce in Palestine. This is a mistake, it is not scarce when there is any food for the bees ; it has diminished with the population and with cultiva- tion, and will again increase as Palestine progresses. The whole of the references to honev in the 478 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Scriptures point to bee honey only, and our present knowledge leads to the supposition that it was once most abundant. I have been through villages where the beehives of pottery, lining the walls, may be numbered by hundreds, and where the bees in the evening might be met returning to their hives in swarms. I have found the bees in my own house such a torment, that we have been obliged to shut our windows, in the heat of the day_, to keep them out, and could not eat honey in the daytime without drawing clouds of them upon us. There are still rocky cliffs in the country where the bees congregate, and where the traveller, if he is rash enough, may suck honey out of the rock. The continued reference to the honeycomb in connexion with the honey, is itself direct proof that it was bee honey and not treacle. The honey of the country is not well kept, and the bees are generally killed in taking it. With some little trouble honey might again be made in sufficient quantities for export ; but the days of honey are over. Cane-sugar, cheap and good, has taken its place, and few would now substitute honey willingly at a higher price ; it can now only be used as a luxury. " That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets." This appears to be a remarkable allusion in a pastoral country, but yet the same continues at the present day. Each night the sheep are driven in from the open into pen-folds, to secure them against RESOURCES OF PALESTINE. 470 wild beasts or laarauders. In some }>]aces caves are made use of, with a fire kindled at the mouth ; in other places there are walled folds, or they are driven witliin the I^douin circle of tents, and sur- rounded hy dog's ; but near the cities they are driven within the walls, and in Jerusalem at the present day the sheep are brought in each night at sunset and te considered 2 I 2 484 UNDERGEOUND JERUSALEM. as successful. In tlie first place, the grape of Pales- tine has had no attention paid to it for many years ; about Jerusalem it is sweet-water of no flavour, and, as far as I can judge, in its present state can only make wine of the very poorest quality. No attempt appears to be made to regenerate the plants as is done in France by provignage or couchage ; and the care taken of the vine in Europe is quite unknown in the Syrian vineyard. At the Grreek convents I have tasted tolerable wine, but liave generally found that the better class comes from the Lebanon. At and about Jerusalem the wine produced is white, and as being that of the country is given in the Anglican Church in place of " tent wine." I was very much struck with an incident which occurred in the Lebanon near Afka ; I was travel- ling in the hills, at an elevation of about 5000 feet, and in a few minutes passed out of a cold limestone formation into a lovely piece of scenery, the rocks of bright red sandstone covered with fir trees, rhodo- dendrons, and ferns ; now the grapes grown on the limestone were sweet-water and insipid, but those on the sandstone were as highly flavoured as Musca- del. There was no mistake about this, as I had been accustomed for many yeai's before to the Musca- del grape in Spain : and my attention being called to the subject, I found that on leaving the sandstone formation I also left the flavoured grape, and got back to that of sweet-water. Virgil tells us that " Bacchus loves the hills," and certainly the hill country of the Lebanon produces RESOrilCES OF PALESTINE. -185 an exccllont wiiio, in iniiny cases a hoilcMl wine (vino cotto) of good fluvour, and generous. And this Aflva, near where I found the flavoured grape, is tlie site of tlie ancient Aphec, famous for tlic loves of Venus and Adonis, wliere wine entered lo a great extent into tlie celebration of the mysteries con- demned hy the Em|)eror Constantine. If it is tlie difference of soil alone which will make so great a change in the grapes, then Palestine may rival the Lebanon, for there are many parts on the eastern side where the rocks are of volcanic origin, or else of sandstone formation. The east of Palestine is already famous for its sultana or royal raisins, wdiich come from around Es Salt, the present city of refuge for runaway Arabs, corresponding to, and perhaps on the site of, Ramoth Gilead. The drying of the raisin appears to have been known in very early days, and we have the account of David being presented with clusters of raisins and cakes of Hgs, and with wine ; but we have no account of any dibs treacle having at any time been used. The remains of vineyards may be traced for miles over the mountains of Gilead, now devoted to j^asture land, over the deseits of Judaja, over the deserts l)elo\v Gaza, and over a great portion of Palestine, where there are now bare rocks ; let us hope that many years will not elapse before they may again be seen in these partij. "Let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards ; let us sec if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear." 48(3 UNDEEGEOUND JERUSALEM. " The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands." The appearance of the locust is so repulsive to the European, that efforts have been made to prove that it could not have been used for food, and that those eaten by St. John in the wilderness were the Kharub or locust-beans. They, however, are now used as food among the poorer class of people, as in days gone by ; and even to the children of Israel they were accounted clean. " Even these of them ye may eat ; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind." They are boiled in brine, and having their heads, legs, and wings plucked off, are sold by the measure, among the Bedouin and fellahiD. At Jaffa, even, the port of Jerusalem, they were to be obtained ; but there was a whisper that those who ate them were very subject to smallpox and fever, and that to Europeans they proved most injurious. They are, however, among some tribes of Bedouin a common article of food, and, boiled with butter, are said to be very palatable. There can be no reason, then, to doubt that the food of St. John the Baptist mentioned — " and his meat was locusts and wild honey " — was of the ordi- nary locusts and bee honey, now used for food among the poorer class of people. There were no very injurious incursions of locusts while I was in Palestine. Measures were taken to destroy those in the land : the action taken was arbitrary, but most effectual, if there was really any danger to be apprehended. One morning the Pacha RESOrKCFiS OF PALESTINE. I>^T oi" Jcnisiilein issued an order that eacli day certain villaf]^es situated along" the eastern slope, falMng to the Dead Sea, were to furnish a stated nunilx^r of mccasures of the young of these animals, which were tlien springing into heing among the rocks; the unfortunate fellahin had to leave their em})loyment and ramhle about from morning to night, and night to morning, in their search, and daily brought in the locust tax. The result was tliat the moving mass was arrested and destroyed. With proper preciiu- tions there ought to be no great ravages from locusts, from Dan to Beersheba, because they move towards the sea in their progress, and those swarms which are nearer to the east are all drowned in the Jordan on arriving at its banks. All that Palestine, tlien, has to fear is from those hatched in the land, and these each village ought to be able to master before they have reached any size. The frightful efl'ect of the visitation of locusts is now so well known, that I need scarcely allude to it. It can scarcely be compared to that met wilii in Asia and South America. In Palestine the crops may be injured by them, perhaps, on an average once in seven years; but in the Argentine Republic, we have ac- counts of crop after crop being cleared oflf the ground year by year by these voracious creatures. When I landed in Palestine, a large species of locust was found, whose appearance alarmed the native Christians excessively. They had hard double sword-shaped tails, about two inches in length, pro- bably for the purpose of opening into the ground a hole for their eggs; but the people said, "they had 488 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. tails like nnto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months" — in fact, they were apprehensive that their appear- ance heralded the time spoken of in Rev. ix. With the exception of that leading from Jaffa to Jerusalem, there are no roads in the country ; all merchandise has to he carried on the backs of mules and camels, which system adds greatly to the expense of transport. Several railways have been projected, one leading from Jaffa to Jerusalem, another round by Damascus and Moab to Gaza ; but they cannot pay : the country is not ripe for them 3^et ; roads and har- bours are first required. Railways are utterly useless without roads to feed them. At a Portuguese ter- minus, I have seen strings of carts drawn by oxen stuck in the sand within a few hundred yards of the train waiting for them, and not able to bring up their burden. It would be worse in Palestine : a railway there would only at first add one more to the strange incon- sistencies with which the country is studded. A good harbour at Jaffa, Carmel, or Acre would make all the difference. There being no roads, there are no wheeled vehicles in the country, except a carriage or two recently im- ported to Jerusalem. Could a start once be made, the construction of roads in their old lines would cheapen the transport immensely, and quickly add to the wealth of the people. A few royal roads, con- structed by the nation, would soon induce the people to make bye-ways to their villages. Main roads from Hebron to Jerusalem, Nablus and Haifa, Nablus RESOURCES 01' PALESTINE. 489 across tlic Jordan to Es Salt, and tlicnce to Damascus, wonld 1»«.' required. Sjiain, in her poverty, lia's re- cently made good roads, and why not Palestine ? I have given a pretentious title to these two chapters, for I have not mentioned a fifth part of tlie resources of the country, and yet I must close. If I have in any degree shown that the country is one which can be stimulated to a development of its resources, I shall be satisfied. It is rich in corn, oil, wine, honey, sesame, raisins, figs, oranges, lemons, apricots, tobacco, cotton, castor-oil, lentiles, sheep, goats, oxen, camels, horses, and mules. Give it a chance, let it have justice for a few years. All Europe is interested in it. Why does all Euro})e condemn it to slavery under the Turk ? 490 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. CHAPTER XXII. TRADES IN JERUSALEM. " The goldsmiths and the merchants." I DO not know that there is on record any account of the trades of Jerusalem, — a want very much felt by those who wish to understand the modern city. I have endeavoured to some extent to supply what is wanting, by j)resenting to you a list of all the thou- sand shops and cellars congregated within the market- places. This is exhaustive, so far as the ordinary stores, warehouses, and shops are concerned, but it does not include the establishments kept uj) by the several convents and missions, and the few factories in out-of-the-way parts of the city. No less than 1320 shops have been examined, the trade, the num- ber of active men, and religion, have been noted down. The result is this abstract, which, to those who wish to study the modern city, must be most interesting. Some of the men have one, or two, or three shops, and they often work in pairs ; it was therefore con- sidered desirable to classify the individuals, and not the shops themselves. We find, then, that there are 1932 able-bodied working men clustered together in the heart of Jerusalem. From this we may learn something as to whether the city is a city of industry; or not. TI{AI>i:s IN JERUSALEM. 4\)\ Bukers IJaiikiTs .. liiirl)ers Katli-inen Bath (oven) heaters Blanket-sellers Bookliimlers Book-shop Boys' schools .. Breiul-sellers .. Butchers .. Canteen-keepers CariHiUtei-s Charcoal-sellers Chickeu-scllers China-sellers . . Cxwl-factors Coal-sillers (?) Coffee-^rriiulers Cortin-makers .. Cooks Corn-sellers . . Cotton-se'llers.. CustHlging-keepcr8 Meal-sellers Meat-cutters . . Moat-fryers Mill-keeixTs Money-cliangers Hod-maker « B ^ CI jt s « "8 I —> 0^ o 10 52 15 4 ^^ 9 12 22 15 5 2 1 6 1 1 •• • ' 2 10 "l 29 2 •• \\ 2 12 9 1 1 6 2 1 6 3 2 7 1 5 24 1 66 8 1 4 11 ,, 2 i 1 9 1 5 ,, ,, 1 27 , , 1 .. 3 3 18 ,, 69 53 8 2 16 i 17 67 3 51 86 5 6 1 28 3 'i '8 8 3 4 5 •• *i *9 17 I 12 10 13 77 6 56 22 15 3 7 2 24 36 2 36 11 10 9 2 8 30 86 5 11 3 14 8 28 6 21 143 19 88 189 3 5 6 1 1 16 3 4 6 10 22 1 492 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. s d c3 a S 'a -iS c3 on er of able-bodied men, and alongside I place the number actually found in the markets. 10 per cent. Actual numlx;r. .lews . 8,000 800 503 Moslems . 7,r)00 7r)0 705 Greeks. . 2,S00 2S0 350 Latins . . i,:)Oo ir)0 140 Protestants . 300 30 34 Aimenians, &c. 750 75 71 The residt is remarkable; there is a general jiro- }X)rtion, except as regards the Greeks and the Jews ; but in both cases, 1 think, M. Lieven has under- estimated, and that the Greeks should be 3500 and the Jews 10,000 : if T am correct, the proportion will be the same for the Greeks as for the four other communities ; but the Jews are entirely out of the proportion, they should have 1000 working men. but have only 500. The inference to Jk- i^aineil from 494 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. this is that, whereas all other sects, Moslems and Christians, have an ordinary proportion of working men, there are certainly 3000 Jews, if not 5000, whose bread-winners have no ostensible means of getting a living. This is quite in accordance with everything that we have learnt in latter years about the Jews. While the Sephardim, or native Jews, are industrious people, the Ashkenazim are in many instances ignorant fanatics who think it a sin to work for their bread, and are supported by the halukah or offering collected from their wealthy brethren in Europe, These people are rapidly in- creasing in the city, and if the Jews of Europe do not soon take some measures to mitigate the evil, the position of this mendicant portion of their race will cause considerable embarrassment in future years. Of the 1320 shops, &c., visited, 278 were empty ; but these are quite filled up during the Easter festivities by merchants from Damascus and other cities. There are, however, many old markets now quite unused near the Noble Sanctuary, which have not been entered in the account, as they are gone to decay ; should the trade of Jerusalem continue to increase in the same proportion as during the last ten years, these markets may again be opened, and accommodation found for another thousand merchants. It will be observed that some trades are confined to particular sects, while others are common to all. The shoemakers are most numerous, and distributed among all sects, amounting to 230 in all ; the Jews, however, have a far greater proportion of these THADKS IN JKItrSALKM. l-C. people, prohahly on account of the larg^e number of Aslikcnaziin, wlio, tliougli they may wear their greasy garments for ever, must periodically buy new shoes. The grocers are next in number, ISO, and are also distributed among all ; the Moslems, however, number very strong in this trade. There are 77 bakers, of whom 52 are Moslems, U) Jews, and 12 Greeks. Fifty-six barbers are distributed among all. Twenty- four bread-sellers are (excei)t 2 Moslems) all Greeks and Latins. Of 3G butchers, 20 are Moslems and Jews. The 36 carpenters are distributed. The corn- sellers are all Moslems. Among the 86 cotfee-sellers there are no Jews, but there are 66 Moslems. On the other hand, of the 58 wine-sellers, there are no Moslems, but 11 Jews and 43 Greeks. The 30 coffee- grinders are principally Moslems. The 28 dyers (of indigo) are all Moslems except 1 Jew. Of 88 green- grocers, 67 are Moslems and 17 Jews. It is apparent from the above that the Christians are quite willing to buy their meat and groceries from the Moslems, but the Jews like to buy and sell eatables among themselves on account of their laws on the subject. Of 21 flour-grinders, 18 are Moslems and 3 Jews. It will be seen that the corn trade also is mono- jwlised by the Moslems ; a very important matter in case of a disturbance in the city, as they have possession of nearly the whole of the eatables. The 19 sellers of glass are almost all Moslems — much is, or was, made in Hebron. The 3 gunmakers are Greeks. Of the 143 general shopkeepers, 60 are Jews and 53 Moslems; of 22 money-change i-s, 17 are 496 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. Jews ; of 7 old clothes dealers, 5 are Jews and 2 Moslems. The 11 pottery-sellers are Moslems. The smiths generally are Jews and Grreeks, but each sect has its specialities. Of 30 brass or white- smiths, 10 are Moslems and 16 Greeks; of 36 tin- smiths, 34 are Jews; of 57 silversmiths, 15 are Jews and 29 Greeks, and 9 Latins ; of 28 blacksmiths, 7 are Jews and 18 Latins. The 2 skin-sellers are Moslems. There are 29 Moslem sweets-makers out of 32. Of the soapmakers, 17 are Moslems and 14 Greeks ; of 32 Simsim (Sesame) pressers, 29 are Moslems ; of 20 stable-keepers, 13 are Moslems and 3 Greeks; of 20 silk-mercers, 19 are Jews. The tobacconists are dis- tributed. Of 62 tailors, 34 are Jews, 10 Greeks, and 10 Latins. Where do the Moslems get their clothes made ? The 8 wool-sellers are Moslems, and so are the 7 letter- writers. Of 23 watchmakers, 19 are Jews ; perhaps these ought to be called whitesmiths. Three Latins keep the wheat stores. The bankers are Jews and Protestants. In the above enumerations, all nationalities are ignored ; Germans, converted Jews, and native Arabs come under Protestants. Native Greek Arabs, real Greeks, and Russians are shown as Greeks. French, Italians, Spaniards, Jews, Arabs, are shown as Latins. It would be difficult to systematise them otherwise. The sellers gather together very much by trades and by religions, as in former days, but not quite so rigidly. In the Suk Allon, the Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Latins, Protestants, are all jostled together in happy confusion, the greengrocers of all sects predominating. TKAI)f:.S IN JERUSALEM. V.H 111 tliL' Sulv el J5azar, tlie Moslem merchants cluster, se{>anitc(l here and tliere by a Jew; so also in the Suk el Aslic. In the Suk el Bir, the Jewish tailors and slioemakers congregate. In the Suk Laliamen are the Moslem cooks, meat-cutters, meat-fryei-s, and butchers. In Christian Street, nearly all are Christians ; in the Jews' street all are Jews, except a stray Moslem here and there. Tlie Moslems and Jews a})i)ear to amalgamate with less difliculty than Moslems and Christians. The principal ports to which Jerusalem looks for her imports, are Marseilles and Trieste; from the former are obtained woollen goods, silks, hard- ware, wines and spirits, to the amount of 15,000/. annually: from the latter, glass, timber, furniture, and beer to about 2r),000/. England supplies cotton to 20,000/. nearly, also woollens and hardware. The whole imports may be estimated at the modest sum of 100,000/. per annum. Who knows what the nu'ichants of Jerusalem are worth, in a city where 1 f) to 20 per cent, is an ordinary commercial return ? Tliere should be many rolling in gold ; but woe- betide the unlucky native who may chance to expose his wealth : to prison he must go on some pretext or another, until he issue, lean in purse and long in visaecial caste of men ; any person can take it up j)rovided he be strong and healthy, for the work is arduous and exhausting. There is no agree- ment entered into when a new hand joins, and no ap2>renticeship at nominal i)ay ; any one wishing to learn the trade receives pay from the first day of his entering the factory, but is not considered a compe- tent hand until after three years' ])ractice, when his pay is raised. Though there are two sets of boilers and furnaces in some of the factories, it is seld(»m that more than one is used at a time. Seven men are required to each boiler, arranged in two shifts of three men each with a leading hand, but on an emergency five can do the work. Ten or more men, however, arc usually required when the boiler is being filled or tnq)tied. 502 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. These three or more extra hands are required to carry the oil from the tanks to the boiler, or the soap from the boiler to the place where it is put to cool; at other times work about the factory is found for them, so that as a rule ten men are constantly emjDloyed. The manufacture of soap in Jerusalem is only carried on during eight months of the year, from January to August, during which time each boiler is expected to turn out about twenty batches of soap, averaging a weight of 2000 rottles each batch. Only one kind of soa^) is made ; but some dealers in the city buy some of it before it is cold, and work it up into fancy shapes, adding scent and colouring matter ; leading to the supposition that there are various kinds of manufactures. No duty is paid upon the soap, unless taken outside the city gates. A large quantity is still exported to Egypt and Asia Minor, but yet less than in former days. The manufacturer does not receive orders from merchants or dealers at a distance, but exports to the care of his agents in the several cities, who do the best they can for their employers. At Jaffa an agent superintends the risky loading at that port. The soap is made with olive oil and an alkali (soda) : lime, salt and water are used in the process of manufacture. The oil when obtained from the neighbouring villages is admitted into the city free of duty, but beyond a certain district a heavy duty is charged. November is considered the best month for purchas- ing it, for then the market is full, the fellahin at that time being reduced by want to part with it as soon T1:ADES l.N JKKLSALEM. 503 as it is matle, but tliis is not always tlic Ciise. The fellaliiu have not tlie gift of knowing iclitn to sell, and tliey will often keep their goods until they are worthless, if there is a good price, in hopes of getting something better, while if the price be low, from want they must part with them often at a nominal price. The oil when bought is stored under the factory in many Uinks, built similar to those constructed for holding rain-water. It is thus placed in an equable temperature, and does not congeal or become rancid. The olive trees in Palestine grow with little culti- vation on terraces on the hill-sides, and on the high- land plateaus, as well ason the lowland plains; they live to a great age — but probably the oldest about Jeru- salem, those in the Garden of Gethsemane, are not a thousand years of age. They continue to bear from two years of age until the very last, even when there is nothing left of the trunk of the tree save a few pieces of the empty bark. The alkali for the soap is purchased in August and September in the form of barilla, and is kept in an ortlinary vaulted store room. It is brought from many })laces ; namely, Damascus, East of Jordan, Gaza, the Ghor, also Egypt and the Red Sea. The worst comes from the Ghor, the best from Gaza. This alkali appears to be extracted by the natives of the desert parts from the saliferous plants growing around, but I have never seen the operation in prac- tice. In Spain and in the Canary Islands the fact of stone (soda) being formed by the burningof a plant was frequently a topic of conversation and wonder among the people; the plant at Tenerift'e shown to me as the 504 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. soda -plaint was a very large species of the Salsola kali, ice plant, with beautiful crimson terminations to its cool icj-looking leaves. Each plant spreads over fifteen to twenty superficial feet, and grows in the most arid places, on rocks and by the sea shore. I have never, however, seen anything so beautiful as this plant in Palestine ; the ice plant there is stunted and dwarfed, and the fact of obtaining stone from it was not a whit more wonderful to the natives than any of the other curious phenomena existing around, the Dead Sea. The Arabs call the plant from which the soda or barilla is extracted, Zaizab, or Shinan, or Uthidi. It arrives in the state of a carbonate, and has to be rendered caustic by contact with lime in water, in which operation the lime takes carbonic acid from the barilla. The lime used is the ordinary stone lime of the neighbourhood ; the salt is brought from the shores of the Dead Sea, beyond 'Ain Jidy, and the water is from the rainfall. The fuel used in the furnaces is the refuse from the oil-presses, dried and caked, and burns with a fierce heat. Factory. — Over the basement floor (below the level of the tanks for oil and water) are placed the large s Dap-boilers, seven small tanks rendering the barilla caustic by the admixture of lime in water in the pro- cess of filtration ; one circular pit near each boiler for receiving the lye from the large boiler when drawn off after a boil. A rectangular trough for mixing the lime and barilla ; a mill for grinding the barilla. THADKS IN JEIU'SALKM ."iOo snmll stores for lime, l)arill;i after filtration, fuel, ami oiHec for siiperinteiident. In the upper floor the soa|> is piled after manufacture, as })rick8 are stacked ; on the floor also the liquid soap is poured to cool ])reviou8 to l)cing cut up. Manufacture. — The first process is to prepare the lye. Tiie barilla is reduced to powder in the mill by a stone 3 feet in diameter and 18 inches thick revolv- iiif^ on a circular platform raised 2 feet from the floor and 5 feet in diameter ; the mill is worked by a donkey attached to the stone by means of a long pole. On the barilla being ground, the lime is slacked and placed with it in a trough 8 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet deep, in proportions of one of barilla to two of lime ; a little water is added, and the whole is well worked up and incorporated. This mixture is then placed in the little tanks 3 feet G inches high, 3 feet long and 2 feet 3 inches wide, a large piece of stone flagging forming the bottom of each ; the mixture is placed on a wooden floor about inches above the bottom, and the tank is filled up with water. There is a small hole at the bottom of the tank from which the water after filtering through the mixture falls into a small cistern beneath, of the same size as the tank ; when tlie whole has filtered through it is ladled back again, and this process is continued fijr two days, when the lime has taken up the carbonic acid from the barilla, which thus in a caustic form becomes soluble in water and forms the lye used in the manufacture. No gauge is used for ascertaining the strength of the lye, but work- men know liv its colour its fitness for use. The 506 UNDERGKOUND JERUSALEM. mixture of barilla and lime is replaced by fresh every third day, the refuse being stored away until it is dry, and then sold for admixture with mortar for building purposes. When a batch of soap is to be made, the lye from four tanks is poured into the boiler, and a fire lighted beneath with the olive husk refuse ; then when the lye is near boiling the proper quantity of olive oil is added, and the whole is allowed to boil gently for some time, after which another tank of lye is poured in, and the whole boiled again for half an hour, when the fire is allowed to slacken and the spent lye at the bottom of the boiler is drawn off by means of a wooden plug. This spent lye is received into a cylin- drical cistern near the boiler made for the purpose, it is allowed to cool, mixed with water, and then filtered through the tanks again over the barilla and lime. After it has once been boiled, two tanks of lye (instead of one) are poured into the simmering oil and lye before each boil, and drawn off afterwards at the bottom. The contents of the boiler are boiled four times every twenty-four hours every eight or nine days if the alkali be good, but if of inferior quality it is necessary to boil for a fortnight. The men have no chemical test as to when it is boiled enough, and on one occasion when Corporal Birtles visited the factory, they were returning the soap into the boiler : as it had been turned out, before it had been sufficiently boiled, and consequently would not set. The lye used during the last boil has a proportion TRADES IN JERUSALEM. 507 of salt dissolved in it, wliicli varies in amount accord- ing to the supposed strength of tlie lye. A long wooden pole, with a circular piece of board at the extremity, is used in stirring up the mixture. After the last boil the fire is allowed to die out, and the soap on cooling sutliciently is ladled into cylin- drical boxes 14 inches in diameter and 12 inches in height ; these boxes are not made for the purpose, but are sweetmeat drums from Damascus, bought from the grocers. These boxes when filled are carried by men and boys to the upper floor, and emptied out on the floor, which is first thinly strewn with lime. The semi- liquid soap is plastered evenly over the floor with a large sheet-iron trowel, with the assistance of a gauge tool, which determines the thickness (li inch) of the soap upon the floor. The soap on being first spread is mottled green and grey, but in a few hours a crust of white eftiorescence appears on the surface. This also occurs on any por- tion of the soap when cut ; and I have taken advantage of this circumstance in modelling, and have produced some models of temples cut in this soap, which have the appearance of great age, owing to this efflores- cence. When the buckets can no longer bale the liquid soap out of the boiler, that which remains floating on the lye is drawn off" with it into the circular cistern below and skimmed from its surfoce when cool ; the valuable lye below is kept in a cistern for future use. In winter, the soap has sufficiently set in a few hours to admit of being cut, but in summer it must 508 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. lie two days at least. It is marked into squares about 2f inches each, by lines or strings dipped in red paint, sprung in directions at right angles one to the other. The stamping of the name of the factory on each square of the soap is performed by children, by means of stamps and wooden mallets. When the soap is quite cold it is cut with a knife, whose blade 6 inches in length is at an angle of 30° to the handle, 18 inches long. A man inserts the blade of this knife into the soap at one end of the red paint line and draws it towards him, another man also works at right angles to him, so that the whole batch is quickly cut up ; it is then piled on the floor in small heaps of about twelve each, to dry, and there lies about twelve days, when it is stacked. For exportation the soap is packed in two cases, black sackcloth inside, and the outer case of the fibres of the date-palm. The packages are made up square of 100 rottles, or one kantar each. The seams of the packages are sewn ujd with dried reeds, brought from the banks of the Nile for this purpose ; the seams are then painted red, so that any attempt to break open the package may be at once detected. The soap of Jerusalem is very different to any- thing I have met with in Europe : it is hard, and lasts well, but it appeared to me to be insufliciently saponified. The use of it for a few days would take the skin off my hands ; in fact, its use has the same effect as dipping the hands in an alkaline solution. The lime also on the outside makes its use very THADES IN .FKIMSAI.K.M. '•<>!» (lisaf^reeal)le. I ust'd it, liowever, for modelling-, aiie seen hundreds of yards of ground covered with blue stuff. There are about ten dyeing establishments, in each of which there are ten men required to carry on the work, and a boy assistant learning the trade. It generally descends from father to son, or adopted son, but outsiders may take up the business if they choose. The masters enter into no agreements with the boys ; a few days' warning on either side is quite sufficient to termiui'.te an engagement ; but, in case a boy does leave, no other dyer at Jerusalem will employ him without his master's consent. The men are all masters; there is, therefore, no object in a " trades union," except as a combination against the public. They combine together for the regulation of their trade prices, rules, tl'c. They choose one among their niunber, to whom 510 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. they give the title of Slieikh, and make him head of their corporation ; he is elected by the whole body, keeps in his possession the seals of the craft, and retains his office during his life. They settle all their trade matters among themselves, and should there be any disagreement, they lay the subject before their Sheikh, and his decision is considered final. Most of the questions he has to decide are of a personal matter, such as the case of one taking a shop out of another man's hands, by paying a higher rental, or of offering to do a job at a lower price than has already been asked by one of the craft. They have no fixed prices for dyeing articles, but each makes the best bargain he can for himself. This want of uniformity naturally occasionally leads to disputes, which have to be laid before the Sheikh. The Sheikh, however, only acts as judge in some cases, while they act as jury. For example, one man offends the whole trade ; they meet together, and after deciding he is in fault, bring him before the Sheikh for punishment. He has to steer a medium course, having no real authority, and generally orders the delinquent to defray the cost of a supper for the whole trade, over which they fraternize, and forget their difficulties. Should, however, the offen- der persist in his obnoxious ways, and refuse to pay for a supper, he is put into " Coventry." The Sheikh, however, said that the offender never re- mained out long, as these dyers have to assist each other constantly at their trades, in giving one another different tints, and that no man can carry on TRADES IN JERUSALEM. Hll tlie luisiiicss alone ; he lias, therefore, shortly to give wav, and sue for peace and forgiveness. Nearly all the work they perform is for the outer garment of the fellahin and Bedawi women, com- posed of coarse Miie calico. Blue is the only dye they make use of, though they have six different shades or tints. A very in- different green, however, is produced ; this is done by putting into the dye-vats some woollen cloth, which the women have already dyed yellow with herhs; the result is a mingling of the two dyes, ju'o- ducing an ugly green. They sometimes dye cloth, but will not warrant the colour standing. They also assert that they can dye silk, but could not refer to any they had lately done. The dye is made up of a mi.xture of indigo, with an alkali and lime. This alkali appears to be the barilla, as used in the soap factories, brought from the Dead Sea by the Bedouins, who obtain it by burning the plant, which has been cut and dried and heaped together in large quantities ; after it is burnt the cakes of barilla are found among the ashes. The lime is the common stone lime of the country ; it is slacked, and any uuburnt parts and impurities are thrown away. Plain water is considered best for use in the process. Proc>\<9. — Tlie indigo is first ground to paste by a stone, apparently a piece of pumice stone very porous, in an earthenware pan, a little water being mixed with it from time to time, so that it works up alK)ut tlie consistency of clotted cream ; then water 512 UNDEEGROUND JERUSALEM. or light dye is mixed with the paste till the whole is dissolved, and it is poured off into an earthenware pan, boiler shaped, placed over a small iire-place. The lime and barilla are then added to the liquid, and the whole is stirred occasionally for two days : after that, if the weather is not too hot, a slow fire is lighted tinder the pan, but the liquid must not be made hotter than the baud can bear ; if the weather is very hot no fire is necessary. The earthenware pans used as boilers are brought from Gaza. When the liquid is ready, the article to be dyed is soaked in water for a short time, then wrung out, and while still wet is placed in one of the pans con- taining the lightest tint, and there left for about half an hour, it is then removed without being dried to the pan containing a darker tint, and then left for the same time ; it is then placed in one tint darker than the previous successively, until the required tint is obtained. The article is then wrung out and placed in the open air to dry, and when dry the process is completed. The Arabs call the indigo plant Wasby ; it is imported by Jewish merchants from Europe, and no duty is paid for it on passing the city gates, though heavy duties are paid in transit. - A very inferior variety of indigo is cultivated in the Jordan Yalley, but it is little used, in consequence of its being so dirty and impure ; but if proj^erly cul- tivated, it might quickly make the fortune of the speculator who will first be successful in raising it. It at present only fetches thirty piastres a rottle, while that from Europe fetches 400 piastres a rottle. Stone Cutters, — These people are usually fellahin TRADES IN JEBUSALEM. 513 of Bt'tlilclicm, aiul are very reticent regarding their trade ; they would give no information. Anyone who desires can learn the trade, which occupies from six months to two years before tliey become proficient. None of them will dress hard stone if they possibly can avoid it, and always prefer employment on some more congenial task. The tools used with teeth are not uniform in shape, but they generally have from four to six to the inch. There is not a man about Jerusalem at the present day who would undertake, under ordinary circumstances, to dress such a stone as one of those at the Wailing Place. The Potter. — There are five potteries at Jerusalem, the whole of which are worked by Moslems. Pottery is only manufactured during the hot season, owing to the difficulties met with in drying the articles previous to baking during the wet weather, for they are poor people and have no artificial means of drying, and must trust to the assistance of the sun. The articles manufactured are jars, drain pipes of various descriptions, circular pots and dishes, tiles and bricks for paving ovens, bee-hives, lamps, &c. Pottery making must liave been an occupation throughout the history of Palestine, the whole country is a field of pottery, even to the lowest depths ; even in what is called the virgin earth of the city of Jeru- salem, the pottery lamps for burning fat were found during our excavations. The earlier references to pottery mentioned in the Bible will be cited as we proceed, but it will not be out of place here to call attention to a curious 2 I. 514 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. record left by Herodotus wlien describing the Arabians. " A circumstance that few of those who have made voyage to Egypt have noticed 1 will now proceed to mention. From every part of Grreece, and also from Phoenicia, earthen vessels filled with wine are im- ported into Egypt twice every year, and yet, so to speak, not a single one of those jars is afterwards to be seen. In what way, then, some one may ask, are they disposed of? This I will also relate. Every magistrate is obliged to collect all the vessels from his own city, and send them to Memphis ; but the people of that city having filled them with water, convey them to those arid parts of Syria ; so the earthen vessels continually imported and landed in Egypt, are added to those already in Syria." When, therefore, one visits the arid portions of Syria and finds ruins of cities knee-deep in pot- sherds, this account of Herodotus may be remem- bered ; though probably it only relates to towns near the Lake Serbonis, and at no great distance from Egypt. Two kinds of clay are used in the manufacture, the one the red virgin earth, from which, according to Arab tradition Adam (red) was formed ; this is found in the clefts of rocks in the surrounding country, and has certain binding qualities : this it is that was used by the Moors in Spain and Morocco in forming the old tajna walls, which now are as hard and tough as the rocks themselves. The other clay is yellow in colour, and is obtained from the neighbourhood of Olivet, and much resembles rotten-stone ; there is TRADES IN JERUSALEM. 015 also some of this to be found in tlie traditional " Potter's Field " south of the city. Those clays must be used together in pro]M?r pro- portions for pottery purposes, and neitlier of tlieni is of any use if used independently. Donkey-loads of these clays are brought to the potteries by the fellahin for sale, and after beinp^ purchased the red clay is exposed to the sun till it is pro- perly dry ; it then falls or crumbles into a powder which must be sifted through a fine sieve in order to remove the grosser particles. The yellow clay is also dried and broken up into small pieces. Equal quantities of each of these clays are put into a cistern in the yard about five feet square and three feet deep, and then worked up with water until forming a thick paste of the consistency of clotted cream ; it is then allowed to exude into a larger pool inside the building, where it remains till required for use. "When they are in want of clay for use in pottery making, they take a quantity of the sifted dry red clay and knead it up with water on the floor, treading it well with their feet, " as the potter treadeth clay," and after leaving it a short time they add a portion of the putty which has l)een run into the large tank ; this is all mixed together and again worked up with the feet — " Go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick- kiln." After this it is cut up into small pieces, and again kneaded with their hands — " as clay is in the potter's hands" — being occasionally thrown down violently upon a flat stone, probably to expel water and air 2 I. 2 516 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. bubbles; it is then formed into sugar-loaf sbaped lumps about one foot in beigbt, ready for tbe wheel. " Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels." " Sitting at his work, and turning the wheel about with his feet, who is always carefully set at his work, and maketh all his work by number." Tlie wheel in use at Jerusalem at the present time is a wooden disk 11 inches in diameter, placed hori- zontally on an upright shaft 2 feet 6 inches in length, working below the disk in a collar, with its lower end covered in iron, and working in a hole in a stone, it thus revolves with the disk smoothly and evenly; the shaft is put in motion by means of a wooden wheel, 2 feet in diameter, fixed to it horizontally at about 2 inches above the pivot stone. The upright shaft is round and sheathed in brass where it touches the collar, probably of iron ; the movement is thus secured to perfection. The collar is fixed in a wooden table under the revolving disk, on which the potter keeps his thread, saucer of water, and other small stores. " He fashioneth the clay with his arm, and boweth down his strength before his feet." " For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service ; yea, of tbe same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean pur- poses, and likewise also all such as serve to the con- trary ; but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is tbe judge." " And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter ; so he made it again TRADES IN JERUSALKM. ol< anotlier vessel, as secmecl good to the j"<»ttcr to make it." " And lie kIiuII break it as the Lrtakiiig of the potter's vessel that is broken in pieces." " Hath not the potter power over the clay?" The lump of clay being placed on the disc, it is set in mot ion, and revolves through tlie instnimen- talily of the larger wheel, which the potter pushes with his foot. As soon as it is got into rapid even motion the potter dips his hands into water, and pressing with the fingers ot" one hand on the toj) of the lumj) he makes a hole in it, while with the other hand he supports the outside ; in this way by use of both hands he shapes the inside and outside of the article, and at the same time keeps the linnp revolv- ing with his foot. lie has no gauge tools, but trusts entirely to his hands and eyes, and so keen do his senses become that he can turn out hundreds of articles which appear to be of the same size to a hair-breadth ; and his practice is so constant that he can regulate the pressure of the two hands, inside and outside, to such a nicety, giving exactly the same tliickness to each article. AVhen he has turned it out of the required shape and size he pushes with both hands gently in one direction, and thus removes it from the disc, still revolving. Most things are put on to the disc twice, sometimes three times ; the large jars are made in parts, and put togetlier afterw^ards, the parts being wet adhere easily. The liandles also are made sej)arately, and fixed to the jars, &c. ; after all the parts are finished they are put in the shade to dry, and remain in the open air one day, after which 518 UNDEEGKOUND JEKUSALEM. they are removed into out-buildings, and are left for about a week to dry gradually. The kiln in which the articles are baked is built of fire-bricks, made on the spot ; the kilns are circular, and about 5 feet in diameter inside, and of the same depth. The floor (which is the top of the furnace), is made of pipes about 1 J inch diameter and 6 inches long, placed upright close together, the intervals being filled with clay in order to stifi'en the pipes. The fire thus in ascending j^asses through these pipes into the kiln and through the pottery. The furnace is 4 feet deep and 2 feet 6 inches wide ; the pottery is so placed that the heat and flames coming through the pipes from the furnace may be equally distributed, the top of the kiln is lightly covered over during the time that the articles are baking. The art of baking properly requires much practice. The manufacture of glass has continued at Hebron from very early times, and although there are so few references to it in the Bible, our excavations attest that it was in use at an early date, and that during the Roman period it was most common. I found broken pieces of glass among the pottery at many of the old ruins, Gaza, Askelon, Tell Jema, Ashdod, &c. ; and though there was nothing to dis- tinguish their age, they had at least as much claim to be ancient as had the joottery itself. That glass need not have been unknown in the country from the earliest date is apparent from the facility with which stone of the country will fuse when subjected to heat. I have a piece of stone found near Mar Saba in Wady en Nar, near the Dead Sea, with a TRADES IN JERUSALEM. 519 Itliie drop of (rhisa cliiif^ing' to it, ai)})arciitly the efrccts of a fire liglited among the rocks. 1 was not myself fortunate enough to witness the making of glass at Hehron, and this account here given from the mouth of a native, cannot be vouched for. An eartli called katrun (natron?) is mixed with sand. This sand is not obtained from the sea-shore, but from a particular spot inland, and is pulverised before being used. The Ijatch is put in an oven, with moderate heat, for three days, and then into a furnace for twenty- live days or less, according to the kind of glass required, and on melting is left for thirty days to cool slowly. When it is thoroughly cooled a chisel and hammer is applied, and the metal broken up into small pieces. The metal is now put into a reverberating furnace for three days, until it melts ; hollow iron pipes are now dipped into it, and the glass blown out into the required shapes of bottles, &c. These are then put into an annealing furnace for three days. Besides the thin gla.ss bottles, the glass bangles or bracelets, so common among the fellahin peasantry, are also made at Hebron. A large quantity of glass mixed up with pottery of the fourth century was found in a drain which led from the southern end of the Temple enclosure. As far as we may judge, the market-places of Jerusalem are very much in the same situation as they were before the destruction of the city, when mentioned by Josephus. There are no large open spaces now, except near the Jaffa Gate, and here the 520 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. people congregate only on certain days ; the ordi- nary work of the city is carried on in the narrow streets on which the shops front. In some cases there are three of these streets in parallel lines together, covered over with rude vaulted roofs, in which holes are pierced to enable the light to pene- trate, and the smoke and smell to escape. The scene in one of these gloomy passages is most picturesque; the shops of the traders are little vaulted recesses in the walls, about 8 feet wide and 10 feet deep, the floor raised above the street, so that the feet of the vendor, as he sits cross-legged on the floor, are level with the shoulders of the buyer. In these little cells, in the general market, the most various stores are placed in juxtaposition, and present a sufficient contrast. The blacksmith at his little forge in the gloomy recesses of his shop, now lighted up by the bright glow from his fire, and now by the reflection from the blue dust-laden sunbeams struggling in from the roof apertures. Here again lamps are lighted in the goldsmith's shop, and in another there is a complete shadow, in which only constant prac- tice can enable the owner to see his stores. There is a wonderful jargon of languages and voices, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Amharic, Hindu- stani, Russian, Grreek, Italian, German, French, and English. This can be realised when traversing the market-place. A group of men are crowding the street and do not stir out of the way, the Frank pushes them on one side ; instead of finding a sturdy resist- ance as in an English crowd, they fall away from the force of his hand like so many logs of wood TRADES IN JERUSALKM. '•-'! standing on end. A stalwart nigfi^er rides hy on a donkey, sliouting and tlirowing down all around him ; he sees the Frank, and not imagining lie is a different man rides straight at him, hut somehow the Frank remains on his legs looking unconcerned alx)ut him, while the nigger and ass are sprawling on the giound. Buying and selling is an art, a means of wasting time, which is brought to great perfection among the Arabs. It sometimes takes days to make a single purchase, and even then the traveller ought to expect to feel he has been cheated. On one occa- sion I met a traveller boasting of his success at a bargain which had taken him two hours to effect, and in which he had beaten down the vendor im- mensely. On asking him the price, I found he had paid double that which a Frank in Jerusalem would be asked on commencement of a chaffer. The amount of perishable goods which are allowed to spoil rather than sell them without a good chaffer is enormous. The trader of Jerusalem is an inveterate gambler in liis sales, always trying to make some great bargain, and constantly losing the opportunity to make many sales with small and quick returns. There are many articles of English manufacture in the markets, but they are very different to the same kind of articles bought in England. Do we send the worst of our products to such out-of-the- way places ? The people who are standing round, cheapening what they would buy, are of all kinds and descriptions ; all grades of civilisation are here represented, from the half-naked dervish with his 522 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. crock seeking for broken victuals, to the wealthy American, who appears in what, to English eyes, seems full evening costume. The runaway Sepoy jostles unawares the Indian officer ; the Pharisee Jew crosses the path of the infidel Druse. Here is the most perfect study of hats to be met with, and by- the-bye all unsightly. The American has a chimney-pot hat, with the brim at the bottom ; the Grreek priest appears to have the same hat, only he has put his head in through the wrong end, and the brim stands out at top ; the Persian hat rakes backwards, the Druse is worn for- ward ; the Armenian priest has a hood like an ex- tinguisher ; the mountaineers and northmen of Asia wear caps of fur : all are ugly and unsuitable. The turban is the only dress suited to the head of man, it gives him a good presence ; while on the other hand the fez is the most degrading in its effects on the features. Notice a tall broad-shouldered son of the desert, with his noble presence, his majestic walk ; put that man into European clothes, and he dwindles at once into a miserable undevelojDcd round- shouldered starveling. The want of girth about the chest is remark- able among the people of the Levant ; search for weeks, and a fellah suitable to stand as a model of a man will not be found, unless a porter from the sea coast towns be brought up. ( ^-'.T ) CHAPTER XXIII. THE MOABITE STONE. " Thus life is ppent (oh ! fio upon't), In being touch'd, and crjing— Don't ! " Wk were well to be out of Jerusalem during tlie sunnner of 18G9 ; the city was in the most disordered state, and Inirglaries took place frequently. Euro- peans were cautioned not to allow their families away from their homes unprotected, or off the ])uhh"c road. The Bank was broken into : but 70/. only ab- stracted, the bungling burglars failing to open the strong box, where there was upwards of 2000/. For- tunately this gang waxed bold enough to attack the Jjritish Consulate. X'o longer then could there be any question as to the nature of their acts; the Consuls met together at the Serai, and the matter was seriou.sly brought before the notice of the Pacha. I was now in the Lebanon : an account of my travels there I give elsewhere ; sufHce it here to say that I made a point of going to eee the Governor-General of Syria, witli wlioni I was already on very friendly terms. Being brother masons, we had many subjects of common interest, and he was delighted witli my account of the lodge we had opened at Jerusalem in the quarries of King Solomon, near the Temple. 524 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Freemasonry is a strong bond of union between the Christian and the Jew, and now I found even the Moslem was rendered amiable owing to the mutual tie ; and no doubt the Greek Protestants of Es Salt owe tlieir property, even their lives perhaps, to Freemasonry, for it was on this score that the Governor-General in 1867 had, when looting the city, listened to my appeal, and protected these people. In October, 1869, news reached us that Nazif Pacha had been removed from Jerusalem and re- placed by one of more liberal mind, who would pay proper respect to the distinguished visitors expected at Jerusalem, after the opening of the Suez Canal. We had scarcely known whom to expect among the many who went to the opening of the Suez Canal ; but I had promised to return to wait upon tbe Empress of the French, should she come, as she was known to be deeply interested in our work. As matters turned out, the Emperor of Austria and Crown Prince of Prussia were the only royal persons who came up. Their stay was to be short, and time so taken up, that I did not anticipate they would require my services ; but I had arranged that all onr shafts should be in readiness, and I was available myself at a few days' notice. With regard to the Crown Prince of Prussia, I had particular reasons for not going purposely to Jerusalem. There are a great number of Germans there, as I have said, many of them my particular friends. I felt that, with the limited time at the Prince's command, my presence, if required, would prevent one or other of these Germans being in THE MO A BITE STONE. 525 iittenJance ; ami as many of them set their heai*t8 on liaving an audience, 1 tliouglit that I might tlius unin- tentionally be doing some one of them an ill turn by Sroinu: to Jerusalem. Dr. Sandreczki had a i>eiTect knowledge of our work, and 1 hoped that U) his lot would fall any attendance over our excavations which (if I liad ]>een present) I should have per- formed. The sentiments the German residents of Jerusalem and Beyrout entertained towards their Prince were most striking: it was one of the most perfect modern instances of hero worship I can imagine; no praise was too high for him. He went everywhere ; rectifying abuses, frowning on those who were idle and untidy, commending the indus- trious. The poor man's friend, he won the hearts of all, and did an immense amount of good at Jerusalem by his example and advice. AVlien he came to Beyrout I became filled with the general enthusiasm, and fully understood the ardour the Germans showed on his account, and was enabled to comprehend their eagerness to serve under him in the campaign in the following year. With all the frankness and stern sense of order ajv pertaining to a soldier, he united the breadth of mind of a stiitesman ; he examined into the institutions, inquired into the narrowest details, and where any rectification was required he gave his opinion freely and without reserve, eft'ecting a change in an in- credibly short time. I had thought Germany happy to have such nearly perfect institutions abroad, still more did I now think her happy to possess a prince who could rectifv anv little dilliculties, without doing 526 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. harm to their general welfare, without wounding the feelings of tlie directors. It had not been certain whether the Emperor of Austria would visit the Holy Land, and knowing that if he did go he would be treated with all the grand ceremony accorded to crowned heads on their very rare visits to Jerusalem, I did not think it pro- bable that I should have any occasion to be present. However, I received a message that I should be required, only it came from the Austrian Consular Dragoman instead of from the Consul. I asked for further information, and then received a message from the same source — an invitation coupled with the intimation that if I came I should receive a ring from His Imperial Majesty. This message, I felt sure, could not have emanated from the Consul, as he was well aware that I would come if I could do so, and were asked, and that the offer of a ring in such a manner would not serve to attract me. I therefore sent word that if the Consul wrote to ask me I would come at once, but otherwise I should suppose the message was intended for somebody else. When afterwards I met Count Caboga, I asked him if he had sent any message, and he was highly amused with the manner in which it had been delivered. He had not known for certain whether I should be required, and had not thought it necessary to write ; but knowing that there was a chance of a message reaching me, had made some observations, and I had received his " aside " remarks while the real message had never reached me at all. The Emperor of Austria was received as the guest THE MO A BITE STOXE. 527 of tlie Porte, and the Turks made great di8})lay : great services of handsome silver dishes and plates, with very little to eat upon them now and then. A friend of mine told me that the Emperor was nearly faint from hunger before he reached the Holy City ; my friend had an orange in his pocket and was about to eat it, when he observed how pale the iMuperor was becoming, and on the spur of the moment rode up and asked his acceptance of it, and it served to revive him. Some of the attempts of the Turks to provide for the comfort of their august guest were very ludicrous. They borrowed the Austrian Hos- pice for the occasion, and instead of asking advice from the Europeans, arranged everything according to tlieir own ideas. They purchased some cambric of the finest quality and at an extravagant price, which they made up into sheets for his bed, and it required the strongest remonstrance from the keeper of the wardrobe, who by chance found out what they were about, before tliey could be prevailed upon to put on proper sheets. We landed at Jafla from Beyrout the day before tlie Emperor's departure, on the 13th of November. I had been taken ill with fever on the passage, and on landing had to go to bed : however, next morn- ing the litter arrived on which my wife was to be carried up ; and as it was quite uncertain how long the fever on me would last, I got up and startey masonry. Tin' reverse of this is actually the ease; I foinid a \allev, the Kidron, to extend through tlie Birket fn.in north to soutl), runniiiL!" through the sanetnary and out to •J M 530 UNDEKGEOUND JEKUSALEM. south, between the Birket and Golden Gate. Thus the Birket actually stands athwart the valley, and its eastern end is strengthened by the natural rock. This valley in which it lies is the " Yalley Kedron," so often sj)oken of by Joseph us, and was hitlierto not known. The surface of the ground outside, a ceme- tery, is here only about twenty feet below the surface of the Sanctuary, the wall of which, exposed to view on outside, presents only a height of about forty feet ; and yet this wall is no less in total height than that at the sonth-east angle, for 135 feet of it are covered up by the accumulation of rubbish ; it was at the foot of this wall we found red-paint marks, wdiich M. Yaux and others pronounced to be undoubtedly Phoenician, though they differ somewhat from those found at the south-east angle. The deepest part of this valley is thus at a depth of no less than 150 feet below the surface of the Sanctuary. Can all this space be filled up with mere rubbish, or are there yet vaults here to be discovered ? Vaults which have been concealed for many hundred years, and which, when once dis- closed, may yield information of the most valuable type. Our work was on the outside, but even there we met with remarkable success. There seemed at first no hope of ever reaching this wall below the surface, for all along the front of it runs the Moslem burial-ground, in which the blind men sit all day, hired by disconsolate widows, to lament over their dear departed. But it was part of the work to be performed, and in consequence we commenced to sink a shaft to the east of the burial- ground, and 100 feet away from the wall. At a THE MOABITE 8i<)NK. .'».')! depth of 40 feet we commenced mining in under the cemetery. The soil was most treacherous, and we were in a critical situation ; for liad there been a l>ad fall in the galleries, and had the graves been dis- turbed and exposed, the resentment of the people would have known no bounds. [ adopted on this occasion a speeial form of «:;allery-frame, and kept a corporal always at the head of M 2 532 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM, came upon a slit about eighteen inches wide and four inches high, formed by cutting away the upper and lower portions of two courses. Here was an exciting discovery : what might not be in this chamber in the wall ? the ark and utensils secreted at the destruction of the Temple might here be hidden away. A stone dropped down the slit rattled away from us for several feet. At first it was too small to get through ; a cold chisel in a few hours increased the opening between the big stones to seven inches, and then we were able to enter. It is easiest described by stating that the opening is like the shoot by which letters slide into the box of a post-office : it was the slit by which light was shed upon the passage below us which we were to explore. The bottom of this shoot falls at an angle of 45°, the roof being stepped to a point twelve feet below the slit, it then passes through the horizontal roof of the passage, which was lighted by means of the slit. Tlie passage or gallery runs east and west, it is two feet wide, and was formerly eight feet in height ; but a portion of the old floor has been removed ; at its eastern end there is an opening 3 feet 9 inches high through the Sanctuary Wall. At the western end it reaches as far as the Birket Israil, where it is closed by a perforated stone with three holes in it, below which there probably was a basin, since re- moved. The passage is about forty-six feet in width, the width of the east wall of the Birket Israil. At the north side there is an opening 2 feet 3 inches wide, and n, staircase leading up above ; I poked up this with a long staff, but after getting Till-: MOAlilTE STUNK. o'titi down a (juantity of debris, I found it continued to come d(jwn witli such force upon us, that we were olth'^ed to desist. I was in liope tliat here miglit have been found hidden tome of tlic articles coii- NKWLY KISCOVEIIKD I'AsiSACK IN TIIK ol.p WAM, <>K IIAKAM AUKA. cualed at tlie destruction of tin- 'ri'iii|»lt', inn nolliinj- was observable of value. The stones forming this passage are of great size, 14 feet to 18 feet in length, and vary from '^ feet 10 inches to 4 feet G inches in lieight. The stalactites hang down from the roof (above is a hketch which I 534 UNDEKGEOUND JEEUSALEM. made of the passage). Now, what was the use of this passage ? There cannot be a doubt that it is an ancient overflow for the Birket Israil, and that it had been in use in modern times, for I found that the old floor had been torn up, and another aqueduct cut two feet lower down, so as to run into an aqueduct con- structed for the purpose. The workmen had left their mark on the wall, in the shape of a Christian cross of the Byzantine period. Here, then, we had the cer- tainty that, even in Christian times, the Birket Israil was supplied with water up to this height, nearly 2350 feet, that is, 25 feet above the bottom of the pool^ and 60 feet below the present top of the pool. At the present day, when there is such a dearth of water in Jerusalem, it is pleasant to find that within so short a period it was full, and flowing away to waste through this duct. But what was it in former times ? The wall is the old wall of Jose- phus, built in the time of the kings of Judah ; the pool is also of ancient construction — is it the Sheep Pool? I have stated that the rock about this aqueduct was higher than the bottom of the pool, which is at 2325 feet ; but the rock shelves very abruptly to the south, so that in a few feet it falls 47 feet, until it is at a level of 2278 feet. The whole of this wall is rough, of a peculiar description — the drafts are very carefully cut, the stones project about a foot, and are cut square, and on tlie bottom there are red- paint marks — it is doubtful whether all this rough work was concealed, but probably so ; if this was the case, the object of the slit in the passage is apparent : THE MOAblTE STONE. ooo the oi>onin<; is uiuler the level of the ground ; the liii^ht sliining into the gallery shone on the entrance to tlio staircase, ami troops were enabled, from the wall, to go down and get water witjiout being mo- lested by an enemy. My task was now nearly completed : I was to cejise to act as a licensed British subject at Jerusalem, and to return to other duties in Europe. Tliis bcensing amused me: I could understand it for IJussian Ash- kenazim, who have to obtain some recognition of their change of nationality, or even for British resi- dents, who might require at rare intervals to ])rove to Turkish authorities tliat they were not rayahs, by })roduction of their certificates, signed by our Consul. But as I was neither Russian serf nor a British resi- dent fearing Turkish o])pression, the certificate was (pn'te valueless to me. If the Turks questioned me, I had but to show my vizierial letter, or my pass- port ; luit they never did doubt my being an Kng- lisliman. Wliat then could be the object of requiring me to a})})ear at the Consulate at a certain hour of a certain day, in company with my friends the Ash- kenazim, in order to receive a certificate purporting that 1 was a British subject; and not oidy to receive the document, but also to pay five shillings fee: five shillings paid, not in the coin of the realm in which we were living, but in bright English sliillings, which were not current in Jerusalem, and which I had to search for among the money-changers, and buy up at a high price. At first, it appeared to me as a kind of reminder, that in the work 1 was engaged, I was acting merely as a private individual employed in 536 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. a private speculation ; but, afterwards, I learnt to look upon it as a remnant of the old ceremony at. Jerusalem : the payment of the shekel of the Sanctuary. I had now suffered so much from fever during the winter and spring, our expenditure had been so much cut down, my assistants had all been invalided home without being rejjlaced, and my firman nearly run out, that I should probably in any case have returned to England in the spring of 1870 ; but the immediate cause of my return was in connection with correspondence on the subject of the Moabite Stone. In 1868 this stone was discovered by M. Klein ; in 1869 M. Deutsch came out to Jerusalem, on behalf ol the Palestine Exploration Fund to examine the sub- ject of inscriptions in Palestine. Whether he heard the same story regarding this stone as I had done I cannot say ; but, no doubt, if he did he was, like me, unable to take any action, as the Prussians were engaged in the matter. In Jul}", 1869,1 was enabled to inform the Committee of the existence of this inscription, that the Prussian Consul, Dr. Petermann, had offered 100 napoleons for it, that I believe he held a fi.rman giving it to the Prussians, and that if the British Museum wished to take any action it would be necessary to correspond with the authorities at Berlin, before I could do anything. Let it be T]oted that I did not contemplate that the Palestine Exploration Fund would take any action in such a matter, having received very explicit directions as to not buying any inscriptions or coins, except on my THE MUAUITE STONE. ii'-M own account. It was the British Museum 1 expected wouKl take action, if any. Tiiis was tlie view, I helieve, held by the C(»nimittee at the time. A .Phcenician inscription on the ejist ot" Jordan, ibr which the Prussians had a firman, was clearly a matter in which the Palestine Exploration Fund could not meddle, nor the British Museum either, without consulting" the Prussians. I therefore received no reply to my communica- tion!?, and heard nothing more of the stone until ray return from the Lebanon, in November, 18G0, wlien a Bedouin brought me U}) a broken fraLrment, detail- ing how it had been broken. After getting as much intormation on the subject together as I could, 1 wrote a long account of the whole matter, stating that I had sent after squeezes of the broken portions, that I believed it to be an inscription of the very greatest value, and asking for an innnediate answer as to whether the Committee desired any action taken. This letter reached London and was taken to Mr. Grove ; but it appears to have been mislaid, and I received no answer of any kind to my report and enquiries, except the acknowledgUKMit of the reccij»t of the letter. On 21st January, 1870, I sent a further account of the whole matter, describing what I could learn as to the unfortunate fracture of the stone, the fact that M. (ianneau had got a mutilated s(pieeze of the whole, that I had perfect squeezes of the broken parts, copies of which I forwarded; at the same time I forwarded an account for publication, together with a little translation of a [)ortion enclosed iV'"M M (lunneau 538 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. I urged an immediate answer to my letter, and I ex- pected it by telegraph, for on former occasions I bad telegrapbic answers to matters of importance. Day after day passed away, and I was in a fever of expectation. I bad received directions to stick to Jerusalem and not to go after inscriptions; I bad no discretionary powers whatever to interest myself in this matter, and anything I did must be on my own account, unless it proved to be successful. Yet I felt, after the catastrophe that had befallen the stone, that I was bound to get the squeezes of the mutilated parts at all risks, for fear the inscription should be lost to the world. The days of February passed away, and yet I heard not a word; at last, on 20th February, an answer arrived. What was its import ? Not a word as to the importance of the subject, not a word as to any money being voted or any action to be taken ; simply, that it was doubtful whether it was a Phoenician inscription at all. It was evident that the import- ance I asserted to belong to the subject was not at first understood. During the next ten days I had the advantage of the advice of Professor Palmer at Jerusalem ; but what was to be done ? I had already got up the squeezes, the stones alone remained. It was evident that the Palestine Exploration Fund did not require them. Under the circumstances, I must act entirely on my own account, but I will not here detail all the intricacies of the subject ; I will go on to the next budget of letters, which I received on 2nd March. Now all apathy was over. The public had taken the matter up, the Moabite Stone was the THE MOABITE STONE. ."):{il topic of the day. Everybody was waiting for my letters with the greatest impatience. But wliat did the letters mean ? I was conrrratn- lated as the discoverer of tlie stone, asked wliy i liad neglected it so long, wliy I had caused its fracture, why I could not have got it uj) whole, why I allowed M. Ganncau to see .my squeezes. I was horror- stricken ; how could my reports and letters have been so interpreted? I looked to the 'Times,' and tliere, insteafl of my letter, I found to my intense annoyance :ind mortification one in lieu of it. My account was entirely ignored, and in place of it Mr. Grove had published a letter of his own which, I felt, placed me in a most false and hateful position. First impressions, however erroneous, are always difficult to eradicate, and so I found it with regard to this letter, the ])ublication of which put me in so very wrong a position. Since then I have found scarcely anybody, except those who have closely studied the subject, wdio do not think I had some share in the breakage of the stone; all seem unaware that the preservation of the portions of the stone and the obtaining of the squeezes of the parts are due to the careful manner in which I acted on this occa- sion. In order to show fully the difference between the account I forwardee sure to find some. This letter of Mr. Grove to the ' Times,' the in- structions I received from the Committee, and those Mr. Grove forwarded me, were in some unaccount- able manner diametrically opposed. I was quite in a dilemma, and, with Professor Palmer, was engaged for some hours trying to come to a conclusion as to what really was wanted ; but we could come to none. Xo discretionary power was given me in the matter ; no instructions about the stone. I was left in the most delicate and dilticult position. I must 544 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. subordinate my movements to those of M. Ganneau ; I must not bid against him. I must try and get tl e stone ; yet it is not of much importance. Not a word of any price. I expected clear instructions, such as this : " We can afford 100^. ; do your best with it. Avoid comphcations. Do not endanger the safety of the stone." This is the substance of a message I advised should be sent out, at a more recent period when I was in England, and another stone was supposed to be found. Had I received something of the kind, I should have known how to act. Above all, an agent should always be given a limit of price. In some cases 10^. may be considered high for an article of the greatest importance, in another case 500/. may be considered too little. Meanwhile, the two large pieces were allowed to pass into the hands of M. Ganneau, the account of which I propose giving at some future period, when I am able to give a history of the last days of the Moabite Stone in a complete form. I simply here give my reason for having returned from Jerusalem. There was no difficulty in getting a stone of the kind over from the east side of Jordan. I had already shown the way; for, in the winter of 1868, I had got over a large stone from the Palace of Hyrcanus, Arak el Emir, which is now in the Museum at South Kensington. I suppose I shall always feel somewhat sore about the subject of the Moabite Stone ; I certainly had not taken all the trouble and anxiety in order that in the end the fragments I obtained should be given over to France. If given away at all they should THE MOAIUTE STONE. 545 have been given to Germany ; but I was not con- F lilted. Tlie first point was the preservation of the inscription to tlic world: in this I I'elt tliat no national feelings must interfere, so also with the preservation of the fragments; but beyond that I have a distinctly national feeling on the subject. I would rather have seen the whole stone in England if we could have got it rightfully; failing that, I should like to see it in the hands of those to whom it belongs, the Prussians; and, .again, better than that it should be broken, I would see it in a Turkish museum, or back at Diban. According to the arrangements I had made with the Palestine Exploration Fund, the squeezes and fragments belonged to me. It had been settled that beyond the excavations at Jerusalem there was no desire to buy inscriptions, &c., but that I could buy anything I liked on my own account, giving the Fund the option of refusal of anything at a fair valuation. These squeezes and fragments distinctly came under this agreement, for I obtained them at my own risk without any instructions to do so, and as they were of considerable value, at the time, I was entitled to a fair valuation. I, however, cheerfully gave them up at the price I had paid, to the Palestine Explomtion lAmd, thinking I was giving them up to the nation. I was quite unaware that they would be alienated from the country fur which I had obtained them. If 1 had had the slightest idea of what place would have been their ultimate destination I should certainly have refused to part with them, except at the extreme value put on them, and should have handed them over to the Derlin Museum, hoping that at the same time the 2 s 546 UNDEEGROUND JEEUSALEM. Louvre might be induced to hand over her portions, and that thus the old irritation on the subject wouW. be allayed. But it is not too late to make amends. Let the Louvre follow the example of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and hand over to Berlin the pieces which the English and French got up, then all old wounds will be soothed; until that is done, I have the Englishman's birthright — a grievance. I was now prostrated with fever for days at a time, and looked forward with some anxiety to getting my family well out of Jerusalem. I never took a fancy to the cemetery there ; it is built on the side of a steep slope, and some day, I fear, will be opened out to view by the fall of the retaining-wall, which is not very secure. Churchyards differ so much in the sentiments they induce ; the most suggestive I have seen is that at Gibraltar, with the racecourse running around it, close to the iron rails. Those in Palestine gave me no idea of rest, though that at Jerusalem is at least well cared for and attended to. On the 30th of March I took my family down to Jaffa, one more in number than when we arrived from England. My little girl aged four years showed that the climate had not injured her constitution, by riding nearly all the way to Jaffa, thirty-six miles, upon her little donkey, without a break except for lunch. At dusk we arrived at the Grerman colony, which has now supplanted that of the Americans, the sons of Ephraim. The hotel is a large wooden building, kept by Herr Hartegg, one of the fraternity. These people are from Wurtemburg ; they belong to the Society of the Temple, and appear to be a most THE MOABITE STONE. 547 honest, industrious, siin})lc-min(ltd community. As to tlieir religious tenets I did not liear much ; but if their actions spring from their reh'gion, I can strongly recommend it both at home and abroad, for they appeared to be a most estimable people. Perhaps Avhen the community grows they may become more like other Christians, less charitable and given to good works. For my part, I saw them for several days, and thought they had admiraltly succeeded in repioducing the Church of the Early Apostles. Un- fortunately for their future welfare, I do not think there is any settled organisation : and when they lose their present gifted leaders there is no guarantee that there are others to sprino; up and carry on the work. The colony is admirably suited for the coloni- sation of Palestine; they subordinate their individual interests to those of the community, and, liaving no idlers or loafers among them, they ought to thrive. They received my family with the greatest atten- tion, and I felt content to leave them in their hands for a few days. At the time the wife of a German pastor, visit- ing Palestine, lay dying in the hotel. I remained at Jafta to attend the funeral ; for although 1 had never met them, it is usual for the Protestants in the country to show such marks of sympathy for each other, when possible. People in such out- of-the-way })laces have to act for themselves very much. On this occasion the poor man had to read the last service over his wife's grave ; the funeral took place in the British cemetery. I have seldom witnessed so distressing a scene. This God s-acre of 2 N 2 548 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM, our countrymen had become a very ash-lieap of the town, a battlefield for dogs, a camping place for*) gipsies. No wall surrounded it, no money could be obtained to keep it in order. It was a most painful sight : around were the Protestants who had collected together to pay their respect to the living and the dead, around us were troops of children and dogs running in and out. The pastor, his heart wrung with grief, quite gave way in the middle of the cere- mony, forgot where he was, and blinded with» his tears, stretched his arms out wildly and walked for- ward almost into the open grave, had not his little daughter sprung out of the group, and clasping him round the neck kept him from the edge ; there was not a dry face among the bystanders, even the Moslems were affected. Next day I returned to Jerusalem to settle up all accounts and arrange for the sale of my furniture. I was to have had a sale, but, unfortunately for me, on the 7tli of April a tremendous snow-storm set in, the whole hill countrv was covered several inches deep, and for one whole day the land would have been quite white if it could have been seen ; but the sun was so powerful that it caused a dense mist from the evaporation of the snow, and Jerusalem was enveloped in a dense fog. The Arabic shoes are not made for snow-shoeing, consequently only three people ventured out of the town to my house, and my auction was a farce ; I had taken the precaution of putting reserved prices on everything, and one man bought them all up at those prices, except my feather-beds, which were TMi: MO.vmTE STONE. ''t!* 80 p:ood, I could not let them p^o for a song. I was bound to get oft', but feather-beds are not easy articles to carry. A briglit thought struck me. I knew of • a man who had just brought u\\ several little heathen gods from Ascalon ; to him I went, exchanged the feather-beds for the little gods, put them in a carpet bag and carried them oft" in triumph to Jaffa. Before I start, let me say what obligations we lay under to our friends, the Prussian Kaiserswerth Sisters, our neighbours opposite, at Talitlia Kumi. We had many kind friends in the Holy City, but we had none greater than the Prussian Sisters; they completed their many kindnesses by taking my family into their house before our departure, thus relieving us from all the difticulties so often attendant on the quitting a house in a strange country. My wife was not in the least delighted with the little heathen gods ; and though by the time we arrived in Eiiglansl ) CHAPTER XXIV. CONCLrSIOX. " Learn to labour and to wait. Lonofelloia. Is relating the preceding narrative, I have endea- voured to give some idea of the pecuh'ar difficulties which surrounded the excavations at Jerusalem ; difficulties, some of which existed only in and about the city itself, and not attendant upon surveying or measuring, but simply on opening up the soil. They were not understood at the time, and I scarcely expect they will be understood now, for it is difficult to picture the people exactly as they are ; and mucli even yet must remain untold. The mere act of digging on the part of a Frank is repugnant to the sentiments of the people : he may measure, survey, talk, without raising their passions, but lie cannot excavate without causing uneasiness in their minds. In the one case he leaves matters as he found them, in the other who knows what he is doing and what are his intentions ? Why should the people all believe that his intentions are strictly honourable, and that he has no desire to injure them or their property ? They have never been brought up to trust anybody : instinctively they do trust the English, individually; yet it is expecting much of 552 UNDERGROUND JERUSALEM. them to hope that they will all willingly assist in such work, especially when they find their rulere threaten them for doing so. The system on which we were organised, though, absolutely necessary, was essentially a bad one. How were the excavations undertaken at Kome ? There were there no troubles of the kind I met with ; for the Emperor of the French bought the ground out and out, and Signor Eosa was thus enabled to work at the Palace of the Csesars unmolested. Had I been working under the orders of the British Government, or under any Foreign Government, matters would have been quite different. The financial difficulties could not have occurred ; it is only Turkey that keeps its employes several months in arrears of pay. The difficulties with the Pasha could not have ex- isted to the same degree, for he would then have known that I had some recognised position. Had I even been working for an established society, it would have been different, for I could have appealed to the council ; but as it was^ I was working for the public directly, represented at that time by the Honorary Secretary. The only single advantage my position affords me is that I can now inform the public directly what I think of matters, and how I consider they should be carried out ; and this I should not have been at liberty to do had I been working under Government, neither would it have been necessary to do so. In the first place let me point out (and it is a matter of importance in future excavations at Jeru- CONCLUSION. 553 sulem), tliat the af^ent should not be required to ^ei the juoney as well as to do the work, lie should he allowed to give his mind to his subject, and not have • to think that if something does not turn up the works .will have to stop. " For heaven's sake find the Tomb of David by next mail," is not the kind of request the agent would like to be called upon to answer. He should be paid the amount he is empowered to expend each month in advance, and told to do his best.' For this jnirpose, money should be collected beforehand, until at least two years supply is in readiness, say 10,000/. In the second place, his reports should be attended to as much as possible ; if he asks for gallery frames, and states he cannot proceed without them, by all means send them to him : surely, he can best judge of the nature of the work on which he is engaged. Let him have a good staff, well organised, say, two officers, thirty non-commissioned officers and sappers, four draughtsmen, and a shorthand writer. Throw them into the city with a royal firman, and let them commence operations. Give the officer in charge some position which the Pasha, if he is a fanatic, will recognise — acting consul in partibus; but let it be an honorary rank, imposing no duties and implying no official connection with the several consuls. It is work which probably could be carried out best by a private society such as the Palestine Exploration Fund (Society I hope it will eventually be), because it might not be desirable for the State to be directly connected with such matters. Let the ag6nt and his subordinates show to the consuls, local 554 UNDEKGKOUND JEEUSALEM. European architects, and visitors, their discoveries, so that they may be well authenticated, but do not publish a word while the work is in progress. The world would then scarce know that anything was. going on, and Jerusalem would remain quiet. The very letters and reports which enabled me to go on with the excavations by opening the public purse, did our work locally the greatest harm, by allowing the Pacha to know exactly what we were doing. At the same time I was precluded safying much that was of great interest at the moment, for fear that it should lead to comjolications, for our relations were balanced in the most delicate manner ; directly anything of interest was published in Eng- land it was copied into the papers of Constantinople and Alexandria, and brought to Jerusalem. Again, let all materials be collected together, and all information worked up on the spot; all the plans should be made on the spot. I had no draughtsman at Jerusalem. The assistant sent out to me was a blacksmith by trade, and had taken a prize for draw- ing some of the mechanism of a steam-engine; but his talents were quite unequal to grasping the work of a surveyor, though he copied some of the pieces of pottery we found very nicely. When all is com- pleted, let it be brought home and let an elaborate work be published as a record ; when that is done, let any number of popular works be brought out. All this will take a long time, it may be said. So it may; but it is better to do it systematically and slowly, than spasmodically. What has been gained by the pre- cipitate publication of a portion of our work in the CONCLUSION. 555 ' Recovery of Jerusalem' ? Eiglit years have now e[apsecl, and the public have yet not received an account of the whole work, which should have been published four years ago. With the materials brought home let a museum be established, a Museum of Biblical Antiquities ; to which travellers can })rL'sent the many ancient and curious relics which they bring from the Holy Land, and which at present are virtu- ally lost to the world. I l(X.'l quite sad when I go to the South Kensington Museum, and see the articles I brought home now all crowded together, without either ticket or docket. "Is the Moabite Stone here?" asks a lady of the policeman. *'0h, yes, mum, I will show it you ;" and forthwith he points out to her eager eyes a morsel of a Hamath hieroglyph. That collection ought to be properly laid out ; the pieces of pottery should have their own labels replaced. On one I found, to my dismay, " Carved wood from the Tem})le of Jeru- salem," whereas it formed part of a chapel or house of the fourtli or fifth century at Jericho. These things have gone to so many exhibitions, that they have got very much damaged. This should not be. Yet how can it be helped ? The j^eople do not spon- taneously fill the cofi'ers of the Fund, and so the results from the excavations have to be carried about from place to place to make money. It is nobody's fault. Some day, perhaps, the museum may be esta- blished, when the funds for it are collected. Yes, Jerusalem must yet further be laid l«ire and examined; perhaps not for ten or even twenty years: bii^ tim<' slips on apace; let us get ready for the work. 556 UNDEEGEOUND JEEUSALEM. Our next move must be in the Temple area, ''the Noble Sanctuary itself. I have done much to furthea: this object : already have I induced the Mejelis (in spite of the opposition of Nazif Pacha) to acknow" ledge that there is nothing contrary to their law in a Frank working inside, and that there would be no harm in our excavations. As long as the natives are with us, what is to prevent the examination being made ? for all foreign nations are in our favour, so carefully have complications been avoided. And now with regard to the future of the Palestine Exploration Fund. I have stated that the work is not nearly completed : that it is just commencing. Why then administer under the form of a Fund ? Why not establish a Society which will have a charter, laws, and bye-laws : something definite in its organisation ? The Fund has been gradually ap- proaching this. At first the Honorary Secretary did everything; the Executive Committee meeting at rare intervals to indorse his arrangements. At that time no one outside the pale of the Palestine Explor- ation Fund knew how it was administered. The first real step forward was to get a Secretary, then the Executive Committee met regularly. Quarterly Statements were established, the names of the Exe- cutive Committee were made known. The Com- mittee used to elect itself, but this has given way to a more regular proceeding, and at the last annual meeting, the proceedings of the Greneral Committee were published for the first time, and a permanent Chairman of Executive Committee was elected. This is not enough, however, in my opinion :" I CONCLUSION. 557 tliii>k that the subscribers should have a voice in the matter, shouKl elect their council or committee, as is clone in other societies. The work has outgrown the ;)o\vers of the original mechanism ; why hamper it ? Give it room, increase the powers, give a sound organisation, and do not let it run the chance of falling into the hands of one section of theorists. It must be recollected that, with the exception of religious subjects, tliere are few matters on which controversy runs so high as the topograpliy of Jeru- salem : indeed, one may almost see the effect of religious controversy in the matter. It is not many years since there was a complaint that the administrators were all of the Broad Church, and that I should make discoveries to suit ; but the ground would not admit of it — it gave no preference to any school, and the prophecy was not realised. It may be thought that I am now following in the same line, with a similar forecast ; but this is not my intention. I do not think that the agents would in in any way be influenced by the party opinion of the administration ; Init at the same time I am of opinion that there should be no chance of such being the case, that all parties should I'C fairly represented. Not, as is so often proposed, Mr. Fergusson's theory against the world, and therefore Mr. Fergusson's theorists to have half the representation ; quite the contrary it should be. Mr. Fergusson's theory is to many contrary to reason ; it should be given the countenance it deserves. It should be simply classed as one among the twenty theories which exist — m;i,1ters might tlii-n be on a secure looting. But 558 UNDEBGEOUND JEEUSALEM. when I was in Palestine at first, all other theocfies were ignored, and everything was referred, ad nauseam, to his opinions as a standard of comparison. I have found no less than fifty reasons why Mr, Fergusson's theory is impossible. I give none of them here. I have them ready for publication, but I am told that his theory is effete and disregarded ; yet if so, why has it been given in the standard English works on Jerusalem, and why has Mr. G-rove given his delineation of the Temple on the pian in Smith's ' Atlas,' showing Jerusalem and the results of the excavations ? Those who think and speak of a rapid change taking place in Palestine are considered as dreamers ; but let me venture to say that it is the people of England who move along as in a dream, and cannot realise the immense change which is there going on. Palestine is rapidly becoming the focus of atten- tion, it occupies a peculiar position, and as time moves on, its importance must be appreciated ; may this not be before we have made our move and have secured our own interests. During the past six months efforts have been made by the Ultramontane party in France and Italy to secure rights in the country, which will be ^ \] very detrimental to our prospects unless we can •', ji arrange to work together and march side by side. J I Their motto, if they have the mastery, is "No Sur- i render." N Let us then take care that we give up nothing, for we shall not get it back again without a hard struggle. • CONCLrsiON. 550 'Will not those who love Palestine, love freedom, justice, the Bible, learn to look upon the country as one which may shortly Ije in the market ? Will not they look about and make preparations, and discuss the question ? We have a direct interest in the matter : it is a subject above all politics ; it is a country connected with our relio^ious life, and should not be handed over to any particular sect of Christians, but should be hf^ to all. Let us then be on the alert and watch. TUE rxD. untDos': rBnrm> n m. clowm a»i> toss, sTAarou> trmnr. AVD CBABIWO CBOM. \ ^/ University of California Library Los Angeles This book is DUEonj^astdat^stam^^ ilX- -Ct-A JAN 1 4 2(100 out <; v«Kb rHUlVl DAlt RtCEIVED RECpMU-jC£B.tt?s.'t^.; ftPR 2 3 m] cRLF A JL-H^ \ 1 2- A 000 100 046 IM V 1 I UK \K^