Lord Kitchener
and His Work
in Palestine

By
Dr. SAMUEL DAICHES

LONDON
LUZAC AND CO.
46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C.

191G

LORD KITCHENER AND HIS
WORK IN PALESTINE

LORD KITCHENER
AND HIS WORK
IN PALESTINE

By
Dr. SAMUEL DAICHES

LONDON
LUZAC AND CO.
46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C.
1915

"T^

v94-

.14-1

PREFATORY NOTE
The following pages represent a lecture de
livered by me before the Jews' College Union
Society on February 7, 1915, and repeated,
by invitation, before the Society of Biblical
Archaeology on March 10 <
I trust that this little book may contribute
to a larger understanding of the character
and capacity of one of the most prominent
personalities of our time. SAMUEL DAICHES.
Jews' College, London.
August, 1915.

LORD KITCHENER AND HIS
WORK IN PALESTINE
IN the present great world-struggle there
is one man who, among all the great
and strong men who are determining now
the future of the world, stands out, by com
mon consent, as one of the greatest and
strongest, and that man is Lord Kitchener.
In a sense he is the greatest and strongest.
No man has ever attempted what he has
achieved. Lord Kitchener has created an
army of many hundreds of thousands in a
few months. We can scarcely realize the
magnitude of this work. It is as if it were
the work of Eastern magic. Kitchener's
army will remain in history one of the great
monuments of the possibility of human
achievement. Just as the Pyramids bear
witness to the master-will of the ancient
Egyptians, so the present legions of Britain

8 LORD KITCHENER AND
will bear witness to the master-will of the
man whose name these legions bear. And
Lord Kitchener has not only created a huge
army, he also knows how to make the best
use of it. He has a large share in the direc
tion of the operations in the various fields
of battle, not only in Europe but also in the
other parts of the world. There is no exag
geration in saying that Lord Kitchener is
the greatest individual factor in this war.
He is not merely War-Secretary, he is the
Secretary of the War. In fact his present
office has almost lost its significance in pro
portion to the importance of its present
holder. It is not the War-Secretary who is
in the minds of the people in this country
and in the minds of the people all over the
world, but — Lord Kitchener. I do not know
of a similar case in British public life, in
which the man so completely overshadowed
his position.
And Lord Kitchener is not only a great
war-organizer and a great general, he is
also a great orator. Not that he has got the
external rhetorical gifts. He does not claim
them. They would not fit in in his per-

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 9
sonality. But he is nevertheless a master
of the word, written and spoken. The few
speeches Lord Kitchener has delivered in the
House of Lords during the last few months
have gained for him the reputation of a
great stylist. His speeches are masterpieces
of brevity, lucidity and comprehensiveness.
Few speeches have ever been read in England,
in the whole British Empire, with such
eagerness and such admiration as the speeches
of Lord Kitchener.
We thus see in Lord Kitchener a man
of tremendous capacities. A creator of
armies, an organizer of campaigns, an observer
of endless field operations, a perspicuous
statesman, and a great stylist. Truly, one
of the world's master-minds.
One of the questions which has been asked
frequently during the last few months is :
Where has this master-mind been developed ?
Where did Lord Kitchener show first the great
capacities which grew as the years rolled
by and as the opportunities came ? Many
people thought of the years Lord Kitchener
spent in Egypt preparing for and accomplish
ing the great work there and in the Soudan,

10 LORD KITCHENER AND
which is best designated by the word Khar
toum. Kitchener avenged Gordon, broke
up Mahdism, won the Soudan for Britain
and prepared the way for the British Protec
torate over Egypt. Kitchener has done
wonders in Egypt. In the land in which
he disguised himself as a dervish, in gar
ment and speech, he was later the first
official of His Britannic Majesty. Others
thought of Kitchener's great deeds in South
Africa. Others again thought of the time
Kitchener spent in India reorganizing the
Indian Army. These were no doubt great
and important periods in Kitchener's life.
But when Kitchener's great work began
to be felt in Egypt he was over forty years
old. When he won the battle of Omdur-
man and conquered Khartoum he was in
his forty-ninth year. There is an earlier
period in Kitchener's life, of which the
public has not thought sufficiently, the im
portance of which for the future develop
ment of Lord Kitchener cannot be over
estimated. That period provided Kitchener
with work in which he could and did develop
and show his great capacities, work which

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 11
strengthened his powers of vision and which
opened for him new sources of quiet and
strong inspiration. That was the period
of his work in Palestine. And with that
period we are concerned in these pages.
No recorded period in the life of Kitchener
gives us such an insight into the mentality
of Kitchener and into his ways of work,
reveals to us the mind, heart and character
of Kitchener, as well as the four years which
he spent in Palestine and in Palestinian work.
His indomitable energy, his unequalled
thoroughness, his hunger for work, his mastery
of detail, his preparedness, his economy
in men and material, his making sure of
success, his sense of duty, his ability to
inspire others with zeal for work, and his
clear and crisp style : all these characteris
tics of Kitchener of to-day we find in
Kitchener nearly forty years ago, when he
was doing his Palestine exploration work.
Kitchener's Palestine exploration work
falls in the years 1874 to 1878. In May,
1865, the Palestine Exploration Fund was
established, " for the purpose of investigating
the Archaeology, Geography, Geology, and

12 LORD KITCHENER AND
Natural History of the Holy Land." It
was felt for a long time by many English
scholars that our knowledge of the geo
graphy and topography of Palestine was
inadequate, that our information with re
gard to the places mentioned in the Bible
was insufficient. As early as 1804 a Pales
tine Exploration Society was founded in
London. But its achievements were not
great, and in 1834 this Society was formally
dissolved. In 1840 another association with
the same name and similar objects was
established. But it soon merged into the
Syro-Egyptian Society, which, in its turn,
afterwards became the Society of Biblical
Archaeology, a society that has for its
object the furthering of research in Biblical
and kindred subjects, and that is still do
ing good work, especiaUy by publishing its
monthly Proceedings. With the establishing
of the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1865
the work of exploring Palestine began in
earnest, and this work has been carried on
since then with great zeal and success. The
activity of the Fund in Palestine has been
practically unceasing. First Jerusalem was

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 13
explored and mapped out,^ then Western
Palestine, afterwards Eastern Palestine, then
neighbouring lands, as the district south
of the Dead Sea and the Peninsula of Sinai.
When the investigation of the surface of
Palestine was completed, the investigation
of subterranean Palestine, the work of ex
cavation, began. The excavations at Jerusa
lem by Sir Charles Warren had already been
made in 1867-70. The success of the recent
excavations in Gezer under the able guidance
of Professor Stewart Macalister will be known
to many. The work of the Palestine Explora
tion Fund is being continued, and, though
necessarily suspended for the present, will be
taken up again as soon as the political
circumstances permit. In May of this year
the Palestine Exploration Fund will be half
a century old, and it is to be hoped that the
importance of the work it has done during the
past fifty years will be recognized by the
public in the form of increased financial
^ The survey of Jerusalem carried out by Captain
(later Sir Charles) Wilson in 1864 can be regarded as
the introduction to the work of the Palestine Ex
ploration Fund.

14 LORD KITCHENER AND
support so that it may be able the better to
continue its great work.^
Soon after its establishment the Palestine
Exploration Fund resolved upon making a
thorough survey of Palestine, beginning with
Western Palestine. Towards the end of 1871
the Palestine Exploration Fund sent out a
survey party to Palestine under the com
mand of Captain Stewart, of the Royal
Engineers. In November, 1871, Captain
Stewart arrived in Jaffa. In December Mr.
Tyrwhitt Drake joined the party. Captain
Stewart began work on the plain near
Ramleh, but he soon fell ill, and, on medical
advice, returned to England. Mr. Tyrwhitt
Drake took temporary charge of the party.
The Palestine Exploration Fund then sent
out Lieutenant Conder, of the Royal En
gineers, to take command of the Survey.
In July, 1872, Conder arrived in Palestine.
With the arrival of Conder the real work
of the Survey began. At first the south
^ The fiftieth annual meeting of the Palestine
Exploration Fund was held on June 22. An in
teresting report of the proceedings is published in
the Quarterly Statement, July, 1915 (pp. 113-131).

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 15
country was surveyed and explored. Then
the party went northwards as far as the
plain of Esdraelon. The work was done
with great thoroughness. To appreciate
it fully one must read the reports in
the Quarterly Statements of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. Every town, village,
house, vineyard, ruin, rock, tomb, cave
was noted, every hUl, valley, ravine was
marked, every name was put down, and
thus Biblical topography was being enriched
day by day. In the third year of the survey
Mr. Drake became seriously ill, and in June,
1874, he died. The Palestine Exploration
Fund looked round for a successor to Mr.
Drake, who was to be second in command
of the Survey Party. They found him in a
young lieutenant of the Royal Engineers.
That young lieutenant was Horatio Herbert
Kitchener. Young Kitchener accepted the
post offered to him, and in November, 1874,
he joined the Survey Party in Palestine.
One might be allowed to ask what induced
Lieutenant Kitchener, who was at the time
engaged in his work — field telegraphy — at
Chatham and Aldershot, and who had already

16 LORD KITCHENER AND
seen for a short time active service in the
French Army, which he had joined as a
private when he was barely twenty years
old, to enter upon exploration work in
Palestine. Kitchener knew the scientific
character of the work that was awaiting
him in Palestine. No doubt Kitchener had
scholarly inclinations and he must have
been glad to get a chance of doing more
serious work, of doing what we may
call extraordinary work. He already then
showed great industry. Horace G. Groser,
in his Story of the Life of Lord Kitchener
(1914), writing of that period of Kitchener's
life, tells us (p. 28) : " The ' day's work ' — in
his case field telegraphy — ^was not enough
for Kitchener. The margin of time for
recreation was used largely by him for the
mastering of those ' kindred subjects ' with
which his sporting or pleasure-loving associ
ates would hot take the trouble to make
themselves conversant." Kitchener must
therefore have been eager to undertake
work which would give him ample scope
to make use of his knowledge as an engineer,
as a surveyor, and which would also enrich

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 17
his knowledge of lands and peoples. But
there was, it seems to me, another, a far
deeper, reason for Kitchener's decision to
join in the survey work in Palestine. That
reason was, I think, a love for the Bible and
the land of the Bible, which he no doubt
inherited from his mother and her father,
and which must also have been implanted
in him by his teachers in his childhood
and boyhood.
Kitchener was born on June 24, 1850, at
Gunsborough House, near Tralee, in county
Kerry, Ireland. But both his parents were
English. His father was Lieutenant- Colonel
Henry Horatio Kitchener. On retiring from
the Army in India he came to England and
married Miss Frances Chevallier, who was
a daughter of the Rev. John Chevallier,
Doctor of Divinity, of Aspall, in Suffolk.
As the daughter of a theologian Miss Cheval
lier was no doubt interested in the Bible,
and it is only natural that she should later
inculcate this interest in and love for the
Bible in her children. To the mother or to
her father must also be due the fact that
all his early education Kitchener received

18 LORD KITCHENER AND
from clergymen. Kitchener never attended
a public school. His chief private tutor
was a Mr. Allen Freeman, who afterwards
took Holy Orders. At Kilflynn, a place to
which the Kitcheners removed a short time
after their son's birth, there was a Pro
testant school, presided over by a clergy
man, the Rev. WilUam Raymond. Young
Kitchener was a worshipper at Kilflynn
Church and an attendant at the Sunday
School class which was held there.
At the age of thirteen young Kitchener
was sent to a French school, at a place called
ChS.teau au Grand Clos, near VUleneuve,
overlooking the lake of Geneva. That school
was conducted by an English clergyman,
the Rev. J. Bennett. Young Kitchener
remained at that school for some time.
When he was fourteen years old his mother
died. The death of his mother seems to
have affected him very greatly. After some
further travel Kitchener returned to England
and was sent to a " crammer," who prepared
him for the Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich, which he entered at the beginning
of 1868. And even that "crammer" was

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 19
a clergyman, the Rev. George Frost, of 28,
Kensington Square. Thus we see practically
the whole of the early education of Kitchener
supervised and guided by clergymen. That
his mother and grandfather influenced his
character and his outlook on Ufe is also shown,
it seems to me, by the foUowing fact. When
Kitchener was raised to the peerage in 1898
he took as his title Lord Kitchener of
Khartoum and Aspall, thus coupling with
the name of the place which then signified
the greatest glory in his career the name
of the place of the ChevalUers. He did not
associate with his title his birthplace or any
of the estates his father had in Ireland.
It was only Aspall that was to be connected
for ever with his name and the name signi
fying his greatness. Kitchener no doubt
wanted to show by this how much he owed
to his mother and to his grandfather, the
Rev. Dr. John Chevallier. And it is no
doubt in the influence exercised on him by
his mother, grandfather, and teachers, and
in the love for the Bible which they trans
mitted to him, that we must seek for the
main reason of the decision of Kitchener to

20 LORD KITCHENER AND
go out to Palestine and to join the Survey
Party of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
To explore the land of the Bible, to help to
enrich the knowledge of the topography
of the Bible, to learn to know the Holy
Land, to survey it and to go over every
corner of it, and perhaps also to see what
its future possibilities might be, was a
temptation which Kitchener could not resist.
And he went.
On November 19 Kitchener joined the
camp of the party in Palestine. He at
once threw himself with aU his zeal into the
work. At first he suffered severely from
fever. But he soon got used to the climate,
and he worked incessantly. For more than
half a year the survey work was done in the
south, in Philistia. Though the work was
done very weU by Lieutenant Conder and the
other members of the party, it seems to
have gained in thoroughness and rapidity
since the arrival of Kitchener, who was
second in command. In the reports sent to
England by Conder the name of Kitchener
figures prominently. Kitchener surveys,
finds and copies inscriptions, takes photo-

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 21
graphs of important places and scenes, gives
his opinion on archaeological matters, and
enters whole-heartedly into the whole work.
One feels that Kitchener is becoming the
most energetic member of the party. He
seems to have spent a great part of his leisure
in learning Arabic and Turkish, and no
doubt also in adding to his knowledge of
Hebrew and of Biblical Archaeology. But
he soon proved himself the strongest man
of the party in quite a different sense. Once
he saved Conder from drowning in the
Mediterranean near Ascalon. The second
time he saved the whole party from annihUa-
tion. It happened in this way.
In June, 1875, the party went to the north
to begin the survey of Galilee. On July 10
they arrived at Safed, and on the same day
they were attacked by a Mohammedan chief
and a crowd of his foUowers. It was only
due to the resourcefulness of Lieutenant
Kitchener that the results of the attack were
not fatal. We wiU hear more about the
details later on. Conder and Kitchener were
wounded. Conder was laid up as a result
of his injuries, and the next report was

22 LORD KITCHENER AND
sent to England by Kitchener. The Survey
was suspended. The party retumed to
England, after the trial of the evil-doers
had taken place at Acre, and during 1876
Kitchener was working, in the company of
Conder, on the materials which they brought
home, at the Royal Albert Hall. The map
of Western Palestine was being prepared
by Conder and Kitchener. But the map
could not be finished. The greater part of
Galilee and a small piece in the south had
to be surveyed yet, about 1,200 square miles.
Other parts had to be revised. In the mean
time the photographs taken by Kitchener
in Palestine, fifty in number, were published.
Twelve selected photographs, of great BibUcal
interest, were published in one volume,
accompanied by descriptions from the pen
of Kitchener. It was called Lieutenant
Kitchener's Guinea Book of Biblical Photo
graphs. Now, the Survey had to be completed,
and it was decided to send out the expedition
again. But the experience at Safed was not
forgotten yet, and Conder was not well enough
and did not feel inclined to run again similar

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 23
risks, and he decided to remain in England
and to continue the work of the preparation
of the Map and the Memoirs of the country
already surveyed. To Kitchener dangers
were no obstacle, and he resolved to go out
again. He was given the command of the
Survey, and in January, 1877, he left Eng
land for Palestine. In February his staff
joined him at Haifa, and on February 27
work was commenced. The work was done
thoroughly and rapidly. Every report sent
home by Kitchener recorded new work
successfully accompUshed. Everything went
smoothly. In Safed, the place of the attack.
Kitchener was now received with great
honours. By the beginning of July the survey
of Galilee was completed, a thousand square
miles having been added to the map. After
four weeks' rest in the Lebanon, which
Kitchener used for work — a rest to Kitchener
is only a change of work — ^he went with a
reduced party to the south country and sur
veyed 340 square miles in the desert round
Beersheba. The survey of the whole of
Western Palestine was thus completed. Then
the revision was done. From October 10

24 LORD KITCHENER AND
to November 22 Kitchener and his party
revised 1,700 square miles. When this was
done they retumed to England. In January,
1878, Kitchener was back in England, and
after a short leave he joined Conder at the
South Kensington Museum and set himself
at arranging and writing the Memoirs for the
sheets of the Map executed by himself. On
May I Conder left the service of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. Kitchener continued his
work at the South Kensington Museum, and
on September 10 Kitchener formally handed
over to the Committee the whole of the Maps
and Memoirs complete. Thus Kitchener's
Palestine exploration work was completed
after he had devoted to it exactly four years.
Kitchener always completes the work he
undertakes. As a result of the work of Conder and
Kitchener we have the large Map of Western
Palestine in twenty-six sheets, three volumes
of Memoirs on the topography, orography,
hydrography and archaeology, and one
volume of Arabic and English name Usts.
A volume of " Special Papers " (Volume V
of the series) contains contributions from

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 25
Conder and Kitchener. Kitchener's contri
bution is a very interesting and very leamed
essay on the Synagogues in Galilee. He
fixes the date of those synagogues between
150 and 300 of the common era. Character
istic of the style of Kitchener in this essay is
his designation of Rabbi Jehuda the Holy as
" the most celebrated of the rabbinical
sovereigns." We will hear later more about
the synagogues in Galilee.
The fuU title of the Map is " Map of Western
Palestinel^n twenty-six sheets from Surveys
conducted for the Committee of the Palestine
Exploration Fund by Lieutenants C. R.
Conder and H. H. Kitchener, 1872-1877."
Scale : i inch to a mile. It was published
in 1880. How thorough the work of the
Map was can be judged from the signs on the
Map. There are signs for : vineyard, orchard,
garden, wood, scrub, palms, fir trees, marsh,
sand, perennial stream, dry water-course, well,
pool, aqueduct, spring, cistern, bridge, tomb,
sarcophagus, cave, mosque, church, ruin,
wine-press, watch-tower, Roman mile-stones,
etc. Kitchener also prepared a reduced map.
The Memoirs are also very thorough and

26 LORD KITCHENER AND
very exhaustive. Each memoir is sub
divided into three sections. A, B, and C.
Section A contains the geographical and
topographical description of the sheets of the
Map. There are subheadings : orography,
hydrography, topography, roads, and cultiva
tion. Section B is devoted to the archaeology
of the sheets, giving a detailed account of
the ancient remains in alphabetical order, with
places, sketches, and drawings of detail.
Section C is ethnographical and contains
notes on the population. The first volume (on
Galilee) was, with the exception of one sheet
(it deals with six sheets), written entirely
by Kitchener. Each of the three volumes
(quarto) contains over 400 pages. The fourth
volume, containing the name lists, has also
more than 400 pages. It gives about 9,000
Arabic names, a large number of which was
collected by Kitchener.
Our present maps of Palestine and our
present topographical, archaeological and
ethnographical knowledge of Palestine we
therefore owe to Lieutenant Conder as well
as to Lord Kitchener.
I may mention, by the way, that five

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 27
years later Kitchener rapidly surveyed (in
about two months) the Sinai Peninsula and
the country south of the Dead Sea, and
that he ascended Mount Sinai and Mount
Hor. I cannot give here a description of
that work of Kitchener. I should only like
to say this : there is probably no man liv
ing who knows the frontier lands of Egypt
and Palestine better than Lord Kitchener.
This is more than interesting just now.
This is, in brief, the story of Kitchener's
work in Palestine. But in order to under
stand the better the nature of the work
done and to get a clear insight into
Kitchener's method of work as well as into
his whole character and mentality, we must
read his reports and letters which he sent
to the Committee of the Palestine Explora
tion Fund when commanding the Survey
Party in Palestine. Every line of these
reports and letters is full of interest and
deserves to be read. I should like to throw
out the suggestion that all these reports
and letters of Kitchener, as well as his
scientific notes and articles which appeared
in the volumes of the Quarterly Statement

28 LORD KITCHENER AND
of the Palestine Exploration Fund, should
be coUected and published in one volume.
I have no doubt that the Committee of
the Palestine Exploration Fund will gladly
give the permission for such a publication.
Now, it is impossible to reproduce here
all the reports and letters just mentioned.
Extracts from these reports and letters must
suffice for our purpose.
The first report Kitchener wrote immedi
ately after the attack in Safed. Conder left
his report unfinished, having taken ill.
Kitchener therefore dispatched Conder's re
port to London, accompanied by a short
report written by himself. This short re
port is contained in the following letter
which Kitchener wrote on Mount Carmel
on July 15, 1875 (published in the Quarterly
Statement, 1875, pp. 195-6) : —
" Being placed in command of the expedi
tion, owing to the temporary illness of
Lieutenant Conder, I write by his wish to
inform the Committee that the survey is at
present entirely suspended in consequence
of two causes — ^the first being a murderous

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 29
and unprovoked attack on the party by
Moslem inhabitants of Safed (particulars
enclosed) ; the second the gradual spread
of cholera over the north of Palestine. Lieu
tenant Conder and myself consider, under
these circumstances, that we cannot take
the responsibility of conducting the party
again into the field tUl a very severe punish
ment has been awarded to the inhabitants
of Safed, and until the steady advance of
the cholera is checked. I feel certain that
neither of these obstacles will be removed
under two or three months.
" Dr. Varton, who is at present in at
tendance on Lieutenant Conder, with Dr.
Chaplin, and other medical men, predict
an unusually unhealthy autumn, which will
be followed by the two or three months of
winter, during which work is impossible.
"The non-commissioned officers, though
ready to go through any amount of work
or danger, are much discouraged at the pros
pect of an indefinite delay without employ
ment, which, in my opinion, is more trying
in this climate than work. The south
country is also closed, as the Arabs have

30 LORD KITCHENER AND
refused to lay down their arms, and are, I
believe, stiU engaged with the Govemment.
" Under these circumstances. Lieutenant
Conder and myself both consider it our
duty to recommend the Committee to break
up the expedition for a time, and to recall
the non-commissioned officers, empowering
Lieutenant Conder and myself to remain
as long as the legal proceedings require our
presence. In case of any delay or difficulty
in obtaining justice, we feel we have a right
to expect that the Committee wUl give us
their strongest support. Lieutenant Conder
has considered it his duty to report the
facts of the case to the Deputy Adjutant-
General, Royal Engineers. He has tele
graphed to Constantinople, and placed himself
in communication with the Consul-General
at Bey rout.
" Lieutenant Conder is at present in bed,
recovering from an attack of fever, brought
on by the severe nature of the wounds on
the head he received in the fight at Safed.
Five of our servants are iU in their beds,
besides one in hospital at Safed, and I myself
am stUl suffering from the bruises I received

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 81
during the engagement. The non-com
missioned officers were only slightly bruised.
H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E."

(I

The attack on the party at Safed, which
took place on Saturday, July lo, is fully
described in the letter which Lieutenant
Conder sent from Haifa on July 14, 1875, to
the Consul-General of Beyrout and a copy
of which Lieutenant Kitchener sent to the
Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund
in London. Describing the attack on himself
Lieutenant Conder writes : —
" I tmust inevitably have been murdered
but for the cool and prompt assistance of
Lieutenant Kitchener, who managed to get
to me and engaged one of the club men,
covering my retreat. A blow descending
on the top of his head he parried with a
cane, which was broken by the force of the
blow. A second wounded his arm. His
escape is unaccountable. Having retired a
few paces from the thick of the fray I saw
that the Moslems were gradually surround
ing us, stealing behind trees and through
vineyards, and I weU understood that in

32 LORD KITCHENER AND
such a case, unless the soldiers arrived at
once, we must all die. Many of the servants
had indeed already given up hope, though
no one fled. I gave the order to leave the
tents and fly round the hill. Lieutenant
Kitchener was the last to obey this order, being
engaged in front.^ He retreated to his tent,
and whilst running he was fired at and heard
the bullet whistle by his head. He was
also followed for some short distance by a
man with a huge scimitar, who subsequently
wounded with it more than one of our people.
Gaining the cover of some trees we stopped
on a bare hill-side to consult, and ventured
back to the brow to reconnoitre. At this
moment the soldiers arrived with an officer,
and the English Consular-Agent, Herr Marcus
Cigal. I am informed that all the offensive
weapons were immediately concealed, the
stoning and blasphemous language ceased at
once, and not an individual of the crowd re
mained. I confine this report to the actual ex
perience of myself and Lieutenant Kitchener.
The evidence of the rest of the party was
^ The italics are mine.

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 33
taken by Herr Marcus [Cigal] " ((?. S., 1875,
p. 198). Then the more serious injuries are
described. Lieutenant Conder's injuries con
sisted of two raw wounds on the head and
violent swelling from a blow on the neck.
Lieutenant Kitchener had a bruise covering
all his left thigh, and another on his arm.
The report adds : " Both still very painful."
By the way it may be mentioned that the
report states that the groom, who was
dangerously wounded, " remains very ill with
wounds and fever in the Jewish Hospital,
Safed." We are glad to know that the
Jewish Hospital at Safed was of some use
to the surveying party in Palestine. At
the end of this letter Lieutenant Kitchener
writes [op. c, p. 199) :
" This report was left unfinished by Lieu
tenant Conder when he was taken ill. It
will, I think, inform the Committee of all
the necessary particulars of the conflict.
We retired next day to Mejdel Karum, and
on Monday arrived here.
"H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E."
The Committee of the Palestine Explora-

34 LORD KITCHENER AND
tion Fund, of course, acted in accordance
with the recommendations of Lieutenants
Conder and Kitchener and suspended the
survey. The trial took place in September
at Acre. Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener
attended and gave evidence. The result
was satisfactory, punishment having been
meted out to the evil-doers.
The next report was sent by Lieutenant
Kitchener from the Palestine Survey Camp,
Haifa, on March 6, 1877. He was then
back in Palestine in command of the Survey.
The whole report (published in Q. S., 1877,
pp. 70-72) is very interesting. I will only
give here a short passage from it which
shows the inimitable thoroughness with which
Kitchener was doing his work. There was a
doubt about a name Kalamon, which was
omitted upon the map of Carmel (of this
survey). Kitchener writes with regard to
this :—
" I have also made a strict inquiry after
the name of ' Kulmon ' or ' Kalamon,' men
tioned in Quarterly Statement, January, 1876,
p. 20, as to be found on the maps of Robin
son, Ritter, and Jacotin, but not on those

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 35
of M. Guerin and Vandervelde, and which
also occurs on Murray's map. The German
colony here have purchased nearly all the
land north of Tireh, and by the kind per
mission of Mr. Sennaker, I have been allowed
to carefully examine their title-deeds ;
though they have land all round Khurbet
Kefr es Samir, no such name occurs. I
have also ridden to Tireh with the sole
object of finding this name. I asked every
one I met on the road there and back, about
twenty people, first for all the names of the
country round, and, as a last resource, if
they had ever heard of ' Kulmon,' ' Kala
mon,' or anything Uke it. At Khurbet
Kefr es Samir I found an old man who
inhabited a cave close by, and put the same
questions. At Tireh I saw the sheikh and
about two dozen men ; none had ever heard
of such a name. Since then the superior
of the convent of Mount Carmel, who knows
the district most thoroughly, has assured
me that no such name occurs. I can there
fore only assume that the name does not
exist, and that our map is therefore right
in not putting it on. How other maps have

36 LORD KITCHENER AND
procured the name seems difficult to under
stand ; but, as in some other cases, it may
have been supplied by some too enthusiastic
traveller, who looked more for what ought
to be in the country than what is."
Kitchener has always looked for "what is."
He signs this report —
" H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E.,
" Commanding Survey of Palestine."
Apart from his fuller reports Kitchener
also sent short letters to the Committee of
the Palestine Exploration Fund. They are
all exceedingly interesting. I will give just
a few extracts. He writes from Tiberias
on March 30, 1877 (see Q. S., 1877, p. 114) : —
" We are getting on all right with the
work, and I hope in another fortnight to
have finished the shores of the Sea of Galilee,
and be on the road to Safed again. My
servants rather dread going back, so I shall
have to keep a look-out on the rearguard
as well as in front going up the hill. Eldridge
has gone to a good deal of trouble to make
things go well. ... If the Fund could get
a consul established at Haifa it would be

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 37
a very good thing. If I am well received
at Safed and report satisfactorily, would
the Committee give up their claim to the
rest of the fine imposed ? It would smooth
matters. . . . The Druses are giving a good
deal of trouble, cutting people's throats on
the road to Damascus. Also there is a
report of war between the Druses and Arabs
in the Jebel Druse, and Mohammed Said
Pasha is to be sent with a large force to
put it down. This is merely an on dit,
and not very reliable. In the south, near
Hebron, the Arab tribes Tarabin and Tey-
yaha have had a fight. The latter lost loi
men killed, the former only 12. This is
reUable. Consul Moore has telegraphed and
sent out people to stop all travellers from
going that way. It is lucky I am doing the
north after all."
On April 11, Kitchener writes from Safed
(see Q. S., I.e.) : —
" You wiU be glad to hear that we have
made a most successful entry into Safed.
The Govemor, Kadi, and H.B.M. Consular
Agent, with twenty-two foUowers, came out
about an hour and a half on the road to meet

38 LORD KITCHENER AND
me.; We rode into the town in quite a
triumphal procession. I at once went to
the SeraU and was saluted by the guard.
After coffee with the Govemor, I pitched
camp, and then the Governor came and
called. After him the British Agent, and
then the Kadi, with all the members of the
Mejlis. Nothing could be more civil and
obliging than everybody was. To-day I
had the Governor, the British Consul, and
our old enemy, Ali Agha Alan, the cause
of the row ; the latter expressed deep sorrow
for what he had done, as well he may, as
I hear he and the Mogrebbins are all but
ruined." In this letter we see already the conqueror
Kitchener. The next two letters are from Meiron, both
very interesting. In the second letter, dated
April 25, 1877, he writes [Q. S., 1S77, p.
115) : — " We have been getting on very well,
and I have found two new sjoiagogues and
four dolmens." He appreciates the good work
of Mr. Eldridge, H.B.M. Consul-General at
Beyrout. He pleads again for an EngUsh
Consul at Haifa or Akka. He writes : "I

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 39
wish you could get the matter of the consuls
in North Palestine looked into by the
Foreign Office, as it is really wanted. An
Englishman at Haifa or Akka, and an
advance to some of the consular agents,
such as at Safed, who have neither seals of
office nor any status in the country, though
French, Austrians, and others have, is much
wanted." The second report (see Q. S., 1877, pp.,
116-120), written at the camp at Tiberias
on March 30, 1877, is learned and interest
ing. It shows a fine combination of the
sound archaeologist and the keen soldier.
Kitchener had also an eye for the beauties
of the country. I shall quote one passage
from this report : —
" The country is now very lovely, carpeted
with flowers and green with the growing
crops. The people complain of being short-
handed, owing to the large numbers that
have been taken away for military service.
The second ban and some of the third ban
of redifs have been called out, and the people
fear lest the Muharfez or Landwehr may
be required. Old men and women have to

40 LORD KITCHENER AND
take their places in the fields, and when the
harvest time comes it will be very difficult
to gather in the crops." He concludes
the report with the following sentence :
" The influence of an Englishman at this
port (Haifa) would be of the greatest
benefit to all the Christians of the district,
which contains a thriving English mission
and schools at Nazareth, many English sub
jects among the Jews of Tiberias and Safed,
besides a considerable amount of English
shipping trade from Akka."
Once he has set his mind on a certain
object he does not stop working for it untU
it has been achieved.
The third report (see op. c, pp. 120-125)
begins with a short description of the scenery
of the Sea of Galilee, which again shows
Kitchener's love for nature. He writes : —
"The scenery of the lake is hardly what
would be expected of a basin 685 feet below
the sea level. The hills on the eastern side
have an almost perfectly level outline,
scarcely broken by any valley of importance,
and decidedly monotonous in appearance ;
still the bright sunshine throws a rosy haze

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 41
over the country, and the contrast with the
bright blue water is very beautiful. The
best views of the lake are from a distance
on the many heights from which it is visible,
as thus seen in the evening it is particularly
lovely. Deep blue shadows seem to increase
the size of the hills, and there is always a
rosy flush in the sky and over snow-clad
Hermon." Then Lieutenant Kitchener enters
upon archaeological discussions and also
makes fine strategical observations. Of a
place called Kerak he says : " The place
must have been of great importance, as it
closes the passage of the valley, and also
that of the Jordan at its northern extremity,
where it is now crossed by a ferry. It also
must have required a large garrison owing
to the great size of the plateau." Nothing
escapes his eye. Later he refers to Josephus'
description of the advance of Vespasian
to the attack of Tiberias, and tries to identify
the camp of the Roman army. The follow
ing passage is also interesting : " The next
place of interest is the hot springs, with
their baths, much frequented by the Jews
of Tiberias. The three principal springs

42 LORD KITCHENER AND
had a temperature of 132, 143, and 144
degrees respectively, commencing with the
southern one. Above the Hammam, or
baths, is the tomb of Rabbi Mair Ram-
ban, ^ the celebrated Maimonides. Two
schools are now built over his tomb,
one for the Ashkenazim and the other for
the Sephardim Jews." Then follow again
archaeological observations. There is not
a line which is not interesting, not a word
which could be omitted, the past and
the present claiming equally strongly the
attention of this keenest of observers. He
writes about the site of Capernaum and
quotes Josephus. Then he writes about
his visit to the ruined synagogue at Nebar-
tein. He mentions the remains of the syna
gogue with apparent delight. A squeeze
and photographs were taken of " the fine
lintel with Hebrew inscription." He goes
on to say : " On the pedestal of a column

^ This must be a printer's error, as in his Memoirs,
p. 414, he writes of this tomb correctly as that of
" Rabbi Miisha Ben Maimun (the great Maimonides)."
He remarks there : " An ordinary modern whitewashed
masonry tomb with a few niches for lamps in front."

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 43
there is an engraved hare. The occurrence
of animals figured in these synagogues
seems to be common. At Umm el Amud
there are two lions ; at Irbid there were
probably the same. The stone is now in
Kal'at Ibn Ma' an. At Nebartein a hare ; at
Kefr Bir'im, on two synagogues, lambs. At
Sefsaf the remains of a synagogue were found
by us ; the lintel bears two sheep's heads.
At el J ish, in a ruined synagogue discovered
by us, an eagle resembling the top of a
Roman standard, which seems to show
that though the Jews objected to the Roman
standards in the Holy City, they were put
up in the country synagogues without
trouble. I hope in my next month's report
to give a fuller description of these very
interesting buildings." We have already seen
above (p. 25) that Kitchener made a thorough
study of the synagogue ruins in Palestine.
Towards the conclusion of the report he
describes the site of ancient Giscala, near
Meiron, and the discovery of a synagogue
at Sefsaf. He closes this report by saying :
" On the 28th I received a telegram to the
effect that war had been declared between

44 LORD KITCHENER AND
Turkey and Russia. I hope this sad news
will not interfere with the successful com
pletion of the survey of Galilee." And
we will see that it did not interfere. The
report is signed : —
" H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E.,
" Commanding Palestine Survey."
In a letter of July ii (see Q. S., 1877,
p. 162) Kitchener writes from Haifa : " I
have finished the north under my original
estimate and without Armstrong, and there
has been no accident, as you will have been
informed by telegram. We are now off
for the Lebanon for three weeks' rest, which
we sadly want. ..." In his next letter,
dated July 24, he writes from Aleih, a place
on Mount Lebanon : " We arrived here
safely on the 21st, after a hot march from
Haifa. I have now started office work in
a room close to our camp, and I think we
shall have a month or more hard work ;
everything has to be made in duplicate,
and all observations, descriptions, etc., have
to be copied out." That is the way in which
Lord Kitchener used to take a rest. He

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 45
concludes this letter by pointing out " the
good relations existing between us and the
Government." Turkey was then in the
midst of the war with Russia, and trouble
was easily made. His next letter, written
a week later, he closes with the words :
" Don't be nervous about us, we are safer
here than you are in London."
The next letter is also very interesting.
He writes that he is sending Sergeant
Malings to England with aU the original
work, and that he is going to the south of
Palestine to complete his work there. One
of his horses had an accident and he is upset
by this. At the close of the letter he again
warns against panic. " Don't get a panic
like the Damascus Christians. I shall take
every precaution for the safety of the party."
He is not only the scientific head of the
party, he is also the protector of the party.
Ahd an efficient protector he was. The
extract of his letter of August 22 from the
camp at Aleih is worth quoting in fuU. He
writes {seeQ.S., 1877, p. 163). "We have
been working from 6 to 6 to get done, Sun
days included, so that the sergeant may take

46 LORD KITCHENER AND
everything, at the same time leave all behind
in duplicate. Directly I receive the receipt
for the work I will send you the duplicates.
I have been delayed here doing this, other
wise I should be at Jerusalem now ; how
ever, it is all for the best, as I could not
have moved one of my horses. . . . The
sergeant starts on the 23rd and I on the 24th.
Eight or nine days will take me to Jeru
salem, and then for the Desert." On Sep
tember 7 he writes from Jerusalem and
reports that it was very hot and that he
got a slight sunstroke on the plain by the
seashore. One sentence is very interesting.
From Tjnre he went to Acre and Nazareth.
At Acre he "saw the Pasha and settled
some little things." Then he writes : "At
Nazareth I presented the gun to AbdaUah
Agha, who wishes to express his thanks
to the Committee, and to say that he is
entirely at their service for anything that
may be wanted. The gun was very suit
able." The rest of the letter is also very
interesting, as it shows how well Kitchener
understood to get on with the Arabs. As to
the Arabs and the war Kitchener says :

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 47
" The Arabs show no great patriotism for
their co-religionists at war ; they hate the
Turk, and do not much care which way the
war goes." Have not these words a great
significance to-day, after the lapse of thirty-
eight years ? At the end of the letter he
mentions " the recent discoveries at Jeru
salem." The more detailed reports are full of learn
ing and show a remarkable insight into present
things. They also show a sympathetic under
standing for religious sentiments. Speaking
of a little Christian village near Meiron he
says (in his report from the P.E.F. Camp,
Taiyebeh, written on May 30, 1877) : " The
people are simple and devout, looking up to
their priests as their guides in every difficulty."
" Every village has its little chapel, and at
Dibl they had a service every evening. After
sunset a bell was beaten in the vUlage, and
all the male population went to chapel, where
there was a short service in Arabic " {pp. c, p.
165). In the next paragraph he discusses the
ruins of an early Christian church. He studies
every detail minutely and concentrates his
whole mind on every point he observes and

48 LORD KITCHENER AND
discusses. Later in the report he men
tions TeU Hara, " identified by Major Wilson
with Hazor." Kitchener says: "The name
Hara seems to me to be more nearly allied
to Harosheth of the GentUes ; perhaps
this is the site of Sisera's head-quarters."
Then he discusses the ruin of Kades and
places round Kades. All at once he again
turns his eyes to the present and says :
" The sheikh of the village (of Shakra,
near Kades) was extremely rude, and threw
stones against the inscription when I
attempted to copy it. I therefore left with
out doing so, and reported the matter to
the governor, who immediately put the
sheikh in prison. The next time I went to
the village there was no opposition to my
copying the inscription. I therefore had the
sheikh set at liberty" {op. c, p. 169). The
sentence immediately following this interest
ing statement showing Kitchener's diplomatic
resourcefulness is this : "At the viUage of
Kunin there is a lintel seventeen feet long,
with an inscription." In the middle of his
archaeological discussions he tells the story
of the rude sheikh and of the way he handled

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 49
him. The story told (the importance of
which is clear), he does not waste a further
word on the incident and goes on with his
archaeological narrative. Kitchener shows
throughout great knowledge of the history of
the Crusades and the work of the Crusaders.
The next report is from the camp at Naku-
rah, dated June 30, 1877 {Q. S., 1877, pp. 171-
176). A reference to the present state of the
country closes a learned report. The next
report is from the camp at Aleih, dated
August 14, 1877 {(>P- ^-^PP- 176-178). At the
opening of the report Kitchener admires
the view over the whole of the Akka plain.
He then records with regret the death of a
baggage camel. He then speaks of the coun
try round the camp and says : " The culti
vation occurs in patches near the villages,
and large tracts of country lie waste which
were probably once covered with vineyards."
Then there are again archaeological observa
tions. Then again a few words about the
present. " In the south-eastern portion of
our work from this camp a large number of
Dmses are settled in one of their viUages, el
Bukeiah; there are also some Jewish families

50 LORD KITCHENER AND
who tiU the ground. They state that their
land has been handed down from generation
to generation for a great number of years.
I believe these are the only Jews who own
and till land in this country. It is curious
that they should thus appear close by where
we find so many ruins of their ancient
synagogues." Towards the close of the report he writes
(p. 178) :-
" On the loth July the survey of the north
was finished, containing 1,000 square miles of
country ; 2,773 names have been collected,
and 476 ruins have been visited and described,
some with special plans. All the villages
have also been described with regard to
the number and religion of inhabitants,
the remains of ancient buildings, and the
nature of the country round, etc., etc."
He then mentions some more work done,
and closes the report by stating that he hopes
early in September to be at work in the south.
He signs :—
" H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E.,
"Commanding Palestine Survey."

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 51
On October 2, ii and 15, he writes from
Jerasalem, on November 4 from Nablus,
and on November 10 from Beit Ur el Tahta
(see Q. S., 1878, pp. 8 ff.) . The letters are very
interesting, and one feels tempted to quote
every word. But it would take up too much
space. In the letter of October 2 Kitchener
joyfully writes : "I am sure you will be glad
to hear that the map is an accomplished fact,
and six years' work has been finished. We
wound up at Beersheba on the 28th of Sep
tember, much quicker than I expected, though
the work in the south was 340 square miles
instead of 200. The fact is we had to work
hard. ..." A very important fact. He
is glad of his discovery of Ziklag, of which
a little later. In the next two letters he
writes about Jacob's Well. He also mentions
the question of the genuineness of the Moabite
pottery. His letter of November 4 shows
that Kitchener did not like errors, even if
they came from the printer. He writes : " I
have just received the October Quarterly,
and wish to notice a mistake in punctuation
which makes my description of Malia non
sense." He then corrects it, He also ex-

52 LORD KITCHENER AND
presses his gratification " at the way the
Committee mentioned his work at the General
Meeting." ^ In his letter of November lo he
^ At the annual meeting of the General Committee
of the Palestine Exploration Fund, held on Tuesday,
July 17, 1877, a report of the Executive Committee was
read, in which the following references were made to the
work of Lieutenant Kitchener : —
" At the beginning of the year the Committee thought
themselves justified in sending out Lieutenant Kitchener
with a party of three non-commissioned officers to
complete the survey of Western Palestine. There
remained, as was estimated, about 1,200 squares miles
in northern Palestine, and 200 in the south. Lieutenant
Kitchener's letters have reported steady and uninter
rupted progress. In his last letter he estimated that
the work would be finished in the north by the end of
July. By a telegram which reached the chairman on
Saturday last (July 14), the Committee receive the
gratifying inteUigence that the whole of the northern
portion, which appears to consist of 1,000 square miles,
or 200 less than was estimated, has been now completed.
" There remain, therefore, only the 200 square
miles in the south, and the examination of certain points
in the country to clear up the difficulties mentioned
above. " The Committee take this opportunity of expressing
their high sense of Lieutenant Kitchener's ability and
zeal. He has conducted the work for six months with
out any accidents during a period of suspicion and
excitement. His reports, which are in the hands of
the General Committee, are careful and intelligent,
and his monthly accounts show due regard to economy.

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 53
announces a discovery. He writes : " We
are getting on very weU with the revision.
I have discovered Ai, I think — Khurbet Haiy ;
I do not think any one has found it before,
but am not sure. It is one mile east of
Michmash. I think all the sites proposed
hitherto for Ai have been west of Michmash."
Then follow his reports, which are again
exceedingly interesting. In his report of
September 7, from Jerusalem {Q. S., 1878,
pp. lo-ii), Kitchener writes about a visit
which he paid to the sheikh of the Beni
Sakr. His description of his visit to this
Arab tribe, and of " their large troops of
camels" "grazing over the plain of Esdrae-
He has hitherto managed to conduct the Survey for
a monthly sum less than that which the Committee
gave him as a maximum. It is hoped that he will
return to England in the autumn, bringing his work
with him, after which the Committee recommend that
no time will be lost in arranging and working up the
detail, with a view to the early publication of the map
and its accompan5dng memoirs.
" This map, when produced, will, the Committee may
fairly promise, fuUy justify the work and expenditure
of the last five years, and will form by far the most
important contribution ever yet made to the knowledge
of the lands of the Bible " {Q. S., 1877, P- I93)-

54 LORD KITCHENER AND
Ion" is very vivid. His report of Octo
ber 2, from the camp at Jerusalem, he
begins with the good tidings of the comple
tion of the work. " I am glad to be able
to report that the work of this month has
finished the map of Palestine from Dan to
Beersheba." He then describes his work
in the desert between Gaza and Beersheba.
His diplomatic skill and his great energy
again stood him in good stead. About the
discovery of Ziklag he writes : " Our princi
pal discovery was the ruins of Ziklag, which
still bears the name of Khurbet ZuheiUkah."
Later he identifies the Wady Bashkhah,
near Khurbet Zuheilikah, with " the brook
Besor, mentioned in i Sam. xxx., where the
200 faint and weary stayed from following
David in his pursuit of the Amalekites."
The Arabs who live there Kitchener calls
" the modern representatives of the Amale
kites." He adds : " It is evident that this
portion of the country is in a very similar
state to what it was in the time of David,
when this wady probably formed the bound
ary of the kingdom of Gath." Of another
fine ruin, Khurbeth Zebalah, five miles east

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 55
of Khurbet Zuheilikah, he writes that it
appears to him " as likely to represent Baalah
or Balah of the list in Josh, xv."
His identifications of modern names of
places with Biblical names are very careful.
He reports that on September 26 they moved
camp to Bir es Seba, and adds : " From
this camp we finished the map commenced
almost exactly six years ago" {op. c, p. 13).
The last portion of the report is very inter
esting. Kitchener writes : —
" Our journey, back was rapid, owing to
all our bread having gone mouldy and our
provisions run short. Our first day took us
to Dura on the road. At the wells near El
Burg some f ellahin were watering their flocks
of goats. Seeing a mounted party arriving
from the Bedouin country they raised a
shout of ' Bedouins ! '. Away went the goats
at a gallop up the hUls. This we were used
to, and rode on trying to reassure them by
shouting ' Soldiers ! ', when about fifteen men
ran together behind some stone waUs, and
after gesticulating frantically, opened fire
upon us. The baUs whistled by and threw
up the dust under our horses' feet, so we

56 LORD KITCHENER AND
pulled up, and after some difficulty succeeded
in making them understand who we were.
After all, we ran more danger from our friends
than from the much-dreaded Arabs. . . .
Next day, Saturday, we marched into Jeru
salem, our horses rather done up by their
hard work. Our tents and camels did not
arrive till after dark. We shall now have
about a fortnight's work preparing everything
in duplicate. I will then send home the
last portion of the map and take up the work
of revision.
" The amount surveyed was 340 square
miles, making a total since we have been
out of 1,340 square miles.
" One hundred and four ruins have been
examined and mapped in this latter portion
of the Survey" {op. c, p. 14).
The report that follows is from Nablus,
and is dated November i, 1877 {I.e.). It is
the last report sent by Kitchener from Pales
tine. It is short and has some interesting
points. I wUl therefore quote it in full : —
" The early portion of the month of October
was taken up in preparing the last 340 square
miles of the map to go home ; this was

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 57
done at Jerusalem ; some revision of the
country round was also completed. Arrange
ments were also made with His Grace the
Greek Patriarch of Jemsalem, granting me
full permission to repair Jacob's Well. On
the 17th I marched north to Zerin, revising
on the road. My camps were Khan Lebban,
Jeb'a, Zerin. From Zerin I sent an expedi
tion to Tiberias to inquire after the name
Sinn en Nabra, which I had heard still
existed on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
The name was found to be well known, and
applies to the ruins west of the road at
Kerak. A description of this site was given
in my report on the Sea of Galilee. On the
23rd the revision of the country round Zerin
was complete, and camp was moved to
Nablus, where I intended to repair Jacob's
Well. Unfortunately, owing to the bad
govemment here, that design has been frus
trated ; when the matter is settled I will
forward a special report on what has occurred.
A special plan has been made of Samaria,
and another of the church there ; also
one of the town of Nablus. The revision
of the country is almost completed.

58 LORD KITCHENER AND
" The weather has been very bad — ^heavy
storms of wind and rain ; two days have
been lost by wet weather.
" The country is, in my opinion, now in
a more dangerous state than it has been any
time this year. I attribute it to the elation
felt by Mohammedans at having been able
to beat so large a Christian power as Russia.
"H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E."
This short report shows again Kitchener's
unmatched thoroughness in looking after
details and his understanding for things going
on around him.
The April number of the Q. S. (pp. 60-61)
contains a short note by Kitchener on the
" Stone of Bethphage." The note is a little
masterpiece in precision and clearness. There
is a plan of the discovery, to which there is
attached a facsimile of Kitchener's signature.
His handwriting is beautifully clear and
strong (as seen in this reproduction) .
The next letter from Lieutenant Kitchener,
which comes from Jerusalem and is dated

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 59
November 23, 1877 {Q. S., 1878, pp. 62-67),
is again very interesting. First he writes
about his efforts to have Jacob's Well repaired
and how he was subjected to many indignities
by the officials. Then he reports that " whUe
at Nablus the revision went on steadily." On
Mount Ebal he searched for a church. The
people were not obliging (Kitchener calls
them " an extremely bad lot "), and Kitchener
had to make three expeditions to the top
of the mountain before he could gain any
reliable information. The next paragraph
is worth quoting in full, as it shows in the
few sentences Kitchener's sense for history,
especially Biblical history, his deep interest
in archaeology and (as I have pointed out
before) his understanding for what was going
on around him. With Kitchener one feels
that while reading the past he was drawing
lessons for the present and the future. And
how useful the lessons have been to him and
to all his countrymen (in the widest sense of
the word) we know now.
In that paragraph Kitchener writes : " On
the 2nd I rode out to Teiasir to search for the
tombs of the kings of Israel. As I was

60 LORD KITCHENER AND
passing the village of Tubas I made some
search after an inscription which had been
reported, but after careful inquiry and search
among the tombs, I could not hear of any
inscription answering to my description. On
visiting the mosque, however, they told me
of a valuable stone that was built into the
wall. Getting my fingers into a crevice
under the stone, I could feel that it was
inscribed. I therefore urged them to puU
it out to adorn the mosque, and after a little
persuasion in the shape of backsheesh they
set to work and soon rooted out the stone.
It proved to be an Arabic inscription, very
much defaced, telling of the building and
dedication of the mosque. Tubas is a large
village of about 1,500 inhabitants, situated in
a most fertile country. By paying £100 in
gold to the Pasha of Nablus the people
have escaped the conscription up to now,
but I expect their term is nearly out, and
unless they pay another heavy bribe they
will soon be called upon to make up for
the time they have been spared." After
this short diversion about the people of Tubas
and their attempts to escape conscription

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 61
Kitchener returns to the search for the tombs
of the kings of Israel, and says : " At
Teiasir I was unable to identify the tombs of
the kings. There are large numbers of caves
and tombs on the side of a valley, but nothing
to distinguish any above the rest." The next
paragraph is also very interesting. I wiU
only quote the last portion of it. Kitchener
says that he rode back along the remains of
the Roman road. Then follow these observa
tions : "At one place four Roman mile
stones were thrown together in a heap. The
engineering of these Roman roads was excel
lent. Over a most difficult country such as
this it excites admiration to see the way that
difficulties were got over with the least possible
expenditure of labour. Should Palestine ever
be reopened to civilization, these roads will
form the basis of the principal lines of com
munication through the country"^ (p. 63).
Kitchener had an eye for everything.
The paragraphs that follow are all very
interesting. Let us listen to this passage :
" I retumed by the village of Awertah, which
^ The itahcs are mine.

62 LORD KITCHENER AND
is very pleasantly situated amongst oUve-
groves, and well supplied with water. It
is famous for the tomb of Eleazar (el 'Azeir),
which is held in high veneration by the
Mohammedans, Jews, and Samaritans. I had
to search for the tomb of Phinehas ; but,
though there are three other sacred places,
the inhabitants knew nothing of Phinehas.
The three others are Sheikh el Mansury,
Neby el Mefuddil, and el 'Azeirat, and in each
there are Samaritan incriptions. In Neby el
MefuddU the inscription is plastered up.
The people are very obliging, and aU the
sacred places are kept in excellent repair.
A Samaritan told me that Sh. el Mansury
was the tomb of Phinehas according to their
records, but it seems more probable from
the positions on the ground that el 'Azeirat,
which corresponds with el 'Azeir, should be
the site. The place is evidently very ancient ;
there are many rock-cut tombs, wine-presses,
cisterns, and a fine spring of water. The
people told me that el 'Azeir was a very
great Neby next to Mohammed, and that
he had even lived before the Prophet of
God" (p. 64).

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 63
Kitchener then writes about the difficulty
of telegraphic communication at Nablus,
about some inscriptions found, and about " a
very beautif uUy carved sarcophagus in perfect
preservation." The passage which follows
I feel I cannot leave unquoted. Kitchener
writes : " The following day I rode down
the great valley that witnessed the flight and
pursuit of the Philistines by Joshua on that
day that was like no other " (p. 65). Note
the short and wonderful paraphrase of the
words used in Josh. x. 14 to characterize that
great day in the early history of Israel.
Kitchener then goes on : " After visiting
Beit Nuba and Yalo I returned by Beit
Sira, and met a bridal party. Our village
had arranged to give a bride to a man of
Bir Main in exchange for one of equal
beauty and wealth for one of their sons.
Both brides started at a given time from
their viUages, accompanied by all the women
in their gayest attire, and escorted by mounted
men gaUoping franticaUy about performing
' fantasia,' as they caU it. The brides were
veUed and so muffled up that they could
hardly move. The women kept up a chant

64 LORD KITCHENER AND
the whole way. When the two processions
came within sight of each other they halted,
and the brides were dragged off their horses
and took leave of their friends with a good
deal of lamentation. They were then mounted
again, and two men led the horses alone to
the opposite party ; the men changed horses
midway, and brought back the new brides.
They were at once received with great joy,
and had to dismount again to receive the
congratulations of their new friends. Both
parties then returned with a good deal of
shouting and firing off of old rusty guns.
In the evening the shouting and noise in the
viUage was kept up to a late hour." With
what ease Kitchener's thoughts wander from
the pursuit of the Philistines by Joshua to
the procession of the two brides. Kitchener
then rode to Jaffa and experienced very
bad weather. From Jaffa he went to some
places in the neighbourhood to carry out
some necessary work. He then rode to a
place called Am was to see the church.
Kitchener then writes : "I entered the
mosque and measured it up. On coming out
I found a throng of people, who said it was

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 65
a most sacred place, being the tomb of Sheikh
Obeid. I apologised for going in with my
shoes on. The people were extremely civil
and obliging, and though I had a Turkish
soldier with me, they expressed their longing
that England would take the country and
give them the benefits of a just govemment.
Nothing I could say would induce them to be
Ueve that England had no intention of doing
anything of the sort."
I shall make no comments on this incident.
Kitchener goes on to say : " There had been
a wedding that day, and as the bridegroom
has to stand a certain amount of powder
for fantasia on these occasions, the young
men very sensibly determined to use it for
firing at marks, instead of throwing it away
uselessly. They made some very good prac
tice. At a certain time they all formed in
line in front of the mosque, with the old
sheikh in front, and went through their devo
tions together. They were very fervent in
their prayers that God would give victory to
the Sultan and confound the Muscovites."
He then visited the remains of a church and
a crusading castle. " Pushing on for Deir

66 LORD KITCHENER AND
Aban," Kitchener then reports, " I soon
caught Corporal Sutherland, who had been
revising in another direction ; his horse was
evidently very iU, and as Corporal Suther
land had a very bad foot I had to lead it aU
the way, about six miles, to Deir Aban. We
got in some time after dark ; the horse was
very bad on the road, and though everything
was done he died in a quarter of an hour after
getting into camp. It was sad he could not
last another day, as that would have finished
his work." A very characteristic observation
of Kitchener's. He then reports that the re
vision of 1,700 square miles was completed on
November 17. They experienced again some
very bad weather. But " the work was car
ried on the same and no day was lost."
The men sailed on November 23, and Kitch
ener sailed for Constantinople on the 26th.
The letter ends with the foUowing sentence :
" The work done from the end of February
to the end of November, nine months, has been
1,340 square miles of country triangulated
and surveyed, every ruin examined, and
special reports on all villages and water
supply ; the line of levels between the

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 67
Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee com
pleted, 1,700 square miles of country re
vised, 3,850 names collected and 816 ruins
examined and described, twenty-seven special
plans and nineteen photographs, besides notes
on aU archaeological and geological points of
interest in the country gone over."
This letter is signed :—
"H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E."
In a note which follows later (p. 74)
Kitchener writes that from his camp at Lidd
he visited a place called el Medyeh in order
" to resolve, if possible, the much-disputed
site of the graves of the Maccabees." On
the top of a hill close by he found " one
rock-cut tomb, which had been tumed into
a cistern." " There are many cistems," he
says, " and some other cuttings in the rock
which might prove to be tombs if they were
cleared out." He continues : "I have no
doubt in my own mind that this was the
site of the tombs of those celebrated heroes
of later Jewish history." He then gives a
fairly full description of the hiU. The note
is signed: H. H. K.

68 LORD KITCHENER AND
Then follows a note on the site of Ai
(pp. 74-5). Kitchener endeavours to identify
Ai with a Khurbet Haiy one mile east of Mukh-
mas. The note is full of interesting remarks
about the strategical position of Ai which
Kitchener bases on the passages in the Bible.
There is another note on some discoveries
in Jerusalem (p. 78). In a note on Tarichaea
(p. 79), Kitchener vindicates Josephus' ac
count regarding the position of Tarichaea
as against the account of Pliny. All these
notes are signed: H. H. K.
In January, 1878, Kitchener returned to
England and soon joined Lieutenant Conder
at the South Kensington Museum, where he
began, as we have seen, to arrange and write
the Memoirs for the sheets of the Map
executed by him. How the Committee of the
Palestine Exploration Fund was impressed
with the work of Lieutenant Kitchener we can
also see from the report of the Executive
Committee read at the meeting of the General
Committee held on June 11, 1878 (see Q. S.,
1878, pp. 108 ff.). Paragraph 4 (p. 109)
deserves to be quoted. It says : " It is due
to this officer (Lieutenant Kitchener) to

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 69
state that his work, although it is in no
respect inferior to that of his predecessor in
command, was accomplished under the most
urgent necessity for dispatch. For a large
part of the eight months during which he
was in the country he and his men worked
without intermission in order to get the work
completed while the country, then threatened
with disturbances, was still tranquil. No
serious hindrance was met with, nor was
there any opposition from the natives, except
at Nablus, where Lieutenant Kitchener was
attacked and stoned in the streets, and
where he was prevented from executing
the proposed repairs of Jacob's Well. The
Committee desire to ^xpress their sense not
only of the energy and ability, but also of
the tact shown by this officer in the conduct
of his expedition, and of the careful economy
with which he kept his expenses below the
estimate." Higher praise is scarcely pos
sible. And we know what these character
istics of Kitchener mean now for a great
part of the world.
On September lo, 1878, Lieutenant
Kitchener handed over to the Committee

70 LORD KITCHENER AND
the whole of the maps and memoirs complete,
and also presented his final report. This
short report (see Q. S., 1878, pp. 174-5) is
very interesting. I shall quote the opening
paragraph : —
"It is with great regret that I leave the
service of the Palestine Exploration Fund
after a period of four years' work. I beg to
tender to you and to the other members of
the Committee who are not present on this
occasion my best thanks for the universally
kind and indulgent way in which I have been
treated, particularly during the time I was
in command of the Survey of Palestine in
that country. During that very critical
period when Turkey was at war the confidence
placed in me by the Committee enabled me
to carry out the survey in my own way,
when, had it been necessary to apply home
for detailed directions, I should very probably
not have succeeded in the enterprise." This
last sentence has a special significance to-day.
He closes the report with these words : " I shall
at all times be ready to serve the Committee
to the best of my ability, and beg again to
thank them for their many kindnesses."

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 71
In the meantime Lieutenant Kitchener
had been appointed by the Foreign Office to
the command of the survey of Cyprus, and
on September 19 he left England for that
island, of which he afterwards made a survey.
I must not forget to mention that while at
his work at the South Kensington Museum
Lieutenant Kitchener, who had become in the
meantime a Fellow of the Royal Geographical
Society, delivered a lecture before the Geogra
phical Section of the British Association on
the " Survey of Galilee " (see Q. S., 1878, pp.
159-174). It is, as far as I know, the only
scientific lecture Kitchener ever deUvered.
This lecture is a masterpiece of lucidity,
brevity and wealth of material, geographical,
historical and archaeological. Every sentence
of this lecture deserves to be quoted. But
as this cannot be done I will just give a few
selected passages. He begins the lecture
by introducing himself " as the representative
of the Palestine Exploration Fund." He
then gives a short resume of the work of
the Fund in Palestine from 1871 to 1878.
He then describes his work and the work
of his party in GaUlee. The style is unique.

72 LORD KITCHENER AND
Not a word too much. Everything is dealt
with. Allusions to history interchange with
references to topics of his surroundings.
The interest of the audience must have been
kept up from the first to the last word.
Speaking of the plain of Esdraelon he says :
" Looking down on the broad plain of Es
draelon stretched out from our feet, it is
impossible not to remember that this is the
greatest battlefield of the world, from the
days of Joshua and the defeat of the mighty
host of Sisera, tiU, almost in our own days.
Napoleon the Great fought the battle of
Mount Tabor ; and here also is the ancient
Megiddo, where the last great battle of Arma
geddon is to be fought " (p. 163). We have
already seen before how painstaking Kitchener
was in every detaU of his work. The way
he established the accuracy, or rather the
correctness of the omission, of the name
" Kalamon," was a special example of
Kitchener's thoroughness. In his lecture he
touches upon the nomenclature. And what
he has to say on this subject is very interest
ing. " The nomenclature was written down
in Arabic by a well-educated scribe kept for

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 73
that purpose. Each surveyor had a guide
with him, who gave the names of the different
places. The surveyor wrote them down as
near as he could to the sound, and on return
ing to camp he repeated them in front of
the guide and the scribe. The guide then
pronounced the names correctly, and the
scribe wrote it down from him. I afterwards
transliterated the Arabic in accordance with
Robinson's method, and the proper spelling
was thus obtained and written on the map.
Every possible check on the veracity of the
natives was employed by asking numbers of
people independently the names. Dishonest
guides were dismissed, and as these people
are peculiarly susceptible of sarcasm, the
offenders were not happy when they were
laughed out of camp for not knowing their
own country as well as we knew it. One
of the great values of the map is the number
of unknown names it has made public ; thus
on this part of the survey 2,770 names were
collected, only about 450 of which are to be
found on the best existing map of the country.
Another is the accuracy of these names,
taken down from the natives in a manner

74 LORD KITCHENER AND
never attempted before, and the result has
been to throw a vast Ught on the ancient
nomenclature of the country and the origin
of the races that inhabit it " (p. 164).
Many things Kitchener has been doing
since those days have been done "in a
manner never attempted before." Speaking
of the lake of Tiberias he says : " The scenery
of the lake is decidedly monotonous, but
there is a great charm in that dry and thirsty
land in having a vast expanse of fresh water
spread out before the eyes, and at night the
effect of the moon in Eastern brightness
shining on the calm lake was exceedingly
beautiful " (p. 165). Speaking of an in
teresting place now in ruins he says : " Now
all is ruined, and only forms the resting-
place of the eagle and the vulture ; but in the
bright future that seems to be about to dawn on
that land,^ what a delightfully cool retreat
this would make for the owner of the fair
plain stretched out 1,000 feet below " (p. 166).
WiU the bright future soon be a bright
present ? Speaking of the viUage of Meiron
^ The italics are mine.

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 75
he gives a very vivid description of the
feast in the buUding that contains the
tomb of R. Simeon ben Jochai. Kitchener
witnessed the pilgrimage. " The Jews," he
says, " arrived in thousands on foot, on
donkeys, camels or mules ; some came from
great distances — ^it was said some even came
from England ; and yet it was a very bad
year, owing to the disturbed state of the
country." In the evening the ceremonies
began. " The whole place was tumed into
a fair — ^feasting, dancing and singing went
on all night ; great torches were lighted over
the tomb and lit up the motley crowd ; into
these torches or rather braziers the devotees
cast embroidered scarves, sUks and dresses."
In continuing the description he says : " The
women occupied the upper chambers of the
building, and seemed more devout ; some
of them were engaged in prayer. They have
a firm conviction that these pilgrimages
ensure their having chUdren." ^ Kitchener
has an eye for everything. Later Kitchener
describes how he moved camp to Dibl, a
Christian viUage. From his description of
1 Many rabbinical authorities are against these fetes.

76 LORD KITCHENER AND
the state of things at the viUage we can see
that he saved the viUage from grave disturb
ances through the tactful advice which he
had given and which was followed. Speak
ing of the village he says: "A Christian
viUage can be known from a distance by the
greenness of its vineyards and fields, in
striking contrast to the barren desolation
surrounding most Moslem villages. The ter
rible fataUsm of their religion destroys the
country. ' If God wills that fruit trees or
vineyards should grow they will grow ', says
the Moslem, as he sits and smokes" (p. 169).
In the next passage Kitchener writes : "I
must also bear testimony to the stringent or
ders sent from Constantinople to the Turkish
govemors and officials to protect these Chris
tians, and to put down any attempt to drive
them out of the country. There was more
cause to fear this, as the ignorance of the
people led them to believe the war was one
of religion — Moslem against Christian, in
stead of Turk against Russian." These
words are of interest now.
Later he mentions his camp near Kades.
He then says : "On the plam below our

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 77
camp the Arab tents stood exactly as those
of Heber the Kenite did on the eventful day
when Jael, his wife, slew Sisera, the captain
of Jabin's host " (p. 170). After giving a
new theory about the depression of the Jordan
valley he relates very briefly the work done
from the beginning of July till the end of
November. The conclusion of the lecture is
exceedingly interesting. I shall quote it
verbatim. Kitchener says : "I have now
told you what has been done. Let me say
a very few words on what it is proposed to
do next. As soon as funds are available, an
expedition will start to explore the sites of
the most sacred scenes of the New Testament
history : the northern shores of the Sea of
Galilee, where undoubtedly Capemaum, our
Lord's own city, Chorazin, and Bethsaida
still exist. In addition to this the expedition
will make a thorough survey of the unknown
country forming the eastern shores of that
sea on the same scale and with the same
accuracy as the present Survey. If this
great Association considers that what we
have accompUshed has added largely to the
scientific knowledge of an ancient country,

78 LORD KITCHENER AND
let me hope they wiU show their satisfaction
in the results we have obtained by helping
us in the renewed efforts in the same direction.
" Let me add one more result we hope
to obtain. We hope to rescue from the
hands of that ruthless destroyer, the un
educated Arab, one of the most interesting
ruins in Palestine, hallowed by the footprints
of our Lord. I allude to the synagogue of
Capemaum, which is rapidly disappearing
owing to the stones being burnt for lime.
Ought we not to preserve for ourselves and
our children buildings so hallowed, so unique ?
Let us hope that if this expedition succeeds
it may be the means of leaving some footprints
in the sand of time —
' Footprints, that perhaps another,
Saihng o'er Ufe's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, may take heart again.' "
With these beautiful lines from Long
fellow's " Psalm of Life " he concludes his
lecture. Here we get again a glimpse into
the recesses of the heart of Kitchener. Only
a man with an understanding for the past,
with a deep feeling for religion, and with the

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 79
right sentiment for things sacred can speak
the words which form the conclusion of this
lecture, which Kitchener deUvered thirty-
seven years ago before the British Association.
I cannot refrain from quoting here one or
two passages from a letter which Major (as
he was then) Kitchener sent to the Palestine
Exploration Fund Committee on January 13,
1884, after his survey of the Sinai Peninsula
and the Wady el Arabah (see above, p. 27).
He writes from Abbassiyeh (see Q. S., 1884,
pp. 136-7) :—
" By going up from the south end of the
Dead Sea to Bir-es-Siba I was able to put
in a corner of the map and join on to our old
work." Camels are rather important just now. It
is interesting to hear what Kitchener has
to say about the camels. He writes in this
letter : " My report will show how the work
was done, and if you measure the distances I
had to go, I think you will find I got over as
much ground as a camel would allow. They
are bad beasts for surveying. I used to keep
mine at a good trot for a bit until he got cross,
which he showed by roaring, and then sud-

80 LORD KITCHENER AND
denly shutting up aU four legs and coming
with a thud on the ground, at the same
moment springing up again and darting off
in an opposite direction. Continued correc
tion caused him to coUapse again, and then
roU, which was decidedly uncomfortable."
Kitchener adds : "I don't think I have
ever done such hard work as I had up that
Wady Arabah from Akabah to the Dead
Sea." In the same letter he writes : " We
passed a good many Arabs of the Terabin
and Ma'azi tribes, and I was received amongst
them as Abdullah Bey, an Egyptian official,
thus reviving a name well known and much
revered amongst them ; they supposed me
to be a relation of the great Sheikh Abdullah."
Kitchener mastered Arabic like a native.
Kitchener also mastered the unruly camel
like a native. At the end of his report on
his work in the Sinai Peninsula and the Wady
el Arabah (see Q. S., 1884, pp. 202-221, also
E. Hull, Mount Seir, Sinai and Western
Palestine, Appendix),^ he says that he had
^ This report is an exceedingly interesting document.
It is full of fine observations. I shall just quote here
the following passage: "Camp was pitched in Wady

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 81
some difficulty in getting "the camels un
der way." "Two of my Arabs had been
lagging behind for some time, so one of the
Arabs and myself went back and drove up
the camels ; the two Arabs were sulky and
deserted ; however, we got the camels aU
right." In spite of a bUnding storm of
sand he arrived safely with his party at Is-
mailia. Kitchener's descriptions of the photo
graphs he had taken in Palestine are also
very interesting. In an article in Q. S.,
1878, pp. 134-141, Kitchener gives a Ust of
Abu Rusheibeh. The eastern hills here recede, leaving
a sort of amphitheatre in front of Jebel Harun, the
Mount Hor of Scripture, which rises magnificently in
the centre. There is a mountain of white limestone
immediately south of Mount Hor, over which it towers
and gains by the contrast of its dark red hue over the
white. Looking thus at Mount Hor from the south it
appears to rise in several pinnacles, the highest of
which is surrounded by a glistening white dome cover
ing the tomb of the patriarch Aaron. The scenery is
exceptionally fine, and I do not consider former writers
have exaggerated the grand appearance of Mount Hor ;
the brilliant colours of the rocks have been remarked
by all travellers, but surpassed what I expected to
find" (^. 5., 1884, p. 211). Here we have again
Kitchener as the fine observer of nature,

82 LORD KITCHENER AND
twenty photographs taken in Galilee and
describes them. They are mostly photo
graphs of crasading castles, synagogues and
tombs. But we wUl just have a glance at
his book of selected BibUcal photographs
referred to above (p. 22). The title of the
book is : Photographs of Biblical Sites, by
Lieutenant H. H. Kitchener, R.E., F.R.G.S.
In a short preface Kitchener says that
his principal object in publishing this set of
Photographic Views in Palestine " has been
to secure a fresh view of many of the most
interesting Biblical Sites, and, in as many
cases as possible, to present entirely new
scenery to the public." The series consists
of twelve photographs, and is a selection
from fifty photographs taken by Lieutenant
Kitchener during his work in Palestine.
Five scenes are from the Old Testament,
and seven scenes from the New Testament.
Kitchener gives a short description of each
scene. Describing the valley of Sorek (Judges
xvi. 4) Kitchener says : "In the valley of
Sorek also lived Delilah, the traitress to
whom Samson owed the close of his career."

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 83
A short and expressive phrase. In his descrip
tion of the vaUey of Michmash (i Sam.
xiv.) Kitchener writes: "At a later period
this terrible gorge proved a considerable
obstacle to Sennacherib in his advance on
Jerusalem (Isa. x. 28)."
The description of Mount Moriah (the
site of Solomon's Temple) is particularly
beautiful. In a few words he shows how
sacred this mount is to Jews, Christians, and
Mohammedans. The following sentence shows
us again of what depth of feeling Kitchener
is capable. " On the extreme left of the
picture a portion of the west Temple wall
can be seen ; this is the place where the Jews
every Friday, at 3 p.m., come to go through
their affecting service, bewailing the loss
of their ancient glories." There is also a
description of the Mosque El Aksah, which
is supposed to occupy the site of Solomon's
Palace. The last of the Old Testament views
is that of Elisha's Fountain at Jericho. De
scribing the fountain Kitchener says : "It
was the water of this spring that EUsha
caused to become sweet, having been pre
viously salt and undrinkable (2 Kings ii.

84 LORD KITCHENER AND
22)." The foUowing sentence is also worth
quoting : "It (the view) gives a good idea
of the luxuriance of vegetation in parts of
the Jordan valley, which are well watered,
and of the capabilities of the district to pro
duce every kind of semi-tropical fruit and
vegetable if placed under cultivation."
The descriptions of the scenes from the
New Testament are likewise very beautiful.

The extracts from the writings of Kitchener
during the period of his Palestine work
have, I believe, given us an insight into
his method of work and into his mental
ity. Kitchener was tweinty-four years old
when he began his Palestine exploration
work and twenty-eight years old when he
completed it. The years between twenty-
four and twenty-eight are important in the
life of every man. They were especially
important in the Ufe of Kitchener. We have
seen what Kitchener has done in those four
years for Palestine. We have seen how

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 85
he brought Palestuie nearer to us, how he
helped to enrich our knowledge of that land.
We have seen how he already then showed
the great capacities which characterize
him now. His industry, his firmness of
purpose, his tact, his keen power of observa
tion, his resourcefulness in emergencies, all
this we find in young Kitchener of nearly
forty years ago. But we see something more.
We see all these great qualities of Kitchener
grow visibly during the time of his work in
Palestine. The work in Palestine offered
him the opportunities for developing and
strengthening his great powers of mind and
heart. Treading on holy ground his religious
nature deepened. Going through a land,
every place and every spot of which is full of
great historical associations, his historical
sense grew. Seeing the remains of ancient
greatness, stiU great in recalling things great,
his soul longed for greatness, for greater
greatness for his country, for his people, for
Britain. Seeing around him people whose
lack of civiUzation made them blind to their
low state in Ufe he felt what a great work it
would be to raise them and milUons who were

86 LORD KITCHENER AND
Uke them to the Ught of life. He leamed
their language, which helped him many years
later to uplift to a higher standard of life
a people that speaks the same tongue. He
saw with his own eyes the old sources of
inspiration, and he drew from them strength
and courage for the gigantic tasks which
awaited him in later years. As he walked
on the hills and through the valleys of Judah
and Israel he saw the great men of the Bible
looking down upon him, and he heard again
all the great messages they had to give. He
stood in the plain in which Joshua was vic
torious with the help of God, and he knew
that Nature itself helped the cause of the
righteous. He looked on the plain of Esdrae
lon and he saw the vision of " the last great
battle of Armageddon." Did he think then
that Armageddon was so near ? Did he
think then that the great world-Avar was so
near, and that battles might be fought in or
near the plain of Armageddon ? And did he
think that he would be one of the great
leaders of Armageddon ? Who knows ?
Kitchener saw something else in Palestine.
He saw the land which once belonged to the

HIS WORK IN PALESTINE 87
Jewish people, and he saw there the affecting
longing of the Jewish people for their ancient
glories. He saw in Palestine the continuity
of Jewish life — ^from Joshua down to the
rabbis he saw at Jerusalem and Tiberias.
He saw that many of the greatest men of
the Jewish people, in the first centuries after
the destruction of the second Temple, in the
Middle Ages, and in later times, had their
last resting-place in the land they always
claimed as theirs. Kitchener saw that a
change was coming over Palestine. Did
Kitchener think of it that after Armageddon
the Jews (or a portion of them) might retum
to their ancient land ? Who knows ? We
wiU not ask. We are gratified to know that
the greatness of Kitchener showed itself
first in his work in Palestine and that it
grew during his sojourn in that land. We are
gratified to know that his Palestine work was
the first great work done by Kitchener, and
that this was the beginning of a series of
marvellous achievements, culminating in his
present achievement, which is unique in
human history. We are gratified to know
that our land and our book had a share in

88 LORD KITCHENER
the shaping of one of the world's master
minds. We will always remember that the
name of Lord Kitchener is bound up for
ever with his work in Palestine.

Bntler & Tanaet Fiome and Londop

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 04067 8600

> i<.-^i. -^.,^ ., ^ ;

k:

YALE
. BRITISH HISTOf^Y
PRESERVATIOH
/ PROJECTl
SUPPORTED BY NcM

:;'"^ijii^llllil