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Article PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND. ← Page 2 of 5 Article PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND. Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Palestine Exploration Fund.
capital supervision exercised . In all its details the working of that lodge is more and more shewn to be a model for all future lodges . In the face of the ivall have been discovered a triple gate and a single gate . These promise rich grounds for
future investigation . Again at the corner of this wall , and at a depth of 85 feet below the surface of the ground , Bro . Warren came upon a small stone built passage running south . This seems to have been without
doubt one of King Solomon ' s aqueducts for carrying away the overflow water . It was explored by Lieut . Warren for about 400 feet , Avhen the badness of the air compelled him to give up the attempt for the time . It is greatly to be
hoped that another visit may lead him to further discoveries in this interesting spot . The result of the excavations at the south wall
may be summed up briefly . It is now quite clear that the wall mentioned by Josephus and in Kings was a gigantic work of masonry , immensely larger and more wonderful than moderns have ever been led to believe . Behind this Avail and
within the sacred area exists a most complicated series of vaults , passages , chambers , and tanks , serving as drainage sewers , passages for the blood of the sacrifices , for overflow water , and for water supply . What riches lie buried in these vaults ,
what secrets will be disclosed , ivhat curious monuments of antiquarian art given back to the light time will show . In the meantime , we may hope for everything , and be grateful for anything . Between Mount Moriah and Mount Zion lay formerly a valley , called the Tyropoeon valley . The portion of this valley has always been a
subject of controversy . It is now finally established . Moreover , there ran in former times a most magnificent causeway from Zion to Moriah . Where the valley makes a sudden and precipitous descent , close to the Haran wall , it was spanned by a
splendid arch , now called Robinson ' s Arch . Exploring this at a depth of fifty feet below the level of the ground , Lieut . Warren has come upon the fallen voussoirs of the arch themselves lying one on the other as they were thrown down , and
covered with the debris of two thousand years . The arch itself must have been upwards of ei ghty feet high , with a span of forty-one feet . Trul y our early brethren were masters indeed . The following extract will show a few of the difficulties that the explorers have to contend with : —
Palestine Exploration Fund.
" Jerusalem is a necessitous place at present ; to-day we can get no meat for love or money ; yesterday no bread at any price , and all the week no charcoal ; camel-drivers fear to come near the walls ; at night you may see mysterious looking
dark bundles lying along the Jaffa road—they are the camel loads which have been brought up hastily and thrown down , the camels being got out of the way as soon as possible for fear of being pressed by the troops . To get mules you must
guarantee their safe return to their stables , or the owners will have nothing to say to you . Baskets for removing earth are not to be had now in Jerusalem , the stores of them at Lydd were gutted by the authorities , and I have been obliged to send a Eellah through the country foraging for some . All this is the effect of the Avar on the
other side of Jordan , combined with a recent attempt at grafting European usages on Arab customs ,- which must fail . " ¦ Under date December 12 th , 1867 , Bro . Warren writes : —
" During the last fortnight I have been occupied in , exploring cisterns and passages in and abont Jerusalem , and it appears to me that the great question of the ancient water-supply is soon likely to draw some attention .
" 1 . About a mile south of the village of Lifta , * on the crest of a hill , is a chasm in the rocks ,, about ivhich there are many traditions , and which we failed to explore in the spring . We went there last Monday , provided with three ladders ^
reaching together 120 feet ., and a dockyard rope 165 feet long . We had three men to assist in lowering us on the rope . The entrance from the top just allows of a man squeezing through , but as you descend , the chasm opens out until at 125
feet it is about 15 feet by 30 inch . At this point is a ledge , and we rested there while we lowered the ladders another 30 feet , to enable us to descend to the bottom , which is at the great depth of 155 feet from the surface . The chasm is exactly
perpendicular , and the bottom is horizontal . Water was dripping quickly from the rocks , but ran out of sight at once . On the floor was a rough stone pillar , and near it the skeleton of an infant ; close to the pillar is a cleft in the rock , very
narrow , into which the water was running . " I cannot help thinking that this cleft is partially artificial . I have not yet ascertained its
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Palestine Exploration Fund.
capital supervision exercised . In all its details the working of that lodge is more and more shewn to be a model for all future lodges . In the face of the ivall have been discovered a triple gate and a single gate . These promise rich grounds for
future investigation . Again at the corner of this wall , and at a depth of 85 feet below the surface of the ground , Bro . Warren came upon a small stone built passage running south . This seems to have been without
doubt one of King Solomon ' s aqueducts for carrying away the overflow water . It was explored by Lieut . Warren for about 400 feet , Avhen the badness of the air compelled him to give up the attempt for the time . It is greatly to be
hoped that another visit may lead him to further discoveries in this interesting spot . The result of the excavations at the south wall
may be summed up briefly . It is now quite clear that the wall mentioned by Josephus and in Kings was a gigantic work of masonry , immensely larger and more wonderful than moderns have ever been led to believe . Behind this Avail and
within the sacred area exists a most complicated series of vaults , passages , chambers , and tanks , serving as drainage sewers , passages for the blood of the sacrifices , for overflow water , and for water supply . What riches lie buried in these vaults ,
what secrets will be disclosed , ivhat curious monuments of antiquarian art given back to the light time will show . In the meantime , we may hope for everything , and be grateful for anything . Between Mount Moriah and Mount Zion lay formerly a valley , called the Tyropoeon valley . The portion of this valley has always been a
subject of controversy . It is now finally established . Moreover , there ran in former times a most magnificent causeway from Zion to Moriah . Where the valley makes a sudden and precipitous descent , close to the Haran wall , it was spanned by a
splendid arch , now called Robinson ' s Arch . Exploring this at a depth of fifty feet below the level of the ground , Lieut . Warren has come upon the fallen voussoirs of the arch themselves lying one on the other as they were thrown down , and
covered with the debris of two thousand years . The arch itself must have been upwards of ei ghty feet high , with a span of forty-one feet . Trul y our early brethren were masters indeed . The following extract will show a few of the difficulties that the explorers have to contend with : —
Palestine Exploration Fund.
" Jerusalem is a necessitous place at present ; to-day we can get no meat for love or money ; yesterday no bread at any price , and all the week no charcoal ; camel-drivers fear to come near the walls ; at night you may see mysterious looking
dark bundles lying along the Jaffa road—they are the camel loads which have been brought up hastily and thrown down , the camels being got out of the way as soon as possible for fear of being pressed by the troops . To get mules you must
guarantee their safe return to their stables , or the owners will have nothing to say to you . Baskets for removing earth are not to be had now in Jerusalem , the stores of them at Lydd were gutted by the authorities , and I have been obliged to send a Eellah through the country foraging for some . All this is the effect of the Avar on the
other side of Jordan , combined with a recent attempt at grafting European usages on Arab customs ,- which must fail . " ¦ Under date December 12 th , 1867 , Bro . Warren writes : —
" During the last fortnight I have been occupied in , exploring cisterns and passages in and abont Jerusalem , and it appears to me that the great question of the ancient water-supply is soon likely to draw some attention .
" 1 . About a mile south of the village of Lifta , * on the crest of a hill , is a chasm in the rocks ,, about ivhich there are many traditions , and which we failed to explore in the spring . We went there last Monday , provided with three ladders ^
reaching together 120 feet ., and a dockyard rope 165 feet long . We had three men to assist in lowering us on the rope . The entrance from the top just allows of a man squeezing through , but as you descend , the chasm opens out until at 125
feet it is about 15 feet by 30 inch . At this point is a ledge , and we rested there while we lowered the ladders another 30 feet , to enable us to descend to the bottom , which is at the great depth of 155 feet from the surface . The chasm is exactly
perpendicular , and the bottom is horizontal . Water was dripping quickly from the rocks , but ran out of sight at once . On the floor was a rough stone pillar , and near it the skeleton of an infant ; close to the pillar is a cleft in the rock , very
narrow , into which the water was running . " I cannot help thinking that this cleft is partially artificial . I have not yet ascertained its