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268 of humidity, saturation being considered 100; the smallest number indicating the driest month is 40, in June, and the largest, 80, is in January. The weight of a cubic foot of air under its pressure, temperature, and humidity, at 9 a.m., is shown in column 19.

The most prevalent wind in January was W., and the least prevalent wind was S.W. In February the most prevalent were E., S.W., and W., and the least prevalent was S. In March the most prevalent were W., S.W., and N.W., and the least were N. and E. In April the most prevalent was N.W., and the least was S. In May the most prevalent was N.W., and the least were E., S.E., and S. In June the most prevalent was N.W., and the least prevalent was S. In July and August the most prevalent were N.W. and W., and the least were N., N.E., E., S.E., and S. In September the most prevalent was N.W., and the least was S. In October the most prevalent were E., N.W., and W., and the least were S.E. and S. In November the most prevalent were N.E. and E., and the least were S.E. and S.; and in December the most prevalent winds were N.E., E., and S.W., and the least prevalent were S. and N.W. The most prevalent wind for the year was N.W., which occurred on 96 times during the year, of which 17 were in July, 16 in August, and 15 in June; and the least prevalent wind was S., which occurred on only 6 times during the year, of which 2 were in both January and March, and 1 in both April and May. At Sarona the most prevalent wind for the year was S.W., which occurred on 69 times during the year, and the least prevalent wind was E,, which occurred on only 5 times during the year.

The numbers in column 28 show the mean amount of cloud at 9 a.m.; the month with the smallest is August, and the largest, March. Of the cumulus, or fine weather cloud, there were 43 instances in the year, of which 9 were in July, 8 in August, and 7 in both May and September. Of the nimbus, or rain cloud, there were 42 instances, of these 9 were in both January and February, and 8 in March. Of the stratus there were 2 instances; of the cirrus, 2 instances; of the cirro stratus, 26 instances; of the cirro cumulus, 40 instances; of the cumulus stratus, 72 instances; and 138 instances of cloudless skies, of which 23 were in August, 22 in June, and 19 in July. At Sarona there were 119 instances of cloudless skies, of which 20 were in June, 14 in December, and 12 in both July and October.

The largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 9·51 inches in February, of which 3·35 inches fell on the 25th. The next largest fall for the month was 6·55 inches in January, of which 343 inches fell on the 5th. No rain fell from May 17th to October 30th, making a period of 165 consecutive days without rain. The fall of rain for the year was 31·69 inches, which fell on 63 days in the year. At Sarona the largest fall of rain for the month in the year was 5·00 inches in December. No rain fell at Sarona from May 11th to October 30th, making a period of 171 consecutive days without rain. The total fall of rain for the year at Sarona was 20·09 inches, which fell on 66 days during the year.


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nineteenth century, now near its close, has been remarkable for extraordinary activity in two widely different but immensely important lines of research. While, on the one hand, scientists have explored the arcana of nature with glorious success, so on the other hand, there has not been wanting a band of earnest and diligent inquirers, who, uniting profound scholarship with untiring enthusiasm, have achieved splendid results in the attempt to solve the problems and to illumine the mysterious darkness of the past.

Thus the scientific genius of this era which has given birth to railway locomotion, to electric illumination, and which (far outstripping the wildest flights of fancy of the "Bard of Avon," that would mi a girdle round the earth in forty minutes) has enabled far-distant continents to hold instantaneous converse with each other, has, in the domain of archaeology, paralleled these results by the discovery of a key to the hieroglyphs of Egypt and the arrow-headed writing of Mesopotamia, by the rescue of whole libraries of long-forgotten literature, and the ideal reconstruction of the great civilisations of remotest Oriental antiquity.

These results of exploration and archæological research, which throw great light on the path of every reader of ancient history, are especially interesting and valuable to the earnest student of Holy Scripture, whose faith is strengthened and whose intelligence is brightened by the study of sacred history and prophecy in the clear light of contemporary evidence.

The outcome of recent Biblical study, as set forth in the works of the great scholars of Germany and England, has been to a large extent an opinion that the historical books of the Old Testament are in great part untrustworthy. But where is the proof of this outside the pages of these writers?

The great value of the work carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund lies in this—that it has given impetus to the study of the Bible in a more excellent way. Old sites have been re-discovered, a multitude of names and facts occurring in the Biblical writings have been verified by comparison with contemporary monuments of other nations, and our whole knowledge of the manners, customs, and characteristics of the ancient peoples of Bible lands has been immensely increased, while Jew and Syrian, Moabite and Hittite, have been made to live again in the lively and picturesque pages of the Fund's publications.

The more indeed we study the results of the recent scientific

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270 of Palestine the more we become convinced that the Sacred Writings have an unassailable basis of truth in their agreement in so many particulars with the most remarkable discoveries in Oriental archæology, ethnology, and geography.

If the Biblical record be as unhistorical as we are told it is, even by scholars of our own universities, it is the most wonderful of all literary productions. Forgers are seldom impeccable artists, and it is very strange that these old writings, upon which so much falsehood has been charged, should bear the test of comparison with the facts brought out by modern scientific research as well as they do. Bearing in mind the dicta and dogmata of the modern critical school, we should have expected the contrary.

But the sciences of sacred geography, ethnology, and criticism are not the only branches of knowledge which have largely benefited by the work of Palestine exploration. There is another line of archaeological inquiry known as palæography, the purpose of which is to discover the origin, affinities, and powers of ancient graphic systems, and to classify the results of such discovery. The object of this science in its application to Biblical criticism is to determine the forms and relative age of the various types of Hebrew and Greek writing used by ancient copyists up to the time when the art and fancy of the caligraphist were superseded by the rigid uniformity of the printing press.

Two kinds of writing are recognised as having been used at different periods by the Jewish scribes—the more ancient form or so-called Samaritan letters, and the later, or modern square Hebrew. Our knowledge of the exact original forms of the Samaritan letters was, up to a recent date, extremely limited, from the paucity of graphic material. All that the great scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who wrote on this subject had upon which to base their opinions on the matter was a small number of Jewish coins, which, although preserving the main features of the ancient alphabet, could not be pointed to with certainty as contemporaneous with the sacred autograph. Nor were Hebraists of our own age much better informed, even Gesenius and other later Semitic specialists had nothing more than Phœnician texts on which to ground their statements with respect to the ancient alphabet of Israel. No Jewish monumental text was available for research, as none such was known to be in existence. The opinions, therefore, of even the most profound scholars as to the form of the letters which were actually used by the sacred penmen were based rather on probability and analogy than on positive knowledge.

And this would still be the case but for a remarkable and most valuable discovery made in 1880 at Jerusalem. Most readers of the Bible are familiar with the Pool of Siloam, "the waters of Shiloah that go softly" (Isa. viii, 6), in which the blind man was enjoined by our Lord to wash, and after washing in which "he came seeing" (John ix, 7). It was here in 1880 that the famous inscription was found which had the merit of being the earliest extant specimen of ancient Hebrew


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Rh writing—the story of its discovery has often been told. Some Jewish boys in attempting to pass through the tunnel accidentally found some writing on a recessed tablet of square form, measuring about 27 inches on each side, the lower portion of which was occupied by the inscription, which was in six lines, and curiously enough, “the top of the tablet was only about a yard above the bottom of the channel, which is here 2 feet wide and 11 feet high.” The inscription was reported to Herr v. Schick, and was subsequently visited and studied by Professor Sayce, Dr. Guthe (who removed the calcareous incrustation which had formed in the incised characters by a weak bath of hydrochloric acid, but without in any way injuring the surface of the hard rock on which the inscription was cut), and by Captain Conder and Lieutenant Mantell, who procured a squeeze and also a cast of the inscription. The result of these researches was the publication of a tolerably correct text and translation by Professor Sayce, and a lengthy study of the “Alphabet of Israel” by Canon Taylor, in his very valuable work, “The Alphabet,” vol. i. By the kindness of my learned and esteemed friend Major Conder, I have been enabled to study the squeeze which was taken by himself and Lieutenant Mantell, and from his tracing of this I give the


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Rh

1. [This is the excavation, and this was the manner of the excavation, while they lifted up 2. the pick each to his neighbour, and while three cubits [of rock remained] the voice of one cal 3. led to his fellow-workman, for there was excess of rock to the right and to the west 4. of the excavation they struck through the cutting, each meeting his fellow, pick upon pick, and flowed 5. the waters from the spring to the pool through the space of a thousand cubits, and. . . . . . . cubit was the height of the rock over the head of the excavation. . . ].

Line 1.—I suppose the inscription to begin with the demonstrative pronoun this Major Conder supplies the article, Professor Sayce suggests the exclamation  behold!

excavation, tunnel. Of rare occurrence in the Old Testament in this sense. Ezek. viii, 13, means a musical pipe.

The root perforare, and the noun  fœmina, are common.

and this, the pronoun with prefixed.

was, a verbal root of common occurrence.

-This phrase appears to mean manner or method of the excavation, i.e., the way in which the work was carried out. occurs Deut. XV, 2, in the sense of manner, method. "At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release, and this is the manner of the release,"

According to Gesenius the primary idea of the root is, to arrange, set in order. Hence speech as an orderly arrangement of words, and in the later Hebrew chronicles, i.e., facts set forth in order of time—Psalm cx, 4, Thou art a priest for ever after the order, manner of Melchizedek, —LXX, προσταγμα, ταξις.

while they lifted up. Between and  we must supply a word meaning "excavators" or "workmen." The text is broken at this place, from  to be raised high, lifted up in the hand. Common in Old Testament.

Line 2.— ''the pick. See'' Deut. xix, 5; Isa. x, 15.—LXX, ὰξἰνη— each, each one, a shortened form of.

to. his fellow-workman.  with the pronoun. So English workmen speak of their "mates," their companions in labour. and while, three,  cubit. The text being here imperfect we


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Rh must supply the words, "of rock remained to be broken through." voice of one, (pass on to line 3).

Line 3.— called to his fellow-workman, for. there being, excess, an unusual word, the cognate  occurs in the sacred text, in the sense of pride, arrogance.  in the rock. rock with the prep. in on the right ( the right hand, with ). After this word is another break in the text. and in the west, westward. = the ordinary  sea. Used also to indicate the west, i.e., the region of the Great Sea, or Mediterranean, which lay to the west of Palestine.

Line 4.— of the excavation, to be read with preceding word "westward," or "on the west side of the excavation." they struck through. Hiph. of third person pl. an unusual noun, with the article, the excavation, from  to cut, to hew out. each, to meet, from  to meet accidentally, to light upon, as in Ruth ii, 3. his fellow, as before. pick upon pick, and flowed, third person pl. pret. kal.,from, synonymous with to go, walk, flow, &c., a very common Hebrew, Phœnician, and Arabic root.

Line 5.— the waters. from,  the outlet, spring, the root-idea of the word is going forth, egress, often occurs in Old Testament, as of the upper Gihon outflow, 2 Chron. xxxii, 30. to, the pool, occurs frequently in Old Testament, "the upper pool," Isa. vii, 3, xxxvi, 2. Arabic birket, Spanish alberca, a pond, Portuguese alberca, a trench, drain. The next word Major Conder takes to mean for two hundred, Professor Sayce translates it for the distance of, from a root implying extension,  a thousand,  cubit.

Line 6.—At the end of line 5 and beginning of line 6 is a broken word, which is read by Professor Sayce with the following word and three-fourths of a cubit,  was  the height, elevation, common in Old Testament. the rock. over,  head, beginning, a common word. the excavation, tunnel.

It will be seen that most of the words in the inscription are common Bible terms, although some are used in an unusual sense.

The great value of the Siloam inscription can be rightly estimated only after consideration of what was known before its discovery with respect to the graphic art and literary culture of Palestine at the period when this inscription was cut on the wall of the famous subterranean aqueduct. Up to a very recent time all primitive Semitic writing was supposed to be Phœnician, the Phœnicians in turn being supposed to


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Rh have derived their knowledge of the art from the Egyptians. This view was generally received by the small band of scholars who knew, or cared to know anything about the subject—its ablest champion being Dr. Isaac Taylor, who, in his great work on "The Alphabet," vol. i, has said about all that can be said in favour of the Egyptian parentage of Semitic letters. Recent discoveries tend to prove (and, I believe, do prove with as much certainty as we can hope to arrive at in a matter of this kind) that the Phœnician alphabet is the sister rather than the parent of the Jewish and Aramean letters. I am much interested in the recent discoveries in this branch of archæological research, because I, an obscure student working all alone in the great field of Biblico-archæological enquiry, hesitated from the first to accept this view, however ably supported by the learned historian of the art of writing. The forms of many of the Siloam letters bearing, as they do, a positive resemblance to the objects whose names they bear, would suggest the derivation of this early Semitic script from an ancient ideographic system, which, from the result of recent study of the question, would appear to be of Asian rather than Egyptian origin. The supporters of the Egyptian hypothesis have never satisfactorily demonstrated the inability of the Semitic peoples to frame a system of alphabetic writing for themselves, nor do they appear to have given adequate attention to the history and comparison of other great Asian scripts, which rival the hieroglyphics of Egypt in antiquity. I rather favour the view of Professor Meyer, held likewise by Major Conder, that the oldest Semitic writing had at least a definite relation to that graphic system, which, for want of a better name, is known to scholars as "Hittite," or "Altaic." I believe the origin of alphabetic writing will be found in that direction. Further discovery and comparative study will clear up the matter, which is of great interest and importance, not only to the Biblical critic but to every student of human civilisation.

The Siloam alphabet presents some peculiar forms which are worth careful study, being apparently more ancient than those of any other text yet discovered, although some of the letters show the early operation of the "law of least effort" in their tendency towards hieratic or cursive types.

The Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Vaw, Zayin, Yod, Caph, Lamed, and 'Ain are evidently pictorial, and easily deducible from a primitive hieroglyphic system.

The Aleph is similar to the type of that letter found on the Asmonean coins, but unlike the Moabite or later Phœnician forms. Probably this form of Aleph was adopted in lapidary writing, in order to improve the appearance of the letter and to avoid the acute angle, which would be very troublesome in inscribing texts on stone at all liable to fracture. I notice, however, in Professor Sayce's "Assyrian Syllabary," 232, a Cuneiform sign having various phonetic values, of which the Assyrian rendering is "Alpu," bull, this sign being very similar to the ancient Jewish Aleph, may be connected with it.


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Rh The Beth is very archaic, and appears to be closely related to the pictorial type, which I believe to have been an outline of a circular-roofed dwelling, similar to the Eastern domed house, this rather than a tent.

The circular form of building was adopted by early races in many countries, and was, I believe, the most ancient of all.

The Siloam type of Gimel, although ancient, gives no additional support to what Canon Taylor calls "the camel etymology." Many scholars have been puzzled by this name as applied to this letter, as the type very little resembles the thing said to be represented. At most, it is the head and neck of an animal that is shown, and it may be the head and neck of any other animal as well as of a camel. It has been suggested that the name gimel is derived from the Talmudic "gimla," a yoke, which Taylor alleges, after a German authority, to be "philologically impossible." This, I think, is quite a mistake, as yoke is given as one of the meanings of "gimla" in that well known and generally reliable authority Buxtorf's "Lexicon Rabbinico-Talmudicum." I have thought of an alternative etymology. The word which is also spelt  signifies both in Hebrew and Chaldean, recompense, retribution, and occasionally, as in Isa. xxxv, 4, punishment. Hence the name as applied to this letter may mean an instrument of punishment, i.e., a whip, or scourge. The form of letter would appear to support this idea, although Dr. Taylor and others of that following would of course pronounce it to be philologically impossible. The hieratic type of this letter found in the Prisse papyrus is a widely different character.

Daleth, the name of the fourth letter, generally means "door," a movable cover of an aperture hanging and turning on hinges, and not the aperture itself, as Dr. Taylor explains. The word appears to mean, in its widest signification, anything that may be opened and shut. The Siloam letter suggests a curtain, covering the entrance of a tent.

Vaw means a tent peg or curtain hook, the name is fully explained by the form of the Siloam letter.

Zayin in the Siloam alphabet is very peculiar. Major Conder first pointed out to me the well defined hook at the end of each of the two parallel bars. The name is usually supposed to mean "weapons." Our epigraphic type suggests the idea of two battle-axes joined together with a ligature. The letter is very little different from a mere picture, and must represent the earliest form of the phonetic element (See the accompanying table.)

Yod is the common Hebrew word for "hand." The Siloam letter gives the outline of a portion of the arm and hand with the thumb extended. (See the table.)

Nun means "fish." Great difficulty has been found in tracing the letter which bears this name back from its existing form to the earlier pictorial type. In the table I have endeavoured to show that the idea may have been that of a fish caught on a spear, or suspended from a hook to dry.

{{c|{To he continued.)}}


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276


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Birth of Abu-Zaid and the poem of Beni-Helal were told me by an illiterate fellah of die plain of Philistia. I wrote them down whilst he told them by heart. When I had written it all from his dictation, I revised and translated it, using no published work whatever. Clot Bey, in his "Egypte," states that this is a very popular romance amongst the Egyptians.

Abu-Zaid is the popular name of the black hero, but his real name is Barakat, and Salamé Shiha is his sister. Both Shiha and Barakat are


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278 the children of the Emir Risk and Khadra. Abu-Zaid is one of the great heroes in the exodus of the Beni-Helal from Naj'd to Tunis, passing by Palestine.

The legend is sung by the bards on their one-stringed fiddle Rababy, during whole nights after weddings or any other public rejoicing (see Quarterly Statement, April 1894, p. 137).

The Emir Risk had a daughter, named Shiha,, by his wife Khadra, , who then remained seven years barren, to the great sorrow of Risk. One day when Khadra went to a fountain to wash, she saw a black bird pounce on other birds, killing some, and scattering the rest. She prayed to God, "Oh, my Lord, hear my petition, make me conceive and bear a son, who shall drive the knights before him as does this bird the other birds; and let him be as black as this bird." Her prayer was fulfilled, and she had a black son.

Now Ser'han,, the father of Sultan Hassan, visits Risk and says:—

When Risk brings in the child; Ghanem, the father of Thiab, says:—

And Risk says:—

Then, turning to Khadra, he continues:—


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She takes her son and the slave Keied to Mecca to her relatives, but on the way she changes her mind, and goes to Za'hlan,, the greatest enemy of Beni-Helal.

She remains 15 years with Za'hlan, and her son is brought up in the art of war. The Beni-Helal, after one of their wars, ask the tenth of the goods, and Abu-l-Jud,, sends a letter, in which he says:—


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280 Barakat now writes another letter without letting Za'hlan know:—

Abu-l-Jud takes it and reads it, then tears it and throws it away, curses the father of the Sheikh who sent it, and now sends 40 knights to kill Za'hlan. Barakat meets them, kills 39, and cuts off their heads, Abu-l-Jud only remaining, who says:—

But Barakat says:—

And then pounces on Abu-l-Jud, and kills him. The Beni-Helal sent a negro for the tenth, but Barakat cuts off his hand and his ear and sends him back, saying: if you like, come out to war; and the Beni-Helal come to war; and Risk comes forth and meets Barakat, and says:—


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280 But Barakat says:—

Barakat and Risk now fight. Every time Barakat lifts his hand to strike his father, his hand is kept back; when suddenly Shiha, who is with Risk as 'Amarie (misleading woman), knows her brother, and says: Cursed be the Sheikh who brought you up; this is your father. Risk says: What is the trouble; do you want to become a bad woman,, as your mother? But, she says, this is my brother; every time he could strike you, he withdrew; and if he is not my brother, you can cut off my head. But listen, she says, take this sign; bring three apples, and we will throw them to him; if he catches them on the point of his spear, it is my brother from father and mother; and if not, cut off my head. I know my brother is at Za'hlan's. They take three apples. They throw: the first he catches with his spear; the second he catches in his stirrup, and the third in his hand. Whereupon Shi'ha utters a cry of joy,. Barakat listens, till she tells him that she is his sister, and that he is fighting his father. Barakat throws himself down, rubs his nose with dog's grass,, till it bleeds, and then runs to his mother and falls down; whilst Khadra goes to assemble the maidens to wail over him, saying:—

Barakat now rises slowly, astonished, and says: Is it true mother? Is Risk my father? She answers in the affirmative. Whereupon he asks why he is here. She now tells him the whole story, and asks him to bind his father and bring him alive. He goes out to fight again and captures him. When Risk sees Khadra, whom he always loved, he


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282 comes to her barefoot and bareheaded. And when the news is spread Za'hlan falls down dead, whilst Risk takes Khadra home again with Barakat and all they possess. So Barakat having increased the Arabs is henceforth called Abu-Zaid, "father of increase," for having increased the tribe of Beni-Helal.

it has been my lot to try to restore peace to Jerusalem by doing no small business in fighting against my friends. Yet with Sertorius I desire to live in quiet in the Fortunate Islands free from never-ending wars.

Mr. St. Clair's objection (p. 150) that I assume that "Zion is the same as the stronghold of Zion" and "Zion to be coincident with Akra," shows very plainly why there are such diverse opinions about ancient Jerusalem. Writers have hastily had recourse to imagination instead of patiently examining evidence. I dealt with the question of the identity of Zion and the stronghold of Zion years ago in Quarterly Statements, 1878, 182; 1880, 168; and 1881, 94. This identity lies at the root of a correct restoration of the Holy City. Josephus blundered over it, and so proves a blind guide to blinded followers. With difficulty I myself broke away from this Cicerone, and have by me to this day notes collected in my days of darkness to show that the City of David difficulty was solved by the view of Josephus that the stronghold of Zion was only a part of Zion and not identical with it. I have told (1882, 56) how, groping in the dark, I was accidentally brought into the light.

As others besides Mr. St. Clair are still misled by Josephus, let me give once more the simple Biblical evidence that proves the identity of Zion and the stronghold of Zion.

(1.) The Bible, R.V., twice says "the City of David, which is Zion" (1 Kings viii, 1; 2 Chron. v, 2).

(2.) It also twice says, "the stronghold of Zion; the same is the City of David" (2 Sam. v, 7; 1 Chron. xi, 5).

Here one would naturally take "the same" to refer to "Zion," and so (2) would corroborate (1).

Happily there are two other passages in the historical books that supply what is needed.

(3.) The Bible says (2 Sam. v, 9), "David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David," and again (1 Chron. xi, 7), "David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David."


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Rh Thus twice in each case we have Zion, the stronghold of Zion, and the stronghold, distinctly stated to be or to be called the City of David; and as things that are equal to the same are equal to one another, it follows mathematically (and is not assumed) that Zion is equal to, or the same as, the stronghold or (fully) the stronghold of Zion. The convertibleness of the three terms in the historical books of the Bible is, as I have already stated (1881, 94), the ABC of Jerusalem topography. When, as on this point, Josephus is at variance with the Bible, the only satisfactory plan is to discard him altogether, or throw him overboard (to use Mr. St. Clair's words), and not to make a compromise between truth and error, whereby have arisen almost all the difficulties about Jerusalem.

On passing from the Bible to 1 Maccabees, the second point, that Zion (already proved to be the City of David) was coincident with Akra, is clear beyond doubt, because 1 Mace, i, 33, states, "They builded the City of David. . . . and it became an Acra for them." The identity seems to me complete. Ignoring this passage does not diminish its force. I dealt with this point in 1893, 326.

The Macedonian Akra in the "Antiq." of Josephus is obviously identical with that of 1 Mace, and is, I maintain, coincident with Zion. The Akra of his "Wars," however, is first the hill on which the lower city stood (V, iv, 1); next it is the lower city itself (V, vi. 1), while in "Ant." XII, V, 4, Akra is placed in the lower city. I do not maintain that a fixed quantity, the City of David (or Zion), was coincident with an Acra of two or three dimensions; but still this Akra of different sizes was, like Zion, wholly south of the Temple. Mr. St. Clair admits "there are passages in Josephus which require Akra to be on Ophel"; let me add that there are none that require an Akra (connected with the lower city) to be situated anywhere else. I have walked about Zion and gone round about her too long and too often during the last sixteen years, and marked her bulwarks too carefully to believe that the City of David on Ophel has anything to fear from the keenest criticism; and even if I turned traitor like Araunah, my Plymouth brother H.B.S.W. has the will and power to break all weapons forged against her. Still, if any hero remains eager to outdo Joab, let him assail our Zion. It might be well for him beforehand not to pry too closely into the evidence, or possibly she may attract another knight-errant and dismiss me donatum rude.

If any should object that our City of David on Ophel was only a tiny citadel on a low hill, and therefore could not have been an impregnable fortress, I cheerfully admit the description; but I must reply that in old times citadels were called cities; that Nora, the chosen stronghold of Eumenes, the great strategist, was less than 2 acres in extent, the very area assigned to my Zion by Major Conder (1886, 152); and that the citadel at Rabbath Ammon, "the rock of the plain" (Jer. xxi, 13) in spite of its naturally strong position, was thrice reduced by thirst. On the other hand, Gihon gave to Zion strength as well as sweetness. The


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284 founder of Jebus was, beyond all question, a keen Tartan in preferring even a little water to high rocks.

Jerusalem has been besieged at least twenty-seven times, and only in one instance is any mention made of even a temporary scarcity of water. Vegetius well observed, "Difficile sitis vicit, qui quamvis exiguâ, aquâ ad potum tamen tantum in obsidione sunt usi."

the Quarterly Statement for last July the correspondence which appeared in the Academy on Dr. Chaplin's weight is printed without the replies of Mr. Tyler and myself to Professor Robertson Smith. Had they been given it would have been seen (1) that I have never said that netseg was "derived" from yâtsag; (2) that the explanation of netseg is due to Dr. Neubauer and not to myself; and (3) that Dr. Neubauer's reference of it to yâtsag is not "a grammatical blunder."

As, however, I have been compelled to write again on the subject, I take the opportunity of commenting on Professor Robertson Smith's letter, which my absence in Nubia prevented me from doing last winter. Firstly, as to the word on the "bead" found at Jerusalem. The Professor wished to make it instead of, though he confessed that with this reading he could not explain the word. My experience of Phœnician graffiti leads me still to maintain that the last letter is "certainly" not but, and that the word accordingly must be netseg.

Secondly, as to the weight itself. I gather from the Professor's communication that although he began his examination of the inscription with a prejudice against my reading, he was eventually forced to come round to it; but, in order to get rid of the obnoxious shel "of" he took refuge in the desperate conjecture that stood for ! The idea that the inscriptions on the two sides of the weight aie of different age and authorship, seems to me, I confess, to be preposterous. I have handled a good many Oriental seals and cylinders, and have never seen a clearer case of identity as regards both the form and the weathering of the letters. The only difference between the inscriptions is that one of them has been worn more than the other, probably owing to the weight having been usually laid on the side on which it occurs. And as Professor Robertson Smith himself acknowledged, unless my reading is adopted the inscription makes no sense. But ancient writers were not in the habit of engraving nonsense, whether on weights or on anything else.

[The letters referred to by Professor Sayce as having been omitted in the correspondence reprinted by us are the following.—]


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Rh

London,

November 22nd, 1893.

I do not presume to enter into the discussion concerning the characters inscribed on Dr. Chaplin's Samaritan weight, or to estimate their value with regard to the date of the Canticles. I may say, however, that to me the title chosen by Professor Sayce, and which I have repeated above, has appeared not quite appropriate.

Now, however, I am concerned with some statements towards the end of Professor Robertson Smith's communication in last week's Academy. Professor Sayce (who is in Egypt) is accused of having committed a serious "grammatical blunder" in "deriving a segholate noun with initial Nun, namely netseg, from the root yâtsag," for "every Hebraist knows that if the word is netseg, it cannot possibly have come from yâtsag, or from any known Hebrew root." Now, "every Hebraist knows," though, it would almost seem, Professor Robertson Smith does not, that verbs with initial Nun are so closely related to verbs with initial Yod (the Nun being softened down into Yod), as to make it sometimes of little importance which form is chosen as the root. Indeed, with reference to these two forms, yâtsag and natsag, what Gesenius had previously referred to the latter he subsequently derived from the former. And as to segholate nouns with initial Nun, it may be seen from the Lexicon that these are sufficiently numerous. With the possible meaning of netseg I have nothing now to do.

2em

Rodah, Egypt,

December 6th, 1893.

My departure from Cairo has prevented me from seeing until now the discussion which has arisen in the academy over the letter I wrote about Dr. Chaplin's inscribed weight from Samaria. It has followed the course I expected, and the reading public will now be able to appraise at their real value the ex cathedra assertions of those who claim a monopoly of "the critical method." Dr. Neubauer and myself, after a careful examination of the original, found that the inscription contained certain words; and the "critics" peremptorily denied our reading without taking the trouble to consult the original.

Professor Robertson Smith is mistaken in saying that the explanation of netseg as "a standard weight" is mine, or that I "derive" it from the root yâtsag. The explanation is due to Dr. Neubauer; and from the first


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Rh moment he mentioned it to me, he has always "derived" it from a root nâtsaq with which yâtsag would be connected.

2em

The elaborate report of the late Professor W. Robertson Smith on this weight has a melancholy interest from its having been one of the last pieces of work to which that distinguished scholar set his hand.

Although apparently drawn up with much care it appears to me that there are in it some important mistakes, and respecting these I would beg to offer the following remarks.

1. Whilst allowing that the object itself and the much-worn inscription on it are ancient, the Professor found it difficult to believe that the less-worn inscription "can be anything but a modern forgery." If this is so, the weight must first have been found, then have passed into the hands of some clever scoundrel who cut, or got someone else to cut, a new inscription on it, and then have been handed to an ignorant peasant boy who sold it to a passing traveller for a silver mejidie, or 3s. 4d. Is this at all probable? Where was the profit to come from? What could have been the inducement? The weight would have sold as well without the second line of inscription as with it.

2. If Professor Smith was right in supposing that "the inscriptions on the two sides of the weight are not of the same date" (which I am not prepared to admit), it nevertheless appears to me that the weight was in use long after the second inscription was made, for the edges of the letters are certainly worn and rounded by use. This is particularly observable in the third letter from the right—the 'ain.

3. The suggestion that the less-worn inscription "exhibits a different and inferior technique" has occasioned me considerable surprise. I can discover no indication of this. If the "uncertain hand" which cut the (so-called) second inscription "could not keep a single direction truly" neither could the hand which executed the first. On this latter the first stroke of the second letter from the right is unnecessarily prolonged upwards as a fine shallow groove with a slight curve—obviously a slip of the tool—and the vertical stroke of the last letter on this side is not straight and could not, in my judgment, have been "effected by a clean and uniform saw cut." It looks as if a cut sloping very slightly downwards towards the left had first been made and, being not quite right, had been remedied by a vertical cut which left ever so little a projection of the first cut on its right side. On the less-worn inscription slips of the tool may be observed (1) below the horizontal stroke of the second letter (from the right), and (2) on the right side of the lower part of the upright (last) stroke of the fifth letter. None of these slip strokes are straight.


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Rh 4. This brings me to another point. Professor Smith speaks of the strokes of the letters as "saw-cuts." To me it appears that they were made with the point of a graving tool. Had the}^ been made with a saw they would have been straight and of the same depth from one end of the stroke to the other, whereas on both lines of the inscription not only are some of the strokes not straight but all of the less-worn ones are broader and deeper in the middle than at the ends, where they terminate in points. By use these shallow and tapering ends have in several letters become nearly or quite obliterated, as in the 'ain of the less-worn side, and in all the letters, except the last, of that which is more worn, and this obliteration sometimes separates the ends of strokes which ought to touch one another, as in the first letter of the much-worn side, and that which Professor Sayce regards as a shin. In nearly all the letters on both sides the bottoms of the grooves are more or less smoothed, almost polished, as if they had been finished by rubbing with a blunt tool. I do not remember to have seen this peculiarity in any modern forgery.

5. Below is a reproduction of a drawing of the inscription kindly sent to me by Professor Robertson Smith. The drawing was done, I believe, by Mr. r. C. Burkitt, of Cambridge. It will enable scholars to form their own opinion as to whether the prolongation of the respective lines of the disputed letter until they meet would form a figure representing an old Hebrew shin as suggested by Professor Sayce. Without presuming to enter into a controversy which must be settled by the experts, I venture to think that there is little room for doubt that Professor Sayce is right. As shown on the drawing, the lower ends of the strokes of this shin are not much further apart than the ends of the lateral strokes of the raish on that side, and the prolongations of the strokes required to make a perfect shin appear to me no more "imaginary" than the prolongations required to complete the raish, which is a letter no one calls in question. It is strange to find Professor Robertson Smith remarking that "the point of the spindle would naturally be less worn than the middle," for the most worn of all the letters, except the disputed shin, is the raish at the extreme end of the spindle.

The interest attaching to this weight with its inscription is so great that I feel it ought not to remain in the keeping of a private person, and I have, therefore, presented it to the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, where doubtless it may be seen by those desiring to study it.


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288

response to the desire expressed by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, I have much pleasure in furnishing a short account of the works of the early Jewish travellers in the East, and I propose also to give extracts from some of their writings which have reference to Palestine.

Even prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were settled in most of the known countries of antiquity, and kept up communication with the land of their fathers. Passages from the Talmud prove that the sage Rabbi Akiba, who led the insurrection of the Jews against Hadrian, had visited many countries, notably Italy, Gaul, Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, and Arabia. The Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, the Midrashim and other Jewish writings up to the ninth century, contain innumerable references to the geography of Palestine. I would refer those who wish full information on this branch of the subject to Dr. A. Neubauer's valuable work "La Géographie du Talmud" (see also "Jewish Quarterly Review," vol. iv, p. 690).

In the year 797, Charlemagne sent an embassy to the powerful Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, and it was Isaac the Jew who brought back a gracious reply, coupled with rich presents, from the Caliph. As a result of this mission learned Rabbis were despatched from Babylon, and they established schools of learning in Western Europe.

At the end of the ninth century, one Eldad the Danite, probably a native of Palestine or Babylon, visited the various Jewish settlements in Arabia, North Africa, and Spain, and represented that he belonged to the Tribe of Dan; he gave circumstantial accounts of the lost ten tribes, and also details as to the extensive settlements in Æthiopia and South Arabia of his own tribe, and of the tribes of Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. He had likewise much to say about the descendants of Moses and the River Sambatyon. His writings have come down to the present day, but are considered by competent authorities to be devoid of historical truth. For a full account respecting Eldad I would refer the reader to a series of articles contributed by the erudite Dr. A. Neubauer to vol. i of the "Jewish Quarterly Review," entitled 'Where are the Ten Tribes?' (vide pp. 14, 95, 185, and 408).

In the middle of the tenth century, Chisdai, the Jewish Minister to the Moorish Court at Cordova, was able to communicate by means of Jewish travellers with the King of the Khozars, a people who dwelt between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea, and who held the southern part of Russia, including the Crimea, under subjection. The whole nation had embraced the Jewish religion, and the epistle from the


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Rh Minister to the Khozar King, and the reply of the latter, form interesting contributions to the scanty literature of that time.

The great Jewish poets of the eleventh century were penetrated by a yearning to see the land of their fathers, and their writings are replete with pathetic references to the cradle of their religion. Foremost among these Jewish poets is Jehuda Halevi, who in 1141 left his family and his all behind him and started in the sixtieth year of his life to satisfy his longing. His stormy voyage from Spain to the Levant is described in thrilling lyrical language. Eventually Jehuda landed at Alexandria, where his admirers would fain have detained him, for it was a hazardous undertaking at that time to visit Palestine. Jerusalem was in the hands of the Crusaders, who had massacred the Jewish community when the city was taken in 1099, and but a scant few had since returned. We cannot say with certainty that Jehuda Halevi visited the Holy City, nor do we know the year of his death. But we do know that his last days were spent in the north of Palestine. There is a legend that he was trodden to death by a Mohammedan horseman as he was uttering his well-known Ode to Zion. I shall have occasion to refer to his burial place further on.

The first mediæval Jewish writer of whose travels we possess a detailed record is Benjamin ben Jonah, of Tudela. He proceeded in the year 1160 from Spain, through France, Italy, and Greece, to Constantinople. Thence he visited Syria, and Palestine, as well as Persia, and returned to Spain in 1173 by way of Egypt and Sicily.

A. Asher, the well-known publisher, issued the Hebrew text of Benjamin's account of his travels, with an English translation, in the year 1840, and supplied also voluminous notes to which Dr. Zunz and other Jewish savants contributed. Dr. Zunz maintains Benjamin's accuracy as regards all which he professed to have seen. Benjamin subjoins, however, hearsay information as to Khorassan, India, China, and other distant places, but in most of these cases he adds the words "I have heard" and not "I have seen," and such statements must be accepted with reserve.

The travels of Benjamin have been translated into various languages. All the editions hitherto published seem to be based upon the Editio Princeps which appeared in the year 1543 at Constantinople, but which is far from correct. In the year 1865 the British Museum acquired a manuscript which, although somewhat defective in parts, in consequence of damp, gives improved readings in many cases.

The itinerary of Benjamin deserves careful perusal, as it shows that the writer, considering the age in which he lived, was a man of exceptional enlightenment. Many a passage throws light upon the commercial relations subsisting between the principal nations of his time, and the information he gives about Palestine is specially interesting. I propose to give copious extracts from the manuscript in the British Museum, omitting minor details.


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290 The preface runs as follows:—"This is a book of travels which was compiled by Rabbi Benjamin, the son of Jonah, of the country of Navarre.

"The said Rabbi Benjamin set forth from Tudela, his native city, and passed through many countries, as is related in his book. In every place where he entered he made a record of all that he saw, or was told of by trustworthy persons—matters not previously heard of in Spain. He gave an account of some of the sages and illustrious men residing in each place. He brought this book with him on his return to the country of Castile, in the year 4933 (a.d. 1173). The said Rabbi Benjamin was a wise and understanding man, learned in the written and the oral law, and wherever we have tested his statements we have found them consistent and true to fact."

The book commences as follows:—"I journeyed from my native town to the city of Saragossa, and thence by the way of the River Ebro to Tortosa. From there I went a journey of two days to the ancient city of Tarragona, which was built by the giant sons of Greece. And there is not found the like thereof among any of the buildings of the country of Spain. It is situate by the sea, and is distant two days' journey from the city of Barcelona.... To this city there come for the purpose of traffic merchants from every part, from the land of Greece, from Pisa and Genoa, from Sicily, and from Alexandria of Egypt, also from the land of Israel, and from Africa and all its coasts. From Barcelona it is a journey of a day-and-a-half to Gerona, which contains a small congregation of Jews. Thence it is a journey of three days to Narbonne. This city is pre-eminent for learning, and from it the law goes forth to all lands. In it there dwell great sages and illustrious men, at whose head is Rabbi Kalonymos, the son of the great prince, Rabbi Todros, who is of the seed of the house of David, as is proved by his genealogy. He holds from the lords of the city large estates, of which nobody has the power to dispossess him.... Marseilles is a great city of traffickers on the sea-coast, and from there men proceed in ships to the city of Genoa, which is situate on the coast, being four days' journey by sea.... Genoa is surrounded by walls, and no king governs it, but it is ruled by judges whom the people set over themselves, according to their choice. Each house has its tower, and in times of dissension the people fight with each other from the tops of these towers. They are masters of the sea, and build ships that are styled 'galleys' which go forth to make raids as far as Greece and Sicily, and they bring back to Genoa the spoil they have taken. They are at war with the men of Pisa, and between the two cities is a distance of two days' journey. Pisa is a very large city containing about 10,000 houses with towers, used for purposes of fighting in time of civil war. All its people are men of valour, and no king or prince rules over them, but they are governed by judges whom they appoint over themselves home is a great city, the capital of Christendom. The 200 Jews who live there are honoured and pay tribute to no one. Some of them are in the service of the Pope Alexander, who is at the head of


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Rh the Christian Church. Rabbi Jechiel is an officer of the Pope; he is a handsome, discreet, and wise young man, and acts as steward of the Pope's household. The River Tiber divides Rome into two parts. On one side thereof is situate the great cathedral of St. Peter, and also the palace of Julius Cæsar the Great. The city contains numerous structures which are altogether different from any other buildings in the world. . . . . At San Giovanni Laterano, one can see two brass columns from the Holy Temple, of the work of King Solomon, and on each is to be found engraved the name of Solomon, the son of David. The Jews of Rome told me that every year on the ninth day of Ab, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, sweat oozes from the pillars as water spilt on the ground. Moreover, there is a cave there in which Titus, the son of Vespasian, deposited the vessels of the Temple, which he brought from Jerusalem Sorrento was built by Zir, the son of Hadad, who fled thither through fear of King David. The sea has encroached on it, and divided it, as it were, into two parts, and to the present day one can see the submerged buildings and towers of the city. A fountain wells forth from underground, and an oil called petroleum is collected from the surface of the water, and is used for medicinal purposes. There are also baths of hot water which bubbles forth from the earth. Twenty of these baths are by the sea, and anyone who is afflicted with disease bathes therein, and finds healing and relief At Trani, by the sea-shore, the Christians assemble to embark for Jerusalem, for the harbour there is a very safe one Thebes is a flourishing town where about 2,000 Jews live. They are excellent workmen, and skilled in making garments of silk and purple The people of Wallachia are fleet as the hart; they descend the mountains to pillage and plunder the land of Greece. No man can stand against them, and no king can subdue them. Some say that they are of Jewish origin, and they call the Jews their brethren. Moreover, though they may despoil the Jews, yet they do not slay them as they slay the Greeks. They are subject to no law.

"Constantinople is the metropolis of the Greek Empire. This is the residence of the Emperor Manuel. Twelve princes rule the empire under him, and each has a palace in Constantinople The city of Constantinople is 18 miles in circumference. It is situated by two inlets of the sea, one issuing from the Russian Sea and the other from the Mediterranean, and it is a city of great bustle and traffic. Merchants come from Babylon and from the land of Shinar, the land of the Medes and Persians, the kingdom of Egypt, the land of Canaan, the kingdom of Russia, Hungary, Patzinakia, and Slavonia, Lombardy, and Spain. It is a city of great traffic, and is full of merchandise brought thither from all countries by sea and by land. There is not the like of it in any country, except the great city of the Arabs, Bagdad. The church of St. Sophia is under the authority of the patriarch of the Greeks, since the Greeks do not acknowledge the Pope of Rome. It contains as many altars as there are days in the year, and the wealth of the church exceeds that of any in the


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Rh world. Close to the palace is a structure called the Hippodrome, and great festivities are held there on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus the Nazarene. Various feats of jugglery are performed in the presence of Cæsar and his queen. Lions, bears, and other animals are brought into the place and engage in combat with one another. Such sport is not seen in any other country Great are the resources of the land; the annual revenue derived from letting the markets and bazaars alone amounts to 20,000 gold pieces. The men of the country are very rich, and go about dressed in garments of silk embroidered with gold, and the wise men are well versed in the books of the Greeks, and they sit each under his vine and under his fig-tree. The people are, however, effeminate, and lack the strength to ward off an enemy; accordingly they hire men from other lands (whom they call barbarians) to light their battles with the Sultan, the ruler of the Turks The Greek Empire reaches as far as Malmistras, which is Tarshish, situated by the sea. Thence it is two days' journey to Antioch the Great, situated on the banks of the River Pur (Orontes), which flows from the Lebanon and the land of Chamath. The city lies by a lofty mountain, which is compassed by a wall. At the top of the mount there is a well, from which a man, appointed for that purpose, directs the water, by means of 20 subterranean passages, to the houses of the great men of the city. The other part of the city is surrounded by the river. It is a strongly fortified city under the sway of Prince Boemond Poitevin, surnamed le Baube, and ten Jews dwell there engaged in glass-making. Thence it is a two-days' journey to Lega, which is Latakia. . . . . Two days' journey from this place brings one to Gæbal, which is Baal-gad, at the foot of the Lebanon. In this district there dwells a people known as the Assassins. They do not believe in the religion of the Mohammedans, but follow one of themselves, whom they regard as their prophet, and all that he tells them to do they carry out, whether for life or for death; they call him the Sheik-al-Hasissim, and he is known as their Elder. At his word these mountaineers so out and come in. Their principal seat is Kadmus, which is Kedemoth, in the land of Sihon. They are faithful to each other, but a source of terror to their neighbours, killing even kings if told to do so. The extent of their land is eight days' journey, and they are at war with the Christians, who are called the Franks, and with the ruler of Tripoli, which is Tarablous-el-Sham. At Tripoli in years gone by there was an earthquake which caused the death of over 20,000 people. From Tripoli it is one day's journey to the other Gelial (Byblus), which is on the border of the Children of Amnion and is now under the sway of the Genoese, the name of the governor being Guillelmus Embriacus. Here are found the remains of a temple containing an idol, formerly worshipped by the Ammonites, made of stone overlaid with gold, with a female figure at each side thereof and an altar in front. From Gebal it is two days' journey to Beyrout, the Beeroth of Scripture. A day's journey thence takes one to Saida, the Sidon of old. Ten miles therefrom is a people who are at war with the


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Rh men of Sidon. They are called Druses, and are pagans and of a lawless character. They inhabit the mountains and the clefts of the rocks and are steeped in vice—brothers marrying sisters and fathers their daughters. They also believe that at the time when the soul leaves the body it passes, in the case of a good man, into the body of a new-born child, and in the case of a bad man into the body of an ass or a dog. Jews dwell not in their midst, but Jew handicraftsmen and dyers come amongst them for the sake of trade, as they are fond of the Jews. The Druses are swift of foot and no one can prevail against them.

"From Sidon it is half a day's journey to Sarepta. Thence—one day's journey—to New Tyre, which is a fine city, its harbour being in the midst of the city; at night, those that levy dues throw iron chains from tower to tower, so that neither ships nor men can issue forth. … There dwell there about 500 Jews, who have ships of their own. They are the manufacturers of the Tyrian glass-ware, which is prized in all countries. In the vicinity is found the beautiful purple used for dyeing purposes, and people come from afar to obtain it. From the walls of New Tyre, at a distance of a stone's throw, one can see Old Tyre, which the sea has covered up, and if one goes forth in a ship, the old towers, markets, streets, and palaces in the bed of the sea are discernible. New Tyre is a busy commercial centre to which merchants flock from all places. One day's journey brings one to Acre, formerly Acco, which is on the borders of Asher. It is the commencement of the land of Israel proper. It is situated by the Great Sea and possesses a large harbour, which is the landing place for all the Christians who travel to Jerusalem by ship. Close to it runs the River Kedumim. … Three parasangs thence take one to Khaifa, which is Hachepher, by the borders of the sea, and on the other side is Mount Carmel, at the foot of which there are many Jewish graves. On the mountain is the cave of Elijah, where the Christians have erected a structure called St. Elias. On the top of the mountain can be recognised the overthrown altar which Elijah repaired in the days of Ahab. The site of the altar is circular, about four cubits in extent, and at the foot of the mountain the River Kishon flows. Four parasangs thence bring one to Capernaum (which is the village of Nahum), identical with Maon, the home of Nabal the Carmelite. Six parasangs from there is Cesarea, the Gath of the Philistines, where 200 Jews and 200 Cuthæans (Samaritans) dwell. It is a fair city situated by the sea, deriving its name from Cæsar. Thence it is half a day's journey to Kakon, the K'eilah of Scripture. Thence half a day's journey to St. George, which is Lud. Thence it is one day's journey to Sebaste, the


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Rh Samaria of old, where the nuns of the palace of Ahab, the son of Omri, can be seen. It was formerly a well fortified city by the mountain side, containing springs of water; the land is a land of brooks of water, gardens, vineyards, and olive groves, but no Jew dwells there. Thence it is two parasangs to Nablous, which is Shechem in Mount Ephraim,-where no Jews reside. It is situated in the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and contains about 1,000 Cuthæans, who observe the written law of Moses alone, and are called Samaritans. They have priests whom they style Aaronites, and the latter intermarry not with the Cuthæans, but wed amongst each other. These priests offer sacrifices and burnt offerings in their place of assembly on Mount Gerizim, according to what is written in their law—'And thou shalt set the blessing upon Mount Gerizim.' They say that this is the proper site of the Sanctuary, and there on Passover and the other festivals they offer up burnt offerings on the altar, which is built of the stones which Joshua and the children of Israel set up when they crossed the Jordan. They claim to be descended from the tribe of Ephraim, and in their midst is the grave of Joseph the son of Jacob, as it is written, 'And the bones of Joseph which the Children of Israel brought up from Egypt they buried in Shechem.' Their alphabet does not contain the three letters (He),  (Heth), and  ('Ain). They lack the dignity, kindliness, and humility which distinguished Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob respectively, virtues denoted by these three letters. In place of these they make use of the Aleph, by which we can tell that they are not of the seed of Israel. They guard themselves carefully against defilement caused by contact with the dead or with graves. Before going to their place of worship they divest themselves of the garments which they wear by day, bathe, and put on fresh clothes. On Mount Gerizim are fountains and gardens, but Mount Ebal is barren, and between them in the valley lies the city of Shechem. From the latter place it is a distance of four parasangs to Mount Gilboa, which the Christians call Mont Gilboa; it lies in a dry district. Thence five parasangs to a village where there are no Jews Thence two parasangs to the valley of Ajalon, which the Christians call Val-de-luna. At a distance of one parasang is Maria-le-grand, which is Gibeon-the-great. From there it is three parasangs to Jerusalem, which is a small city fortified by three walls. It is full of people whom the Arabs style Jacobites, Armenians, Greeks, Georgians, Franks—people of all tongues. It contains a dyeing-house for which the Jews pay an annual rent to the king on condition that they alone shall be allowed to engage in dyeing there. Two hundred Jews dwell in one corner of the city under the Tower of David. The lower portion of the wall of the Tower of David to the extent of about 10 cubits is part of the ancient foundation set up by our ancestors, the remaining portion having been built by the Arabs. There is no structure in the whole city stronger than the Tower of David. The city also contains two buildings, from one of which, the hospital (hospice), there issue forth 400 knights and therein all the sick who come thither are


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Rh lodged and cared for. The other building is called Templum Salamonis, which is the palace built by Solomon, the King of Israel. Three hundred knights issue forth therefrom every day for military exercise, besides the knights who come from the land of the Franks and other parts of Christendom, having taken upon themselves to serve there a year or two until their vow is fulfilled. In the great church called the Sepulchre is the burial place of Jesus, unto which the Christians make pilgrimages.

"Jerusalem has four gates, namely, the Gate of Abraham, the Gate of David, the Gate of Zion, and the Gate Gushpat which is the Gate of Jehosaphat, in front of our ancient sanctuary called Templum Domini. Upon this site Omar-ben-Al-Khataab erected a very large and magnificent cupola, into which none of the Gentiles brings any image or effigy, merely coming there to pray. In front of this place is the western wall, which is one of the walls of the Holy of Holies. This is called the Gate of Mercy, and thither come all the Jews to pray before the wall of the court. There are also in Jerusalem, in the house which belonged to Solomon, the stables built by him, forming a very substantial structure composed of large stones, the like of which is not to be seen anywhere in the land. There is also visible there up to this day the pool where the priests used to slaughter the sacrifices, and people coming thither from Juda write their names upon the wall. The Gate of Jehosaphat leads to the valley of Jehosaphat, which is the gathering-place of nations {cf. Ezekiel xx, 35), the site of the pillar called Absalom's Monument and of the grave of Uzziah, the king. In the neighbourhood is also the great spring known as the Pool of Siloam, which runs into the brook of Kidron. Above the fountain is a large structure, dating from the time of our ancestors; but little water is found at the spring, and most of the people of Jerusalem drink the rain-water, which they collect in cisterns in their houses. From the valley of Jehosaphat one ascends the Mount of Olives, whence one can see the sea of Sodom, and two parasangs from the sea of Sodom is the Pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned; the sheep lick it continually, but afterwards it regains its original shape. The whole land of the round plain and the valley of Shittim as far as Mount Nebo are visible.

"In front of Jerusalem is Mount Zion on which there is no building except a place of worship belonging to the Christians. Fronting Jerusalem there are three sepulchres belonging to the Israelites (for in the days of old they buried their dead in caves) and upon each of these sepulchres there is a façade, but the Christians destroy them, employing the stones thereof in building their houses. Towards Zelzach is the boundary of Benjamin. Surrounding Jerusalem are high mountains.

"On Mount Zion are the graves of the House of David and of the kings that came after him. The site cannot, however, be identified, inasmuch as 15 years ago a wall of the church on Mount Zion fell in and the patriarch commanded the superintendent to restore the church, saying to him: 'Use the stones of the old wall of Zion for the building of the church '; and he did so. He hired about 20 workmen at fixed


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Rh wages, who brought the stones from the base of the wall of Zion. Among these men were two friends who were confederates, and on a certain day the one entertained the other; after their meal they returned to their work, when the superintendent said to them: 'Why have you tarried'? 'They answered:' Why need you complain! When our mates go to their meal we will do our work. 'When the dinner-time arrived and their fellow-workmen had gone to their meal, they removed the stones and discovered the entrance to the cave. Thereupon one said to the other:' Let us go in and see if any money is to be found there! 'They entered the cave and found a chamber resting upon pillars of marble overlaid with silver and gold. In front was a chamber of gold and a sceptre and crown. This was the sepulchre of King David. On the left thereof was the sepulchre of King Solomon in like fashion. And then followed the sepulchres of all the kings that were buried there belonging to the kings of Judah. Closed coffers were also there, the contents of which no man knows. The two men essayed to enter the chamber when a fierce wind came forth from the entrance and smote them. They fell to the ground like dead men, and there they lay until evening. And there came another wind crying like a human voice:' Arise and come forth from this place.' So the men hastily went forth in terror and they came unto the patriarch and related these facts to him. Thereupon the patriarch sent for Rabbi Abraham, the pious recluse of Constantine, who was one of the mourners of Jerusalem, and to him he related all these things according to the report of the two men who had come from the cave. Then Rabbi Abraham replied: 'These are the sepulchres of the House of David belonging to the Kings of Judah, and to-morrow let us enter the cave, I and you and these men, and find out what is to be seen there.' And on the morrow they sent for the two men and found each of them lying upon his bed terror-stricken. The men said: 'We will not enter there, for the Lord does not desire that any man should see the place.' Then the patriarch gave orders that the place should be closed up and hidden from the sight of man unto this day. All this was told me by the said Rabbi Abraham.

"From Jerusalem two parasangs bring one to Bethlehem, and close thereto is the pillar of Rachel's grave at the parting of the way. The pillar is made up of eleven stones corresponding with the number of the sons of Jacob. Upon it is a cupola resting on four pillars, and all the Jews that pass by carve their names upon the pillar. At Bethlehem there are two Jew dyers. It is a land of brooks of water, and contains wells and fountains. At a distance of six parasangs from Bethlehem is Hebron. The Hebron of old is in ruins, and in the valley is the cave of Machpelah, where there is a great church called St. Abraham. Whilst the Arabs held the place the Jews had on this spot a house of worship, and the Gentiles made there six graves, respectively called those of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, and they tell the Christians that these are the graves of the patriarchs, whereupon they receive offerings of money. But when a Jew comes there who gives


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Rh largesse, the keeper of the cave opens unto him a gate of iron which was made in the days of our ancestors, and then he is able to descend below by means of steps, holding a lighted candle in his hand. He then reaches a cave in which nothing is to be found, and a cave beyond which is also empty; but in a third cave the visitor comes upon the veritable six graves of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah, one facing the other. They bear an inscription as follows: 'This is the grave of Abraham,' 'This is the grave of Isaac,' &c. A lamp burns in the cave over the graves day and night, and one finds there casks full of the bones of Israelites, as the members of the house of Israel were wont to bring the bones of their fathers thither and they deposited them there to this day.

"Outside the field of Machpelah is the house of Abraham, and there is a well in front of the house, but out of reverence for the patriarch Abraham no one is allowed to build in the neighbourhood.

"From Hebron, at a distance of five parasangs, is Beit Jibrin, which is Mareshah, where there are but three Jews; proceeding three parasangs beyond, you reach St. Samuel of Shiloh. This is the Shiloh which is two parasangs from Jerusalem.

"When the Christians captured Ramleh, the Ramah of old, from the Arabs, they found there the grave of Samuel the Ramathite close to a Jewish synagogue. The Christians took the remains, conveyed them unto Shiloh, and erected over them a large church, which they call St. Samuel of Shiloh unto this day. At a distance of three parasangs you reach Maroumrih-la-petita, which is the Hill of Saul, and is identical with the Gibeah of Benjamin. Three parasangs beyond you come to Beth-nubi, which is Nob, the city of the priests, and halfway are the two crags, the name of the one being Bozez and the name of the other Seneh. Two Jew dyers dwell at Nob.

"Three parasangs beyond you reach Rams, which is Ramah, containing remains of walls from the days of our fathers, as is found written on the stones. Three hundred Jews dwell here. It was formerly a large city, and has a large Jewish cemetery, situate at a distance of two miles from the town. At a distance of five parasangs is Joppa, the Jaffa of old, situated by the sea, where one Jew dyer lives. Five parasangs' journey takes one to Ibelin, which is Jabneh, formerly the seat of the Jewish Academy, but no Jews dwell there now. Thus far extends the territory of Ephraim.

"Five parasangs beyond is the site of Palmid, which is Ashdod of the Philistines, and which lies in ruins. No Jews dwell here. Two parasangs further bring one to Ascalon. This is the New Ascalon, which Ezra, the priest, built. It is on the sea shore, and was first called B'ne-berak; it is situated at a distance of fouir parasangs from ancient Ascalon, which is now in ruins. New Ascalon is a large and fine city, whither people come for traffic from all places, as it is not far from the frontier of Egypt. Two hundred Rabbanite Jews dwell there, also 40 Karaites together with Cuthæans (Samaritans) to the number of three


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Rh hundred. In the midst of the city there is a well which they call Bir-Ibrahim, and which was dug in the days of the Philistines.

"A day's journey brings you to St. George, which is Lud. From there it is a journey of a day and a half to Zerin, which is Jezreel, where there is a large well. One Jew, a dyer, dwells there. Three parasangs further take you to Sefuriyeh, which is Sepphoris, the burial-place of Rabbenu Hakodesh (R. Jehuda Ha-nasi), of Rabban Gamaliel, of Rabbi Chija (who came up from Babylon), and of Jonah, the son of Amittai. These are buried on the mount. Numerous graves of other Israelites are also found there. Five parasangs further bring you to Tiberias, situated on that part of the Jordan which is called the Sea Kinnēreth. Here the Jordan flows into a valley enclosed by two mountains, which it fills, forming Lake Kinnēreth—which is really the river, great and wide like the sea. The Jordan, after flowing between the two mountains, pours down into the land of the Round Plain unto a place called the Slopes of Pisgah, whence it falls into the Sea of Sodom, called the Salt Sea. And at Tiberias there are about 50 Jews and here are the hot waters bubbling up from beneath the earth, which they call the Hot Springs of Tiberias. Close by is the Synagogue of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, with the graves of Israelites, including that of Rabbi Jochanan-ben-Zacchai and Rabbi Jehuda Halevi All these are in Lower Galilee.

"Two days' journey brings one to Teimin, which is Timnatha, where Simon the Just and many other Israelites are buried. Three parasangs further to Merun, which is Meiron. In a cave in the neighbourhood are the graves of Hillel and Shammai, also 20 graves of their disciples, and the graves of Rabbi Benjamin-bar-Jepheth, and of Rabbi Jehuda-ben-Bethera. Two parasangs further you come to Alma, with 50 Jewish inhabitants, and a large Jewish cemetery. Here are buried R. Eleazer-ben-Arach, R. Eleazer-ben-Azariah, R. Chouni Hamaagal, R. Simeon-ben-Gamaliel, and R. Jose, the Galilean. It is half a day's journey to Kadesh, of Naphtali, on the banks of the Jordan, where the tomb of Barak, the son of Abinoam, is to be found. No Jews dwell there.

"Thence it is a day's journey to Banias, which is Dan, where there is a cavern, whence the Jordan issues, flowing for a distance of 3 miles. The Arnon, coming from the borders of Moab, falls into it. In front of the cavern may be discerned the site of the altar associated with the graven image of Micah, which the Children of Dan worshipped in ancient days. This is also the site of the altar of Jeroboam, where the golden calf was set up. Thus far reaches the boundary of the land of Israel, at the side of the Western Sea.


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Rh "Two days' journey brings one to Damascus, the great city, which is the extremity of the dominion of Nor-al-din, the King of the Togarmim, called Turks. It is a fair city of large extent surrounded by walls, with many gardens and parks, extending over 15 miles, and no more fruitful district can be seen in all the land. From Mount Hermon descend the rivers Amana and Pharpar, for the city is situated at the foot of Mount Hermon. The River Amana flows through the city, and by means of aqueducts the water is conveyed to the houses of the wealthier inhabitants, and into the streets and market places. The Pharpar flows through their gardens and parks. . ..

"Baal-bec, which is on an incline of the Lebanon range, is the Baalath, which Solomon built for Pharaoh's daughter. The palaces are formed of huge stones each 20 spans in length and 12 in breadth, and there are no interstices between the stones, and it is said that no one but Asmodeus could have put such a building together. At Tadmor, in the wilderness, which Solomon built, are likewise found buildings composed of enormous stones."

Benjamin then gives a circumstantial account of various places in Babylon, and he dwells more especially upon the beauties of the city of Bagdad, bestowing high praise upon the Caliph Emir-al-Mumenin al 'Abassi, and giving a full description of the public appearance of the Caliph during Ramadan. He then proceeds to describe the status of the Jewish community at Bagdad, and enlarges upon the great respect shown to Daniel, the chief of the captivity, who traced his descent back to David. When paying a visit to the Caliph, this Jewish prince is the only one allowed to sit by the side of the Caliph, in obedience to the injunction of Mohammed, who wished full effect to be given to the Scriptural passage, "And the sceptre shall not depart from Judah."

In the neighbourhood of Babylon, Benjamin states, are to be seen the remains of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but people are afraid to go there on account of the multitude of serpents and scorpions. A synagogue, stated to have been built by Daniel, was still used in Benjamin's time as a place for prayer; as was also the synagogue of Ezekiel, the prophet, near the River Euphrates. The tomb of the latter and the tombs of other Jewish notabilities, to which the Jews made periodical visits, were duly pointed out to the traveller.

Benjamin next gives an account of what happened to the coffin of Daniel, near Shushan. The inhabitants of the two sides of the river could not agree as to who should have charge of the remains of the prophet. In the end it was agreed that they should each have charge of the coffin alternately for a year. The ruler of Persia—Sanjar—thought this derogatory, and it was therefore arranged that the coffin should be suspended over the centre of the river. Rabbi Petachia, who visited the spot a few years after Rabbi Benjamin, gives a similar account, and remarks that the coffin, which was made of burnished copper, looked in the distance lustrous like glass.


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300 Rabbi Benjamin then gives an account of David El-rui who represented himself to be the Messiah. Disraeli's novel "Alroy" is founded upon the details given by Benjamin.

The passages in Benjamin's Diary which refer to the Ten Tribes are fully given by Dr. Neubauer in the articles already referred to (see "Jewish Quarterly Review," vol. 'i, p. 189). Dr. Neubauer's remarks with reference to Prester John will be found of interest.

Benjamin next makes mention of various places in Arabia, Khorassan, Thibet, China, and India, including Ceylon. He then gives a short notice of Aden, Lybia, Æthiopia, Abyssinia, and furnishes fuller details respecting Egypt.

The return home to Spain from Alexandria was made by way of Sicily and Italy. He closes his work with a brief account of Germany, Bohemia, and France.

I may mention that Dr. Steinschneider has drawn up a very complete list of Jewish travellers to Palestine. This list will be found in Luncz's "Jahrbuch Jerusalem," vols, iii and iv, and also in Röhricht's well-known bibliographical work on Palestine.

the very interesting papers by Herr von Schick and Major Conder in the Quarterly Statement for July the swastica is figured on pp. 187 and 206, with brief comments. The form is—

It may not be unimportant, as indicating the wide extension of this primitive type, to say that numbers of them were found in excavating for the Columbian Exposition the Hopewell Mound, in Ohio, U.S.A. In this mound more copper was found than had been obtained from all previously explored mounds, also silver, mica, sharks' teeth, quartz, crystals, and obsidian. The copper had apparently been hammered cold and cut by stone chisels to various forms, prominent among which is the swastica in many sizes, very neatly done. The same has been found in Mexico and Peru. Americans can as yet offer no explanation of this connection between Troy and our aborigines.

2em


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Rh

me to point out a slip which has crept into the last Quarterly Statement, p. 203. χρηστῂ Χαἷρε nothing to do with the word Christ, but is one of the commonest sepulchral formulæ in Greek ("Good friend, farewell"). No doubt the same is true of χρεστέ, on p. 201, but the whole inscription is not given.

2em July 18th, 1894.

author having kindly showed me this paper, and asked me to add any remarks that occurred to me, I venture to make a few, though little can be added to such a scholarly explanation of the Siloam text—a subject never as yet fully treated in the publications of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

The word sense of a "rock cutting," survives to the present day in Palestine, in the term Nukb (masc), for artificial passages cut in cliffs, as will be seen in the Name Lists of the Survey Memoirs.

There can be no doubt that the translation of the sixth line of the inscription is at present very uncertain. It must have recorded something important in connection with the levels or measurements—perhaps the difference of level of the two galleries where they met.

The hieroglyphic origin of the alphabet is not disputed by any scholar. The Egyptian origin was always denied by the late Dr. Robertson Smith, and seems to present many difficulties. All attempts to trace a derivation directly from the Cuneiform have failed, and there only remains one other known source, namely, the hieroglyphic system of Syria, usually called "Hittite." My impression is that this system developed first the syllabary known in Cyprus, and afterwards—either independently or directly—the Syrian Alphabet and the larger Ionian Alphabet, which is closely connected with the Cypriote. This view is supported by the resemblances between and the Cypriote E;  and the Cypriote u;  and the Cypriote Khe;  and the Cypriote Ke;  and the Cypriote Mi;  and the Cypriote â;  and the Cypriote Pe;  and the Cypriote Ra;  and the Cypriote Se.

As regards the hieroglyphic origin, there seems little doubt that Aleph represents a "bull's" head and horns, and the Cuneiform sign noticed by


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302 Mr. Davis (No. 232) is also, in its oldest form, the bull's head. The same sign occurs often on Hittite monuments.

The suggestion as to Gimel is novel, as is also that about Zain (supported by the peculiar form of the letter as appearing on the Siloam text). The sign for Yod, "the open hand," and that for Caph, "the closed hand," both resemble signs used in Hittite. The sign for Resh is also exactly like one of the most peculiar of the Hittite hieroglyphs. These comparisons have the advantage of accounting for the names of the letters, which have never been explained by the theory of Egyptian origin.

July Statement, 1894, contains very valuable papers, and shows continued vitality in the Society.

P. 171. The discoveries on Zion seem to confirm the conjecture that Hadrian's Wall on the south side of Jerusalem followed the old line. I do not think there is any evidence that the Phœnicians used drafted masonry before the Greek period. The "pock-marked" dressing occurs on the later Roman masonry in Palestine, and the stones with rude bosses usually belong to this period. The Jewish masonry of the second century, and of the Herodian period (at 'Arâk el Emîr 170  and at Jerusalem) has drafted stones with the faces carefully finished and flat. The "comb dressing" occurs at Jerusalem but not at 'Arâk el Emîr. There is nothing to surprise us in the discovery of Crusaders' work on Zion, as the great Church of Holy Zion was close by. Mr. Maudslay found a Crusaders' tombstone during the course of his excavations.

P. 172. I think that the pick-marks in the plaster indicate that a finer layer of cement once covered the picked surface. Such is at least often the case in the lining of cisterns, as I have had occasion to notice.

P. 175. if Dr. Bliss carries out excavations at Jericho I hope he will select the months of February and March. The autumn at Jericho is most deadly. There can to my mind be no doubt that the building at Kh. Mefjir is some kind of hospice or monastery. The apse, which now seems to be destroyed, appeared to me to be evidently Norman work of the twelfth century, and I should be inclined to ascribe the ornamentation to about 1130 A.D. Dr. Bliss may be able to compare it with that on the south door of the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre, and in the Church of St. Mary la Grande just opposite. The early Crusaders adopted a semi-Byzantine style, and their Gothic work belongs to the latter half of the twelfth century. The plans of the monasteries at Kasr Hajlah and Kasr el Yehûd may be compared with that of the building at Kh. Mefjir. The ruins at Er Rîha are naturally of twelfth century, since this was the


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Rh Crusaders' site for Jericho, which does not appear, as far as I remember, to be mentioned by the earlier' travellers. Dr. Bliss remarks (p. 181) that the buildings here are of the same date with Kh. Mefjir. Much excavation has been done here since the date of the survey.

Annual Meeting of the General Committee was held at the Office of the Fund, 24, Hanover Square, on Tuesday, July 17th, 1894.

James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., occupied the Chair.

Among those present were Major-General Sir Charles W. Wilson, K.C.B., F.R.S., &c.; Basil Woodd Smith, Esq.; Rev. Vm. Rogers, D.D.; Professor Edward Hull, LL.D., F.R.S.; Rev. A. Löwy, LL.D.; Rev. Canon Dalton, C.M.G.; Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney; Guy le Strange, Esq.; J. Pollard, Esq.; Wm. Simpson, Esq. Rev. W. J. Stracey; &c.

Letters were received from Sir William Q. Ewart, Bart.; Sir William Muir; Major-General Sir F. J, Goldsmid; Colonel Goldsmid; Professor Flinders Petrie; Professor Greenwood; Mr. Walter Besant; Mr. H. H. Bolton; Mr. Geo. F. Watts; Rev. W. F. Birch; Mr. D. Macdonald; and several others, regretting their inability to attend.

The read the following Report of the Executive Committee:—

In resigning the office to which they were appointed at the last Annual Meeting of the Fund, your Executive Committee have the honour to render the following Report of their labours:—

Your Committee have held twenty meetings for the transaction of business, and there have been seven meetings of Sub-committees.

The Firman for excavating at Tell el Hesy having expired, a new Firman for excavating at Jerusalem was applied for, and has been granted by the Sublime Porte.

Mr. Bliss having been much strengthened in health by a stay of some months in England, returned in the autumn of last year to Palestine, and is now engaged in carrying on excavations outside the southern wall of Jerusalem with the view of ascertaining whether any remains of the ancient wall or gates of the city exist there.

He began work outside the English burial ground, at the point where Mr. Henry Maudslay, M. Inst. C.E., left off in the year 1875. It was then supposed that the great heap of rubbish lying there covered the foundations of a tower; to prove this, Mr. Bliss opened up a trench, and found the southern and eastern sides of the tower, formed of a scarped rock with several courses of drafted masonry resting on it. He will


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Rh endeavour to ascertain where the 32 steps discovered by Sir Charles Warren lead to; he has already traced the scarped rock and counterscarp for a considerable distance, and during these operations, coins. Mosaic pavement, Roman tiles, potsherds, &c., were found.

A detailed report (the first), with plan of the excavations, will be found in the current Quarterly Statement.

Whilst awaiting the arrival of the new Firman, Mr. Bliss made journeys to the north of Palestine and to the Plain of Jericho, and has furnished an account of the Castle of Fukhiedeen Ma'an, near Sidon, besides reports, with plans, of an ancient building, partly unearthed lately, called Kh. el Mefjir, and of the various mounds at Kh. Jiljulieh (Gilgal).

Although laid by for several weeks with severe illness, Herr Baurath von Schick has still been able to pursue his researches, and has sent in several contributions of great interest with reference to the Antiquities of Jerusalem; the Archæological Collection of Baron Ustinoff at Jaffa; &c.

The Rev. J. E. Hanauer has contributed observations on the Crusading Churches of St. Martin and St. John the Evangelist, at Jerusalem; on "Bether"; on a curious chamber cut in a fragment of rock in Wady Haluleh; and other matters.

On May the 8th, of this year, a lecture on "Future Researches in Palestine" was delivered by Major Conder, R.E., at the Westminster Town Hall, to a large and distinguished audience. H.R.H. the Duke of York presided, and spoke in high terms of the past achievements of the Fund, and warmly commended its objects as being worthy of everybody's assistance.

A series of lectures in connection with the Fund was again delivered in Jerusalem during the tourist season this year, and was much appreciated, the lecturers being the Rev. Canon Tristram, the Rev. A. H. Kelk, the Rev, J. Zeller, the Rev. J. E. Hanauer, and Dr. Bliss.

Mr. Philip J. Baldensperger has contributed a further and very valuable set of answers to the questions issued by the Fund on the Manners and Customs of the Peasants of Palestine.

Your Chairman, after completing the ten years tabulated records of meteorological observations recorded at Sarona, near Jaffa, began those taken at Jerusalem, for the greater part under the immediate supervision of Dr. Chaplin, during the last 32 years. It is interesting to note that the average annual rainfall at Jerusalem during the last 16 years has been no less than 5·94 inches greater than in the previous 16 years.

The publications of the year have been:—


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Rh

The Raised Map is attracting great attention, and it is difficult to supply promptly all the orders that come in for it.

The following are some of the principal papers which have been contributed to the Quarterly Statements since the last Annual Meeting:—

 By Herr Baurath von Schick—

"Old Jerusalem an exceptional City"; "St. Martin's Church at Jerusalem"; "Tabitha Ground at Jaffa"; "Baron Ustinoff's Collection of Antiquities at Jaffa"; "Excavations on the Rocky Knoll North of Jerusalem"; "Tabitha's Tomb and St. Peter's Church at Jaffa"; "The Jerusalem Cross"; &c.

By F. J. Bliss, Ph.D., M.A.—

"The Recent Pilgrimage to Jerusalem"; "The Church (that once stood) over Jacob's Well"; "A Lebanon Cliff Castle"; "Marble Fragment from Jebail"; "Excavations at Jerusalem"; and "Notes on the Plain of Jericho."

By Philip J. Baldensperger—

"Religion of the Fellahin"; "Orders of Holy Men in Palestine"; "Birth, Marriage, and Death among the Fellahin."

By the Rev. Canon Curtis, M.A., of Constantinople—

"The Sidon Sarcophagi." With reproduction of the photographs of these remarkable monuments, by permission of His Excellency Hamdi Bey, Director of the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople.

By M. Th. Barrois—

"On the Depth and Temperature of the Sea of Galilee."

By James Glaisher, F.R.S.—

"On the Fall of Rain at Jerusalem in the 32 years from 1861-1892"; "Meteorological Reports from Jerusalem for years 1883-1886."

By the Rev. J. E. Hanauer—

"The Churches of St. Martin's and St. John the Evangelist"; "Notes on the Skull Hill"; "The Ruin of the Jews near Bether"; "Stone and Pottery Masks found in Palestine"; "A Legend of Il Hakim."

By Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E.—

Palestine under the Crusaders"; "The Jews under Rome"; "The City of Sehlala"; "Greek Inscriptions in Western Palestine"; "Notes on the Cross," &c.


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306

 By Samuel Bergheim, Esq.—

"Land Tenure in Palestine."

By Charles Fox, M.R.C.S., F.S.S.—

"Circle and Serpent Antiquities."

By Professor Clermont-Ganneau—

"Ancient Weight found at Gaza "; "Inscription on the Monument of Red Stone with Reclining Figure."

By Oldfield Thomas—

"Remarks on a Metal Mouse from Baron Ustinoff s Collection."

By Dr. Murray—

"Note on Inscription found at Tabitha."

By the Rev. A. A. Isaacs, M.A.—

"The Site of Calvary."

By the Rev. W. F. Birch—

"Zion (or Acra), Gihon, and Millo."

Correspondence respecting the Hæmatite Weight brought by Dr. Chaplin from Samaria (a reprint from the "Academy").

Since the last Annual Meeting the following gentlemen have kindly consented to act as Honorary Local Secretaries:—

Your Committee have pleasure in again recording their best thanks to their Honorary Secretaries for services rendered so cheerfully without any remuneration whatever.

The number of new members who have become Annual Subscribers during the last twelve months is 259. The number who have been taken off through death and other causes is 137, leaving an increase of new members 122.


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Rh Your Committee record with regret the deaths of the following members of the General Committee:—

Your Committee have pleasure in proposing that the following gentlemen be elected members of the General Committee:—

The following is the balance sheet which was published in the April Quarterly Statement:—


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308


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Rh —Before asking gentlemen to make any remarks upon this Report, I cannot but express my own gratification—and I am sure that I am expressing that of all those present—that a new page has at last been turned over at Jerusalem, so that we may hope that much which has been hidden from us for so long may now soon be brought to light. Up to the present we have, as you have heard, found a portion of the old wall of Jerusalem which had hitherto been hidden, and have followed for a considerable distance the scarp and counterscarp situated south of the present city wall, in the course of which excavations coins and pottery, Mosaic pavements, and chambers have been discovered, and I hope we are on the way to make further important discoveries. I will now ask if anyone has any remarks to make upon the Report which has just been read.

—I have very great pleasure in rising to move that the Report which we have just heard, together with the statement of accounts, be adopted. I am sure we have all listened with great interest to the statement which has been made by our esteemed Assistant Secretary, recording the valuable labours of the Executive Committee, to whom the members of the Society owe a deep debt of gratitude. I am sure we all join in the congratulations of our Chairman that the Firman has at length been granted, by which the labours of the Society can be turned more especially in the direction of excavation about the city of Jerusalem—the centre around which the chief interest of the Society lies. I was much interested in that portion of the Report which refers to the increase of rainfall at Jerusalem during the last 16 years, which you, Mr. Chairman, have worked out so carefully. It just struck me whether this might not possibly be a permanent increase of rain. We know that in Egypt—I suppose in consequence of the opening of the Canal and for other reasons—there has been an increase of rainfall. I believe I am speaking correctly, although I do not know it from personal knowledge, but from general information, when I say that there has been a considerable increase of rain in Lower Egypt. Heavy showers are occasionally encountered there. Well, that change in the atmospheric condition may extend to the district about Jerusalem, and possibly with some other physical changes which are gradually taking place, but which we cannot observe, there may be a gradual increase in the precipitation of moisture in that part of the East, which would be very gratifying if it did take place, and which would, of course, bring with it an increase in the productiveness of the country I should be glad to know how often there has been a fall of snow in the winter at Jerusalem during those 16 years, because in the years that I happened to be there, as Mr. Armstrong knows pretty well, we had a fall of snow—I think in January, 1884—of about 2 feet in thickness all over the country round Jerusalem, and we had the curious phenomena of palm trees rising out of a field of snow.

—I shall be very glad to second the reception and adoption of the Report. What strikes me about the General Committee is, that I think it would add very much to the interest taken in