that its waters found a passage beneath the dry bed of the torrent. The Church of the Virgin, by the Garden of Gethsemane, is so far below the present level of the valley, that the descent to it is by sixty steps; and their idea was that this is really the bed of the valley, but that it has been filled up by the ruins of the ancient city thrown down from above'. Beneath these they imagined that the torrent found its way; and Brocardus goes so far as to say that the murmur of its waters might be heard when they had been increased by the winter-rains. It may be remarked, in confirmation of this, that there is a tank of water under this church, and another lower down the valley, near the Pillar of Absalom3. The water in these reservoirs fails during the summer: from whence it would appear that they are filled from the brook when increased by the rains, but are not fed with a constant supply, as is the case with the Bîr Eyûb, which I imagine opens down to the main stream of the torrent.

Dr. Schultz, however, denies that the well itself ever overflows', though if it does not now, it seems clear that it once did, for so testifies a writer cited by Mejred-din 5, who further gives some interesting particulars of this well. "It is constructed," he says, "of large stones, each ten cubits long and four wide, and it is marvellous

how they can have been let down such a depth. It was dug to the depth of 80 cubits in a time of drought; the water is fresh, and at that depth, except in the winter, when it overflows, inundates the valley and turns a mill. I descended into the well, with the labourers, to dig there. I saw the water issue out of a stone nearly two cubits [in diameter ?] There is a cave, the entrance to which is three cubits high and one and a half wide. A very cold wind issues out of this cave. I entered it with a lighted candle, and saw there a grotto, all of stones. I advanced, but the wind which came from it extinguished my candle."

Dr. Schultz maintains that in the overflow the water does not issue from the well-mouth, "but rises from two orifices in the ground near it, in the manner of common springs. One of the places lies more to the east side of the valley, south of the well, the other close to the western valley-wall, still further southward. The former is always the first to flow, but the other does not always follow. In the spring of 1844 it was the reverse. The well which is lowest flowed alone, and that during a short time only, with a small quantity of water." The longest time that they are ever known to flow is two months.

These orifices are probably connected with a passage in the life of S. Saba, which may justly claim insertion in a treatise on the waters of Jerusalem.

During the presidency of John III. a grievous famine afflicted the Holy City for four years. At the commencement of the fifth year the distress was so great that the poor begged their water and died with thirst. Not only were the springs of Siloam and Lucillianæ (Aoukλav@v) dried up, but also the more

distant sources of Colonia and Nephtoa failed. The Patriarch fearing a sedition of the people, went about the moistest spots, digging pits in the hope of finding water; but though many hands were employed, the labour was vain. Descending to the torrent of Siloam near the Column of S. Cosmas, on the road to the great Lavra, he dug to the depth of forty fathoms. No water was found, and great was the grief of the Bishop, especially as the Feast of Dedication was nigh at hand, and a large influx of visitors might be expected. He consulted with a distinguished officer, named Summus, who had heard that a few days before, when the water of one of the monasteries had failed, an abundant rain had been poured out over that monastery alone, (as the dew on Gideon's fleece,) at the prayer of the Abbot. S. Saba was accordingly summoned by the Patriarch, on another pretext, and earnestly importuned to intercede for the people, that the Divine anger might be appeased, and the grievous scourge removed. "Who am I," replied the holy, humble man, "that I should avail to avert the displeasure of God-I that am a weak sinner? specially since the Scripture saith, ‘If he shut up the heaven, who shall open it ?'" (Job xii. 14.) At length being hardly pressed he consented thus far. "Behold, I go to my cell, and in obedience to your Grace, I will supplicate the face of God, for I know that He is compassionate and pitiful, and His mercies are over all His works.' But this shall be a sign to you : if three days pass without rain, know that God has not heard me. Do ye therefore pray also, that my prayer may have confidence." This was on the 3rd of December: on the day following the heat was intolerable, but many workmen laboured at the well until night,

when they left there their tools and baskets, intending to return in the morning. But about the first hour of the night the wind blew up a storm of thunder and lightning, and so heavy a rain fell, that before dawn the aqueducts were filled, and the torrents were streaming in all directions. The deep pit overflowing with water swallowed up not only the scaffolding, tools, and baskets, but the heap of soil that had been dug out from it, at such cost of time and toil, and the place was so levelled as not to be recognized." It is not improbable that the soil, weakened on this occasion, may afford a vent to the swelling waters even to this day 1.

There remains one more pool to be noticed, in the Valley of Hinnom, proceeding up which we pass under Aceldama, or "the Field of Blood," on the left; a spot which was likely to be preserved in memory by its distinctive name and use, the tradition of which reaches back as far as S. Jerome, now authenticated as the Potter's Field by a bed of white clay, still worked3. In its neighbourhood are many other tombs excavated in the rocky wall, in some of which may be seen traces of painting, and inscriptions in Greek and Hebrew, too

1 Sabæ Vita, per Cyrillum. Cotelerii Eccles. Græc. Monument. Vol. III. p. 334.

2 For this and the tombs, see Bib. Res. 1. 523, &c. It should be remarked that this name was also given to another parcel of ground in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It would have prevented confusion if the burial-place had been called "the potter's field," (Matth. xxvii. 3, &c.); the scene of the awful catastrophe recorded in Acts i.

18, 19, "the field of blood." They are supposed to be distinct localities, though both called by a common name. See Dr Robinson's Biblioth. Sacra, Pt. 11. p. 176. The scene of the second event is shewn near Absalom's Hand. Sir J. Maundeville, p. 112, (edit. 1727) notices both. So also does Maundrell, under date April 6, pp. 101, 2.

3 This curious fact was first noted by Dr. Schultz, p. 39. Comp. the plagiarist Krafft, p. 193.

This

much effaced by time to be clearly deciphered. hill, which Dr. Clarke supposed was Mount Sion', is commonly marked as "the Hill of Evil Counsel," so designated from the iniquitous bargain of the traitor Judas, said to have been concluded in the countryhouse of Caiaphas, the ruins of which are still shewn on its summit; and it is a very singular fact that Josephus, in his account of the wall of circumvallation, notices the monument of Ananus the high priest in this neighbourhood, which Ananus is none other than "Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas," and his assessor and adviser in the transactions here referred to. The coincidence is very curious; and Dr. Schultz's identification of the ancient rock-grave, of a higher class, still existing in ruins, with the Monument of Ananus, is a happy confirmation of the accuracy of Josephus and of the authority of the tradition3.

Proceeding now up the Valley of Hinnom, we arrive at the large pool, commonly called "Birket es-Sultan," marked in modern plans as "the Lower Pool of Gihon," without any warrant whatever. It is beyond all doubt an ancient pool, as is proved by a comparison with the Pools of Solomon, South of Bethlehem; being formed, as are they, "by the erection of stone barriers across the valley, squaring the rocky sides, and clearing out

From the fact of some of the tombs bearing the inscription THC AгIAC CION. One would have thought it did not require much erudition to supply HOAITHC, or something equivalent, effaced by time.

2 John xviii. 13. See again Acts iv. 6; Joseph. J. W. v. xii. 2; and

Reland's Catalogue of the High-priests in Whiston, Ant. xx. viii. 5, note. These tombs were mostly in gardens, attached to country-houses; so that Annas, a relative of Caiaphas, may be well supposed to have had a countryhouse on this hill.

3 Jerusalem, p. 39. Comp. p. 72.