the surface of the water and the roof of the passage; and one would think must have felt rather uncomfortable in such a position; but he first measured the passage with his rule, then illuminated it with his spare candles, and having taken a last fond look, left them burning there, and returned to the well to prepare for his ascent. The rope was still there, and the natives above. The signal was given, and he again found himself swinging in mid-air, and in darkness, the candle which he had reserved having been extinguished as before. "His descent had been uniform, but he was necessarily drawn up at intervals, which caused a greater vibration. He spun around the dark vault, striking against one side and another," and was not sorry to find himself again "beneath the open heaven." It is deeply to be regretted that this daring exploit was not attended with better success. Its results are very unsatisfactory to Mr Wolcott himself. He does not imagine that this excavation was originally a well: the artificial recesses and chambers in the rock he thinks are against it. It more nearly resembles some of the sepulchral excavations without the city. The direction of the passage he cannot positively determine, as he had injured his compass in the descent. He thinks it runs eastward in the direction of the Haram; but if so, it stops short of the enclosure 44 feet1. The passage may extend further, the water descending into a lower gallery; if so, it could only be explored when the water is very low. Two English travellers were anxious to attempt this at the end of a dry summer, but no one could be prevailed on to aid the undertaking, and it was abandoned. At that time it was necessary for a man to descend to the well, in order to bring the water from a distance to supply the bath, as the floor of the chamber was dry. A close cross-examination of this man elicited that the water proceeded from an immense reservoir beneath the Haram, but it did not appear that he had penetrated so far. It must be remarked that the water is identical in taste with that of Siloam.

The next fountain I have not seen noticed, and, so far as I know, its existence has not been hitherto known out of Jerusalem. I had heard of a constant and abundant well of water within the precincts of the Church of the Flagellation, close to the Seraiyah, which supplies the Franciscan Monastery during the dryest summer. I visited it on March 13th and 14th, 1843, and obtained the following additional particulars from the monk who had the charge of the premises. The Church is very ancient, but had fallen into ruin, until the Franciscans, about a year and a half before my visit, had procured a firman for its restoration. In the course of the repairs an immense quantity of water was required, and the well in question was exhausted, and cleaned out. In two days it was full again, although it was towards the end of the dry season, before any rain had fallen. When I saw the well there were in it between eight and nine feet of water, which completely filled a cavity in the rock, and came up into its mouth, which was also bored through the rock. The water was almost within arm's reach of the opening, and remarkably clear. The cavity I learnt extends some distance East and West; but as I was disappointed in seeing the man who had been employed to cleanse it, I could not ascertain its nature so exactly as I wished. I tasted the water-it was the water of Siloam.

Thus then we have at these three different points three fountains, without any apparent connexion one with another, all supplied with this peculiar water, utterly unlike any I remember to have tasted in that neighbourhood or elsewhere. I am strongly disposed to conclude, from this fact, that there must be a communication, but how it is very difficult to determine.

The existence of immense reservoirs under the temple-area, is a theory which still requires ocular proof, but is so supported by ancient tradition, that I think it cannot reasonably be doubted. Among the other works of Simon the Just, the son of Onias, about the Temple at Jerusalem, in the reign of Ptolemy Soter of Egypt, we read, "In his days the cistern to receive water, being in compass as the sea, was covered with plates of brass1." During the reign of Soter's successor, Philadelphus, Jerusalem was visited by Aristeas, who has left us a full account of this cistern, or rather series of cisterns, beneath the sacred precincts; and although the account may appear to border somewhat on the fabulous, yet, making considerable allowance for hyperbole both in this and the former passage, it may be admitted as evidence to the existence of large reservoirs in the neighbourhood of the Temple; and there is one very singular coincidence, manifestly undesigned, between this and the fore-cited passage, which is worthy of remark. He states that "a powerful natural spring gushes out copiously and unceasingly from within, and is received into subterranean reservoirs, the extent of which is surprizing and beyond description, to the circumference of five stadia about the Temple. They are connected by numberless pipes, through which the waters flow from one to another. There are above frequent hidden apertures to these depths, known only to those employed at the sacrifices, through which the water, gushing out with force, washes off all the blood of the numerous victims. The reservoirs have their floors and sides cased with lead, and are covered over with a quantity of earth." It is highly probable that by the lead of Aristeas is intended the brass, with which, according to the Son of Sirach, Onias had cased the "cistern, which was in compass as the sea;" a work which would be fresh in the memory of the Jews at the period of his visit. And there is an incidental remark in this curious passage that may serve to explain the silence of Josephus, which is certainly a perplexing difficulty. The secret of these extraordinary water-works, it appears, was known only to the officiating priests. It may have been a point of religion with the Jews to maintain reserve on this subject, especially in the circumstances under which Josephus was writing. The descriptions of Timochares, of the Surveyor of Syria, and of Philo, all cited by Eusebius1, speaking of copious streams watering the city and gardens, and of enormous cisterns and canals, strikingly confirm the account of Aristeas, though they do not connect the fountain immediately with the Temple. The traditional notices of the Waters of the Temple preserved in the Mishna are very numerous, but not so clear as could be desired. We collect from them that there were baths for the purifications of the priests, both within and without the holy place, constantly supplied with running streams of water from the fountain of Etam, of which we shall hear more presently.

The High-priest's bath within the sacred precinct was situated on the roof of the house of Happarvah,

1 Præp. Evang. Lib. ix. capp. xxxv-xxxvii. Timochares is cited below, p. 478 note 2. The Surveyor witnesses, ὑπάρχειν πηγὴν ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ, ὕδωρ δαψιλὲς ἀναβλύζουσαν. Philo adds a peculiarity, ταύτην τὴν κρήνην ἐν μὲν τῷ χειμῶνι ξηραίνεσθαι, ἐν δὲ τῷ θέρει πληροῦσθαι. The verses are taken from a lost work of his on Jerusalem. The text is, I fear, hopelessly corrupt.

Νηχόμενος δ' ἐφύπερθε τὸ θαμβηέστατον ἄλλο
Δέρκηθρον σὺν ἀοιδά, μεγιστούχοιο λοετροῖς
̔Ρεύματος ἐμπίπλησι βαθὺν ῥόον ἐξανιείσης.