THE CHRISTIAN MISCELLANY. ERUSALEM has no original sources for water within itself, but by artificial means it has secured a full supply of that essential element. Situated on an elevated, rocky, limestoneregion, some two thousand six hundred feet higher than the sea, it has no wells, or fountains; but by pools and aqueducts it has water brought into it with unfailing abundance. And this it has had from early times; for, when so closely besieged that famine raged within its walls until the inhabitants had to resort to the most unnatural means to appease the cravings of hunger, they did not suffer from thirst through lack of water. An old tradition reports that under the Haram, or Temple-site, there is an immense natural flow of water, producing an excavated sea; " but the most diligent search for this living water within the bosom of Moriah has failed to discover it; and, should the "Exploring Expedition" so far conciliate the jealous guardians of the Mosque of Omar as to be allowed to sink its adventurous shafts in the immediate neighbourhood of the "Sacred Rock," doubtless, it will be found that the water used there, whether now for Mohammedan ablutions, or of old for the VOL. XV.-Second Series.-JANUARY, 1869. A 2 washings of Jewish sacrifices, has been brought thither from a source beyond the city itself. A cursory survey of the "water-works" of Jerusalem will satisfy the inquirer that much scientific skill, as well as much manual labour, has been bestowed upon them; and that in these respects it not only surpasses any other Eastern city, but is also worthy of being compared with the modern cities of renown in Europe, with all their vast reservoirs and subterraneous channels. The most ancient constructions for the supply of water to the Holy City which we read of are the "Upper " and "Lower" Pools. These are named in the Book of Chronicles, and by the prophet Isaiah; and are said to have been in the valley of Gihon, "in the highway of the Fuller's Field." (2 Chron. xxxii. 30; Isaiah vii. 3; xxii. 9; xxxvi. 2.) And immediately south of the Jaffa Gate, west of the city wall, are the remains of two very large reservoirs, which in situation answer the Scripture notices referred to, and which, doubtless, are the dried basins of the "Upper" and "Lower" Pools of Gihon. Excavations within the walls of the city, for the foundations of the English church on Mount Zion, discovered aqueducts, or "conduits," leading from these reservoirs to the pool made by Hezekiah, when he drew off the waters to the interior of the city, that they might not be available to invading enemies outside. The remains of these "" Upper" and "Lower" Pools bear the marks of great antiquity, and show them to have been large and deep. Water is not now to be seen in them, except what may be drained into their grass-covered basins from the higher land above, and at the sides; and the traveller from Jerusalem to Bethlehem might easily pass them by as if they were mere remnants of fosse, or trench, made for defence of the city against crusading assailants; but, on close examination of the mason-work around them, it is evident that they were prepared originally for pools of water. HEZEKIAH'S POOL, within the city, to which water was conveyed from the pools without, is a huge tank, or reservoir, upwards of two hundred and forty feet long, by more than one hundred and forty feet wide; partly hewn out of the solid rock, and cemented round, so as to make it a safe receptacle for water. It is situated immediately west of the "Holy Sepulchre ;" and, as seen from the flat roofs of adjacent buildings, is pleasing to behold. At a short distance beyond the north walls of the city, west of the road leading from Damascus Gate to Gibeah and Bethel, may be traced the basin of a still larger pool, which in former times held the surface-water of a wide area around. This being in a region higher than the city, was an important source of supply to it. Outside St. Stephen's Gate, east of the city, may be seen the remains of another pool of great dimensions; while a few miles south of Jerusalem, beyond Bethlehem, there are three large pools, of amazing capacity, named "Solomon's Pools," which held the water from the high lands around BETHESDA. them, and from which water was conveyed by conduits, still traceable, to Jerusalem, and to the Temple. These gigantic cisterns, in their construction and extent, are worthy of the royal name they bear. The most spacious of them is equal, in length and breadth, to one of our largest cathedrals, and of sufficient depth to float a line-of-battle ship. But, to the Christian visiter, the most interesting structures of this kind are the pools which, from early times, have been associated with the presence and miracles of our Lord. These, as tradition ascribes them, are the "Pool of Siloam," and the "Pool of Bethesda." And, though tradition is an uncertain guide, and leaves here, as elsewhere, disputed ground, yet it is impossible to view them without having awakened within fond recollections of New-Testament narratives. The POOL OF SILOAM is situated at the extremity of the Tyropoon Valley, south of Mount Zion and of the Temple. It consists of two basins, or fountains: the upper one being a fissure in the solid rock of Ophel, entered by descending steps within; and the lower one being the rectangular reservoir, or tank, represented in the Woodcut at the end of this article. The latter is some fifty-three feet long, eighteen feet wide, and nineteen feet deep. It is surrounded with moss-covered masonry, overhung with parasite plants; and, in its general aspect, and verdant clothing, is richly picturesque. At the sides are the remnants of ancient pillars, which probably supported an over-arching roof, such as Phocas, in the twelfth century, describes it to have had. This double Pool of Siloam is supplied by waters gushing up from under the rock of the upper, or western, basin, and brought to it by zigzag channels in the rocky hill of Ophel, from the "Fountain of the Virgin," a few paces higher up, northwards, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. At times, these waters gush forth more strongly, and with more abundance than ordinarily; so as to fulfil the description of it by Jerome, as "a fountain at the foot of Mount Zion, whose waters do not flow regularly, but on certain days and hours, and issue with great noise from caverns in the hard rock." But now, as of old, "the waters of Siloa go softly;" and though, if Milton had personally seen "Siloa's brook, that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God," with its modern associations of the sepulchral village in the rocks above, and with the refuse and drain immediately below, where once flourished the "King's Garden," he could hardly have chosen it as the scene of inspiration for his Muse; yet, in its Scripture associations, it is of surpassing interest. Here, three thousand years ago, the priest came daily, at the feast of tabernacles, for water to mingle with wine for libation on the altar, accompanied with popular rejoicings, and the sounding of brazen trumpets. Here Isaiah found imagery under Divine inspiration, when he exclaimed, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Here prophets and kings of old drank of cooling and refreshing waters. Here, doubtless, the Saviour Himself appeared; and, when standing in the Temple on the great day of the feast, in allusion to it, cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." And here, where the daughters of Judah now fill their pitchers daily with water, He performed one of His mightiest miracles of healing upon the blind man, whom, for the obtaining of sight, He bade "Go," and "wash in the Pool of Siloam." (John ix. 7.) Below this pool, at the junction of the valleys of Kidron and Himmon, is an ancient well, some one hundred and twenty-five feet deep, and curiously overarched with stone, called the "Well of Joab;" from the tradition, that it was here that the unfaithful servant and soldier of renown in Israel conspired with Adonijah to secure for him the kingdom. Until the sixteenth century it was called the "Well of En-Rogel;" and its connexion with early Scripture history, as in the Book of Joshua, &c., is as distinct and certain as almost any of the "holy places" in Palestine. But the Pool which is the subject of our coloured illustration is an immense reservoir immediately north of the Temple-site, adjoining the entrance to the Haram, called the POOL OF BETHESDA. This is some three hundred and sixty feet long, one hundred and thirty feet broad, and now, with all its accumulations of centuries, more than seventy feet deep. Some, who have hastily surveyed it, have pronounced it to have been a fosse, or trench, to the fortress of Antonia, which overlooked the north-west corner of the Temple enclosure; but careful examination of its close and over-coated lining of hydraulic masonry, has ascertained that its original purpose was that of holding water safely. It is near to what was termed the " Sheep-Gate;" and in its vicinity is said to have been the "Sheep-Market," spoken of in Scripture as in approximation to the Pool of Bethesda. Others have professed to find in its ruins remnants of the "Five Porches," also named for it. But, considering how eager early Monks were to identify every prominent feature of Jerusalem with Scripture names, it cannot be positively affirmed that it was here the angel "troubled the water" into which the impotent man, weary of waiting, through others overstepping him in his helplessness, was healed by our Lord; though Eusebius and Jerome claim for it this distinction. Some, who would ascribe all miracles of Scripture to natural causes, seek to associate this record with the "Pool of Siloam," already described, as having, at intervals, sudden turbulence in its waters by subterraneous flowings. But, believing in the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures, and in the veritableness of Christ's miracles, there is no need to remove the scene to Siloam. The POOL of BETHESDA, as this immense dilapidated reservoir is named, is, as our Frontispiece shows, an attractive subject for the pencil. Our view is taken from the north-east corner, on the edge of the foot-worn stony way leading to the Great Mosque. The |