CONFIRMED BY RECENT DISCOVERIES IN PALESTINE AND THE EAST. 139 



Assyrians of this supply; "for why, said he, should the 

 Assyrians come and find much water ? " 



Ideal Section to explain the Origin oe the Inteemittent Spring of 

 THE Virgin's Fountain. 



Mt. Olivet. 



Valley of Jchoshaphat or Kedron, 



c. Supposed underground cavern. 

 s- Syphon-like fissure, filled with water. 

 I. Level of water in cavern when spring begins to flow. 

 X. Level of water when spring ceases to flow. 



One more point still remains to be investigated, namely, 

 the statement in 2 Chron. xxxii, 30, that the upper water- 

 course of Gihon was " brought straight down to the west 

 side of the Citv of David." The pool of Siloam is situated 

 at the entrance of the Tyropoean Valley at the southern 

 extremity of the City of David. But as Major Conder, 

 supported by Dr. Davidson, the Professor of Hebrew at 

 Edinburgh, contends, the passage may be quite correctly 

 translated " westwards towards the City of David." If this 

 be accepted the apparent discrepancy disappears, and thus 

 the evidence, derived from the characters of the inscription 

 on the tablet within the conduit, as also the topographical 

 details, are all brought into harmony with the Biblical account 

 as given m the books of King and Chronicles ; and the identi- 

 fication of the conduit with that of Hezekiah is established.* 



* As regards the cause of the intermittent character of the spring much 

 uncertainty must exist. I have consulted Gen. Sir Charles Wilson and 

 Mr. George Armstrong, Secretary of the P.E.F., on the subject, and they 

 both concur in the view that it is due to a syphon-like structure ia the 

 undergi'ound natural fissure or duct through which the water passes to the 

 spring. This seems to me a veiy probable supposition ; indeed, the only 

 one in a district which is not volcanic. 



