22 MAJOK-GEN. SIR C. W. WILSON, R.E., F.R.S., ON 



when Lady Burdett-Coutts made lier generous offer, has 

 been compHcated by the extension of the city over the 

 plateau north of the walls, and over parts of the valley of 

 Hinnom. This has been accompanied by a very great 

 increase in the value of the land, and in the numbers to be 

 supplied : and by the fouling of ground that was formerly 

 clean and suitable I'or the construction of reservoirs. 



The only proper S3^stem is to construct reservoirs Avhich 

 can supply the plateau with water by gravitation, and to 

 feed them by pumping up water from lower levels. A 

 supply, amply sufficient for present requirements, could be 

 obtained by repairing the Pools of Solomon ; by con- 

 structing reservoirs for impounding flood-water in Wady 

 Biar; by tunneling, three miles, from the springs in Wady 

 *Arrub to AVady Biar ; and by pumping up water from the 

 spring at Urtas to the low-level aqueduct. The water could 

 be carried along the line of the ancient aqueduct to a 

 pumping station at the Birket es-Sultan, whence it would be 

 pumped up to the reservoirs. Other springs could be 

 brought into the system when necessary. 



It need hardly be said that the proper repair of some of 

 the old works such as Solomon's Pools, the Wady Biar 

 reservoir and conduit, and the low-level aqueduct ; and the 

 establishment of public fountains in the lower parts of the 

 city would give a certain amount of relief. But it would be 

 more economical in the end to construct permanent water- 

 works for the supply of the rapidly growing city. Pumping 

 operations have been greatly simplified by the construction 

 of the railway. An order compelling the builder of every 

 new house or public building to provide a cistern of proper 

 size might also be suggested. 



The provision of proper drainage, for which the position 

 of the city offers certain facilities, is quite as necessary as 

 that of a sufficient supply of water. No serious attempt has 

 yet been made to grapple with this very important matter. 

 The existing drains are bad ; the main sewer has its outlet in 

 the lower Pool of Siloam, and the rubbish upon which the 

 city stands is nearly every where saturated with the sewerage 

 of centuries. Even in the new quarters outside the walls the 

 arrangements are little better except in those houses which 

 have properly constructed cess-pits that are periodically 

 cleaned and deodorized. The ancient system appears to 

 have centred in a main drain which ran down the Tyropoeon 

 Valley to a series of subterranean rock-hewn tanks and 



