14 MAJOE-GEN. SIR C. W. WILSON^ E.E., F.R.S,, ON 



engineering skill and extent, the works connected with it 

 Avere comparable to those of ancient Rome. An examination 

 of the conditions which governed, and still govern, the 

 water supply, and of the various works constructed during 

 the most flourishing periods in the history of the city, must 

 necessarily precede any attempt to prepare a scheme which 

 Avill satisfy modern requirements. 



Jerusalem stands at the end of a well-defined spur, which 

 lies between the Valley of Hinnom and that of the Kidron 

 and stretches southward, for about If miles, from the ridge 

 that parts the Avaters of the Dead Sea from those of 

 the Mediteiranean. The Kidron, after running eastAvard for 

 1^ miles, changes its direction to the south, and separates the 

 Mount of Olives from the lower ground on which the city 

 stands. The Valley of Hinnom, after folloAving a southerly 

 course for 1^ miles, turns eastward, and meets the Valley of 

 the Kidron below the south-east corner of the city. The 

 enclosed space may be described as a small limestone 

 plateau, about 1,000 acres in extent, Avhich falls gradually 

 to the south-east, and terminates in abrupt slopes. The 

 tAvo valleys, at first little more than shalloAv depressions in 

 tbe ground, become, as they approach the city limits, i-ocky 

 raA'ines, and their point of junction is 672 feet beloAV the 

 ground in which they rise. 



The surface of the plateau is broken by tAvo minor ravines; 

 which rise in it to the north of the city Avails. One, the 

 Tyropoeon, runs southAvard through the city to join the 

 Kidron at Siloam, and divides the loAver portion of the 

 plateau into tAvo spurs of unequal size. The western is 

 high and broad-backed, but its continuity is broken by a 

 short ravine, the "Palace Ravine," Avhich falls abruptly 

 eastward from the vicinity of the Jaffa Gate, and joins the 

 Tyropoeon about 700 yards above Siloam. The eastern and 

 loAver spur, upon which the Temple formerly stood, is for 

 the most part a narroAv ridge of rock. The second, of the 

 small ravines, " St. Anne's Ravine," rises in the eastern half 

 of the plateau and, running beneath the north-east corner 

 of the Haram esh-Sherif, falls into the Kidron a short 

 distance to the north of the Golden Gate. Those portions 

 of the ra Amines Avhich lie Avithin the city Avails, are noAv filled 

 Avith debris from 80 to 125 feet deep, and the rocky nature 

 of their slopes is concealed. 



The surface of the plateau is composed of thin beds of a 

 hard reddish and grey stone (Upper Hippurite limestone, 



