THE WATER SUrPLY OF JEEUSALEM. 13 



arrangements with the railway company to bring up a 

 supply from Bittir and " Philip's Fountain," and with camel 

 and donkey-owners to carry in water from other springs. 

 The railway company brought the water in tanks to the 

 station on the Plain of Rephaim, and then ran it down 

 through pipes to the low-lying pool, Birket es-Sultan, in the 

 Valley of Hinnom. Thence it was carried up to the city by 

 the water-carriers. About 1,122,000 gallons were delivered 

 at a cost of about £425. 



At the same time the municipality arranged with a local 

 engineer to bring water to the city, from Solomon's Pools, 

 in iron pipes. The arrangement ended in a fiasco which has 

 cost more than £6,000 without permanently improving the 

 supply. The ancient low level aqueduct, ascribed to 

 Solomon, which delivered a strong head of fresh cold 

 water, from the pools, in the Haram esh-Sherif, or Temple 

 Area, might have been well restored and utilized, as it had 

 been on previous occasions, at a cost of about £600. But, 

 instead of adopting this obvious plan, as a temporary 

 measure, a contract was made with a German firm for the 

 supply of about 12,700 yards of 4-inch iron pipes at a cost 

 more than £300 higher than the estimate of a Birmingham 

 firm. And Avhen the pipes arrived they were laid on the 

 surface of the ground, up hill and down dale, from 

 Bethlehem to Jerusalem. The result has been loss of level 

 and pressure. Feeble streams of water are delivered in the 

 Haram esh-Sherif Avhere it is only available for Moslems, 

 and at the Birket es-Sultan Avhence it has to be carried up 

 a steep hill to the city. To obtain even this small result, 

 the floor of a remarkable rock-hewn tunnel of the ancient 

 aqueduct was lowered and a long narrow reservoir formed 

 in which water is allowed to accumulate during the night 

 so as to keep up a steady stream on the following day. The 

 Avater running by day through iron pipes exposed to the 

 <lirect rays of the sun arrives in such a heated state as 

 to be unfit for drinking. No attempt has been made to 

 supply water to any quarter of the city, and the sum 

 expended may be regarded as practically thrown away. 



It is well known that the water supply of ancient 

 Jerusalem was ample, and that, at the time of the Turkish 

 occupation of the city, there were still public fountains in 

 the lower parts of the city. The details of the old system 

 of supply are not fully known, but the existing remains 

 of pools, conduits, etc., are sufficient to show that, in 



