THE WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 



159 



a mere amateur, to deal : with, however, that part which treats 

 of the new supply inaugurated last year, it is clear to me, as it 

 is too to many of those who know Sir Charles Wilson in this 

 city, that he has Ijeen misinformed. I do not believe any 

 unprejudiced resident here would characterise the new supply 

 as having " ended in a fiasco," nor say that " tlie sum expended 

 may be regarded as practically thrown away." Probably few of 

 us are judges as to how much money should have been spent on 

 the iron piping and other expenses connected with the new 

 aqueduct. But residents here are rather concerned with the 

 practical results, esj^ecially as the money has not come out of 

 any of our pockets, nor have we been called upon to pay any 

 water rate for the new supply ; it is all a free gift, provided by 

 certain charitable endowments connected with the city. 

 When in England would a new water supply l>e given, even if 

 a poor one. without the consumers suffering financially ? 

 Sir Charles Wilson considers the old aqueduct might, with much 

 greater advantage, have been repaired. This may be, but we also 

 know, he states it himself, that whenever this has been done, it 

 has been wilfully broken. It may he repaired, but it cannot be 

 protected either from malign treatment or from defilement on 

 its route. The new aqueduct can ; and is easily patrolled, long 

 stretches being seen from the hills ; and, what is more, it is far 

 less easily injured by ignorant fdlahin ; and the water cannot 

 be contaminated cn route. There are one or two points, how- 

 ever, in which some local correspondent must have quite mis- 

 informed Sir Charles Wilson. 



He states (1) "Feeble streams of water are delivered in the 

 Haram esh-Sherif. where it is only available for Moslems." Xo 

 attempt has been made to supply water to any quarter of the 

 city." The *' feeble streams " have so far been quite sufficient 

 to keep the great reservoirs of the Haram replenished, so that 

 all through this long dry summer water has l>een supplied 

 gratis all over the city, the people only liaving to pay tlie cost 

 of the water carriers, an item which has l)een considerably less 

 than in previous years. This supply is independent of race or 

 ereed. Further, for many months past one of the old Arabic 

 street fountains outside the Haram has been supplied with a 

 pipe of running water, and the poor, Jews. Christians, or ^Moslems, 

 can fill their tins, etc., as they like. 



(2) " The water running by day through iron pipes exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun arrives in such a heated state as to be 

 unfit for drinking." If Sir Charles Wilson's informant took a 

 cup down at mid-day to the taps above the Birket es Sultan, and 



