THE WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 



161 



by uieans uf water-carts, which carry the water from tlie 

 supply at the Birket es Sultan to their houses. 



(5) My daily life takes me among the sick belonging to the 

 very poor inside the walls of Jerusalem, and my experience has 

 been that while malaria and ophthalmia have been prevalent 

 this summer, tlie diseases we ascribe to bad water, dysentery 

 and typhoid, specially the former, have been less than usual ; 

 and as a medical man I have no hesitation in saying that the 

 new supply has been greatly for the health of the community. 

 To bring water from 'Ain Karem and other springs round 

 Jerusalem at sixpence a small jar (such as is carried on a woman's 

 iiead), or to send one's servant several miles for it, is a luxury only 

 possible to those fairly well ofl'. But all can now buy for about 

 one penny a large tin of pure water from the springs of 

 Solomon's Pools, and that has been made possible, at any rate 

 for the present, by our iron -pipe aqueduct. 



AVith Sir Charles Wilson's remarks of what owjht to be done 

 in the future, both with regard to construction of reservoirs on 

 high ground, and even more urgently with regard to our most 

 disgraceful drainage, I am most warmly in sympathy. AVould 

 that he were here with powers to carry out his reforms : 



Eeply by General Sir C. AV. Wilson. K.C.M.G. 



I have read Mr. Masterman's remarks on my paper, and have 

 found nothing in them that would lead me to modify the opinion 

 which I expressed, that the work recently executed in connection 

 with the water supply is an engineering fiasco, and that the sum 

 expended upon it has been practically thrown away. I certainly 

 never intended to dispute the self-eWdent fact that a small supply 

 of water is better than none at all. I can readily understand that 

 residents in Jerusalem are thankful for small mercies, but this does 

 not prove that a bad system is a good one. 



The question from an engineering and financial point of view is a 

 simple one. Water was conveyed from '-Solomon's Pools" to 

 Jerusalem by an ancient aqueduct which, in regard to design and 

 construction, shows a high degree of engineering skill. This aque- 

 duct, when in working order, brought a good stream of water to the 

 Haram esh-Sherif. It has been repaired several times, and could 

 have been restored again at small cost: or it might have been 

 replaced by earthenware or iron pipes. My experience in Turkey 



