THE WATER SUPPLY OF JEPX3ALEM. 



165 



Mrs. Finn. — Not at all. The one that supplies the aqueduct 

 does not supply the Pools at all. 



The Secretary. — Then I am quite mistaken ; but I suppose that 

 those supplying the Pools issue from a fissure in the solid limestone 

 rock. Of course the whole of that country is made up of beds of 

 cretaceous limestone. You go down a few steps and come to an 

 underground channel through which flows a stream of beautiful cold 

 water into the uppermost of the three Pools. I thought that was 

 the Pool that gave the supply to the aqueduct at Bethlehem. 



Mrs. Finn. — The old fountain is at the corner of a steep place, 

 and the water from that runs into Bethlehem and on to Jerusalem. 



The Secretary. — I am glad of it, for I do not think the water 

 coming out of the Pools would be pure ; but it may have been very 

 useful for irrigating the Gardens of Bethlehem. 



Mrs. Finn. — They were evidently intended for an aqueduct for 

 irrigation. 



Mr. Martin Rouse. — Are they used at the present day 1 

 Mrs. Finn. — Xo. I was unfortunate enough to sufl'er very badly 

 at one time. AVe were cultivating gardens there, and a Greek was 

 ordered to destroy our work. Perhaps I may be allowed to say 

 what I ought to have said before. It is not quite fair to lay all the 

 blame on the Turkish Government. The Baroness Burdett Coutts 

 did get leave to repair the old great aqueduct — not this one, but a 

 much larger and finer one — and I am sorry to say that an English- 

 man told me in London how he was the means of stopping carrying- 

 out the scheme. 



Mrs. Finn then narrated the occurrence that terminated so 

 unfortunately for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 



The Chairman. — Eeally this paper has afforded us exceedingly 

 interesting information. Anything that adds to our knowledge of 

 Jerusalem, as it was and as it is, is always interesting. It is 

 certainly one of the most pitiable spectacles there can be to see a 

 country as badly governed as can be, with these miserable jealousies 

 and these miserable under-currents of motive that have nothing to 

 do with the benefit of humanity, and which are certainly spoiling 

 one of the most beautiful parts of the earth. I often think when 

 one reads that sort of question about the water supply of Jerusalem, 

 how little we realize the advantages we have in England. We take 

 it as a matter of course that we are to be supplied with water, 



