17 
times of the Jewish authors of the Talmuds and Josephus. 
Since the beginning of the Christian era, from the fourth 
century onwards, valuable works have been written at succes- 
sive intervals to preserve the knowledge that remained, and 
their stores of ancient and mediaeval learning were systemati- 
cally incorporated in the exhaustive researches of Hadrian 
Reland, composed in Latin, and entitled Hadriani Relandi 
Palestina ex Monumentis Veterihus Illu-strata , printed at 
Utrecht in 1814. 
About the commencement of the present century it was 
perceived that an accurate knowledge of the existing state of 
the ground was a necessary basis of archaeological inquiry ; and 
several attempts were made by governments and individuals 
to satisfy the general desire for the application of such 
inquiries to Palestine. An instructive list of the writings on 
this subject, from the fourth century onwards, with critical 
remarks, is given in an appendix to Dr. Robinson’s Biblical 
Researches ; Dr. Bonar’s work on the “Land of Promise” 
adds to the number ; and the most important are notified at 
the end of Mr. Grove’s article on “ Palestine ” in Dr. William 
Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible. 
The method pursued throughout these long centuries of 
studious labour failed to satisfy critical examination. Its very 
aim was imperfect. Scraps of information picked up here and 
there on the spot, or laboriously extracted from past litera- 
ture, — surveys of varying quality along beaten tracks, and 
sometimes unfrequented byways, however successfully com- 
piled, — were neither complete nor accurate, for great blanks 
remained without examination. Such a method ought never 
to have been expected to reveal the fully delineated features of 
the face of nature, in which might still be traced the stories of 
ancient days, that told of the histories and destinies not only 
of the chosen people in the faith of Abraham, but also of their 
Christian brethren and of the whole human race along with 
them. 
How, I desire to assure you that the Surveyors of the Pales- 
tine Exploration Fund have succeeded in delineating the sur- 
face of Western Palestine with a degree of perfection that has 
already thrown light upon many obscure and misunderstood 
parts of the Biblical record. As a student of the documents 
that existed before it, the Hew Survey appears to me like a 
revelation, and it sustains that character in requiring for its 
understanding prolonged and patient attention. It would be 
folly to assume that the study of the Bible in the light of that 
Survey has been, or could be, exhausted or perfected in the 
brief time that it was possible to allow me to apply to it. Still 
VOL. xvir. c 
