ugh the hill, which,
owing to imperfect engineering, is seventeen hundred feet long. From
a Hebrew inscription found in the lower end of this passageway it was
learned that the excavation was carried on from both ends. A little
below the Pool of Siloam the valley of the Kidron joins the valley of
Hinnom, where, in ancient times, children were made "to pass through the
fire to Moloch" (2 Kings 23:10). Job's Well, perhaps the En Rogel, on
the northern border of Judah (Joshua 15:7), is rectangular in shape and
one hundred and twenty-three feet deep. Sometimes it overflows, but it
seldom goes dry. When I saw it, no less than six persons were drawing
water with ropes and leather buckets. The location of Aceldama, the
field of blood, has been disputed, but some consider that it was on the
hill above the valley of Hinnom. There are several rock-cut tombs along
the slope of the hill facing the valley of Hinnom, and some of them are
being used as dwelling places. The Moslems have charge of a building
outside the city walls, called David's Tomb, which they guard very
carefully, and only a portion of it is accessible to visitors. Near this
place a new German Catholic church was being erected at a cost of four
hundred thousand dollars. We entered the city by the Zion gate, and
passed the Tower of David, a fortification on Mount Zion, near the Jaffa
gate.

On the ship coming down from Beyrout I had a conversation with a man who
claimed to have been naturalized in the United States, and to have
gone to Syria to visit his mother, but, according to his story, he was
arrested and imprisoned by the Turks. After being mistreated in the
filthy prison for some time, he secured his release by bribing a soldier
to post a letter to one of the American authorities. He expressed a
desire to visit Jerusalem, but seemed afraid to get back into Turkish
territory. Learning that I was going there, he wrote a letter to the
Armenian Patriarch, and I presented it one day. In a few minutes Mr.
Ahmed and I were led into the large room where the Patriarch was seated
in his robe and peculiar cap. Meeting a dignitary of the Armenian Church
was a new experience to me. I shook hands with him; Mr. Ahmed made some
signs and sat down. In the course of our limited conversation he said
rather slowly: "I am very old." Replying to a question, he informed me
that his age was eighty years. I was on the point of leaving, but he
hindered me, and an attendant soon came in