it to be among the unchristian books denounced by the
Latins. Meanwhile their rooms were searched, and a crier was sent
out into the city, forbidding all persons to receive their books,
and ordering all that had been received to be delivered up. Their
papers were examined, and some of them retained by the government.
In a few days, however, through the prompt interference of the
English Consul at Jaffa, their papers were all restored, and they
were set at liberty. These proceedings becoming widely known, the
result was, on the whole, favorable. Mr. Abbott, English Consul at
Beirut, learning of the occurrence, wrote to the Pasha at Damascus,
and the governor and judge at Jerusalem received an official order
to restore to the missionaries whatever had been taken from them,
and to secure for them protection and respectful treatment. The
governor was shortly after superseded, for what cause was not
certainly known; but many people, both Mussulmans and Christians,
believed it was in consequence of his ill treatment of Messrs. Fisk
and Bird.

Mr. Damiani, son of the English Consul at Jaffa, had come to
Jerusalem on their behalf, with a letter from his father to the
governor. In company with this young gentleman, the missionaries
visited Hebron in February, going by way of Bethlehem. About three
miles south of Bethlehem, they came to what are called the Cisterns
of Solomon, three in number, of large dimensions, on the side of a
hill. Mr. Fisk was informed, that Jerusalem was supplied in part by
an aqueduct, which carried its waters from those fountains.1

1 Dr. Robinson says that the modern aqueduct was mostly laid with
tubes of pottery; but, northeast of Rachel's tomb, he saw "the
traces of an ancient aqueduct which was carried _up the slope of the
hill_ by means of tubes, or perforated blocks of stone, fitted
together with sockets and tenons, and originally cemented." This was
in 1842. Dr. Eli Smith drew my attention in 1845 to the same thing.
Such stones are said to be seen nowhere else in that region.

The visit to Hebron had no important results. During the five months
spent at Jerusalem, seven hundred copies of Scripture were sold. In
the last six weeks, Mr. Fisk suffered from an attack of fever, with
headache, restlessness, and tendency to delirium, and had no medical
adviser. On the 22d of April, the two brethren went to Jaffa, from
whence they proceeded, with Mr. King, to Beirut, where they arrived
on the 4th of M