The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-01

from finding these tombs. Eusebius
and Jerome place the tomb of David
at Bethleham; the Roman Lady Paula
expected to find the mausoleum Of
David at Bethlehem; so we cannot
expect any help from the early Chris
tian fathers.
"Then again there is a passage in
Isaiah xii, the 9th to the 18th verses
'Ye gathered together the waters of
the lower pool. The houses have We
broken down to fortify the wall. Ye
made also a ditch between the two
walls for the water of the old pool
The revised version says "a reservoir
between the two walls. What looks like
q ditch between the two walls is now
found. Nehemiah speaks Gch. H. 13)
of the gate Of the valley When Jeru-
salem was besieged by the Babylonians
we read-Kings XIV. ~: And the city
was broken up, and all the men Of
war fled by night by the way Of the
gate between the two walls, which is
by the kings garden And the king
went the way toward the plain
This Is now made quite clear quite
real by the discovery Of those great
walls. past the Sloan pools, which are
of course, by the 'kings's garden The
way of the gate was probably the one
Nehemiah speaks of as the gate Of
the valley (Which have already
noted has been found. This gate be-
tween the walls this gate Of the val
ley, does indeed lead TO the way to-
ward the plain which, of course, is
the plain of Jericho, where we are
told the 'Chaldees' overlook the flying
king. So, bit by bit, the Bible state
ment is being proved by excavations
L believe that gateway has been found.
Nehemiah speaks of the city as being
so large the increased size we now
oil f,,11, g..
the term large
How much further the city extend
ed south and east, I will not venture
to hazard an opinion; we must wait
Shafts without end, varying from the
depths of five or six feet to fifty and
sixty feet were opened in every direc-
ton Rarely Is a shaft sunk that there
is not found some fragment of the old
city, a mosaic pavement, a bath room,
at one place paved street or road
Then from these shafts galleries were
driven along walls or streets, every
where finding some relic of the past.
More than a mile Of galleries were
open when I was there, now alas. all
packed up and shafts closed; for bear
in mind the difficulty of all Jerusalem
excavations is this. that the city is
denSely populated. You cannot explore
there, and outside every inch of ground
surface crop has to be bought from
the Fellahin; 1t would surprise even
a market gardener in Covent garden to
hear of the value the Fellahin puts
upon every cabbage or caulif1oWer when
they find Dr. Bliss wishes to eXcavate.
There was an old Arab woman from
Sloan village, who asserted that the
whole ground belonged to her. Every
pay day she acted a scene at the
mouth of every shaft, threatening to
throw herself down and always ap-
peased by a small dole Of silver Then
the Jews refused permission to tunnel
under their graveyards, though they
were assured the tunnel would be far
below any grave.
These, and endless difficulties, were
cleared away by the tact and patience
of DR.. Bliss. Perhaps it may be asked
what sort of soil do these shafts and
tunnels go through? Debris! SKATER
ed, battered stone, mortar rubbish
Standing at the edge of one shaft
had my eye arrested by the smallness
of the angular bits of masonry. DR.
Bliss said that was an average shaft
Of course, often large stones were
found, and some of the Fellahin own
ers of the ground raised those stones
and sold them to the builders of mod,
ern houses. So: ancient Jerusalem Is
being dug UP, to rebuild the modern
city. ~
How savage, how ruthless, must
have been the destruction of Jerusalem
is seen in those chips of masonry; re-
member gunpowder or dynamite were
unknown. These shafts and tunnels are
dangerous to work in for the stuff
slips; great skill and care have to be exer-
cised in the work. Henry A. Harper