The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-24
POOLS OF SOLOMON.
Jerusalem Blessed with Big Supply
of Pure Water

JeFusaiem blessed WIN big supply
of Pure Water
William e. Curtis in the Chicago Rec
ord-Herald.
Jerusalem has recently been blessed
with new and abundent water supply
drawn from the famous pools of Solo
mon and conducted for nine miles
through a nine-inch pipe over the ruins
of brick and stone aqueduct, through
which it's fountains were fed in the
days before Babylonian captivity
There is a scandal connected with the
transaction, something about the mis-
appropriation of funds, and good deal
of criticism was passed upon the late
governor, but it was such a remarkable
event so unusual in Turkish admin
istration, that if he had secured the
money by highway robbery he is en-
titled to the everlasting gratitude of
people who live here and thousands
who come to visit Jerusalem.
In the old days Jerusalem was
abundantly supplied with water. The
remains of fountains, reservoirs, and
aqueducts show this, but during the
recent centuries the public has been
| compelled to depend upon a few fetid
| pools and the rain water which ran off
the roofs into cisterns. Sickness and
distress prevailed so extensively dur
ing a recent drought that the governor
was stirred to action and purchased the
pipe which brought the water from Ain
Salah (the sealed fountain), at the
rate of 5000 skins, that is, goat skins,
a day.
The Sealed Fountain.
The pools of Solomon are three res
ervoirs situated in a valley south of
Jerusalem. The largest is 5S2 by 14S
feet in size and 4S feet deep, hewn in
! the rock and lined with masonry The
| second is 423 by 159 feet and 3S feet
| deep and the third is 381 by 22S feet
and rs feet deep, while the hidden or
sealed fountain has never been meas
ured. Solomon refers to it in one of
| his songs, where he says: My beloved
is like a spring shut up, a fountain
sealed 1t is the subterranean spring
or reservoir which flows freely at all
times of the year and appears to be
| fed by an artesian basin. Archaeolo-
gists assert that the aqueduct which
brought the water to Jerusalem was
built by the Romans, but Solomon is
still credited with the enterprise, and
If he is entitled to it, it is one of the
oldest of human structures.
The people of Bethlehem have been
drawing water from these pools ever
since scriptural times, and still depend
years ago the Baroness Burdett-
Coutts offered to restore the aqueduct
to Jerusalem, which would have cost
her in the neighborhood of $3.50 900, but
the Turkish authorities actually de-
manded bride from her agents before
they would permit her to do this be-
nevolent act for the benefit of the peo-
pie. The gentleman who related the
circumstances to me remarked that the
Nra1o No
irony of the situation. but were so ac-
customed to demanding backsheesh
that they did it as a matter of habit
The baroness was so indignant that she
dropped the proposition.
Bethesda and siIvam.
There are several famous pools in Je-
; rusalem in addition to the pool of Be
thesda, of which 1 wrote you the other
day. In the twentieth chapter of Sec.
? ond Kings we are told that King Hez.
ekiah digged a pool and made con.
duit and brought water into the city
The pool is still in good preservation
2 in constant use and is in the center O.
t the city, among the bazaars and mex
5 to the monastery of the Copt priests
= 1t is a great basin in the natural rock
e $50 by lao feet in size, walled up with
masonry, and was originally abou
twenty feet deep, but has been par
[ TALLY filled up with rubbish, and tn,
! water is now not more than twelve o.
fifteen feet deep. The families liviri
in the neighborhood come several time
a day and dip up what they need.
= The famous pool of .3iloam is mast.
! place, with repulsive surroundings
. Those who visit it often wonder If tn
familiar hymn.
BY cool Siloam's shady rill,
How sweet the lily grows,
| was intended as satire, as there is n
q rill. and no shade, and no lily wcult
n ever be so immodast as 10 grow in sucl
4 a place. The Arabs call IL Silwal
q these days. and II is on the slopes o
4 the Mount of Offense. where Solomon
is said to have worshiped heather
n idols directly across from the gate o
Zion. The valley OF Kedon lies be
= tween.
Z Surrounded by Graves.
Il The pool Is surrounded by neglected
d Jewish cemeteries. and Is near littl
village OF thirty or forty miserabl
houses occupied by Moslems. who ar
4 notorious thieves. Their ostensible o.
u cupatiOn Is 90 peddle water from IN
pool Of Sloan among the families liv
y Ing in the neighborhood, carrying Il II
Il pig Or goat skins on the backs of don
4 keys. The pool Is FED by several small
Il springs. but the ancient basin 81 ma
a0nry, nny-two feet long and eighfeei
A feet vide, hHf partially cfumbled ans
4 fallen in, and 10 nearly hail full %
n earth and rubbish. The threats ~ fhi
II springs are thua choknd 30 fbHt fhi
FHfrr ln the pool seldom rises ~ "a.
ichfi ~ the waste trough tHsae dags