New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-19


goes about the streets selling water from
leathern sack hung upon his back I'M
doubtedly adds certain pcturesqueness
to the mysterious Orient but unqueston-
ably the beverage which he dispenses is
germ-infested and unclean; and his Danish
ment was one Of the first tasks undertaken
By the British when they captured the
Holy City. That, it is officially announced
in a report published in England, has now
been accomplished, and Jerusalem is now
assured of an ample supply of pure water
distributed through mains that make up
in sanitation what they lack in the romance
and color" which were furnished by the
water carriers.
The war which the English carried into
the cradle of the race saw the numbering
tank crossing the trail f.the charots
of Darius, the great king, and the droning
airplanes circling in the blue depths which
supported the wings Of Noah's dove, scout
ing above submerged world; but nothing
this great conflict did has furnished
more striking connecting link between the
present and the immemorial past than this
bringing of q modern water supply to the
ancient city of David For with all their
skill and energy, the English engineers
who followed close on the heels of the
army which drove the Turks out Of the
City of the Jews, would never have been
able to have wrought such marvels in so
short time had they not made use Of
ancient engineering works whose names
are almost sacred words wherever the Bible
is accepted the Book.
Jerusalem occupying as it does a posi-
ton on a high ridge between the Mediter-
ranean and the Dead seas, has throughout
its long history been supplied with water
only through extraordinary efforts. Not
the least of the charges against the Turk
during his long centuries of occupancy is
that he permitted to fall into decay the
elaborate waterworks built up when the
Kingdom of the Jews was in the height Of
its glory. When the English entered the
city they found that the only sources of
supply throughout the entire city
filthy cisterns under some of the houses,
which were filled by the drainage from the
roofs during the winter, the only time
when it rains in Jerusalem, and the equally
unhygienic water bags of the native car
riers.
Such condition could not be tolerated
very long by army conducted on the
scientific principles which obtain in mod
military management. One of the first
acts of the new rulers of the City of the
Temple to repair the famous Pool Of
Solomon and the aqueduct that led from it
to the city. This pool, familiar to every
reader of the Old Testament, was built q
thousand years before Chsst by the great
king whose name it bears. 1t was formed
by impounding the waters of the Brook of
Hebron in the Kedron Valley and originally
was intended merely to supply the water
for the irrigation of the extensive gardens
which were the haunt of the wisest man,
his numerous family and his royal court.
Later an open channel was cut in the rock
along the side of Kedron' Valley, and the
water led to q point where it was
available to the inhabitants of the city
The reference in Isaiah to "the waters Of
Shiloh that flow softly" is supposed to be
TO this aqueduct.
The waters Of the Pool Of Solomon are
not sufficient, however, to supply tho city,
q fact that was discovered twenty-five hun
dred years before the arrival of the Eng
lish engineers. Three hundred years after
the death of Solomon, one of his successors,
King Hezekiah, realized that his growing
capital must have more water. So Hezekiah
stopped the upper spring Of the waters Of
Gihon and brought them straight down to
the City Of David" The "waters Of Gihonr
are believed to be identical with spring
known in modern times as tho Fountain
OF the Virgin; and this beyond doubt is the
second supply made use Of by the British,
although the brief report made to London
OF their achievement states merely that
the water from spring beyond the limits
OF the city was made available through the
repairing of ancient aqueduct Quilt
before the time Of Christ" Pontius PLATE
before them repaired what probably was
the same aqueduct, using therefor the
sacred money, whereupon, the historian
Josephus tells US, the people got together
and raised great clamor against him"
AZ originally built by Hezckiah, this
aqueduct was a tunnel dug through solid
rock. The tunnel was started from opposite
ends and followed tortuous course pass-
ing around various DISTINCTIONS That the
Jews OF old were engineers Of no mean
skill, even judged by the standards Of mod
ern members Of the craft, is shown by an
inscription found the rock wall when
the tunnel was explored for the first time
only about thirty years ago. The carving
proclaimed that "hcre WA the cnd ne Tho
boring" and that when the work was com
pfeted the borers "stood face to face"
Having provided these two sources of
supply the English engineers were enabled
10 iay mains and erect standpipes where