. "From Dan to Beersheba"; or, The Land of promise as it now appears : including a description of the boundaries, topography, agriculture, antiquities, cities, and present inhabitants of that wonderful land .... founder of these great fount-ains. With his accustomed love of detail, Josephus refers tothe rivulets and gardens of Etham, situated fifty stadia to thesouth from the Holy City, whither Solomon was wont to retirefor rural delights ; and tlie Rabbins, with even greater minute-ness, describe the aqueduct which conveyed the waters of Ur-tas to Jerusalem. These pools consist of three immen
. "From Dan to Beersheba"; or, The Land of promise as it now appears : including a description of the boundaries, topography, agriculture, antiquities, cities, and present inhabitants of that wonderful land .... founder of these great fount-ains. With his accustomed love of detail, Josephus refers tothe rivulets and gardens of Etham, situated fifty stadia to thesouth from the Holy City, whither Solomon was wont to retirefor rural delights ; and tlie Rabbins, with even greater minute-ness, describe the aqueduct which conveyed the waters of Ur-tas to Jerusalem. These pools consist of three immense reservoirs, situated in astraight line one below the other, and so constructed that thebottom of the first is higher than the top of the second, and thesecond than that of the tliird. They are in part excavated inthe rocky bed of the valley, and in part built of square hewnstones covered with cement, and are entered by stone steps exca-vated in the rock. Measuring 380 feet in length, 236 in breadth,and twenty-five in depth, the upper pool is the smallest of thethree. A hundred and sixty feet to the east is the middle pool,which is 423 feet long, thirty-nine deep, and varies from 160^ Josli., x\., FROM DAN TO BEERSHEBA. 249 to 250 wide. Two hundred and forty-eight feet farther eastis the lowest and largest reservoir, being 582 feet in length,from 148 to 207 in width, and fifty feet in depth, and, whenfull, capable of floating one of our largest men-of-war. Theeastern end of the lowest pool is supported by immense but-tresses, in one of which is a chamber, and in the north wall ofthe first tank is a filter—a wise precaution. Forty rods to thenorthwest, in an open field, are the perennial sources of thesegreat fountains. Twelve feet below the surface are two vault-ed chambers, the larger of the two being thirty-seven feet longand twenty wide. Springing up at four difierent places throughthe bottom of these chambers, the water is conducted by littleducts into a large basi
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Keywords: ., bookauthornewmanjo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookyear1864
