Twenty-one years' work in the Holy Land ... June 22, 1865-June 22, 1886. Published for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund

Preface

. This little work is designed to answer a question often put, — why the Society has no resume" of its work for popular use ? This volume endeavours to give such a resume ; it points out in general terms the Biblical gains resulting from the work of the Society ; and it shows, also in general terms, what remains to be done. The detailed answer to the inquiry as to the actual results of our work is to be found in the great work called the " Survey of Western Palestine," and in the maps published by the Society. The present moment has been chosen for the appearance of this book, because this day is the twenty-first anniversary of the Foundation of the Society. W. B. June 22, 1886, 1, Adam Street, Adelphi. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE

PREFACE.

- - 3 I. THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY 7 II. THE CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY 22 III. THE FIRST EXPEDITION ... 38 IV. THE EXCAVATIONS AT JERUSALEM - - - - 48 ' V*. THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS 64 VI. THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE 73 VII. THE ARCHÆOLOGICAL EXPEDITION - - - I2S VIII. THE SURVEY OF EASTERN PALESTINE - - 133 IX. THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I40 X. SMALLER EXPEDITIONS - - - - 150 XI. THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY - - "157 XII. OBITUARY - - - 201 XIII. THE WORK OF THE FUTURE 204 APPENDICES. I. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE FUND'S WORK - 21 3 II. CAPTAIN CONDER'S IDENTIFICATIONS - - - - r4tt£S--*&bQ-£&G~-

Chapter I. Foundation Of The Society

H E Society known as the Palestine Exploration Fund was first formally constituted at a public meeting held in Willis's Rooms on Friday, June 22nd, 1865, the Archbishop of York being in the chair. The objects and intentions of the founders were the prosecution of systematic and scientific research in all the branches of inquiry connected with the Holy Land, and the principal reason alleged for conducting this inquiry was the illustration of the Bible which might be expected to follow such an investigation. In the following pages the reader will learn briefly how far the Society has been successful. In his opening address, the Archbishop laid down certain principles on which, he said, the work of the society should be based. It is, in fact, in recognition of these principles that the work has always been carried on.

These were : — I. That whatever was undertaken should be carried out on scientific principles. 2. That the Society should, as a body, abstain from controversy. 3. That it should not be started, nor should it be conducted, as a religious society. The object of the first law was to ensure that the results of inquiry and exploration, whatever they might prove, should command from the world the same acceptance as a new fact reported from a physical laboratory, and that the work should be faced in the same spirit of fearless investigation into the truth as obtains in scientific research. The con duct of the principal part of the work by officers of the Royal Engineers has effectually ensured this object. No dispute has ever arisen, nor will any question ever arise, concerning the statements or reports furnished by the Society's agents.

Those who remember the bickerings which formerly prevailed over every estimate as to measurements, heights, distances, and positions, as one book of Syrian travel followed another, will recognise the enormous advan tage of having these points ascertained and laid down for us once for all by men whose official position and professional reputation, as well as the methods of research which they adopted, place their reports beyond question. As regards the second point, it was at first intended that the Committee should place on record nothing but the bare facts discovered. Wilson's Report of 1866, and Warren's Letters of 1867-70, contain, in fact, very little indeed beyond the barest facts. But it was presently found impossible, and, indeed, undesirable, to keep out of the Society's publications the element of personal opinion.

Warren recorded, for instance, after his return, in addition to the official report of his excavations, the conclusions which he had come to and their bearing upon the problems. Conder, in his reports written in the field during the Survey, set down from the very first, and unreservedly, his own conclusions as to identifications and topography. The subscribers to the Society, it was then discovered, desired nothing more than the publication of such arguments and such conclusions. They were found to give life to the bare facts of the survey. These, and other dissertations, views and suggestions, made the pages of the Society's Journal full of interest. But for them the Quarterly Statement would have been no more interesting than a volume of name lists, and theXommittee would have lost their most powerful means of keeping up and extending the interest in their work.

At the same time, these arguments and conclusions have always been pub lished with reserve. They are not advanced as the opinions of the Committee, which, as a Committee, has no opinion, but are signed by their author, and he alone, as is stated in every number, is responsible for them. The third principle secured the independence of the Association in preventing it from being attached to any religious body, church, or creed. As then con stituted, and as it now exists, it simply invites support from all those persons who happen to be interested in a certain collection of books, apart from any doctrines which may have been deduced from those books, or any opinion as to the weight of those books, and apart from the fact that to very many these are, and always will be, the most precious books in the world.

The Society numbers among its supporters Christians and Jews — Christians, that is, of every church, Protes tants and Catholics, Anglicans, Greeks and Romans, Nonconformists and Unitarians. No questions of doctrine will be found treated in the Society's publications, nor any of ecclesiastical discipline and authority, nor any which concern the genuineness and authenticity of the books concerned. At the outset of this record it is the special duty of the Committeeto express, firstly, their profound gratitude to the War Office for granting the services of Royal Engineers for the execution of the work, and secondly, their sense of the surprising good fortune which has attended them in the personal character and the remarkable abilities of the officers who have worked for them. Among the many distinguished officers who at present adorn the scientific branch of the Service there are none more distinguished than Sir Charles Wilson and Sir Charles Warren.

There was no officer of the corps more highly esteemed than the late Major Anderson. As for Captain Conder, he will be regarded as nothing short of a personal friend by everyone who reads these pages ; he has been for fifteen long years the chief prop and mainstay of the Society ; he is par excellence the Surveyor of the Holy Land. The military record of Lieutenant- Colonel Kitchener promises to eclipse bis civil dis tinction. But it must never be forgotten that before he went to Egypt he surveyed Galilee for this Society and Cyprus for the Colonial Office. At the first meeting some hopes were put forward by the speakers which have been realised beyond expectation, and some which have been so far dis appointed. After this lapse of time it is interesting to recall what was said and what was thought on that occasion.

For instance, it was then confidently ex pected by everybody that a few excavations in Jerusalem would quickly decide the whole of the vexed questions as to the holy sites. Sir Austin Layard, fresh from the excavations which enabled the world to reconstruct the history of a long-lost people, spoke hopefully of the light which might be thrown upon the ancient history, the arts, and the architecture of the Jewish nation by examining the mounds which were already known to exist in the country, and by excavating on the sites of the ancient cities. Our excavations since that time in Jeru salem and elsewhere have yielded a very small amount of information on Jewish art, though something on Jewish architecture, and, as yet, there have been no excavations at all of the mounds, high places, and ancient sites, outside Jerusalem, with the exception of the mounds at Jericho ; that is a work which we hope to take in hand when we have accomplished what we have already commenced.

The Count de Vogiie, at the same meeting, went so far, in his zeal for excavation, as to say that nothing then remained above ground in Palestine to be discovered. Yet since that day the Moabite Stone, the Phœnician inscription in the Pool of Siloam, the stone of Herod's Temple, the head of Hadrian's Statue, the Stone of Bethphage, the Stone of Zoheleth (1 Kings i. 9), the boundary inscriptions of Gezer (Joshua xvi. 3-10, &c), the Sassanian monument at Amman, the Palace of Mashita, many ancient synagogues, and hundreds of ruined towns, all above ground, have been discovered. Sir Roderick Murchison advocated a geological and geographical survey of the country, — we have since executed both of these Surveys, with results of far greater importance than he expected. Mr. Palgrave dwelt upon the ethnological side and the importance of noting the points of distinction among the people now inheriting the country.

" The Land," he said, " is a land of petrifactions, where remains which might elsewhere have perished or become wholly decomposed still remain intact and preserve their distinctive lineaments." The Dean of Westminster took a similar line in recommending a careful study of the manners and customs of the people. We have done something towards this in publishing the papers of Mrs. Finn and Mr. Klein, while our officers have, in the course of the Survey, made many valuable observations on the subject. But we are now embarked upon an enterprise in this direction on a far greater scale than that contemplated by Dean Stanley. The spirit of research has, since his speech on that day, become more scientific. Such an inquiry as that then contemplated would have been neither scientific nor complete. It can now, thanks to the labours of the Anthropological Society, be both scientific and complete.

As will be seen presently, we hope to make this inquiry in a more systematic manner than was then contemplated, and over a far wider area. Lastly, Prof. Owen and Canon Tristram spoke of the natural history of the country and of the many gaps which then existed in our know ledge. Thanks mainly to the exertions of the latter gentleman we have been able to fill up many of those gaps. The meeting was followed by an appeal for funds, letters v/ere inserted in the papers, and the other usual methods were adopted to obtain publicity, Mr. George Grove, the foremost among the original founders of the Society, being its first honorary secretary and spokesman. The first Committee consisted of the following gentlemen : — Archbishop of York. Duke of Argyll. Samuel Gurney, M.P. R. Culling Hanbury, M.P. A. H. Layard, M.P. Duke of Devonshire.

Earl of Derby. Walter Morrison, M.P. John Abel Smith, M.P. William Tite, M.P. Earl Russell. Earl of Shaftesbury. Bishop of London. Bishop of Oxford. Bishop of Ely. Dean of St. Paul's. Dean of Westminster. Dean of Christ Church. The Speaker. Sir Henry Rawhnson, K.C.B. Sir S. Morton Peto, Bart. Sir Roderick Murchison, K.C.B. Prof. Owen, F.R.S. Rev. Prof. Pusey, D.D. Canon Ernest Hawkins. Rev. E. H. Plumptre. Rev. A. W. Thorold. Rev. H. P. Tristram, F.R.S. Rev. George Williams. Rev. S. Martin. Rev. N. Macleod, D.D. Dr. Joseph Hooker. Dr. William Smith. W. Hepworth Dixon. J. Fergusson, F.R.S. F. Waymouth Gibb C.B. Ambrose de Lisle. Samuel Morley. John Murray. Antonio Panizzi. Henry Reeve. G. Gilbert Scott. William Spottiswoode, F.R.S. William Tipping. W. S. W. Vaux, F.R.S. Mr. George Grove {Hon. Sec.)

Mr. John Abel Smith, M.P., and Mr. Robert Culling Hanbury were the first treasurers ; they were subsequently succeeded by Mr. Walter Morrison. The hon. secretary was afterwards joined by the Rev. F. W. Holland, and a sub-committee consisting of the Archbishop of York, the Dean of Westminster, and Prof. Owen was appointed to draw up a state ment of the general objects of the Association. When this statement was produced, in October, 1865, the Committee of 45 had been swollen to the number of 79, and then contained, in addition to the first published list, such names as Lord Strangford, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord Carnarvon, Sir Moses Montefiore, Dean Howson, Dr. Temple, Dr. Vaughan, Dr. Allon, Dr. Porter, Prof. Rawlinson, Mr. Beresford Hope, Mr. Macgregor, and many others of like weight and note.

The Original Prospectus, when it left the hands of the sub-committee, was as follows : — No country should be of so much interest to us as that in which the documents of our Faith were written, and the momentous events they describe enacted. At the same time no country more urgently requires illustration. The face of the landscape, the climate, the productions, the manners, dress, and modes of life of its inhabitants, differ in so many material respects from those of the western world, that without an accurate knowledge of them it is not too much to say that the outward form and complexion of the events md much of the significance of the records must remain more or less obscure. Even to a casual traveller in the Holy Land the Bible becomes, in its form, and therefore to some extent in its substance, a new book.

Many an allusion which hitherto had no meaning, or had lain unnoticed, starts into prominence and throws a light over a whole passage. It is not to be expected that the modes of life and manners of the ancient Israelites will be revealed by any discovery of monuments in the same fulness that those of the Egyptians and Assyrians have been. But still, information of value cannot fail to be obtained in the process. Much would be gained by obtaining an accurate map of the country ; by settling disputed points of topography ; by identifying ancient towns of Holy Writ with the modern villages which are their successors ; by bringing to light the remains of so many races and generations which must lie concealed under the accumulation of rubbish and ruins on which those villages stand ; by ascertaining the course of the ancient roads ; by the discovery of coins, inscriptions, and other relics — in short, by doing at leisure and system atically that which has hitherto been entirely neglected, or done only in a fragmentary manner by the occasional unassisted efforts of hurried and inexperienced travellers.

Who can doubt that if the same intelligence, zeal, know ledge, and outlay were applied to the exploration of Pales tine that have recently been brought to bear on Halicar nassus, Carthage, Cyrene — places without a single sacred association and with little bearing on the Bible — the result would be a great accession to our knowledge of the successive inhabitants of Syria — Canaanite, Israelite, Roman ? Hitherto the opportunity for such systematic research has been wanting. It appears now to have arrived. The visit of H.R.H the Prince of Wales to the Mosque at Hebron has broken down the bar which for centuries obstructed the entrance of Christians to that most venerable of the sanctuaries of Palestine ; and may be said to have thrown open the whole of Syria to Christian research. The survey of Jerusalem at present in progress under the direction of Captain Wilson, R.E. (a survey supported by the private liberality of a single person ; as it proved, the grant of 500/. made by the generous person referred to, was unequal to the work, which was only accomplished by the generosity of Captain Wilson, who gave his whole time and labour for nothing), has shown how much may be done with tact, temper, and opportunity, without arousing the opposition of the authorities or inhabitants.

Recent letters of Sir H. James and others in the Times have borne testimony to the remarkable fitness of Captain Wilson for such undertakings, and have pointed out other places where explorations might be advantageously carried on. 7/ is therefore proposed to raise a fund to be applied to the purposes of investigating the Holy Land by employing competent persons to examine the following points: 1. Archæology — Jerusalem alone would furnish an ample B field in this department. What is above ground will be accurately known when the present survey is completed ; but below the surface hardly anything has yet been dis covered. The Tombs of the Kings on Mount Zion — the course of the Tyropœon Valley — the real extent of the Temple enclosure — the site of the Tower of Antonia — of the Palace of Herod— of Ophel — of the Pool of Bethesda— the position of the towers of Hippicus and Psephinus — the spring and conduit of Hezekiah — are all awaiting excava tion ; and it is not too much to anticipate that every foot in depth of the " sixty feet of rubbish " on which the city stands, will yield interesting and important materials for the Archæologist or the Numismatist.

Beyond the Holy City the country is full of sites which cannot fail amply to repay examination. Of these a few only may be enumerated : — Mount Gerizim, possibly the Moriah of Abraham's sacrifice, certainly the Holy Place of the Samaritans, containing the stones which they allege to have been brought up by Israel from the bed of the Jordan — the Valley of Shechem, the earliest settlement of Jacob in the Holy Land, with his Well and the Tomb of Joseph — Samaria, with the traditional tombs of John the Baptist and others, and with the extensive remains of Herod's edifices — the splendid Roman cities along the coast, Cæsarea of Herod and St. Paul — Antipatris — the once renowned harbours of Jamnia and Gaza — the mounds and other remains of Jiljilieh, probably the Gilgal which contained the Great College of Prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha — the Fortress and Palace of Herod at Jebel Fureidis — the Tombs (probably those of Joshua) at Tibneh — the mounds at Jericho — the numerous remains in the Valley of the Jordan — Bethshean, one of the most ancient cities of Palestine, with remarkable remains of Roman, and probably still earlier, date — Jezreel, the capital of Ahab and Jezebel ■ — the Assyrian mound, called^ Tel es Salahiyeh, near Damascus, &c, &c. 2.

Manners and Customs. — A work is urgently required which shall do for the Holy Land what Mr. Lane's " Modern Egyptians " has done for Egypt — describe in a Systematic and exhaustive order with clear and exact minuteness the manners, habits, rites, and language of the present inhabitants, with engravings intended like his " not to embellish the pages, but to explain the text." Many of the ancient and peculiar customs of Palestine are fast vanishing before the increasing tide of Western manners, and in a short time the exact meaning of many things which find their correspondences in the Bible will have perished. There are frequent references to these things in the books of travellers, and they have recently formed the subject of more than one entire work ; but nothing sufficiently accurate or systematic had been done, it can only be accomplished by the lengthened residence of a thoroughly competent person. 3.

Topography. — Of the coast-line of Palestine we now possess an accurate map in the recently finished Admiralty Charts. What is wanted is a Survey which when we advance inland should give the position of the principal points throughout the country with equal accuracy. If these were fixed, the intermediate spots and the smaller places could be filled in with comparative ease and certainty. In connection with the topography is the accurate ascertain ment of the levels of the various points. The elevation of Jerusalem and the depression of the Dead Sea are already provided for by the liberality of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society ;* but the level of the Sea of Galilee (on which depends our knowledge of the true * See Sir Henry James's letter to the Times, Jan. 28, 1865. B fall of the Jordan) is still uncertain within no less than 300 feet — as are other spots of almost equal moment.

The course of the ancient roads, and their coincidence with the modern tracks, has never been examined with the attention it deserves, considering its importance in the investigation of the history. The principles on which the modern territorial boundaries are drawn, and the towns and villages allotted between one district and another, would probably throw light on the course of boundaries between the tribes and the distribution of the villages, which form the most puzzling point in the otherwise clear specifications of the Book of Joshua. 4. Geology. — Of this we are in ignorance of almost every detail. The valley of the Jordan and basin of the Dead Sea is geologically one of the most remarkable on the earth's surface. To use the words of Sir Roderick Mur chison, " it is the key to the whole of the geology of the district."

Its Biblical interest is equally great. To name but one point : the decision of the question whether any volcanic changes have occurred round the margin of the lake within the historical period, may throw a new aspect over the whole narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 5. Natural Sciences — Botany, Zoology, Meteor ology. — These are at present but very imperfectly known, while the recent investigations of Canon Tristram, limited as they necessarily were, show that researches are likely to furnish results of no common scientific interest. Naturalist after naturalist will devote himself for years to the forests of South America, or the rivers of Africa, why should we not have some of the same energy and ability applied to the correct description of the lilies and cedars, the lions, eagles, foxes, and ravens of the Holy Land ?

It will perhaps be said that many of the points above enumerated have been already examined — that Robinson, Stanley, Rosen, and others have done much in the depart ment of topography — that Hooker, and more recently Tristram, have reported on the botany — that Roth and Tristram have brought home shells, fish, birds, and eggs — that the researches of M. Lartet on the geology of the Dead Sea, and those of the Due de Luynes, De Vogiie, and De Saulcy on archæology, are on the eve of publication. This is true, but without intending to detract from the usefulness or the credit of the labours of these eminent men, it is sufficient to observe that their researches have been partial and isolated, and their results in too many cases discrepant with each other. What is now proposed is an expedition composed of thoroughly competent persons in each branch of research, with perfect command of funds and time, and with all possible appliances and facilities, who should produce a report on Palestine which might be accepted by all parties as a trustworthy and thoroughly satisfactory document.

It is hoped that an arrangement may be made by which Captain Wilson will be able to remain for a few months in the country after he has completed the survey of Jerusalem and the levelling between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea; and it will not be difficult to find competent persons to undertake the other departments named above. The annual cost of each investigator may be taken roughly at ,£800 (including both remuneration and expenses). Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to become the Patron of the Association, and to contribute to its funds. As will be presently seen the Society has attacked every one of those four divisions in turn, with the ex ception of the second, which is now under consideration.

Chapter II. Chronicle Of The Society

Cromlech in Galilee. In the year 1865-66, the first or preliminary expedition was sent out under Captain Wilson and Lieut. Anderson, the results of which are detailed in chapter III. (see p. 38). In the year 1867, a great stimulus was given to the Society by the announcement that excavations were about to be made in Jerusalem, and letters were written to the Times by Mr. George Grove, which, backed by one or two leading articles, created for a short time very great enthusiasm. It must be remembered that the founders hoped to accomplish all their objects in a very few years, and by the expenditure of a com paratively small sum. With this belief the Committee contemplated a brief existence and began by asking for donations, rather than for annual subscriptions, so that in the first three years the comparatively large sum of .£8,000, which was raised in answer to their appeals, consisted almost entirely of donations.

The Queen, who became the Patron of the Society. gave £150; the University of Oxford £500; the University of Cambridge £250 ; the British Asso ciation £ 1 50 ; the Grand Lodge of Freemasons £ 105 ; the Syria Improvement Committee £250 — this Com mittee subsequently voted other large sums ; the City of Edinburgh sent up £200; Glasgow £140; Cam bridge £100 ; and Oxford £90. There were eleven donors of £100, and a great many others in the first lists who gave between £50 and £ 100 each. But as yet there were hardly any annual subscribers. These had to be created when the need for them arose, namely, when all the money of the " first sprightly flow " had been spent. The time of great donations has never passed away, and scarcely a year passes but some gift of a very substantial kind rejoices the Committee ; but the Society no longer wholly depends upon them.

It possesses now a large body of subscribers who send every year their half-a-guinea, guinea, two guineas, and sometimes more, to the Secretary. There are, at the present moment, about 3,500 of these. There have been times when there were more, and no doubt the announcement of work recommenced in Jerusalem, or of Captain Conder's return to the field, would again, and quickly, run up the numbers. Some of these subscribers are old friends who have continued with us from the beginning, always interested in the work and always looking for the appearance of the Quarterly Statement ; others drop off year by year and are replaced by new subscribers ; the general depression of trade and the bad times have forced some reluctantly to retire, while others send up their contributions only when a party is in the field, in a belief, which it seems impossible to destroy, that when an expedition has once come home with the note books full, no more money is wanted.

Some, again, are interested more in one branch of inquiry than in another. Some continually urge the Committee to resume excavation work in Jerusalem, while others are eager for the completion of the Survey. It is, however, to this great body of annual subscribers that the Committee have chiefly looked for the last eighteen years for the funds wherewith to prosecute the work, and it will always be their endeavour and hope to be constantly enlisting new members, and extending the area covered by their members. It is certainly better, in the interests of extended knowledge and of Biblical research, to have ten annual subscribers of a guinea each than one donor of ten guineas, and the lecturers and advocates of the Society no longer ask so much for special donations as for annual subscribers.

At the same time, donations are always most acceptable. The machinery by which the Committee look most for extension and support is by the help of their local secretaries, by their lecturers, by their publications, and by means of the press. The money spent in advertising is a very small annual item. To return, however, to the early years. In the year 1868 it was found absolutely necessary, although Mr. Grove had been joined in his office as hon. secretary by the Rev. F. W. Holland as coad jutor, to have an office for head-quarters and as a place where information could be had and the papers and circulars of the Society seen, and a secretary who should receive visitors, explain the nature and results of the work, conduct the correspondence and carry on the regular daily business of the Society.

Mr. Walter Besant, M.A., was, in July, 186S, appointed secretary, and has ever since continued to hold the post. In March, 1869, it was resolved to give the reports and letters of the exploring officers a more permanent shape by issuing them once a quarter, and sending them round to all subscribers. Before this a few copies only had been printed, as the letters came home, and these were sent round to such of the subscribers — a small selected list — as it was thought would be interested in them. Many of them, there fore, were not aware of what was being done. In this way was first established the Quarterly Statement. It began with an issue of 500 copies, and the first number contained, besides Warren's letter and a resume' of work prepared by the secretary, only a reprint of two articles, one by Mr. John Macgregor from the Times, and one by Lieut. Warren from the Athenæum.

This Journal is now the recognised organ for all papers on Palestine research, and penetrates into all parts of the world where the Bible is studied. Its circulation naturally varies with the number of the subscribers. At the present moment it is less than 3,000, though in some years it has gone up to as many as 5,000. Considering that it addresses none but such as are serious students of the geography, history, and archæology of Bible lands, this circulation may be considered very fair. It has published, among its seventeen volumes, an invaluable collection of papers on all subjects connected with the Society's operations. Most of the important matter up to the year 1882 has been transferred from its pages to the Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine, yet those who have kept the early numbers and have a complete collection may take note that an unbroken set is fast becoming very valuable.