Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/132

108 uncertainty attaching to the different sites here, and emphasized the spiritual character of Christianity. In the evening the sermon was by the Bishop of North Dakota, who had made a most stormy landing at Jaffa that morning.

Monday dawned with the fine weather which had become proverbial with the pilgrims. A small section left by land for Damascus, and the rest returned to Jaffa to embark that night. At Athens they are to hear lectures from Professor Mahaffy, who also spoke to them in Cairo. The lecturer at Rome was Archdeacon Farrar.

March 7 1894.



In December last I travelled by land from Jerusalem to Haifa, viâ Nâblus. The thorough work of the survey of Western Palestine has left very little to be done above ground, and the principal way to help the Fund now is to be on the alert to watch operations in places that are being dug up. One of the most interesting places in Palestine, because one of the least disputed, is Jacob's Well. It is a link between the histories of the Old and the New Testaments. It is the spot where the universality of the Christian religion was proclaimed in definite terms. The site has been greatly neglected, and I am glad to announce (what has been known to recent travellers) that at last proper care is being taken of the place.

For some years the property about the spot has been in the hands of the Greek Monastery, and has been enclosed by a wall. Visitors of former years will remember that to see the well they were obliged to descend by a hole at the surface of the ground into a small vault, choked with debris, but apparently some 20 feet by 10 feet. The discovery of the well-stone itself is described in the Statement for 1881, p. 212. The present Abbot is a Greek of genuine archæological tastes and enthusiasm. During the past year he has done some excavating with valuable results, which I shall now describe.

He began by clearing out the vault entirely, showing it to be a perfectly preserved cruciform crypt {see on plan). The eastern arm is 13 feet by 9 feet 6 inches, but the western arm is only 3 feet 6 inches deep. The east and west axis of the crypt is 25 feet 6 inches, and the north and south axis 20 feet. At the point  he found a doorway with a stair, leading up out of the crypt to a pavement some 6 feet above the floor of the crypt, but several feet lower than the top of its vault. The walls between which the stairway passes are plastered. At  he found a similar door, but he has not yet cleared away the rubbish under which corresponding steps are doubtless hidden. At the point 