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170 registration, and on Friday I started for Beyrout to collect my goods and chattels, as the permit would not be available till May 14th. A few days after my return on May 4th, Mr. Schick, who has quite recovered from his severe illness of the winter, accompanied me to the slopes at the south of the city, and we talked over the best sites for shafts. Ibrahim Effendi, our Commissioner, returned from Hebron on the 14th, and we doubtless would have begun work in a day or two had we not discovered that it was necessary to get his local appointment confirmed from Constantinople. I anticipated a tedious delay, but, owing to the prompt action of Ibrahim Pasha, the Governor, who takes a most kindly interest in the work, a reply came in a surprisingly short time. We had, however, to wait till Monday for a committee to be appointed by the council who should visit the field of our proposed excavations and decide whether it came within the terms of the permit. Our tents had already been up for a week, just outside the English cemetery. Accordingly, Tuesday morning, with delightful promptness, the committee appeared, consisting of Yasin Effendi, the relative of our Commissioner, and 'Arif Bey, the head of the Public Instruction. They surveyed the site, and seeing that there was no possible danger to sacred or military buildings, made a favourable report and authorised us to begin the next day. We have every reason to be thankful that we had a delay of nine days only, and that in the ordinary course of business.

My instructions from the Committee were to take up the "Rock Scarp of Zion," just outside the property of the English School and Cemetery, and attempt to trace it eastwards, in accordance with the description of Josephus. Full descriptions of Mr. Henry Maudsley's valuable work inside the English property are given by Major Conder in the numbers of the Quarterly for 1875. I may note here that the scarp was traced by Mr. Maudsley continuously for over 650 feet. Beginning at a point about 100 feet north of the school, the scarp runs south; at the school it makes a right angle, in order to form the north side of the solid base of a tower, some 45 feet each way and over 25 feet high. Beyond the south-east corner of the tower the scarp continues south for 50 feet in a line with the scarp as first observed, and then, turning through an angle of some 40º, runs in this direction to the eastern wall of the English Cemetery, where it again turns at right angles, as if to form the base of another tower, forming the foundation of the modern wall. Midway between these two towers Major Conder sees indications of a third. The scarp presents many interesting features, such as cisterns, stables, steps, &c. Outside the cemetery the supposed site of the tower was covered by a huge mound of rubbish, and the scarp was lost for over 100 feet, when it appeared again running north-east for about 175 feet. Opposite the scarp at its re-appearance a counterscarp was traced for some 40 feet, leaving a ditch some 40 feet wide. In the rock south of the counterscarp cisterns were found.

Such, then, was the condition of things at this most interesting spot 19 years ago, when described by Major Conder, and such was its condition