Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/310

266  happened from frightened animals, and it was sometimes dangerous for people to pass, the weekly market is now held outside the town in the depression of the so-called Birket es Sultan, or the lower pool in the Western Valley on the side of the Bethlehem road.

12. In consequence of the increase of the population and of the railway traffic, some streets have become overcrowded with people, and heavily laden camels could only with difficulty pass through, endangering the crowd, so that accidents repeatedly happened. It is now arranged that in those streets no camels can henceforth pass. At their ends iron bars forming narrow and low entrances are put, which no camel can pass but only donkeys or horses without a rider, and especially walking people. These hindrances are put at the top of Suwaikat Allun, at the Greek convent, at the Khankeh, and at the entrance of the Jewish quarter; Khan es Zait is still left open on account of the building work at the Muristan, to which camels have to bring stones, coming in by the Damascus Gate.

13. The excavations of Dr. Bliss are going on, and I take the liberty to go there once every week to see the state of things. It proves that the city wall was once situated a little more down the hill than was expected. Yet the question is not yet fully settled. It is strange that no proper wall or traces of such have hitherto been found except at the tower, but only very high rock scarps.



numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the barometer in each month; of these the highest appear in the winter, and the lowest in the summer months; the maximum for the year is 27·656 inches in December. In column 2 the lowest reading in each month is shown. The minimum for the year is 27·086 inches in March. The range of readings in the year was 0·570 inch. The numbers in column 3 show the range of readings in each month; the smallest, 0·196 inch, is in July, and the largest, 0·487 inch, in March. The numbers in column 4 show the mean monthly pressure of the atmosphere; the highest, 27·504 inches, is in December, and the lowest, 27·251 inches, in July. The mean pressure for the year was 27·385 inches. At Sarona the mean pressure for the year was 29·839 inches.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in column 5. The highest in the year was 105°, on June 15th. The first day the temperature reached 90° was on April 30th. In May there were 2 days when the temperature reached or exceeded 90°; in June, 14 days; in 