Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/306

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JERUSALEM NOTES.

quarry, which must have been made before the second wall was built; hence in the time of the early Jewish Kings.

2. A Colony of Bokhara Jews.—Although the immigration of Jews to the Holy Land is restricted by the Government, yet it seems that the Jews are increasing in number, especially those from Mohammedan countries, and bringing money with them. Those from Bokhara are about to build a village. They have bought a large tract of land, northeast of the so-called "Plantation," an English property, north-west of the city, 1,700 yards distant from the town wall. It is on the ridge between the upper part of the Kedron Valley,[1] near the Jaffa road, and the upper part of a branch valley more to the north, but south of the tombs of the judges. At the western end of this ridge stands a guard-house—then comes the ridge with olive trees and some new houses; further east, Mr. Schneller's Orphan Asylum, then "the Plantation," and close to it the Bokhara settlement. As the ridge becomes here more and more narrow, a great part of this settlement stands on its northern slope. It is laid out in regular and wide streets crossed by one or two others, and the houses are very well built. About 40 families are already residing there and new houses are being erected. The natives call this place now "Bokharieh." I intend to go there when I find time and measure everything for a plan, which they themselves wish me to prepare, as they want one to send to their friends in Bokhara. They seem a healthy people and are well dressed, the opposite of the poor Yemen Jews, of whom also there are a great number here in several settlements, the bulk being settled below Siloah, where there are now four long buildings on the slope of the eastern mountain.

3. The English Hospital—For many years there has been, especially on the part of the English doctor, a desire to build a new hospital outside the town, and in the best manner. The site chosen is the Sanatorium of the Loudon Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. The spot is noted in the Ordnance Survey Map, scale 1/10000 It used by the mission staff to camp there during the summer months, and hence its name. A new Girls' Mission School was three or four years ago built there by the society under my direction, and now the hospital building has been commenced on the remaining portion of land. It will occupy a great deal of space as the plan, made by a London architect, is on the pavilion system. It will be the only one here on that system. It is remarkable that nearly all the new hospitals here are situated on the same ridge which comes out from the city and extends in a north-westerly direction. Inside the town the new Greek Hospital is on it, immediately outside the new gate, the French, then comes the Russian, then Dr. Sandrezky's Hospital for Children, then Rothschild's Hospital, then farther out the new German Hospital, then the English one about to be built, and beyond it, on the highest part of the ridge, close to the Jaffa road, the new

  1. In this upper part called Wady Luca, then Wady el Jos, and further down Kedron.