Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/Quarterly Statement for July 1894
[Quarterly Statement, July, 1894.]
THE
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.
NOTES AND NEWS.
A Meeting of the Fund was held on the afternoon of May the 8th, in the Westminster Town Hall, when Major Claude E. Conder, R.E., read a paper on "Future Researches in Palestine."
The Duke of York presided, and among others present were Mr. James Glaisher, F.R.S. (Chairman of Committee), Archdeacon Farrar, Lord Amherst of Hackney, the Dean of Westminster, the Marquis of Bute, Sir Edmund Lechmere, Sir Charles Wilson, Canon Tristram, the Rev. Dr. William Wright, Dr. Chaplin, of Jerusalem, Mr. Walter Besant, the American Ambassador, Mr. F. D. Mocatta, Mr. H. A. Harper, Mr. Gibbs, Colonel Watson, Mr. Walter Morrison, and Mr. J. D. Crace.
In opening the proceedings, His Royal Highness said:—Your Excellency, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, it will be scarcely necessary for me to trouble you with any lengthy remarks concerning the object of our meeting here this afternoon. The Palestine Exploration Fund has now been in existence for nearly 30 years. The great and useful work achieved by its means in the past, more especially the topographical survey by Officers of the Royal Engineers of the whole of Palestine, on the scale of one inch to a mile, and the careful gathering together of a mass of information regarding the Holy Land cannot but be very well known to you all. (Applause.) Its past successes have been very great, and we hope and believe that these are only the foundations of even greater achievements to come. The work that lies before us in the immediate future, as you will hear directly, is nothing less than the systematic excavation, so far as may be possible, of the chief historic sites of Syria. What has been done, and is still being done in Chaldea, in Egypt, in Greece, and in classic Rome, yet awaits doing in Palestine. An important beginning has been made, and we must actively and strenuously go on with it. The interesting and extremely important discoveries that have been made at Lachish last year and the year before by the skill and perseverance of Mr. Bliss (applause), acting on behalf of the Fund, are full of promise as to what awaits our efforts in the future, and I am sure that it is a real pleasure to everyone of us to feel that English and Americans are, in this matter, working hand in hand together. (Hear, hear.) It is also a great satisfaction to know that His Majesty the Sultan, without whose sanction it would, of course, be impossible to undertake this work, has evinced a very lively interest in these archæological explorations, and has graciously given a firman, enabling us to begin work at once at Jerusalem. I will now ask my old friend, Major Conder, to deliver the lecture he has been good enough to prepare. I look back with pleasure to the year 1882, when he travelled with my brother and myself throughout the whole of Palestine, and went with us into the Mosque at Hebron, and crossed with us into the country east of Jordan. (Applause.)
Major Conder then delivered his lecture, of which the following summary appeared in the "Times":—
Major Conder, who met with a most cordial reception, said that the interest felt in Jerusalem, as the centre of the Hebrew Kingdom, made it naturally the first site to which explorers turned with increasing interest; and he believed that excavations there might still bring much to light, and that they were still possible, though there were many difficulties in the way. It was an inhabited city, and it contained one of the most sacred places of the Moslems. The southern hills outside the city walls were allowed by all to have been included in the ancient city before the Captivity. The western hill, usually called Sion, was that of the upper city of David and Solomon; and the southwest angle of its fortress wall had been discovered. It only required to be traced toward the east. The little spur above Siloam was the quarter where the priests' houses grew up south of the Temple, where the Kings of Judah had a palace, and where some of them were buried in the Royal garden. It was walled in by the later kings, and the wall was rebuilt by Nehemiah. There also, therefore, they had much reason to hope for important discoveries. They might light on the palace itself, and might find some remains of early archives on its site. The site of Herodium, the burial place of Herod the Great, and the rock-cut tomb supposed to be that of the Patriarchs, under the sanctuary of Hebron, were also important objects for future investigation, and there were several uninhabited places which would yield a rich harvest to the explorer. Generally speaking, he thought it was along the great trade routes of Palestine that the most important sites occurred. The towns in the mountains were for the most part small, and the civilisation of early ages was chiefly found in the plains, along the great highways from the Euphrates, and from the sea to Damascus and to Egypt. There was, he thought, some evidence that in the earliest times the great centre of native civilisation was in Lebanon, and not in Southern Palestine. Many important remains had already been found in this region, which was full of deserted mounds some 40 feet high, which concealed unknown treasures of antiquity. The sites in that region which required exploration, and which others would soon explore if we did not, included especially Kadesh itself, Orpad, and Karchemish. The society should not confine itself between the limits of Beersheba and Dan, for the kingdom of Solomon reached the Euphrates; and the "Land of the Hittites" was quite as important for Bible study as Southern Palestine. Their limits should be drawn from the Egyptian boundary to the foot or the Taurus, and the most promising sites were to be found in the plain of the Orontes east of Lebanon. In Lebanon itself inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar were cut upon the rocks; and the Assyrian conquerors, returning from their expeditions to Egypt, left monuments at Beirut and at Samala describing their distant victories. The Egyptians set up statues near Orpad, and it was quite possible that in that region they might yet recover texts which would tell of the conquest of Jerusalem by the Northern enemy, or early inscriptions even of the time of Solomon. To illustrate this subject he called attention to what had actually been discovered quite recently, by German explorers, at Samala, in the extreme north of Syria, and to the importance of their explorations as connected with the Bible history. These results were as yet very little known in England; but the statues which they had brought home were among the chief treasures of the Imperial Museum in Berlin. There was no doubt that this important field would be further worked by German scholars; and George Smith long ago called attention to its interest and value. It was to be hoped that we might yet find Englishmen co-operating with the Germans in the recovery of its treasures. Samala lay east of Issus and south-west of Merash, where several very important Hittite inscriptions had been found. But the antiquities of Samala were not Hittite, but represented the civilisation of the Syrian race, which worshipped Hadad, the god of Damascus, and which used the Phœnician alphabet almost as early as the time of the Moabite stone. A circular enclosure, some 800 yards in diameter, with three gates, here enclosed an acropolis on a hillock in the plain. The great south gateway of the acropolis was built apparently about 730 b.c., and adorned with 40 bas-reliefs cut in hard basalt, in a rude imitation of the Assyrian style. Men with captives, a bowman, a horseman, and a soldier with an axe were represented, with bulls, deer, and lions; also mythological figures—-a lion-headed man, a winged lion ramping, and a sphinx. A statue close by had a Phœnician text of 34 lines in relief. It represented the head and body of a gigantic bearded figure with a round cap, and the inscription was on the columnar pedestal. He had not seen any translation of this text as a whole, but it was of much value as showing the beliefs of the Syrians about 800 B.C. Touching the bearing of Palestine exploration on the study of the New Testament, they might look, the lecturer said, to valuable results in this respect, and some had, indeed, been already obtained. Much that was of interest regarding the early history of Christianity in the East in the second and third centuries had also been brought to light, and more remained, no doubt, to be found, especially at Cæsarea and at Ascalon. In conclusion, he said that much remained to be worked out, and they must be up and doing. Twenty years ago the Palestine Exploration Fund stood almost alone. Schliemann's work was only beginning to be noticed, and many important Egyptian discoveries were still in the future. But now the movement had spread in every direction. The French and the Germans were busy in Greece and in Syria; the Egyptologists had added immense stores of valuable material to our collections. The members of the Palestine Exploration Fund must not allow others to outstrip them or neglect one of the most hopeful and important fields of research. (Cheers.)
Sir E. Lechmere. Your Royal Highness, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I have been requested to propose the first resolution which will be submitted to you to-day, and I need hardly say that it is the expression of our cordial thanks to Major Conder for his deeply interesting lecture. (Hear, hear.) The Palestine Exploration Fund, under whose auspices we meet here to-day, make their fresh departure under circumstances of no ordinary advantage. They are now about, as you have heard, to enter upon a new field of exploration in Jerusalem, with the full sanction of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, who has always shown a highly-enlightened interest in this work, and I need hardly say that they make a fresh appeal to British and American travellers, and those who are interested in Palestine for the means of carrying out these explorations. I am sure we must feel that we have no little advantage to-day in the presence and presidency of His Royal Highness (hear, hear), who has told us of his experiences in Palestine, and who lias also shown so much sympathy with, and deep interest in, this work by his opening remarks. I am sure we must all feel we have had a great privilege in the admirable lecture which has been given us by Major Conder. We must bear in mind that he was one of those great pioneers of exploration in the Holy Land, associated as he was with the names of Sir Charles Warren, Sir Charles Wilson—who, I am happy to say, is present here to-day—and Brigadier-General Sir H. H. Kitchener, and perhaps to none of those are we more indebted than to Major Conder, who, I believe, took the greatest share in the preparation of that magnificent map and survey, and who has devoted himself so much to the literary illustration of the subject. (Hear, hear.) I only trust, ladies and gentlemen, that the earnest words with which he concluded his lecture may find an echo in the hearts of all those present—that we will not leave this meeting without promising ourselves to support him, and those I have mentioned who have gone before us in this great work, by a liberal response to the call for subscriptions to enable this admirable society to give once more a proof of how much can be done by the energy of an English Association in the distant clime of Palestine. (Applause.) With these few remarks, 1 venture, your Royal Highness, to propose a hearty vote of thanks to Major Conder for his lecture.
Mr. Mocatta. I am sure we have all listened with very great pleasure and advantage to the lecture which Major Conder has delivered to us. The name of Major Conder is so intimately associated with exploration in Palestine that he is properly regarded as one of the very best authorities upon this important subject. As His Royal Highness mentioned at the beginning of this meeting, the ruins of Rome and Greece have been investigated with very great care, and we know a great deal of the habits and of the history of these great powers of ancient times, and possess a great deal of architectural and artistic knowledge, which we have gained by their exploration. And so I hope that we may know, in the course of time, a very great deal more than we know at the present day, about the Bible and the nations mentioned in the Bible, in which we all feel such great interest. It is the great glory of this country that the Bible literature is so deeply studied; but now, as Major Conder has told us, and as we have heard from several other great authorities connected with this society, notwithstanding what we know, we are only at the very outset of the work. The monuments of Syria, the valley between the Tigris and the Euphrates, and a great portion of Southern Persia, have to be still explored. The peculiar conditions in which these countries arc, the semi-civilised state in which they are, the great jealousy which the great tribes exhibit towards anyone who touches the tells which contain the imbedded cities of antiquity is so great, that whoever lays a hand upon them, even when furnished with the firman of the Sultan, they view with the greatest suspicion, and many valuable monuments are doomed to destruction because of the superstition that as soon as they have been touched by Christians they are desecrated, and misfortune will somehow fall upon the country. We hope that in the course of time we shall disabuse these semi-barbarous persons of these superstitions, and that we shall have the power of investigating and bringing together the principal objects and inscriptions which still remain, and which will bring us into the possession cf a greater knowledge of these countries and their people, and their ancient history. Linguists have also gained enormously by the researches which have been made, and I have no doubt that they will gain a great deal more by those which have still to be made. It is with great happiness that we see amongst us men like Major Conder and Sir Charles Wilson, and several others whose names are illustrious. Not only Englishmen, but Germans and French are interesting themselves in this study, and it is a source of happiness that we have these men to pursue this work. I think that a meeting like this to-day ought to awaken great interest in the Palestine Exploration Society, which, in a country like this, ought to be the best supported amongst all similar societies. (Applause.) It is with great pleasure that we see His Excellency, Mr. Bayard, here to-day, representing the United States. I think that although we are two Governments we are one nation, and I hope that in all these great works we may be supported by American sympathy and American capital, and I am quite certain that if we can only create an interest as great as the subject deserves we shall be rewarded by vast discoveries within the next fifty years. I have great pleasure in seconding the motion. (Applause.)
The resolution was heartily carried.
Lord Amherst. The resolution I have the honour to propose to you is one which will be received at once with acclamation, and it does not require many words of mine to preface it. It is that of our appreciation of His Royal Highness having come amongst us (applause) to take the Chair this afternoon. I am asked to do that, not because I am better acquainted, or even so well acquainted as a great many others who are here to hear this interesting lecture, but because I have been connected with the Palestine Exploration Fund ever since its commencement. It is now some years ago—I had then come back from my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and when we look at the Committee list of 1865 and the list to-day, we see how many good friends have passed away during that period. But still, the roll of the Committee, and the roll of those who support the Association is larger, I believe, to-day than it ever was before, and we all know and appreciate what a stimulus will be given to our efforts to carry on the work that we are now about to commence under the new firman that has been given, by the presence of His Royal Highness this afternoon, and by the remarks with which lie kindly opened the meeting. We have a great work before us, for who can tell what is yet hidden under the mounds of that Holy Land? We have fresh discoveries made every day, and all that we want to bring still more to light is the funds to do it with, and I am sure that this large gathering assembled here to-day is a good augury that these funds will be forthcoming, because the work in which we are engaged is not only interesting to those who have had the time to spare, and have been able to incur the expense of a visit to the country itself, but by the publications of the Society we are also enabled to bring these interesting discoveries home to those who can only read of them. (Hear, hear.) I will not trouble you with any further remarks upon this occasion, except to say that I should like to add my testimony and thanks to Major Conder for the interesting paper he has read to us, and to ask you to give your most cordial thanks to His Royal Highness for having taken the Chair. (Applause.)
His Excellency the American Ambassador, in seconding the vote of thanks, said: Your Royal Highness, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, it is at all times, as you may suppose, a matter of the greatest satisfaction and pride to me to speak for my countrymen, and to-day, upon this most interesting occasion, I wish you to feel the emphasis of my representative voice for the many millions of Christian people who join with you in their interest in such a subject as that of which we have heard through Major Conder's lecture. (Applause.) I was most glad to join in the thanks to the lecturer for his earnest, his zealous, his valuable, and his most interesting contribution to our knowledge of a subject and of a place, than which nothing can be more interesting and important, and I am very glad to second the motion of thanks to that member of the Royal Family of this realm who has testified for himself the interest which he feels in that which is so interesting to so many—and indeed, to all the inhabitants of the realm. (Hear, hear.) He said in the very pertinent and excellent remarks with which he opened this meeting, that England and America were hand in hand in the objects to which this Fund devotes itself. I am glad of it, and I think you will agree with me that the more they are hand in hand in that and in other things, the better it will be for both countries. (Loud applause.) The subject of this lecture is the Holy Land. No words could better convey the estimation in which that spot of earth is held by all of us who profess the Christian faith. It is the Holy Land, and anything that can disclose to us its true history, anything that can assist us to dwell more humbly and more piously upon the mysteries—the great mysteries—that surround us, must be welcome to us. (Applause.) Therefore, as assisting such a purpose by coming here to preside, it is with sincere satisfaction that I second the motion of thanks to His Royal Highness for having attended upon this occasion, and for having fulfilled his duties with such propriety and dignity. (Applause.)
The resolution having been cordially carried.
His Royal Highness replied: Your Excellency, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentleman, I thank both Lord Amherst and the American Ambassador most sincerely for the very kind words they have used in proposing and in seconding this vote of thanks, and I thank you all, ladies and gentlemen, for the very cordial manner in which you have received it. I can assure you it has given me very great pleasure to preside over this meeting to-day, the object of which is one so worthy of everybody's assistance, and it has also given me very great pleasure to listen to the most interesting lecture which has just been delivered by Major Conder. (Applause.)
The proceedings then terminated.
Supporters of the Fund will be glad to learn that excavations have been successfully commenced at Jerusalem by Mr. F. J. Bliss. His first report appears in the present number.
We are happy to state that Herr Baurath von Schick, having recovered from his long illness, has resumed his activity and sent us some interesting Notes and News. An essay by him on the Jerusalem Cross will be found at p. 183. He reports a meeting of tourists and others taking an interest in Jerusalem topography, which was held in one of the hotels of the city, at which Mr. Bliss gave an address on the projected excavations.
We regret to hear of the decease of a well-known Jerusalem archæologist, the Russian Archimandrite Antoine, Spiritual Head of the Russian Establishment there.
Herr von Schick has completed new models of the Haram es Sherif, one showing the ancient temples, and the other the buildings of Hadrian, and of the Crusading and the Mohammedan periods, including those now existing.
The German Palestine Society have sent out Dr. Blankenberg, of Eriangen, to study the geology of the Holy Land. He has visited Hebron, Usdum, Engedi, Jericho, and other places.
On Saturday, May 19th, the officers of the Fund were entertained at dinner by the Maccabean Society at St. James's Hall. Mr. Walter Morrison, the treasurer, Major-General Sir Charles Wilson, R. E., Major Conder, R. E., Colonel Watson, R. E., and Mr. George Armstrong were the guests of the evening. Letters of apology were read from Sir George Grove, Messrs. William Simpson, Walter Besant, and Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie, who regretted their inability to attend the gathering.
In an article on the above subject the "Jewish Chronicle" remarked:—
"The Palestine explorers have done wonderful work in the past 30 years. and they are about to embark in a fresh and interesting scheme of further investigation. Hence, when honour is shown to some of the most prominent members of the band of officers and scholars who have restored to the modern world so much knowledge of the topography of Palestine, the honour is a compound reward for favours past and to come. It is no small thing to have given us a chart of Palestine as full in details and as accurate in its identifications as the maps which ordinarily do duty as representations even of European countries to-day.
"Immediate steps are to be taken to begin the excavations at Jerusalem 'graciously permitted' by the Ottoman Government, and it is hoped that some of the problems having reference to Ancient Jerusalem will be set at rest. The old walls, the old buildings, the old sites may have left beneath the sacred soil records well worthy of being brought to the light of day. Who shall say what two years' excavations, systematic and unimpeded, may produce? But Jerusalem, moreover, is an inhabited city, and excavation can only be conducted in the parts less densely populated, on the outskirts rather than in the body of the city. But it must not be forgotten that it is on the outskirts that the chief hope of important results may be expected.
"These difficulties will only arouse enthusiastic vigour in the explorers if they feel that their work is being appreciated by the public. Money is required and we hope that a fair proportion of the amount needed will come from Jewish pockets. It is true that much of the work proposed in Jerusalem will interest Christians rather than Jews. But Jews have too deep an interest in the Holy Land as a whole not to feel concerned in all which relates to its hills, its streams, and its valleys. The love of Zion has been the one note of idealism in many a sordid ghetto. Projecting themselves beyond their poor environment, beyond the scorn and reproach of the present, the pent-up dwellers in the ghettos have found in this love for Zion, this love for a past Zion, again to be gloriously restored in the ideal future, both comfort and hope. The most touching, the most inspired specimens of mediæval Jewish poetry are the songs of Zion by Jehuda Halevi. This sweet singer of Spain was the first to revive the affectionate idealisation of Zion in modern times, but his example was followed by others, and thus the Jewish liturgy knows of no more eloquent and pathetic accretions than the marvellous elegies or Kinnoth wrung out from the souls of generations of Jews, and voiced in the poems which author after author put forth as lasting monuments of his love and his longing.
"Sad would it be were we Jews of to-day to fall behind our predecessors in their love for the Holy Land. The new schemes for colonising Palestine, of which the last few years have seen the vigorous birth, the flourishing colonies already dotted here and there in various parts of the land, testify to the persistence in our days of the old enthusiasm. But action may be stimulated by enthusiasm, it cannot be fed on it. Jews must give an earnest of their affectionate regard for Palestine by bearing their share of the cost of exploring it. Who can over estimate the wonderful increase that has been made in the significance even of the Psalms and the Prophets by the closer knowledge we possess now of the topography of the places and sites about which the sacred records speak? Then, those who indeed love Zion will wish to know more of it; and to know more of it, they must help, substantially and soon, those who are willing to undergo the privations and difficulties of exploration in rather unsettled and certainly uncomfortable districts. We regret to have to say that Jews in the past generation have not borne their share in the labour or expense of exploration. In the Middle Ages some of the most accomplished and successful travellers were Jews. Nowadays, the traveller's instinct seems to have been transformed into a mere desire to visit the pleasure resorts of the Continent. We should be proud to see some Jews employed in the active work of exploration, but their absence makes it even more strongly incumbent on the community to offer solid help of another kind. Glancing over the donations chronicled in the last Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, we find absolutely no Jewish names in the list. It is true that there are a handful of Jewish annual subscribers to the Fund, but the names should be numbered by scores not units. This last appeal, coming at the moment when new work is about to be undertaken by the same competent hands who have done so much already, ought not to be made to the Jewish community in vain. The hospitalities of the Maccabeans should be completed by the generous subscriptions of the community at large. In this way an old and serious reproach will be wiped out, a reproach that has long been hurled against us with only too much force. The most destructive of adverse criticisms are the condemnations that are deserved."
The Rev. Theodore E. Dowling returned to Jerusalem from India in April. Having been authorised to act on behalf of the Executive Committee in India he secured sixteen annual subscribers.
The following have kindly consented to act as Honorary Local Secretaries:—
The Rev. H. T. Ottley, St. Stephen's Parsonage, Kidderpore, Calcutta, Hon. Sec. for Bengal Presidency.
The Rev. E. Bull, E.I.R. Chaplain, Tundla, Hon. Sec. for North-West Provinces.
Mrs. Elwes, Shadowbash, Nungumbankum, Madras, Hon. Sec. for Madras Presidency.
Thomas Plunkett, Esq., M.R.I.A., Enniskillen.
W. J. Baxter, Esq., M.C.P.S.I., Coleraine.
Herr A. M. Lunz, the blind Jewish author of Jerusalem, has just published another "Jahrbuch" of the Holy City. The first was published in 1881, and it was intended to issue a new one every year, but the author, who naturally works under great difficulties, has only been able to bring out four, or one every three years. The work is in Hebrew and German.
The Greek and other inscriptions from the Hauran, collected by the Rev. W. Ewing, have been reproduced, and will be published with translations and notes. Professor Ramsay and Mr. A. G. Wright, of Aberdeen, and Mr. A. Souter, M.A., of Caius College, Cambridge, are kindly preparing them for publication.
The first edition of Major Conder's "Tell Amarna Tablets" having been sold within the year, he has prepared a second edition, in which a new chapter is added, giving in full the Royal letters from Armenia, Elishah, Babylon, Assyria, &c., which are of great historical importance, and which contain allusions to the revolts in Palestine, and to the defeat of the Hittites. Major Conder has corrected his translations of the other tablets, and has added a new preface and some notes, including further translations. He has also treated the Mythological Tablets.
The Committee having secured the rights and interests of the publication of "Judas Maccabæus," have issued a new edition revised by the author. Major Conder writes: "The first edition of 'Judas Maccabæus' appeared in 1879, and was well received. During the fourteen years that have followed I had no occasion to look at its pages, until the present edition was called for; but I am glad to find little to correct, though much might be added. During this interval I have revisited many of the scenes described; have lived in Moab, and have ridden through the oak woods of Gilead. In the resting times, between more active years, I have had occasion to study more completely the subjects touched on in this volume, and further discoveries have cast some new light on the period."
"A Mound of many Cities," a complete account of the excavations at Tell el Hesy, with upwards of 250 illustrations, is now ready. This book, which will perhaps become the most popular work of the long list of books issued by the Palestine Exploration Fund, is a history by Mr. F. J. Bliss, of a Tell, or Mound, in Palestine, from the first building erected upon it, 2000 years B.C. to its final abandonment, 400 B.C. Mr. Bliss is a young American, educated partly at Beyrout, partly at Amherst College, Vermont. He is perfectly familiar with the language of the Fellahin. He took up the work upon this Tell where Prof. Flinders Petrie left it, and carried it on until he had compelled the Mound to yield up its secrets. He is the master of a free and lively style, and his work is interesting, not only for the story lie has to tell, but also for the manner in which it is told. The work is also illustrated by very numerous drawings of objects found, plans, sections, and elevations. In the history of this Tell we go back far beyond the beginning of European civilisation. A thousand-years before David, a thousand years before the siege of Troy, a city stood upon the bluff overhanging the stream which is now called Tell el Hesy. The site formed a natural fortress. The first city was built by the Amorites. This city was taken, sacked, and destroyed, in one of the countless tribal wars. But the site was too important for the place to be left long deserted; another town was raised upon the ruins. Note that they did not clear away the rubbish when they re-built: they raised the new town upon the débris of the old. On the second town fell the same fate as that which destroyed the first. Then came a third, a fourth, and so on, until the ruins which are now covered with grass hide the remains, certainly of eight, probably of eleven cities. Probably the last city, which was not re-built, was destroyed about the year 400 B.C.
The broken pottery and other remains found on the various levels serve to give a date to the destroyed city. Thus, at a certain level, Phœnician pottery is found for the first time; at higher levels, Greek pottery. But there was also found an unexpected and very precious treasure in the shape of a cuneiform letter, on a clay tablet. The letter is written from the Governor of Lachish to the Egyptian Pharaoh, and the writer, Zimradi, or Zimridi, is mentioned in the Tell el Amarna Tablets as Governor of Lachish. We also learn from the same authority that Zimridi was murdered by servants of the Pharaoh. The letter in the original cuneiform, with its transliteration and translation, will be found in the volume. In a word, the complete story of this Biblical City is here presented. It is the first time that one of the Tells of Palestine has been excavated, and therefore the first time that any of them has yielded up its secrets in illustration of the Biblical narrative. It is a history which is attractive from its subject, and made doubly attractive by the light, easy, and lucid manner in which Mr. Bliss presents it to the readers.
Price to subscribers to the Fund, 3s. 6d.; non-subscribers, 6s.
Mr. George Armstrong's Raised Map of Palestine is attracting much attention, and it is difficult to supply promptly all the orders that come in for it. This raised map is constructed on the same scale as those of the Old and New Testament maps already issued by the Society. These were reduced from the scale of the large map (1 inch to the mile) to 38 of an inch to the mile, or the fraction of 1168960. The levels, as calculated by the engineers who triangulated the country, of whom Mr. Armstrong was one from the commencement to the end, are followed exactly. No other correct raised map of the country is possible, because the Survey of Palestine is copyright and belongs to the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Without raising the question of piracy, however, no other trustworthy raised map is at all likely to be attempted, because the knowledge of the country requisite can only be possessed by one who has stepped over every foot of it, and because the labour which Mr. Armstrong has given to the work—extending over many years—will scarcely be expended by any other person, now or in the future. This labour will be partly understood when it is explained that the map was prepared by the super-position of small pieces of cardboard, many thousands in number, cut so as to represent the line of the country, and laid one above the other. The work occupied all Mr. Armstrong's leisure time for seven years. In its unfinished state the map presents the appearance of a completely terraced country. It embraces the whole of Western Palestine, from Baalbeck in the north, to Kâdesh Barnea in the south, and shows nearly all that is known on the East of Jordan.
The natural features of the country stand out prominently, and show at a glance the relative proportions of the mountains, heights, valleys, plains, &c.
Names are given to the coast towns and a few of the inland ones; other towns are numbered to correspond with a reference list of names.
With this map before him the teacher or the student is enabled to follow the Bible narrative exactly; he can trace the route of armies; he can reconstruct the roads; he can understand the growth and the decay of cities, their safety or their dangers, from their geographical positions. It is a magnificient addition to the many works which this Society has given to the world. It illustrates the practical usefulness of the Society, while it adds one more to its achievements in the cause of illustration and explanation of the Bible Lands.
The map should be in every public library, and every public school, and every Sunday School. Its price is necessarily high, because the work is most costly to produce. It measures 7 feet 6 inches by 4 feet, and can be seen at the office of the Fund, 24, Hanover Square, W.
The map is cast in fibrous plaster, and framed solidly; it is despatched in a wooden box, for which an extra charge is made, but this is partly returned on the return of the box. The price to subscribers, partly coloured, is £7 7s.; if fully coloured and framed, £10 10s. The price to the general public is £10 10s. and £13 13s.
The partly coloured raised map has the seas, lakes, marshes, and perennial streams coloured blue, the Old and New Testament sites are marked in red, the principal ones having a number to correspond with a reference list of names, the body of the map is left white.
The fully coloured raised map has the seas, lakes, marshes, and perennial streams coloured blue, the Old and New Testament Sites are marked in red, the principal ones having a number to correspond with a reference list of names, the plains green, the rising ground, hills, and mountains in various tints, the olive groves and wooded parts of the country stippled in green, and the main roads are shown in a thin black line.
Photographs of the raised map are now ready. Size 1612 inches by 812 inches, 5s. each; 8 inches by 4 inches, 1s. each.
In the "Revue Critique d'Histoire et de Litterature," M. Clermont-Ganneau writes as follows respecting the raised map of Palestine:—
Mr. George Armstrong, Assistant Secretary of the Palestine Exploration Fund, has just completed the construction of a large raised map of Palestine, of which the Fund offers for sale casts in fibrous plaster. Mr. Armstrong, as one of the surveyors, had taken an active part both in the preparation on the spot, and in the careful drawing afterwards, of the large English map of 1 inch per mile in 26 sheets, a monumental map, which will henceforth be the basis of all geographical studies relating to the Holy Land. He was, then, better qualified than any other person, to undertake this colossal work, which has cost him long years of labour. He has executed it with a conscientiousness and a precision worthy of all praise. We already had raised maps of Palestine; but they were very rough and without scientific value. This one, a rigorously exact translation of the map of the Palestine Exploration Fund, gives us for the first time an image of the land, faithfully modelled even in the smallest details, by a professional man who has walked, with theodolite in hand, over the whole of its extent. The planimetric scale, identical with that of the large reduction of the map of 1 inch per mile, is of 38 of an inch per mile, or 1168960; the hypsometric scale is three and a half times larger. The map does not measure less than 7 feet 6 inches long by 4 feet wide. Besides the purely topographical indications, shown by the relief and different colourings, the localities are represented by numbers corresponding to a long list of names of places. This superb raised map can then, besides its own peculiar interest, serve all the purposes of an ordinary map. Several great foreign scientific establishments are eager to obtain copies of it.
By the kindness of Mr. Pilling, arrangements have been entered into for archæological discoveries made in the course of the construction of the Haifa-Damascus Railway to be reported to the Fund, and, if necessary, to be carefully examined.
Index to the Quarterly Statement.—A new edition of the Index to the Quarterly Statements has been compiled. It embraces the years 1869 (the first issue of the journal) to the end of 1892. Contents:—Names of the Authors and of the Papers contributed by them; List of the Illustrations; and General Index. This Index will be found extremely useful. Price to subscribers to the Fund, in paper cover, 1s. 6d., in cloth, 2s. 6d., post free; non-subscribers, 2s. and 3s.
The new railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem has been laid down on the sheets of the large and small maps. Copies of these sheets are now ready. The museum of the Fund, at 24, Hanover Square, is now open to subscribers between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., every week-day except Saturdays, when it closes at 2 p.m.
The Committee have to acknowledge with thanks the following donations to the Library of the Fund:—
| "Man Hunting in the Desert (an Account of the Palmer Expedition)." By Capt. A. E. Haynes, R.E. From Walter Besant, Esq., M.A. | |
| "Through Judea, Samaria, and Galilee in 1892." From the Author, Henry Davidson, Esq. | |
| "The Historical Geography of the Holy Land." By George Adam Smith, D.D. From the Publishers, Hodder and Stoughton. |
The Committee will be glad to receive donations of Books to the Library of the Fund, which already contains many works of great value relating to Palestine and other Bible Lands. See list of Books, July Quarterly Statement, 1893.
It may be well to mention that plans and photographs alluded to in the reports from Jerusalem and elsewhere cannot all be published, but all are preserved in the offices of the Fund, where they may be seen by subscribers.
A new edition of "Twenty-one Years' Work" is in course of preparation, and will be brought down to date.
The first volume of the "Survey of Eastern Palestine," by Major Conder, is accompanied by a map of the portion of country surveyed, special plans, and upwards of 350 drawings of ruins, tombs, dolmens, stone circles, inscriptions, &c. Subscribers to the "Survey of Western Palestine" are privileged to have the volumes for seven guineas. The price will be raised, after 250 names are received, to twelve guineas. The Committee are pledged never to let any copies be subscribed for under the sum of seven guineas. A. P. Watt and Son, Hastings House, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C., are the Sole Agents. The attention of intending subscribers is directed to the announcement in the last page of this number.
Mr. H. Chichester Hart's "Fauna and Flora of Sinai, Petra, and the Wâdy Arabah," which forms the second volume, can be had separately.
M. Clermont-Ganneau's work, "Archaeological Researches in Palestine," will form the third volume. The first portion of it is already translated, and it is hoped that the concluding part will soon be completed.
The maps and books now contained in the Society's publications comprise an amount of information on Palestine, and on the researches conducted in the country, which can be found in no other publications. It must never be forgotten that no single traveller, however well equipped by previous knowledge, can compete with a scientific body of explorers, instructed in the periods required, and provided with all the instruments necessary for carrying out their work. See list of Publications. The Old and New Testament Map of Palestine (scale 38 of an inch to a mile).—Embraces both sides of the Jordan, and extends from Baalbek in the north to Kadesh Barnea in the south. All the modern names are in black; over these are printed in red (he Old Testament and Apocrypha names. The New Testament, Josephus, and Talmudic names are in blue, and the tribal possessions are tinted in colours, giving clearly all the identifications up to date. It is the most comprehensive map that has been published, and will be invaluable to universities, colleges, schools, &c.
It is published in 20 sheets, with paper cover; price to subscribers to the Fund, 23s.; to the public, £2. It can be had mounted on cloth, rollers, and varnished for hanging. The size is 8 feet by 6 feet. The cost of mounting is extra (see Maps).
In addition to the 20-sheet map, the Committee have issued as a separate Map the 12 sheets (viz., Nos. 5-7, 9-11, 13-15, 20-22), which include the whole of Palestine as far north us Mount Hermon, and the districts beyond Jordan as far as they are surveyed. See key-map to the sheets.
The price of this map, in 12 sheets, in paper cover, to subscribers to the Fund, 12s. 6d.; to the public, £1 1s.
The size of this map, mounted on cloth and roller for hanging, is 412 feet by 634 feet.
Any single sheet of the map can be had separately, price, to subscribers of the Fund, 1s. 6d. Mounted on cloth to fold in the pocket suitable for travelling, 2s. To the public 2s. and 2s. 6d.
Single copies of these maps in sheets, with cover, can be sent by post to all foreign countries at an extra charge of 1s.
A copy of names and places in the Old and New Testament, with their modern identifications and full references, can he had by subscribers with either of these maps at the reduced price of 2s. 6d.
"John Poloner's Description of the Holy Land" (1421 A.D.) and "Guide-book to Palestine" (1350 A.D.) were issued to subscribers to the Pilgrims' Text Society during the month of June.
Translations in hand:—Extracts from various early writers illustrating topographical details of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, viz., Aristeas, Hecataeus, Origen, Cyril, St. Jerome, The Patriarch Sophronius, &c.
Branch Associations of the Bible Society, all Sunday School Unions within the Sunday School Institute, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan Sunday School Institute, will please observe that by a special Resolution of the Committee they will henceforth be treated as subscribers and be allowed to purchase the books and maps (by application only to the Secretary) at reduced price.
The income of the Society, from March 22nd to June 21st, 1894, was—from annual subscriptions and donations, including Local Societies, £340 12s. 1d.; from all sources—£661 12s. 4d. The expenditure during the same period was £963 19s. 2d. On June 21st the balance in the Bank was £500 11s. 8d. Subscribers are requested to note that the following cases for binding, casts, and slides can be had by application to the Assistant Secretary at the Office of the Fund:—
Cases for binding Herr Schumacher's "Jauhlân," 1s. each.
Cases for binding the Quarterly Statement, in green or chocolate, 1s. each.
Cases for binding "Abila," "Pella," and "'Ajlûn " in one volume, 1s. each.
Casts of the Tablet, front and back, with a Cuneiform Inscription found in May, 1892, at Tell el Hesy, by F. J. Bliss, Explorer to the Fund, at a depth of 35 feet. It belongs to the general diplomatic correspondence carried on between Amenhotep III and IV and their agents in various Palestinian towns. Price 2s. 6d. the pair.
Casts of the Ancient Hebrew Weight brought by Dr. Chaplin from Samaria, price 2s. 6d. each.
Casts of an Inscribed Weight or Bead from Palestine, forwarded by Professor Wright, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., price 1s. each.
Lantern slides of the Raised Map, the Sidon Sarcophagi, and of the Bible places mentioned in the catalogue of photos and special list of slides.
In order to make up complete sets of the Quarterly Statement the Committee will be very glad to receive any of the back numbers.
While desiring to give every publicity to proposed identifications and other theories advanced by officers of the Fund and contributors to the pages of the Quarterly Statement, the Committee wish it to be distinctly understood that by publishing them in the Quarterly Statement they neither sanction nor adopt them.
Subscribers who do not receive the Quarterly Statement regularly are asked to send a note to the Secretary. Great care is taken to forward each number to all who are entitled to receive it, but changes of address and other causes give rise occasionally to omissions.
The authorised lecturers for the Society are—
| (1) Research and Discovery in the Holy Land. | |
| (2) Bible Scenes in the Light of Modern Science. | |
| (3) The Survey of Eastern Palestine. | |
| (4) In the Track of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. | |
| (5) The Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, and the Cities of the Plain. | |
| (6) The Recovery of Jerusalem—{Excavations in 1894). | |
| (7) The Recovery of Lachish and the Hebrew Conquest of Palestine. | |
| (8) Archæological Illustrations of the Bible. (Specially adapted for Sunday School Teachers). |
| (1) The Work of the Palestine Exploration Fund. | |
| (2) The Survey of Palestine. | |
| (3) The City of Jerusalem. | |
| (4) Eastern Palestine. | |
| (5) Calvary and the Church, of the Holy Sepulchre. |
| (1) Explorations in Judea. | |
| (2) Research and Discovery in Samaria and Galilee. | |
| (3) In Bible Lands; a Narrative of Personal Experiences. | |
| (4) The Reconstruction of Jerusalem. | |
| (5) Problems of Palestine. |
| (1) Modern Discoveries in Palestine. | |
| (2) Stories in Stone; or, New Light on the Old Testament. | |
| (3) Underground Jerusalem; or, With the Explorer in 1894. | |
| Bible Stories from the Monuments, or Old Testament History in the Light of Modern Research:— | |
| (4) A. The Story of Joseph; or, Life in Ancient Egypt. | |
| (5) B. The Story of Moses; or, Through the Desert to the Promised Land. | |
| (6) C. The Story of Joshua; or. The Buried City of Lachish. | |
| (7) D. The Story of Sennacherib; or Scenes of Assyrian Warfare. | |
| (8) E. The Story of the Hittites; or, A Lost Nation Found. |
| (1) The Building of Jerusalem. | |
| (2) The Overthrow of Jerusalem. | |
| (3) The Progress of the Palestine Exploration. |
| (1) Work in and around the Holy City. | |
| (2) Work outside the Holy City. | |
| (3) Popular Lecture upon the General Results obtained by the Fund. |
Application for Lectures may be either addressed to the Secretary, 24, Hanover Square, W., or sent to the address of the Lecturers.