Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

DURING 19 CENTURY : PALESTINE 615
turn might suffer from want of water.
in
The Siloam conduit
which the inscription was found served just this purpose.
It conveyed the water entirely underground to the Pool of
Siloam, which lay farther below in the Kidron Valley, but
inside the city wall. The conduit is cut through the rock
in a rather crude manner ; here and there even a rift in the
rock appears to have been utilized. The length of the
conduit is about 583 yards. The 1200 cubits (about 689
yards) mentioned in the inscription is probably only an estimate.
In a straight line the termini are only 366 yards
apart, the difference being due to the very tortuous course
of the conduit. The statement in the inscription that the
conduit was begun from both ends inward is borne out by
the fact that the strokes of the chisel in the southern half
go in an opposite direction from those in the northern half.
This also accounts most readily for the winding course of
the conduit. The place where the workmen met may likewise
still be recognized. We can also clearly see how the
men, before they succeeded, and depending on the sound
of their picks, made repeated but futile attempts to meet.
The blind passages to be found, which are in reality abandoned
galleries, also show that even long before they met,
they more than once abandoned the course they were following
and took another. That they should nevertheless
finally come together in this subterranean passage is a performance
worthy of all recognition. We can explain it only
on the theory that the one or the other of the upward
shafts, which are still in existence, served also for giving the
workmen the direction.
The discoveries in Sidon bring us to a later period. The
unimportant little town of Sa'i'da was to all intents completely
unknown until the year 1855, when the attention
of all Orientalists was drawn to it by the discovery of the
sarcophagus of King Eshmunazar. To the east of the town
there is a large necropolis. Hewn into the lower ridges of