iles distant. (John 11:18.) When
we reached the lower part of the slope of Olivet, where the tombs of
departed Jews are so numerous, Mr. Michelson and Mr. Jennings went on
across the Kidron valley and back to their lodging places, while Mr.
Ahmed, Mr. Smith and I went down to Job's well, in the low ground below
the city. The Tower of Absalom, the Tomb of James, and the Pyramid
of Zachariah were among the first things we saw. They are all burial
places, but we can not depend upon them being the actual tombs of those
whose names they bear. The first is a peculiar monument nineteen and
one-half feet square and twenty-one feet high, cut out of the solid
rock, and containing a chamber, which may be entered by crawling through
a hole in the side. On the top of the natural rock portion a structure
of dressed stone, terminating in one tapering piece, has been erected,
making the whole height of the monument forty-eight feet. The Jews have
a custom of pelting it with stones on account of Absalom's misconduct,
and the front side shows the effect of their stone-throwing. The Grotto
of St. James is the traditional place of his concealment from the time
Jesus was arrested till his resurrection. The Pyramid of Zachariah is
a cube about thirty feet square and sixteen feet high, cut out of the
solid rock, and surmounted by a small pyramid. It has many names cut
upon it in Hebrew letters, and there are some graves near by, as this is
a favorite burial place. Some of the bodies have been buried between the
monument and the wall around it in the passage made in cutting it out of
the rock. Going on down the valley, we have the village of Siloam on the
hill at our left, and on the other side of the Kidron, the southeastern
part of the Holy City. St. Mary's Well is soon reached. This spring,
which may be the Gihon of 1 Kings 1:33, is much lower than the surface
of the ground, the water being reached by two flights of stairs,
one containing sixteen steps, the other fourteen. The spring is
intermittent, and flows from three to five times daily in winter. It
flows twice a day in summer, but in the autumn it only flows once in the
day. When I was there, the spring was low, and two Turkish soldiers were
on duty to preserve order among those who came to get water.

The Pool of Siloam, fifty-two feet long and eighteen feet wide, is
farther down the valley. The spring and the pool are about a thousand
feet apart, and are connected by an aqueduct thro