The Latin monks once had possession of the buildings, but they lost it through bad management. A wealthy Jew of Constantinople was in Jerusalem, and asked to be permitted to visit David’s tomb and say his prayers there. They refused this very natural and reasonable request, and the Jew went off. As soon as he reached Constantinople, he sought an interview with the Grand Vizier, and induced him to expel the Latin monks from the building that covered the spot. In a year or two he went back, armed with the necessary firman, that enabled him to say his prayers at the tomb of David, and thus relieve his conscience of any burden that may have been resting upon it in consequence bring us to the Fountain of the Virgin. Siloah’s Pool is a basin or reservoir, about fifty feet by twenty, and not far from six yards deep. There is an underground passage between this pool and the Fountain of the Virgin, which has been explored by Dr. Robinson and others, and found to be very tortuous, and of any dubious transaction in old clothes, or in exorbitant interest for money he might have loaned.
Passing out from the Caenaculum and descending to the Vale of Hinnom, we can visit the famous Pool of Siloah or Siloam; and a walk of ten minutes or more further along the valley, will so small, that one is obliged to crawl on hands and knees in order to pass through it.
The Fountain of the Virgin is the more picturesque of the two. It is at the bottom of an artificial cave, and the stairway that leads down to the water has given it the name by which it is known to the Arabs, “The Fountain of the Mother of Stairs,” and old tradition says that women accused of adultery were required to drink of the water from this fountain. If guilty, they died immediately; but if innocent, they were unhurt.
A remarkable feature of this fountain is the irregular flow of the water, which has been verified by many persons. Sometimes the water in the basin will rise twelve or fifteen inches in a few minutes, then become stationary, and in five or ten minutes more, it subsides to its ordinary depth. In some seasons this phenomenon occurs twice or thrice daily, while at other times the intermittent periods will be several days apart. This is doubtless what was meant in the New Testament, where it is said “an angel came down at certain seasons and troubled the water.” The local belief is, that there is a dragon in the fountain; the water flows when he sleeps, but stops when he is awake.
From the Coenaculum we took a long walk to the tombs of the Kings—sepulchres hewn in the rock, and evidently of great antiquity. They have accommodations for about twenty persons, but are rather damp and uncomfortable.
The hills all around Jerusalem are full of these tombs, cut in the solid rock. Most of them have a legendary history that assigns them to some Biblical character, but the authenticity of these histories is extremely doubtful.
We managed to extract some amusement out of our guide, at Jerusalem, (a local professional, engaged by our dragoman,) but not so much as with the fellow who served us at Athens. He was so good natured, and showed so much readiness to do anything we wanted, that we hadn’t the heart to annoy him If he had been less amiable he would have been much more to our liking. His use of the English language was our best hold, and his conversation rattled on with an utter disregard of the relative positions of nouns and verbs. We asked how long he had been guide there, and he responded, “I guide have been thirty-four years. Before I was guide I was my father.”