Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/Annual Meeting

by Palestine Exploration Fund

 

ANNUAL MEETING.

The Annual Meeting of the General Committee was held at the Office of the Fund, 24, Hanover Square, on Tuesday, July 17th, 1894.

James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., occupied the Chair.

Among those present were Major-General Sir Charles W. Wilson, K.C.B., F.R.S., &c.; Basil Woodd Smith, Esq.; Rev. Vm. Rogers, D.D.; Professor Edward Hull, LL.D., F.R.S.; Rev. A. Löwy, LL.D.; Rev. Canon Dalton, C.M.G.; Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney; Guy le Strange, Esq.; J. Pollard, Esq.; Wm. Simpson, Esq. Rev. W. J. Stracey; &c.

Letters were received from Sir William Q. Ewart, Bart.; Sir William Muir; Major-General Sir F. J, Goldsmid; Colonel Goldsmid; Professor Flinders Petrie; Professor Greenwood; Mr. Walter Besant; Mr. H. H. Bolton; Mr. Geo. F. Watts; Rev. W. F. Birch; Mr. D. Macdonald; and several others, regretting their inability to attend.

The Assistant Secretary read the following Report of the Executive Committee:—

Gentlemen,

In resigning the office to which they were appointed at the last Annual Meeting of the Fund, your Executive Committee have the honour to render the following Report of their labours:—

Your Committee have held twenty meetings for the transaction of business, and there have been seven meetings of Sub-committees.

The Firman for excavating at Tell el Hesy having expired, a new Firman for excavating at Jerusalem was applied for, and has been granted by the Sublime Porte.

Mr. Bliss having been much strengthened in health by a stay of some months in England, returned in the autumn of last year to Palestine, and is now engaged in carrying on excavations outside the southern wall of Jerusalem with the view of ascertaining whether any remains of the ancient wall or gates of the city exist there.

He began work outside the English burial ground, at the point where Mr. Henry Maudslay, M. Inst. C.E., left off in the year 1875. It was then supposed that the great heap of rubbish lying there covered the foundations of a tower; to prove this, Mr. Bliss opened up a trench, and found the southern and eastern sides of the tower, formed of a scarped rock with several courses of drafted masonry resting on it. He will endeavour to ascertain where the 32 steps discovered by Sir Charles Warren lead to; he has already traced the scarped rock and counterscarp for a considerable distance, and during these operations, coins. Mosaic pavement, Roman tiles, potsherds, &c., were found.

A detailed report (the first), with plan of the excavations, will be found in the current Quarterly Statement.

Whilst awaiting the arrival of the new Firman, Mr. Bliss made journeys to the north of Palestine and to the Plain of Jericho, and has furnished an account of the Castle of Fukhiedeen Ma'an, near Sidon, besides reports, with plans, of an ancient building, partly unearthed lately, called Kh. el Mefjir, and of the various mounds at Kh. Jiljulieh (Gilgal).

Although laid by for several weeks with severe illness, Herr Baurath von Schick has still been able to pursue his researches, and has sent in several contributions of great interest with reference to the Antiquities of Jerusalem; the Archæological Collection of Baron Ustinoff at Jaffa; &c.

The Rev. J. E. Hanauer has contributed observations on the Crusading Churches of St. Martin and St. John the Evangelist, at Jerusalem; on "Bether"; on a curious chamber cut in a fragment of rock in Wady Haluleh; and other matters.

On May the 8th, of this year, a lecture on "Future Researches in Palestine" was delivered by Major Conder, R.E., at the Westminster Town Hall, to a large and distinguished audience. H.R.H. the Duke of York presided, and spoke in high terms of the past achievements of the Fund, and warmly commended its objects as being worthy of everybody's assistance.

A series of lectures in connection with the Fund was again delivered in Jerusalem during the tourist season this year, and was much appreciated, the lecturers being the Rev. Canon Tristram, the Rev. A. H. Kelk, the Rev, J. Zeller, the Rev. J. E. Hanauer, and Dr. Bliss.

Mr. Philip J. Baldensperger has contributed a further and very valuable set of answers to the questions issued by the Fund on the Manners and Customs of the Peasants of Palestine.

Your Chairman, after completing the ten years tabulated records of meteorological observations recorded at Sarona, near Jaffa, began those taken at Jerusalem, for the greater part under the immediate supervision of Dr. Chaplin, during the last 32 years. It is interesting to note that the average annual rainfall at Jerusalem during the last 16 years has been no less than 5·94 inches greater than in the previous 16 years.

The publications of the year have been:—

(1)	"A Mound of Many Cities." Being a complete account of the excavations at Tell el Hesy. By Mr. Bliss.
(2)	"The Tell Amarna Tablets." By Major Conder. A new and revised edition.
(3)	"Judas Maccabæus." By the same author. A new edition.
(4)	"Plan of Jerusalem." Showing the modern walls, &c., in black, and the walls, &c., according to Josephus, in red. By Major-General Sir Chas. Wilson.
(5)	The Quarterly Statement.

The Raised Map is attracting great attention, and it is difficult to supply promptly all the orders that come in for it.

The following are some of the principal papers which have been contributed to the Quarterly Statements since the last Annual Meeting:—

By Herr Baurath von Schick—

"Old Jerusalem an exceptional City"; "St. Martin's Church at Jerusalem"; "Tabitha Ground at Jaffa"; "Baron Ustinoff's Collection of Antiquities at Jaffa"; "Excavations on the Rocky Knoll North of Jerusalem"; "Tabitha's Tomb and St. Peter's Church at Jaffa"; "The Jerusalem Cross"; &c.

By F. J. Bliss, Ph.D., M.A.—

"The Recent Pilgrimage to Jerusalem"; "The Church (that once stood) over Jacob's Well"; "A Lebanon Cliff Castle"; "Marble Fragment from Jebail"; "Excavations at Jerusalem"; and "Notes on the Plain of Jericho."

By Philip J. Baldensperger—

"Religion of the Fellahin"; "Orders of Holy Men in Palestine"; "Birth, Marriage, and Death among the Fellahin."

By the Rev. Canon Curtis, M.A., of Constantinople—

"The Sidon Sarcophagi." With reproduction of the photographs of these remarkable monuments, by permission of His Excellency Hamdi Bey, Director of the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople.

By M. Th. Barrois—

"On the Depth and Temperature of the Sea of Galilee."

By James Glaisher, F.R.S.—

"On the Fall of Rain at Jerusalem in the 32 years from 1861-1892"; "Meteorological Reports from Jerusalem for years 1883-1886."

By the Rev. J. E. Hanauer—

"The Churches of St. Martin's and St. John the Evangelist"; "Notes on the Skull Hill"; "The Ruin of the Jews near Bether"; "Stone and Pottery Masks found in Palestine"; "A Legend of Il Hakim."

By Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E.—

Palestine under the Crusaders"; "The Jews under Rome"; "The City of Sehlala"; "Greek Inscriptions in Western Palestine"; "Notes on the Cross," &c. By Samuel Bergheim, Esq.—

"Land Tenure in Palestine."

By Charles Fox, M.R.C.S., F.S.S.—

"Circle and Serpent Antiquities."

By Professor Clermont-Ganneau—

"Ancient Weight found at Gaza "; "Inscription on the Monument of Red Stone with Reclining Figure."

By Oldfield Thomas—

"Remarks on a Metal Mouse from Baron Ustinoff s Collection."

By Dr. Murray—

"Note on Inscription found at Tabitha."

By the Rev. A. A. Isaacs, M.A.—

"The Site of Calvary."

By the Rev. W. F. Birch—

"Zion (or Acra), Gihon, and Millo."

Correspondence respecting the Hæmatite Weight brought by Dr. Chaplin from Samaria (a reprint from the "Academy").

Since the last Annual Meeting the following gentlemen have kindly consented to act as Honorary Local Secretaries:—

The Rev.	W. M. Teape, Stockton-on-Tees.
„	I. W. Johnson, M.A., Broseley.
„	J. C. Newton, Japan.
„	Thomas M. B. Patterson, Hamilton, N.B.
Professor	James S. Riggs, Auburn, U.S.A.
The Rev.	Jeremiah Zimmerman, Syracuse.
Walter G. Webster, Esq., Providence.
The Rev.	Kingsford Harris, Wickford.
„	E. S. Little, Central China.
Mrs. Elwes, Shadowbush, Madras Presidency.
The Rev.	H. T. Ottley, Kidderpore, Bengal Presidency.
„	E. Bull, E.I.R. Chaplain, Tundhi.
Thomas Plunkett, Esq., M.R.I.A., Enniskillen.
W. J. Baxter, Esq., M.C.P.S.I., Coleraine.

Your Committee have pleasure in again recording their best thanks to their Honorary Secretaries for services rendered so cheerfully without any remuneration whatever.

The number of new members who have become Annual Subscribers during the last twelve months is 259. The number who have been taken off through death and other causes is 137, leaving an increase of new members 122. Your Committee record with regret the deaths of the following members of the General Committee:—

The Rev. Professor Milligan, D.D.

„„Pritchard, F.R.S.

Surgeon-General R. F. Hutchinson, M.D.

Professor A. Robertson Smith.

The Bishop of Bath and Wells.

The Right Honourable Sir A. H. Layard, K.C.B.

Your Committee have pleasure in proposing that the following gentlemen be elected members of the General Committee:—

Professor George Adam Smith.

Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S.

C. J. Heywood, Esq.

President Daniel C. Gilman, LL.D., John Hopkins' University.

Rev. Professor Theodore F. Wright, Ph.D., Cambridge, Mass.

The following is the balance sheet which was published in the April Quarterly Statement:—

The Chairman.—Before asking gentlemen to make any remarks upon this Report, I cannot but express my own gratification—and I am sure that I am expressing that of all those present—that a new page has at last been turned over at Jerusalem, so that we may hope that much which has been hidden from us for so long may now soon be brought to light. Up to the present we have, as you have heard, found a portion of the old wall of Jerusalem which had hitherto been hidden, and have followed for a considerable distance the scarp and counterscarp situated south of the present city wall, in the course of which excavations coins and pottery, Mosaic pavements, and chambers have been discovered, and I hope we are on the way to make further important discoveries. I will now ask if anyone has any remarks to make upon the Report which has just been read.

Professor Hull.—I have very great pleasure in rising to move that the Report which we have just heard, together with the statement of accounts, be adopted. I am sure we have all listened with great interest to the statement which has been made by our esteemed Assistant Secretary, recording the valuable labours of the Executive Committee, to whom the members of the Society owe a deep debt of gratitude. I am sure we all join in the congratulations of our Chairman that the Firman has at length been granted, by which the labours of the Society can be turned more especially in the direction of excavation about the city of Jerusalem—the centre around which the chief interest of the Society lies. I was much interested in that portion of the Report which refers to the increase of rainfall at Jerusalem during the last 16 years, which you, Mr. Chairman, have worked out so carefully. It just struck me whether this might not possibly be a permanent increase of rain. We know that in Egypt—I suppose in consequence of the opening of the Canal and for other reasons—there has been an increase of rainfall. I believe I am speaking correctly, although I do not know it from personal knowledge, but from general information, when I say that there has been a considerable increase of rain in Lower Egypt. Heavy showers are occasionally encountered there. Well, that change in the atmospheric condition may extend to the district about Jerusalem, and possibly with some other physical changes which are gradually taking place, but which we cannot observe, there may be a gradual increase in the precipitation of moisture in that part of the East, which would be very gratifying if it did take place, and which would, of course, bring with it an increase in the productiveness of the country I should be glad to know how often there has been a fall of snow in the winter at Jerusalem during those 16 years, because in the years that I happened to be there, as Mr. Armstrong knows pretty well, we had a fall of snow—I think in January, 1884—of about 2 feet in thickness all over the country round Jerusalem, and we had the curious phenomena of palm trees rising out of a field of snow.

The Rev. J. Stracet.—I shall be very glad to second the reception and adoption of the Report. What strikes me about the General Committee is, that I think it would add very much to the interest taken in the work of the Society if we were called together rather oftener. I think if we were called together every quarter, instead of once a year, it would create a much greater interest in the work than letting matters stand over until a whole year has elapsed. Speaking of snow, I arrived in Jerusalem in deep snow in the middle of March, 1880, and going right out to Bethlehem there was deep snow the whole of the way.

Sir Charles Wilson.—I should like to say one word before the Report is passed, and that is with regard to Mr. Bliss. I think we are extremely fortunate in having a man like Mr. Bliss. He has learned the work of excavation under Professor Petrie, who really is what one may almost call a born excavator. Mr. Bliss carries out his work in a thoroughly scientific manner, and one very good point about his excavations is that they are remarkably economical. All his work is done extremely well, and it is very satisfactory to find that within the first week he came upon the remains of a tower, which is really the only portion of Jewish masonry which has ever been uncovered in Jerusalem, excepting the wall round the Temple area. With regard to the snow that Professor Hull has mentioned, snow falls on an average three years out of every five in Jerusalem.

The Report was then adopted, and entered upon the Minutes.

 

The Chairman.—The rainfall at Jerusalem at the present moment is in a doubtful state. We cannot say whether the climate is changing or whether it is merely a cycle. The remarkable thing is, that you have here two years with the greatest and least rain, but I think we are just about at the apex now, and apparently we are inclined to turn and come down. As to the productiveness increasing, I fear it will not, because in December we have enough rain to wash the seed all out of the ground, and the curious thing is that in other years, in December, we have less than an inch. When there is little rain in the autumn it is terrible for the agriculturist. The ground is dry, and it cannot be fit for the reception of seed; whilst in wet years it is all washed out of the ground. However, it is a matter of very deep interest, and it will extend its influence far beyond Palestine. We are indebted very greatly to our officers for work they have done. Certainly we are indebted to our Treasurer, who not only receives the money, but keeps an account of it. He is an accountant, and goes through every item in the year, which is a very heavy piece of work. I know it, because in the absence of the Treasurer I have done it myself, and therefore I am thankful to any on<! who takes the deep interest in our work that Mr. Morrison does; so that I am sure, in asking you to accord a vote of thanks to him you will do so very cheerfully. (The thanks were accorded.) Then comes Mr. Besant. He is a very busy man, but at more than half the meetings I attend he is present, and assists us in every way. Mr. Armstrong is always here, and apparently never tired, and really, gentlemen, the work of the office is very heavy—very heavy, indeed—and it is kept up very well by Mr. Armstrong. I should like, therefore, to move that we recognise the labours of Mr. Besant and Mr. Armstrong, by also giving them a vote of thanks. (Applause.) Then we have the Editor of the Quarterly Statement. I can only say that each number seems to be more interesting than its predecessor, and that is saying a great deal. I feel sure there is not a gentleman here but who, when he receives it, sits down and reads it through. And so, to our Editor, also, I should like our warm thanks to be given for his labours. (Applause.) Then, there are two whose labours we must recognise in Palestine. Mr. Bliss has twenty persons now under him, and there is a great deal of work to be done in removing earth, and so on. He is working with great energy, and I am sure you will accord to him your encouragement, by giving to him our very hearty thanks for doing his best—and "He who does his best does nobly." (Applause.) Then there is Mr. Schick. He has had a busy life, and is now something more than 70 years of age, but he will not let age check him. As long as he can work he will work, and, as is stated in the Report, he has sent some interesting information to us. I am sure you will also thank him. (Applause.) There now only remains the election of the Executive Committee.

Dr. Rogers.—I have much pleasure in moving the election of the Executive Committee.

Dr. Löwy.—I beg to second that.

The Chairman.—The Committee recommended that Canon Dalton should also be elected on the Executive Committee. He has been on the General Committee for a long time, and I suppose I may consider, in the vote I am now putting, that he is included in the Executive Committee.

The resolution was then Passed.

 

The Chairman.—I think that concludes our business to-day. A suggestion has been made about calling us together more frequently, and no doubt the more frequently we meet the better. The remarks which have been made will be reported to the Executive Committee, but they are all busy men, and I fear if we were to give them very much more work they might break away. However, I will report what has been said to the Executive Committee and see if something cannot be done in respect to that.

Dr. Löwy.—Gentlemen, it is our duty and pleasure to vote our sincere thanks to our Chairman. Old age, when it is honourably carried, as our distinguished Chairman bears it, is called the green old age, but I think the white old age is just as beautiful. So far as his merits are concerned it would be great presumption on my part to speak of them, and to try to become eloquent in order to praise a name, the very mention of which in connection with our Society is the best commendation the Society can have. We are always delighted to hear the excellent and apposite remarks which fall from our Chairman, and everyone who comes here, and all those who cannot come here, look with the utmost admiration upon the man who fulfils the saying which appears in the 30th chapter of the Book of the Proverbs, "It is he that went up towards Heaven and went down again." I believe Mr. Glaisher has solved many scientific problems, but he has done more, he has brought together the lovers of Palestine and he keeps them together, and it is because we owe him a boundless debt of gratitude that I propose that our most cordial thanks be given to him.

Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney.—I have great pleasure in seconding that motion. I quite endorse all that has been said of the efficiency of our worthy Chairman, and I think we are very happy in having such a staunch friend, a man of scientific acquirements, which are so conducive to the success of this Society.

The resolution having been heartily carried,

The Chairman replied: Gentlemen, I thank you very much indeed for your appreciation. It certainly does stimulate one to do one's best—although I have done my best hitherto. I am getting old in years it is true, but I do not feel very old in my mental powers; when that time comes I shall resign at once, you may depend upon it. You know that I am older than Mr. Gladstone—I was born in the same year, but it was nine months before he was. It is true that I stand unique in respect to that ascent of seven miles in a balloon, but fresh problems are presenting themselves, and there is yet a great deal to be done in respect to the balloon. The Russian Government, I believe, will take it up; the German Government are taking it up earnestly, and only last month two professors called upon me to repeat the observations I made. England is too small a country for balloon experiments. I went down to Lord Wrottesley's place near Wolverhampton, in order to be in the centre of the country, and he said to me, "Mind where you are going—yon will be in the 'Wash' before you know where you are." We went right above the clouds and were very quickly over the "Wash," and had it not been for the breeze blowing on the land, we should have gone right into the water. That shows how difficult it is to conduct balloon experiments in this country. But the Germans are going at it in a systematic way, and it is very likely the experiments I have made may be repeated. I thank you very much indeed for coming here to-day. I long to know what is hidden below the ground at Jerusalem, and I hope that I may meet you all when some of these important discoveries have been made. There is one to whom I am very much indebted, and that is Sir Charles Wilson. He knows so much about Jerusalem, and has kindly undertaken to aid Mr. Bliss with his valuable advice and direction. I am sure that a Society surrounded by such earnest men cannot fail to do credit to itself, and to do good to the would at large.

The meeting then concluded.