PALESTINE EXPLORER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 779, 31 March 1910, Page 9

PALESTINE EXPLORER.

. DEATH OF iLOEfi; KITCHENER'S ; ;. );\.-y : ; '.A famous Palestine: explorer has passed away in;;the' person of Colonel' Claude Reignier Conder, late .Royal Engineers, at the i*ge of 61.-. •'■-: . • ■ .. During' his Army career from , 1870 to ,1601 he was employed on various; oxpedi"tions in. whioh'nis special knowledge,was of the utmost service. -Thus he was with the headquarters staff in the. Egyptian War, and took part in" the .battles of Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir. .' Two ..years later "he accompanied Sir' Charles Warren's Bechuarialand; Expedition as" chief of its topographical department. 'Healso filled many important postsin connection with the Ordnance survey. ".-■'.■ \ But the work by which his -name will live is that which he accomplished in the Holy' Land under- the auspices of the Palestine .Exploration Fund. By.his siir-

vev ~6iv.'. that country the whole 6i> the Bible narrative has rbecn made far clearer arid niore intelligible.' So much was discovered that in. almost every-subsequent year Colonel Conder has given a. volume to .the public,-the"enibodyirig ; results of his research. , ■ ':■■-. , .'■ld this exploration, which began in 1872, ho had as his'.colleague Lord (then . Captain) Kitchener, who had an exciting; adventure. ..■ The • expediticn, was;'!attacked at Safed, in Galilee, : in., 1875," 'by : 'a'"'hbfde of fanatical had 'nothing'-but his -cane to defend himself with, arid at the end of the fight he.was covered;with blood,'haying had ; a narrow, escape..; ironi .deathi'..,at..:the. hands J of-,, a.. negro' who'.'tried- to cleave, him "with: a 1 scimitar: The party'were'eventoally rescued by soldiers after, much ■ suffering. The work went'on for years, arid, in" 1887 Captain .Conder published .his discovery of a key to the language: of s the.:cunieform- Hittite -inscriptions .on- bas-reliefs, gems, etc., which have excited much speculation among; students.- ■ .