SECRET TREASURE HUNT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 300, 28 January 1910, Page 6

SECRET TREASURE HUNT.

WOi; iv IN JEltl SALIiM

A search for treasure aiming the tombs of l)a\id and the Kings o: Jud.ili is .beinjj; conducted with the greatest secrecy and despatch at .Jerusalem. '1 he search is one <>t the most remarkable ui modern times, if the historian is lu be credited, there seems liu ilouui. thai the ancient Kihgs of .ludah took wit:, them into their tombs all their worldly treasure, lit tiie tombs can lie found, a rich store should await, the explorers. The party engaged in the work consist of Captain Mom tague B. I'arker, of the Grenadier Guards: Mr. Duff. who is related to the Duke of Fife; Mr. Cyril Ward; and Mr. Clarence Wilson, whose yacht is in the service of the enterprise, with a superintendent, a Finnish engineer, and others. It is well understood that the all'air is their enterprise, and Captain I'arker and some of the others are giving the work the closest personal attention.

TURK ISII CO-OI'ER AT I OX. Under an agreement with the Turkish Government certain rights were acquired, and the work being undertaken is under the constant inspection of two Turkish officials, who were selected from among the delegates to the new Turkish Parliament. Their names are Mejedie Eii'endi and llabiij Bey. They and the promoters' of the scheme have been on the ground ever since the commencement of operations. Doubtless the explorer; can assign reasons other than tr:a,surefinding for their excavations. At the same time, the prospect of discovering treasure, and perhaps the sacred furniture and vcs-'ols of the successive temples built by Solomon, Zerubbabel, and lUinvi 011 .Moriali, which adjoins the scene of the present operations, must be an alluring one. There has been a generous supply of funds to meet the .heavy expenses. The site of the operations is on the slope above the Virgin's Fountain near the south end of Ipliel. the tongue of land extending south from Moriah and the temple area, a locality which has figured conspicuously hi the history of the Israelites. TESTIMONY OF SCHOLARS.

The ripest judgment of scholars now places the City of David on Ophcl rather than 011 the south-west hill to which tradition has given the name of Zion—a conclusion which can hardly be controverted when Biblical allusions and the fruits' of modern explorations are compared. It seems reasonable to conclude that the Jebusite city and the "stronghold of Zion" which David took '( Samuel ii., 7-8) would have been near the only spring in this region. Doubt less the "gutter'' through which Davie men "went up" to smite the Jebusites when he took their city was the ancient tunnel by which the water of the fountain was carried within the walls of the city. One knows this was the case in later times, for the tunnel has been repeatedly explored by eminent students ■Ol the remains ot "ancient Jerusalem. This' tunnel has been the scene of part of the present operations. It was at ) this fountain, then called Enrogel, "by •the stone /.oneietiv (i. lvings, 1., uf, 'and the stone called by the natives by 'the same name to this day can still be seen, that Adonijah gathered his forces 'and friends, and slew sheep and oxen, and made the • rebellious' attempt to proclaim himself king in the place of 'his father David. Lt was the water of this same fountain that King Hezekiah brought to the west side of and within 'the City of David, to the Pool of Si'loam, by the aqueduct tunnel that still 'feeds the pool, stopping the fountain 'whose waters, had formerly flowed down through the .valley of Jehosaphat, that 'they might not serve the enemies who besieged the city (11. Chronicles, xxxii., AO).

THE SI LOAM INSCRIPTION. It wa»' at the Siloam end of this tunnel that the famous Siioam inscription was found, bearing the oldest Ik-brew 'writing extant, being as follows: "The cutting. .\ow this is tho method of the ■eutuug: wiiiie uie workers oucd me 'axe each to his fellow, and three cubits 'were left, each heard the voice of the 'other calling to his fellow; for there 'was an excess „f rock to the right ami ■ . . . t!v < iktin g: I.he workers hewed t<> m t *ii» ia'.ow, axe to axe, and V'H'iv iio'.vi-,; ;.!«• \v.itelv from the =-rj;: _r to the pool, u thousand two haudred 'cubits, and . . cubit was the height of the rock . . The remarkable course of this subterranean aqueduct, with its two widely sweeping d<s'tours from a straight 1 inc. suggested long ago to Clermont Cannean tlie idea that these windings were made to avoid 'digging through the tombs of the Kinus of Judali. PLA.v OK EXPHiRATION". Ihe first ellorts' of these new workers 'were devoted to exploring it mtiieno unknown branch tunnel leading soir'.li'ward for a few metres from an opeir.ng found near the bottom of the main tunnel, only nil rot distance in ironi ;he of 'the tountain. Llus entrance had always been concealed bv 11 to water that had flowed past it. and had 1101 been before observed by any one of the 'celebrated archaeologists wlio had utlierivi.se minutely described the tunnel. It had mi some way been brought to the knowledge of the present explorers, who evidently expected it. to lead to a "hud." but after they had cleared out the earth iliat; filled it and Mime short, blind side tunnels that led off from it they found nothing but an empty cave or chamber. I hey also sank a *haft from the slope 'of the hill above the fountain, and. as they anticipated from data in their possession. after removing 20ft or 'iOft of 'debris they came upon nil old shaft hewn in the rook, which t.hev cleared out to the depth of about 115 ft. where it ended abruptly in the solid rock. This shaft was not quite perpendicular. it inclined slightly southward towards the fountain as it went down. They 'are now at work clearing out another old shaft, which goes downward in a

/■'"f V- <) M'i'ct son. and connnmiioate-'-'Willi the inner ll'vmiiiin of | Ik> ancient 'short canal which broupht [lie waters within t!ie city wall before lleze]<i;i!i diverted them to tho other side of the 'lull, They have now readied the bottom 'of this shaft, and opened into the roof of the terminus of the .short, canal mentioned.