During the winters of 1858 and 1859 no great quantity of rain fell at Jerusalem, and the cisterns were in consequence not filled; so that in the summer months there was a scarcity of water. Under these circumstances Surraya Pasha ordered the conduit from Etham to be repaired, in order that it might supply the _Haram_. I availed myself of this circumstance, and entered many of the cisterns in that precinct, which were either almost or quite dry, under the pretext of inspecting them to see if they needed repairs. In the year 1856, when Kiamil Pasha was governor, the Turkish engineer, Assad Effendi, had restored the aqueduct, and I had assisted him as a volunteer, and had been able to offer him some useful advice; which was the reason that I was now employed. I will now relate my discoveries in connexion with this conduit, commencing at the point where it enters Moriah. It comes down by the dyke or bridge crossing the Tyropoeon, and at the present time empties itself into a small basin opposite to the entrance of the _Mekhemeh_; but formerly it flowed into a large reservoir, still existing in the lower part of that building, whence it went on into the Temple. This chamber is now disused, and filled with rubbish. Thus by their carelessness the Mohammedans lose the benefit of all the works of antiquity in Jerusalem. From the above-named basin two conduits branch out; the smaller and newer supplies water to the fountain in the middle of the _Mekhemeh_, and then rejoins the larger and older one (2-3/4 feet wide and 2-1/4 high), which, after passing under the _Bâb es-Salsala_, enters the _Haram_, and then, after running some little distance southward, turns off at an angle and goes to the fountain opposite the mosque _el-Aksa_, whence it proceeds to the great cistern called _Birket es-Sultan_. During the course of the work I observed that the quantity of water which entered the latter reservoir was less than that which arrived at the _Mekhemeh_; and on examination I found that the conduit had formerly kept on to the south, instead of turning to the east, and that its old channel still existed at that point, by which, although very much dilapidated and full of earth, a large part of the water was diverted into an ancient cistern, 29 feet deep, to the north of the mosque of the Mogarabins. Into this I descended, and found 6 feet of mud at the bottom; and after hard work ascertained that the water entering it from the conduit went out by another made nearly on a level with the floor, which was too much choked up to be passable, but which ran in the direction of the cistern of 'God's grace,' at the south-west corner of the _Haram_, so profitable to my friend the farmer. On the east side of the cistern of the Mogarabin mosque is the mouth of a conduit, walled up to a height of 3 feet from the vaulting. I saw some traces of it on the surface of the ground, but was unable to excavate; however, it was evident that it went into the _Birket es-Sultan_.