Quitting the Jaffa Gate we take the direct road to Etham, passing the Tomb of Rachel, and leaving Bethlehem on the left; it is a ride of two hours and a half. Here is an old castle[862], called by the Arabs _Kalat el-Burak_ (Castle of the Lightning), of which the outer walls, with battlements, remain perfect; but the interior is all in ruins, and only serves to harbour swarms of bees. History does not tell us when or by whom it was built, but from its architecture and masonry it must evidently be assigned to the twelfth or thirteenth century; the design being, no doubt, to accommodate a small garrison in order to secure the waters. It is not improbable that the Crusaders erected it to prevent the hostile tribes from cutting off the water-supply from Jerusalem, which would have been liable to this deprivation without such a precaution. To the south are the three reservoirs, situated in the middle of the Etham Valley, which slopes steeply down from west to east. These are filled by the rain-water drained from the slopes of the mountains on each side, and by an abundant supply from a spring on the west of the castle, in a straight line along the direction of its north side, at a distance of about 450 yards. I mention this, because its rudely circular opening, like the mouth of a cistern, is hidden in a field under a mass of stones thickly covered with creeping plants, and so is sometimes not easily found without a guide. Possibly this spring is mentioned in the Song of Solomon[863], in the words, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed;" hence it is now called 'fons signatus' by the Christians, and _Ras el-Ain_ (Head of the Fountain), and also _Ain Saleh_ by the Arabs. Let us examine its interior by descending an inconvenient shaft, like those in cisterns; looking well where we set our feet, lest we come to the bottom in a single step, a depth of about 12 feet only, but a rough fall. On arriving below, we crawl a short distance, and then find ourselves in a rectangular chamber 18 feet long from north to south, 10 wide, and 20 high. The lower parts of the walls are formed of the great blocks characteristic of the era of Solomon; the upper contain some with rustic work in low relief, which diminishes towards the top of the vault, where the stones are dressed smooth and flat. Hence I consider that the chamber has been restored at different periods; an opinion confirmed by the barrel-vault formed of long oblong stones, skilfully laid with mortar. In the middle of the west wall is an opening leading into a narrow cave, at the western extremity of which a limpid, cool, and abundant spring issues from a natural channel in the rock, which cannot be followed up by reason of its narrowness and the breaks in its level. Where the water runs along the floor, we observe the remains of an ancient canal formed of hard cement, which still exhibits some fragments of earthenware pipes about ten inches in diameter. In the