The water from the fountain flows into the upper pool of Siloam by means of a subterranean conduit, which follows a winding course in the rock, instead of going directly from north to south. In some places it is not more than 2-1/4 feet high; in others 4 or even 5 feet; and in some parts it is still higher, especially towards the Pool of Siloam. Its width in general is about three feet, but near the southern mouth it increases up to four. It has been hewn out of the rock in a very rude manner, so that I am disposed to attribute it to the age of Solomon; especially as it has been made to convey the water of the Fountain to a place where it was more accessible to the inhabitants of the city, and could be collected in the large reservoirs from which the gardens below, the King's Gardens, were irrigated. In the 17th century a monk, by name Julius, explored the whole of the dark damp passage. After him the Abbé Desmazures, then an Englishman named Hyde, and Drs Robinson and Smith, and also Tobler. I have traversed it several times, the last occasion being in the month of February 1861; but I cannot advise any one to follow my example, as the constant ruin continually increases the difficulty of the undertaking, and there is always danger of the earth falling in at any moment. This conduit explains why the intermittence is observed in Siloam. The general belief in the country is that the source springs from the lower cavities in Mount Moriah (as the river of Ezekiel's vision[886]). I am of the same opinion, but must reserve this point also for my description of the _Hammam es-Shefa_. The water of the Fountain is limpid and slightly brackish; it contains lime, magnesia, and sulphuric acid: its specific gravity is 1.0035: its temperature is usually from 61.25° to 65.75° Fahrenheit. It is only drunk by the inhabitants of Jerusalem when the supplies in their cisterns fail; however, the peasants of Siloam use it for all purposes. Still it is always a boon to the citizens, as it irrigates the gardens of Siloam, which are rendered wonderfully fruitful, besides supplying the tanners and washerwomen, and cattle of all kinds. I have already identified the Lower Pool of Siloam with the Pool of Solomon, and stated that it now receives the sewage of the city; but it must have been filled from the Upper Pool, and used to regulate the supplies to the gardens, and increase the volume of the stream of the Kidron.