[Quarterly Statement, April, 1894.]
THE
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND.
NOTES AND NEWS.
The Committee have much satisfaction in announcing that a communication has been received from the Earl of Kimberley, stating that a two years' permit will, under certain conditions, be granted by the Sublime Porte to the Fund, for carrying on excavations at Jerusalem. Immediate steps will be taken to begin the works thus graciously permitted by the Ottoman Government, and it is hoped that some of the problems having reference to Ancient Jerusalem may be set at rest. Those desiring to contribute to the expenses of this important work are requested to send in their remittances as early as convenient.
Few spots in the Holy Land are regarded with greater interest than Jacob's Well, as to the identity of which there is no controversy. It was recently visited and examined by Mr. F. J. Bliss, who has traced the outlines of a church which once stood over it. His report and plan are published in the present number. It is much to be desired that the well and ground around it be thoroughly cleared and examined.
We are enabled this quarter to publish Canon Curtis's lecture on the very remarkable sarcophagi found at Sidon in the year 1887.
The representations of the sarcophagi which accompany the lecture are reproductions of some beautiful photographs of these most interesting specimens of Asiatic-G-reek art, which His Excellency Hamdy Bey, the Director of the Imperial Ottoman Museum of Antiquities at Constantinople, was so good as to send to Colonel C. M. Watson, R.E., with permission for their publication by the Palestine Exploration Fund. The lecture by the Rev. Canon Curtis gives a short account of these sarcophagi and of their discovery. To those subscribers who desire complete information regarding them, we would recommend the magnificient work now in course of publication at Paris by Hamdy Bey and his collaborateur, Monsieur Theodore Reinach, entitled, "Une Necropole Royale à Sidon." Several numbers of this work, which is being published in parts, have already been issued, and the remainder are in hand. The plates are beautifully executed, and the letterpress is of great interest. The book will doubtless find a place in every library of importance.
G
