According to my opinion, it was Solomon that ordered and executed the important work of bringing the water from Etham into Jerusalem by means of a conduit; which is indeed generally attributed to him, though it is called by a few that of Pontius Pilate. The primary design of this undertaking was unquestionably that the Temple and its precincts might not suffer from a lack of water. It is very remarkable that neither the Bible nor Josephus make express mention of this; but it is probable that all the pools, now existing at Etham, are referred to in Ecclesiastes[860]; and Josephus[861] informs us that the summer-palace of Solomon was at the town of Etham, in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, fifty stadia from Jerusalem. Perhaps he did not describe the water-works, because he considered them well-known. However, it is certain that history does not afford us any positive _data_ for ascribing these constructions to Solomon; but the magnitude of the work, and tradition, induce me to attribute them to him. As it was on these pools of Etham that the city mainly depended for its supply, I will describe them first of all.
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 corners of this cave are two other crevices in the rock, from which issue small springs that unite with the former in the middle of the first chamber. In this there is a basin, originally intended to act as a filter, which is now out of repair, and receives the water on its way to the conduit running to the east. Owing to the injuries done by the hand of man, and the accumulation of extraneous substances, a large part of the stream escapes into the ground, and is lost.