SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.]
Palestine Exploration Pund Statement, April. (38 Conduit Street. 2s. 6d.)—The "Report on the Excavation of Gezer " is mainly occupied with an account of the mysterious tunnel. This was at first thought to be a secret exit from the city ; then a device for obtaining water. The difficulty of the latter theory is great. Why not a perpendicular shaft ? for the water is accessible along the course of the tunnel. It is now suggested that the excavation was stopped by the discovery of water. Some very curious legends connect Gezer with the Flood. We may suppose that the breaking into the spring brought about a catastrophe that was not forgotten. Mr. W. E. Jennings-Bramley continues his interesting account of the Bedouin of the Sinaitic Peninsula. The Rev. Caleb Hauser has some notes on the topography of this region in relation to the wanderings of the Exodus. He holds, we see, to the belief that the wanderers numbered "several millions," and argues that whereas food had to be continuously supplied by a miracle, water was furnished naturally, except on rare occasions. As to food—we say nothing about water—the miracle was just as much wanted in Goshen as in the desert. There is an interesting article on " Rauwolff's Travels in Palestine, 1573." Rauwolff was an Augsburg physician. Dr. E. W. G. Masterman testifies to having seen fish in the Dead Sea, far from any access of fresh water, where, in fact, the water contained thirty-three per cent, of solid matter, being at the same time perfectly clear.
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