in the latter days: "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

PLUMB-LINE, JIN anach, a plummet or plumbline; PLUMMET, лp mishkeleth, a weight, or plummet. The Prophet Amos says, (ch. 7. 7,) "Behold the Lord stood upon a wall, made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand;" and in the threatenings denounced against Jerusalem for the idolatries of Manasseh, we read, "I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab." (2Kings 21. 13.)

The use of the plumb-line in the measurement of superficial areas was early known to the Egyptians. and is ascribed to their king, Menes.

POETRY. See HEBREW POETRY.
POINTS, HEBREW. See MASORA.

POISON, O hhimah. (Deut. 32. 24.) Whatever substance violently deranges the healthful functions of the animal system, and tends if unheeded to produce death, may be considered as poison. There are numerous vegetable and mineral poisons, but what the Scriptures usually refer to under the word hhimah, is the venom which asps, serpents, vipers, &c., convey by their bite. In the Book of Job, we read in reference to the miserable portion of the wicked, "He shall suck the poison of asps, the viper's tongue shall slay him." (ch. 20. 16.)

The allusions in Scripture to serpents and their poison are numerous. Roberts observes, "In a country where serpents lurk in every path, and when such numbers of people lose their lives from their bite, can it be a matter of wonder that they are greatly afraid of them, and that their language abounds with figures taken from the destructive power of that reptile? Some modern writers have asserted, that there are very few of them which have poisonous qualities. To say there are many serpents whose bite is not fatal, is correct; but to assert that there are many whose bite is not poisonous, is nonsense. Perhaps the most harmless of all the tribe is the tat-snake; but its bite always produces giddiness in the head, and a great degree of deadness in the part where the wound has been inflicted. When a man is enraged with another, and yet dares not to make a personal attack upon him, he says, 'The viper shall bite thee.' 'From whom art thou? the race of vipers? What! serpent, art thou going to bite me? I will break thy teeth."

Wicked language, false doctrine, or evil courses are compared in the Scriptures to poison or venom, (Deut. 32. 33; Psalm 58. 4; Rom. 3. 13; James 3. 8;) as are also the destructive judgments of God, which often come insensibly on men and destroy them. (Job 6. 4; 20. 16.) See ADDER; ASP; SERPENT.

POLE, D nis. (Numb. 21. 8,9.) This word signifies a high pole, on which anything is exposed to

view. See SERPENT OF BRASS.

POLL. The word nba gulgoleth, properly signifies the skull. It occurs in Numbers 1. 2, where the passage may be rendered "every male by the head." In 2Samuel 14. 26, speaking of Absalom's hair, it is said, “ And when he had polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled it; because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it,) he weighed the

hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight." Here the Hebrew word is a galech, but whether it refers to the shaving of the beard or the hair of the head, is uncertain.

POLLUTION. See PURIFICATION.

POLLUX, dooroupot. The Dioscuri, that is, Castor and Pollux, (Acts 28. 11,) in heathen mytho logy were the patrons of sailors, and their images were customarily placed either at the prow or the stern of the ship. See CASTOR; SHIP.

POLYGAMY, is the state of having more wives than one at the same time, a practice of patriarchal times, still preserved in the East. See MARRIAGE. POLYGLOT. See VERSIONS. POLYTHEISM.

See GRAVEN IMAGES; IDOLATRY.

POMEGRANATE, rimmon. (Numb. 13.23; Cantic. 4.3.) The pomegranate-tree is common in Palestine and other parts of the East. It is thick and bushy, and rises to a height of twenty feet with a woolly stem, sending forth branches through its whole length. It is greatly valued for its fruit, which is about the size of a large apple. The leaves are of a livid green, and stand opposite to each other, narrow and spear-shaped, about three inches long, and half an inch broad in the middle. The flowers come out at the end of the branches singly, or three or four together. Frequently one of the larger terminates the branch, and beneath that are one, two, or three smaller buds, which continue a succession of blossoms for some months, giving a continued brilliance to the gardens in which they grow. The high estimation in which the pomegranate was held by the people of Israel, may be inferred from its being one of the three kinds of fruit brought by the spies from Eshcol to Moses and the congregation in the wilderness, and from its being mentioned as one of the luxuries which they enjoyed in Egypt, the want of which they felt so severely in the sandy desert. The pomegranate, classed by Moses with wheat and barley, vines and figs, oil-olive, and honey, was in his account one principal recommendation of the Promised Land. (Deut. 8. 8.)

refreshing and pleasant in the East; and the extruded The richly flavoured juice of the pomegranate is most grains are not only eaten, but are much employed in the preparation of drinks for summer. The spouse, in the Canticles (8. 2,) says to her beloved, "I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate," which was probably a very refreshing draught, such as the Syrians now use in hot weather, composed of wine mixed with the juice of the pomegranate; or it may refer to a species of wine made of pomegranate

juice, which Sir John Chardin states is drank in considerable quantities in the East, particularly in Persia: which of these is really intended it is not easy to determine.

Dr. Russell states, that "Lemons have by no means superseded the pomegranate; the latter is more easily procured through the winter, and is often in cooking preferred to the lemon. The tree is much cultivated in the gardens and orchards of Palestine and Northern Syria. The fruit is seldom ripe earlier than the end of August, when most families lay in a stock for winter consumption. There are three varieties of the fruit, one sweet, another very acid, and a third in which both qualities are agreeably blended. The juice of the sour fruit is often used instead of vinegar. The others are cut open when served up to table; or the grains taken out and besprinkled with sugar or rose-water, are brought to table in saucers. The grains, likewise, fresh as well as dried, make a considerable ingredient in cookery."

The figure of the pomegranate was employed in the ornaments of Solomon's temple, especially on the columns, (1Kings 7. 18,) and it was also embroidered on the high-priest's robe. (Exod. 28. 34.)

POMMELS, лi guloth. (2Chron. 4. 12,13.) This is an architectural term for a part of the capital of the pillar, consisting of a ball, a circular winding ornament. In 1Kings 7. 41, our translators have rendered the word "bowls." The Chaldee Targum gives pelves coronarum, round or circular crowns.

POND, IN agam, (Exod. 7. 19,) a fish-pond. We have abundant evidence from the paintings in the tombs, that the Egyptians were celebrated for their fishponds, and it appears that almost every villa possessed one, where the master of the house occasionally amused himself in fishing. The Jews, it seems, likewise constructed similar ponds, as in describing his bride in the Canticles, (7. 4,) Solomon says, "Thine eyes are like the fish-pools in Heshbon." See ANGLE; HESHBON.

PONTUS, ПovTOS, (Acts 2. 9,) the north-eastern province of Asia Minor, was bounded on the north by the Euxine, on the west by Paphlagonia and Galatia, on the south by Cappadocia and part of Armenia, and on the east by Colchis. It is supposed that St. Peter preached in Pontus, because he addresses his First Epistle to the believing Hebrews, who were scattered throughout this and the neighbouring provinces. Aquila, whom St. Paul met at Corinth, and with whom he wrought, being of the same trade, was a native of this country. In the time of the Apostle, Pontus was a Roman province; but it had once, under Mithridates, been the chief seat of a powerful kingdom. It is now possessed by the Turks, but has still numerous Christian congregations.

POOLS, birekoth. (Eccles. 2. 6.) In Palestine, cities were mostly erected on eminences, and as the rains fall only in the spring and autumn, the inhabitants constructed pools for water both in cities and private houses. See CISTERN.

Professor Robinson observes, "It is a matter of some historical importance, as well as interest, to ascertain, as far as possible, how Jerusalem was supplied with water. The main dependence of Jerusalem for water at the present day is on its cisterns, and this has probably always been the case. I have already spoken of the immense cisterns now and anciently existing within the area of the Temple; supplied partly from rain-water, and partly

by the aqueduct. These, of themselves, in case of a siege, would furnish a tolerable supply. But in addition to these, almost every private house in Jerusalem of any size is understood to have at least one or more cisterns, excavated in the soft limestone-rock on which the city is built. The house of Mr. Lanneau, in which we resided, had no less than four cisterns, and as these are but a specimen of the manner in which all the better class of houses are supplied, I subjoin here the dimensions:

This last is enormously large, and the numbers given are the least estimate. The cisterns have usually merely a round opening at top, sometimes built up with stonework above, and furnished with a curb and a wheel for the bucket; so that they have externally much the appearance of an ordinary well. The water is conducted into them from the roofs of the houses during the rainy season; and with proper care, remains pure and sweet during the whole summer and autumn. The Latin convent, in particular, is said to be amply furnished; and in seasons of drought, is able to deal out a sufficiency for all the Christian inhabitants of the city. Most of these cisterns have undoubtedly come down from ancient times; and their immense extent furnishes a full solution of the question as to the supply of water for the city. Under the disadvantages of its position in this respect, Jerusalem must necessarily have always been dependent on its cisterns; and a city which thus annually laid in its supply for seven or eight months, could never be overtaken by a want of water during a siege. Nor is this a trait peculiar to the Holy City; for the case is the same throughout the hill country of Judah and Benjamin. Fountains and streams are few, as compared with Europe and America, and the inhabitants therefore collect water, during the rainy season, in tanks and cisterns in the cities, in the fields, and along the high roads, for the sustenance of themselves and of their flocks and herds, and for the comfort of the passing traveller. Many, if not the most of these, are obviously antique; and they exist not unfrequently along the ancient roads which are now deserted. Thus on the long-forgotten way from Jericho to Bethel 'broken cisterns' of high antiquity are found at regular intervals. That Jerusalem was thus actually supplied of old with water, is apparent also from the numerous remains of ancient cisterns still existing in the tract north of the city, which was once inclosed within the walls.

"The same causes which led the inhabitants of Judæa to excavate cisterns, induced them also to build in and around most of their cities large open reservoirs for more public use. Such tanks are found at Hebron, Bethel, Gibeon, Bireh, and various other places; sometimes still in use, as at Hebron, but more commonly in ruins. They are built up mostly of massive stones; and are situated chiefly in valleys where the rains of winter could be easily conducted into them. These reservoirs we learned to consider as one of the least doubtful vestiges of antiquity in all Palestine; for among the present race of inhabitants such works are utterly unknown."

From the same acute and laborious observer we borrow, even at the risk of some repetition of facts already noticed, the following account of the pools around Jerusalem, as well as another of the very remarkable Cisterns of Solomon near Bethlehem, and the Pools of Hebron.

"The Lower Pool is near the south-west corner of Zion, the length of which in the middle is 592 feet, breadth 245 feet. This name is mentioned only by Isaiah; and that without any hint of its locality. (Isai. 22. 9.) I venture to give it to the large pool lower down on the west side of the city, called by the Arabs Birket es-Sultan. Monkish tradition is here somewhat at fault; some calling it the pool of Beerseba, others of Bathsheba; while others again give the latter name to a tank just within the Yafa gate. The accounts of travellers exhibit a like diversity. The probable identity of this tank with the Lower Pool of Isaiah rests upon its relative position in respect of the Upper Pool; and upon the fact that no other reservoir is any where to be found to which this Scriptural name can be so well applied. This reservoir was probably filled from the rains and from the superfluous waters of the Upper Pool. It lies directly in the natural channel by which the latter would flow off, but is now in ruins. Within the walls of the city there are three reservoirs, two of which are of large size.

It was

"Pool of Bathsheba. The smallest of the reservoirs, which indeed is rather a mere pit, lies just within the Yafa gate, on the north side of the street over against the castle. It is now called by the Franks the Pool or Bath of Bathsheba, on the supposition that David dwelt in the castle opposite; though it has long had to dispute its claim to this appellation with the large Lower Pool outside. We did not hear of any Arabic name. now dry, nor did we learn that it ever becomes full. "Pool of Hezekiah. The reservoir, now usually so called, lies some distance north-eastward of the Yafa gate, just west of the street that leads to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. A line of houses only separates it from this street; and as it is not far from the said church, it was formerly called by the monks the Pool of the Holy Sepulchre. The natives now call it Birket el-Hammam, from the circumstance that its waters are used to supply a bath in the vicinity. Its sides run towards the cardinal points. Its breadth at the north end is 144 feet; its length on the east side about 240 feet, though the adjacent houses here prevented any exact measurement. The depth is not great. The bottom is rock, levelled and covered with cement; and on the west side the rock is cut down for some depth. The reservoir is supplied with water during the rainy season, by the small aqueduct, or drain, brought down from the Upper Pool, along the surface of the ground, and under the wall at or near the Yafa gate. When we last saw it in the middle of May, it was about half full of water; which, however, was not expected to hold out through the summer.

"We are told of King Hezekiah, that he made a pool and a conduit, and brought water into the city; and also that he stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David.' (2Kings 20. 20.) From this language we can only infer that Hezekiah constructed a pool within the city on its western part. To such a pool, the present reservoir, which is doubtless an ancient work,

"Sheep Pool, Bethesda. In the Gospel of St. John we are informed that there was at Jerusalem, by the Sheep (gate), a pool, which was called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.' (John 5. 2.) This pool the monks and many travellers have chosen to find in the deep reservoir, or trench, on the north side of the area of the great mosque. They give to it the different names of Bethesda and the Sheep pool; and in the two long vaults at its south-west corner, they profess to find two of the five ancient porches. The natives call it Birket Israil. There is not the slightest evidence that can identify it with the Bethesda of the New Testament. Eusebius and Jerome, and also the Itin. Hieros-, do indeed speak of a Piscina Probatica, shown in their day as Bethesda, a double pool, one part of which was filled by the winter rains, and the other was reddish, as if formerly tinged with bloody water. But neither of these writers gives any hint as to the situation of the pool. The name has doubtless been assigned to the reservoir in question comparatively in modern times, from its proximity to St. Stephen's gate, which was erroneously held to be the Sheep gate. That it was formerly filled with water, is apparent from the lining of small stones and cement upon its sides. But from what quarter the water was brought into it I am unable to conjecture; unless, perhaps, it may have been fed from the pool of Hezekiah, or more probably from the superfluous waters formerly collected from the aqueduct and elsewhere, in the cisterns of the adjacent Haram esh-Sherif. The reservoir has now been dry for more than two centuries; during which its deep bottom has been in part a receptacle of filth, and in part occupied as a garden of herts and trees."

"Pool of Siloam. The name Siloah, or Siloam, which has obtained such celebrity in the Christian world, is found only three times in the Scriptures as applied to waters; once in the Prophet Isaiah, who speaks of it as running water; again as a pool, in Nehemiah; and lastly, also as a pool, in the account of Our Lord's miracle of healing the man who had been born blind. (John 9. 7,11.) None of these passages afford any clue as to the situation of Siloam. But this silence is amply supplied by the historian Josephus, who makes frequent mention of Siloam as a fountain, and says expressly, that it was in the valley of the Tyropoon, on the south-east part of the ancient city, as we find it at the present day. Its waters, he says, were sweet and abundant. Theie can also be no room for question, that the Siloam of Josephus is identical with that of the Scriptures.

"Siloam is mentioned both as a fountain and pool by Antoninus Martyr, early in the seventh century; and as a pool, by the monk Bernhard, in the ninth. Then came the historians of the Crusades, who also place Siloam as a fountain in its present site, near the fork of two valleys. William of Tyre mentions its irregular flow; and another speaks of it both as a fountain and a pool. Accord ing to Benjamin of Tudela, about A.D. 1165, there was then here an ancient edifice; and Phocas, in 1185, says the fountain was surrounded by arches and massive columns, with gardens below. Thus far all the historical notices refer only to the present Siloam, in the mouth of the valley of the Tyropœon, which still exhibits both a fountain and a reservoir. The reservoir is fifty-three feet by eighteen feet broad, and nineteen feet deep; but the western end is in part broken down. Several columns are built into the side-walls; perhaps belonging to a

former chapel, or intended to support a roof; but there is now no other appearance of important ruins in the vicinity. No water was standing in the reservoir as we saw it; the stream from the fountain only passed through and flowed off to the gardens."

"Cisterns of Solomon. These three huge reservoirs, called by the Arabs, el-Burak, built of squared stones, and bearing marks of the highest antiquity, lie one above another in the steep part of the valley, though not in a direct line; and are so situated, that the bottom of the one is higher than the surface of the next below, rising one above another towards the west. The top of the side walls is not entirely level; for the water-mark extending from the lower end along the sides, strikes several feet below the top as it reaches the upper end. The upper pool was by no means full, though the whole of the bottom was covered with water. In the two others, water stood only in the lower part. In these, the bottom is formed by the naked shelving rocks which constitute the steep sides of the valley, leaving only a narrow channel through the middle, and having several offsets or terraces along each side. The inside walls and bottoms of all the reservoirs, so far as visible, are covered with cement, and the lower one had been recently repaired. Flights of steps lead down in various places into all the pools.

"Our first business was to measure the several pools; and the following is the result in English feet:I. LOWER POOL.

Length-582 feet.

Breadth-East end, 207 feet; West end, 148 feet. Depth at East end-50 feet, of which 6 feet water. Direction of the North side, N. 45° W.

II. MIDDLE POOL.

Distance above Lower Pool-248 feet. Length-423 feet.
Breadth-East end, 250 feet; West end, 160 feet.
Depth at East end-39 feet, of which 14 feet water.
Direction of South side, W.N.W.

III. UPPER POOL.

Distance above Middle Pool—160 feet. Length-380 feet.
Breadth-East end, 236 feet; West end, 229 feet.
Depth at East end-25 feet, of which 15 feet water.
Direction of North side, N. 65° W.

"The road by which we had formerly come from Hebron passes along at the western end of the upper pool; adjacent to which, on the north, stands the old Saracenic fortress called Kul'at el-Burak, which seemed now to be inhabited only by the keeper of the pools. The main source from which these reservoirs have always been supplied, (when supplied at all,) appears to be a sunken fountain, situated in the open and gradually ascending fields, about forty rods north-west of the castle. Here one sees only the mouth of a narrow well, which at this time was stopped by a large stone, too heavy for us to remove. This is the entrance to the fountain below, which my companion had formerly explored. It cannot, perhaps, be better described than in the words of Maundrell:-Through this hole you descend directly down, but not without some difficulty, for about four yards; and then arrive at a vaulted room fifteen paces long and eight broad. Joining to this is another room of the same fashion, but somewhat less. Both these rooms are covered with handsome stone arches, very ancient, and perhaps the work of Solomon himself. You find here four places at which the water rises. From these separate sources it is conveyed by little rivulets into a kind of basin; and from thence is carried by a large subterraneous passage down to the pools.'

"This passage terminates at the north-west corner of the upper pool; not in the pool itself, but in a sort of artificial fountain just above, so arranged that the water here divides, A part now passes off through the aque

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duct which runs along the northern side of the pools; while another part is turned down by a descent into a vaulted subterranean chamber, twenty-four feet long, and five or six feet wide; at the further end of which it runs off through a square passage in the side, apparently to the adjacent pool. The aqueduct above-mentioned continues along the north side of all the reservoirs, giving off, in like manner, a portion of its waters to the middle pool, and another portion to the lower one. It then passes down a steep declivity to join a similar channel issuing from the lower end of the lower pool.

"This main supply of water, however, was originally not the only one. The aqueduct which we had formerly seen in the parallel valley on the south is brought down across the point of the southern hill, and descends steeply to the lower pool, one hundred feet west of its south-east corner. We traced this up for some distance; and found that still another branch joined it above. We were told in Jerusalem that the principal source was in this southern valley, but that two or three years ago a large mass of rock fell into the fountain, and stopped it, or at least diverted its waters from the aqueduct, which was now dry. We doubted the truth of the story; for the aqueduct in question seemed to have been long neglected. The southern valley itself comes in just below the lower pool; and along or near its bed passes another similar aqueduct, which we traced up. There is here a well of some depth, across the bottom of which the water was seen running; it then flows down and joins the channel from the lower pool. At the eastern end of the lower pool, a large abutment is built up, in which is a passage and a chamber extending under the massive wall of the reservoir, quite up near to the water. The manner in which the water is drawn out or let off we could not distinguish, as we had no lights; but it seemed to trickle out in a small stream, and passed off below in a narrow channel. Thus the aqueduct which leads from hence to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, is here formed by the union of three branches, viz., 1st, that coming from the fountain north-west of the castle along. the north side of the pools; 2nd, that from the eastern end of the lower pool; and 3rd, that from the mouth of the small southern valley. It would seem, however, to have been the original intention that the aqueduct should be ordinarily and mainly supplied from the fountain above the castle; its superabundant waters being turned off at three points as above described, in order to aid in filling these great reservoirs; while these. latter again, in time of need, could be drawn off gradually to supply the aqueduct. They thus form all together an immense work, which is still of incalculable importance to Bethlehem, and might easily be made so to Jerusalem."

"Pools of Hebron. In the bottom of the valley towards the south, where the town extends across it, is the lower pool; a square reservoir, measuring one hundred and thirty-three English feet on each side, built with hewn stones of good workmanship. The whole depth is twenty-one feet eight inches, of which the water now occupied not quite fourteen feet. Flights of steps lead down to it at each corner. Just at the north end of the main part of the town is another smaller pool, also occupying the bed of the valley, measuring eighty-five feet in length by fifty-five feet broad; its depth is eighteen feet eight inches, of which the water occupied not quite seven feet. These reservoirs seemed to furnish the chief, if not the sole supply of the town at the time; and were constantly frequented by persons carrying away the water in skins. That of the upper pool seemed to be neither clear nor clean. The pools were said to be filled only from the rains. Near the summit of the hill, north