The common people believed in olden time, and believe still, that a
dragon lies within the fountain, concealed from view; that when he is
awake he stops the water from flowing, but that he finds it impossible
to keep awake always, and when he falls asleep the water flows.

How eagerly those with Nehemiah would point out each object to him! We
can picture Hanani walking by his side, showing him all the different
objects, to himself so familiar, to Nehemiah so well known by name, but
so strange by sight.

Coming down the Valley of Hinnom they reach the Dung Gate, the gate
outside which lay piles of rubbish and offal, swept out of the city, and
all collected together by this gate and left to rot in the valley.

Here he examines in the moonlight the masses of fallen stonework, the
small portions of wall still standing, and the gap where the gate used
to stand before it was burnt.

Then on he went until he came to the Gate of the Fountain, opposite the
King's Pool, or Pool of Siloam, which watered the king's garden. But at
this south-east corner the rubbish was so great that the mule he was
riding on could not proceed. Pile upon pile of stone, heap upon heap of
broken fragments of what had once been so magnificent, lay so thickly
massed together that it was of no use attempting to ride further. So
Nehemiah dismounted, and probably leaving his mule with some of his
companions by the Gate of the Fountain, he went on foot a little
further. Going up the Kedron valley he examined the eastern wall, which
was in much better condition than the rest; and then, turning to the
west, he came back to the rest of the party and returned with them to