The account of Hebron, given in this volume, must be read for what it was
designed to be, an impressionist sketch. The history of the site, in so far
as it has been written, must be sought in more technical books. As will be
seen from several details, my visit was paid in the month of April, just
before Passover. Things have altered in some particulars since I was there,
but there has been no essential change in the past decade.
The Hebron Haram, or shrine over the Cave of Machpelah, is fully described
in the "Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante, 1879-1882," ii, pp. 595-619. (Compare
"Survey of Western Palestine," iii, pp. 333-346; and the _Quarterly
Statement_ of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1882, pp. 197-214.) Colonel
Conder's account narrates the experiences of the present King of England at
the Haram in April, 1882. Dean Stanley had previously entered the Haram
with King Edward VII, in January, 1862 (see Stanley's "Sermons in the
East," 1863, pp. 141-169). A good note on the relation between these modern
narratives and David Reubeni's (dating from the early part of the sixteenth
century) was contributed by Canon Dalton to the _Quarterly Statement_,
1897, p. 53. A capital plan of the Haram is there printed.
Mr. Adler's account of his visit to Hebron will be found in his "Jews in
Many Lands," pp. 104-111; he tells of his entry into the Haram on pp.
137-138.
M. Lucien Gautier's work referred to is his _Souvenirs du Terre-Sainte_
(Lausanne, 1898). The description of glass-making appears on p. 53 of that
work.
The somewhat startling identification of the Ramet el-Khalil, near Hebron,
with the site of the altar built by Samuel in Ramah (I Sam. vii. 17) is
justified at length in Mr. Shaw Caldecott's book "The Tabernacle, its
History and Structure" (London, 1904).