An Interesting Discovery.
SOME time since an order was issued by the Sultan for removing the old walls and fortifications of Jaffa (Joppa). In cutting a gate through a water battery at an angle of the sea wall built by Vespasian, and directly in front of the reputed house of Simon the tanner, the men came on three oval-shaped tanners' vats, hewn out of the natural rock and lined with Roman cement, down very near the sea, and similar in every respect to those in use eighteen centuries ago. There is also a fresh-water spring flowing from the cliffs close by, long known as the town spring. This discovery at least proves that the house on the rocky bluff above, and from which steps lead down to the vats must have belonged to some tanner; and, as perhaps not more than one of that trade would be living in so small a place as Jaffa, some probability is given to the tradition that this is the identical spot where the house of Simon stood with whom Peter was sojourning when he saw his vision.