He  visited  Palestine  in  1838,  accompanied  by  a
former  pupil  of  his.  Rev.  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  Amer
ican  missionary  at  Beirut,  who  greatly  aided
the  inquiry  by  his  knowledge  of  Arabic.
They  found  by  asking  the  natives  what  cer
tain  ruins  or  yet  inhabited  villages  were
called,  that  they  often  bore  the  old  Hebrew
names  still,  a  little  modified  as  pronounced
by  Arab  lips.  Their  discoveries  in  the  to
pography  of  Palestine  were  very  important,
and  were  given  to  the  world  by  Prof.  Robin
son  in  1841  in  three  octavo  volumes.  Return
ing  from  America,  Dr.  Robinson  resumed  his
researches  in  Palestine  in  1852,  accompanied
again  by  Rev.  Dr.  Eli  Smith  and  others.  He
made  fresh  discoveries,  embodied  in  his  Later
Biblical  Researches,  1856.  Dr.  Robinson
brought  to  bear  on  his  inquiry  not  merely
keen  observation  and  a  sound  judgment,  but
great  learning ;  and  his  conclusions,  many
of  them  disputed  at  the  time,  are  now  much
more  largely  accepted.  On  June  22,  1865,  a
society  named  The  Palestine  Exploration
Fund,  was  formed  in  England  to  prosecute
in  a  scientific  spirit  all  branches  of  inquiry
regarding  the  Holy  Land.  Since  then  it  has
conducted  an  ordnance  survey  of  a  great
part  of  Palestine,  and  constructed  a  superb
map  of  the  country  in  twenty-six  sheets.
This  result  is  a  permanent  and  splendid
achievement.  The  society  has  also  carried
on  excavations,  especially  at  Jerusalem  and
Lachish.  As  a  result  of  all  past  investigations,
about  one-half  of  the  biblical  sites  have  been
identified  with  certainty  or  great  probability.
Pal'lu,  in  A.  V.  once  Phallu  (Gen.  xlvi.  9)
[distinguished].
A  son  of  Reuben,  and  founder  of  a  tribal
family  (Gen.  xlvi.  9;  Ex.  vi.  14;  Num.
xxvi.  5).
Palm.
