which, under the name of Roman Arabia, had Bozra for its capital. The inferior tracts are frequently coated with pebbles and black flints, having little, and sometimes no vegetation. Such are the greater portions of the tracts southward of Gaza and Hebron, and that part of the pashalick which borders upon Arabia Deserta, where scarcity of water has produced a wilderness, which at best is only capable of nourishing a limited number of sheep, goats, and camels: its condition is the worst in summer, at which season little or no rain falls throughout the eastern parts of Syria. Owing to the inequality of its surface, Palestine has a great variety of temperature and climate, which have been distributed as follows.-(1) The cold; (2) warm and humid; (3) warm and dry. The first belongs principally to the Lebanon range and to Mount Hermon, in the extreme north of the country, but is shared in some measure by the mountain districts of Nablus, Jerusalem, and Hebron, where the winters are often very severe, the springs mild, and a refreshing breeze tempers the summer heat. The second embraces the slopes adjoining the coast of the Mediterranean, together with the adjacent plains of Akka, Jaffa, and Gaza; also those in the interior, such as Esdraelon, the valley of the Jordan, and part of Peraea. The third prevails in the south-eastern parts of Syria, the contiguity of which to the arid deserts of burning sand, exposes them to the furnace-blasts of the sirocco untempered by the humid winds which prevail to the west of the central highlands, while the depression of the southern part of the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea gives to the plain of Jericho and the districts in the vicinity of that sea an Egyptian climate. (Col. Chesney, Expedition to the Euphrates, &c. vol. i. pp. 533-537.) those boundaries, as do the sacred writers and Josephus, we may now take a general view of its physical features which have always so much to do with the formation of the character of the inhabitants. It is well described in its principal features, in the book of Deuteronomy, as "a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates: a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass" (viii. 7-9; comp. xi. 11, 12). The great variety of its natural productions must be ascribed to the diversified character of its surface and the natural richness of its soil, which was obviously taxed to the utmost by the industry of its numerous inhabitants; for there is no part of the hill country, however at present desolate and depopulated, which does not bear evidences of ancient agricultural labour in its scarped rocks and ruined terrace-walls; while in the vicinity of its modern villages, the rude traditionary style of husbandry, unimproved and unvaried for 3000 years, enables the traveller to realise the ancient fertility of this highly favoured land, and the occupations of its inhabitants, as well as the genius of their poetry, all whose images are borrowed from agricultural and pastoral pursuits. As the peculiar characteristic feature in the geography of Greece is the vast proportion of its sea-border to its superficial area, so the peculiarity of the geography of Palestine may be said to be the undue proportion of mountain, or rather hill country, to its extent. In the districts of Tripoli, Akka, and Damascus, three descriptions of soil prevail. In general that of the mountainous parts of Palestine and central Syria is dry and stony, being formed in a great measure from the debris of rocks, of which a large portion of the surface of the districts of Lebanon, the Hauran, and Ledja, with the mountainous countries of Judaea, are composed; The general geographical position of Palestine is it is mixed, however, with the alluvium constantly well described in the following extract:-"That brought down by the irrigating streams. The great mountain chain known to the ancients under second and richest district are the plains of Es- the various names of Imaus, Caucasus, and Taurus, draelon, Zabulon, Baalbek, part of the Decapolis, which extends due east and west from China to and Damascus, as well as the valleys of the Jordan Asia Minor; this chain, at the point where it enters and Orontes, which for the most part consist of a Asia Minor, throws off to the southward a suborfat loamy soil. Being almost without a pebble, it dinate ridge of hills, which forms the barrier bebecomes, when dry, a fine brown earth, like garden tween the Western Sea and the plains of Syria mould, which, when saturated by the rains, is and Assyria. After pursuing a tortuous course for almost a quagmire, and in the early part of the some time, and breaking into the parallel ridges of summer becomes a marsh: when cultivated, most Libanus and Antilibanus, it runs with many breaks abundant crops of tobacco, cotton, and grain are and divergencies through Palestine and the Arabian obtained. The remainder of the territory chiefly peninsula to the Indian Ocean. One of the most consists of the plains called Barr by the Arabs, and remarkable of these breaks is the great plain of Midbar by the Hebrews, both words signifying simply Esdraelon, the battle-field of the East. From this a tract of land left entirely to nature, and being point... the ridge or mountainous tract extends, applied to the pasture tracts about almost every without interruption, to the south end of the Dead town in Syria, as well as to those spots where vege- Sea, or further. This whole tract rises gradually tation almost entirely fails. Such spots prevail in towards the south, forming the hill country of the tracts towards the eastern side of the country, Ephraim and Judah, until, in the vicinity of Hebron, where the soil is mostly an indurated clay, with it attains an altitude of 3250 feet above the level of irregular ridges of limestone hills separating different the Mediterranean. At a point exactly opposite to parts of the surface. The better description of soil the extreme north of the Dead Sea, i. e. due west is occasionally diversified by hill and dale, and has from it, where the entire ridge has an elevation of very much the appearance of some of our downs, but about 2710 feet, and close to the saddle of the is covered with the liquorice plant, mixed with ridge, a very remarkable feature of this rocky proaromatic shrubs, and occasionally some dwarf trees, cess, so to call it, occurs. The appearance is as if such as the tamarisk and acacia. Many of the a single, but vast wave of this sea of rock, rising tracts eastward of the Jordan (Peraea) are of this and swelling gradually from north to south, had II. GEOLOGY, NATURAL DIVISIONS, AND PRO DUCTIONS. considerable subsidence below the general level, left standing perfectly isolated from the surrounding mass, both as to its front and sides. Add, that about the middle of this wave there is a slight depression, channelling it from north-wes to south-east, and you have before you the natural limestone rock which forms the site of Jerusalem." (Christian Remembrancer, No. lxvi. N. S., vol. xviii. pp. 425, 426.) A few additions to this graphic sketch of the general geography of Palestine will suffice to complete the description of its main features, and to furnish a nomenclature for the more detailed notices which must follow. This addition will be best supplied by the naturalist Russegger, whose travels have furnished a desideratum in the geography of Palestine. It will, however, be more convenient to consider below his third division of the country, comprehending the river Jordan and the Dead Sea, with its volcanic phaenomena, as those articles have been reserved for this place, and the historical importance of them demands a fuller account than is given in his necessarily brief summary. He divides the country as follows: 1. The fruitful plain extending along the coast from Gaza to Juny, north-east of Beirût. 2. The mountain range separating this plain from the valley of the Jordan, which, commencing with Jebel Khalil, forms the rocky land of Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee, and ends with the knot of mountains from which Libanus and Antilibanus extend towards the north. The want of grass begins to show itself in Syria, and especially on the sides of the promontory, owing to the long continued droughts. The Syrian mountains along the coast north of Carmel, and especially the sides of Lebanon, are, with the exception of the garden-trees, and a few scattered pines, entirely devoid of wood. (2.) The land immediately towards the east, which follows the line of coast from south to north, at a distance now greater now less, rises in the form of a lofty mountain chain, the summits of which are for the most part rounded, and rarely peaked; forming numerous plateaux, and including the whole space between the coast on the west, and the valley of the Jordan, with the Dead Sea and the lake of Tiberias, on the east, having an average breadth of from 8 to 10 German miles. This mountain chain commences in the south with Jebel Khalil, which, towards the west and south-west, stretches to the plain of Gaza and the sandy deserts of the isthmus, and towards the south and south-east joins the mountain country of Arabia Petraea, and towards the east sinks suddenly into the basin of the Dead Sea. Iminediately joined to Jebel Khalil are Jebel-el-Kods and the mountains of Ephraim, sinking on the east into the valley of the Jordan, and on the west into the plain at Jaffa. Further north follows Jebel Nablus, with the other mountains of Samaria, bounded on the east by the valley of the Jordan, on the west by the coast district; and towards the north-west extending to the sea, and forming the promontory of Carmel. North of Merj Ibn 'Amir are the mountains of Galilee, Hermon, Tabor, Jebel Safed, Saron, &c. This group sinks into the basin of the lake of Tiberias and the upper valley of the Jordan, on the east, on the west into the coast district of Acre and Sur, extends into the sea in several promontories, and is united to the chain of Lebanon at Seida, by Jebelfer-ed-Drus, and by the mountains of the Upper Jordan and of Hasbeia to Jebel-es-Sheich, or Jebel-et-Telj, and thus to the chain of Antilibanus. 3. The valley of the Jordan, with the basins of the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, as far as Wady-el-Ghor, the northern end of Wady-el-Araba. 4. The country on the east of the Jordan, as far as the parallel of Damascus. (1.) The part of the coast plain extending from the isthmus of Suez between the sea and the mountains of Judaea and Samaria, and bounded by the ridge of Carmel, belongs, in regard to its tility, to the most beautiful regions of Syria. The vegetation in all its forms is that of the warmer parts of the shores of the Mediterranean; in the southern districts the palm flourishes. The mountains of Judaea and Samaria, which rise to the height of 2000 feet above the sea, follow the line of the plain until they meet the ridge of Carmel. The coast district belongs partly to the older and newer pliocene of the marine deposits, and partly to the chalk and Jura formations of the neighbouring mountainous country. To the north of Carmel the hilly arable land occurs again. Still further north, with the exception of a few strips of land about Acre, Sur, Seida, Beirût, &c., the coast plain becomes more and more narrowed by the mountains, which extend towards the sea, until there only remains here and there a very small strip of coast. Several mountain streams, swollen in the rainy season to torrents, flow through deep narrow valleys into the plain, in part fertilising it; in part, where there are no barriers to oppose their force, spreading devastation far and wide. Of these the principal are Nahr-el-Kelb, Nahr-ed-Damur, the Auli, the Saharaneh, Nahr-el-Kasimieh, Nahr Mukutta, &c. The mountain sides of Lebanon, from Seida to Beirut, are cultivated in terraces; the principal product of this kind of cultivation is the vine and mulberry; the secondary, figs, oranges, pomegranates, and, in general, the so-called tropical fruits. The whole mountain chain in the district just described belongs to the Jura and chalk formation. Crystalline and plutonic rocks there are none, and volcanic formations are to be found only in the mountains surrounding the basin of the lake of Tiberias. The highest points are situated in the northern part of the range, in the neighbourhood of Jebel-es-Sheich, and in the eastern and southeastern part of Galilee. (Jebel-es-Sheich is 9500 feet above the sea.) Further south the mountains become perceptibly lower, and the highest of the mountains of Judaea are scarcely 4000 feet above the sea. The character of the southern part of this range is very different from that of the northern. The plateaux and slopes of the central chain of Judaea are wild, rocky, and devoid of vegetation; the valleys numerous, deep, and narrow. In the lowlands, wherever productive soil is collected, and there is a supply of water, there springs up a rich vegetation. All the plants of the temperate region of Europe flourish together with tropical fruits in perfection, especially the vine and olive. In Samaria the character of the land is more genial; vegetation flourishes on all sides, and several of the mountains are clothed with wood to their summits. With still greater beauty and grandeur does nature exhibit herself in Galilee. The mountains become higher, their form bolder and sharper The great Hermon (Jebel-es-Sheich) rises hign | el-Kadi, the site of the ancient Dan, about two above the other mountains. miles to the west of Banias; (3) at Hasbeia, some distance to the north of Tell-el-Kadi. These several sources require distinct notice. The valleys are no longer inhospitable ravines; they become long and broad, and partly form plains of large extent, as Esdraelon. A beautiful pasture land extends to the heights of the mountains. Considerable mountain streams water the valleys. (3.) To the east of this mountain chain lies the valley of the Jordan, the most remarkable of all known depressions of the earth, as well on account of its great length as of its almost incredible depth. [See below, III. and IV.] (4.) On the east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley, with the sea of Tiberias, rises like a wall a steep mountain range of Jura limestone. On the top of this lies a broad plateau inhabited by nomadic Arabs and stationary tribes. The southern part of these highlands is known by the name of Jebel Belka; further north, beyond the Zerka, in the neighbourhood of the lofty Ajlun, it meets the highlands of Ez-Zoueit; and still further north begins the well known plateau El-Hauran, which, inhabited chiefly by Arabs and Druses, is bounded by Antilibanus and the Syrian desert, joins the plateau of Damascus, and there reaches a height of 2304 Paris feet above the sea. III. THE JORDAN. The most celebrated river of Judaea, and the only stream of any considerable size in the country. Its etymology has not been successfully investigated by the ancients, who propose a compound of Yor and Dan, and imagine two fountains bearing these names, from which the river derived its origin and appellation. S. Jerome (Onomast. s. v. Dan) derives it from Jor, which he says is equivalent to peepov, fluvius, and Dan the city, where one of its principal fountains was situated. But there are serious objections to both parts of this derivation. For in the first place is the Hebrew form of the equivalent for fluvius, while the proper name is always and never 17, as the proposed etymology would require; while the name Dan, as applied to the city Laish, is five centuries later than the first mention of the river in the book of Genesis; and the theory of anticipation in the numerous passages of the Pentateuch in which it occurs is scarcely admissible (See Judges, xviii.; Gen. xiii. 10, xxxii. 10; Job, xl. 23), although Dan is certainly so used in at least one passage. (Gen. xiv. 14.) Besides which, Reland has remarked that the vowel always written with the second syllable of the river is different from that of the monosyllabic city, 17, and not 17. He suggests another derivation from the root T, descendit, labitur, so denoting a river, as this, in common with other rivers which he instances, might be called kar' ¿oxhv: and as Josephus does call it TOY TOTаμÓv, without any distinctive name (Ant. v. 1. § 22), in describing the borders of Issachar. This is also adopted by Gesenius, Lee, and other moderns. (Lee, Lexicon, s. v.) The source of this river is a question involved in much obscurity in the ancient records; and there is a perplexing notice of Josephus, which has added considerably to the difficulty. The subject was fully investigated by the writer in 1842, and the results are stated below. The Jordan has three principal sources: (1) at Banias, the ancient Caesarea Philippi; (2) at Tell 1. The fountain at Banias is regarded by Josephus and others as the proper source of the Jordan, but not with sufficient reason. It is indeed a copious fountain, springing out from the earth in a wide and rapid but shallow stream, in front of a cave formerly dedicated to Pan; but not at all in the manner described by Josephus, who speaks of a yawning chasm in the cave itself, and an unfathomable depth of still water, of which there is neither appearance nor tradition at present, the cave itself being perfectly dry. (Bell. Jud. i. 21. § 3.) He states, however, that it is a popular error to consider this as the source of the Jordan. Its true source, he subsequently says (iii. 9. § 7), was ascertained to be at Phiala, which he describes as a circular pool, 120 stadia distant from Caesareia, not far from the road that led to Trachonitis, i. e. to the east. This pool, he says (named from its form), was always full to the brim, but never overflowed, and its connection with the fountain at Paneas was discovered by Herod Philip the tetrarch in the following manner: He threw chaff into the lake Phiala, which made its appearance again at the fountain of Paneas. This circular, goblet-shaped pool, about a mile in diameter, is now called Birketer-Ram. It is situated high in a bare mountain region, and strongly resembles the crater of an extinct volcano. It is a curious error of Irby and Mangles to represent the surrounding hills as "richly wooded" (Travels, p. 287). The water is stagnant, nor is there any appearance or report among the natives of any stream issuing from the lake, or of any subterranean communication with the fountain of Paneas. The above-named travellers correctly represent it as having "no apparent supply or discharge." The experiment of Philip is to carry off the chaff. therefore utterly unintelligible, as there is no stream (For a view of Phiala, see Traill's Josephus, vol. ii. p. 46, and lxxx. &c.) 2. The second fountain of the Jordan is at Tellel-Kadi. [DAN.] This is almost equally copious with the first-named; and issues from the earth in a rapid stream on the western side of the woody hill, on which traces of the city may still be discovered. The stream bears the ancient name of the town, and is called Nahr Ledân, “the river Ledân,” sometimes misunderstood by travellers as the ancient name of the river, which certainly no longer exists among the natives. This is plainly the Daphne of Josephus, "having fountains, which, feeding what is called the little Jordan, under the temple of the golden calf, discharge it into the great Jordan." (Bell. Jud. iv. 1. § 1, conf. Ant. viii. 8. § 4; and see Reland, Palaestina, p. 263.) 3. A mile to the west of Tell-el-Kadi, runs the Nahr Hasbány, the Hasbeia river, little inferior to either of the former. It rises 6 or 8 miles to the north, near the large village of Hasbeia, and being joined in its course by a stream from Mount Hermon, contributes considerably to the bulk of the Jordan. It is therefore somewhat remarkable that this tributary has been unnoticed until comparatively modern times. (Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. iii. p. 354, note 2.) These three principal sources of the Jordan, as the natives affirm, do not intermingle their waters until they meet in the small lake now called Bahr el-Hulch, "the waters of Merom" of Scripture (Josh. xi. 5, 7), the SEMECHONITIS PALUS of Josephus (Ant. v. 5. § 1, Bell. Jud. iii. 12. § 7, iv. 1. § 1); but the plain between this lake and Paneas is hard to be explored, in consequence of numerous fountains and the rivulets into which the main streams are here divided. (Robinson, l. c. pp. 353, 354; Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, pp. 12, 13.) This point was investigated by Dr. Robinson in 1852, and he found that both the Ledân and the Hasbány unite their waters with the stream from Banias, some distance above the lake, to which they run in one stream. (Journal R. Geog. Soc. vol. xxiv. p. 25, 1855.) whole subject is ably treated by Mr. Petermann, in a paper read before the Geographical Society, chiefly in answer to the strictures of Dr. Robinson, in a communication made to the same society,—both of which papers were subsequently published in the journal of the society (vol. xviii. part 2, 1848). In consequence of the observations of Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. vol. ii. p. 595, n. 4, and vol. iii. p. 311, n. 3), the writer in 1842 followed the course of the Jordan from the sea of Tiberias to the sea of Huleh, and found it to be a continuous torrent, rushing down in a narrow rocky channel between almost precipitous mountains. It is well described by Herr von Wildenbruch, who explored it in 1845, as a "continuous waterfall" (cited by Petermann, l. c. p. 103). This region, now called Merj-el-Huleh, might well be designated ἕλος or ἕλη τοῦ Ιορδάνου, “ the marshes of Jordan," by which name, however, the The lower Jordan, between the sea of Tiberias and anthor of the first book of Maccabees (1 Macc. ix. the Dead Sea, was subsequently explored by Lieut. 42) and Josephus (Ant. xiii. 1. § 3) would seem to Molyneux in 1847, and by an American expedition signify the marshy plain to the south of the Dead | under Lieut. Lynch in the following year. The folSea. The waters from the three sources above- lowing extracts from the very graphic account of mentioned being collected into the small lake, and Lieut. Molyneux, also contained in the number of the further augmented by the numerous land springs in Royal Geographical Society's Journal (pp. 104the Bahr and Ard-el-Huleh, run off towards the 123) already referred to, will give the best idea of south in one current towards the sea of Tiberias the character of this interesting river, hitherto so [TIBERIAS MARE], a distance, according to Jo- little known. Immediately on leaving the sea of Tisephus, of 120 stadia. They flow off at the south-berias they found the river upwards of 100 feet western extremity of this lake, and passing through a district well described by Josephus as a great desert (To ¿pnμlav, B. J. iii. 9. § 7), now called by the natives El-Ghor, lose themselves in the Dead Sea. broad and 4 or 5 deep; but on reaching the ruins of a bridge, about 2 miles down the stream, they found the passage obstructed by the ruins, and their difficulties commenced; for seven hours they scarcely ever had sufficient water to swim the boat for Attention has been lately called to a peculiar 100 yards together. In many places the river phenomenon exhibited by this river, the problems is split into a number of small streams, and conserelating to which have been solved twice within the quently without much water in any of them. Oclast few years by the enterprise of English and casionally the boat had to be carried upwards of American sailors. In the spring of the year 1838 100 yards over rocks and through thorny bushes; a series of barometrical observations by M. Bertou and in some places they had high, steep, sandy cliffs gave to the Dead Sea a depression of 1374 feet all along the banks of the river. In other places below the level of the Mediterranean, and to the sea the boat had to be carried on the backs of the camels, of Tiberias a depression of 755 feet, thus establish- the stream being quite impracticable. The Ghor, ing a fall of 619 feet between the two lakes. At or great valley of the Jordan, is about 8 or 9 miles the close of the same year the observations were broad at its upper end; and this space is anything repeated by Russegger, with somewhat different but flat-nothing but a continuation of bare hills, results; the depression of the Dead Sea being given with yellow dried-up weeds, which look when distant as 1429 feet, the sea of Tiberias 666 feet, and the like corn stubbles. These hills, however, sink into consequent fall of the Jordan between the two, 763 insignificance when compared to the ranges of feet. the mountains which enclose the Ghor; and it is therefore only by comparison that this part of the Ghor is entitled to be called a valley. Within this broader valley is a smaller one on a lower level, through which the river runs; and its winding course, which is marked by luxurious vegetation, resembles a gigantic serpent twisting down the valley. So tortuous is its course, that it would be quite impossible to give any account of its various turnings in its way from the lake of Tiberias to the Dead Sea. A little above Beisan the stream is spanned by an old curiously formed bridge of three arches, still in use, and here the Ghor begins to wear a much better and more fertile aspect. It appears to be composed of two different platforms; the upper one on either side projects from the foot of the hilis, which form the great valley, and is tolerably level, but barren and uncultivated. It then falls away in the form of rounded sand-hills, or whitish perpendicular cliffs, varying from 150 to 200 feet in height, to the lower plain, which should more properly be called the valley of the Jordan. The river here and there washes the foot of the cliffs which enclose this smaller valley, but generally it winds in the most Herr von Wildenbruch repeated the observations by barometer in 1845, with the following results:-Depression of the Dead Sea 1446 feet, of the sea of Tiberias 845 feet, difference 600 feet. He carried his observations further north, even to the source at Tell-el-Kadi, with the following results: At Jacob's bridge, about 2 miles from the southern extremity of Bahr Huleh, he found the Jordan 89.9 feet above the Mediterranean; at the Bahr Huleh 100 feet; and at the source at Tell-elKadi 537 feet: thus giving a fall of 1983 feet in a direct course of 117 miles:-the most rapid fall being between the bridge of Jacob and the sea of Tiberias, a distance of only 8 miles, in which the river falls 845 feet, or 116 feet per mile. Results so remarkable did not find easy credence, although they were further tested by a trigonometrical survey, conducted by Lieut. Symonds of the Royal Engineers, in 1841, which confirmed the barometrical observations for the Dead Sea, but were remarkably at variance with the statement for the sea of Tiberias, giving to the former a depression of 1312 feet, and to the latter of 328 feet, and a difference of level between the two of 984 feet. The tortuous manner between them. In many places these | It is obvious that these phaenomena have an im- nessed nothing of the kind, though Lieut. Lynch remarks, "the river is in the latter stage of a freshet; a few weeks earlier or later, and passage would have been impracticable." Considerably further north, however, not far below Beisan, Lieut. Molyneux remarked "a quantity of deposit in the plain of the Jordan, and the marks of water in various places at a distance from the river, from which it was evident that the Jordan widely overflows its banks; and the sheikh informed him that in winter it is occasionally half a mile across; which accounts for the luxuriant vegetation in this part of the Ghor" (l. c. p. 117). It would appear from this that the subsidence of the basin of the Dead Sea and the more rapid fall of the Jordan consequent upon it, which has also cut out for it a deeper channel, has prevented the overflow except in those parts where the fall is not so rapid. Another change may also be accounted for in the same manner. "The fords of the Jordan" were once few and far between, as is evident from the historical notices. (Josh. ii. 7; Judges, iii. 28, vii. 24, xii. 5.) But Lieut. Molyneux says of the upper part of its course, "I am within the mark when I say that there are many hundreds of places where we might have walked across, without wetting our feet, on the large rocks and stones" (p. 115). The thick jungle on the banks of the river was formerly a covert for wild beasts, from which they were dislodged by the periodical overflow of the river; and "the lion coming up from the swelling of Jordan" is a familiar figure in the prophet Jeremiah (xlix. 19, 1. 44). It was supposed until very recently that not only the lion but all other wild beasts were extinct in Palestine, or that the wild boar was the sole occupant of the jungle; but the seamen in company with Lieut. Molyneux reported having seen "two tigers and a boar" in their passage down the stream (p. 118). The principal tributaries of the Jordan join it from the east; the most considerable are the Yarmuk [GADARA] and the Zerka [JABBOK]. This river is principally noted in sacred history for the miraculous passage of the children of Israel under Joshua (iii.), the miracle was repeated twice afterwards in the passage of Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings, ii. 8, 14),-and for the baptism of our Lord (St. Matt. iii. &c.). It is honoured with scanty notice by the classical geographers. Strabo sub-reckons it the largest river of Syria (xvi. p. 755). Pliny is somewhat more communicative. He speaks of Paneas as its source, consistently with Josephus. "Jordanis amnis oritur è fonte Paneade, qui nomen dedit Caesareae: amnis amoenus, et quatenus locorum situs patitur ambitiosus, accolisque se praebens, velut invitus. Asphaltiden lacum dirum natura petit, a quo postremo ebibitur, aquasque laudatas perdit pestilentibus mistas. Ergo ubi prima convallium fuit occasio in lacum se fundit, quem plures Genesaram vocant, etc." (Hist. Nat. v. 15.) Tacitus, though more brief, is still more accurate, as he notices the Bahr Huleh as well as the sea of Tiberias. "Nec Jordanes pelago accipitur: sed unum atque alterum lacum, integer perfluit: tertio retinetur." (Hist. v. 6.) One of the earliest historical facts connected with this river is its periodical overflow during the season of barley-harvest (Josh. iii. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 15; Jeremiah, xii. 5; see Blunt's Undesigned Coincidences, pp. 113, 114); and allusion is made to this fact after the captivity. (Ecclus. xxiv. 26; Aristeus, Epist. ad Philocratem.) The river in the vicinity of Jericho was visited by the writer at all seasons of the year, but he never witnessed an overflow, nor were the Bedouins who inhabit its banks acquainted with the phaenomenon. The American expedition went down the river in the month of The ancient name for El-Ghor was AULON, and the modern native name of the Jordan is Es. Shiriah. (Karl von Raumer, Palästina, 2nd ed., 1850, pp. 48-54, 449-452; Ritter, Erdkunde, &c. West |
