Biblical Geography and History Part 2

V

THE HILLS OF SAMARIA AND JUDAH

=Character of the Hills of Samaria.= The hills of Samaria and Judah are the southern extension of the central plateau of Palestine, and yet, like Galilee and Esdraelon they const.i.tute an independent natural unit. No sharply defined boundary separates them; rather the one gradually merges into the other. The heights of Samaria and Judah are commonly called mountains and the term is not entirely inappropriate when applied to the range as a whole; but the individual peaks are in reality little more than rounded hills. None of them rise over three thousand four hundred feet above the sea-level. The highest rest upon elevated plateaus, so that only two or three of them convey the impression of towering height and majesty that is ordinarily a.s.sociated with the word mountain. Rather they are a chain of hills which, viewed from the sh.o.r.e of the Mediterranean or from the heights east of the Jordan, give the impression of a bold mountain range. This is especially true as one looks up toward them from the deep depression of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley, for they completely fill the western horizon. The water-shed lies on the eastern side of the range. The result is that the western hills have been worn down into gradually descending terraces; while on the east the deep Jordan valley is exceedingly abrupt, becoming more so in the south. At certain points the descent is over twenty-eight hundred feet in nine miles, and down by the western side of the Dead Sea there is often an almost sheer fall of between fifteen hundred and three thousand feet.

=Northeastern Samaria.= The hills of Samaria fall naturally into two great divisions. The first extends from the plains of Esdraelon and Jezreel to the one great valley which, following the Wady el-Ifzim, cuts through Samaria from the northwest to the southeast, running between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The territory north of this line resembles lower Galilee in many ways. On the east it consists of four ranges of hills, divided by a series of broad valleys filled with rich basaltic soil and plentifully supplied with water. These valleys and ranges of hills, like Mount Carmel, have a general trend from northwest to southeast. The northernmost is Mount Gilboa which rises with a broad gradual slope on every side, to a height of between one thousand two hundred and one thousand six hundred and fifty feet. The bare limestone rock crops out at many points, but villages and cultivated fields are found on its broad top. Viewed from this point the hills of Samaria rise gradually in great terraces.^{(13)} To the east and south of Gilboa the wide plain about Bethshean cuts far into central Palestine. Farther south the hills of Samaria, as bold rocky headlands, jut far out into the Jordan valley. The next great valley south of the Plain of Jezreel is that through which the Wady Farah^{(14)} discharges its plenteous waters into the Jordan. This stream and the Nahr Jalud are the chief western confluents of the lower Jordan.

=Northwestern Samaria.= In the northwest the hills of Samaria descend gradually and are intersected by wide valleys which open into the Plain of Sharon on the west and Esdraelon on the north. None of its hills are over twenty-five hundred feet in height. Verdure and often trees crown their summits, while in the valleys are the rich fields of grain or olive orchards, watered by springs and rivulets. The chief of these valleys is the Plain of Dothan,^{(15)} which is connected by low pa.s.ses with the Plain of Sharon on the west and the Plain of Esdraelon on the north. Farther south are the moist upland meadows known to-day as the "Meadow of Sinking in." These in turn are connected by an easy pa.s.s with the network of plains that run southward past Ebal and Gerizim and on the southwest to the city of Samaria and the Wady esh-Shair.^{(16)}

=The View from Mount Ebal.= The one real mountain of northern Samaria is Ebal, which rises to the height of three thousand and seventy-seven feet. It is a broad rounded ma.s.s of limestone rock running from east to west parallel to Gerizim, its companion on the south. Its sides, almost to the top, are covered with gardens and olive orchards, enclosed by picturesque cactus hedges. It commands the most comprehensive view of any point in Palestine. Immediately to the south is the broad cultivated back of Mount Gerizim, which lies only a few feet lower than Ebal, while down in the narrow valley between the two mountains is Nablus, the ancient Shechem. In the more distant horizon is the ascending ma.s.s of the southern Samaritan and Judean hills.^{(17)} On the east the Gilead hills present a lofty, bold sky-line. Nearer but concealed by the rapidly descending cliffs, is the deep valley of the Jordan; while in the foreground following the sky-line to the northeast lies the level plateau of the Hauran, which extends to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and beyond, if the air is clear, the broad peak of Mount Hermon towers, seventy-five miles away.

In the immediate foreground^{(18)} to the north is the network of open valleys of northern Samaria intersected by the ridges of hills which sweep down from the northwest toward the Jordan. Beyond is the depression where lies the Plain of Esdraelon, while still farther to the north rise in regular terraces lower and upper Galilee. The broad low line of highlands in the northwest is Carmel running out to the sea. In the west the irregular Samaritan hills, with their many intersecting valleys, descend leisurely to the coast plains. Beyond, only about twenty-five miles away, is the blue Mediterranean with its fringe of yellow sands.

=Bounds and General Characteristics of Southern Samaria.= Southern Samaria, which lies to the south and west of Mount Ebal, extends as far as the Wady Kelt and its northern confluent, the Wady es-Suweinit, which comes up from ancient Jericho to the vicinity of Michmash and Geba. On the southwest it reaches to the Wady Malakeh, which, a little north of the pa.s.s of Beth-horon, under the name Wady 'Ain 'Arik, penetrates nearly to the top of the watershed. In many ways southern Samaria resembles northern Galilee. It is an elevated plateau rising gradually from the western coast plains and culminating in the southeast. Baal-Hazor, five miles north of the pa.s.s of Michmash, rising to the height of three thousand, three hundred and eighteen feet, is the highest point in Samaria, and lacks only a few feet of being the highest point south of the Plain of Esdraelon.

The descent in the east to the Jordan valley is exceedingly steep and rocky. Two or three rushing brooks have cut deep channels through the barren limestone rocks, which are covered with only a scanty herbage.

Northwest of Jericho rises, as a terrace leading up to the heights above, the semi-detached ma.s.s of barren rock known as the Quarantana (Jebel Kuruntul), and still higher up to the west lies the wilderness of Bethaven, and beyond the rocky hills of Mount Ephraim.^{(19)} On the high central plateau north of Baal-Hazor are a network of small but open plains, which run up past Shiloh to the east of Mount Gerizim. These are fringed by rocky hills, but are themselves exceedingly well-watered and fruitful and are covered to-day with waving grain fields.

=Southwestern Samaria.= The western part of southern Samaria is the land of deep but open valleys. Trees and gra.s.s, with many well-tilled fields, cover the hills and valleys. Chief of these valleys which lead up from the plain are the Wady esh-Shair (the Barley Vale), west of Shechem,^{(16)} the Brook Kanah, the Wady Jib, which first flows south and then westward into the Wady Deir Ballut, and the Wady ez-Zerka, which, like the Wady Malakeh, finds its outlet into the sea a little north of Jaffa. Prosperous villages, some capping the summits of rounded hills, and others far down in sheltered spots in the deep valleys, are scattered throughout this entire region. The site of each was evidently chosen with a view to defence against the many foes that, from earliest times, have pa.s.sed up through the valleys which stand wide open to the west. Like the rest of Samaria, it was a land where peace could be secured only by the sword and by strong battlements. It was also a land where nature gave rich gifts to those who were strong enough to maintain themselves against all invaders.

=The Central Heights of Judah.= The central plateau of southern Palestine culminates in Judea. It is a ma.s.s of rounded hills averaging only about fifteen miles wide and not more than forty miles long. Here erosion has worn away all bold, imposing peaks. The highest points, Mizpah,^{(20)} the modern Neby Samwil (two thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five feet high), in the north and the heights immediately north of Hebron (three thousand, three hundred and seventy feet), where the southern plateau reaches its maximum elevation, are but rounded hills on the top of a great plateau. Between these are narrow, rocky valleys, dry during most of the year and strewn with stones laid bare by the winter freshets. The landscape lacks distinctive character. The prevailing impression is that of gray and yellow limestone;^{(21)} and yet these fields of Judah are not altogether unproductive, as is amply demonstrated by the verdant fields in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Bethlehem,^{(22)} and Hebron. Occasionally the native soil has been retained in a little upland plain,^{(23)} as that east of Bethlehem or at Maon and Carmel, south of Hebron, or in certain favored valleys, such as Hinnom, to the south of Jerusalem. The soil, which is held upon the hillsides by the terraces or piles of stone, is exceedingly fruitful and supports patches of grain, or luxurious vines, or verdant olive trees, which stand out in striking contrast to the grim, rocky background.

=Lack of Water Supply.= Even greater than the lack of soil is the lack of water in Judah. Not a single perennial stream is found within its immediate boundaries. Ezekiel's vision of the broad stream running from the temple and irrigating the entire land clearly indicates what he recognized to be its great need. Throughout the entire land not a dozen copious springs burst from the dry rock. Jerusalem and Hebron are thus blest and, as a result, are still the chief cities of the land. Southwest of Bethlehem are the so-called Pools of Solomon, the plenteous waters of which are treasured in huge, ancient, rock-cut reservoirs, from which, in Roman times, they were conducted by high and low level aqueducts to Jerusalem. No snow-clad Lebanons tower above the parched hills of Judah to supply the much needed waters.

To-day the rains of winter rush down the rocky hills and valleys, where there is little soil and vegetation to absorb and retain the moisture, leaving the land more denuded than before. Undoubtedly, when the hills of Judah were properly cultivated, as the presence of ruined terraces and watch-towers even in the most deserted places indicate they once were, the aspect of the landscape was very different; and yet, compared with other parts of Palestine, it was ever barren. Its inhabitants have always had to struggle for soil and water. In the past, as at present, the chief water supply was from the rocky cisterns. These were cut on the inside in the shape of a huge Oriental water-jug and placed in a depression in the rock so that they would be filled by the wash from the winter rains, which are usually very copious throughout Palestine.

=Wilderness of Judea.= The eastern slope of the southern plateaus of Palestine is rightly called a wilderness. Like the Shephelah or lowland on the west it is a distinct physical division of the west-Jordan land. The cultivated fields extend only four or five miles east of the central watershed. Near Jerusalem the barren wilderness comes up and touches the fertile fields about Bethany.^{(24)} The descent on this eastern side of Judea to the low-lying Dead Sea is so precipitous that the water from the winter rains runs off rapidly and has cut deep channels through the soft clay and limestone cliffs so that irrigation is impossible.^{(25)} No important villages are found in this desolate region except at Engedi, where a beautiful spring bursts out of the cliffs overhanging the Dead Sea and transforms the barren desert into what seems by contrast a little paradise of trees and gardens. Otherwise it is a land of dry, rocky, rounded hills which descend in a series of three great terraces to the depths below. Some vegetation is found between the rocks on the higher uplands. It is the land of the shepherd and of the Arab invaders^{(26)} who here press in from the desert and contend, as they have for thousands of years, with the shepherds of the outlying villages for the possession of the barren land. The dominant features in the landscape are the rocky, rounded bluffs, the great gorge of the Dead Sea, usually enveloped in mists, and the dim outlines of the ma.s.sive Moabite hills beyond. This wilderness of Judea exercised two powerful influences upon the life and thought of the people of the south: (1) it brought to their doors the atmosphere and peculiar customs and beliefs of the desert; and (2) it kept before them the might and destructive power of Jehovah, as exemplified by the Dead Sea and by the grim traditions that were a.s.sociated with this remarkable natural phenomenon.

=Western Judah.= In contrast to the barren wilderness of eastern Judah, the western hills slope gradually down to the Philistine plain.

The chief characteristic of this western slope is the series of valleys which lead up from the lowlands, piercing almost to the watershed in the great central plateau of Judah. Most of these valleys are broad and fertile as they enter the hills, but become ever more tortuous and wild as they ascend the rocky heights. In the rainy season (December to February) they are frequently swept by rushing torrents, which, undeterred by soil or vegetation, soon run their course, leaving the stream, during the greater part of the year, dry and rocky. At many points the ascent is abrupt, between steep rocks, clad with low bushes and wild flowers. In some places the path is so narrow that it is impossible for a horse to turn with comfort.

=Valley of Ajalon.= Six important valleys thus lead up from the plain to the central highlands. The northernmost, and in many ways the most important, is the Valley of Ajalon. It marks the northwestern boundary of Judah. It is a great, broad, fertile plain, lying between five hundred and a thousand feet above sea-level. The stream which ultimately finds its way into the sea a little north of Joppa, here makes a broad curve to the northeast, receiving four or five small tributary streams from the highlands of Judah and southern Samaria.

From this valley several roads lead up to the plateau north of Jerusalem. Of these the most important is the one that ascends the pa.s.s of the Upper and Lower Beth-horons, along which ran the most direct and, in early times, the main highway from Jerusalem to Joppa.^{(118)}

=Wady Ali.= A little south of the Valley of Ajalon is the narrow Wady Ali, along which runs to-day the carriage road from Jerusalem to Joppa. Apparently because of the deepness and narrowness of this valley it does not figure in biblical history until the Maccabean period.

=Valley of Sorek.= The third important gateway to Judah was the Valley of Sorek, the present Wady es-Surar. Here the modern railway from Joppa to Jerusalem penetrates the central plateau. Just before the Valley of Sorek reaches the steep ascent to the highlands it receives two important confluents, the Wady el-Ghurab, from the northwest, and the Wady en-Nagil from the south. Here the valley opens into a broad fertile plain, closely connected with the larger Plain of Philistia and yet encircled by the hills of the Shephelah. Immediately to the north was the home of the Danites and about this picturesque point gather the Samson stories. Along a winding and steep ascent the narrow pa.s.s thence runs directly eastward toward Jerusalem, approaching the city across the Valley of Rephaim from the southwest.

=Valley of Elah.= The fourth valley is that of Elah, the Valley of the Terebinth, which is known to-day as the Wady es-Sunt. This valley abounds in memories of David's earlier exploits.^{(88)} Its eastern branch, the Wady el-Jindy leads through a narrow defile up toward Bethlehem. Its more important branch, the Wady es-Sur, runs directly southward past what are probably to be identified as the ancient Adullam and Keilah, and thence turning eastward, reaches the uplands near the famous Maccabean fortress of Bethzur, a little north of Hebron.

=Valley of Zephathah.= The fifth valley is that of Zephathah, which is known to-day in its upper course as the Wady el-Afranj. Its western gateway is guarded by the present important city of Beit-Jibrin, the Eleutheropolis of the Greek and Roman period. Recently opened caves near by reveal the importance of the Egyptian influence which, at a very early period entered Palestine along this important highway. The valley itself leads up through winding, narrow walls past the Plain of Mamre, directly to Hebron. Along it ran the great road from Jerusalem to Philistia and Egypt.

=Wady el-Jizair.= The southernmost valley of western Judah is a continuation of the Wady el-Hesy, which runs past the frontier town of Lachish and is to-day known in its extension into the Judean highlands as the Wady el-Jizair. Pa.s.sing the ancient city of Adoraim, it also led to Hebron and ultimately to Jerusalem.

=Significance of These Valleys.= Of these six western valleys, unquestionably the three most important were the Valley of Ajalon, with its main gateways opening toward Jerusalem, the Valley of Sorek, with its broad entrance, also leading straight up to the capital city, and the Valley of Elah, rich with historic memories. Each of these, however, could be easily defended at certain strategic points by a few determined men on the heights above. When these natural gates were closed, Judah was practically una.s.sailable on the west and could look with a strong sense of security down from its frowning heights upon the hostile armies which swept along the broad coast plains.

=The South Country.= The central plateau of Palestine extends south of Judah fully seventy miles. At first it gradually descends in a series of terraces, and then breaks into a confusion of barren, rocky, treeless ridges, running for the most part from east to west and cut by deep waterless gorges. As in Judah, the eastern hills which overhang the Wady Arabah are more abrupt and the winter torrents have cut deep channels in the gray limestone rocks. On the west the descent is more gradual, running out into the level wilderness, bounded on the west by the Wady el-Arish, known to the biblical writers as the Brook of Egypt. This wild, desolate region, fifty miles wide and seventy long, is the famous South Country, which figured so largely in early Israelite history. Its name, _Negeb_, Dry Land, well describes its general character.^{(1)}

=Its Northern and Western Divisions.= The hill country immediately to the south of Judah is fairly fertile. Cultivated fields are found in the valleys and terraces on the hillsides, even as far as the Wady Sheba and the famous desert sanctuary of Beersheba. To the south and west of Beersheba are found the ruins of many cities, which evidently enjoyed high prosperity during the later Roman period. Here, as throughout most of the South Country, rain falls during the winter season, so that where the water is stored, irrigation is possible. A few springs also furnish a perennial supply of water. Thus under a strong stable government, the northern and northwestern portions of the South Country are capable of supporting a large, semi-agricultural population. By nature, however, it is the land of the nomad.

Throughout most of its history, the Bedouin have dominated it as they do to-day. When undeveloped by irrigation, its hills and valleys are covered in springtime by a green herbage, which disappears, except in some secluded glens, before the glaring heat of summer. To the south, the Negeb at last descends to the great barren desert of Tih, across which ran the highways to Egypt, to Arabia, and to Babylonia.

=Its Central and Eastern Divisions.= The central and eastern part of this South Country is dry and barren and occupied only by fierce Bedouin tribes. The absence of water, the ruggedness of its mountain ranges, and the fierceness of its population have rendered it almost impa.s.sable throughout most of its history. Many portions of it are still unexplored. Thus, on its southern boundary, Judah was thoroughly protected from the advance of hostile armies. At the same time, from this South Country there came a constant infiltration of the population and ideas of the desert, which left a deep imprint upon the character of the southern Israelites.

=The Striking Contrasts Between Judah and Samaria.= The contrasts between the hills of Judah and Samaria are many and significant. The hills of Samaria are a collection of distinct groups, divided by broad valleys, which intersect the land in every direction. The hills of Judah, in contrast, const.i.tute a great, elevated, solid plateau, cut by no great valleys running throughout the land from east to west or from north to south. Judah is a mountain fortress, with strong natural barriers on every side. Samaria, on the contrary, stands with doors wide open to the foreign trader and invader. Its inhabitants are compelled to resort to the hilltops, or else to build strong fortresses for their defence. The great highways of commerce pa.s.s on either side of Judah, while they ran through the heart of Samaria.

Judah was secure, not only because of its natural battlements of rock, but because of its barrenness. Its grim limestone hills, its stony moorlands, and its dry valleys offered few attractions to the invader.

On the other hand, the rich fields of Samaria and its opulent cities were a constant loadstone, drawing toward them conquerors from the north, south, and east.

=Effect Upon Their Inhabitants.= Judah, with its few springs and its rock-strewn fields, offered a frugal livelihood to men who were willing to toil and to live without the luxuries of life. It bred a st.u.r.dy, brave race, intensely loyal to their rocks and hills, tenacious of their beliefs, even to the point of bigotry and martyrdom. Like their limestone hills, they were grim and unattractive, but capable of resisting the wearing process of the centuries. In contrast, the fertile hills of Samaria, with their plentiful springs and rushing streams, bred a luxury-loving, care-free, tolerant race, who were ready, almost eager, for foreign ideas and cults, as well as customs. Thus that great schism between north and south, between Jew and Samaritan, was not merely the result of later rivalries, but found its primal cause in the physical characteristics that distinguished the land of Judah from that of Samaria.

VI

THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA VALLEY

=Geological History.= The great gorge of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley is the most striking natural phenomenon in Palestine. No place on the face of the earth has had a more dramatic geological history.

As has already been noted (p. 14), this great rift which runs from northern Syria to the Red Sea was probably formed in the latter part of the Pliocene Age. At the northern end of the Dead Sea its bed reaches a depth of nearly one-half a mile beneath the ocean level. It is thus by far the deepest depression on the face of the earth. During the Pluvial period this huge rift was filled with water, making a large inland sea, fully two hundred miles long, with its surface nearly one hundred feet above the ocean level. Apparently the higher land to the south of the present Dead Sea cut off the ocean, so that at the first it was a fresh-water lake. During the Interglacial period, possibly in part as the result of volcanic changes, it fell to a level of not more than three hundred feet above the present surface of the Dead Sea. It was during this period and the ice age that followed that the deposits were made on the side of the valley, which have given it its present terraced form.

=Evidences of Volcanic Action.= From the Pluvial period to the present the valley has been the scene of frequent volcanic disturbances. The water, sinking through the great rifts and subterranean pa.s.sages, and being transformed by the heat into steam, forced up great ma.s.ses of lava, which may be traced at many points on the heights both to the east and to the west of the Jordan valley. Earthquakes, many of them severe, are still common in this volcanic region. That of 1837 destroyed the city of Safed, killing one thousand of its inhabitants.

In recent years severe shocks were felt in June, 1896, January, 1900, March and December, 1903. Many copious, hot, mineral springs still bear testimony to the presence of volcanic forces. Those near Tiberias, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and in the Wady Zerka Ma'in, east of the Dead Sea, have a temperature of about 144, while the waters of El-Hammeh in the Yarmuk Valley vary in temperature from about 93 to 110. These springs are strongly impregnated with mineral salts and it is from these and similar sources that the salts have come that make the waters of the Dead Sea what they are to-day, heavy and far more saline than the ocean itself.

=Natural Divisions.= The Jordan and Dead Sea valley falls into four natural divisions: (1) the upper Jordan, from Mount Hermon to the Sea of Galilee, (2) the Sea of Galilee, (3) the lower Jordan, and (4) the Dead Sea. At its northernmost point rises Mount Hermon, called by the natives Jebel es-Sheik, that is, Mountain of the White-haired.

=Mount Hermon.= Hermon is in reality a ma.s.sive mountain plateau, twenty miles long from northeast to southwest. Like most of the mountains of Palestine, it is of hard limestone, covered at places with soft chalk. On its northern side the vineyards run up to a height of almost five thousand feet.^{(27)} Above are found scattered oaks, almond and dwarf juniper trees. The mountain rises to the height of nine thousand and fifty feet and is crowned by three peaks.^{(28)} The northern and southern peaks are about the same height, while the western, separated from the others by a depression, is about one hundred feet lower. Mount Hermon commands a marvellous view of almost the entire land of Palestine. From the ma.s.ses of snow which cover its broad top far into the summer and lie in its ravines throughout the year, come the copious waters of the upper Jordan. Its sources spring from the western and southern bases of Mount Hermon fully developed streams. Three-fourths of the waters of Mount Hermon thus find their way down the deep gorge of the Jordan.

=Source of the Jordan at Banias.= One of the two main sources of the Jordan is at Banias, the Caesarea Philippi of New Testament times.

About one hundred feet beneath an ancient grotto in the side of a sheer cliff, the stream pours forth from the rocks and goes rushing down through thickets of trees and the gardens which are irrigated by its waters.^{(29)} By Josephus and other ancient writers the springs at Banias were regarded as the true source of the Jordan. Here the ancient Canaanites apparently reared a sanctuary to the G.o.d of the stream and later the Greeks built a temple to Pan, from whence comes, with the change of the initial letter, the modern name of Banias, or City of Pan. Here also Herod reared a temple which was one of the glories of the Roman city.

=At Tell el-Kadi.= The largest source of the Jordan is on the western side of the mound now known as Tell el-Kadi. A stream about ten feet wide flows directly from the rock and is joined by a smaller confluent a little to the south, forming the so-called El-Leddan. The imposing mound of Tell el-Kadi, lying at the head of the Jordan Valley and commanding the highway that leads to Banias, and thence across the eastern spurs of Mount Hermon to Damascus, is probably the site of the Canaanite Laish, later the Hebrew Dan.

=The Western Confluents.= A mile and a half further to the south the two eastern sources of the Jordan are joined by the Hasbany. This stream springs from a pool on the western side of Mount Hermon and thence flows southward through the broad plain on the west of the mountain from which it sprang. The fourth source of the Jordan, the Nahr Bareighit, the least important of the four, rising not far from the River Litany, comes down through a valley to the northwest.

=The Upper Jordan Valley.= During the first part of its descent to the Dead Sea, the Jordan winds leisurely through a valley about five miles wide, flanked by hills rising to between fifteen hundred and two thousand feet.^{(30)} Its northernmost part, under the shadow of Mount Hermon, is plentifully strewn with stones, but a few miles below Tell el-Kadi fertile grain fields appear, watered by copious springs. The Jewish colonists on the northwestern edge of the Jordan valley, are beginning to cultivate these meadows, again demonstrating how fertile they are. Six miles above Lake Huleh the river loses itself in reedy marshes^{(31)} and finally empties into the lake through six different channels. Here the papyrus grows in great profusion. Lake Huleh itself, four miles long, is little more than a great malarial marsh, formed by the temporary stopping of the river by the eastern and western hills, which here approach within three or four miles of each other.

=The Rapid Descent to the Sea of Galilee.= From Banias to Lake Huleh the Jordan descends over one thousand feet and in the eleven miles from the lake to the Sea of Galilee it plunges downward six hundred and ninety feet. These occasional pauses, followed by sudden plunges, have given the river its name, the Jordan, which means the Descender.

A little below Lake Huleh, the valley of the Jordan narrows into a rocky gorge. Through this rocky chasm, hemmed in by steep cliffs on both sides, the Jordan plunges in continuous cascades until it reaches the delta which it has formed at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.

=The Sea of Galilee.= At Lake Huleh the waters of the Jordan are seven feet above the ocean level, but at the Sea of Galilee six hundred and eighty-two feet below. The Sea of Galilee is a pear-shaped lake, twelve and one-half miles in length and eight in width, encircled by bold limestone cliffs.^{(32)} Its greatest depth, which is in the north, is seven hundred and fifty feet. Its blue, clear waters, bathed in sunshine, and the soft, warm breezes that blow across the lake, make it in spring-time, and even in winter, one of the most delightful spots in all the world. In the summer, however, its atmosphere is hot and sultry, and at many points malarial. Ordinarily, the ocean winds blow high above the Sea of Galilee without affecting its hot, tropical climate, but occasionally they pour down through the valleys, especially to the north and northwest, suddenly transforming these quiet waters into a tempestuous sea.

=Its Sh.o.r.es.= On the east rise the steep, now barren but probably once tree-clad, limestone hills of the Jaulan, capped by vast layers of black basalt, towering in the distance like huge battlements. They stand back, however, from the lake, leaving a sh.o.r.e averaging one-half mile in width. On the north the Jordan has worn down the hills, which here descend gradually in wild, stony moorlands, covered with thorns and rough gra.s.ses. To the northwest opens the fertile plain of Gennesaret,^{(33)} four miles wide, watered by dashing mountain brooks and flanked by the high hills of upper Galilee. The industry of German colonists is again beginning to demonstrate the marvellous fertility of this fair plain, where the fruits and grains of tropical and temperate climes grow side by side. On the western side of the lake the hills descend in terraces, leaving a narrow strip of sh.o.r.e, connected with the uplands by one or two shallow valleys. To the south the sh.o.r.e broadens and the hills recede until they are four miles apart at the southern end,^{(34)} where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee.

=From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.= The distance from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in a straight line is only sixty-five miles, but, owing to its constant turnings, the actual course of the river measures nearly two hundred miles. In this last plunge the river descends more than one thousand feet. Its descent is more rapid in the upper part of its course. A little below the Sea of Galilee it receives its largest confluent, the River Yarmuk, which breaks through the heights of the Hauran to the east. The volume of the water thus poured in nearly equals that of the Jordan itself at this point.

Further south the Brook Jald comes down on the west from the Plain of Jezreel past Bethshean. About twenty miles from its mouth, the Jordan receives the waters from the Jabbok, which descends from the heights of Gilead on the east, and from the Wady Farah, which comes from the vicinity of Shechem on the west.

=Character of the Valley.= Below the Sea of Galilee the Jordan valley, at first but four miles wide, gradually broadens until it is eight miles in width opposite Bethshean, where the valley of Jezreel joins that of the Jordan. Most of the land in this part of the Jordan valley, immediately below the Sea of Galilee, is tillable. The ruins of ancient aqueducts indicate that the streams that come down from the hillsides were once used for irrigation. The valley is again being in part reclaimed by Jewish colonists. Ten miles south of Bethshean the Samaritan headlands crowd close to the Jordan, so that the valley is only three miles in width. Where the Jabbok and Wady Farah join the Jordan the valley again broadens until, opposite Jericho, it is fourteen miles in width.^{(35)} Most of this lower Jordan valley is a parched desert covered by low bushes and desert plants, except where the streams from the highlands are used for irrigation. Fertile fields are thus reclaimed where the Wady Nimrin and the Wady el-Kefrein come from the eastern hills opposite Jericho. At Jericho itself the waters of the Wady Kelt and those of the famous Fountain of Elisha are utilized to-day as they were in ancient times. South of Jericho, however, the soil is heavily impregnated with saline and alkaline salts, so that it extends in an almost barren waste to the northern end of the Dead Sea.