Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/164

148 148 THE PLAINS OF THE JORDAN.

marsh, the altitude is 140 feet above the sea. About a mile and a half after the river has left the lake, and near the Bridge of Jacob's daughters, the river has already fallen 43 feet below the sea level. About eight miles further south the river has descended to the level of the Sea of Galilee, or 628 feet below the Mediterranean. This long and rapid descent takes place in a deep gorge, and forms a continuous cataract without any prominent cascade that can be distinguished From the general fall. The gorge separates the Plain of Jaulan, Golan, or Gaulonitis, from the Mountains of Galilee ; and no doubt much light that is now wanting, will be thrown upon the juxta-position of these features by the extension of the Survey to the east of Jordan. The western mountain supplies four streams to the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and it culminates at the height of 2,761 feet, on the east of Safed. It is indeed a prolongation of the Southern Eange of Upper Galilee, which rises in the Plain of Acre and runs eastward, dividing Upper and Lower Galilee ; while here at its eastern end the range separates the Huleh Plain, which is above sea level from the Sea of Galilee, which is 628 feet below the sea level. The range thus marks the commencement of the great depression that carries Jordan down to the Dead Sea, where the surface of the water or brine is 1,292 feet below the Mediterranean, the depth of the water or the soundings being about the same, making the total depression about 2,600 feet. It is along this extraordinary feature that the eastern base of the Western Highland of Palestine will now be examined.

THE WESTERN SHORE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE.

At the entrance of Jordan into the Sea of Galilee, the Plain of Batihah is spread out on the east at the foot of the Plateau of Jaulan, while on the west the hills descend with a rugged slope to the river and the lake. In this plain is the site of Bethsaida Julias. The path westward is at a little distance from the water. About two miles west of the river in an open situation at the foot of the slope, are the ruins now called Tell Hum, one of the sites