Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/167

151 WESTERN SHORE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE. 151

the northern end of an uneven plain, extending along the sea- side for about a mile, and running inland for a little more than half a mile at its widest part. The famous baths of ancient Emmaus or Hammath are a mile arid a half south of the western gate of the town. Tn this direction the mountain rises close to the water in lofty cliffs, which attain to an altitude of 1,650 feet above the lake. The highland continues to hug the shore, and bold cliffs descend to the water, the road passing over them until the end of the lake is approached, and also the re-commencement of the Jordan. As the shore deflects slightly to the east, the mountain turns in a similar degree to the west, throwing off, however, a small spur to the mouth of the river. The spur becomes a well- defined mound along the shore, almost cut off from the land by a backwater of the river. On this mound are the ruins of Kerak, the Tarichsea of Josephus.*

The Jordan issues from the Sea of Galilee on the western side of a plain, about five miles in width, and extending southward, probably without diminution, for about 14 miles, when it expands into the great terraced recess of Beisan, for 11 miles further south, or as far as its junction with the Wady el Maleh. Below this point, the Jordan enters a gorge, and continues in it for about 12 miles, that is, as far as its junction with Wady el Bukeia ; here it begins to expand very gradually into the great plain, often diversified with low hills, which ultimately becomes the Plain of Jericho, and terminates on the south at the Dead Sea. Along the western margin of the Dead Sea, and at the base of the lofty cliffs which overhang it, there is generally a narrow strand sometimes expanding to a mile in width and seven to two miles and sometimes blocked altogether by cliffs advancing into the sea.

The following description specifies more particularly the variations which the Valley of the Jordan undergoes, on the south of the Sea of Galilee. It will be confined to the western side of the river and of the Dead Sea, that is, to the limit of the


 * Macgregor's " Eob Roy," 408, 413. Guerin, " Galilee," i, 275.

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