Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/534

 518 PALAESTINA. considerable subsidence below the general level, left standing perfectly isolated from the surrounding mass, both as to its front and sides. Add, that about tiie middle of this wave there is a slight depression, channelling it from north-west to soutli-east, and you have before you the natural limestone rock which forms the site of Jerusalem." (^Christian Jiemembrancer, No. Ixvi. N. S., vol. xviii. pp. 425, 426.) A few additions to this grapiiic 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 ivhich must follow. This addition will be best sup- plied by tlie naturalist Kussegger, whose travels have furnished a desideratum in the geography of Palestine. It will, however, be more convenient to consider below bis 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 im- portance 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 Ju7iy, north-east of Beirut. 2. The mountain range separating this plain from the valley of the Jordan, which, commencing with Jebel Khalil, forms the rocky land of Judaea, Sa- maria, and Galilee, and ends with the knot of moun- tains from which Libanus and Antilibanus extend towards the north. 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-Araha. 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 fer- 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 neighbour- ing 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, Beirut, &c., tlie 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 Aidi, the Saharaneh, Xahr-el-Kasimieh, Nalir 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, pomegra- nates, and, in general, the so-called tropical fruits. PALAESTINA. 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 moun- tains 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 Geraian 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 Ara- bia Petraea, and towards the east sinks suddenly into the basin of the Dead Sea. Immediately joined to Jebel Khalil are Jebel- el-Kods and the moun- tains 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 ex- tending to the sea, and forming the promontory of Carmel. North of Merj Ibn 'Amir are the mountains of Galilee, Harmon, Tabor, Jebel Safed, Saron, &c. This group sinks into the basin of the lake of Tibe- rias and the upper valley of the Jordan, on the east, on the west into the coast district of A ere and Sur, extends into the sea in several promontories, and is united to the chain of Lebanon at Seida, by Jebel- ed-Dnis, and by the mountains of the Upper Jordan and oi Hasbeia to Jebel-es-Sheich, or Jebel-et-TelJ, and thus to the chain of Antilibanus. 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 Ti- berias. The highest points are situated in the northern part of the range, in the neighbourhood of JebeUes-Sheich, and in the eastern and south- eastern part of Galilee. {Jebel-es -Sketch 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 northera. The pla- teaux 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 moun- tains become higher, their form bolder and sharper.