Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/536

 520 PALAESTINA. el-Suleh, " the waters of Merom" of Scripture (Josh. xi. 5, 7), the Semechonitis Pali:s of Josephus (Ant. v. 5. § 1, Bell. Jud. iii. 12. § 7, iv. 1. § 1); but the plain between this lake and Pa- neas is hard to be explored, in consequence of nu- merous fimntains and the rivulets into wiiich the main streams are here divided. (Robinson, /. c. pp. 353, 354; Bihlwtheca Sacra, 1843, pp. 12, 13.) This pnint was investigated by Dr. Robinson in 1852, and he found that both the Leddn and the Hashany unite their waters with the stream from Banias, some distance above the lake, to which they run in one stream. (Journal E. Geog. Soc. vol. xxiv. p. 25, 1855.) Tiiis region, now called Merj-el-Htdeh, mi^cht well be designated eos or eAtj ToiJ 'lopSdfov, " the marshes of Jordan," by which name, however, the author of the first book of Maccabees (1 Mace. ix. 42) and Josephus (.irit. xiii. 1. § 3) would seem to signify the marshy plain to the south of the Dead Sea. ' The waters from the three sources above- mentioned being collected into the small lake, and further augmented by the numerous land springs in the Bahr and Ard-el-Huleh, run off towards tlie south in one current towards the sea of Tiberias [TiBEUiAS JIake], a distance, according to Jo- sephus, of 120 stadia. They flow off at the south- western extremity of this lake, and passing through a district well described by Josephus as a great desert (iroAXV ipriniav, B. J. iii. 9. § 7), now called by the natives El-Ghor, lose themselves in the Dead Sea. Attention has been lately called to a peculiar phenomenon exhibited by this river, the problems relating to which have been solved twice witiiin the last few years by the enterprise of English and American sailors. In the spring of the year 1838 a series of barometrical observations by M. Bertou gave to the Dead Sea a depression of 1374 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and to the sea of Tiberias a depression of 755 feet, thus establish- ing a fall of 619 feet between the two lakes. At the close of the same year the observations were repeated by Kussegger, with somewhat different results; tiie depression of the Dead Sea being given as 1429 feet, the sea of Tiberias 666 feet, and the consequent fall of the Jordan between the two, 763 feet. Herr von Wildenbruch repeated the observ- ations 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 re- sults: — At Jacob's bridge, about 2^ miles from the southern extremity of Bahr Hulek, he found the Jordan 89'9 feet above the Mediterranean; at the Bahr Hukh 100 feet; and at the source at Tell-el- Kadi 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 1 1 6 feet per mile. Results so remarkable did not find easy credence, althougli they were further tested by a trigonometrical survey, conducted by Lieut. Symonds of the Royal Engineers, in 1841, which confirmed the barome- trical observations for the Dead Sea, but were re- markably 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 differ- ence of level between the two of 984 feet. The PALAESTINA. 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 com- munication made to the same society, — both of which papers were subsequently published in the journal ot the society (vol. xviii. part 2, 1848). In conse- quence 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 Hulek, 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, I. c. p. 103). The lower Jordan, between the sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, w;is subsequently explored by Lieut. Molyneux in 1847, and by an American expeditinn under Lieut. Lynch in the following year. The fol- lowing extracts from the very graphic account of Lieut, ilolyneux, also contained in the number of the Royal Geographical Society's Journal (pp. 104 — 123) already referred to, will give the best idea of the character of this interesting river, hitherto so little known. Immediately on leaving the sea of Ti- berias they found the river upwards of 100 feet 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 diffi- culties commenced; for seven hours they scarcely ever had sufficient water to swim the boat for 100 yards together. In many places the river is split into a number of small streams, and conse- quently without much water in any of them. Oc- casionally the boat had to be carried upwards of 100 yards over rocks and through thorny bushes; :■ and in some places they had high, steep, sandy cliffs 9 all along the banks of the river. In other places the boat had to be carried on the backs of the camels, the stream being quite impracticable. The Ghor., or great valley of the Jordan, is about 8 or 9 miles broad at its upper end ; and this space is anything but flat — nothing but a continuation of bare hills, with yellow dried-up weeds, which look when distant like corn stubbles. These hills, however, sink into insignificance when compared to the ranges of 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, resemb'es a gigantic serpent twisting down the valley. So tortuous is its course, that it would be quite im- possible 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 G/tOr begins to wear a much better and more fertile aspect. It appears to be composed (rf two different platforms ; the upper one on either side projects from the foot of the hiiis, 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 perpen>- dicular 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