Page:Harry Charles Luke and Edward Keith-Roach - The Handbook of Palestine (1922).djvu/24

 Rh difficult, as the feet have too great a tendency to rise to the surface. Fish cannot live in Dead Sea water, which, indeed, destroys practically all organic life.

The Jordan Valley itself seldom exceeds 3 miles in width until it reaches Jericho and the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. It is highly fertile, and across it the Jordan winds with unending sinuosities.

Harbours and Rivers.—The principal ports of Palestine are, beginning in the north, Acre, Haifa, Jaffa and Gaza, which will be described from the commercial point of view in another part of this Handbook.

The principal rivers of Palestine, other than the Jordan, and apart from wadis running dry in summer, are the Jarmuk, the Kishon (Nahr Mugqatta), the Zerqa and the Auja.

Coast-line.—The shore along the whole coast-line of Palestine is conspicuously uniform and low, mainly consisting of long shallow curves of low sandy beach. With the exception of the headland of Mount Carmel there are no strongly marked prominences producing sheltered bays. The small estuaries of the coastal streams are usually closed by sand-bars.

Meaning of the term 'Palestine.'—The term 'Palestine' originally denoted only the coast strip once ruled by the Philistines, but had come by the beginning of the Christian era to denote the territory lying between the 'River of Egypt' and Lake Huleh. Under the Roman Empire the province of Palaestina extended along the coast from a point near Rafa to Caesarea, and inland across the Jordan to Gerasa and Canatha in what is now the Hauran. In the last years of the Roman Empire and under Byzantine rule the country was divided into Palaestina Prima, corresponding roughly to Judæa, P. Secunda, corresponding roughly to Galilee, and P. Tertia, corresponding to Arabia Felix. In this Handbook the term