Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/205

Rh described. Like that of the Kelt it is a water-worn channel of the Kedron when in flood, carried down through nearly vertical walls of limestone to a depth of about 400 feet from the upper surface of the country. Tristram mentions the occurrence of a fossiliferous bed of Hippurites liratus. It occurs at a depth of 82 feet from the surface, and indicates the Cretaceous affinities of the strata. With the exception of this bed of characteristic fossils the limestone is remarkably unproductive of organic remains. The depth of this channel, with its dry bed, is one of the many indications one meets with in Palestine, that at a former period fluviatile action was much more effective than at present. The channel owes its existence entirely to water action, and there is no evidence of any "rent" or fissure running parallel with its course. The only fissure (or fault) is that which crosses the gorge transversely at its northern entrance. This fault ranges in a due east and west direction, with a "downthrow" on the northern side, by which the white chalky beds on that side are brought into contact with the yellowish limestone of the Mar Saba gorge which belongs to a lower geological horizon. On crossing the fault the dip of the beds is northwards, but they afterwards become flat, and then dip towards the south. On approaching the Valley of Hinnom, by the Kedron Valley, the marble beds of the Jerusalem plateau rise from below the white chalk, and crop out in the cliffs of Aceldama.

We returned to Jerusalem on Thursday evening, the 17th January, and made preparations for our final journey through Northern Palestine (as we hoped), upon which we intended to set out early on the following Monday. We little anticipated the disappointment which was in store for us!

Our traverses from the shores of the Salt Sea to Gaza, and again from Jaffa to Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, together with our excursions to Bethlehem and Solomon's Pools, had enabled us to obtain an approximately complete knowledge of the general features of the country and of its geological structure, and we looked forward to a further reconnaissance northwards to the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and thence across to Mount Carmel and onwards to Beyrût, to enable us to complete our geological survey of the whole country;—but this was not to be, as my narrative will show.