teen miles, falls below the city Julias, into the lake of Gennezar, through the middle of which it passes, and having watered a large tract of desert land, loses itself in the Asphaltite lake." (Bell. iii. 18.)

Dr. Shaw in his Travels, (p. 373.) describes the Jordan thus, "Though all those fountains and rivulets which I have just now mentioned, together with the Kardaneh, the Kishon, the brook of Sychem, and other lesser ones dispersed over the Holy Land should be united together, they would not form a stream in any degree equal to the Jordan, which, excepting the Nile, is by far the most considerable river I have seen in the Levant or Barbary. However, I could not compute it to be more than thirty yards broad, though this is in a great measure made up by the depth, which even at the brink I found to be three. If then we take this during the whole year for the main depth of the stream, which by the way runs about two miles an hour, the Jordan every day discharges into the Dead Sea 6,090,000 tuns of water."

"The whole of the plain, from the mountains of Judæa on the west, to those of Arabia on the east," says Mr. Buckingham," may be called the vale of Jordan, in a general way; but in the centre of the plain, which is at least ten miles broad, the Jordan runs in another still lower valley, perhaps a mile broad in some of the widest parts, and a furlong in the narrowest. Into this we descended, and we thought the hills of white clayey soil on each side, to be about two hundred feet in height, the second or lower plain being about a mile broad, generally barren, and the Jordan flowing down through the middle of it, between banks which were now fourteen or fifteen feet high, while the river was at its lowest ebb. There are close thickets all along the edge of the stream, as well as upon this lower plain, which would afford ample shelter for wild beasts, and as the Jordan might overflow its banks, when swoln with rains, sufficiently to inundate this lower plain, though it could never reach the upper one, it was, most probably, from these that the lions were driven out by the inundation, which

gave rise to the prophet's simile, Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan, against the habitation of the strong." (Jer. xlix. 19, and 1. 44.) The overflowing is said to have been in the first month, which corresponds to our March, as in the enumeration of the armies that came to David at Hebron, those are spoken of who went over Jordan in the first month, when he had overflowed all his banks. (1 Chron. xii. 15.) In the description of the passage of the priests with the ark, while the waters were divided and stood in a heap, as in the passage of the Red Sea, it is said too, that Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,' (Josh. iii. 15.) which would be both in the autunın and in the spring, as there are two harvests here, one succeeding the early, and the other the latter rains."* Maundrell says, the water of the Jordan is too rapid to be swam against. Its breadth is about twenty yards, and its depth far exceeded his height.

If the reader compare these accounts of the Jordan, with the history of the Israelites' passage through it under the conduct of Joshua, and especially if he attend to the circumstance mentioned above, that they passed at the time the river overflowed all his banks, he will form a proper idea of the greatness of the miracle which God wrought for their passage, stopping the current of so vast and rapid a river, when so full of water.

Dr. Macmichael says, the Jordan is annually frequented by many thousand pilgrims, chiefly of the Greek church, under the protection of the Moosillim, or Turkish governor of Jerusalem, and a strong military escort.†

The other remarkable streams or rivulets of Palestine, are the following:-1. The Arnon, which descends from the mountains bearing the same name, and discharges itself in the Dead Sea:-2. The Sihor (or Belus of ancient geographers), which has its source about four miles to the east of the heads of the

* Travels in Palestine, pp. 313, 314. 4to.

+ Travels from Moscow to Constantinople, pp. 191, 192.

river Kishon. It waters the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, and falls into the sea at the gulph of Keilah :-9. The brook Jabbok takes its rise in the mountains of Gilead, and falls into the Jordan a little south of the Sea of Tiberias. It separated the kingdom of Sihon from that of Ög, king of Bashan:-4. The Kanah, which springs from the mountains of Judah, and runs on the south border of the western Manassites. This river flows only during the winter; it falls into the Mediterranean Sea south of Cæsarea :-5. Bezor or the River of Egypt falls into the same sea, near Gaza:-6. The Kishon which takes its rise at the foot of Mount Tabor, and branches off into two streams; one of which flows eastward into the Sea of Galilee, and the other, taking a westerly course, runs through the plain of Esdraelon into the Mediterranean Sea :-7. The brook Kedron or Cedron runs through the valley of Jehosaphat, eastward of Jerusalem, between that city and the Mount of Olives; its channel is generally dry, except during the winter, or after very heavy rains.

Of the LAKES of Palestine two demand particular notice; the lake Asphaltites or the Dead Sea, and the lake of Gennesareth, both of which are called, according to the custom of the Jews, Seas.

1. The Lake Asphaltites is a collection of water of considerable magnitude. It is surrounded by high hills on the east, west, and south, some of them exhibiting frightful precipices, and on the north it is bounded by the plain of Jericho, through which the river Jordan flows into it. The Kedron, Arnon, and Zaret, rush down the hills in torrents, and, along with other streams, discharge themselves into the lake. Its real size, we believe, is not yet ascertained, for we are not aware that any modern traveller has measured it: and the measurements of Josephus, who found it seventy-two miles long, and eighteen broad, are still referred to. Diodorus affirms, that it is sixtytwo miles long, and seven and a half broad; but the calculation of Pliny is much greater, for he says, it is one hundred

Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. p. 33.

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