lake. The whole course of the Jordan, including its numerous windings, is about two hundred miles; its breadth and depth are various. Dr. Shaw computed it to be about thirty yards broad, and three yards or nine feet in depth; and states that it discharges daily into the Dead Sea about 6,090,000 tons of water. Viscount Chateaubriand (who travelled nearly a century after him) found the Jordan to be six or seven feet deep close to the shore, and about fifty paces in breadth. Count Volney asserted that it was scarcely sixty paces wide at its embouchure. Messrs. Banks and Buckingham, who crossed it in January, 1816, pretty nearly at the same ford over which the Israelites passed on their first entering the promised land, found the stream extremely rapid; and as it flowed at that part over a bed of pebbles, its otherwise turbid waters were tolerably clear, as well as pure and sweet to the taste.2 It is here fordable, being not more than four feet deep, with a rapid current.3

Anciently the Jordan overflowed its banks about the time of barley harvest (Josh. iii. 15., iv. 18.; 1 Chron. xii. 15.; Jer. xlix. 19.), or the feast of the passover; when, the snows being dissolved on the mountains, the torrents discharged themselves into its channel with great impetuosity. When visited by Mr. Maundrell, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, he could discern no sign or probability of such inundations, though so late as the 30th of March; and so far was the river from overflowing, that it ran almost two yards below the brink of its channel. It may be said to have two banks, the first, that of the river in its natural state; the second, that of its overflowings. After descending the outermost bank, the traveller proceeds about a furlong upon a level strand, before he comes to the immediate bank of the river. This second bank is now (as it anciently was) so beset with bushes, reeds, tamarisks, willows, oleanders, and other shrubs and trees, which form an asylum for various wild animals, that no water is perceptible until the traveller has made his way through them. In this thicket, several kinds of wild beasts used formerly to conceal themselves, until the swelling of the river drove them from their coverts. To this fact the prophet Jeremiah alludes, when he compares the impatience of Edom and Babylon under the divine judgments, to the coming up of a lion from the swellings of Jordan. (Jer. xlix. 19.) On the level strand above noticed, it probably was, that John the Baptist stood, and pointed to the stones of which it was composed, when he exclaimed, I say unto you, that God is able of THESE STONES to raise up children unto Abraham and turning to the second bank, which was overgrown with various shrubs and trees that had been suffered to grow wild for ages, he added, and now also the axe is laid unto the root of THE 1 Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. pp. 156, 157. 2 Buckingham's Travels, p. 315.

Three Weeks in Palestine, p. 90.

4 Maundrell's Journey, p. 110. Dr. Macmichael's Travels from Moscow to Constantinople, in the years 1817, 1818, p. 191. Lond. 1819. 4to. 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. Ibid. pp. 191, 192. Richardson's Travels, vol. ii. p. 387. Irby's and Mangles' Travels, pp.

329, 330.

TREES: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good FRUIT, is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Matt. iii. 9, 10.) The passage of this deep and rapid river by the Israelites, at the most unfavourable season, when augmented by the dissolution of the winter snows, was more manifestly miraculous, if possible, than that of the Red Sea; because here no natural agency whatever was employed; no mighty winds to sweep a passage as in the former case; no reflux in the tide on which minute philosophers might fasten to depreciate the miracle. It seems, therefore, to have been providentially designed to silence cavils respecting the former: it was done at noonday, in the presence of the neighbouring inhabitants; and it struck terror into the kings of the Amorites and Canaanites westward of the river, whose hearts melted, neither was there any spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel. (Josh. v. 1.) The place where the Israelites thus miraculously passed this river, is supposed to be the fords of Jordan mentioned in Judg. iii. 26.

The other remarkable streams or rivulets of Palestine are the following:

(2.) The ARNON, which descends from the mountains of Gilead or Moab, and discharges itself into the Dead Sea, after a course of about eighty miles. It is called by the Arabs el-Môjib. The Arnon separated the Amorites, and subsequently the tribe of Reuben, from the Moabites, and formed the southern limit of the eastern part of Palestine.

(3.) The SIHOR (the Belus of ancient geographers, at present called the Kardanah) has its source about four miles to the east of the head of the river Kishon. It waters the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, and falls into the sea at the gulph of Keilah.1

(4.) The brook JABBOK takes its rise in the mountains of Gilead, and falls into the river Jordan. It is a rapid stream, flowing over a rocky bed; its waters are clear, and agreeable to the taste, and its banks are very thickly wooded with oleander and plane trees, wild olives, wild almonds, and numerous other trees. By the Arabs it is now termed Nahr-el-Zerkah, or the river of Zerkah, from a neighbouring station or village of that name, situated on the route of the Mohammedan pilgrims journeying from Damascus to Mecca.2

(5.) The KANAH, or Brook of Reeds, springs from the mountains of Judah, but only flows during the winter, and it falls into the Mediterranean Sea near Cæsarea: it formerly separated the tribe of Ephraim from that of Manasseh. (Josh. xvii. 8, 9.)

(6.) The brook BESOR (1 Sam. xxx. 9.) falls into the same sea between Gaza and Rhinocorura.

(7.) The KISHON, now called the Moukattoua, issues from the mountains of Carmel, at the foot of which it forms two streams; one flows eastward into the sea of Galilee, and the other, taking a westerly course through the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, discharges

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

2 Buckingham's Travels, p. 325. Rabbi Schwartz's Descriptive Geography of Pales tine, p. 52.

itself into the Mediterranean Sea, at a short distance to the south of Accho or Acre. At its entrance into the sea, Dr. Wilson found it a rapid stream, twelve yards wide and two feet deep. This is the stream noticed in 1 Kings xviii. 40. Its banks are fringed with oleanders and other flowering shrubs. Its size and volume differ with the season of the year. In summer it is almost dried up; but when swollen by heavy rains it becomes both deep and rapid, and sometimes is impassable.' On account of its quicksands it is considered the most dangerous river in the land. This explains Judges v. 21., where Deborah and Barak rejoice for the victory obtained over the host of Sisera, singing, The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. "The army of the enemy was defeated near the waters of Megiddo, the sources and side-streams of the Kishon. They that fled had to cross the bed of the torrent; but the Lord sent a heavy rain. The waters rose. The warriors stumbled, and fell into the quicksands; and the waves, which came rushing on, washed them away to the sea.

2

(8.) The KEDRON, KIDRON, or CEDRON, as it is variously termed (2 Sam. xv. 23.; 1 Kings xv. 13.; 2 Kings xxiii. 6. 12.; 2 Chron. xxix. 16.; Jer. xxxi. 40.; John xviii. 1.), flows through the valley of Jehoshaphat, eastward of Jerusalem, between that city and the Mount of Olives. Except during the winter, or after heavy rains, its deep channel is generally dry, but, when swollen by torrents, it flows with great impetuosity 3; its waters are said to become dark and turbid, probably because it collects the waste of the adjacent hills; and, like other brooks in cities, it is contaminated with the filth, of which it is the receptacle and common sewer. The blood and offal of the victims sacrificed in the temple are said, in later times, to have been carried off by a drain into the Kedron.1 As no mention is made of bridges in Palestine, it is probable that the inhabitants forded the rivers and brooks wherever it was practicable (in the same manner as persons of both sexes do to this day in Bengal), which is alluded to in Isa. xlvii. 2.

2. Of the LAKES mentioned in the Scriptures, three are particularly worthy of notice; viz., that of Galilee or Gennesareth, and the Lake of Sodom, both of which are termed seas", agreeably to the Hebrew phraseology, which gives the name of sea to any large body of water, and the Lake Merom.

'Carne's Letters, p. 250. Richter's Pilgrimages in the East, in 1815, 1816. (Cabinet of Foreign Voyages, vol. i. pp. 159, 160. London, 1825.) Fisk's Pastor's Recollections of Egypt, &c. p. 365. Willan's Journeyings in the Land of Israel, p. 57. Wilson's Lands of the Bible, vol. ii. p. 238.

2 Van de Velde's Narrative of a Journey through Syria and Palestine, in 1851 and 1852, vol. i. p. 289.

In like manner the rivers of Cyprus (which island lies to the north-west of the Holy Land) are dry during the summer months, and are swollen into torrents by sudden rains. Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. p. 75.

4 Lightfoot's Chorographical Century, on Matthew, chap. 38. fine. (Works, vol. i. p. 80.)

5 This appellation is retained by the modern inhabitants, who reside in its vicinity, "who, like the earliest ones, call their water a sea, and reckon it and the Dead Sea to the south of them to be the two largest known except the great ocean." Buckingham's Travels, p. 471.

(1.) The SEA OF GALILEE (so called from its situation on the eastern borders of that division of Palestine), through which the Jordan flows, was anciently called the Sea of Chinnereth (Numb. xxxiv. 11.), or Chinneroth (Josh. xii. 3.), from its vicinity to the town of that name; afterwards the Water of Gennesar (1 Macc. xi. 67.), and in the time of Jesus Christ, the Lake of Genesareth or Gennesareth (Luke v. 1.), from the neighbouring land of the same name (Matt. xiv. 34.; Mark vi. 53.); and also the Sea of Tiberias (John vi. 1., xxi. 1.), from the contiguous city of Tiberias. This capacious lake, almost equal in the grandeur of its appearance to that of Geneva, spreads its cool and sweet transparent waters over all the lower territory, extending from the north-east to the south-west: it is 27 fathoms, or 165 feet in depth. The waters of the northern part of this lake abound with fish: this circumstance marks the propriety of our Lord's parable of the net cast into the sea (Matt. xiii. 47, 48.) which was delivered by him from a vessel near the shore. There are five sorts of fish, which are said to be most delicious: they are caught, partly by the fishermen going into the water, up to their waist, and throwing in a hand net, and partly with casting nets from the beach; a method which must yield a very small quantity, compared to what they would get with boats.'

Pliny states this lake to be sixteen miles in length by six miles in breadth. Josephus, whose intimate knowledge of his country gives his descriptions a high claim to attention, says that "its breadth is forty furlongs, and its length one hundred and forty. Its waters are sweet, and very agreeable for drinking, for they are finer than the thick waters of other fens. The lake is also pure, and on every side ends directly at the shores, and at the sand: it is also of a temperate nature when drawn up, and softer than river or fountain water: and it is so cold that the people of the place cannot warm it by setting it in the sun, in the hottest season of the year. There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the taste and sight from those elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by the river Jordan."2

The fidelity of Josephus's description is attested by modern travellers. Mr. Buckingham, who beheld it in 1816, observes that "all these features are drawn with an accuracy that could only have been attained by one resident in the country. The size is still nearly the same; the borders of the lake still end at the beach or the sands, at the feet of the mountains which environ it. Its waters are still as sweet and temperate as ever, and the lake abounds with great numbers of fish of various sizes and kinds. The appearance of the lake as seen from Capernaum," Mr. Buckingham states, "is still grand; its greatest length runs nearly north and south from twelve to fifteen. miles; and its breadth seems to be, in general, from six to nine miles.

1 Travels in Egypt, &c. by Captains Irby and Mangles, p. 295. Madden's Travels in Turkey, &c. vol. ii. p. 312. Capt. Lynch's Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea, p. 165. See also Carne's Letters from the East, pp. 254-363. Richter's Pilgrimages in the East. (Cabinet of Foreign Voyages, vol. i. p. 157.)

2 Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. iii. c. 10. § 7. Pritii Introd. in Nov. Test. p. 503.

The barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; and this is increased to melancholy by the dead calm of its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found."1 "The whole country in its neighbourhood is well nigh depopulated by the judgments of God and the depravity and misgovernment of man.”2

Dr. Clarke, by whom this lake was visited a few years before Mr. Buckingham's arrival, describes it as longer and finer than our Cumberland and Westmoreland lakes, although it yields in majesty to the stupendous features of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Like our Windermere, the lake of Gennesareth is often greatly agitated by winds. (Matt. viii. 23-27.) The force of the waves in that case is also so great that many of the houses in the town of Gennesareth are thereby endangered. A strong current marks the passage of the Jordan through the middle of this lake; and when this is opposed by contrary winds, which blow here with the force of a hurricane from the south-east, sweeping into the lake from the mountains, a boisterous sea is instantly raised: this the small vessels of the country are ill qualified to resist. "The wind," he says, "rendered its surface rough, and called to mind the situation of our Saviour's disciples; when, in one of the small vessels, which traversed these waters, they were tossed in a storm, and saw Jesus in the fourth watch of the night walking to them upon the waves." (Matt. xiv. 24-26.) These agitations, however, do not last for any length of time.-Its broad and extended surface, covering the bottom of a profound valley, environed by lofty and precipitous eminences (excepting only the narrow entrance and outlet of the Jordan at each extremity), added to the impression of a certain reverential awe under which every Christian pilgrim approaches it, give it a character of dignity unparalleled by any similar scenery. When not agitated by tempests, the water is stated to be as clear as the purest crystal, sweet, cool, and most refreshing to the taste.

(2.) The WATERS OF MEROM, mentioned in Josh. xi. 5. 7., are the lake, afterwards called Samochonitis by Josephus, which lies between the head of the river Jordan and the sea of Tiberias. Its modern name is Bahr El-Hûleh, or the Lake of Houle. According to Josephus, it is thirty furlongs broad, and sixty furlongs in length; and its marshes extend to the place called Daphne", where the Jordan issues from it. Though its waters are no longer bitter, this lake derives no small interest from the illustrations and allusions so often

1 Buckingham's Travels, pp 470, 471. Mr. Jowett's estimate nearly coincides with that of Mr. Buckingham (Christian Researches in Syria, p. 175.), as also do those of Mr. Rae Wilson (Travels in the Holy Land, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14. 3d edition) and of the Rev. J. D. Paxton. (Letters from Palestine, p. 181.)

2 Wilson's Land of the Bible, p. 111, 112.

Schwartz's Descriptive Geography of Palestine, p. 47.

Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. pp. 209, 210. 225. Buckingham's Travels, pp. 468. 471. 5 De Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 1. § 1. Reland conjectures that, for Daphne, in this passage of Josephus, we ought to read Dan, as there is no mention of any place called Daphne in this vicinity, and Daphne near Antioch was far distant from the waters of Merom. Palæstina, tom. i. p. 263.