(4) Other Streams. The other streams of note enter the Jordan from the east; these are the Jar muth, the Jabbok, and the Arnon, of which the last two have been noticed under their proper heads. The farmuth, called also Sheriat-el-Mand hour, anciently Hieromax, joins the Jordan five miles below the lake of Gennesareth. Its source is ascribed to a small lake, almost a mile in cir cumference, at Mezareib, which is thirty miles east of the Jordan. It is a beautiful stream, and yields a considerable body of water to the Jordan.
(See ARNON ; JABBOK.) 10. Lakes and Seas. The river Jordan in its course forms three remarkable lakes, in the last of which, called the Dead Sea, it is lost: (1) The Lake Merom (Joseph. Antiq. xi:5, 7), or Samochonitis (Antiq. v. 5, 1), now called Huleh, the first of these, serves as a kind of reservoir to collect the waters which form the Jordan, and again to send them forth in a single stream. In the spring, when the waters are high est, the lake is seven miles long and three and a half broad; but in summer it becomes a mere marsh. In some parts it is sown with rice, and its reeds and rushes afford shelter to wild hogs. (Pocock ii. 71; Burckhardt, p. 316; Irby and Mangles, p. 29o; Buckingham, Arab Tribes, p. 309; Richardson, ii. 45o, 451; Robinson, ii. 339 342.) (2) The Lake of Gennesareth, called also the Sea of Galilee, and the Lake of Tiberias. After quitting the lake Merom, the river Jordan pro ceeds for about thirteen miles southward, and then enters the great lake of Gennesareth. This lake lies very deep,among fruitful hills and moun tains, from which, in the rainy season, many rivulets descend; its shape will be seen from the map. Its extent has been greatly over-rated: Professor Robinson considers that its length, in a straight line, does not exceed eleven or twelve geographical miles, and that its breadth is from five to six miles. From numerous indications, it is judged that the bed of this lake was formed by some ancient volcanic eruption, which history has not recorded. Its waters are very clear and sweet, and contain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. It will be remembered that several of the Apostles were fishermen of this lake, and that it was also the scene of several transac tions. in the life of Christ: it is thus frequently mentioned in the New Testament, but very rarely in the Old, where it is called the Sea of Cin nercth, of which Gennesareth is a corruption. The borders of the lake were in the time of Christ well peopled, being covered with numerous towns and villages; but now they are almost desolate, and the fish and water-fowl are but little disturbed. (Robinson, iii. 253, 264, 312, 314; Schubert, iii. 235-243; Olin, ii. 406-408; D'Ar
vieux, 176, 177; Clarke, iv. r9-225; Black hardt, p. 332; I3uckingham, Palest. ch. xxv.; Irby and Mangles, p. 295; Jowett, pp. 172-176; Hardy, pp. 237-241; Elliot, ii. 342-35o.) (3) The Dead Sea, called also the Salt Sea, the Sea of Sodom, and the Asphaltic Lake (Lacus Asphaltitcs), is from its size the most important, and from its history and qualities the most re markable, of all the lakes of Palestine. It was long assumed that this lake did not exist before the destruction of Sodom and the other 'cities of the plain' (Gen. xix) ; and that before that time the present bed of the lake was a fertile plain, in which these cities stood. It was also con cluded that the river Jordan then flowed through this plain, and afterwards pursued its course, through the great valley of Arabah, to the east ern arm of the Red Sea. The careful observa tions of Professor Robinson have now, however, rendered it more probable that a lake which, as now, received the river Jordan, existed here be fore Sodom was destroyed; but that an encroach ment of the waters, southward, then took place, overwhelming a beautiful and well-watered plain which lay on the southern border of the lake, and on which Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar were situated.
The Dead Sea is about thirty-nine or forty geographical miles long from north to south, and nine or ten miles wide from east to west ; and it lies embedded very deep between lofty cliffs on the western side, which are about 1,5oo feet high, and mountains on the eastern shore, the highest ridges of which are reckoned to be from 2,000 to 2,5oo feet above the water. The water of the lake is much salter than that of the sea. From the quantity of salt which the water holds in solution it is thick and heavy, and no fish can live, or marine plants grow in it. The old stories about the pestiferous qualities of the Dead Sea and its waters are mere fables or delusions; and actual appearances are the natural and obvious effects of the confined and deep situation, the in tense heat, and the uncommon saltness of the waters. Lying in its deep caldron, surrounded by lofty cliffs of naked limestone rock, exposed for seven or eight months in the year to the un clouded beams of a burning sun, nothing but sterility and solitude can be looked for upon its shores; and nothing else is actually found, ex cept in those parts where there are fountains or streams of fresh water; in all which places there is a fertile soil and abundant vegetation. Birds also abound, and they are observed to fly over and across the sea without being, as old stories tell, injured or killed by its exhalations.