In the southern region, usually called in Scrip ture 'the hill country of Judah' (Matt.
there are few mountains of a marked character; the peaks of the general ridge being of little ap parent elevation, although actually much elevated above the sea-level. The most remarkable of the whole of this wild region seems to have been dis tinguished as 'the wilderness of Judah' (Luke i :39, 65), while 'the mountains of Judah,' or 'the hill country of Judxa,' applies to the mountain ous region south of Jerusalem towards Hebron (Josh. xi:21 ; 2 Chron. xxvii:4, etc.). To this district belongs the wilderness of Tekoa (2 Chron. xx:2o), and beyond it eastward, 'the wilderness of Engeddi' (I Sam. xxiv :2), Maon (i Sam. xxiii :24, 25), and Ziph (t Sam. xxiii:t4, 15), names made familiar to us by the history of Da vid. Here also is the Frank Mountain near Tekoa, whicb has already been described (see BETHULIA), as well as the Carmel mentioned in the history of Nabal (Josh. xv :55; Sam. xxv.). It would seem that the hills of southern most Juchra were, before the conquest of the country by the Hebrews, called 'the mountains of the Amorites' (Deut. i 19. 20, 43, 44)• This tract has only of late been explored by travelers on the new route from Petra to Hebron, except by Scetzen, at the beginning of the present cen tury. To obtain a clear notion of it, we should view it from the great Arabah, beyond the south ern extremity of the Dead Sea, whence it was surveyed by the Israelites, when they contem plated entering the Promiscd Land from the southeast. Thc two terraces which towards the south end of the Dead Sea on the east side form the descent to its deep basin from the high lands of Judrea, stretch off to the southwest, and the ascents from the plain to the first, and from the plateau of the first to the top of the second, which forms the general level of Judxa, present to him who approaches from the lower region of the Arabah, high mountain barriers, which he has to ascend by gorges or passes of more or less diffi cult ascent. After ascending from the great val ley the traveler passes over a wild district cov ered with rocky hills, till he comes to the frontier wall of the first terrace or step, and which was probably pre-eminently 'the mountain of the Amorites.' There are in this three principal passes; the southernmost being that of Nubeh-es Sufah, the Zephath of Scripture, called also Ifor mah, which we know to have been the pass by which the Israelites attempted to enter Palestine from Kadesh, when they were driven back (Deut.
i:44; Num. xiv:45; Judg. i;t7). The top of this pass is given in the table of Levels, on the author ity of Schubert, as 1,434 feet above the level of the sea. A particular description of this `vast in clined plane of rock' may be seen in Robinson's Researches (ii. 59o). On reaching the top a journey of three hours among hills of chalky limestone brings the traveler to the second great ascent to the general level of the hill country of eastern Judxa. This second ascent is similar to the first, but not more than half as high. This statement will convey some idea of that difficulty of military access to the country in this direction which eventually induced the invading Hebrews to take another and more circuitous route.
In the direct south of Judah the approach is marked by an ascent more gradual, over a succes sion of less elevated plateaus, from the desert re gions of sand and rock to the hills of Judah. Re cent discoveries in that quarter, chiefly those of Dr. Robinson, have shown that much of the south border country, which was formerly regarded as desert, is in fact a variegated region affording good pastures, into which the sheepmasters of Judah doubtless sent their flocks of old. Concern ing the mountains of Palestine generally, see Raumer's Paldstina, pp. 29-84; Winer's Real-wiir terb., art. `Gebirge'; Kitto's Palest., Phys. Geog., ch. ii.
8. Plains and Valleys. The most important are those of Lebanon, of the Jordan, of Jericho, of Esdraelon, and of the coast.
(1) The Plain of Lebanon may be described as the valley which is enclosed between the paral lel mountain ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus. Although the greater part of it must have been within Solomon's dominion, it can scarcely be deemed to belong to Palestine proper; but its geographical and historical connection with that country requires its introduction. This enclosed plain is the Ccele-Syria of the ancients, and now bears the name of El-Bekka (the valley.) It is about ninety miles in length from north to south by eleven miles in breadth, nearly equal through out, except that it widens at the northern end and narrows at the southern. This plain is, perhaps, the most rich and beautiful part of Syria. (See