Riha (written in Arabic Erlita = Heb.
ir1:1!), the only modern representative of the cient royal city of Jericho, is a small, poor, filthy hamlet. The houses consist of rough walls of old building stones, roofed with straw and brushwood. Each has in front of it an enclosure for cattle fenced with branches of the thorny nubk ; and a stronger fence of the same material surrounds the whole vil lage, forming a rude barrier against the raids of the Bedawin. Not far from the village is a litkle square castle or tower, evidently of Saracenic origin, but now dignified by the title of the house of Zac cheus.' This village, though it bears the name of Jericho, is, as has been stated, about a mile and a half distant both from the Jericho of the prophets and that of the Evangelists. Very probably it may occupy the site of Gilgal [GILGAL). The soil of the plain is unsurpassed in fertility ; there is abundance of water for irrigation, and many of the old aque ducts are almost perfect ; yet nearly thc whole plain is waste and desolate. The few fields of wheat and Indian corn, and the few orchards of figs, are enough to show what the place might be come under proper cultivation. But the people are now few in number, indolent, and licentious. The palms which gave the ancient city a distinctive appellation are gone ; even that single solitary palm' which Dr. Robinson saw, exists no more. The climate of Jericho is exceedingly hot and un healthy. On the i3th of May the thermometer rose to 102° Fahr. in Dr. Robinson's tent beside the village ; and the writer can testify that he never suffered so severely from the effects of intense heat as during two days he spent in the plain of Jericho in April 1858. The heat is accounted for by the depression of the plain, which is about 1200 feet below the level of the sea. The reflection of the sun's rays from the bare white cliffs and mountain ranges which shut in the plain, and the noisome ex halations from the lake, and from the numerous salt springs around it, are enough to poison the atmosphere.
Jericho owed its ancient wealth and importance to a variety of circumstances. First, The site is one of nature's own making. Water is the first grand requisite for an eastern city. Here the stream of the Kelt, issning from a sublime ravine, flows across an alluvial plain. A little more than a mile northward is the large fountain of Elisha ; add still farther the fountain of Diik. Three copious streams thus combined by the aid of a little human skill and industry to convert a parched plain into a paradise. No more fitting site could have been chosen for a great city.
Second, The climate of this plain is different from that of any other part of Palestine ; it is in fact tro pical. The people of the country soon found that the fruits, spiccs, and perfumes of other climes could be grown there in great abundance. The palms ot Jericho equalled those of Egypt. The gardens ot Jericho produced the sweet-smelling Izetzna, called carnphire' (IIeb. -1m), in the English version of Cant. i. 14 ; also the useful myrobalan, known to the Arabs as zukkilm ; and the rare and fragrant balsam, or balm of Gilead,' which was in ancient times so highly esteemed both as a perfume and a medicine (Gen. xliii. ; Jer. viii. 22 ; X1V1. I I). The balsam was peculiar to Palestine (Strabo, xvi. 2 ; Pliny, xii. 25, 54) ; and Josephus informs us that it was chiefly produced in the environs of Jericho (Antiv. xiv. 4. ; xv. 4. 2). In addition to these the ordinary fruits grew more luxuriantly, and ripened sooner, in the plain of Jericho than elsewhere. Josephits is lavish in his praises of its amaimg fertility. He calls it the most fertile tract in Judma—a divine region (Map replov, 7ud. iv. 8. 3).
Third, After the destruction of Sodom and its rich plain, the site of Jericho was the only one in the southern section of the Jordan valley adapted for a great city. Fugitives from the surrounding country would naturally concentrate here and Jericho, when founded, would become what godoin had been, the capital of the Arabah.
Fourth, The principal parts of the lower Jordan are opposite Jericho. The valley is bounded on tbe west by a steep and rugged line of mountains which form a great natural barrier to that division of Palestine. The two main passes through this barrier—to Jerusalem, and to Bethel—converge at Jericho • and a strong city built there would thus form the key of Palestine. So Joshua found it ; and when Jericho fell the way was opened into the whole country.
The forest gardens and verdant fields and meadows of Jericho must have been a glorious sight to the Israelites from the mountain sides of Moab, and to Moses from the top of Pisgah. After the bare rocks of Sinai, and the bare valley of Arabah, and the bare downs of Moab, the waving palm groves, and broad plains sparkling with streams, and the wide sea would seem an earthly paradise. And desolate as the plain has now be come, it is still beautiful to the eye of the pilgrim, after his six hours' weary march down through the white and parched wilderness of Jud=. The glory of the 'city of palm-trees' has long since passed away ; but the beauty of the site is peren nial.—J. L. P.