Below this point the ravine inclines eastward to the centre of the plain, and its banks contract. Its sides are bare and white. and the chalky strata are deeply furrowed. The margin of the river has still its beautiful fringe of foliage ; and the little islets which occur here and there are covered with shrubbery. Fifteen miles south of the bridge, Wady Ydbes (so called from 7zbesh-Gilead), con• taining a winter torrent, falls in from the east.
short distance above it a barren sandy island divides the channel, and with its bars on each side forms a ford, probably the one by which Jacob crossed, as the site of Succoth has been identified on the western bank [Succoml. The plain round Succoth is extensively cultivated, and abundantly watered by fountains and streamlets from the adjoining mountains. The richness of the soil is wonderful, Dr. Robinson says, the grass inter mingled with tall daisies, and wild oats, reached to our horses' backs ; while the thistles sometimes overtopped the riders' heads. All was now dry, and in some places it was difficult to make our way through this exuberant growth' (iii. p. 313). Jacob exercised a wise choice when 'he made booths for his cattle ' at this favoured spot (Gen. xxxiii. try). No other place in the great plain equals it in rich ness. The ravine of the Jordan is here r5o feet below the plain, and shut in by steep bare banks of chalky strata (Robinson, 4c., p. 316).
About nine miles below Succoth, and about half-way between the lakes, the Jabbok, the only other considemble tributary, falls into the Jordan, coming down through a deep wild glen in the mountains of Gilead [JABBoxl When Lynch passed (April 17), it was 'a small stream trickling down a deep and wide torrent bed . • There {MS another bed, quite dry, shewing that in times of freshet there WCfC MO outlets.' Lynch gives some good pictures of the scenery above the junc tion. The plain that sloped away from the bases of the hills was broken into ridges and multitudin ous cone-like mounds . . . A low, pale, yellow ridge of conical hills marked the termination of the higher terrace, beneath which swept gently this low plain, with a similar undulating surface, half redeemed from barrenness bv sparse verdure and thistle-covered hillocks. Still lower was the valley of the Jordan—its banks fringed with perpetual verdure—winding a thousand graceful mazes . . . its course a bright line in this cheerless waste.' Below the Jabbok the fall of the river is still greater than above ; but there is less obstruction from rocks and cliffs. The jungles along the banks become denser, the sides of the river-glen more regular, and the plain above more dreary and desoLate.
On approaching the Dead Sea, the plain of the Jordan attains its grmtest breadth—about 12 miles. The mountain ranges on each side are higher, more rugged, and more desolate. The plain is coated with a nitrous crust, like hoar-frost ; and not a tree, shrub, or blade of grass is seen except by fountains or rivulets. The glen winds like a ser pent through the centre, between two tiers of banks. The bottom is smooth, and sprinkled on the outside with stunted shrubs. The river winds in ceaseless coils along the bottom, now touching one side and now another, with its beautiful border of green foliage, looking all the greener from con trast with the desert above. The banks are of soft clay, in places ten feet high ; the stream varies from 8o to so feet in breadth, and from 5 to 12 in depth. Near its mouth the current becomes more sluggish, and the stream expands. Where
Wady Hesban falls in, Lynch found the river 150 feet wide and I I deep, the current four knots.' Farther down the banks are low and sedgy ; the width gradually increases to IS0 yards at its mouth ; but the depth is only three feet (Lynch, Offcial Report, Handbook, pp. 195-197 ; Robinson, i. 53S, seq. ; Stanley, p. 29o).
Lynch in a few words explains the secret of the great and almost incredible fall in the Jordan. The great secret is solved by the tortuous course of the Jordan. In a space of 60 miles of latitude, and four or five of long,itude, the Jordan traverses at least zoo miles . . . We have plunged down twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides a great many of lesser magnitude.' (In addition to the works cited on the physical features of the Jordan, the following afford impor tant information :-7ournal of R. Get's: Society, xviii., part 2, articles by Robinson, Petermann, and Molyneux ; Berton in Bulletin de la Soc. Geo graph. de Paris, xii. 166, seq. ; Wildenbruch, Ma natsberichte der Gessellschaf t fiir Era'kuna'e zu Berlin, rS45-46. A clear summary of all known about the Jordan up to 185o is given by Ritter in Paliistina una' Syrien, vol. ii., pp. 152-556. Where facts are stated and scenery is described, without citing authorities, the writer is giving his own personal observations.) The Fords of the Jordan have always been im portant in connection with the history of the country. The three streams which flow from the fountains are fordable at almost every point. It is south of lake Mich that the river begins to form a serious barrier. The bridge called 7isr Bendt Yaktib has for centuries been the leading pass from Western Palestine to Damascus. The first reference to it is in A. D. I 450 (Reissbnch des Heil. Landes, p. 451 ; Robinson, ii. 441); though, as early as the Crn sades, a 'Ford of Jacob' (Vadinn 7acob, Will. Tyr. Hist. xviii. 13) is mentioned, and was rec koned a most important pass. The bridge was pro bably built during the 15th century, when the caravan road was constructed from Damascus to Egypt (Handbook,U. 466). The origin of the name, • Bridge of Jacob's daughters,' is unknown. Per haps this place may have been confounded with the ford of Succoth, where the patriarch crossed the Jordan, or perhaps the Jacob' referred to was some Muslem saint or Turkish pasha (Ritter, Pa/. und Syr., 269, seq.) Between Bethsaida-Julias and the Sea of Galilee there are several fords. The river is there shallow and the current sluggish. At this place the mul titudes that followed our Lord from Capernaum and the neighbourhood were able to cross the river to where he fed the 5000 (Mark vi. 32, seq. ; Robin son, ii. 414)• The first ford on the southern section of the Jordan is about half a mile from the lake, where the ruins of the Roman bridge now lie. It was the means of communication between Tiberias and Gadara ; and it was doubtless at this point our Lord crossed when he went from Galilee to Judxa by the farther side of Jordan' (Mark x. ; Matt. xix. r, 2). yisr el-Ale/dada is a Saracenic bridge on an old caravan route from Damascus to F,gypt. Probably a Roman bridge may have stood at the same place, connecting Scythopolis with the other cities of Decapolis. There is no fard here. At a point east of the ruins of Scythopolis, ten miles below the bridge, the river is now fordable ; but the passage is deep and dangerous (Robinson, iii. 325 ; Van de Velde, Memoir, 137).