[GALILEE, SEA OF].
Between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea the valley is divided into two sections by the pro jecting ridge of Surtabeh, above mentioned. The upper section has a gently undulating surface, a rich, loamy soil, abundantly watered by streams from both the eastern and western mountains, and by numerous fountains along their base. A few spots are cultivated by the semi-nomad tribes of Ghawdrineh, who take their name from the valley here called el-Ghor. The uncultivated portions are covered with tall rank grass, and jungles of gigantic thistles. The Jordan winds down the centre in a tortuous channel along the bottom of a ravine, whose high chalky banks are deeply fur rowed and worn into lines and groups of white conical mounds.
At Kurn Surtabeh there is a break in the valley, as from an upper to a lower terrace. A ridge or bank extends across it from west to east, and is broken up in the centre, where the river cuts through, into labyrinths of ravines with barren chalky sides, forming cones and hills of various shapes, and presenting a most wild and desolate scene' (Robinson, iii. 293). South of this point, the mountain-chain on the west recedes, and the plain expands ; its surface becomes flatter ; foun tains and streams are neither so frequent nor so copious ; and the intense heat and rapid evapora tion make the surface parched and bare. Along the sides of the mountains, especially at the open ings of ravines, are here and there masses of ver dure and foliage ; but the vast body of the plain is bare. A large part, too, towards the Dead Sea, is covered with a white saline crust, which gives it the appearance of a desert. But the rank luxuri ance of the vegetation around fountains, along the banks of streams, and wherever irrigation is em ployed, as at Jericho, shows the natural richness of the soil, and proves that industry alone is wanting to develope its vast resources. The whole of this lower valley is now almost deserted. With the exception of the few inhabitants of er-Riha, (Jeri cho), and a few families of nomad Ghawarineh, no man dwells there ; and a curse, moral as well as physical, appears to rest upon the region. The
inhabitants, as well nomads as residents in the huts of Riha, are indolent, feeble in body, defective in intelligence, and addicted to the grossest vices. In person and dress they are disgustingly filthy. Nowhere in the world perhaps have we such a melancholy example of the baneful effects of climate upon man as in the lower valley of the Jordan. In this respect it is now as it ever has been since the days of Abraham and Lot.
The river here winds as before through a glen down the centre of the valley. The banks of the glen are steep, white, bare, and worn into little hills ; while the river-sides are fringed with the richest foliage. Owingto the depth of this glen, neither river nor foliage is seen from the plain until the very brow is reached. The plain along the northern shore of the Dead Sea is low and flat, and in the centre, near the Jordan, slimy. The sea fills up the whole breadth of the valley ; the precipitous mountains upon the east and west rising from the shore-line--sometimes from the bosom of the water. The scenery of this region is more dreary than that in any other part of Palestine. The white plain on the north, the white naked cliffs on the east and west, the gray haze, caused by rapid evaporation, quivering under the burning sunbeams—all com bine to form a picture of stern desolation such as the eye seldom beholds.
The western shore of the sea follows the base of the cliffs to the southern extremity where the salt hills, called Khashm Usdom, ' the ridge of Sodom,' project from the west far into the Ghor. On the east, the shore-line keeps close to the mountains for about three-quarters of its length ; then a long, low, sandy promontory, called el-Lisan, ' the Tongue,' juts out into the sea. South of this there is a broad strip of marshy plain, covered with jungles of reeds and dense shrubberies of tamarisk. Here some tribes of fierce lawless Arabs pitch their tents and cultivate a few fields of wheat and millet. The whole southern shore of the sea is low and slimy [SEA, SALT].