The levels of this mysterious valley have never hitherto been taken with that care and minuteness which the importance of the region, both histori cally and physically, demands. It is to be hoped that before the corps of English engineers, now employed at Jerusalem, leave Palestine, they will remedy this defect in our geographical knowledge of the Holy Land. In regard to its levels, the valley divides itself into five stages, as follows : I. The basin of Merom, now called el-Haleh. 2. The basin of Tiberias. 3. The valley to Kum Surtabeh. 4. The plain of Jericho. 5. The Dead Sea. The levels taken by different Travellers are very unsatisfactory. The elevation of the fountain of the Jordan at Dan, and consequently of the northern extremity of the great valley, may be re garded as undetermined. The following are given by Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 184)— Feet.
Telt el-Kady (Dan), by De Forest . . 647 „ Von Wildenbruch 537 ,,. De Berton. • 344 These appear to be all too high. When the writer visited Dan in 1354, his aneroid indicated an elevation of about too feet.
The Lake Merom, by induction from Wil denbruch's elevation of Jacob's Bridge, about . ..... 120 „ by De Bertou . These measurements do not at all agree with the former. The whole of this region is a plain, almost level. The ascent from the lake to the fountain is so gradual as scarcely to be perceptible, and the distance is only some ten miles. It seems impos sible, therefore, that there could be a difference in elevation of 627 feet, or even of 366 feet, as De Bertou's measurements would represent, between these two places. This point, however, can only be determined by actual measurement. Probably the fountain at Dan will be found to be not more than too feet above the sea.
Khan Jubb Yfisef, on high terrace be. Feet.
tween Merom and Sea of Galilee 8S3 Below the sea-level.
Sea of Galilee, by Lynch . . . 653 Bridge of Mejamia, between Beth-shean and Gadara, by do. • • • 704 Ruined bridge a few miles above Kum Surtabeh, by do. . . . . 1097 Pilgrim's bathing-place on Jordan, Poole 1209 Jericho, Poole Jericho, by De Berton, 1034, which appears to be more accurate, for it can scarcely be 524 feet higher than the Dead Sea.
Kasr Hajla, on the plain near Jericho, Feet Symonds . . . . . 1069 The Dead Sea, Lynch . . . 1317 „ by Symonds . . . 1312 „ „ De Berton . . . 1377 „ „ Poole . . . 1316 These measurements will serve to show the re markable physical features of this valley, and also how much careful survey is still needed to a full delineation of its geography.
4. The plateau east of the yordan.—Eastern Palestine, or the region beyond the Jordan valley, is widely different in its physical geography from Western. Its average elevation is about 2500 feet above the sea. The Jordan valley is a rent or chasm in the earth's crust ; the country beyond it is an elevated terrace. This elevation affects the scenery, the climate, the products, and the in habitants themselves. Nowhere east of the Jordan, at least within the boundaries of Palestine, is there that bleak desolate aspect such as is presented by the sun-scorched plain of Philistia, or the white downs of the Negeb, or the barren wilderness of Judea. There is more verdure, more richness, and more beauty everywhere on the east. The pastures of Gilead and Bashan are still as attractive as they were when Reuben and Gad saw and coveted them (Num. xxxii. t). The surface of Western Palestine is rough and rugged, varied by plain and mountain ridge ; the east is nearly all a table-land, consisting of smooth downs, well designated by the accurate sacred writers (Dent. iii. to ; Josh. xiii. 9, r6, etc. ; cf. Stanley, p. 479). It does not appear so from the west, from whence the eye only sees a ridge, like a huge wall, running along the horizon ; but this peculiarity is visible from every point on the east, and is very striking when seen, as the writer saw it, from the top of Hermon, and from the crest of Jebel Hauran. In Western Palestine, again, the ancient cities are almost obliterated, and the very foundations of the temples and monu ments can scarcely be discovered ; in the east, the magnificence of the existing ruins, and the perfect preservation of some of the very oldest cities, are subjects of continual surprise and admiration to the traveller. Some have represented Eastern Palestine as mainly a pastoral country, where the three tribes lived in a semi-nomad state, dwelling in tents, and placing their flocks in rude folds like the border tribes of Bedawin. The country itself gives the best refutation to this theory. It is everywhere thickly studded with old cities, towns, and villages —many of them still bearing their scripture names. In no part of Western Palestine are there evidences of such a dense population as throughout Bashan and Gilead. The country was indeed rich in pas tures ; but it was also rich in corn-fields. The northern section of it is to this day the granary of Damascus.