3. It has been seen that Palestine has, in reality, only one river—the Jordan ; yet it has several pe rennial streams, such as the Jabbok, the Arnon, and the historic Kishon ; and also the Yarmuk, the Reins, and others not mentioned in the Bible. Its mountains also abound with winter torrents. Doubtless these were all more copious in ancient days, when forests clothed the hills and the soil was fully cultivated. To these Moses referred, when he described Palestine as a land of brooks of water.' Fountains abound among the hills— `fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills '—and throughout the country are vast numbers of wells, and cisterns, and aqueducts, showing that the supply of water from ordinary sources must have been always limited ; and illus trating too the labours of the patriarchs in digging wells, and their hard struggles to defend them (Gen. xxvi. 15 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 15 ; John iv. 6 ; Dent. vi. it).
4. Another of the physical characteristics of Palestine ought not to be overlooked. Its lime stone strata abound in caves, especially in the mountains of Judsea. Some are of immense size, as that at Khureitun, near Bethlehem (Handbook, p. 229). Many of them were evidently used as dwellings by the ancient inhabitants, as those near Eleutheropolis and along the border of Philistia (Id., pp. 256, seg.); many as tombs, examples of which are numerous at Jerusalem, Hebron, and Bethel ; many as stores for grain, and folds for flocks. These caves are often mentioned in sacred history. Lot and his daughters took refuge in a cave after the destruction of Sodom (Gen. xix. 30); in a cave the five kings hid themselves when pur sued by Joshua (Josh. x. t6); in the caves of Adul lam, Maon, and Engedi, David found an asylum (I Sam. xxii. I ; xxiv. 3); in a cave Obadiah con cealed the prophets of the Lord from the fury of Jezebel (I Kings xviii. 4); in caves, and dens,' and pits,' and boles,' the Jews were accustomed to take refuge during times of pressing danger (Judg. vi. 2 ; t Sam. xiii. 6). Consequently, to enter into holes of the rock and caves of the earth' was employed by the prophets as an impressive image of terror and impending calamity (Is. ii. 19; Rev. vi. 15, 16). The tomb of Abraham at Mach pelah was a cave (Gen. xxiii. 19) ; our Lord's tomb was a cave, and so was that of Lazarus (John xi. 38), and those in which the Gadarene demoniacs dwelt (Mark v. 3). In later times, caves became strongholds for robbers (Joseph. Bell. ltd. i. 16. 2), and places of refuge for conquered patriots (Vita, 74, 75). Caves and grottoes have also played an im portant part in the traditionary history of Palestine. Wherever a sacred association had to be fixed, a cave was immediately selected or found as its home' (Stanley, pp. 151, 435, CL/MATE.—Probably there is no country in the world of the same extent which embraces a greater variety of climate and temperature than Palestine.
On Mount Hermon, at its northern border, we approach a region of perpetual snow. From this we descend successively by the peaks of Bashan and Upper Galilee, where the oak and pine flourish, to the hills of Judah and Samaria, where the vine and fig-tree are at home, to the plains of the seabord, where the palm and banana produce their fruit, down to the sultry shores of the Dead Sea, on which we find tropical heat and tropical vegetation. To determine with scientific accuracy the various shades of climate, and to arrange throughout the country exact isothermal lines, would require a long series of observations made at a number of distinct points now scarcely ever visited by scientific men. Sufficient data exist, however, to afford a good general view of the climate—a view sufficiently accurate for the illustration of the Bible. The writer of this article, during a residence of nine years in Syria and Palestine, bad ample opportunity of noting the peculiarities of climate and the range of the thermometer in many parts of the country. He observed also how the seasons were affected by the elevation or depression of the several localities. During one summer he kept a register of the ther mometer at Shumlan, on Lebanon, 2000 feet above the sea ; and he also kept a register of both ther mometer and barometer—though not with perfect regularity—during a great part of four years at Damascus. The latter was unfortunately either lost or mislaid on his removal to England, but he possesses notes of its chief results. Both these places, it is true, are considerably north of Pales tine, yet their climate and temperature approach very nearly to those of the higher portions of that country.
Along the summits of the central ridge of Pales tine, and over the table-land east of the Jordan, the temperature is pretty nearly equal. The cold in winter is sometimes severe. The thermometer has been known to fall as low as 28° Fahr. , and frost hardens the ground—more, however, on the eastern plains than on the Judxan hills. Snow falls nearly every winter ; it seldom lies longer than a day or two ; but in the winter of 1857 it was eight inches deep, and it covered the eastern plains for a fort night. The results were disastrous. Nearly a fourth of the houses of Damascus were injured, and some of the flat-roofed bazaars and mosques were left heaps of ruin. South of Hebron snow is rare, and frost less intense. Along the seabord of Philistia and Sharon, and in the Jordan valley, snow and frost are unknown ; but on the coast farther north very slight frost is sometimes felt. Snow is rarely seen whitening the ground below an elevation of a000 feet.