JORDAN, a celebrated river of Asia in Palestine, which has been venerated trout the most remote ages by Jews, Christians, and Mahometans. No river in the whole uni verse perhaps has attracted so much notice, the Ganges excepted; yet both its source and its efflux have proved the most embarrassing problems to modern geographers. Even the ancients themselves seem to have laboured un der considerable dub •ulties regarding them. This is the largest river in Palestine. Its name, according to !Wand, ought to be read JoHen in Scripture ; it is called Jarde by the Jews; and Schereia by the Arabs. St Jerome affirms, and many others nave followed him, that it arises flow two sources, a mile asunder, the one called Jor, the other Dan, and that the name Jordan is compounded from them after the formation of the river by their union. Some authors interpret Jordan the river of judgment.
There is a mountainous and nearly uncultivated district called Ilasbeiu, at the foot of Mount Hermon, or Jebel Skeikh, among the mountains of Antilibanus, containing a town of the same name, situated on a steep declivity. Not far distant are various streams, to which the source of the river is indefinitely ascribed. But that which seems to be so with greatest certainty is the river Hasbenay, about hall a league west of the town of Ilasbeia ; for Europeans i re ject the opinion of the inhabitants of the country, that t is the stream TclIkady. liasbeia is situated five leagues south of Itaseheia, and apparently at no great distance from Panias, or Baniass ; but the geography of this part of Syria and Palestine is so obscure, that we „are unable to point out the exact position of these places by positions well de termined. The ancients believed, that the ample source of the river of Baniass, which springs in the of a remarkable rock, was that of the Jordan. According to others, however, the river rose from the small lake Phiala, now called Birkel-el Ham, two leagues east of the town ; and Josephus relates, that Philip the Tetrarch threw a straw into it, which was absorbed, and discharged at what may he supposed the source of the river of Baniass. All these facts illustrate the difficulty of ascertaining the truth. Near Baniass, it is evident that small streams con tribute their waters to form the Jordan, which about three leagues below the town expands into a small marshy lake, which is enlarged or diminished by the melting of the snows in the mountains, or the evaporation occasioned by the heat of summer. This lake is the Samachozntis of the ancients, and the waters of Merom of Scripture, and the Bahr el Ilouly of the moderns. Its circuit when full does not exceed 7 or 8 miles, and at times it is almost di ied up. The liver, now considerably enlarged, issues from it with a turbid stream, which is soon purified, by passing over a rocky bed, wherein its mud is deposited. About a mile from the lake, it is crossed by an ancient structure called Jacob's Bridge, consisting of three arches, built of basalt, in good preservation, which is said to derive its name from Jacob having returned by it from Padan Aram. This bridge is the mutual boundary of the Turkish Pacha lies of Damascus and Acre ; and at each end is a fortress, occupied by the troops of the respective paellas ; but both were dilapidated by the French troops whir they invaded Syria. Here the river is 64 feet wide, its current rapid and boisterous ; but a modern traveller says he found its breadth 35 paces in January. Indeed, in considering the
dimensions ascribed to this river, too little attention is paid to the measures of different nations, as well as the season of observation ; for there is sufficient reason to conclude, that it receives large accessions from the melting of the snows. Here the banks of the river are finely wooded by trees, chiefly of the species Platanue ; and the country becomes wild, mountainous, and entirely basaltic. Thirteen miles lower, the river passes through the beautiful lake Tiberias, or the Sea of Galilee, 18 miles in length, and issues from i its southern extremity in a stream 40 paces wide. It now enters a fine plain called Al-Gaur, or El Gor, by the Arabs, and soon after receives a considerable river, the Scheriat Manadra, formerly called Ilieramack, or Jamuk, from the east, some leagues below the lake. The Scheriat Manadra is crossed by a bridge of five arches, which indicates that it is of considerable size; and at the west side there is a very spacious fortress, with a small garrison. Apparently the principal accessions to the Jordan are henceforward from the east ; but few of them are distinctly ascertained. Some inconsiderable streams flow from the west. Below the Scheriat Manadra there is the Wady Musch, which is discharged into it opposite Beisran, or Scythopolis, from the east ; and still lower the Serka, which is the Jabok of the Jewish historians, and the boundary of the country of the Amorites. Between the confines of Syria and Arabia, the extensive valley, bounded on each side by lofty chains of mountains, contains in its centre the Jordan, now pursu ing a languid course through the space of 75 miles, from the lake Tiberias to the Dead Sea, into which it rolls the volume of its waterS. The total course is about 125 or 130 miles. But the intermediate country in the latter part of it is almost as little known as that approximating its source ; and no modern traveller, except Hasselquist, seems to have beheld the efflux of the river, whose obser vations are restricted to its having there thrown out a quan tity of willow. Probably he traversed the plain of Jericho to the Dead Sea, extending about three leagues in length, as he says that it is in general barren and level, with some small rising wounds interspersed ; that the soil consists of greyish sandy clay, so loose that the horses sunk tip to the knees in it ; and that the whole surface of the earth was co vered with salt, the same as in Egypt. All computations of the size of the Jordan are taken from its appearance at the distance of several miles from the mouth. It there ap pears dull and turbid, flowing at the rate of about two miles an hour. So many discrepancies prevail in the accounts of travellers regarding its breadth, that the only mode of reconciling them is, to suppose that it does not continue uniform for any considerable space, that their observations were made at different seasons, and have been given in the measures of different nations. According to Thomson, it is 75 feet ; Chateaubriand calls it 50 paces; but Shaw, who probably has been more minute, remarks, that, excepting the Nile, it was by far the largest river he had seen in the Levant or Barbary ; however, he did not estimate it at above 30 yards wide, and three deep close to the brink; therefore, combining the rate of its course with its size, he calculat ed that it would discharge six millions and ninety tons of water daily into the Dead Sea.