JOR'DAN (Heb. Yarden; probably connected with Syr. yarda, lake, Ar. weird, watering-plaee.) The principal river of Palestine, called Esh-She riah or Esh-Sheriah el-Kebir by the Arabs. It flows in a southerly direction, and, starting from the mountains in the north of Palestine. passes through the small lake Huleh (the biblical waters of Alerom, q.v.) and the Lake of Tiberias or of Genneserat (Sea of Galilee), and enters the northern end of the Dead Sea. The main sources of the Jordan are three in number ; the largest, Nahr L2ddan. issues from the mound called Tell el-Kadi ('hill of the judge') near ancient Dan; the second, the .Nahr Banias, springs from crev ices between and from under rocks that choke the mouth of a cave near Banias (the ancient Paneas, Caesarea Philippi, q.v.) ; and the third, smallest and most remote, the Nahr Hasbani, rises near Mount Hermon. Uniting their waters above Lake Iluleh, these streams give rise to the Jordan. Above Lake Huleh the river is 30 to 100 feet in width, just below the lake about 60 feet. and in the valley between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea from 90 to 250 feet, and is 540 feet wide at its mouth. In the flood season it reaches a breadth of even two miles. At ordinary times it is fordable in a great many places—in some places even when the river is in flood. Its usual depth between the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea is 2 to 3 feet; just below Lake Iluleb it is about 15 feet deep; the depth of course increases in the flood season. The river is not navigable. In the flood season dangerous rapids are found. In its course the river makes a steep descent. Lake Huleh is about 7 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, while the Lake of Tiberias is about 680 feet, and the Dead Sea about 1300 feet below- that level ; so that between Huleh and the Lake of Tiberias the river falls about 69 feet to the mile, between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea about 9 feet to the mile. It has four main affluents; the Sheriat el-Menadirch (IIicro max, Yarnmk) and Zerka (Jabbok) on the east ; the .Talud and Faria on the west. A little below
}Niel] the river is crossed by a bridge, the 'Jisr Benat Yakob.'.over which the road from Damas cus to Galilee passes, and a few miles below the Lake of Tiberias is another bridge, the Jisr Sin,jamia. Below the Lake of Tiberias the valley of the Jordan presents a most remarkable forma tion. Within a larger valley called the Ghor is a smaller valley called the Zor, and through this the Jordan flows. The precipitous ridges which inclose the valley rise in some places to the height of 3000 or 4000 feet. The width of the Ghor is from somewhat over a mile to sixteen miles, of the Zor from one-half a mile to two miles. The river runs through the Zor in such a tortuous course that its total length is more than 200 miles, although the distance in a straight line is but 65 miles. Year the Dead Sea vegetation does not exist; but the valley above is covered with grass in the rainy season, and tamarisks, aeaeias, oleanders, etc.. abound. Cereals are raised in various parts of the terri tory traversed by the river, especially barley. The Jordan was first thoroughly explored by Molynenx and Lynch, by the former in 1847 in the dry season, by the latter in 1848, when the river was in flood. The climate in the Jordan Valley, owing to the depression, is tropical, and it has been well described as 'a tropical oasis sunk in the temperate zone.' The name 'Jordan' was regarded by the Hebrews as suggesting the `swiftly flowing' stream ( froni yarad, to descend) , and hence is always used in Hebrew with the article. Consult: Molyneux, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xviii. (1S4S); Lynch, Narratire of the United States Expedition to the Rircr Jordan and the Dead Sea (Philadelphia, 1849) ; Official Report (Wash ington, I352) ; Surrey of Western Palestine (London, 1889) ; MacGregor, Rob Roy on the Jordan (New York, 1870) ; George Adam Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (Lon don, 1897) ; and the travels in Palestine of Rob inson, Porter, Tristram, and others.