The central highland continues north of Jeru salem for upward of forty miles, but with less uniformity. North of Bethel (10 miles north of Jerusalem) it begins to be broken. The general level sinks, though many peaks are over or nearly 3000 feet high. The' descent to the Jordan Valley is in places very abrupt, though also traversed by a number of passable valleys. One of these, the Wady Farah, pierces far into the interior. Near Sheehem, situated in a beautiful vale between Mount Gerizim (2849 feet) on the south and Mount Ebal (3077 feet) on the north, a network of valleys seems to converge. One of these, the Wady esh-Shair, opens out northwest into the plain in which the city of Samaria was situated and continues on to the coast. Another opens into the Wady Farah, and thus gives open connection with the Jordan Valley. Near She ehem, then, the central highland may be said to break down into a system of valleys, plains, and isolated peaks. Between Bethel and Shechem, especially along its western border, the whole plateau is more open and undulating, more fer tile and capable of cultivation, than that of Judah to the south. This region was known as Mount Ephraim, rather a succession of hills than one continuous mountain. The part of the coast plain west of Mount Ephraim is the famous 'Plain of Sharon.' From the hills near Samaria northward the country takes on a new character. The low-lying plain of Dothan, 10 miles north of Samaria, connects the seacoast plain with the southern reaches of the great Plain of Esdraelon (q.v.), a triangular-shaped expanse, about 16 miles across, midway between the Jordan and the sea, with an average elevation of but about 250 feet. This remarkable district is separated from the seacoast plain to the west by a series of low hills running northwest from the plain of Dothan and culminating in the Carmel range (1500-1800 feet), which juts out into the Medi lerranean in a promontory 556 feet high, at the foot of which there is a narrow strip of beach. The Plain of Esdraelon is shut in on the east by the Gilboa Mountains (1300-1650 feet) and the hills near the site of ancient Shunem and Nain. Between these two ranges of hills the deep valley of Jezreel, all of it below the sea level, leads down to the Jordan. The northeastern corner of the plain opens out into another rapidly deseend Mg valley across which Mount Tabor (1843 feet) rises in lonely grandeur.
North of Esdraelon, in Lower Galilee, the mountains begin to reappear. The whole region between the Sea of Galile-e and the Mediter ranean (i.e. the Galilee of the New Testament) is quite open. None of the peaks attains a height of 2000 feet, and they are for the most part iso lated and interspersed with valleys and plains. There are two main systems of bills in this lower Galilee. One bounds the Plain of Esdraelon on the north, extending from the river Kishon just opposite Mount Carmel to the Sea of Galilee. The hills about Nazareth and Cana and Mount Tabor belong to this system. North of these hills, extending, from the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee to the coast plain, is a long, low plain broken into several porticins by low hills, crossing it from north to south. The most fa mous part of this plain is the fertile Sahel el Buttauf (Assochis), ten miles long and two to three miles wide. The eastern end of the plain as it descends to the Sea of Galilee forms the Land of Gennesaret. A second line of hills, north of the long plain, at the northern foot of which runs the bed of the Wady Shaib, eompletes the hill system. of Lower Galilee. North of the Wady Shaib the elevation rapidly increases. As
in Judah, we now find a high central plateau with an elevation of 2000-3000 feet, with occa sional peaks still higher. The descent on the east, to the Jordan. is steep; that on the west, to the sea, more gradual. The plateau is nar rower at the north than in its southern portion. Northern Galilee is limited by the Leontes, Nvhiell, rising between the Lebanons, makes a sharp detour to the west and enters the sea just north of Tyre. East of the angle formed by the Leontes the mountains of Galilee extend north ward to form a portion of the great Anti Lebanon range.
Across the valley through which flow the upper courses of the Jordan lie the rapidly ascending slopes of Mount Hermon, whose summit is 9166 feet above the sea. Out from the depths of this vast mountain flow most of the springs which combine to form the Jordan. Where these streams converge the valley is 8 to 10 miles wide and but little above the level of the sea. It soon becomes marshy, and at last opens into Lake Huleh. After this the valley narrows and the stream descends rapidly to the Sea of Gali lee. From this lake to the Dead Sea, 65 miles, the Jordan Valley varies in width from 3 to 14 miles. It is only about 4 miles wide where it leaves the Sea of Galilee, but broadens where it is joined by the Valley of Jezreel, 13 miles below. It again narrows, but after receiv ing the Jabbok continually widens until, at Jericho, it attains its maximum breadth. Where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea the valley bot tom is swampy. On either side of the valley the ascent to the highlands is generally steep. The western side is much broken by many ravines and passes, but the eastern hills present a _more uniform appearance, being broken only at long intervals by the larger streams. The valley is of inexhaustible fertility, and has an almost tropical climate. The Dead Sea marks the deep est part of this great depression. It has 110 oulet, and the constant evaporation, aided by the saline character of ninny of the springs in the neighborhood, makes its waters so heavily charged with salt that they are exceedingly bitter in taste and of high specific gravity. They are, nevertheless, very transparent. [n some places the shores are heavily lined with salt deposit. The Dead Sea is also remarkable for the petro leum springs below its surface from which conic the lumps of bitumen often found floating on its waters. Hence its ancient name, .Isphurtis. The sea is deepest (c.1300 feet) at its northern end. The southern half is quite shallow. Lying at a level of 1292 feet below the sea, and surrounded by hills rising 3000 to 4000 feet above its sur face, the Dea Sea is one of the hottest regions on the earth.
Across the deep, hot valley lies Eastern Pales tine, much more uniform in character than the territory west of the Jordan. It divides natural ly into three main sections. From Mount Her mon to the Yarmuk (Hieromax). a large peren nial stream traversing the eastern plateau and emptying into the -Jordan. the limestone is over lain with a thick volcanic formation. Extinct volcanoes abound and the lava soil renders the region extraordinarily fertile. Only the western portion, the -JanIan (ancient Gaulanitis), belongs within the limits of Palestine. The eastern por tion represents the ancient Bastian. The .general elevation is highest near Hermon, gradually sink ing toward the Yarnmk. The drainage is all west (to the Jordan) or south (to the Yarmuk). Only near the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk is the plateau much broken by ravines.