•The Jordan valley .—The chacteristics already described are hardly peculiar to Palestine, but there
is one feature, as yet only alluded to, in which she stands alone. This feature is the Jordan—the
one river of the country. The river is elsewhere described; [Jordan] but it and the valley through
which it rushes down its extraordinary descent must be here briefly characterized. This valley
begins with the river at its remotest springs of Hasbeiya, on the northwest side of Hermon, and
accompanies it to the lower end of the Dead Sea, a length of about 1,50 miles. During the whole
of this distance its course is straight and its direction nearly due north and south. The springs of
Hasbeiya are 1700 feet above the level of the Mediterranean and the northern end of the Dead Sea
is 1317 feet below it, so that between these two points the valley falls with more or less regularity
through a height of more than 3000 feet. But though the river disappears at this point, the valley
still continues its descent below the waters of the Dead Sea till it reaches a further depth of 1308
feet. So that the bottom of this extraordinary crevasse is actually more than 2600 feet below the
surface of the ocean. In width the valley varies. In its upper and shallower portion, as between
Banias and the lake of Merom (Huleh), it is about five miles across. Between the lake of Merom
and the Sea or Galilee it contracts, and becomes more of an ordinary ravine or glen. It is in its
third and lower portion that the valley assumes its more definite and regular character. During the
greater part of this portion it is about seven miles wide from the one wall to the other. The eastern
mountains preserve their straight line of direction, and their massive horizontal wall-like aspect,
during almost the whole distance. The western mountains are more irregular in height, their slopes
less vertical. North of Jericho they recede in a kind of wide amphitheatre, and the valley becomes
twelve miles broad—a breadth which it thenceforward retains to the southern extremity of the
Dead Sea. Buried as it is between such lofty ranges, and shielded from every breeze, the climate
of the Jordan valley is extremely hot and relaxing. Its enervating influence is shown by the
inhabitants of Jericho. All the irrigation necessary for the cultivation which formerly existed is
obtained front the torrents of the western mountains. For all purposes to which a river ordinarily
applied the Jordan is useless. The Dead Sea, which is the final receptacle of the Jordan, is described
elsewhere. [Sea, The Salt, THE SALT.)
•Climate .—“Probably there is no country in the world of the same extent which has a greater
variety of climate than Palestine. On Mount Hermon, at its northern border there is 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 seaboard where the palm and banana produce their fruit down to the sultry shores of
the Sea, on which we find tropical heat and tropical vegetation.” McClintock and Strong. As in
the time of our Saviour (Luke 12:64) the rains come chiefly from the south or southwest. They
commence at the end of October or beginning of November and continue with greater or less
constancy till the end of February or March. It is not a heavy, continuous rain so much as a
succession of severe showers or storms, with intervening periods of fine, bright weather. Between
April and November there is, with the rarest exceptions, an uninterrupted succession of fine weather
and skies without a cloud. Thus the year divides itself into two and only two seasons—as indeed
we see it constantly divided in the Bible-” winter and summer” “cold and heat,” “seed-time and
harvest.”
•Botany .—The botany of Syria and Palestine differs but little from that of Asia Minor, which is
one of the most rich and varied on the globe. Among trees the oak is by far the most prevalent.
The trees of the genus Pistacia rank next to the oak in abundance, and of these there are three
frankie
(Frankie)
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