at first but four miles wide, gradually broadens until it is eight
miles in width opposite Bethshean, where the valley of Jezreel joins
that of the Jordan. Most of the land in this part of the Jordan
valley, immediately below the Sea of Galilee, is tillable. The ruins
of ancient aqueducts indicate that the streams that come down from the
hillsides were once used for irrigation. The valley is again being in
part reclaimed by Jewish colonists. Ten miles south of Bethshean the
Samaritan headlands crowd close to the Jordan, so that the valley is
only three miles in width. Where the Jabbok and Wady Farah join the
Jordan the valley again broadens until, opposite Jericho, it is
fourteen miles in width.^{(35)} Most of this lower Jordan valley is a
parched desert covered by low bushes and desert plants, except where
the streams from the highlands are used for irrigation. Fertile fields
are thus reclaimed where the Wady Nimrin and the Wady el-Kefrein come
from the eastern hills opposite Jericho. At Jericho itself the waters
of the Wady Kelt and those of the famous Fountain of Elisha are
utilized to-day as they were in ancient times. South of Jericho,
however, the soil is heavily impregnated with saline and alkaline
salts, so that it extends in an almost barren waste to the northern
end of the Dead Sea.
=The Jordan Itself.= Through this broad valley the Jordan winds,
frequently changing its course, and ploughing a great furrow, called
by the natives the Zôr.^{(36)} In flood time the river is from five
hundred feet to a mile wide, while in the summer it is at places not
more than seventy-five or a hundred feet in width and varies in depth
from three to twelve feet. At all times it is a muddy, coffee-colored
stream, partaking of the color of the slimy, alluvial soil through
which it flows. Its banks are covered by thickets of trees, bushes,
and reeds, in which are found many wild beasts and birds. This flood
channel of the Jordan is a scene of wreckage and ruin, mingled with
tropical luxuriance. The lowest bed of this ancient inland lake is
given up to-day, as it always was in the past, to wild beasts, to
occasional fugitives, to squalid Bedouin, and to the muddy, sprawling
river which here rules supreme.
=Fords of the Lower Jordan.= The lower course of the Jordan is now
spanned by four bridges. In ancient times the dwellers in Palestine
were obliged to depend entirely upon its fords, of which there are
between twenty and twenty-five. One of the more important is at the
point where the river leaves the Sea of Galilee and is still used as a
ferry. Another is the famous ford of Abarah, a little northeast of
Bethshean. The third is a little farther south, opposite the ancient
Pella. Another, the Dâmieh ford, is at the mouth of the Jabbok. The
fifth is northeast of Jericho just below the point where the Wady
Nimrin enters the Jordan. The most famous is the Pilgrim Ford,
southeast of Jericho, just below the place where the Wady Kelt joins
the Jordan. Owing to the alluvial character of its banks, its rapid
current, and the frequency of the floods, fed by the melting snows
from the Lebanons and by the heavy storms of the winter and spring,
the Jordan has always proved a river difficult to cross. Its rôle
throughout all of its history has been that of a divider rather than
that of a binder together of tribes and races. Throughout its course
of one hundred and seven miles it is rarely navigable. Flowing, as it
does, into the barren waters of the Dead Sea, the Jordan was,
therefore, a check upon rather than an encouragement to commerce.
=Ancient Names of the Dead Sea.= The residue of the ancient inland
lake is represented by the present Dead Sea. This name is
comparatively modern. In the Bible it is called by various names, such
as simply the Sea, the Sea of the Plain, the Eastern Sea, or the Salt
Sea. To-day it is known among the Arabs as the Sea of Lot.
=Its Unique Characteristics.= The Dead Sea lies one thousand two
hundred and ninety-two feet below the surface of the ocean.^{(37)} It
is forty-seven and a half miles long and ten miles across at its
widest point. At its northeastern end, under the heights of Moab, the
lake reaches to the vast depth of one thousand two hundred and
seventy-eight feet. In striking contrast, the southern end of the sea
is only ten to fifteen feet in depth. Its waters are so thoroughly
impregnated with poisonous chemicals that no fish can live in them
and only the lowest organisms survive. Its bitter taste is due to the
presence of chloride of magnesium and the oily feeling is produced by
the chloride of calcium, which it holds in solution. As is well known,
the density is so great that it is practically impossible for man or
beast to sink beneath its waters. In time of storm the waves beat on
the shore with a heavy, metallic sound. The waters of the sea are
frequently lashed by heavy thunder-storms, which linger here sometimes
for hours, held in by the high, towering cliffs on either side. With
few exceptions the shores of the Dead Sea are barren and strewn at
places with the wreckage of trees. Its water, however, is limpid,
varying from light blue to green. Owing to the proximity of the desert
and the intense heat--the temperature rising in summer as high as
118°--it is the scene of a stupendous process of evaporation. It is
computed that between six and eight million tons of water rise in
vapor from this great natural caldron each day. Often the vapor is so
dense that it obscures the landscape, but at other times it imparts a
marvellous prismatic color to the huge cliffs that encircle the
lake,^{(38)} so that the combination of the blue waters, the cloudless
skies, and the rich, blended reds, grays, and purples of the
opalescent landscape make it one of the most sublime views in all the
world.
=Its Eastern Bank.= On the eastern side the cliffs of Moab rise at
some points almost sheer to the height of between twenty-five hundred
and three thousand feet. These limestone hills are mottled with huge
blotches of black limestone and basalt and are frequently capped with
white, chalky rocks. They are cut by several important streams, which
have worn deep canyons that extend back many miles into the Moabite
hills. A few miles south of the northeastern end the Wady Zerka Ma'in
flows into the sea. On its northern bank, near the sea, the famous
baths of Callirrhöe burst from the rock. Farther south the River
Arnon, cutting a canyon three thousand feet deep through the plateau
of Moab, reaches the sea through a broad opening. Here a few scattered
palms and acacias relieve the utter desolation of this eastern wall
of rock. Still farther south the promontory of El-Lisan, The Tongue,
as it is called by the natives, pushes out into the sea, extending to
within three miles of the western shore. It is a bold mass of
calcareous marl, forty to eighty feet in height, treeless and barren.
In pleasing contrast with this barrenness is the oasis lying behind
it, watered by the Wady el-Kerak. Here are found the four Bedouin
villages which are the only towns along the coast of this desolate
sea.
=The Southern End.= At the southern end of the Dead Sea is a slimy mud
marsh, low and malarial, covered with tropical thickets which are
filled with the birds and the beasts of the southern clime. Farther
south is the fertile Ghôr es-Safieh. In this little oasis, lying
between the sea and the wilderness, a little wheat, barley, and
tobacco are grown and a dense tropical vegetation abounds. Southward
for a hundred and twelve miles to the Gulf of Akaba extends the
Arabah,^{(39)} the continuation of the great rift of which the Jordan
and the Dead Sea valleys are a part. Low sand-hills lie across the
centre of this broad, shallow valley, making direct travel impossible.
Sixty-five miles to the south the watershed is reached. This is six
hundred and sixty feet above the level of the ocean, that is, nearly
two thousand feet above the level of the Dead Sea. It is a land of
stones, gravel, and sand,^{(40)} with only a few trickling springs--a
lonesome, forbidding region where heat, dust, and the Bedouin rule
supreme to-day as they have for thousands of years.
=The Western Shores.= The hills on the western side of the Dead Sea,
except at two points, do not come close to the margin of the water. A
beach from a hundred yards to a mile in width fringes the sea on this
western side. Beyond this shore the hills rise in terraces to the
height of from two thousand to two thousand five hundred feet. These
are white, rounded, and barren, except at Engedi, where the waters of
its famous spring have developed an oasis,^{(41)} which marks the side
of the plateau with a pleasing mass of dark green. Many small wadies
cut down through these western hills. In their beds are found a few
trees and bushes, but otherwise the landscape is as bold and
unrelieved by vegetation as on the east. On the southwest, at Jebel
Usdum, there is a remarkable range of salt cliffs, six hundred feet
high, three and three-fourth miles in length and a half mile in width.
Here local tradition fixes the scene of the death of Lot's wife. Along
this western shore are also found deposits of bitumen. Frequently
portions of it are found floating in the waters; sometimes they catch
on fire, adding to the lurid impressiveness of this mysterious valley.
=Grim Associations of the Dead Sea.= These are a few of the many
reminders that fully justify the modern name of the Dead Sea. Its
historic associations, the destruction of the wicked cities of the
plain, the murder of John the Baptist at Machærus on the eastern
heights, and the later massacre at Masada are all harsh and appalling.
In common with the Jordan valley, this region is richly suggestive of
the destructive forces of nature. Life is here grim, severe, and
relentless. It is not difficult to detect in Jewish character the deep
impressions made by this constant contact with the symbols of death
and with these suggestions of the presence of a stern, austere God.
VII
THE EAST-JORDAN LAND
=Form and Climate of the East-Jordan Land.= The east-Jordan land of
biblical history is in form an irregular triangle, with its base
skirting the Jordan Valley, its northern angle at the foot of Mount
Hermon, its southern a little beyond the southern end of the Dead Sea,
while its third angle lies in the Druse Mountains, about seventy miles
east of the Sea of Galilee. Damascus,^{(42)} to the northwest, is just
beyond the bounds of Palestine. This famous ancient city lies in the
midst of a verdant oasis made by the waters of the Abana River,^{(43)}
which breaks through the eastern Lebanons and finally loses itself in
the Arabian desert. The heart of the east-Jordan land is the wide,
level plain watered by the tributaries of the Yarmuk River. The
east-Jordan territory is a great elevated plateau, averaging fully two
thousand feet in height. This southern continuation of the
Anti-Lebanon mountains is a land that lies open to the sunshine and to
the strong breezes that blow from the dry desert or fresh from the
western sea. Its temperature, as a whole, is much colder than that of
western Palestine. Frosts at night begin as early as the first of
November and continue into March. Deep snows cover a large portion of
it in winter. I myself have travelled in the middle of March for hours
through blinding snows, two or three feet deep, up among the highlands
of Gilead. In summer frequent mists sweep over the heights. At night
the temperature often falls very low, and, as a result, heavy dews are
deposited. Even during the day cool sea-breezes make the air
thoroughly invigorating. Thus it richly deserved the reputation which
it enjoyed in antiquity of being one of the most healthful regions in
all the world.
=Well Watered and Fertile.= In contrast to western Palestine, the
east-Jordan land is well supplied with springs and perennial rivers.
Grass grows almost everywhere in rich profusion, even far out toward
the desert. Great forests are still found in Gilead, and fruit trees
that yield abundantly. East of the Jordan are the chief grain fields
of Palestine, but it is pre-eminently the home of the herdsman and
shepherd. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats dot the
landscape almost everywhere from the foot of Hermon to the southern
end of Moab.
=The Four Great Natural Divisions.= The east-Jordan land falls into
four great natural divisions. The first is the Jaulan or Golan, the
Gaulanitis of the Roman period, which extends from the foot of Mount
Hermon to the Yarmuk River and from the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee
to the Nahr el-Allân, a northern tributary of the Yarmuk. To the east
and southeast of the Jaulan is the second great division, the Hauran.
It extends northward to the vast lava-beds of El-Lejah, and eastward
to the Druse Mountains, which look out upon the desert. In certain
passages of the Old Testament the term Bashan seems to have been
applied to the entire region north of the Yarmuk, but its exact bounds
are not clearly defined. The third division includes the mountains of
Gilead, which extend from the Yarmuk to the Wady Heshbân at the
northern end of the Dead Sea, and from the Jordan out to the desert
beyond the territory of ancient Ammon. The fourth division is the
plateau of Moab, which extends from the Wady Heshbân to the Wady
el-Hesa, southeast of the Dead Sea, and from the Salt Sea to the great
pilgrim road on the borders of the desert.
=Characteristics of the Northern and Western Jaulan.= The Jaulan
slopes southward to the Yarmuk and westward to the Jordan. Its
characteristic features are two parallel ranges of isolated volcanic
mountains between two and four thousand feet in height extending
southward from Mount Hermon.
In some of these bold peaks the outlines of the ancient craters are
still visible. Tell Abu Neda, of the western range, rises to the
height of nearly four thousand feet. Its crater is broken at one side
and its ulterior is cultivated, producing a variety of vegetables and
grains. Another peak farther south, Tell el-Faras, about three
thousand one hundred feet high, has a well-preserved, round crater,
which inclines to the north. From these craters in early times
successive waves of lava flowed toward the Jordan valley, covering
this entire region. The northern part of the Jaulan is a great rocky
pasture land, strewn with black basaltic boulders. In the spring it is
a mass of green, which attracts thousands of Bedouin with their
flocks. In the summer it becomes dry and desolate except where a few
perennial springs develop little oases. The villages are small and far
apart. Inland a few wadies supply water for irrigation, but as they
run westward toward the Jordan they soon cut deep torrent beds through
the rocks and thus become practically useless for purposes of
agriculture.
=Southern and Eastern Jaulan.= The southern part of the Jaulan, from a
point opposite the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, is a lofty
plateau. Here the volcanic rock is more broken. In this rich, dark red
soil much grain is raised, especially wheat and barley. Two important
streams, the Wady Semakh and the Wady Fîk, here descend to the Sea of
Galilee through long deep gorges. The southeastern Jaulan is pierced
by two parallel streams, the Nahr er-Rukkad and the Nahr el-Allân,
which run almost due south. In their upper courses they flow on the
surface of the ground, but soon sink into deep gorges which lead to
the Yarmuk. The Yarmuk itself is the most commanding river of all the
east-Jordan land. Its tributaries water the fertile lands of the
Hauran. Like all the great rivers east of the Jordan, it has cut a
deep channel through the basaltic rocks. To-day the railroad from
Damascus to Haifa twists along its tortuous course between walls of
rock five hundred to one thousand feet in height. The climate in this
deep gorge is that of the Jordan valley itself. Oleanders, palms, and
figs grow here, overshadowed by the pines and oaks of the upland
plateau. The variety of twisted and tilted limestone and volcanic
rocks laid bare on its rugged sides makes it one of the wildest and
most picturesque valleys in all Palestine.
=Character of the Hauran.= The most productive grain fields of the
eastern Mediterranean are found in the Hauran or Hollow.^{(1)} With
the exception of an occasional low hill, this region is as level as a
floor. The soil is a rich volcanic loam, well watered and
superlatively fruitful. Unlike the Jaulan, which was once largely
wooded, it is treeless, except among the mountains to the east. It is
also one of the few spots in Palestine practically free from stones.
Here wheat and barley and the other grains of Palestine grow in
rankest profusion. The landscape is comparatively monotonous except as
an occasional wady furrows its way down toward the Yarmuk or some of
its tributaries. Like many regions in Palestine it is dominated by the
snowy heights of Hermon, which stand out in brilliant contrast to the
monotony of the plain.
=Borderland of the Hauran.= To the north rises, thirty or forty feet
above the plain, the great lava plain of El-Lejah. It is a solid,
gently undulating mass of lava, containing an area of three hundred
and fifty square miles. No rivers, and only occasional springs, are
found throughout this barren waste, which is penetrated only by a few
footpaths. It is the ancient Trachonitis, the refuge of outlaws and
robbers to-day as in the past. To the east the plain of the Hauran
rises to Jebel Hauran, also known as the Druse Mountains. Three of the
peaks of these eastern sentinels are between four and six thousand
feet high. On the south, the Hauran gradually merges into the yellow
steppes of El-Hamâd and farther west into the limestone hills of
Ez-Zumleh.
=Gilead.= South of the Yarmuk the black basalt of the Jaulan yields to
the light limestone of the west-Jordan. The entire territory of Gilead
more closely resembles the western hills of Palestine than does any
other part of the east-Jordan region. On the broad rolling uplands of
eastern Gilead there are large grain fields and the soil is
cultivated at many other points. In the Roman period great cities, of
which Gerasa^{(44)} was the chief, testified to the rich productivity
of this region, but for the most part it is the paradise of the
herdsmen and the shepherd. It is a land of deep valleys, rounded
hills, and frequent springs. On the northwest many small streams cut
their way to the Jordan valley. The roads run up and down steep
inclines where the flocks and the herds cling to the sloping
hillsides. Groves of noble oaks cover the hilltops and reveal the
strength inherent in the soil.
=The Jabbok and Jebel Osha.= The dominant factor in southern Gilead is
the River Jabbok.^{(45)} It rises among the hills not far from the
Moabite border, only eighteen miles from the Jordan, and then flows
northeast, past the old Ammonite capital. Thence it completes the half
circle, cutting its way through the Gileadite hills to the Jordan. At
some points its channel is between two and three thousand feet below
the level of the plateau. It is a joyous river, rippling in flashes of
sunlight over the rocks, through green glades and tangles of oleanders
and rushes, a type of this happy, picturesque land of the shepherd.
The centre of the half circle described by the Brook Jabbok is the
Jebel Osha, the highest peak in Gilead. From its height of three
thousand five hundred and ninety-five feet, practically all of Gilead
is spread to the north and south and east like a great variegated
carpet.
=Southern Gilead.= In southern Gilead the trees become fewer and fewer
until south of Jebel Osha they almost disappear. In spring-time the
fields are green with grass and grain, but in summer they become
parched and brown. The wadies in the south, such as Wady Nimrin and
Wady Heshbân, avail little for irrigation, since their channels are
far beneath the level of the surrounding plateau. The region as a
whole begins to take on something of the sombre color of the Dead Sea
region which lies in the depths below.
=Character of the Plateau of Moab.= In its largest bounds Moab is a
territory sixty miles long and thirty miles wide. From across the
Dead Sea it looks like a high mountain range, but in reality it is
simply a lofty upland plateau^{(46)} towering above the deep gorge of
the Dead Sea. Throughout most of its extent it is between two thousand
five hundred and three thousand three hundred feet above the ocean
level, and therefore from three thousand eight hundred to four
thousand six hundred feet above the blue waters of the Dead Sea. It is
a gently rolling, treeless plain; its low hilltops are crowned with
the ruins of ancient cities. Only a few bushes are to be found upon
these bare moors. The prevailing rock is soft cretaceous limestone,
which crops out at many points. The soil of the central zone, however,
which runs from north to south, averaging about ten miles in width, is
exceedingly fertile. Many grain fields are found throughout this
territory; but like Gilead, Moab is pre-eminently the land of the
herdsman and the shepherd. In the wadies which run down to the Dead
Sea thousands of camels are bred, while on the hills above are seen at
every point flocks of cattle, sheep, and goats.
=Its Fertility and Water Supply.= In the spring-time the upland fields
are masses of green, which almost conceal the stones and outcrop of
rock. The marvel is that any vegetation is found in a land thus
bounded, on the west by the Sea of Death and on the east by the rocky
desert. Most of the streams run through deep glens and no springs are
found on the surface. The explanation of the marvel is found in the
high elevation of the plateau and the great process of evaporation
which is ever going on in the Dead Sea basin below. The west winds
from the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea come laden with moisture,
which they deposit in the winter and spring in drenching rains, and
throughout the year in heavy dews at night.
=Its Mountains.= The mountains of Moab are little more than hills
rising a few hundred feet above the rolling upland. The so-called
mountains of the Abarim are simply the wild, rocky hills and
promontories which rise rapidly from the Dead Sea.^{(47)} Seen from
across the Dead Sea they have the appearance of mountains. They skirt
the eastern side of the lower Jordan and Dead Sea, running eastward
nine or ten miles to meet the fields of Moab on the heights. This
region corresponds to the wilderness of Judea across the sea on the
west. Mount Nebo, which now bears the name Neba, is a flat tongue of
land two thousand six hundred and forty-three feet above the ocean
level, running out two miles westward from the main plateau. It
overlooks the northern end of the Dead Sea, which is nearly four
thousand feet below. It commands a marvellous view up the Jordan
valley, between the lofty heights of Gilead on the right and the hills
of Samaria and Judah on the left. Farther inland and to the south is
the loftier peak of Jebel Attarus. The chief mountain south of the
Arnon is Jebel Shihan, which rises to the height of two thousand seven
hundred and eighty feet above the ocean level.
=Its Rivers.= The most striking features in the landscape of Moab are
the deep canyons which plough from east to west across the plateau.
Those in the north run back only a few miles, leaving northeastern
Moab a comparatively unbroken plateau, but in the south they cut deep
furrows eastward even to the borders of the desert. The Wady Zerka
Ma'in has worn a broad channel through the limestone, basaltic, and
sandstone rocks of northwestern Moab, so that ten miles from the point
where it flows into the Dead Sea it is fully two miles across. Along
the bottom of this great chasm runs a limpid brook, winding through
beautiful groves of oleanders and beside fertile patches of land,
which are in marked contrast to the utterly barren and desolate cliffs
above.
=The Arnon.= Farther south the Arnon, the chief river of Moab, rises
on the border of the desert. Rapidly cutting its way down into the
plateau, it receives its first important confluent from the south, and
farther on the Wady Waleh from the north. At the point where the
central highway through Moab from the north crosses the Arnon the
canyon is three thousand feet deep and two miles from bank to bank. It
is by far the most stupendous and picturesque chasm in all
Palestine.^{(48)} The steep red cliffs, variegated and richly colored
by white, gray, and yellow strata, extend in wavy billows east and
west as far as the eyes can reach. The descent is almost sheer into
the depths below, where the river, easily fordable at many points and
with an actual channel only a few feet wide, rushes over the smooth
rocks or winds leisurely through its fringe of oleanders and green
bushes. Where the tributary wadies have cut down the soft limestone,
nature's castles stand out, guarding the broad natural highway from
the desert to the sea. The Arnon only in a lesser degree separated the
land of Moab and destroyed its political unity, even as did the Jordan
the land of Israel.