Geological History. The great gorge of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley is the most striking natural phenomenon in Palestine. No place on the face of the earth has had a more dramatic geological history. As has already been noted (p. 14), this great rift which runs from northern Syria to the Red Sea was probably formed in the latter part of the Pliocene Age. At the northern end of the Dead Sea its bed reaches a depth of nearly one-half a mile beneath the ocean level. It is thus by far the deepest depression on the face of the earth. During the Pluvial period this huge rift was filled with water, making a large inland sea, fully two hundred miles long, with its surface nearly one hundred feet above the ocean level. Apparently the higher land to the south of the present Dead Sea cut off the ocean, so that at the first it was a fresh-water lake. During the Interglacial period, possibly in part as the result of volcanic changes, it fell to a level of not more than three hundred feet above the present surface of the Dead Sea. It was during this period and the ice age that followed that the deposits were made on the side of the valley, which have given it its present terraced form.

Evidences of Volcanic Action. From the Pluvial period to the present the valley has been the scene of frequent volcanic disturbances. The water, sinking through the great rifts and subterranean passages, and being transformed by the heat into steam, forced up great masses of lava, which may be traced at many points on the heights both to the east and to the west of the Jordan valley. Earthquakes, many of them severe, are still common in this volcanic region. That of 1837 destroyed the city of Safed, killing one thousand of its inhabitants. In recent years severe shocks were felt in June, 1896, January, 1900, March and December, 1903. Many copious, hot, mineral springs still bear testimony to the presence of volcanic forces. Those near Tiberias, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and in the Wady Zerka Ma'in, east of the Dead Sea, have a temperature of about 144°, while the waters of El-Hammeh in the Yarmuk Valley vary in temperature from about 93° to 110.° These springs are strongly impregnated with mineral salts and it is from these and similar sources that the salts have come that make the waters of the Dead Sea what they are to-day, heavy and far more saline than the ocean itself.

Natural Divisions. The Jordan and Dead Sea valley falls into four natural divisions: (1) the upper Jordan, from Mount Hermon to the Sea of Galilee, (2) the Sea of Galilee, (3) the lower Jordan, and (4) the Dead Sea. At its northernmost point rises Mount Hermon, called by the natives Jebel es-Sheik, that is, Mountain of the White-haired.

Mount Hermon. Hermon is in reality a massive mountain plateau, twenty miles long from northeast to southwest. Like most of the mountains of Palestine, it is of hard limestone, covered at places with soft chalk. On its northern side the vineyards run up to a height of almost five thousand feet.⁽²⁷⁾ Above are found scattered oaks, almond and dwarf juniper trees. The mountain rises to the height of nine thousand and fifty feet and is crowned by three peaks.⁽²⁸⁾ The northern and southern peaks are about the same height, while the western, separated from the others by a depression, is about one hundred feet lower. Mount Hermon commands a marvellous view of almost the entire land of Palestine. From the masses of snow which cover its broad top far into the summer and lie in its ravines throughout the year, come the copious waters of the upper Jordan. Its sources spring from the western and southern bases of Mount Hermon fully developed streams. Three-fourths of the waters of Mount Hermon thus find their way down the deep gorge of the Jordan.Source of the Jordan at Banias. One of the two main sources of the Jordan is at Banias, the CÆsarea Philippi of New Testament times. About one hundred feet beneath an ancient grotto in the side of a sheer cliff, the stream pours forth from the rocks and goes rushing down through thickets of trees and the gardens which are irrigated by its waters.⁽²⁹⁾ By Josephus and other ancient writers the springs at Banias were regarded as the true source of the Jordan. Here the ancient Canaanites apparently reared a sanctuary to the god of the stream and later the Greeks built a temple to Pan, from whence comes, with the change of the initial letter, the modern name of Banias, or City of Pan. Here also Herod reared a temple which was one of the glories of the Roman city.

At Tell el-Kadi. The largest source of the Jordan is on the western side of the mound now known as Tell el-Kadi. A stream about ten feet wide flows directly from the rock and is joined by a smaller confluent a little to the south, forming the so-called El-Leddan. The imposing mound of Tell el-Kadi, lying at the head of the Jordan Valley and commanding the highway that leads to Banias, and thence across the eastern spurs of Mount Hermon to Damascus, is probably the site of the Canaanite Laish, later the Hebrew Dan.

The Western Confluents. A mile and a half further to the south the two eastern sources of the Jordan are joined by the Hasbany. This stream springs from a pool on the western side of Mount Hermon and thence flows southward through the broad plain on the west of the mountain from which it sprang. The fourth source of the Jordan, the Nahr Bareighit, the least important of the four, rising not far from the River Litany, comes down through a valley to the northwest.

The Upper Jordan Valley. During the first part of its descent to the Dead Sea, the Jordan winds leisurely through a valley about five miles wide, flanked by hills rising to between fifteen hundred and two thousand feet.⁽³⁰⁾ Its northernmost part, under the shadow of Mount Hermon, is plentifully strewn with stones, but a few miles below Tell el-Kadi fertile grain fields appear, watered by copious springs. The Jewish colonists on the northwestern edge of the Jordan valley, are beginning to cultivate these meadows, again demonstrating how fertile they are. Six miles above Lake Huleh the river loses itself in reedy marshes⁽³¹⁾ and finally empties into the lake through six different channels. Here the papyrus grows in great profusion. Lake Huleh itself, four miles long, is little more than a great malarial marsh, formed by the temporary stopping of the river by the eastern and western hills, which here approach within three or four miles of each other.

The Rapid Descent to the Sea of Galilee. From Banias to Lake Huleh the Jordan descends over one thousand feet and in the eleven miles from the lake to the Sea of Galilee it plunges downward six hundred and ninety feet. These occasional pauses, followed by sudden plunges, have given the river its name, the Jordan, which means the Descender. A little below Lake Huleh, the valley of the Jordan narrows into a rocky gorge. Through this rocky chasm, hemmed in by steep cliffs on both sides, the Jordan plunges in continuous cascades until it reaches the delta which it has formed at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee. At Lake Huleh the waters of the Jordan are seven feet above the ocean level, but at the Sea of Galilee six hundred and eighty-two feet below. The Sea of Galilee is a pear-shaped lake, twelve and one-half miles in length and eight in width, encircled by bold limestone cliffs.⁽³²⁾ Its greatest depth, which is in the north, is seven hundred and fifty feet. Its blue, clear waters, bathed in sunshine, and the soft, warm breezes that blow across the lake, make it in spring-time, and even in winter, one of the most delightful spots in all the world. In the summer, however, its atmosphere is hot and sultry, and at many points malarial. Ordinarily, the ocean winds blow high above the Sea of Galilee without affecting its hot, tropical climate, but occasionally they pour down through the valleys, especially to the north and northwest, suddenly transforming these quiet waters into a tempestuous sea.Its Shores. On the east rise the steep, now barren but probably once tree-clad, limestone hills of the Jaulan, capped by vast layers of black basalt, towering in the distance like huge battlements. They stand back, however, from the lake, leaving a shore averaging one-half mile in width. On the north the Jordan has worn down the hills, which here descend gradually in wild, stony moorlands, covered with thorns and rough grasses. To the northwest opens the fertile plain of Gennesaret,⁽³³⁾ four miles wide, watered by dashing mountain brooks and flanked by the high hills of upper Galilee. The industry of German colonists is again beginning to demonstrate the marvellous fertility of this fair plain, where the fruits and grains of tropical and temperate climes grow side by side. On the western side of the lake the hills descend in terraces, leaving a narrow strip of shore, connected with the uplands by one or two shallow valleys. To the south the shore broadens and the hills recede until they are four miles apart at the southern end,⁽³⁴⁾ where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee.

From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The distance from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in a straight line is only sixty-five miles, but, owing to its constant turnings, the actual course of the river measures nearly two hundred miles. In this last plunge the river descends more than one thousand feet. Its descent is more rapid in the upper part of its course. A little below the Sea of Galilee it receives its largest confluent, the River Yarmuk, which breaks through the heights of the Hauran to the east. The volume of the water thus poured in nearly equals that of the Jordan itself at this point. Further south the Brook JalÛd comes down on the west from the Plain of Jezreel past Bethshean. About twenty miles from its mouth, the Jordan receives the waters from the Jabbok, which descends from the heights of Gilead on the east, and from the Wady Farah, which comes from the vicinity of Shechem on the west.

Character of the Valley. Below the Sea of Galilee the Jordan valley, 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.