CLIMATE, SEASONS, AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. L. Climate.-II. Seasons.-1. Seed-time.-2. Winter.-3. The Cold Season, or Winter Solstice.-4. Harvest.-5. Summer. 6. The Hot Season.-Heavy Dews.-III. Rivers, Lakes, Wells, and Fountains.- Cisterns, and Pools of Solomon-IV. Mountains.-V. Valleys.-VI. Caves.-VII. Plains.-VIII. Deserts.-Horrors and Dangers of travelling in the Great Desert of Arabia.1 I. THE surface of the Holy Land being diversified with mountains and plains, its CLIMATE varies in different places; though in general it is more settled than in our westerly Countries. From Tripoli to Sidon, the country is much colder than the rest of the coast further to the north and to the south, and its seasons are less regular. The same remark applies to the mountainous parts of Judæa, where the vegetable productions are much later than on the sea-coast, or in the vicinity of Gaza. From its lofty situation, the air of Saphet in Galilee is so fresh and cool, that the heats are scarcely felt there during the summer; though in the neighbouring country, particularly at the foot of Mount Tabor and in the plain of Jericho, the heat is intense. Generally speaking, however, the atmosphere is mild; the summers are commonly dry, and extremely hot :3 intensely hot days, however, are frequently succeeded by intensely cold nights; and these sudden vicissitudes, which an Arab constitution alone can endure, together with their consequent effects on the human frame, verify the words of the patriarch Jacob to his father-in-law, that in the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night. (Gen. xxxi. 40.)1 II. Six several SEASONS of the natural year are indicated in Gen. viii. 22. viz. seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter; and as agriculture constituted the principal employment of the Jews, we are informed by the rabbinical writers, that they adopted the same division of seasons, with reference to their rural work. These divisions also exist among the Arabs to this day. A brief statement of the Besides the researches of modern travellers and the other authorities, cited for particular facts, the following treatises have been consulted for the present section, viz. Relandi Palæstina, tom. i. pp. 234-379.; Jahn, et Ackerman, Archæologia Biblica, 56 14-21.; Schulzit Archæologia Hebraica, pp. 49.; Pareau, Antiquitas Hebraica, pp. 57-64. ; and Alber, Hermeneutica Sacra, tom. 1. pp. 64-72. Harmer's Observations, vol. i. pp. 2-4. London, 1808. Of the intensity of the heat in Palestine, during the summer, some idea may be formed, when it is known that the mercury of Dr. E. D. Clarke's thermometer, in a subterraneous recess perfectly shaded (the scale being placed so as not to touch the rock). remained at one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit. Travels, vol. iv. p. 190. 8vo. edit. The same vicissitudes of temperature exist to this day at Smyrna (Emerson's Letters from the Egean, vol. i. p. 94.), also in the Desert of Arabia (Capt Keppel's Narrative of a Journey from India to England, vol. i. p. 140. London, 1827. 8vo.), in the Desert between Damascus and the ruins of Palmyra (Carne's Letters from the East, p. 585.), in Persia (Morier's Second Journey, p. 97. London, 1818. 4to.), and in Egypt. (Capt. Light's Travels, 30. Dr. Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, &c. vol. i. pp. -1, 182. London, 1822 Svo.) Harmer has collected several testimonies to the same effect, from the earlier travellers in the East. Observations on Scripture, vol. i. pp. 61-65. London, 1808. Bava Metsia, fol. 106. cited by Dr. Lightfoot, in his Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations on John iv. 35. (Works, vol. ii. p. 543.) 'See Golius's Lexicon Arabicum, col. 934. natural phenomena occurring in these several seasons, will enable us to form a tolerably correct idea of the climate and weather of the Holy Land. 1. SEED-TIME, by the rabbins termed (zero), comprised the latter half of the Jewish month Tisri, the whole of Marchesvan, and the former half of Kisleu or Chisleu, that is, from the beginning of October to the beginning of December. During this season the weather is various, very often misty, cloudy, with mizzling or pouring rain. Towards the close of October or early in November, the former or early autumnal rains begin to fall; when they usually ploughed their land, and sowed their wheat and barley, and gathered the latter grapes. The rains last for three or four days; they do not fall without intermission, but in frequent showers. The air at this season is frequently warm, sometimes even hot; but is much refreshed by cold in the night, which is so intense as to freeze the very heavy dews that fall. Towards the close it becomes cocler, and at the end of it snow begins to fall upon the mountains. The channels of the rivulets are sometimes dry, and even the large rivers do not contain much water. In the latter part of November the leaves lose their foliage. Towards the end of that month the more delicate light their fires (Jer. xxxvi. 22.), which they continue, almost to the month of April; while others pass the whole winter without fire. 2. WINTER, by the rabbins termed (CHORCP), included the latter half of Chisleu, the whole of Tebeth, and the former part of Sebat, that is from the beginning of December to the beginning of February. In the commencement of this season, snows rarely fall, except on the mountains, but they seldom continue a whole day; the ice is thin, and melts as soon as the sun ascends above the horizon. As the season advances, the north wind and the cold, especially on the lofty mountains, which are now covered with snow, is intensely severe, and sometimes even fatal: the cold is frequently so piercing, that persons born in our climate can scarcely endure it. The roads become slippery, and travelling becomes both laborious and dangerous, especially in the steep mountainpaths (Jer. xiii. 16. xxiii. 12.); and on this account our Lord, when predicting the calamities that were to attend the siege at Jerusalem, told his disciples to pray that their flight might not be in the winter. (Matt. xxiv. 20.) The cold however varies in severity according to the local situation of the country. On high mountains (as we have just remarked) it is extreme; but in the plain of Jericho it is scarcely felt, Jerusalem, the vicissitudes of a winter in Palestine were the winter there resembling spring; yet, in the vicinity of experienced by the crusaders at the close of the twelfth cen 23 SEASONS OF THE HOLY LAND. tury, in all its horrors. Many persons of both sexes perished The hail-stones which fall during the severity of the win- 5 It appears, therefore, that one part of the winter is, by the inhabitants of the East, distinguished from the rest by the severity of the cold, which may be denominated the depth of their winter. 3. The COLD SEASON or Winter Solstice, by the rabbins termed (KOR), comprises the latter half of Sebat, the whole of Adar, and the former half of Nisan, from the beginning of February to the beginning of April. At the commencement of this season, the ground is frequently covered with a thick hoar-frost, and the weather is cold; but it gradually becomes warm and even hot, particularly in the plain of Jericho. Thunder, lightning, and hail are frequent. Vegetable nature now revives; the almond tree blossoms, and the gardens assume a delightful appearance. Barley is ripe at Jericho, though but little wheat is in the ear. The latter rains sometimes begin to fall in the end of this season, swelling the rising crops, with which the valleys are covered. 1 Harmer's Observations, vol. i. pp. 36-42. "On the 8th of February commenced the most violent thunder and hailstorm ever remembered, and which continued two days and nights intermittingly. The hail, or rather the ice-stones, were as big as large walows. The camps were deluged with a torrent of them two feet deep, which, pouring from the mountains, swept every thing before it. The scene of confusion on shore, by the horses breaking loose, and the men being unable to face the storm, or remain still in the freezing deluge, surpasses description. It is not in the power of language to convey an adequate idea of such a tempest." Sir Robert Wilson's History of the British Expedition to Egypt, vol. i. p. 8. 8vo. edit. Hail storms are so violent in some parts of Persia, as frequently to destroy the cattle in the fields. Kinneir's Geographical Memoir, p. 158. 3 Harmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 45. note. The same usage still obtains at Smyrna. Emerson's Letters from the gean, vol. i. pp. 96, 97. In our authorized version, the preposition 73 (Bak) is rendered against thee, which is erroneous, as the context shows that the Jews were talking of or concerning the prophet, and so it is properly rendered in Psal. Lxxxvii. 3. Glorious things are spoken or thee, O city of God. • Harmer's Observations, vol. i. pp. 50-53. [CHAP. II. includes the latter half of Nisan, the whole of Jyar (or Zif), and the former half of Sivan, that is, from the beginning of 4. The HARVEST, by the rabbins denominated (KETSIR), April to the beginning of June. In the first fortnight of this season, the latter rains are frequent, but cease towards the end of April, when the sky is generally fair and serene. In the plain of Jericho the heat of the sun is excessive, though and on the sea-coast the heat is tempered by morning and in other parts of Palestine the weather is most delightful; evening breezes from the sea. As the harvest depends on the duration of the rainy season, the early or autumnal rains, and port of vegetation, and were consequently objects greatly the latter or spring rains are absolutely necessary to the supdesired by the Israelites and Jews.' were always chilly (Ezra x. 9. and Sol. Song ii. 11.), and often preceded by whirlwinds (2 Kings iii. 16, 17.) that These rains, however, raised such quantities of sand as to darken the sky, or, in the words of the sacred historian, to make the heavens black with clouds and wind. (1 Kings xviii. 45.) In Egypt the barley harvest precedes the summer. This may explain Jer. viii. 20. where the harvest is put first in the description,The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. as whole villages in the East are constructed only with palm The rains descend in Palestine with great violence; and branches, mud, and tiles baked in the sun (perhaps corresponding to and explanatory of the untempered mortar noticed cement, such as it is, and the houses fall to the ground. To in Ezek. xiii. 11.), these rains not unfrequently dissolve the these effects our Lord probably alludes in Matt. vii. 25-27. Very small clouds are likewise the forerunners of violent storms and hurricanes in the east as well as in the west: they rise like a man's hand (1 Kings xviii. 44.), until the whole sky becomes black with rain, which descends in torrents, that rush down the steep hills, and sweep every thing before them.9 to have become a certain prognostic of wet weather. He said to the people, When ye see THE cloud (THN Nepy) rise out In our Lord's time, this phenomenon seems of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; AND so IT IS. (Luke xii. 51.) prehends the later half of Sivan, the whole of Thammuz, 5. The SUMMER, by the rabbins termed sp (KYITS), comand the former half of Ab, that is, from the beginning of June to the beginning of August. The heat of the weather increases, and the nights are so warm that the inhabitants sleep on their house-tops in the open air. the great heat, includes the latter half of Ab, the whole of 6. The HOT SEASON, by the rabbins called on (CHUM), or Elul, and the former half of Tisri, that is, from the beginning of August to the beginning of October. During the at Jerusalem than in the plain of Jericho: there is no cold, not even in the night, so that travellers pass whole nights in chief part of this season the heat is intense, though less so the open air without inconvenience. Lebanon is for the most the sun cannot penetrate. During the hot season, it is not part free from snow, except in the caverns and defiles where uncommon in the East Indies for persons to die suddenly, in consequence of the extreme heat of the solar rays (whence the necessity of being carried in a palanquin). This is now commonly termed a coup-de-soleil, or stroke of the sun. The son of the woman of Shunem appears to have died in consequence of a coup-de-soleil (2 kings iv. 19, 20.); and to iii. 3. v. 24. Hos. vi. 3. Joel ii. 23. Zech. x. 1. Jer. "From these bountiful the importance of the early and latter rains, and the earnestness with don, 1822. 8vo. and also takes place in Abyssinia. Mr. Bruce, speaking of the phenomena ton's Doctrine of the Greek Article, p. 327. (first edit.) the eighteenth century) found the air about Jericho extremely hot, and this fatal effect of the solar heat the psalmist alludes (Psal. | royal psalmist alludes. (Psal. xxxii. 4.) If, at this season, exxi. 6.), as he also does to the effect of the lunar rays, which a single spark falls upon the grass, a conflagration immediatein Arabia (as well as in Egypt) are singularly injurious to ly ensues, especially if there should be any briers or thorns, the eyes of those who sleep in the open air. "The moon low shrubs or woods contiguous. (Psal. lxxxiii. 14. Isa. here really strikes and affects the sight when you sleep ex- ix. 18. x. 17, 18. Jer. xxi. 14. Compare also Exod. xxii. 6. posed to it much more than the sun: indeed, the sight of a and Joel i. 19, 20.) The face of the country becomes enperson, who should sleep with his face exposed at night, tirely changed; the fields, so lately clothed with the richest would soon be utterly impaired or destroyed.” verdure and adorned with the loveliest flowers, are converted From the time of harvest, that is, from the middle of April into a brown and arid wilderness; the grass withereth, the to the middle of September, it neither rains nor thunders. flower fadeth (Isa. xl. 6, 7.); the fountains and rivulets are (Prov. xxvi. 1. 1 Sam. xii. 17.) During the latter part of dried up; and the soil becomes so hard as to exhibit large April, or about the middle of the harvest. the morning cloud fissures or clefts. These effects are accelerated if the east is seen early in the morning, which disappears as the sun wind blow for a few days; which, being usually dry and ascends above the horizon. (Hos. vi. 4. xiii. 3.) These light producing a blight, becomes fatal to the corn and vines (Job fleecy clouds are without water (repeñas àvudpus); and to them xv. 2. Gen. xli. 6. 23. Ezek. xvii. 10. xix. 12. Hos. xiii. 15. the apostle Jude (verse 12.) compares the false teachers, who Jonah iv. 8. Psal. ciii. 15, 16.); and is particularly daneven then began to contaminate the church of Christ. Ingerous to navigators in the Mediterranean Sea. This is Deut. xxxii. 2. the doctrine of Jehovah is compared to the alluded to in Psla. xlviii. 7. and Ezek. xxvii. 26. The people rain, and clouds are the instruments by which rain is dis- of the East generally term every wind an east wind, that tilled upon the earth. In arid or parched countries, the very blows between the east and north and the east and south. appearance of a cloud is delightful, because it is a token of The Euroclydon, which caused the wreck of the vessel in refreshing showers; but when sudden winds arise, and dis- which Paul was sailing to Rome, was one of these tempesperse these clouds, the hope of the husbandman and shepherd tuous east winds, arus Tupomos, that drove every thing before is cut off. The false teachers alluded to, are represented as it. (Acts xxvii. 14.) Such winds are common in the Mediclouds; they have the form and office of teachers of right-terranean to this day, where they are called Levanters, the eousness, and from such appearances pure doctrine may term Levant meaning that country which lies at the eastern naturally be expected. But these are clouds without water; extremity of that sea." they distil no refreshing showers, because they contain none; and they are carried about by their passion, as those light and fleecy clouds in question are carried by the winds. From the Jewish month Sivan, through the entire months of Tammuz, Ab, and the former part of Elul, corresponding with our months of May, June, July, and August, not a single cloud is to be seen; but during the night, the earth is moistened by a copious dew, which in the sacred volume is frequently made a symbol of the divine goodness. (Compare Gen. xxvii. 28. and xlix. 25. where the blessing from above is equivalent with dew, Deut. xxxii. 2. xxxiii. 13. Job xxix. 19. Mic. v. 7.) In Arabia Petræa the dews are so heavy, as to wet to the skin those who are exposed to them: but as soon as the sun arises, and the atmosphere becomes a little warmed, the mists are quickly dispersed, and the abundant moisture, which the dews had communicated to the sands, is entirely evaporated. What a forcible description is this of the transiently good impressions, felt by many, to which the prophet Hosea alludes! (vi. 4.) Other references to the refreshing nature of the dews of Palestine occur in Psal. exxxiii. 3. and Hos. xiv. 5.3 These dews fall, as in other countries, very fast as well as very suddenly, upon every blade of grass and every spot of earth: whence an active and expeditious soldiery is in 2 Sam. xvii. 12. by a beautiful figure compared to dew. But, however copious the dews are, they nourish only the more robust or hardy plants; and as the season of heat advances, the grass withers, the flowers fade, every green herb is dried up by the roots and dies, unless watered by the rivulets or by the labour of man. To this appearance of the fields, during an eastern summer, the stance near Tiberias. The heat at the time was so unusally great, that as many died by that as by the sword. After the battle, in their return to ther former encampment, a certain ecclesiastic, of soine distinction in the charch and in the army, not being able to bear the vehemence of the heat, vations, vol. i. p. 4. was carried in a litter, but expired under Mount Tabor.-Harmer's Obser- try Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. p. 325. The very heavy dews which fall in the Holy Land, are noticed by almost every one who has travelled in that coun. We shall adduce the testimonies of two or three. Maundrell, travel Eng near Mount Hermon, in the year 1697, says, "We were instructed by experience, what the Psalmist means by the dew of Hermon (Psal. cxxxiii. 1) our tents being as wet with it, as if it had rained all night." (Travels from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 77) Dr. E. D. Clarke, when on his journey from Aboukir to Rosetta, in 1801, says, "We had a tent allotted to us for the night; it was double lined; yet so copious are the dews of Egypt" (the dinate of which country is similar to that of the Holy Land), "after sun. set that the water ran copiously down the tent pole." (Travels, vol. iii. p. Sve) Mr. Carne says, "The dews had fallen heavily for some nights, and the clothes that covered us were quite wet in the morning." Letters from the East. p. 178. Harmer's Observations, vol. I. p. 6. VOL. II. D III. In consequence of the paucity of showers in the East, water is an article of great importance to the inhabitants. Hence, in Lot's estimation, it was a principal recommendation of the plain of Jordan that it was well watered every where (Gen. xiii. 10.); and the same advantage continued in later ages to be enjoyed by the Israelites, whose country was intersected by numerous brooks and streams; whence it is not more emphatically than beautifully described as a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills. And the same preference is given to this day by the Eelauts (a Tartar tribe occupying a district in the northern part of the Persian empire), who carry their flocks to the highest parts of the mountains, where the bless ings of pasturage and of good water are to be found in abundance. The knowledge of this circumstance will, perhaps, impart new force to the promises made to the Gentiles by the evangelical prophet. Their pastures shall be in all high places, they shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the sun or heat smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. (Isa. xlix. 9— 11.) See also Rev. vii. 16, 17. Although RIVERS are frequently mentioned in the Sacred Writings, yet, strictly speaking, the only river in the Holy Land is the Jordan, which is sometimes designated in the Scripture as the river without any addition; as also is the Nile (Gen. xli. 1. Exod. i. 22. ii. 5. iv. 9. vii. 18. and viii. 3. 9. 11.), and, occasionally, the Euphrates (as in Jer. ii. 18.); in these cases, the tenor of the discourse must determine which is the river actually intended by the sacred writers. The name of river is also given to inconsiderable streams and rivulets, as to the Kishon (Judges iv. 7. and v. 21.) and the Arnon. (Deut. iii. 16.)8 1. The principal river which waters Palestine is the JorDAN or Yar-Dan, i. e. the river of Dan, so called because it takes its rise in the vicinity of the little city of Dan. Its true source is in two fountains at Paneas (a city better known by its subsequent name of Casarea Philippi), at the foot of Anti-Libanus; its apparent source flows from beneath a cave at the foot of a precipice, in the sides of which are several niches with Greek inscriptions. During several hours of its course, it continues to be a small and insignificant "The very affecting images of Scripture, which compare the shortliving existence of man to the decay of the vegetable creation, are scarcely understood in this country. The verdure is perpetual in England. It is difficult to discover a time when it can be said, 'the grass withereth.' But, let the traveller visit the beautiful plain of Smyrna, or any other part of the East, in the mouth of May, and revisit it towards the end of June, and he will perceive the force and beauty of these allusions. In May, an appearance of fresh verdure and of rich luxuriance every where meets the eye; the face of nature is adorned with a carpet of flowers and herbage, of the most elegant kind. But a month or six weeks subsequently, how changed is the entire scene! The beauty is gone; the grass is with. ered; the flower is faded; a brown and dusty desert has taken place of a delicious garden. It is doubtless to this rapid transformation of nature that the Scriptures compare the fate of man." Hartley's Researches in Greece, p. 237. 6 Shaw's Travels in Barbery, &c. vol. ii. pp. 127–133. Morier's Second Journey through Persia, p. 121. In a few instances, the sea is called a river, as in Hab. iii. 8. where the Red Sea is intended. 9 Capt. Irby's and Mangle's Travels in Egypt, &c. pp. 287--289. 2. The ARNON, which descends from the mountains of the same name, and discharges itself into the Dead Sea. 3. The SIHOR (the Belus of ancient geographers, at present called the Kardanah), has its source about four miles to the east of the head of the river Kishon. It waters the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, and falls into the sea at the gulph of Keilah.6 4. The brook JABBOK takes its rise in the same mountains, and falls into the river Jordan. It is a rapid stream, flowing over a rocky bed; its waters are clear, and agreeable to the taste, and its banks are very thickly wooded with oleander and plane trees, wild olives, wild almonds, and numerous other trees. By the Arabs it is now termed Nahr-el-Zarkah, or the river of Kerkah, from a neighbouring station or vil rivulet. It flows due south through the centre of the coun- 5. The KANAH, or Brook of Reeds, springs from the mountains of Judah, but only flows during the winter, and it falls into the Mediterranean Sea near Cæsarea: it formerly sepa rated the tribe of Ephraim from that of Manasseh. (Josh. xvii. 8, 9.) 6. The brook BESOR (1 Sam. xxx. 9.) falls into the same sea between Gaza and Rhinocorura. 7. The KISHON, now called the Moukattoua, issues from the mountains of Carmel, at the foot of which it forms two streams; one flows eastward into the sea of Galilee, and the other, taking a westerly course through the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, discharges itself into the Mediterranean Sea, at a short distance to the south of Acro or Acre. This is the stream noticed in 1 Kings xviii. 40.: when swollen by heavy rains it is impassable. Anciently the Jordan overflowed its banks about the time of barley harvest (Josh. iii. 15. iv. 18. 1 Chron. xii. 15. Jer. xlix. 19.), or the feast of the passover; when, the snows being dissolved on the mountains, the torrents discharged themselves into its channel with great impetuosity. When visited by Mr. Maundrell, at the beginning of the last century, he could discern no sign or probability of such inundations, though so late as the 30th of March; and so far was 8. The KEDRON, KIDRON, or CEDRON, as it is variously the river from overflowing, that it ran almost two yards termed (2 Sam. xv. 23. 1 Kings xv. 13. 2 kings xxiii. 6. below the brink of its channel. It may be said to have two 12. 2 Chron. xxix. 16. Jer. xxxi. 40. John xviii. 1.), runs banks,—the first, that of the river in its natural state; the in the valley of Jehoshaphat, eastward of Jerusalem, between second, that of its overflowings. After descending the outer- that city and the Mount of Olives. Except during the winmost bank, the traveller proceeds about a furlong upon a level ter, or after heavy rains, its channel is generally dry, but, strand, before he comes to the immediate bank of the river. when swollen by torrents, it flows with great impetuosity;9 This second bank is now (as it anciently was) so beset with its waters are said to become dark and turbid, probably bebushes, reeds, tamarisks, willows, oleanders, and other cause it collects the waste of the adjacent hills; and, like shrubs and trees, which form an asylum for various wild other brooks in cities, it is contaminated with the filth, of animals, that no water is perceptible until the traveller has which it is the receptacle and common sewer. The blood made his way through them. In this thicket several kinds and offal of the victims sacrificed in the temple are said, in of wild beasts used formerly to conceal themselves, until the later times, to have been carried off by a drain into the Keswelling of the river drove them from their coverts. To this dron.10 As no mention is made of bridges in Palestine, it is fact the prophet Jeremiah alludes, when he compares the probable that the inhabitants forded the rivers and brooks impatience of Edom and Babylon under the divine judg-wherever it was practicable, (in the same manner as persons ments, to the coming up of a lion from the swellings of Jordan, of both sexes do to this day in Bengal), which is alluded to. (Jer. xlix. 19.) On the level strand above noticed, it proba- in Isa. xlvii. 2. bly was, that John the Baptist stood, and pointed to the stones of which it was composed, when he exclaimed, I say unto you, that God is able of THESE STONES to raise up children unto Abraham and turning to the second bank, which was overgrown with various shrubs and trees that had been suffered to grow wild for ages, he added, and now also the 1. The SEA OF GALILEE (so called from its situation on the axe is laid unto the root of THE TREES: therefore every tree, eastern borders of that division of Palestine), through which which bringeth not forth good FRUIT, is hewn down and cast the Jordan flows, was anciently called the Sea of Chinnereth into the fire. (Matt. ii. 9, 10.) The passage of this deep and (Num. xxxiv. 11.) or Chiuneroth (Josh. xii. 3.), from its rapid river by the Israelites, at the most unfavourable season, vicinity to the town of that name; afterwards Gennesar (1 when augmented by the dissolution of the winter snows, was Macc. xi. 67.), and in the time of Jesus Christ Genesareth or more manifestly miraculous, if possible, than that of the Red Gennesareth (Luke v. 1.), from the neighbouring land of the Sea; because here was no natural agency whatever employed; same name (Matt. xiv. 34. Mark vi. 53.); and also the Sea no mighty winds to sweep a passage as in the former case; of Tiberias (John vi. 1. xxi. 1.), from the contiguous city of no reflux in the tide on which minute philosophers might Tiberias. This capacious lake, almost equal in the grandeur fasten to depreciate the miracle. It seems, therefore, to have of its appearance to that of Geneva, spreads its transparent been providentially designed, to silence cavils respecting the waters over all the lower territory, extending from the northformer: it was done at noonday, in the presence of the neigh-east to the south-west. The waters of the northern part of bouring inhabitants: and it struck terror into the kings of this lake abound with fish: this circumstance marks the the Amorites and Canaanites westward of the river, whose propriety of our Lord's parable of the net cast into the sea hearts melted, neither was there any spirit in them any more, (Matt. xiii. 47, 48.), which was delivered by him from a because of the children of Israel. (Josh. v. 1.) The place vessel near the shore. The fish are said to be most delicicus. where the Israelites thus miraculously passed this river, There is not much variety, but the best sort is the most comis supposed to be the fords of Jordan mentioned in Judg. mon; it is a species of bream, equal to the finest perch. It is iii. 26. remarkable, that there is not a single boat of any description Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. p. 23. The other remarkable streams or rivulets of Palestine are the following: 1 Carne's Recollections of Travels in the East, p. 38. London, 1830. 8vo. 2 Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. pp. 156, 157. Buckingham's Travels, p. 315. 4 Three Weeks in Palestine, p. 90. • Maundrell's Journey, p. 110. to Constantinople, in the years 1817, 1818, p. 191. (Lond, 1819. 4to.) The Jordan is annually frequented by many thousand pilgrims, chiefly of the Greek church, under the protection of the Moosillim, or Turkish governor of Jerusalem, and a strong military escort. Ibid. pp. 191, 192. Richardson's Travels, vol. ii. p. 387. Irby's and Mangles' Travels, pp. 329, 330. Dr. Macmichael's Travels from Moscow Of the LAKES mentioned in the Scriptures, three are particularly worthy of notice; that of Galilee or Gennesareth, the Lake Merom, and the Lake of Sodom, both of which are termed seas, agreeably to the Hebrew phraseology, which gives the name of sea to any large body of water. Buckingham's Travels, p. 325. Carne's Letters, p. 250. Richter's Pilgrimages in the East, in 18151816. (Cabinet of Foreign Voyages, vol. i. pp. 159, 160. London, 1825.) In like manner the rivers of Cyprus (which island lies to the north-west of the Holy Land) are dry during the summer months, and are swollen into torrents by sudden rains. Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. p. 75. 10 Lightfoot's Chorographical Century, on Matthew, chap. 38. fine. (Works, vol. i. p. 80.) its vicinity, who, like the earliest ones, call their water a sea, and reckon 11 This appellation is retained by the modern inhabitants, who reside in it and the Dead Sea to the south of them to be the two largest known except the great ocean." Buckinghain's Travels, p. 471. SECT. I.] THE DEAD SEA. on the lake at present; and the fish are caught, partly by the fishermen going into the water, up to their waist, and throwing in a hand net, and partly with casting nets from the beach a method which must yield a very small quantity, compared to what they would get with boats.' Pliny states this lake to be sixteen miles in length by six miles in breadth. Josephus, whose intimate knowledge of his country gives his descriptions a high claim to attention, says that its breadth is forty furlongs, and its length one hundred and forty. Its waters are sweet and very agreeable for drinking, for they are finer than the thick waters of other fens. The lake is also pure, and on every side ends directly at the shores, and at the sand: it is also of a temperate nature, when drawn up, and softer than river or fountain water: and it is so cold, that the people of the place cannot warm it by setting it in the sun, in the hottest season of the year. There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the taste and sight from those elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by the river Jordan."2 The fidelity of Josephus's description is attested by two learned and acute modern travellers. Mr. Buckingham, who beheld it in 1816, observes that "all these features are drawn with an accuracy that could only have been attained by one resident in the country. The size is still nearly the same, the borders of the lake still end at the beach or the sands, at the feet of the mountains which environ it. Its waters are still as sweet and temperate as ever, and the lake abounds with great numbers of fish of various sizes and kinds. The seen from Capernaum," Mr. appearance of the lake as Buckingham states, "is still grand; its greatest length runs nearly north and south from twelve to fifteen miles; and its breadth seems to be, in general, from six to nine miles. The barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; and this is increased to melancholy by the dead calm of its waters and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found." "The 27 waters are no longer bitter, this lake derives no small interest 3. The LAKE or SEA OF SODOM, or the DEAD SEA, has Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 8. 4.; Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. v. c. 16.; 1088. edit. Oxon. Tacitus, Hist. lib. v. c. 6.; Justin. lib. xxxvi. c. 3.; Strabo, lib. xvi. pp. 1087, Irby's and Mangles' Travels, p. 330. Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, vol. viii. p. 164. An analysis of the water of the of Clunie, at the request of the late Sir Joseph Banks), conducted by Dr. Dead Sea (a phial of which had been brought to England by Mr. Gordon Marcet, gave the following results:-This water is perfectly transparent, and does not deposit any crystals on standing in close vessels.-Its taste is peculiarly bitter, saline, and pungent.-The application of tests or reagents proves that it contains the muriatic and sulphuric acids. There is no alumina in it, nor does it appear to be saturated with marine salt or muriate of soda.-On suunning up the contents of 150 grains of the water, under-mentioned proportions:they were found to hold in solution the following substances, and in the Dr. Clarke, by whom this lake was visited a few years before Mr. Buckingham's arrival, describes it as longer and finer than our Cumberland and Westmorland lakes, although it yields in majesty to the stupendous features of Loch Lomond in Scotland: like our Windermere, the lake of Gennesareth is often greatly agitated by winds. (Matt. viii. 2327.) A strong current marks the passage of the Jordan through the middle of this lake; and when this is opposed by contrary winds, which blow here with the force of a hurricane from the south-east, sweeping into the lake from the mountains, a boisterous sea is instantly raised: this the small vessels of the country are ill qualified to resist. wind," says he, "rendered its surface rough, and called to mind the situation of our Saviour's disciples; when, in one of the small vessels, which traversed these waters, they were tossed in a storm, and saw Jesus in the fourth watch of the night walking to them upon the waves." (Matt. xiv. 242.) These agitations, however, do not last for any length of time. Its broad and extended surface, covering the bottom of a profound valley, environed by lofty and precipitous eminences (excepting only the narrow entrance and outlets at the Jordan at each extremity), added to the impression of a certain reverential awe under which every Christian pilgrim approaches it, give it a character of dignity unparalTeled by any similar scenery. When not agitated by tem- water would be:pests, the water is stated to be as clear as the purest crystal, sweet, cool, and most refreshing to the taste. Ac 2. The WATERS OF MEROM, mentioned in Josh. xi. 5. 7., are generally supposed to be the lake, afterwards called Sa mochonitis, which lies between the head of the river Jordan and the Sea of Tiberias. Its modern name is Houle. cording to Josephus, it is thirty furlongs broad, and sixty furlongs in length; and its marshes extend to the place called Daphne, where the Jordan issues from it. Though its 1 Travels in Egypt, &c. by Captains Irby and Mangles, p. 295. Madden's Travels in Turkey, &c. vol. ii. p. 312. See also Carne's Letters from the East, (Cabinet of Foreign Fa 51-33. Richter's Pilgrimages in the East. Vorazes, vol. i. p. 157.) Pritii Introd. in Nov. Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. iii. c. 10. § 7. Test. p. 203. Mr. Jowett's estimate nearly • Buckin zham's Travels, pp. 470, 471. ro ncides with that of Mr. Buckingham (Christian Researches in Syria, p. 175,8 also does that of Mr. Rae Wilson. (Travels in the Holy Land, io. p. 13, 14, 3d edition.) Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. pp. 209, 210. 225. Buckingham's Travels, De Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 1. §1. Reland conjectures that, for Daphne, In this passage of Josephus, we ought to read Dan, as there is no mention Muriate of lime.. Salts. Acid. 8,61 15.54 7,15 0,08 66 And, consequently, the proportions of these salts in 100 grains of the Muriate of lime.... Grains. 3,920 10,246 10,360 0,054 24,580 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for 1807, part ii. pp. 298-312. Another analysis, made by the eminent French Journal of Science, &c. vol. viii. p. 165.) "Hence it appears that the Dead chemist, M. Gay-Lussac in 1819, gave nearly similar results. (See Quarterly Sea water now contains about one-fourth of its weight of salt supposed in a state of perfect desiccation; or, if they be desiccated at the temperature of 180 degrees on Fahrenheit's scale, they will amount to forty-one per cent. of the water. If any person wish for a stronger confirmation of the Scripture account of the origin of the Dead Sea than this furnishes, we can only pity the miserable state of incredulity to which he is reduced, and commit him to the influences of that Power which can cause the 'wil derness to blossom as the rose,' and from 'stones raise up children unto Eclectic Review for 1809, vol. v. part i. p. 134. Abraham."" In the vicinity of this sea Captains Irby and Mangles collected lumps of nitre and fine sulphur, from the size of a nutmeg to that of a small hen's Travels in Egypt, &c. p. egg, which had been brought down from the surrounding cliffs by the rain. |