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and Litâny flow for the greater part of their course through Cole-Syria; the former makes an abrupt détour to the north-west, waters Antioch, and falls into the Mediterranean near Seleucia; the latter (the Litâny) takes its rise near Baalbec, between the two mountain chains, and after winding through the gorges of the Libanus pours its waters into the Mediterranean near Beyrout. The Barada, which has its source in the heart of Anti-Libanus, carries fruitfulness and freshness to Damascus, and creates a marvellous oasis amid the red sand' of the desert.

Such is the northern mountain system of Palestine. The two parallel chains which run to the south may be regarded as a continuation of the Anti-Libanus range. The first of these chains, bearing to the south-west, on this side the Jordan, comprehends the mountains of Safed-Tabor, those which surround the Lake of Tiberias, and those which form the high table-land of Galilee. chain breaks off at the entrance of the magnificent plain of Esdraelon, on the borders of Galilee and Samaria; it re-appears at Mount Carmel, and inclines slightly to the south-east, with the green mountains of Samaria or Ephraim (Ebal and Gerizim), and the stony and arid heights

This

of Judah. The Mount of Olives and the hills of Hebron slightly break this burning monotony. The chain terminates south of the Dead Sea. From the foot of Lebanon at Tyre (Tzur) to Carmel, extends the maritime coast, on which stand the towns of St. Jean D'Acre and Caïapha. Through the plain of Esdraelon flows the Kishon. On the sea-coast, from the foot of Carmel to Jaffa, extends the rich and celebrated plain of Sharon, terminating at the country of the Philistines.

The second chain, which forms the continuation of Anti-Libanus to the south-east, beyond the Jordan, comprehends the mountains of Gilead, and the long sterile chain of Moab, which skirts the Dead Sea, and closes with its strongly-marked line, the horizon of southern Palestine. Mount Nebo, from which the dying Moses surveyed the Land of Promise, forms a part of this range.

The Jordan, the sacred river, par excellence, flows through that part of Palestine which extends from the southern extremity of Cole-Syria to the Dead Sea. Its highest spring is a dazzling sheet of water which gushes from the rocks of Hermon near Hasbeya; its principal sources are at Tel-el Kady, the ancient Dan, and at Banias, the ancient Cesaræa-Philippi. It crosses the beautiful

GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF PALESTINE. 25

plain of Hûleh, which lies between the last slopes of Anti-Libanus and the mountains of Galilee, terminating in the rich plateau of Basçan. From thence the river, widening its bed, forms the Lake of Hûleh or Merom; it then flows, in a thousand windings, down a volcanic valley, sometimes between arid rocks, sometimes between low shores, till it throws itself into the beautiful Lake of Gennesaret, to re-appear in its entire volume at the other end. Then it bounds-a Syrian Mississippi, from cascade to cascade, till it dwindles to a muddy stream running on between low banks, and finally loses itself in the burning salt of the Dead Sea, but not before it has been enriched by the waters of Jabbok, made so illustrious by Jacob's mysterious conflict. The lower valley of the Jordan is the famous valley of Ghôr. It has been calculated that the Dead Sea is 1,300 feet lower than the Mediterranean. Such a depression explains the tropical heat of the climate.

If from this brief sketch of the configuration of the country, we pass to its general characteristics, we see at once how admirably it was prepared by Providence for the historical development of the people who were to inhabit it. It was Israel's vocation to sit for long centuries

alone among the nations, till the time when the great religious truth which lay at the basis of her institutions, having reached its maturity, was to be diffused over all the earth. It was necessary, therefore, that high barriers should be interposed between the Jewish people and other nations; barriers which should be, at the same time, not insuperable, but such as might be levelled when their purpose was accomplished. This double condition is remarkably fulfilled in the geography of Palestine. The country is inclosed on the south by the Egyptian desert, on the north by a rampart of high mountains, on the east by the wastes of the Dead Sea, and on the west by a sea-board without natural ports. On the other hand it is so placed, in the very centre of the great nations of ancient history, that communication might be frequent and easy, as soon as the education of the people was completed, and a moral impulse given strong enough to override the material obstacles, which sufficed to maintain isolation during the long period of preparation.

The climate is by no means enervating. Palestine lies, indeed, under an Asiatic sky, but, excepting in occasional steppes and oases, it shows no trace of the fire which consumes,

GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF PALESTINE. 27

or the rank luxuriance which enfeebles. It has beside a singular variety of temperature; each tribe had its allotted place; and the lot of each corresponded to his historic future. This adaptation is admirably indicated in Jacob's prophetic address to his sons on his death-bed. On the south, on the very verge of the desert, grows the vine, to which, according to the promise of the dying patriarch, "Judah should bind his foal," where he should "wash his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes;" while among his own mountain-fastnesses he should "go up as a lion from the prey," and his "father's children should bow down before him." (Gen. xlix. 8-12): Benjamin, who occupies the wild defiles on the north of Judah, is the ravening wolf, (Gen. xlix. 27), the strong sentinel placed at a perilous post, his existence one long combat; Dan, encamped rather than established at the southern extremity of the plain of Sharon, is "an adder in the path" of the Philistine; "he bites the horses' heels," and obstinately defends a contested frontier. (Gen. xlix. 17). The aged patriarch promises to the posterity of Joseph "blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb." (Gen. xlix. 22-26). This