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historian, it should have overflowed its banks, not only had it not overflowed them, but it did not reach within two yards of their brink.* Should this be now even the uniform state of this river at this season, and not an occasional state of it, adequate reasons can be assigned for the change which it has undergone since the days of Joshua and the Judges. The action of a current so rapid as that of the Jordan on the channel in which it flows, cannot fail to have considerably deepened it since that period, and thus given it a capacity for a much greater volume of water than it then possessed.

But its periodical supplies from Lebanon have been greatly diminished, both by the disappearance from that mountain of its immense forests, and by the bringing under cultivation of its declivities. The forests of cedar which once clothed the summits of Lebanon, by attracting the humidity of the atmosphere, and accumulating snow, and defending from the burning rays of the sun the several rills and streams which were tributary to it, yielded considerable supplies to the Jordan. The occupation and cultivation of the declivities of this mountain by the Maronites and other nations, who took refuge there from the oppression of the Turks, would necessarily have the same influence, though in a somewhat smaller degree, as the disappearance of its forests.

But the state in which Maundrell found the Jordan at the season when, according to the Scripture account, it should have overflowed its banks, does not even now appear to be the state in which at this season it is uniformly found. Although the causes above stated operate to a very considerable and almost total extent to prevent the periodical swell of the Jordan, that swell, according to Volney, does still take place at its appointed

*Maundrell's Journey, pp. 80, 81, &c.

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season, and exhibits a scene of considerable grandeur. In winter, he informs us, the river overflows its narrow channel, which between the two principal lakes, is not more than sixty or eighty feet broad; and, swollen by the rains, forms a sheet of water sometimes a quarter of a league in breadth. The time of its overflowing is in March, when the snows melt on the mountain of Shaik; at which time, more than any other, its waters are troubled and of a yellow hue, and its course impetuous.*

* Volney's Travels, vol. ii. p. 194.

LECTURE XI.

CANAAN.

ITS PHYSIOLOGY.-ATMOSPHERE; SEASONS; FERTILITY;

PRODUCTIONS.

WE have described the surface of Canaan; we come now to describe some of the phenomena of its upper regions, the various divisions which nature has made in its year, its power of production, and some of the objects of its produce. The first of these subjects we designate

ITS ATMOSPHERE.

Including under the term Atmosphere, as we do, the various phenomena which characterize it, and the various states in which it exists, we arrange the subject denoted by it in the following order :

First. Its Climates." It has been justly remarked that Syria has three climates. The summits of Libanus, for instance, covered with snow, diffuse a salubrious coolness in the interior; the flat situations, on the contrary, especially those which stretch along the line of the coast, are constantly subjected to heat, accompanied with great humidity; while the adjoining plains of the desert are scorched by the rays of a

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burning sun. The seasons and the productions of course undergo a corresponding variation. In the mountains, the months of spring and summer very nearly coincide with those in the southern parts of Europe; and the winter, which lasts from November till March, is sharp and vigorous. No year passes without snow, which often covers the surface of the ground to the depth of several feet during many weeks. The spring and autumn are agreeable, and the summer by no means oppressive. But in the plains, on the other hand, as soon as the sun has passed the equator, a sudden transition takes place to an overpowering heat, which continues till October." So early as the month of March, in the year before that in which the travellers Egmont and Hayman arrived in Palestine, the heat proved fatal to several persons in the plain of Jericho. Many of the troops of Baldwin the Fourth, King of Jerusalem, died from the heat, near to Nazareth in Galilee, where he fought the Saracens-a situation considerably farther north than Jericho. And at Shunem, which was in the neighbourhood of Mount Tabor, the sacred historian informs us that the heat proved fatal to a child in the time of harvest, in the days of the prophet Elisha. A knowledge of these facts enables us to estimate the value of "the shadow of a great rock ;" and to understand the allusion, and perceive the beauty of the language, of the church, when she exclaims, "I sat down under his shadow with great delight." The overpowering heat of the plains in the summer, however, is compensated by a winter so mild, that orange-trees, dates, bananas, and other delicate plants, grow during that season in the open field.

Secondly. Its winds." The winds of Palestine, as in all countries which approach the tropics, are period

*Palestine, p. 418.

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ical, and governed in no small degree by the course of the sun. About the autumnal equinox, the north-east wind begins to blow with frequency and strength. It renders the air dry, clear, and sharp; and it is remarkable that, on the sea-coast, it causes the head-ache, like the north-east wind in Egypt. We may further observe, that it usually blows three days successively, like the south and south-east wind at the other equinox. It continues to prevail till November, that is, about fifty days, when it is followed by the west and south-west, called by the Arabs the fathers of rain.' In March, arise the pernicious winds from the southern quarter, with the same circumstances as in Egypt; but they become feebler as we advance towards the north, and are much more supportable in the mountains than in the low country. Their duration at each return varies from twenty-four hours to three days." In countries in or near the tropics, and especially in the sandy deserts, this wind is peculiarly injurious. It fills the atmosphere with a subtle dust, which prevents respiration, and brings with it pernicious vapours. So charged is it with electricity, that it will sometimes dry out water in skin bottles in an instant. It resembles the breath of a glowing furnace, destroying all symptoms of vegetation; and even, during the night, scorches the skin in the most painful manner. Should this wind overtake the traveller in the desert, it is almost sure to prove fatal to him. It has been known to bury in the sand a whole caravan of considerable magnitude. Even in the fertile plain of Esdraelon, Dr. Clarke, who, in his journey from Tiberias to Napolose, experienced it, represents it as far more insufferable than the sun. Its parching influence, he informs us, pervaded all places; and coming as from a furnace, it seemed to threaten the whole party with suffocation.

*Palestine, p. 418.

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