1848.] VEGETATION. 491 



poor little gig was broken to pieces. Then the iron boat 

 dashed into the midst of the stream, and leaped the dangerous 

 fall without sustaining any damage."* 



(5.) For several miles below the Sea of Galilee, the elevated 

 plains lying along the valley of the Jordan are well cultivated, 

 and fields of grain are quite abundant ; but as you progress 

 to the southward, this appearance of fertility gives place to a 

 barren, and a wilder and more savage aspect. The terraces 

 are now strongly marked, and continuous ranges of perpen- 

 dicular cliffs, of a chalky color at the top, and a light brown 

 at the base, border El-Ghor on either hand. Limestone is 

 the prevalent formation, but huge blocks of trap and con- 

 glomerate, boulders of sandstone and quartz, fossil rocks, and 

 perpendicular layers and columnar masses of basalt, are 

 likewise found. The soil of the lower valley is a dark rich 

 loam, or alluvion, occasionally interrupted by indurated clay 

 and sand, which supports, for the most part, an exceedingly 

 rank vegetation. 



But although the upper plains along the southern part of 

 the valley of the river are so deficient in vegetable life, a 

 bright line of the richest verdure marks the course of the river 

 throughout the whole distance. So luxuriant is this, that the 

 stream itself is oftentimes completely hidden, and screened, 

 by the dense thickets of trees and bushes, " the pride of Jor- 

 dan," from the fierce sun that beats down in all its fury, as 

 if in fulfilment of a curse, upon the barren hills and desert 

 slopes of Palestine. Upon the borders of the stream, amid 

 the mingled tufts of cane and reeds and grass, innumerable 

 wild flowers bloom and blossom. The scarlet anemone, the 

 yellow marigold and daisy, the pink-flowered valerian, the 

 crimson baghuk, the bright waterlily, the orange-colored bis- 

 bas and mun/r, the white fringy- asphodel, the purple clover, 

 the medicinal briony, the pheasant's eye, and the scabiosa 

 stellata, blend their choice dyes together. Tangled masses 

 of shrubbery, of vines and osiers, shade or conceal the wild 

 oats and mustard, the fennel and mallows, that grow beneath 



* Montague's Narrative of C\c Expedition, pp. 156, 157. 



