4-86 THE RIVER JORDAN". [1S48. 



Very little change has been made for centuries in the dress 

 of the Jewish women. The fabrics of which they are com- 

 posed, are in some cases different, but the form and fashion 

 are nearly the same. They wear short, narrow-skirted 

 gowns, boddices, and wide pantalets gathered at the ankles. 

 The boddice is left open in front, and underneath there is a 

 thin gauze chemisette or stomacher, with pockets for the 

 breasts— the shape of which is thus distinctly shown, and 

 oftentimes the exhibition is so gross that it detracts very 

 much from the appearance in other respects. The unmarried 

 females wear their hair in tasteful plaits intermingled with 

 ornaments, or suffer it to fall in long clustering ringlets over 

 the neck and shoulders. But the married women are forbid- 

 den to expose their hair, though they make ample amends for 

 regarding the prohibition, by ornamenting their heads with 

 silver rims, and coins and gems, and with a great abundance 

 of false curls. 



(3.) ' The sacred Jordan' rises a few miles north of Banias, 

 the ancient Csesarea Philippi, near the modern town of Has- 

 beiya, in latitude 33° 26' N., and longitude 32° 35' E. It 

 starts abruptly from beneath an escarped rock, forty feet high, 

 on the western slope of Jebel-es-Sheikh, or Mount Hermon.* 

 At its source, a small pool or fountain is formed, which is half 

 hidden beneath the willow and plane-trees that twine their 

 branches together above it, and beautifully fringed with will 

 roses and clematis, with white and pink oleanders, with the 

 retem and the dianthus, with altheas and snap-dragons. 



From its source at the foot of Anti-Libanus, the Jordan 

 pursues a circuitous and impetuous course of more than forty 

 miles, through the beautiful valley of Bakaiih, and the Ardh- 

 el-Huleh (Land of Huleh), — receiving, meanwhile, the wa- 

 ters of the River of Banias and its tributaries, and cros.sin<' 

 the ferny lake of Huleh, the Merom of antiquity, — and, at 

 length, opens out into the Sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, c! 



* The name 'Jordan' has been given to one of the tributaries of the main 

 river, which is the outlet of a small pool, called Phiala ; and the principal 

 6tream, which rises as stated in the text, is called the Hasbciyn 



