1888. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 175 
disappear, and the mountain mass becomes wholly cretaceous. 
The valley of the Ak-Su separates Amanus from Akherdagh, the 
first range of the Taurus. 
The eastern range of mountains, parallel to the long chain 
just described, commences in the Idumean range at the Wadi- 
el-Ithm, which separates it from the Arabian range stretching 
away into El-Hedjaz. The main mass of this range is composed 
of Nubian sandstone, of the same brilliant colors as that of 
North Sinai. Underlying the sandstone in the southern portion 
of the range, near the head of the Gulf of ’Aqabah, are ledges of 
porphyry. The highest point of this range is the reputed Mount 
Hor, on the summit of which, 5,600 feet above the sea, is the 
Arabian wady of Nebi Hartin, or Aaron’s tomb. 
The mountains of Moab are in reality only mountains as seen 
from the west, looming up grandly over the chasm of the Dead 
Sea. ‘They are properly but the crest of the plateau of Moab, 
a level table-land, which has always been noted as a pasture 
ground. The section of the geological formations of this region, 
exhibited by the wall of the Dead Sea trough, shows Nubian 
sandstone at the base, and cretaceous limestone above. About 
the mouth of the great chasm of the Zerqa-M7ain are outcroppings 
of basalt, forming majestic cliffs opposite the hot springs of Cal- 
lirrhoé. These springs, the hottest of which has a temperature 
of 148° F., are impregnated with sulphur, and a variety of cal- 
careous and other salts. ‘They are in great repute among the 
Arabs for chronic rheumatism, liver and spleen diseases, and 
dropsy. The highest and only proper mountain of the Moabite 
chain 1s Jebel Husha’, which is over 4,000 feet above the sea. 
The chasm of the Zerqa (Jabbok) is the natural boundary be- 
tween Moab and Gilead. From its steep northern declivity ex- 
tends the mountain range, about which has lingered the name of 
Gilead from the earliest historic period. It is a park-like coun- 
try, abundantly watered even in summer, with fertile valleys and 
admirable pasture land, stretching far away into the eastern desert. 
The highest peaks are Jebel ’Ajlun, about 4,000 feet, and Sal- 
’at-er-Rabadh, about 3,500 feet above the sea. From the tops of 
Jebel Husha’, Jebel *Ajlun and Sal’at-er-Rabadh, but especially 
the first, the views over western Palestine and the chasm of the 
Jordan are surpassingly magnificent. The geological formation 
of Gilead is cretaceous limestone. 
The range of Gilead sinks gradually to the north and ends at 
the latitude of Irbid in the plain of Hauran. The break in the 
mountain chain continues northward, through the Jawalan, for 
about forty miles. A series of detached cones of volcanic rock, 
probably ancient craters, rising from the Jawalan plain, among 
