14 Observations on Jerusalem 
mountain ridge. This ridge or mountainous tract extends, 
without interruption, from the plain of Esdraelon to a line 
drawn between the south end of the Dead Sea and the SE. 
corner of the Mediterranean; or more properly, perhaps, it 
may be regarded as extending as far south as to Jebel’ Araif 
in the desert, where it sinks down at once to the level of the 
ereat western plateau. This tract, which is everywhere not 
less than from twenty to twenty-five geographical miles in 
breadth, is in fact high uneven table land. It everywhere 
forms the precipitous western wall of the great valley of the 
Jordan and the Dead Sea, while towards the west it sinks 
down by an off-set into a range of lower hills which lie be- 
tween it and the great plain along the coast of the Mediter- 
ranean. The surface of this upper region is everywhere 
rocky, uneven, and mountainous, and is, moreover, cut up by 
deep valleys which run east or west on either side towards the 
Jordan or the Mediterranean. The line of divisicn or water- 
shed between the waters of these valleys—a term which here 
applies almost exclusively to the waters of the rainy season— 
follows for the most part the height of land along the ridge, 
yet not so but that the heads of the valleys which run off in 
<ifferent directions often interlap for a considerable distance. 
Thus, for example, a valley which descends to the Jordan 
often has its head a mile or two westward of the commence- 
ment of other valleys which run to the western sea. 
From the great plain of Esdraelon onwards towards the 
south, the mountainous country rises gradually, forming the 
tract anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah, 
until, in the vicinity of Hebron, it attains an elevation of nearly 
3000 Paris feet above the level of the Mediterranean Sea. 
Further north, on a line drawn from the north end of the 
Dead Sea towards the true west, the ridge has an elevation 
of only about 2500 Paris feet ; and here, close upon the water 
shed, lies the city of Jerusalem.* Its mean geographical posi- 
* According to Schubert’s measurements, the town of Hebron has an ele- 
vation of 2664 feet. Russegger gives the same at 2842 feet. The adjacent 
hills are two or three hundred feet higher. ‘The height of the Mount of 
Olives, according to Schubert, is 2555 Paris feet ; and, according to Russeg- 
ger, Jerusalem is 2479 Paris feet above the sea. 
