360 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



with such violence as to sweep every thing before them. The 

 Jordan, from this cause, formerly rose periodically above its banks. 

 Whether it has worn for itself u deeper channel, or discharges its 

 superfluous waters by some other means, is not ascertained, but the 

 rise is now insufficient to produce inundation. 



We have but imperfect notices of the present zoology and orni- 

 thology of Palestine. The Scriptures contain familiar references 

 to the lion, the wolf, the fox, the leopard, the hart, the jackal, and 

 the wild boar, which lead one to suppose that they were native 

 animals. The wilder animals, however, have mostly disappeared, 

 liasselquist, a pupil of Linnaeus, who visited the iloly Land in 

 1750, men lions, as the only animals he saw, the porcupine, the 

 jackal, the fox, the rock-goat, and the fallow-deer. Captain 

 Mangles describes an animal qf the goat species as large as the ass, 

 with long, knotty, upright horns ; some bearded, and their color 

 resembled that of the gazelle. The horse does not appear to have 

 been generally adopted, till after the return of the Jews from 

 Babylon. Solomon was the first monarch who collected a numer- 

 ous stud of the finest horses that Egypt or Arabia could furnish. 

 In the earlier times, the wild ass was deemed worthy of being 

 employed for purposes of royal state as well as convenience. The 

 breed of cattle reared in Bashan and Gilead were remarkable for 

 their size, strength, and fatness. 



In ornithology, the eagle, the vulture, the cormorant, the bittern, 

 the stork, the owl, the pigeon, the swallow, and the dove, were fa- 

 miliar to the Jews. Hasselquist enumerates the following from his 

 own observation : the vulture, two species, one seen near Jerusa- 

 lem, the other near Caua in Galilee ; the falcon, near Nazareth ; the 

 jackdaw, in numbers in the oak-woods near Galilee ; the green 

 wood-spite, at the same place ; the bee-catcher, in the groves and 

 plains between Acra and Nazareth ; the nightingale, among the 

 willows at Jordan and olive trees of Judeu ; the hekl-Jark, 'every 

 where ; ' the goldfinch, in the gardens near Nazareth ; the red part- 

 ridge, and two other species, the quail, and the quaii of the Isra- 

 elites ; the turtle-dove and the ring-dove. Game is abundant ; part- 

 ridges, in particular, being found in large coveys, so fat and heavy, 

 that they may easily be knocked down with a stick. Wild geese, 

 ducks, widgeon, snipe, and water-fowl of every description, abound 

 in some situations. 



The Holy Land is at present infested with a frightful number of 

 lizards, different kinds of serpents, vipers, scorpions, and various 

 insects. Flies of every species are also extremeJy annoying. Ants 

 are so numerous in some pains, that one traveller describes the road 

 to Jafia, from El Arisch, as, for three da^s' journey, a continued 

 ant-hill. 



The general outlines of the surface of the country may be thus 

 laid down. The Jordan, or river of Dan, which rises under the lof- 

 ty peaks of the Antilibanus, and flows in a direction almost con- 

 stantly southward, with the fake of Tiberias, through which it pass- 



