PALESTINE 



715 



are only locally abundant, but are quite sufficient 

 to enable us to refer the beds either to the Cre- 

 taceous or Eocene periods. (3) The great depres- 

 sion of the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea, known as 

 the Gh6r, lies along the line of a great fault, or 

 dislocation of the strata, owing to which the strata 

 do not correspond to each other on opposite sides 

 of the valley, but are vertically displaced ; being 

 let down on the west and elevated along the east. 

 The fault has been traced southwards along the 

 eastern margin of the Wady-el-'Arabah, and in 

 Palestine its position is marked by the abrupt 

 uprising of the tableland along the eastern side of the 

 Jordan Valley and the Ghor. The valley itself on 

 either side is often diversified by terraces of marl, 

 Band, and "ravel, with lacustrine or Huviatile shells, 

 and of rock-salt along the western margin of the 

 Dead Sea. These terraces are at various levels alx>ve 

 the present waters of the valley, and reach to a 

 height of aliout 12UO feet above the Dead Sea 

 surface in the 'Arabah Valley. As they are clearly 

 lake-deposits they indicate that the waters of the 

 Dead Sea once rose to a level of 1200 feet higher 

 than at present, thus forming a lake which must 

 liavi; had a length of 120 miles from north to south, 

 embracing the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan as 

 far as the lake of Huleh. The remarkable promon- 

 tory called El Lissan (or 'The Tongue'), which 

 juts out into the Dead Sea from the base of the 

 Moabite escarpment, as well as the corresponding 

 terrace of rock-salt capped by gypseous marl on the 

 west side of the Dead Sea, are portions of a once 

 continuous bed of this more ancient and vastly more 

 extensive inland lake. (4) Along the east of the 

 Jordan Valley and Dead Sea the base of the Creta- 

 ceous limestone is seen reposing upon variegated 

 sandstone, known as the ' Nubian Sandstone ' of 

 Lower Cretaceous age ; and this again on various 

 crystalline rocks, such as granite, gneiss, porphyry, 

 ami schist, of great geological antiquity. Of these 

 rocks the flanks of the Edomite Mountains are 

 composed, as well as those forming the Sinaitic 

 peninsula. In the valley of the Nile the same 

 series reaches the surface at the First Cataract, 

 and is seen to pass below the Nubian sandstone. 

 Everywhere these crystalline rocks are the founda- 

 tion of all the geological formations of this region, 

 and have been referred to the Arcluean or Lanren- 

 tian period. The Cretaceous and Eocene lime- 

 stones form the surface of the tableland of Eclom 

 ami Moab, and extend eastwards under the great 

 elevated plain of the Arabian Desert, a counterpart 

 of the Libyan Desert west of the Nile. From the 

 neighbourhood of Kerak northwards these lime- 

 stone strata are intei-sected or overlaid by dykes 

 and sheets of basalt, which form the region of 

 Trnchonitis east of the Sea of Galilee, and which 

 have been poured forth from volcanic vents and 

 fissures in the region of the Hanran. Some of the 

 volcanic cones and vents are remarkably perfect 

 and fresh resembling those of the Anvergne region 

 in central France, both having been developed in 

 Post- Tertiary times ; and it is not improbable that 

 some of the hot springs which issue forth along 

 the line of the Jordan owe their high temperature 

 to the proximity of the underground waters to the 

 still heated masses of lava beneath the surface. 



In the Lebanon and Hermon the Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary limestones are thrown into numerous 

 flexures, and are repeated by successive faults, 

 amongst which the most important is the prolonga- 

 tion of the Jordan Valley fault, which, judging 

 from indications which have been oliserved, appears 

 to l>e continued along the valley of the Orontes. 

 III. The Exploration of the Conntry. The stream 

 of pilgrims to the Holy Land liegan in the 2d 

 century, and has never since then ceased. This 

 stream rose to its highest flood in the century 



before the Crusaders, when the Mediterranean was 

 covered with ships conveying the pilgrims to the 

 shores of the Holy Land, and the roads were black 

 with the troops of those who walked or rode 

 through Europe and across Asia Minor. Those 

 of them who returned in safety told what they had 

 seen. Some of them wrote descriptions of the Holy 

 Land. Thus, in the 4th century, a pilgrim from 

 Bordeaux, who visited the countrv when Con- 

 stantine's basilica was being built, wrote an 

 account of his journey. In the same century 

 Eusebius produced an Onomasticon or gazetteer 

 of the Holy Land. Later on Jerome, Eucherius, 

 Theodorus, Antoninus Martyr, Proeopitis, before 

 tlic Mohammedan conquest, wrote accounts of the 

 country and of Jerusalem. After the conquest the 

 pilgrims were allowed to come and go unmolested. 

 Arculphus, Willibald, Bernard, and others have 

 left descriptions which belong to the 7th, 8th, and 

 9th centuries. Moreover, the Moslems themselves 

 began to write. About 985 El Mukaddasi, ' the 

 man of Jerusalem,' described the whole of Syria. 

 A few years later Nivzir-i-Khusrau wrote an account 

 of his journey from Balkh, through Armenia and 

 Palestine to Cairo, thence to Mecca, through 

 Persia, and so back to his native town. The 

 Crusaders have left copious accounts of their wars, 

 their occupations, and their customs, while the 

 descriptions and narrations of pilgrims who wrote 

 in Latin, French, Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Per- 

 sian, and Arabic throw Hoods of light on the 

 country of this time. Maps began to be made ; 

 they lack the accuracy of later geographer*, but 

 they convey instruction as regards the land and its 

 physical features, which is correct so far as it goes. 

 TliiiH, the map of Marino Sanuto indicates the hill- 

 country, the mountains of Libanus, the Kiver 

 Jordan, the Dead Sea, iind the Sea of Galilee, and 

 places the towns with a reasonable degree of 

 accuracy. Palestine, therefore, though never 

 explored, was tolerably well known to the world, 

 as well known as Italy was formerly to the French 

 or the Low Countries to the English. Modern 

 exploration, with fuller knowledge of what was 

 wanting, began in the 19th century with Seetzen, 

 liurckhardt, Buckingham, Irby and Mangles, Tobler, 

 De Saulcy, Van de Velde, and Williams. 



The researches of Robinson and the immense 

 additions made by him in the field of Biblical 

 geography in the years 1838 52 forced upon the 

 world the necessity for an exhaustive survey of the 

 country. Robinson demonstrated the existence 

 everywhere of ruined towns and hill-forts in which 

 were preserved the long-lost names of Bible places. 

 It became certain that a triangulation of the country, 

 such as that of the Ordnance Survey of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, which should lecive not a 

 corner of country, not a single hillock, unexplored, 

 would be fruitful in results, and would furnish a 

 map of such accuracy as to require no more books 

 of travel for the elucidation of geographical points. 

 Thus, the physical features of the country were 

 already known in general terms, but the details 

 were mostly unknown ; while even the curious foot- 

 steps of Robinson had left whole tracts of country 

 totally unexplored. The foundation of the Pales, 

 tine Exploration Fund (1865) was the first step 

 taken in this new direction ; but it shows how 

 little the necessity for such a survey was impressed 

 upon the minds" even of its founders that they 

 began, after a preliminary journey under Captain 

 (Colonel Sir Charles) Wilson, by excavations in 

 Jerusalem under Lieutenant (Colonel Sir Charles) 

 Warren. It seemed at the moment more import- 

 ant to settle, if possible, the site of the temple 

 than to make clear and intelligible the whole of 

 tin; Bible narrative. For this and nothing short of 

 this has been the result of the survey. This survey 



