vii HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE 273 



lake of Galilee, then the middle Jordan between 

 this lake and that of Huleh (the ancient Merom) ; 

 and, finally, it would encroach, northwards, along 

 the course of the upper Jordan, and, southwards, 

 up the Wady Arabah, until it reached some 260 

 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, when 

 it would attain a permanent level, by sending any 

 superfluity through the pass of Jezrael to swell 

 the waters of the Kishon, and flow thence into 

 the Mediterranean. 



Reverse the process, in consequence of the excess 

 of loss by evaporation over gain by inflow, which 

 must have set in as the climate of Syria changed 

 after the end of the pleistocene epoch, and (without 

 taking into consideration any other circumstances) 

 the present state of things must eventually be 

 reached a concentrated saline solution in the 

 deepest part of the valley water, rather more 

 charged with saline matter than ordinary fresh 

 water, in the lower Jordan and the lake of Galilee 

 fresh waters, still largely derived from the snows 

 of Hermon, in the upper Jordan and in Lake Huleh. 

 But, if the full state of the Jordan valley marks the 

 glacial epoch, then it follows that the excavation 

 of that valley by atmospheric agencies must have 

 occupied an immense antecedent time a large part, 

 perhaps the whole, of the pliocene epoch ; and we 

 are thus forced to the conclusion that, since the 

 miocene epoch, the physical conformation of the 

 Holy Land has been substantially what it is now. 

 107 



