J O R 



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J O R 



vanceil age, are considered to be not inferior to those 

 o f R u bens himself, in the very points wherein his 

 master is supposetl to have wished his deficiencies to be 

 most prominent. 



Jordaens worked with so much ease and expedition, 

 that all Belgium began to be full of his paintings. He 

 completed a fine representation of Pan and Syrinx, 

 who was metamorphosed into a reed, within six days, 

 though the figures were as large as life. A painting 

 of Satyrs carrying cornucopia of fruit and grain, appa- 

 rently of the same description, is equally celebrated for 

 its harmonious proportions and colouring. He execu- 

 ted paintings for a banqueting- house for the King of 

 Sweden ; and another work for his native city, wherein 

 a vast intermixture of mankind and animals was intro- 

 duced. Jordaens was much employed in painting al- 

 tar-pieces, many of which are yet preserved throughout 

 the Netherlands. 



This painter during his w*hole life was in constant 

 occupation ; but it is owing to the remarkable expedi- 

 tion with which he produced them, that the public are 

 in possession of so many of his works. He is said never 

 to have left his native city ; and he died there in the 

 year 1678, aged 84. . 



Jordaens was of a cheerful temper, and of a disposition 

 particularly friendly and affable, and he enjoyed much 

 gratification in the society of his friends. His indus- 

 try enabled him to accumulate considerable wealth. 

 He ranked high in his professional art ; and he is 

 thought to have carried the precepts of Rubens farther 

 than any of his other pupils, Vandyke excepted. His 

 compositions are full of taste and effect ; his style bril- 

 liant and harmonious ; and his designs are peculiarly 

 characterized by truth and accuracy. He was most 

 skilful in giving relief and rotundity to his figures ; 

 and from the nature of their execution, he is supposed 

 to have studied the objects in candle light, or bright 

 sunshine. For a free and spirited touch, no painter is 

 accounted his superior. Yet Jordaens had conspicuous 

 faults. His design, though distinguished by accuracy, 

 is deficient in taste. He is charged with grossness of 

 subject and form, and with images of low and com- 

 mon life. Jordaens, however, must be considered a 

 great painter ; for his beauties in every piece predomi- 

 nate over his imperfections, (c) 



JORDAN, a celebrated river of Asia in Palestine, 

 which has been venerated from the most remote ages 

 by Jews, Christians, and Mahometans. No river in the 

 whole universe perhaps has attracted so much notice, 

 the Ganges excepted ; yet both its source and its ef- 

 flux have proved the most embarrassing problems to 

 modern geographers. Even the ancients themselves 

 seem to have laboured under considerable difficulties 

 regarding them. This is the largest river in Palestine. 

 Its name, according to Reland, ought to be read .for- 

 den in Scripture ; it is called Jarde by the Jews ; and 

 Sckereiaby the Arabs. St. Jerom affirms, and many others 

 have followed him, that it rises from two sources, a mile 

 asunder, the one called Jor, the other Dan, and that the 

 name Jordan is compounded from them after the forma- 

 tion of the river by their union. Some authors inter- 

 pret Jordan the river of judgment. 



There is a mountainous and nearly uncultivated dis- 

 trict called Hasbeia, at the foot of Mount Hermon, or 

 Jebel Skeikh, among the mountains of Antilibanus, con- 

 taining a town of the same name, situated on a steep 

 declivity. Not far distant are various streams, to 

 which the source of the river is indefinitely ascribed. 

 But that which seems to be so with greatest certainty 



is the river Hasbenay, about half a league west of the 

 town of Hasbeia ; for Europeans reject the opinion of 

 the inhabitants of the 'country, that it is the stream 

 TdlkaAy. Hasbeia is situated fiVe leagues south of 

 Rascheia, and apparently at no great distance from 

 Panias, or Baniass ; but the geography of this part of 

 Syria and Palestine is so obscure, that we are unable to 

 point out the exact position of these places by positions 

 well determined. The ancients believed, that the am- 

 ple source of the river of Baniass, which springs in the 

 vicinity of a remarkable rock, was that of the Jo. dan. 

 According to others, however, the river rose from the 

 small lake Phiala, now called Birkel-el Ram, two leagues 

 east of the town ; and Josephus relates^ that Philip the 

 Tetrarch threw a straw into it, which was absorbed, and 

 discharged at what may be supposed the source of the 

 river of Baniass. All these facts illustrate the difficult 

 ty of ascertaining the truth. Near Banias, it is evi 

 dent that several small streams contribute their waters 

 to form the Jordan, which about three leagues below 

 the town expands into a small marshy lake, which is. 

 enlarged or diminished by the melting of the snows in 

 the mountains, or the evaporation occasioned by the heat 

 of summer. This lake is the Samachonitis of the an- 

 cients, and the waters of Merom of Scripture, and the 

 Bahr el Houly of the moderns. Its circuit when full does 

 not exceed 7 or 8 miles, and at times it is almost dried 

 up. The river, now considerably enlarged, issues from 

 it with a turbid stream, which is soon purified, by pass- 

 ing over a rocky bed, wherein its mud is deposited. 

 About a mile from the lake, it is crossed by an ancient 

 structure called Jacob's Bridge, consisting of three 

 arches, built of basalt, in good preservation, which is 

 said to derive its name from Jacob having returned by 

 it from Padan Aram. This bridge is the mutual boun- 

 dary of the Turkish Pachalics of Damascus and Acre ; 

 and at each end is a fortress, occupied by the troops 

 of the respective pachas ; but both were dilapidated by 

 the French troops when they invaded Syria. Here the 

 river is 64 feet wide, its current rapid and boisterous ; 

 but a modern traveller says, he found its breadth 35 

 paces in January. Indeed, in considering the dimen- 

 sions ascribed to this river, too little attention is paid 

 to the measures of different nations, as well as the sea- 

 son of observation ; for there is sufficient reason to con- 

 clude, that it receives large accessions from the melting 

 of the snows. Here the banks of the river are finely 

 wooded by trees, chiefly of the species Plalanus ; and 

 the country becomes wild, mountainous, and entire- 

 ly basaltic. Thirteen miles lower, the river passes 

 through the beautiful lake Tiberias, or the Sea of Gali- 

 lee, 18 miles in length, and issues from its southern ex- 

 tremity in a stream 40 paces wide. It now enters a 

 fine plain called Al-Gaur, or El Gor by the Arabs, and 

 soon after receives a considerable river, the Scheriat 

 Manadra, formerly called Hierarnack, or Jamuk, from 

 the east, some leagues below the lake. The Sche- 

 riat Manadra is crossed by a bridge of five arches, which 

 indicates that it is of considerable size; and at the west 

 side there is a very spacious fortress, with a small gar- 

 rison. Apparently the principal accessions to the Jordan 

 are henceforward from the east; but few of them are dis- 

 tinctly ascertained. Some inconsiderable streams flow 

 from the west. Below the Scheriat Manadra there is the 

 Wady Musch, which is discharged into it opposite Beis- 

 ran, or Scythopolis, from the east ; and still lower the 

 Serka, which is the Jabok of the Jewish historians, and 

 the boundary of the country of the Amorites. Between 

 the confines of Syria and Arabia, the extensive valley, 



