300 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



from the grotto. In a recess, there are some remains of ancient masonry below an aper- 



ture, through which a mysterious light finds its way. 



" Pure element of waters ! wheresoe'er 



Thou dost forsake thy subterranean haunts, 



Green herbs? bright flowers, and berry-bearing plants, 



Rise into life, and in thy train appear." 



Upon the large circular valley-plain of Bo3otia, the heights 

 of Parnassus on the west, Helicon on the south, and 

 Citha3ron on the east, send down streams, covering the 

 undulating surface of this Classic Land with a life-sustaining vegetation. 



The same physical causes high lands and the contiguous sea operate, in Judea as 

 in Greece, to render it a well-watered country a " land of brooks," according to its 

 scripture designation. There are no considerable rivers, owing to the scanty extent of 

 its hydrographical basins ; but the melting of the snow on the high mountains of Syria, 

 and the periodical sound of an " abundance of rain," contribute to furnish an ample irri- 

 gation. Its principal stream the Jordan though only one of the fifth class, and not 

 remarkable for picturesque beauty except in the upper part of its course, has a sacred and 

 historic interest which will always strongly attract attention to it, while it exhibits a sin- 

 gular physical peculiarity. This is the depression of the valley, in which it flows, below 

 the level of the Mediterranean, through the whole distance between the Sea of Tiberias 

 and the Dead Sea ; and the great inclination of its descent from the one to the other, 

 amounting at a mean to very nearly eighteen feet per mile. Hence the force of its cur- 

 rnt, notwithstanding a comparatively small volume of water, and the few windings that 

 mark its channel. Speaking of its appearance near the site of Jericho, Dr. Robinson 

 states : " There was a still though very rapid current. We estimated the breadth of the 



