510 
NATURE 
| March 17, 1870 
account had been given of the rocks over which they 
took place. : 
There can be no doubt that Palestine and the surround- 
ing countries have been the scene of powerful volcanic 
activity from a time which, though in a geological sense 
recent, is yet immensely remote when measured by 
human standards. In the Holy Land itself that action 
has now ceased, though abundant hot springs still testify 
to its recentness, while along the shores of the Red Sea 
there are even at this day some still active craters. On 
the west side of the Jordan Valley, the fertile plain of 
Esdraelon is strewed over with basaltic débris, while a 
little farther to the north and east, true coudées of basalt 
are found on the flanks of Little Hermon. Near Tiberias 
another cow/ée comes down from the west to the margin 
of the Lake; while still farther north stands the basaltic 
1OCENE 
E£OUS AND 
VLITIC LIMESTO. 
+ 
[ 3 {SANDSTONE OF NUSIA 
tt HSRISTALLINE ROCKS 
freshest traces of volcanic phenomena occur; some of 
the cinder cones still remaining with their enclosed craters 
like those of the Puys of Auvergne. 
The long period during which volcanic action continued 
to manifest itself is well shown by the fact that the older 
basalts are found capping limestone plateaux which have 
since been cut through by valleys descending into the 
Jordan and the Dead Sea, while these valleys have served 
as moulds into which the later lava currents have, in 
numerous instances, been poured. Such a sequence of 
events is a repetition of the well-known structure of 
Auvergne. Thereis a further resemblance to the volcanic 
district of central France in the singular freshness of 
some of the cones. 
But of all the geological features of Palestine, that 
which possesses, perhaps, the strongest interest is the 
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF PALESTINE AND LOWER EGYPT 
mass of Safed, which seems to have been the great 
volcanic centre of that district. But it is on the east side 
of the line of the Jordan and Dead Sea that the most 
remarkable display of volcanic rocksis to be found. The 
high grounds of Moab and Ammonitis are dotted with 
the sites of ancient volcanos, from which streams of lava 
have descended, sometimes even into the Dead Sea. The 
houses of Rabbath-Moab were built of these basalts. 
Farther north, from the heights of Ajlun, the eye travels 
over a vast basaltic plateau, which stretches north to the 
roots of Hermon and Anti-Lebanon, and eastward until it 
is crowned by the imposing volcanic mountain of Hauran. 
Some portions of these regions are dreary beyond ex- 
pression—rough with dark rugged lava streams and 
scattered scoria, rendering the journey of a traveller 
stow and laborious. It is in this wild region that the 
valley or depression which stretches from Lebanon along 
the line of the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the Waddi 
Akabah to the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea. 
Notwithstanding the yearly increase of travellers in the 
Holy Land and the rapid multiplication of descriptions 
of the country, it must be owned that no very satis- 
factory account has yet been given of the geographical 
structure and probable origin of this, the most remark- 
able depression upon the globe. In the present part of 
his report M. Lartet does not discuss this subject, nor 
does he enter into the existing contour of Syria or the 
causes which may have led to the drying up of the 
Waddys and the general desiccation of the climate. 
These questions he will probably discuss in the next 
portion of his valuable memoir, to which we hope to 
call attention when it appears. ARCH. GEIKIE 
oie 
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