OX THE SURVEY OF EASTERN PALESTINE. 277 



clear in the occurrence of raised beaches or sea beds with shells, corals, 

 and crinoids of species still living in. the adjoining waters. The raised 

 beaches of the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts have been observed by 

 the officers of the Ordnance Survey, and by Fraas, Lartet, Schweinfurth, 

 Post, and others. They were observed by the author at the southern 

 extremity of the ^Y'ady el Arabah, and shells and corals were found round 

 the camp of December 3 at an elevation of about 130 feet above the Gulf 

 (if Akabah. 



' These ancient sea beds are represented in the Egyptian area by the 

 old coast-line of 220 feet, discovered by Fraas along the flanks of tho 

 Mokattam Hills above Cairo, and recently described by Schweinfurth. 1 

 The period in which the sea rose to this level may be stated in general 

 terms as the Pliocene, but it continued downwards till more recent times; 

 and the author believes that at the time of the Exodus the Gulf of Suez 

 reached as far as the Great Bitter Lake, 2 a view in which he is supported 

 bj r Principal Sir W. Dawson. It is scarcely necessary to observe that, 

 through the longer portion of this period of submergence Africa was dis- 

 connected from Asia. 



' 8. The Miocene period is not represented by any strata throughout the 

 district traversed by the expedition. The author considers that in this 

 part of the world the Miocene period was one of elevation, disturbance, 

 and denudation of strata, not of accumulation. To this epoch he refers 

 the emergence of the whole of the Palestine, and of the greater part of the 

 Sinaitic area from the sea, in which the cretaceo-nutnmulitic limestone 

 formations were deposited. To this epoch also he considers the faulting 

 and flexuring of the strata is chiefly referable ; and notably the formation 

 of the great Jordanic line of fault, with its branches and accompanying 

 flexures in the strata — which are very remarkable along the western sides 

 of the Ghor. These phenomena were accompanied and followed by 

 extensive denudation, and the production of many of the principal physical 

 features of the region referred to. 



' i>. The evidences of a Pluvial period throughout this region are to be 

 found (a) in the remains of ancient lake beds, (b) in the existence of 

 teri'aces in the river valleys, (c) in the great size and depth of many 

 valleys and gorges, now waterless except after severe thunderstorms, and 

 ((/) in the vastly greater size of the Salt Sea (or Dead Sea), which must 

 have had a length of neai-ly 200 English miles from north to south at the 

 time when its surface was at a higher level than that of the Mediterranean 

 at the present clay. The author considers that this Pluvial period 

 extended from the Pliocena through the post-Pliocene (or Glacial) down 

 to recent times. As it is known, from the observations of Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, Canon Tristram, and others, that perennial snow and glaciers 

 existed in the Lebanon during the Glacial epoch, the author infers that 

 the adjoining districts to the south of the Lebanon must have had a 

 climate approaching that of the British Isles at the present day ; and 

 that, in a region of which many parts are over 2,000 feet in elevation, 

 there must have been abundant rainfall. Even when the snows and 

 glaciers of the Lebanon had disappeared, the effects of the colder climate 

 which was passing away must have remained for some time, and the 

 vegetation must have been more luxuriant down to within the epoch of 



' Veber die geol. Schichtengliederiing d. Mokattam bei Cairo ; Zeitsch.d. Dent, geol. 

 Geteli. 18S3. 



'-' Quarterly Statement, April 1884. 



