30 Probable Erosion of the 



the Jordan. I may remark, however, in passing, that in 

 both localities we have large tracts of country traversed and 

 interlaced, by a net-work of ridges a.nd ravines, of a most 

 impracticable character generally, owing to their precipitous 

 slopes and the dense growth of the scrub, brushwood, and 

 timber mth which they are clothed, from the crests of the 

 highest peaks down to the bottom of the deepest ravines. 

 To the explorer, when first attempting to penetrate 

 these ranges, their aspect is most disheartening, owing to 

 the difficulty in tracing any connected system of ridges 

 on which to travel, without which progress is exceedingly 

 slow and wearisome, the valleys (or gullies) being utterly 

 impracticable when in a state of nature. 



A very remarkable feature throughout these mountain 

 systems, in so far as I am acquainted with them, is the 

 entire absence of lakes or even small bodies of impounded 

 water, beyond the mere water-holes which exist in the rivers 

 and rivulets, while in most other mountain ranges, such, 

 for instance, as North Wales, Westmoreland, Cumberland, 

 the Highlands of Scotland, and the mounta^in districts of 

 Ireland, and of Europe ; in fact, generally where mountain 

 ranges occur, it is common to find numerous lakes in 

 greater or less areas, impounded at varying altitudes, 

 whilst amid our mountains, the absence of such bodies of 

 water is the rule. 



In calling attention to this fact, it will scarcely be neces- 

 sary for me to remark, that if our mountain chains had been 

 the result of ordinary volcanic agency, as generally under- 

 stood to operate, m the shape of forces, acting with greater 

 or less activity at certain points, and along certain lines, 

 rupturing and dislocating the superincumbent sfcrata, with 

 greater or less violence, we should naturally expect to find along 

 the courses of such dislocations, and their intervening valleys, 

 natural barriers to the passage of the spring and drainage 

 waters, and from such a cause we should have lakes of 

 greater or less extent and depth ; and such not being found, 

 it is difficut to reconcile the existence of our present system 

 of mountain ranges, with any but very gentle and long- 

 continued sources of action, which must have required ages 

 before any remarkable change was effected, and the same causes 

 may at this moment be in slow operation beneath our feet, 

 without mankind being in the least conscious of any change 

 for centuries to come ; in fact, such an elevation would in 

 all probability be due to chemical rather than to igneous 



