172 GEXEEAL SIR CHARLES WAREEX, G.C.M.G._, F.R.S., ON 



The Climate of Pcdestine. 



The climate differs from that of other parts of the 

 Mediterranean seaboard, owing to peculiar physical conditions 

 on its eastern side. 



Stretching right away from the Taurus, on the north, to the 

 Gulf of Akaba on the south, is a great iissure or crack upon the 

 earth's surface, forming the valley of Coele-Syria and the 

 J ordan Valley. This fissure is the deepest depression visible on 

 the earth's surface, and gives the peculiar characteristics to 

 Palestine. The waters of Jordan, commencing nearly at the level 

 of the ocean at the southern foot of Hermon, at Dan, run into 

 the Lake of Galilee at a depth of 600 feet below the ocean, and 

 into the Dead Sea at 1300 feet below the ocean ; from the 

 southern end of the Dead Sea the bottom of the depression 

 rises some hundreds of feet towards Akaba, so that the waters 

 are quite cut off from the ocean. 



The Jordan has a very rapid fall of about 10 feet in a mile 

 between Galilee and the Dead Sea, and is justly called the 

 Descender. For thousands of years this river has existed for 

 no purpose except as a boundary, and is waiting to be utilized. 

 There have been schemes for irrigating the whole plain of the 

 Jordan from Galilee, but nothing has been done. There is 

 wealth in these waters, and now that the world will want money, 

 the Jordan may come into its own. In prehistoric times this 

 fissure of the Jordan is assumed to have been an arm of the 

 sea, open to the ocean at Akaba, but owing to the rise of the 

 land it has been citt off for a very long period and has been 

 reduced in volume by evaporation until there is nothing left of 

 it but the scanty waters of the Dead Sea, w^hich contains in its 

 bosom all the salt which was once contained in this arm of the 

 sea. This Jordan fissure has been subject to volcanic outbursts, 

 of which there are many indications at the present day, one of 

 which is a line of hot springs from north to south. The level 

 of the Dead Sea rises and falls yearly within certain small 

 limits, according to the amount of water coming into it from 

 the J ordan and its tributaries, the input being balanced by the 

 evaporation. All evidence goes to show that since the earhest 

 historical times there has been no sensible change in the level 

 of the Dead Sea ; so that the physical condition of the valley 

 is practically the same as it was at the dawn of history. To 

 the west of the Jordan Valley is the mountain chain of Palestine, 

 stretching from the east of Dan to Beer-Sheba, about 120 miles. 

 This range is about 2000 to 3000 feet above the ocean, and 



