102 ALFRED B. KENDLE, ESQ., D.SC, F.R.S., F.L.S., ON 



The Plain of the Jordan is a narrow strip on either side of the 

 banks of the river. Above that the higher terraces stretch 

 away to the foot of the hills. Finally the river passes 

 into the Dead Sea, nearly 1300 ft. below the level of the sea. 

 Thus there is between these two parallel mountain chains, 

 and the mountainous country into which they break, a very low 

 and narrow depression forming the Valley of the Jordan. The 

 variety in physical character of Palestine is therefore very 

 marked. 



On the sea coast, where frost is unknown and there is 

 abundant rain, the rich plains yield crops of corn, millet and 

 fruits in abundance. The hill country, the chief seat of the 

 population in the times when Palestine was at its most 

 prosperous period, largely precluded the corn farms of the 

 plains, and induced the careful terracing of the hills, wheie 

 the vine, olive and fig were the staple products. The hills in 

 the days of the Patriarchs were covered with forest, which gave 

 cover to many wild beasts. As these forests were cut down to 

 make room for terrace cultivation, they were replaced by the 

 olive and vine. 



It is a serious matter to strip a country of its forest. 

 The presence of forest helps the rainfall, and if you get rid of 

 forest you may have a country which has been flourishing 

 subjected to a very trying period of drought. During the period 

 of anarchy and misrule which followed the fall of the Roman 

 Empire the terraces were greatly neglected, the supporting walls 

 crumbled, or were destroyed, and the soil was washed down 

 into the valleys by the rain, so that where there were once 

 flourishing vineyards, olive gardens and fig gardens there are now 

 bare spaces of rock, and as the trees were destroyed there has 

 been a diminution of the rain, and the country has been subjected 

 to periodic droughts. We find references in the times of the 

 Israelitish kings to these forests, the Forest of Ha math, the 

 Wood of Ziph, and so on. 



Arid conditions have replaced very largely the fertile con- 

 ditions of Judah and Israel at the present day. In the 

 highlands of Gilead across the Jordan we can get a picture of 

 the kind of country which the Holy Land presented during the 

 time of the Patriarchs. Beyond the Jordan was the portion of 

 Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh, and there was never the population 

 there that there was on this side of the Jordan. There was plenty 

 of room in the open glades and valleys among the mountains for 



