162 



The Naturalist. 



South of Hebron the hills sink and expand into a region of rolling 

 downs and broad shallow valleys, more suited for pasture than 

 cultivation. This fades into the desert of Paran, a vast limestone 

 plateau gradually rising from Beersheba (ilOO) to a second plateau 

 of 2520 feet, and culminates in Jebel Tih (4654). Then a narrow 

 sandy desert intervenes, and the granite peaks of Sinai suddenly rise 

 to 9500 feet, and terminate at the fork of the Red Sea. 



2. The eastern range, which runs parallel to this from north to 

 south is called (in Upper Syria) the Anti-Lebanon ; for the most part it 

 is of inferior elevation to the Lebanon. It gives rise to four rivers — 

 the Orontes, Abana, Pharpar, and Jordan — all of considerable 

 volume, but of which one only is destined to reach the sea. This 

 chain is divided from Lebanon by the broad valley of El Bukaa 

 (Coelesyria), beyond the south extremity of which it attains its 

 greatest elevation in Schel Shiekl (Hermon, 9800), whose dome- 

 shaped snow-capped summit is visible for 120 miles. From hence 

 the range, suddenly lowered to an altitude of about 2000 feet, trends 

 to south-east and bounds the Hauran, then turning southward melts 

 into a vast rugged region, unmarked by any peaks, but furrowed and 

 fissured by endless hidden ravines of black basaltic rock. This is 

 Bashan (the Lejah). This range is prolonged in its parallel course 

 less diffusely than the western chain, and forms the trans- Jordanic 

 boundary which everywhere limits the eastern horizon to the traveller 

 in Palestine — the long straight line of the mountains of Ajlun, 

 Gilead, and Moab. The range has rather the appearance of the wall 

 of an elevated plateau which slopes away eastward. The highest 

 points are Jebel Ajlun (6500) pine-clad and often capped with snow ; 

 Jebel Osha, the highest point of Mount Gilead (5000) ; Nebo, in 

 Moab (4600). South of Moab the chain re-appears in Mount Hor 

 (5300), and thence is continued as a low range to the Gulf of Akabah, 

 on the Red Sea, fringing the shore opposite to the Sinai mountains. 



But it is between the two parallel chains of mountains we have 

 traced that the most extraordinary physical feature of the country is 

 found — the " Ghor " of Jordan (compare Gordale). This is no mere 

 waterworn valley, but a deep fissure, or chink, ploughed deep down 

 (Tristram) into the bowels of the earth, and separating Palestine 

 from the country eastward of Jordan. This singular river, rising in 

 Anti-Lebanon, seems beset with mystery from its commencement to 

 its termination. Fed by the snows of Hermon, it is destined to be 

 consumed by evaporation in the torrid basin of the Dead Sea. Its 



