348 The Exploration of Palestine. [June, 
accession of details of which this book, with its capital index 
and table of contents, is evidence. This is the more remark- 
able as the physical geography of Palestine, though an objedt 
of the Exploration Society and a most valuable one, became 
for a time almost subordinate to the interest of the excava- 
tions in and around Jerusalem. 
Not only the whole “ lie” of the country and its contours, 
the rivers and river systems, the water discharge, the water- 
sheds, and the drainage are placed before us complete as to 
the hydrography of the country, but it is also, as an oro- 
graphical map, absolutely complete when supplemented by 
the seventy-five pages of Mr. Saunders’s Part, IV., which 
show the relations of the streams and plains with the high- 
lands. 
Admirable as is this work, we must, however, express 
almost disappointment that as an “ Introduction to the Sur- 
vey” it omits altogether any reference to those geological 
causes which we venture to think would throw light on this 
special subject and add to its interest, as well as thus 
give a key to the existing formations. We will instance 
what we mean by a glance at the Map around Galilee. The 
whole of Galilee presents a country more or less disturbed 
by volcanic adtion. The whole drainage is collected by the 
Kishon. In the lower division, the hills are all tilted up 
towards the east, and broad streams of lava have flowed over 
the plateau above the Sea of Galilee. The inference is 
irresistible. 
Again, remembering the salt springs which flow to the 
Jordan along the greater part of its course south of Beisan, 
and the raised beaches which have been found in various 
parts of the Ghor, the valley formed by a depression in the 
early Tertiary period was once, we cannot doubt, filled by a 
chain of lakes, and this, geologically, accounts for it. And 
yet again, considering the part which the Mediterranean 
Watershed occupies in Mr. Saunders’s book, scientific as his 
arrangement rightly is, we cannot but think it would pro- 
perly have admitted a geological reference to those far-off 
days when, as its fossils yet testify, the Mediterranean itself 
was a continuation of the Indian Ocean. This curious ab- 
sence of geological remarks, if it does not impair the value 
of what is recorded, seems to leave in it almost a gap ; at 
all events, we wish Mr. Saunders had condescended to sug- 
gest something of the kind, for the sake of the interest it 
imparts and the fadts it establishes. We the more readily 
make this suggestion, as Mr. Saunders himself, lamenting 
the limits of his present work, adds that further investiga- 
tions will follow. 
