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I trust that it will be found that considerable progress has 
been made in opening up a new line of Biblical investigation, 
and I proceed to submit to you some idea of the process and 
of the results. 
There is reason to believe that many intelligent and 
educated persons turn aside from an elaborate map as from an 
insoluble problem. It must be confessed that at first sight 
the great Map now exhibited looks like a mass of confusion. 
It is consoling to a map-maker to think that a page of print 
must be little else to one who cannot or who declines to read. 
But the first step in the present inquiry is the understanding 
of the ground ; and, to assist in that object, I have prepared 
this special edition of the reduced Map for publication, and 
the present copy of the large Map is also coloured similarly 
for this occasion. 
The first point to notice is the Coast Line, defining the 
boundary between the land and sea. In this case the coast line 
is very simple, running from north to south, with a trend to the 
westward for about 150 miles. Its prominent features are : — 
(1) The small peninsula or island of the ruined city of Tyre; 
(2) the famous headlands of the White Cape and Hewn Cape, 
or Has el Abiad and Has en Nakura, along the precipitous 
faces of which is carried the Tyrian Ladders, or passage of the 
very ancient coast road, so often traversed by the armies of 
the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans ; (3) the City 
and Bay of Acre, the Bay being formed at the southern end 
by the projection of the famous Mount Carmel for about two 
miles further west than the more northerly shore ; (4) the 
coast to the south of Carmel, which is unbroken, and has no 
natural harbour. The only maritime cities that now remain 
along this coast are Jaffa and Gaza, both of great antiquity. 
Formerly the Biblical cities of Dor, Cesaraea, Ashdod, and 
Ascalon also peopled this coast, and possessed strong forti- 
fications, magnificent temples and public buildings, and 
artificial harbours. 
The attention should be next directed to the rivers, water- 
courses, and inland, lakes. A part of the course of the River 
Jordan forms the eastern limit of the Map, along with the 
inland lakes which pertain to it. The river enters the Map at 
an altitude above the sea of about 1,000 feet, and rapidly 
descends to the plain of Huleh, which is only about 200 feet 
above the sea where the Jordan enters it. From the plain the 
river flows southward to Lake Huleh through a dense growth 
of papyrus, which fills the upper part of the lake, except 
' some narrow passages which were explored by Mr. Macgregor 
in the Rob Roy canoe. The lake has open water in its 
