210 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP, alone that any due conception ot its ap- 
pearance can be communicated to the minds 
of those who have not seen it : speaking of it 
comparatively, it may be described as longer 
and finer than any of our Cumherland and West- 
moreland lakes, although it be perhaps inferior 
to Loch Lomond in Scotland. It does not possess 
the vastness of the Lake of Geneva, although it 
much resemble it in certain points of view. In 
picturesque beauty it comes nearest to the Lake 
of Locarno in Italy, although it be destitute of 
any thing similar to the islands by which that 
majestic piece of water is adorned. It is 
inferior in magnitude, and perhaps in the 
height of its surrounding mountains, to the 
Lake Asphaltites ; but its broad and extended 
surface, covering the bottom of a profound 
valley, surrounded by lofty and precipitous 
eminences, when added to the impression under 
which every Christian pilgrim approaches it, 
gives to it a character of unparalleled dignity. 
Having reached the end of the plain whose 
surface exhibited such motley colours to us, 
when it was viewed from the Mountain oj 
Beatitudes, a long and steep declivity of two 
miles yet remained to the town of Tiberias, 
Bituatc upon the borders of the lake. We had 
