iilee. 
226 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP, were of the same opinion: of course, such a 
. ^' , mode of computing distances must be hable to 
error. We could obtain no information from the 
inhabitants respecting the dimensions of their 
lake: the vague method of reckoning according 
to the time one of their boats can sail round 
or across it, was the only measure they could 
Dimen- fumish. Accordiug to Sandys^, its length is 
serof Ga- twelvc milcs and a half, and its breadth six. 
This is evidently derived from Josephus\ Of 
its length we could not form any accurate 
opinion, because its southern extremity, winding 
behind distant mountains, was concealed from 
our view ; but we inclined rather to the state- 
ment of Hegesippus, as applied by Reland^ to 
the text of Josephus ; this makes it to equal one 
hundred and forty stadia, or seventeen miles 
and a half*. Josephus speaks of the sweetness 
of its water ^ of its pebbly bottom, and, above 
(1) " In length an hundred furlongs, and fortie in breadth." Sandys' 
Travels, Book \\i. p. 141. Lond. 1G37. 
(2) See a former Note. 
(3) Paleest. lllitst. lib. i. c. 39. torn. I. p. 259. Trnj. ad Jthen. 1714. 
(4) " Namque lacus ipsius, velut quodam mare sinus amplissimus, in 
longitudinem centum quadraginta extenditur stadia, latitudine quadraginta 
diffunditur." Hegesippus de Excid. Urb. Hiero. //6. iii. c. 26. vol. VII. 
J). 492. Bib. Pat. Par. 1654. 
(5) The waters of this lake are thus extolled by Quaresmius : '• tion 
coenosae, paludosas, vel amaree, sed clarje, dulces, potabiles, et fecundae." 
QuaresmiiElucid. Terr. Sand. iib. vii. c. 3. p.86i. tom.JI. Antoerp. 16.39. 
