'llie name BdniAs is the Arab pronunciation of tlie ancient name Paneas, a city (Caesarea Philippi) named from the grotto Panium, which seems to have been consecrated to the god Pan, thou<^ there is no liistorical mention of this deity {BRP' iii. 406) at this spot. Josephus states {Ant. XV. x. 3 ; BJ I. xxi. 3) that Herod erected to Augustus Cajsar a beautiful temple of white marble near the place called Panium. ' This is a fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth ; and the cave is abrupt and very deep, and full of still water. On it uangs a vast mountain, and under the cavern rise the springs of the Jordan.' There are Greek inscriptions m the votive niches here, one of which contains the designation of the person who consecrated it as the •priest of Pan,' implyin" a temple of that god. "Tlie spot is now called by the people Mugh&rat Bdnids, or Mughdrat er-Rds en-Neba. From be- neath and through the mass of rocks and stones which fill up and hide the entrance of the cavern, gushes forth the Nahr Bdnids, a full and rushing river, twice as large as the stream from the fountain near Sdsbeiya. The water is of the purest and finest quality, limpid, bright, and sparkling. Gathering to itself the other streams just below the village, and yet itself distributing its waters over the terrace and portions of the western plain for irrigation, it rushes onward in a ravine of its own, with swift course, towards the south-west, down to the lower plain, and so to the lower HMeh. It is the most beautiful ol all the streams of the Jordan {BRI" iii. 407). It may be assumed that this great fountain of the Jordan had some historical associations before Herod built the temple there, and it has been suggested {BRP- iii. 409) that it is ' Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hennon (Jos 11" 12'), and that the shrine of the Phoenician Baal ultimately gave place to the Grecian Pan ' (bat see Dillmann on Jos 11").
The little Birket er-RAin (the ancient lake Phiala), which Josephus {BJ III. x. 7) states is the real origin of the fountain of Jordan, and in carried to Panium by an underground channel, is situated in a bowl or crater. It is supplied by surface drainage, and has no outlet ; it is on the right of the road leading from C.-esarea to Trachonitis, and its waters are dark, stagnant, and slimy.
The fountain of Bdnids rises at an altitude of 1100 ft. (600 ft. above that of Dan). It Hows as a torrent until it joins tlie Ledddn, 4J miles below Tell el-^ddi, and half a mile farther down union is ell'ected with the Nahr Hasbdny.
The morass above the lake of HiUeh was ex- plored thoroughly by J. Macgregor {Rub Roy on the Jordan) m 1869. Starting from Absis, at the junction of the Ledddn and Bdnids, in his canoe, he passed the junction with the Hasbdny at Tell Sheik Yusiif. He reached a village about 2 miles farther to south. He estimated the river from 30 to 100 ft. wide, with steep banks of reddish clay, rising in places to 20 ft. The waters in flood were 7 ft. deep — turbid, and brown in colour. Beyond this he stniggled with his canoe for another mile, only to get lirmly entangled in a maze of bushes 8 ft. high, thick -set stumps, and reeds. He was obliged to return and have his canoe carried N.W. along the edge of the morass to the western side of the valley, and on to the 'Ain Meldhah, on the N.W. .side of the lake. Here he again launched his canoe, and, exploring the Lake Huleh, found the mouth of the Jordan about midway across the northern end of the lake. He explored it to the north through a channel in the floating papyrus reeds for about 4 miles, when he came to a barrier of floating jungle, which etl'ectu- ally stopped further progress. It would appear that all the lower portion of the morass for 4 miles is composed of tiiis |)apj'rus, and it is probably encroaching on Lake Hftleh. The waters of Hiileh were found to be considerably less in extent than the morass, and to measure about 3 miles from east to west, and 4 miles from north to south. The surface is about 7 ft. above the Mediterranean. From the southern end of Huleh to the northern end of the Lake of Tiberias is about 10 miles, and the fall is 689 ft. — a rapid descent of about 70 ft. a mile over a rocky bed.
(6) The Jordan on issuing from HMeh is about 60ft. broad and 15 ft. deep. At about 2 miles down is the Jisr Benat Ydkob, the first bridge over the complete Jordan, built of black basalt and with three arches, over which the great caravan route goes from Akka to Damascus. It appears to be of later date than the Crusading period. The canoe was unable to follow this portion of the Jordan, as it partakes of the nature of a torrent, and flows through a rocky glen, shut in by hills, forcing its turbid waters far into the Lake Tiberias, without apparently commingling them with those of the lake for some considerable distance. This has given rise to the legend that the river Jordan passes through the lake intact. It affects the level of the lake somewhat, which stands in the wet sea.son about 6 in. higher than in the dry season.