Giiiluth, ' circle,' is used to denote the borders of Jordan in two cases. Jos 22"'- " (see Geliloth). Jfshhnon, ' wilderness,' refers to a wilderness generally, and not to any particular portion of the Jordan Valley so far as can be judged (see, however, Dillra. on Nu 33'" and art. Jeshimox).
Sddeh, 'field,' is generallj* used to denote culti- vated ground. It is used for the ' Held of Moab,' Gn 36*, but it is not certain whether this is in the Jordan Valley or upper levels. Stanley (SP 491) suggests that the ' vale of Siddim ' is the ' valley of the cultivated fields.'
Shidcmoth, 'Jields,' is used for highly cultivated ground. The ' fields of Gomorrah,' Dt 3'2'= ; of Kidron, 2 K 23* ; of Heshbon, Is 16".
Bik'ah, a broad plain between two mountain ranges, like that of Coele-Syria. It is used once in apposition with cicciir, ' the Kound, even the plain (."H'pj) of Jericho' (Dt 34'). ' All the region round about Jordan ' (Mt 3°, Lk 3') does not appear to be cajiable of geographical location.
Tnbiilnries of t fie Jurdan. — From the west{l) ihe Wddy el-Bireh, risin;' about Tabor, a moun- tain torrent ; (2) Nahr d-Jalud, which rises near Jezreel (250 ft.), and passes down the valley of Esdraehm past Beisan to the Jordan. This is the valley by which the inland sea in the valley of Jordan would have been connected with the Mediterranean after the connexion by the Gulf of 'Akabah was cut off, supposing that the rise of the ground was uniform. (3) The WCtdy Fdrah, which rises on the east of Ebal and Gerizim, flows in a beautiful perennial stream, fringed with oleanders, to the Jordan. The springs about the plain of Beiian and the Wddy et-Mttleh — the w.ldis Fused, el-'AuJeh, en-Nweimen, and el-Kelt — run for a great part of the year.
On the east are (1) the Sheri'at el-Mandh6r, Jar- mfik, or Hieromax, which flows into the Jordan past Gadara and the hot springs of Amatha, n)en- tioned by Pliny, Strabo, .losephus, and the Tal- mud, but the name does not occur in the Bible. It is a large river, running through a deep gorge into the Jordan, and has its sources in the Haurfln. (2) The WAdy el-' Arab, a mountain torrent, the Nahr es-Zerka or Jabbok, which rises at 'Ammari (Philadelphia), and falls into the Jordan near Jisr ed-Damieh. (3) The wftdis Nimrin, Knfrcin, and HtsbAn, the last of which rises in the hills near Heshbon.
Cwimuniration. — Koads, bridges, and fords. There is an ancient road on the western bank of the .lordan which, apparently coming from Jeru- salem, pa-i-ses Nehy MOsa near the north-western end of the .Salt Sea, pa-sscs 'Ain esSulU'in (Jericho) and Fiiseil (Phasnelus), near which place one branch passes to the west up W&dy Kerdd to Anhlii.i (Shcchem), and the other skirts fCum Hiirilhch to the east, and at 7V// el-'Abicd again divides, one branch to the west going up \i'(idy Fitrah to yahli'is, the other pa-ssing along the Umm edhcrnj, a steep and roikv ascent just al>ove the Jordan, passes through JifiMin, and, keeping near
to the Jordan, skirts the L. Tiberias to the village Tabiiritjii (Tiberias). At Khnn el-Kerak there i« a ruin which was a fort protecting the lake district, at Jisr Mijitmirt a branch of this road crosses the Jordan and goes through Gadara to the Haurdn, and another branch to Irbed, and probably to Jerasa. This is a I'oman road, and the old founda- tion stones and pavement are visible in many parts.
A good road from Akka passes down the Sahel el-Ahma, and, emerging by the pass at its mouth on to the Jordan, crosses at ttie Jisr es-Sidd a little below L. Tiberias and [lasses east to the Haurdn ; it is used by the I'edawin and Druses to bring barley to Alika by camel. A branch of this road also on crossing the Jordan to the east runs down along the foot of the hills bounding the Gh6r, and passing Fdhil (Pella) crosses the Zerija at a point where it is a foaming torrent, goes to Nimrin, and thence by Ka/rein to Hesbdn.
The road along the coast of the lake from Tiberias also crosses the Jordan near Tarichiea, where there is a ruined bridge, and passes up the east side of the lake and also by a great Roman road to Hippos and the nortli-east. The Jiir MijAmia is 6 miles south of L. Tiberias, the point where the old im- portant Roman road from Nabltis and Beisan to Damascus crosses the Jordan : it has one large pointed arch and three small ones.
At Jisr Damieh, below the junction of the Jordan and Zerka, the road from Neapolis (Shechem) runs to es-Salt, Amman (Philadelphia), and the e;ist. This bridge is still in a good state of preservation (one arch), but the Jordan has left it and now passes down another portion of the Z6r ; here is a good illustration of the change in direction of the river in a few hundred years. This bridge is said bj' Conder to be Saracenic: it appears to have been originally of Roman work, with extensive repairs by Moslems or Crusaders. On the east side the bank is quite low, and the wide fiat at that point is often overflowed ; hence a causeway at great expense and labour has been nade across the low ground. 450 ft. of this causeway on the eastern side still remains, supported on arches of which nine still exist. The bridge itself could not have been less than 100 ft. in length (PEFSt, 1879, 139). No remains of bridges mark the old roads from Jerusalem and Jericho to the east of Jordan, liut there are still the remains of the roads which now cross to Nimrin by the el-Mande^ and Umm Knkhula fords to Kofrcin and Hc.ib^n by the el-Ghi'iraniycK ford, and to Hesbdn and the east of Salt Sea by the Makhadet Hajlah ford. These are the principal fords in the southern 25 miles of the Jordan's course. In the 40 miles to the north there are enumerated no fewer than fifty fords : probably this difl'crence is owing to the more stony character of the Jordan lx)ttom in the northern portion. Molyneux says of the upper part of its course (p. 115) :' I am within the mark when I say that there are many hundreds of places where we might have walked across without wetting our feet, on the large rocks and stones.' This must have been during a verj* dry season.