at Rimeh, north of Hebron. On the west the spurs are here longer than in Samaria, with deep ravines; and the chalky foot hills form a yet more distinct district, called Shephélah in the Bible (‘lowlands’), while the Plain of Sharon widens into that of Philistia. On the east a desert plateau extends below the Hebron moun- tains, about 1000 ft. above the Mediterranean, and is terminated in magnificent precipices of hard limestone above the Dead Sea. The surface of this plateau is cut up with ravines and sharp chalky ridges, and this ‘desert of Judah’ is the wildest and most desolate region in Western Palestine. South of Hebron the mountains are
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divided by a long open valley, which runs south to Beersheba. The plateaus gradually sink towards the southern plain, 800 ft. above the Mediter- ranean, which reaches round the hills towards that of Philistia, and sinks in steps and rounded ridges towards the Sinaitic desert, and on the east to the Arabah or broad valley south of the Dead Sea.
The extremes of elevation between the summit of Hermon (9200 ft.) and the bottom of the Dead Sea (2600 ft. below the Mediterranean) mark the depth of the great fault of the Jordan Valley, which is at first wide and marshy, at about sea- level near the Waters of Merom, flanked by the Galilean mountains to the west, and by the volcanic ridges and craters of the Jaulin to the east. A steep spur from the Safed mountains forms a narrower gorge north of the Sea of Galilee, which is a natural basin, deepest on the south and east, pear-shaped, and 12 miles north and south by 8 at the widest, with pone 2000 ft. high on the east, and others of less ele- vation on the south-west. On the west and north steep slopes strewn with basalt sink into the lake. The surface is 680 ft. below the Mediter- ranean, and the Jordan falls thence to the Dead Sea, 1292 ft. below the same level. The Jordan plain is about 10 miles wide, with high mountains on either side. The Dead Sea is flanked by mighty precipices on either side throughout its etait of 40 miles, and is 10 miles broad ; but immediately to its north the foot hills recede, forming the wider plains of Jericho and Shittim, west and east of the river, about 1000 ft. below the Mediterranean. Eastern Palestine includes the plateau of Bashan, the hills of Gilead, and the barren plains of Moab. The first of these regions isa broad plain about 2000 ft. above the Mediter- ranean, broken by the ridge of the Jaulfin craters east of the Upper Jordan, and seamed by precipi- tous ravines with dolomitie cliffs, east of the Sea of Galilee. The plateau is divided from the Syrian desert by the isolated ridge of the Hill of Bashan (Ps 68" only), rising to 5700 ft. The Gilead hills rise to about 3000 ft., and are only some 500 above the eastern desert. Their western slopes, of hard limestone and sandstone, are very steep, and the plateau is from 3000 to 4000 ft. above the Jordan Valley. Rugged ravines score these slopes, and the region is divided by the be of the Jabbok into two districts, now called ‘Ajliin and Belka—north and south re- spectively of the stream. The mountains sink on the south to the general level of the plateau east of the Dead Sea, and alower terrace of barren desert here answers to the desert of Judah west of the sea. Among the ridges which run out west from the plateau, Mount Nebo is one of the most peepiencs (2643 ft.), but it is not as high as Jebel Osh'a in Gilead (3597 ft.), and does not command as extensive a view. It is, however, the nearest high point to the plains of Shittim, and projects farther west than the others. The tre- mendous gorges which divide the precipices west of the Moab paeeau present some of the grandest scenery in Palestine ; and among these the torrent of Arnon is the most famous. The black basalt, white chalk, pink and yellow sandstones of the Zerka Malin rise sheer above a narrow brook; and into this flow the sulphur streams, bordered with orange deposits, from the hot springs of Callirrhée, passing es palm grove, and flowing in a cataract to the Dead Sea. This wild gorge may be the Nahaliel or ‘ravine of God’* (Nu 9119) mentioned in the Pentateuch. The Moab plateau continues in the ridge of Edom, east of the Arabah, rising to 4580 ft. at Mount Hor. Its western ridges are called the ‘Abarim, or
mountains ‘beyond’ the Dead Sea, in the Bible (Nu 2713, Dt 32” 342),
These various natural features are distinguished in the OT by special terms: Har, ‘mountain country’; Sddeh, ‘plain’ (in Philistia); and Sharon, ‘plain’ farther north, and, according to Jerome, near Tabor; Shephélah, ‘lowland,’ for the foot hills on the south-west; Mishér for the
lateaus of Bashan and Moab; Midbar for the Ppa of Juda ; and Negeb, or ‘ dry land,’ for the plains of Beersheba and the lower plateau south of Hebron, where no surface water is found as a rule. The various kinds of valleys include: Nahal for a torrent-valley (the modern wady),'Emek for a broad flat valley flanked by mountains ; ‘Arabah for ‘desert’ valleys like that of Jordan and south of the Dead Sea; Sha@veh for a smaller vale; and Gai for a waterless ravine. The term Bik'ah appears to signify a plain between mountains, and is still so applied (Arab. Buk‘ah and diminutive Bukei‘ah) in many places, both to the plain of the Orontes in Syria, and to the remarkable cup- shaped depression on the Gilead plateau, south of the Jabbok, which seems to be the ‘circle of ean ἝΞ 6”). ΤῊ terms ae (28 2) an igron (18 14?) apply to rug; orges ; an Debir, or ‘the back’ ἢ ΤΡ’. φὩ͵ τὶ 12 ἊΣ three cases to ridges. None of these terms are now in use except the one mentioned ; and the old names of natural features in Palestine have, as a rule, been lost.