2. Sources. — The snows that decjily cover Hermon during the whole winter, and that still cap its glittering summit during the hottest days of summer, are the real springs of the Jordan. They feed its perennial foun- tains, and they supply from a thousand channels those superaliinidant waters which make the river " overflow all its banks in harvest time" (Josh, iii, 15). The Jor- dan has two historical sources, a. In the midst of a rich but marsln' plain, lying between the southern pro- longation of Hermon and the mountains of Naphtali, is a low cup-shaped hill, thickly c(jvered with shrubs. On it once stood Dan, the northern border-city of Palestine ; and from its western base gushes forth the great foun- tain of the Jordan. The waters at once form a large pond encircled with rank grass and jungle — now tlie home of the wild boar — and then flow off southward. Within the rim of the cup, beneath the spreading branches of a gigantic oak, is a smaller spring. It is fed, doubtless, by the same source, and its stream, break- ing through the rim, joins its sister, and forms a river some forty feet wide, deep and rapid. The modern name of the hill is Tell el-Kfuly, " the hill of the j udge ;" and both fountain and river are called Leddan — evi- dently the name Dan corrupted by a double article, El- ed-Dan (Robinson, Bib. Pes. iii, 394 ; Thomson, Land and Booh; p. 214 ; and in Bibliotheca Sac. 184G, p. 196). Josephus calls this stream "Little Jordan" (tcjv ^iticpcv 'IopSdvr)v,War, iv, 1, 1 ; comp..4;i^ i, 10, 1; viii,8,4); but it is the principal source of the river, and the largest fountain in Syria.
b. Four miles east of Tell el-Ksidj-, on a lower terrace of Hermon, amid forests of oak, lie the ruins of Banias, the ancient Cfesarea-Philippi, and more ancient Panium. Beside the ruins is a lofty cliff of red limestone, having a large fountain at its base. Beneath the cliff there was form.erly, as Josephus tells us, a gloomy cave, and within it a yawning abyss of unfathomable depth, filled with water. This was the other source of the Jordan ( War, i, 21,3; comp. A nt. xv, 10, 3 ; Pliny, v, 12 ; Mish- na, P«r«, viii, 12). A temple was erected over the cave by Herod, and its ruins now fill it and conceal the foun- tain. From it a foammg torrent stiU bursts, and dashes down to the plain through a narrow rocky ravine, and then glides swiftly on till it joins the other about foiu
miles south of Tell el-Kady (Robinson, iii, 397 ; Porter, Handbook, p. 44G).
c. The Jordan has also a fabled fountain, thus de- scribed by Josephus : " Apparently Panium is the source of the Jordan, but the water is, in reality, conveyed thither unseen by a subterranean channel from Phiala, as it is called, which lies not far from the high road, on the right as you ascend to Trachonitis, at the distance of 120 stadia from Csesarea. . . . That the Jordan hence derived its origin was formerly unknown, until it was ascertained by Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, who. hav- ing thrown chaff into Phiala, found it cast out at Paiu- um" {\Vu7; iii, 10, 7). The lake here referred to ap- pears to be Burket errRam, which Robinson visited and described (Bib. Pes. iii, 399). The legend has no foun- dation in reality.
d. Other fountains in this region, though unnamed in history, contribute much to the Jordan. The chief of these, and the highest perennial source of the Jor- dan, is in the bottom of a valley at the western base of Hermon, a short distance from the town of Hasbciya, and twelve miles north of Tell el-KAdy. The fountain is in a pool at the foot of a basalt cliff; the stream from it, called Hasbany (from Hasbeiya), flows through a nar- row glen into the plain, and falls into the main stream about a mile south of the junction of the Leddan and Baniasy. The relative size of the three streams Rob- inson thus estimates : " That from Banias is twice as large as the Hasbany, while the Leddan is twice, if not three times the size of that from Banias" {Bib. Res. iii, 395). The united river flows southward through the marshy plain for six miles, and then falls into Lake Hu- leh, called in Scripture " The Waters of Merom." Se« Mekcai.
e. Besides these, a considerable stream comes doAvn from the plain of Ijon, west of the llasbAny; and two large fountains (called Balat and ^McUaliah ) liurst forth from the base of the mountain-chain of Naphtali (Por- ter, Handbook for S. and P. p. 43G).
3. Physical Features of the Jordan and its Valley. — The most remarkable feature of the Jordan is, that throughout nearly its entire course it is below the level of the sea. Its valley is thus like a huge fissure in the earth's crust. The following measurements, taken from Van de Yelde's Memoir accompanying his Maji, will give the best idea of the depression of this singular val- ley :
Fountain of Jordan at Ilnsbeiya. .. 1700 ft. elevation.
" " lianias" 1147 "
Dan (•■17 "
Lake Huleh about 120 "