Down the midst of the plain winds a ravine, varying from 200 yards to half a mile in breadth, an<l from 40 to loO feet n, .lepth. Through this the Jordan flows in
a tortuous course, now sweeping the western, and now the eastern bank ; now making a wide, gracefid curve, and now doubling back, but everywhere fringed by a narrow, dense border of trees and shrubs. The river has thus two distinct lines of banks. The first or lower banks confine the stream, and are from Ave to ten feet high, the height of course decreasing in spring when the river is high ; the second or upper are at some dis- tance from the channel, and in places rise to a height of 150 feet. The scenery of the river is peculiar and striking. Lynch thus describes the upper section : "The high alluvial terraces oiT each side were every- where shaped by the action of the winter rains into numbers of conical hills, some of them pyramidal and cuneiform, presenting the appearance of a giant en- campment. This singular conformation extended south- wards as far as the eye could reach. At intervals I caught a glimpse of the river in its graceful nieander- ings, sometimes glittering like a spear-head through an opening in the foliage, and again clasping some little island in its shining arms, or, far away, snapping with the fierceness and white foam of a torrent by some pro- jecting point. . . . The banks were fringed with the lanrustinus, the oleander, the willow, and the tamarisk, and further inland, on the slope of the second terrace, grew a smaU species of oak, and the cedar."
The Jordan issues from the Sea of Galilee close to the hills on the western side of the plain, and sweeps round a little peninsula, on which lie the ruins of Tarichaea (Porter, Ilandb. p. 321 ; Robinson, i, 538). The stream is about 100 feet wide, and the current strong (Lynch). A short distance down are the remains of a Roman bridge, whose fallen arches greatly obstruct the river, and make it dash through in sheets of foam. Below this are several weirs, constructed of rough stones, and intended to raise the water and turn it into canals, so as to irrigate the neighboring plain (Molyneux). Five niDes from the lake the Jordan receives its largest trib- utary, the Sheriat el-Mandhiir (the Hieromax of the Greeks), which drains a large section of Bashan and Gilead. This stream is 130 feet wide at its mouth. Two miles further is Jisr el-Mejamia, the only bridge now standing on the Lower Jordan. It is a quaint structure, one large pointed arch spanning the stream, and double tiers of smaller arches supporting the road- way on each side. The river is here deep and impetu- ous, breaking over high ledges of rocks.
Below this point the ravine inclines eastwards to the centre of the plain, and its banks contract. Its sides are bare and white, and the chalky strata are deeply furrowed. The margin of the river has still its beauti- ful fringe of foliage, and the little islets which occur here and there are covered with shrubber}-. Fifteen miles south of the bridge, wady Yabes (so called from Jabesh-gilead), containing a winter torrent, falls in from the east. A short distance above it a barren sandy isl- and divides the channel, and with its bars on each side forms a ford, probably the one by which Jacob crossed, as the site of Succoth has been identified on the western bank. The plain round Succoth is extensively cidti- vated, and abundantly watered by foimtains and stream- lets from the adjoining mountains. The richness of the soil is wonderfid. Dr. Robinson says, " The grass, in- termingled with tall daisies and wild oats, reached to our horses' backs, while the thistles sometimes over- topped the riders' heads. All was now dry, and in some places it was difficult to make our way through this ex- uberant growth" (iii, p. 313). Jacob exercised a wise choice when " he made booths for his cattle" at this fa- vored spot (Gen. xxxiii, 17). No other place in the great plain equals it in richness. The ravine of the Jordan is here 150 feet below the plain, and shut in by steep, bare banks of chalky strata (Robinson, /. c. p. 310).
About nine miles below Succoth, and about half way between the lakes, the Jabbok, the only other consider- able tributary, falls into the Jordan, coming down through a deep, wild glen iu the mountains of Gilead.
JORDAN
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JORDAN
When Lynch passed (April 17) it was "a small stream trickling down a deep and wide torrent bed. . . . There was another bed, quite dry, showing that in times of freshet there were two outlets." Lynch gives some good pictures of the scenery above the junction. " The plain that sloped away from the bases of the hills was broken into ridges and multitudinous cone-like mounds. ... A low, pale yellow ridge of conical hills marked the termination of the higher terrace, beneath which swept gently this low jilain, with a similar undulating surface, half redeemed from barrenness by sparse ver- dure and thistle-covered hillocks. Still lower was the valley of the Jordan — its banks fringed with perpetual verdiu-e — winding a thousand graceful mazes ... its course a bright line in this cheerless waste."