Below the .Jabbok the fall of the river is still greater than above, but there is less obstruction from rocks and cliffs. The jungles along the banks become denser, the sides of the river glen more regular, and the plain above more dreary and desolate.
On approaching the Dead Sea, the plain of the Jor- dan attains its greatest breadth — about twelve miles. The mountain ranges on each side are higher, more rugged, and more desolate. The plain is coated with a nitrous crust, like hoar-frost, and not a tree, shrub, or blade of grass is seen except by fountains or rivulets. The glen winds like a serpent through the centre, be- tween two tiers of banks. The bottom is smooth, and sprinkled on the outside with stunted shrubs. The riv- er wuids in ceaseless coils along the bottom, now touch- ing one side and now another, with its beautifiU border
great secret is solved by the tortuous course of the Jor- dan. In a space of GO miles of latitude, and four or five of longitude, the Jordan traverses at least 200 miles. . . . We have plunged down^twent3'-seven threatening rap- ids, besides a great many of lesser magnitude."
Dr. Kobinson (Researches, ii, 257 sq.) describes the banks as consisting of three series, with terraces be- tween, the outer ones composed of the mountains bor- dering the river, the middle ones being the true banks, and the tJiird the proper channel of the stream ; and he argues that the scriptural allusions to the overflow of the Jordan at harvest (Josh, iii, 15; 1 Chron, xii, 15; compare Jer. xii, 5 ; xlix, 19 ; 1, 44 ; Zech. xi, 3 ; Sirach xxiv, 26, 36) simply refer to the full stream, or at most to its expansion as far as to the middle one of these three hanks, at the time of the annual melting of snows on Lebanon and Hermon, rather than to any true fresh- et or inundation. The river in this respect probably resembles other mountain streams, which have an over- flow of their secondary boundaries or alluvial "bottoms" during the spring and early summer mouths. Comp. Thomson, Land and Book, ii, 452 sq.
4. The Fords of the Jordan have always been impor- tant in connection with the history of the countrj'. The three streams which flow from the fountains are forda- ble at almost every point. It is south of Lake Hiileh that the river begins to form a serious barrier. The bridge called Jisr Benat Yakiib has for centuries been the leading pass from western Palestine to Damascus. The first reference to it is in A.D. 1450 (in Gumpenberg's day ; see Kobinson, Researches, iii, 362), though as early
of green foliage, looking all the greener from contrast i as the Crusades a " Ford of Jacob" ( Vadum Jacob, Will, •with the desert above. The banks are of scjft clay, in I Tyr. Hist, xviii, 13) is mentioned, and was reckoned a places ten feet high : the stream varies from 80 to 150 feet in breadth, and from five to twelve in depth. Near its mouth the current becomes more sluggish, and the stream expands. Where wady Hesban falls in, Lynch found the river 150 feet wide and 11 deep, " the current four knots," Further down the banks are low and sedgy ; the width gradually in- creases to 180 yards at its mouth, but the depth is only three feet (Lynch, Official Report ; Robin- son, i, 538 sq. ; Stanley, p. 290).
Lynch in a few words explains the secret of the great and almost incredible fall in the Jordan
Uppei Fcra ot the Jordan, near Bethshau, (From Van de Velde.)
Menaces of tlio J( rd n 'Fiom Photognph 231 ot the '• i'aiestine Exploration J una.")
most important pass. The bridge was probably built during the 15th century, when the caravan road was constructed from Damascus to Egypt (Porter. Hand- hook, ii, 466). The origin of the name, "Bridge of Ja- cob's Daughters," is unknown. Perhaps this place may have been confounded with the ford of Succoth, where the patriarch crossed the Jordan, or perhaps the " Ja- cob" referred to was some Miislem saint or Turkish paslia (Ritter, Pal. vnd Ifyr. p. 269 sq.). See Bridge.
Between Bethsaida-Julias and the Sea of Galilee there are several fords. The river is there shallow and the current sluggish. At this place the multitudes that fol- lowed our Lord from Capernaum and the neighborhood were able to cross the river to where he fed the 5000 (Mark vi, 32 sq, ; Kobinson, ii, 414).
The first ford on the southern section of the Jordan is about half a mile from the lake, where the ruins of the Roman bridge now lie. It was the means of com- munication between Tiberias and Gadara, and it was doubtless at tins point our Lord crossed when he went from Galilee to Jiulaa "bv the farther side of Jordan
JORDAX
lOOS
JORDAN
(Mark x, 1 ; Matt, xix, 1, -2). Jisr el-Mejamia is a Sar- acenic bridge on an old caravan route from Damascus to Egypt. Probably a Konian bridge may have stood at the' same place, connecting Scythopolis with the oth- •cr cities of Decapolis. There is no ford here. At a point east of the ruins of Scythopolis, ten miles below the bridge, the river is now fordable, but the passage is deep and dangerous (Robmson, iii, 325 ; Van de Velde, Mfnnoir, p. 137).