At the eastern base of the ridge commences the noble plateau of Bashan, at once the richest and the largest plain in Palestine. It extends unbroken southward to the banks of the Yarmuk (thirty miles), and eastward to Jebel Hauran (fifty miles). The western part of it is called Jauldn (l^ij, FoiAorT-tc), the eastern IIuu- rdiu The former has a gently undulating surface; is studded with conical and cup-shaped tells ; is abundant- ly watered, especially in the northern part, by streams and fountains; and is famed tliroughout all Syria for the excellence of its pastures. The surface is in places
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stony, and covered with shrubberies of hawthorn, ilex, and other bushes; elsewhere it is smooth as a meadow. Towards the west the plateau is intersected by deep ravines or gullies, wliich carry its surplus waters down to the Jordan. The high ridge which runs along the eastern side of the Jordan valley from Hermon to Gilead is the supporting wall of this plateau. Jaulan has now very few settled inhabitants; but it is visited periodically by the vast tribes of the Anazeh from the Arabian desert, whose flocks and herds, numerous as those of their ancestors " the children of the East" (Judg. vi, 3-5), devour, trample down, and destroy all before them. The remains of old cities and villages in the plain are very numerous, and some of them very extensive (Porter's Damascus, vol. ii). See Golan,
Tlie yjlain ofHauran divides itself naturally into two parts : one, lying on the north-east, is a wilderness of rocks, elevated from twenty to thirty feet above the surrounding plain. The border is sharply defined, and has received from the sacred writers an appropriate name, the Chebd (Dent, iii, 4, 13 ; 1 Kings iv, 13), in the Hebrew. The rocks are basalt, which appears to have been thrown up from innumerable pores or craters in a state of fusion, to have flowed over the whole ground, and then, while cooling, to have been rent and shattered by some terrible convulsion. For wildness and savage, forbidding deformity, there is nothing like it in Palestine, and it is scarcely equalled in the world. This is the Argoh of the Hebrews, the Trachonilis (q. V.) of the Greeks, and the Lejah of the modern Arabs. Its inhabitants have in all ages partaken of the wild character of their country. They have been and are lawless bandits; and their rocky fastness is the home of every outlaw. Along the rocky border of this forlorn region, and even in the interior, are great numbers of primiBval cities, most of them now deserted, though not ruined (comp. Deut. iii, 4). The remaining portion of Hauran is a plain, perfectlj' level, with a deep black soil, free from stones, and proverbial for its fertility. At intervals arc rounded or conical tells, usually covered with the remains of ancient cities or villages. The water-courses are deep and tortuous, running westward to the Jordan ; but none of them contain perennial streams. See Halrax.
Along the eastern border of this noble plain lies an isolated ridge of mountains — the Mountains of Bashan — about forty miles long by fifteen broad. It divides the ancient kingdom of Bashan from the arid steppes of Arabia; and it forms at this point the north-eastern boiuidary of Palestine. The scenery is picturesque. Being wholly of volcanic origin, the summits rise in conical peaks, and are mostly clothed to the top with oaks. The glens are deep and wild ; the mountain- sides are terraced, and though rocky and now desolate, they everywhere afford evidence of the extraordinary richness of the soil and of former careful cultivation. The grass and general verilure surpass anything in Western Palestine; and the brilliant foliage of the evergreen oak and terebinth gives the mountains the look of eternal spring. In another respect, also, the scenery differs widely from that of the west. In the latter the white limestone and chalky strata, and the white soil, give a parched and barren look to the coun- try. In Bashan the rocks are all basalt, in color either dark slaty gray or black; and the soil is black. This makes the landscape somewhat sombre, but on the whole more pleasing than Judtea or Samaria. Though these mountains are far from the sea, and on the borders of an arid wilderness, they do not appear to suffer so much from drought or from the burning sun of summer as the western range. This arises in part from the forests that clothe them, and in part from their greater elevation— the highest peaks cannot be less than 0000 feet above the sea, and the average elevation of the plain of Hauran is greater than that of the mountains of Western Palestine. It is remarkable, however, that water is extremely scarce in Hauran. Even in winter,
though the snow lies deep upon the mountains, and sometimes covers the plain, the torrents are neither numerous nor large, and there are no perennial streams. Fountains are rare. The ancient inhabitants have ex- pended much labor and skill in attempts to obtain a supply of water. Cisterns and tanks of immense size have been constructed at every town and village. Some are open, as at Bozrah and Salcah ; some arched over, as at Kenath and Suleim ; some excavated in the rock, forming labyrinths, as at Edrei and Damah. In a few places long subterranean canals have been sunk, in others aqueducts have been made. There is an aque- duct at Shuhba, in the mountains, upwards of five miles long ; and there is one in the plain at Dera not less than twenty. Irrigation is not practiced in Bashan — it is not necessary. The soil is deep and rich, totally different from the scanty gravelly covering of the hills of Judah ; the great elevation, too, prevents the intense heat and evaporation which so seriously affect the low plains of Palestine. In another respect Bashan presents a very marked contrast to the west. Its old cities still stand. Their walls, gates, and primajval houses are in many places nearh' perfect. The temples and monu- ments of the Greek and Roman period, and the church- es of the early Christian age, are also in a good state of preservation. There are no remains of antiquity west of the Jordan which would bear comparison with those of Bozrah, Salcah, Kenath, Shuhba, or Edrei ; and prob- ably in no other country of the world are there speci- mens of the domestic architecture of so remote an age (Porter's Damascus, vol, ii ; The Giant Cities of Bashan, p, 1 sq.). The province of Hauran is an oasis in the midst of widespread desolation. This is mainly owing to the indomitable courage of the Druses who inhabit it. They have taught rapacious Bedawin and rapacious Turks alike to respect them and the fruits of their in- dustry. Grouped together in a few of the ancient cities and villages on the western slopes of the mountains, and along the southern border of the Lejah, they are able to bid defiance to all their enemies, A number of Christians and Mohammedans are settled among and around them. They cultivate large sections of the plain, and they find a ready market for their grain in Damascus, See Bashan,