PALESTINE
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PALESTINE
water is 98° Fahr., and emits "a fetid odor" (Robinson, iii, i)08). Next coinc the springs of Callirrhoe, near tlie mouth (if Wady Ziirka Main, ^vhich opens into the north-eastern i)art of the Dead Sea. They rise in the bottom of a sublime gorge. The base of the clifts on each side is ruddy ferruginous sandstone, above and through which black and dark-gray trap appears, while the great body of the mountain behind is limestone. "In one place a considerable stream of hot water is seen precipitating itself from a high and perpendicular shelf of rock, which is strongly tinted with the brilliant yellow of sulphur deposited upon it. On reaching the bottom we find ourselves at what may be termed a hot river, so copious and rapid is it, and its heat so little abated ; this continues as it passes downwards, by its receiving constant supplies of water of the same tem- perature. . . . We passed four abinidant springs, all within the distance of half a mile, discharging them- selves into the stream. . . . We had no thermometer, but the degree of heat in the water seemed very great ; near the source it scalds the hand, which cannot be kept in for the space of half a minute" (Irby and Man- gles, p. 468). Lynch found the temperature of the stream to be 95° Fahr. The temperature must be much higher at the source. Along the shores of the Dead Sea are numerous saline springs and salt-marshes. At its southern end is the remarkable ridge of hills called Khashm Usdum, composed in a great measure of pure salt. Large quantities of bitumen are often found floating on the Dead Sea, especially, it is said, after earthquakes, as if thrown up by the action of subterranean fires. Away at the northern extremity of the valley, at the western base of Hermon, are pits of bitumen {/landbook. p. 453).
All these things indicate volcanic agencies still in action beneath the surface, and tend to illustrate some of the most remarkable events in the long history of Palestine, from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah down to the earthquake of 1837. Palestine has in all ages been a country of earthquakes. The sacred writ- ers show that they were familiar with them. The Scriptures abound in allusions to them and figures drawn from them. From earthquakes the Psalmist borrows his figures, when he speaks of ''mountains being carried into the midst of the sea" (xlvi, 2) ; of their '-skipping like rams, and the little hills like lambs" (cxiv, 4-6). To earthquakes the prophet al- ludes in his striking language — "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed like a cot- tage" (Isa. xxiv, 20; comp. Psa. civ, 32; 1 Chron. xvi, 30 ; Jer. X, 10 ; Hab. iii, 6-8, etc.). There are, however, only two earthquakes expressly named in Scripture. The first was of such serious importance as to form a kind of epoch. Amos dates his vision " two j'ears be- fore the earthquake" (i, 1). It took place "in the days of Uzziah" (Zech. xiv, 5). The other instance of an earthquake mentioned in Scripture is that of the.quak- ing of the earth and rending of the rocks at the cruci- fixion (Matt, xxvii, 51). In the seventh year of Herod the Great Palestine was visited by a tremendous earth- quake (Joseph. A7it. XV, 5, 2). SVe read of numerous others since that period (see Kitto, Physical llist. of Palestine, chap. iv). See Earthquake.
The present bed of the Jordan valley is of a much later formation than either the limestone of the adjoin- ing mountains or the rock of the trap-fields. The crust varies from 100 to 200 feet in depth, and through this the river has hollowed out for itself a deep tortuous channel, showing along its banks vertical sections. The lower iiarts consist mainly of tertiary deposits of indu- rated marl and conglomerate; while the upper stratum, now composing the surface of the jilain, appears to be made up to a large extent of the washings and detritus of the chalk crust which originally covered the neigh- boring highlands, enriched liere and there with vege- table moidd. The coast-plains, Sharon and Philistia, are coated with a light soil — in some places chalky, in
others sand}', with a large admixture of red alluvial clay, and on the top rich vegetable mould. The plains of Esdraelon, Ard el-IIamma, Gennesaret, and Ilauran are coated with deep black clay of extraordinary fertil- ity. It is composed in a great degree of disintegrated lava, and perhaps, to some extent, volcanic ashes, to- gether with a large quantity of decomposed vegetable matter — the residue of the forests that appear to have at one period extended over all Palestine.
Besides the incidental notices in the travels of Burck- hardt, and Drs. Wilson, Kobinson, Thomson, and Tris- tram, the following works contain the fullest informa- tion we possess on the geology of the different parts of Palestine : (1.) Anderson's Geoloffical Reconnaissance, in Lynch's Official Report (Baltimore, 1852, 4to, p. 75- 207). His researches were confined to the Jordan val- ley and the regions immediately adjoining. (2.) Eus- segger, Reisen, vol. iii. This work embraces an account of the environs of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Joppa, and parts of Galilee around Nazareth and Tiberias (Stutt- gard, 1841-1849, 4 vols, with A lias). (3.) Poole's short paper in the Journal of R. G. S. vol. xxvi, giving brief notes of his journey from Joppa to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, and then along the western shore and around the southern end to the promontory of Lisan. (4.) Wetzstein, Reisebericht iibcr I/aiiran nnd die Trachonen, giving some account of the remarkable trap-fields of the Lejah, Jebel Hauran, the Safah, etc. (5.) Porter, Five Years in Damascus, containing a full description of the physical geography of Bashan. See Geology.