[Illustration: MERIDIONAL SECTION, WESTERN PALESTINE.
(_Reduced from Mr Trelawney Saunders’ Section by W. H. Hudleston._)
_Lower Galilee_ _Upper Galilee_ _Hills of Samaria_ _Mountains of Judæa_]
North of the Dead Sea the Valley of the Jordan widens out into an extensive flat called the Kikkar or the Round, the Plain of the Jordan. Northwards of this again, the low ground of the Jordan Valley extends for several miles on either side of the stream, the hills now drawing closer, now opening wider. Following the low ground northward, we by-and-bye find an opening to the left, the western range of hills being broken in two by the Valley of Jezreel and the Great Plain of Esdraelon. We may continue our journey westward, and round the promontory of Mount Carmel, where the road is close to the sea, and then southward through the Plain of Sharon into the Plain of Philistia, and onward to the desert of Sinai. Thus it is possible to travel all round without once climbing the hills: so that this central region is like an island, with plains around it instead of the ocean. It was, in fact, still more isolated, by having a second separating ring around the first; for on the west was the Mediterranean Sea, navigated by the Phœnicians, who were peaceably disposed; on the south and east were extensive deserts, and on the north were the mountains of Lebanon, sending down their roots to the sea-coast. There was, however, a way through Canaan, from Egypt to Mesopotamia, by the coast route and through the passes of the Lebanon.
The hills of Western Palestine do not afford much level table-land, for the torrents running off on either side, into the sea westward and into the river eastward, cut the ground into deep gorges; these, over-lapping at their sources, leave a central wavy ridge, and if we travel from north to south anywhere but along this ridge we may have to cross torrent-beds 1000 feet deep. The eastern range is cut by gorges even more formidable, of which the principal are the Arnon, the Jabbok, and the Hieromax.
The hills of Western Palestine consisted of grey rock, and were comparatively bare and infertile; the plains were gorgeous with flowers, and rich with corn-fields. Beyond the plain of Esdraelon was wild scenery of mountain and forest. The eastern hills were green with forest and pasture; in the central region were the forests of Gilead; north of Gilead was rich pasturage for wild herds of cattle--the “bulls of Bashan;” in the south was rich pasturage too, and the king of Moab at one time was a sheep-master, paying as tribute the wool of 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams (2 Kings iii. 4).