same as is, in 2 Sam. xxiv. 5, called "the river of Gad," as rising in the eastern borders of Gad; and, after skirting them for some considerable distance, it flows along the south border of the tribe of Reuben.

THE JABBOK.

This rises in the mountains of Gilead, and flows into the Jordan, below the Sea of Tiberias. Its stream is rapid, about thirty feet broad, deeper than the Jordan, and flows over a rocky bed; its waters are clear, and agreeable to the taste; and its banks are very thickly wooded with oleander and plane trees, wild olives, wild almonds, and numerous other trees. It formed the ancient boundary between the Amorites and the children of Ammon.

THE SIHOR.

This is the Belus of antiquity.

It rises about four

miles to the east of the heads of the Kishon, and, after watering the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, flows into the sea at the gulf of Keilah. In connexion with this

stream, facts are recorded by Pliny, and repeated by other historians, which render it an object of curiosity to the naturalist, as well as the general reader. It is said by this writer, that it was at the mouth of the Belus, that the art of making glass was first discovered. A party of sailors, who had occasion to visit the shore in that neighbourhood, propped up the kettle, in which they were about to cook their provisions, with sand and pieces of nitre: when, to their surprise, they found produced by the action of the fire on these ingredients, a new substance, which has added immensely to the comforts of life, and to the progress of science. The sand of this remarkable stream continued for ages to supply not only the manufactories of Sidon, but all other places, with materials for that beau

tiful production. Vessels from Italy were employed to remove it for the glass-houses of Venice and Genoa so late as the middle of the seventeenth century.

There is another circumstance connected with this river which in heathen mythology makes a greater impression even than the one just described. Lucian relates that the river Belus, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour,-a fact which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy for the death of this favourite of Venus, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains whence the stream takes its rise. Something like this," says Maundrell, we saw actually come to pass; for the water was stained to a surprising redness, and, as we had observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue, occasioned doubtless by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis' blood."

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THE KANAH, OR BROOK OF REEDS.

This rises in the mountains of Judah and flows into the Mediterranean; but it flows only during the winter season. It formerly separated the tribe of Ephraim from that of Manasseh. Josh. xvii. 9.

THE BESOR.

David having been dismissed by the Philistines, returned to Ziklag, where he and his band had been encamped; but finding that the Amalekites, during his absence, had come upon the city and destroyed it, and carried away the women captive, he pursued the enemy, and came as far as the brook Besor. 1 Sam. xxx. 1—9. Hence it appears that the brook Besor is in the southwestern border of the land of Israel, and so empties

itself into the Mediterranean. In connexion with the passage above referred to, there is mention made of a Bethel; (ver. 27;) this however must be understood, not of Bethel lying in the north of the tribe of Benjamin, but of Bethul, mentioned among the cities of Simeon, Josh. xix. 4.

THE KISHON.

This issues from Mount Carmel, at the foot of which it forms two streams, one of which flows eastward into the sea of Galilee, and the other, taking a westerly direction through the plain of Esdraelon, empties itself into the Mediterranean. Except when swollen by the rain or melting snows, it is but a small stream. When Maundrell crossed it in his way to Jerusalem, its waters were low and inconsiderable; but in passing along the side of the plain, he observed the tracts of many tributary rivulets flowing down into it from the mountains, by which it must be greatly swollen in the rainy season. It was most likely at the season, when, replenished by its numerous tributary streams, the Kishon becomes a deep and impetuous torrent, that the bands of Sisera perished in its waters.-Like several other streams in Palestine, the Kishon does not run with a full current into the sea, except in the time of the rains, but percolates through the sands which interpose between it and the sea.

This river is famous for the slaughter of the prophets of Baal on its banks by the prophet Elijah ; (1 Kings xviii. 4 ;) but it is immortalized by the song of Deborah and Barak: "The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Tanaach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept

them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon." Judges v. 19-21.

THE KIDRON.

This flows through the valley of Jehoshaphat, eastward of Jerusalem, between that city and the Mount of Olives. Except during winter, or after heavy rains, its channel is generally dry; but when swollen by torrents, it flows with great impetuosity; and like other brooks in cities, it is contaminated with the filth of which it is the receptacle or common-sewer.

THE JORDAN.

This is the longest river of Canaan, and indeed the only one which strictly deserves to be called a river. According to Josephus, it rises in a fountain called Phiala, (a vial,) so called from its round figure, which was about fifteen miles from Cæsarea Philippi, a little to the right, and not much out of the way to Trachonitis, Thence, it flows underground to the cave Panion, which was thought to be the source of the Jordan, till Philip, the tetrarch of Trachonitis, having cast straws into Phiala, saw them come out again at Panion. From Panion, it crosses the bogs and fens of the lake Samachonitis, or Merom; and, after a course of about fifteen miles farther, passes under the city of Julias or Bethsaida, and so over the lake of Gennesaret; and thence running a long way through a wilderness or desert, it empties itself into the lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea. It thus pursues a course, from north to south, the whole extent of Palestine, dividing it into two unequal parts. Previously to the overthrow of the cities of the plain, and the conversion of the valley in which they stood into the Dead Sea, the Jordan most probably flowed in a deep and uninterrupted channel,

down a regular descent, and discharged itself into the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. According to the best authorities, its breadth is about twenty yards, its depth considerably greater than the height of a man, and its current very rapid, It was anciently subject to a periodical overflow, which occurred "at the time of harvest," (Josh. iii. 15,) or, as it is expressed, 1 Chron. xii. 15," in the first month," which answers to March.

Two banks belonging to it are still visible—an inner bank, confining its ordinary current, and an outer one, about a furlong from the other, which bounded it when it overflowed. The nearer bank is thickly set with bushes and trees, among which are the tamarisk, the willow, and the oleander; which completely conceal the water from the view of the spectator, who stands above them. In these thickets, harboured several kinds of wild beasts, till the swell of the river forced them from their covert. This is the allusion of the prophet Jeremiah, when he represents the enemy of Edom coming upon it,like a lion coming up from the swelling of Jordan. (xlix. 19; 1. 44.)

There do not appear to have been any bridges across this river, and from its depth, and the rapidity of its current, it could be crossed only in certain parts, where nature or art had erected shallows or fords. Of this circumstance the men of Gilead took advantage in the civil war, which they were compelled to wage with their brethren: "The Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites :-then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan." Judges xii. 5, 6. The people of Israel, under the command of Ehud, availed themselves of the same advantage in the war with Moab: "And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan towards Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over." iii. 28.

When Maundrell visited the Jordan, in the latter end of March, the season when, according to the sacred