After leaving Lake Hulah the Jordan flows onward with a gentle current to the bridge of "Jacob’s daughters," Jisr Benat Jakub, two miles from the end of the lake, here its character changes to that of a moutain torrent. There are no falls or cascades, but the river makes a sweep or two to right and left, as with a struggle to get free, and then a white-foam bursting rush of water hurries between rocks thick with oleanders, which often meet across the stream not a dozen feet in width.

Seven miles below the bridge the Jordan issues from its confined bed on to tl plain of Buteiha, and two miles beyond, after many windings, it pours its waters into the Sea of Galilee.

Between Lake Huleh and the bridge the Jordan flows through a narrow tract of cultivated plain, but beyond this the country becomes exceedingly wild and rugged the river forces its way between steep banks of Iimestone and basalt, whilst the only road through the gorge is narrow path over the heights on the west bank, often winding along the edges of steep precipices where its footing is not always of the best; at one point in the pass there is a hill from which an interesting view obtained of the exit of the Jordan from Lake Huleh and its point of entrance into the Sea of Galilee. On leaving the hills the current is sluggish, and the stream fordable in several places at certain times of year, flows along the western part of the plain of Buteiha.

The only point of interest between the two lakes is the Jisr Benat Jakub, by means of which one of the great lines of communication between Damascus and Palestine crosses the Jordan. The bridge has three arches, and is sixty feet long, but it does not appear to be older than the fifteenth century, as William of Tyre and other writers speak of the place as Jacob’s ford; on the east bank of the Jordan are the ruins of a large khan, at which caravans halted on their way to or from Damascus, and at the west end of the bridge is a round tower, probably the custom-house, at which toll was levied on all passing over the road.

On the west bank, a mile below the bridge, are the remains of the castle built by Baldwin in 1178 AD, to keep the Saracens in check, and command the Damascus road. The route over the bridge must always have been the principal line of communication between Damascus, the Sea of Galilee, and the port of Acre, on the Mediterranean; in the Middle Ages it was called the via maris, and it is the "way of the sea" alluded to in Matt. iv. 15, but whether the name was derived from the Sea of Galilee or the Mediterranean is not quite clear.

The remains of the old Roman road which followed this line can be clearly traced as it passes Khan Jubb Yusuf; and between the Jordan and Damascus there are large portions of it in perfect repair. The Jisr Benat Jakub is connected by tradition with Jacob’s flight from Haran, as the place at which he crossed over Jordan, but we know from the Bible that Jacob’s route lay through Gilead, and that he passed over the ford of Jabbok, the Zerka, a tributary of the Jordan much further to the south, and thence journeyed by Succoth to Shochem, the modern Nablus. There is more reason for the belief that it was at this point our Lord crossed the Jordan on his way to Caesarea Philippi, and that Saul followed the Roman road, mentioned above, on his way to Damascus (Acts ix. 2, 3).

THE SEA OF GALILEE

This lake is called in the Old Testament the Sea of Chinnereth (Numb. xxxiv. 11), apparently from a town of that name on or near its shore, which has sometimes been identified with the modern Tiberias, but there are several difficulties connected with this identification which will be noticed hereafter.

In the New Testament the lake is known under the more familiar titles of "Sea of Gennesaret," a name of uncertain origin, also applied to a portion of the coast, "the land of Gennesaret;" the "Sea of Galilee," derived from the district of Galilee on its western shores; and at a later period, when Tiberias became the chief town of Galilee, the "Sea of Tiberias" (John xxi. 1). The lake is pear-shaped, the broad end being towards the north; its length from north to south is twelve miles and a quarter, and its greatest breadth from Mejdel to Khersa six miles and three-quarters; the level of its surface has never been accurately ascertained, and the estimates of various travellers differ greatly; perhaps 626 feet below the level of the Mediterranean is as close an approximation to the truth as we can make at present.

The lake was at one time supposed to be of great depth, but Lieut. Molyneux, R.N., who examined it by means of a boat in 1847, found its greatest depth to be 156 feet, and this result has been confirmed by more recent observations. At the time of our Saviour there appear to have been numerous boats on the Sea of Galilee, and Josephus describes a naval engagement which took place on its waters between the Jews and the soldiers of Vespasian; now, a sail is rarely seen on its surface, and in 1866, when the writer visited the lake, there was only one boat belonging to some fisher-non at Tiberias. The water of the lake is bright, clear, but limpid; it is well stocked with fish, and at certain seasons of the year large shoals may be seen near the shore darkening the water, as they may have done when he disciples let down their nets into the sea and "inclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net brake."

The scenery of the lake presents no striking features, but it has, nevertheless, a natural beauty of its own, particularly in the spring months when all is green and the surrounding hills glow under the rich tints of sunset and sunrise. In the time of our Saviour, when Art aided Nature, making its shores one of the gardens of the world, and when the hill-sides were clothed with trees, the whole country must have presented a very different aspect, and fully merited the praise which Josephus bestows upon it.

The hills except at Khan Minyeh, where there is a small cliff, are recessed from the shore of the lake or rise gradually from it; they are of no great elevation, and their outline, especially on the eastern side, is not broken by any prominent peak; but everywhere from the southern end the snow-capped peak of Hermon is visible, standing out so sharp and clear in the bright sky that it appears almost within reach; and towards the north, the western ridge is cut through by a wild gorge, ‘the Valley of Doves,’ over which rise the twin peaks or horns of Hattin." The climate during the winter months is very enjoyable, and even in summer the heat is tempered by a morning and evening breeze, but occasionally, when the south wind blows, the heat is excessive, and fevers, possibly of the same type as that with which Peter’s wife was afflicted, are very prevalent. There is little cultivation now, but Josephus tells us that in his day all the forest trees throve there, and that walnuts, figs, olives and palms grew in profusion; the date-palm, pomegranate, indigo, rice-plant, and sugar-cane are still found; and the district seems peculiarly suitable for the growth of both tropical and temperate productions. There does not appear to be anything volcanic in the origin of the lake, which is simply part of the great Jordan depression.

The hills on either side are limestone, capped in places with basalt, which has three distinct sources; one at Kurn Hattin, or in its neighbourhood; another near Khan Jubb Yusuf, north of the lake; and a third in the Jaulan district.

Earthquakes are frequent, and sometimes of great violence, as that of 1837, when nearly one-third of the inhabitants of Tiberias perished, and the town was left little more than a heap of ruins. There are several hot springs in the vicinity of the lake, the principal ones being those of Tiberias, which are said to have been sensibly affected by the earthquake of 1837: not only was the temperature higher, but the body of water poured into the lake was much greater than at any previous period within the memory of man.

We may now pass to a fuller examination of the district Is bordering on the lake which is so intimately connected with the history of the last three years of our Lord’s life on earth, and in which so many of his mighty works were performed, and commencing with the point at which the Jordan enters the lake, make a complete circuit of its shores.

The Jordan, as mentioned above, for the last two miles of its course, flows with a sluggish current along the western end of the plain of Buteiha, and in winter after heavy rains, or in spring on the melting of the snow, overflows its banks, forming a large tract of marshy ground near its mouth. It was here that the skirmishes took place between Josephus and the Romans under SyIla, in the first of which Josephus was injured by the fall of his horse in one of the marshy places, and had to be carried to Capernaum.

On the western bank at the mouth of the river are a few small mounds which Dr. Thomson, the well-known author of The Land and the Book, considers to be the site of Bethsaida of Galilee, and not far from the the eastern bank, beneath the shade of some palm-trees are old foundations, heaps of rubbish, Arab tombs and fragments of basaltic columns, which he identifies with Bethsaida Julias, the burial-place of Philip the Tetrarch.

The question of the position of Bethsaida has always been a difficult one in the account of the feeding of the 5,000 in the New Testament, St. Luke states (ix. 10) that it took place in a desert place "belonging to the city he called Bethsaida; whilst St. Mark tells us (vi. 45), that after the miracle Jesus directed the disciples "to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida and in order to reconcile these statements, many commentators have adopted the theory that there were two Bethsaidas. If however, we accept the readings of the ancient MS. of the Bible which have recently been brought to light, there appears to be no necessity for the creation of a second Bethsaida; in the Sinaitic version, and in the ancient Syriac recension, published by Mr. Cureton, the words the "belonging to a city called Bethsaida, in Luke ix. 10, are omitted, and the reading of John vi. 22 in the Sinaitic version places, as we shall see further on, the scene of the feeding of the 5,000 near Tiberias.

From on. the Bible we gather that Bethsaida was a town of Galilee (John xii. 21), and the native place of Andrew, at Peter, and Philip; that it was not far from Capernaum and Chorazin; and that, from the place at which in the 5,000 were fed, near Tiberias, according to the Sinaitic version, it was spoken of as ‘being on "the other side" of the lake (Mark vi. 45). The name would seem to imply that it was near the water’s edge.

Josephus informs us that Bethsaida was a village raised to the dignity of a town by Philip, who changed its name to Julias, and built himself a tomb there in which he was afterwards buried with great pomp. He also states that it was a town of Lower Gaulonitis (B.,J. ii 9 1), that the Jordan passed by it (B. f. iii. 10, 7), and ry that it was situate at the Lake Gennesaret (Antiq.xviii.2, 1). With this also agrees the account of the battle with the Romans (Vit 70—72), which requires that Julias should be close to the Jordan, and not far from its mouth. Eusebius and Jerome mention that Capernanm, Chorazin, and Bethsaida lay on the shore of the lake, and St. Wilhibald, AD72, after visiting Capernainn, proceeds to Bethsaida, where he passes the night, and then goes on to Chorazin and the sources of the Jordan; he also informs us that there was a church on the site of the house of Andrew and Peter. These indications are all satisfied by identifying Bethsaida with the ruins on the east bank of the Jordan, and there is a curious topographical feature which may explain the difference between the Bible and Josephus, as to the district in which the town was situated. East of the ruins marked B, in the map there is a deep inlet from the lake, marked F, which may possibly have been an old channel of the Jordan, or an artificial excavation made for the protection of the town of Bethsaida; the town of Taricheae, at the point at which the Jordan leaves the lake, was, as we shall see presently, protected in a similar manner; and it Is not unlikely that a town so situated may at one time have formed part of Galilee, and at another part of Gaulonitis.