Palestine]
to below Kalat esh-Shakif. Its bed lies in parts in a deep and narrow gorge. About 1½ miles from the sea the river widens, and falls into the Mediterranean 5 miles north of Tyre.
(b) Southern Syria.—The Jordan is the most important and in some respects the most peculiar river of this part of Syria. It flows southwards in the Ghor (see p. 7 above), and draws its head-waters from the slopes of Hermon. Its three main sources, the Nahr el-Leddan, the Nahr Baniyas, and the Nahr Hasbani. unite in the Plain of Hule (altitude 150 ft.), and flow to the marshy and papyrus-choked lake of Hule, a few feet above sea-level. Issuing from this lake the Jordan has a fall of 65 ft. to the mile and enters Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) at 682 ft. below sea-level. This lake measures 13 miles by 7½ miles, and has a maximum depth of 160 ft. After leaving the lake the waters of the stream become very turbid. The fall gradually decreases, and the river enters the Dead Sea 1,300 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean. In this section the river actually flows in a trough, in some places 150 ft. deep and from a quarter of a mile to 2 miles wide, called the zor, which it has hollowed out for itself in the ghor. The ghor is intersected on both banks by the deep channels of small lateral streams and winter torrents.
The Jordan receives two main perennial affluents on the left bank, the Yarmuk and the Zerka, and on the right bank the Jalud and the Fara. The direct length of the Jordan from its most remote sources to the Dead Sea is about 104 miles, and of its actual course probably twice as much.
The Dead Sea has an extreme length of 50 miles, and its greatest width is about 10 miles. The greatest depth of the lake, 1,310 ft., is in the northern part, at which point the bottom is at least 2,600 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean. In its southern part the bed is shallow and shelving. In consequence of extraordinary evaporation the water is impregnated with 26 per cent. of mineral salts, and is extremely buoyant.
