river issuing from this source, Josephus says, was called "the lesser Jordan," obviously in distinction from the somewhat longer stream from Paneas, into which it flows.1 Thus we now find, at Bâniâs and Tell el-Kâdy, the two sources of the greater and lesser Jordan, precisely as described by the ancients at Paneas and the site of Dan.-The existence of the two streams, gave occasion afterwards for the groundless etymology of the name Jordan, as if compounded of Jor and Dan, the supposed names of the two sources.2 But we find also at the present day, in the more western part of the basin el-Hûleh, two other like streams, of which the ancients make no mention whatThe largest of these is the stream coming from ever. 1) Jos. Ant. V. 3. 1, où пóóów τοῦ Λιβάνου ὄρους καὶ ἐλάσσονος Ἰορδάνου τῶν πηγῶν. VIII. 8. 4, ἐν Δάνῃ, ἥδέ ἐστι πρὸς ταῖς πηγαῖς τοῦ μικροῦ Ἰορδάνου. The distinction is most marked in Jos. B. J. IV. 1. 1, μéxçı Δάφνης [Δάνης] χωρίου,.. . καὶ πηγὰς ἔχοντος, αἳ τρέφουσαι τὸν μικ ρὸν καλούμενον Ιορδάνην ὑπὸ τὸν τῆς χρυσῆς βοὸς νεών, προσπέμπουσι τῷ μεγάλῳ. In this passage the name an (Daphne) should doubtless be 4árn (Dan), as proposed by Reland and Havercamp. The writer is speaking of the marshes of the lake as extending up towards this place, which is marked by the fountains of the lesser Jordan, and by the image of the golden calf; and could therefore be no other than the city Dan. See Reland Pal. p. 263. Joseph. Opp. ed. Havercamp, Tom. II. p. 263. n. 2) The absurdity of this etymology is obvious; for the name Jordan is merely the Greek form (IooJárns) for the Hebrew Iarden (1), which has no relation to the name Dan. Further, the name Jordan was applied to the river from the earliest times; and we have it constantly in the Scriptures in the time of Abraham, at least five centuries before the name Dan was given to the city at its source. Yet this etymology goes back at least to the time of Jerome; Comm. in Matt. xvi. 13, "Jordanes oritur ad radices Libani; et habet duos fontes, unum nomine Jor, et alterum Dan; qui simul mixti Jordanis nomen efficiunt." Hence it was copied by Adamnanus de Loc. Sanct. II. 19; by William of Tyre XIII. 18; by Brocardus c. III. p. 172; by Marinus Sanutus on his map; by Adrichomius p. 109, etc. etc. The same traditional etymology seems also to be current among the Christians of the country; for Burckhardt was told, that the ancient name of the fountain of Bâniâs was Jûr; and the source at Tell el-Kady, he says, was still called Dân; making together the name Jordan. All this was doubtless derived by him from the Greek priests; and is quite similar to our experience at Taiyibeh. See Vol. II. pp. 126, 128. Burckhardt pp. 42, 43. Comp. Gesenius Notes on Burckhardt, p. 496. Wady et-Teim, called Nahr Hâsbeiya, or the water of Hâsbeiya. Its main permanent source appears to be in the valley, three quarters of an hour W. by N. from Hâsbeiya; the water is confined by a dam, and forms at once a large basin; just below is a bridge. But in the rainy season, at least, a stream flows along the valley much higher up; and my companion in travelling this road in 1834, remarked that the brook had its origin to the West or Northwest of Râsheiya. Fifteen minutes west of the permanent fountain above mentioned, are the remarkable pits or mines of solid asphaltum, called Biyâr el-Hummar. Below the mouth of the valley, the river is described as flowing through the upper part of the plain of the Hûleh, along a deep Wady with steep rocky sides, over which is the bridge el-Ghŭjar already mentioned, with three arches. The quantity of water is said to be much greater than in the more eastern streams.4 The canal drawn from it along the lower plain, has already been described; and the river itself is said to continue quite to the lake, or at least to the marshes, without uniting with the more eastern Jordan.5 Another stream, coming from Merj 'Ayûn, likewise enters the plain of the Hûleh, but appears to unite with the river of Hâsbeiya above the canal and bridge."— The brooks already described as falling into the lake on its western side, and also some other torrents from the western mountains, do not require to be here taken into the account. 1) Burckhardt p. 32. Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, etc. 4to. p. 397. 2) Described by Seetzen in Zach's Mon. Corr. XVIII. p. 341, seq. Burckhardt p. 34. 3) See above, p. 342. Buckingham 1. c. pp. 400, 406. Bertou in Bull. de la Soc. de Géogr. Sept. 1839, p. 143. VOL. III. 45 4) Buckingham 1. c. Bertou gives the breadth of the stream at the bridge at 10 metres; ibid. 5) Buckingham's Trav. among the Arab Tribes, p. 406. 6) So according to the map of Seetzen; which also gives to this stream from Merj 'Ayûn the name of Nahr el-Khurâb. According to this representation, two separate streams of considerable magnitude enter the lake elHûleh from the North, each of which is formed by the junction of two others. The easternmost of these main streams, and this alone, with its two sources, has now for more than thirty centuries borne the name of Jordan. The longer and larger river, coming from Hâsbeiya, although unquestionably its waters constitute the remotest sources of the Jordan, appears never to have been included in the name, but was regarded merely as a tributary of the lake el-Hûleh.2 How or wherefore the name came at first to be so applied, we have no means of ascertaining; and it behooves us to rest satisfied with the usage of so many ages. The attempt to introduce a change at this late hour, would be alike presumptuous and futile. As well might we 1) The statement here ventured, that the two main streams enter the lake or its marshes separately, must nevertheless be regarded as not fully ascertained; I regret that there is in favour of it no better positive authority than that of Buckingham, 1. c. p. 406. Yet various circumstances above detailed, as also the silence of the ancients as to this western stream, when speaking of the Jordan and its sources, go strongly to confirm this view. Seetzen indeed, on his map, makes the two run together near the lake; but he only travelled along the western side, and his map is here a mere copy by another hand from his rough sketch. Irby and Mangles attempted to go down from Bâniâs to the lake on the East of the Jordan; but found the region so full of marshes and numerous streams, that they were compelled to pass over to the western side of the basin. Among all these "numerous streams," they speak only of crossing "the Jordan itself," and say nothing of the size or nature of the rest. Travels p. 290. Bertou on his map, like Seetzen, makes the two main streams unite near the lake; but he too only travelled along the west side; and his map, notwithstanding the pretension of minute detail, has not the stream from Merj 'Ayûn, nor does it even distinguish the two streams of Bâniâs and Tell el-Kâdy. The maps, and likewise the Arabic names,furnished by this traveller, can be received only with the greatest caution. 2) The stream and fountain of Hasbeiya appear to have been first recognised, or at least distinctly noticed, as a source of the Jordan, by Fürer von Haimendorf in A. D. 1566, in travelling from the Huleh northwards through a part of Wady et-Teim, and thence to the Buka1a and Ba'albek; p. 280. Nürnb. 1646. Seetzen was the next Frank traveller to visit and describe that region, and note the stream as a part of the Jordan; 1. c. pp. 340-344. Then followed Burckhardt pp. 32-43. Buckingham 1. c. Richardson Vol. II. p. 449, seq. etc. etc. require the majestic floods of the Mississippi and Missouri to exchange these names above their junction; inasmuch as the latter is, of the two, by far the longer and the mightier stream. The high tract of country bordering the Hûleh on the West, is thickly populated. It bore everywhere the marks of tillage, and many villages were in sight, the names of which our guide did not know. One was mentioned on the hills opposite the marshes, still bearing the name of Kedes; it is without doubt the ancient Kedesh of Naphtali, a city of refuge and of the Levites, the birth-place of Barak, situated twenty Roman miles from Tyre and not far from Paneas.1 The view from Benît, the spot where we stood, was very extensive and magnificent. Before us rose Jebel esh-Sheikh in all his glory; while more on the left, the ridges of Lebanon were visible to a great distance, terminated far in the N. N. E. by the snowy peak of Jebel Sunnîn near Beirût. On the East of Jebel esh-Sheikh, the eye scanned the lower mountains and high table-land which extend off far southwards; including the districts of Kuneitirah and Jaulân; and beyond these Haurân with its mountain.2— The bridge Benât Ya'kôb was not itself visible; but we could see the Khân upon its eastern side, and could distinctly trace the outline of the narrow valley of the Jordan, from the Hûleh to the Lake of Tiberias. A portion of that lake, the northeastern part, could also be perceived, like a separate lake, deep among the mountains; and beyond it the "high hills " of Bashan 1) Josh. xix. 37 xx. 7. xxi. 32. Judg. iv. 6. Afterwards conquered by Tiglath-pileser, 1 Kings xv. 29. Onomast. art. Cedes. The place is mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela, p. 109; and by Brocardus, c. IV. p. 173. It is said to have been visited a few years since by Lady Hester Stanhope, and again soon after we left Syria by Bertou; Bull. de la Soc. de Géogr. Sept. 1839, p. 144. 2) See above, under Safed, pp. 335, 336. 3) Some such partial view of the lake of Tiberias, aided by its presented their beautiful outline. Towards the S. and W. the view was shut out by the adjacent higher ground. But the place of the ancient Dan was before us; and we thus had been permitted to behold the Promised Land in all its length, even from Dan to Beersheba,1 We returned to Safed highly delighted with our excursion; which we felt assured had given us a better idea of the Hûleh and the adjacent country, than we could have obtained by simply passing through the plain. Such, at least, was the experience of my companion, who had already twice travelled along the Hûleh; where the road is so low as to afford no prospect of the land, and only occasional glimpses of the lake. A few historical notices of the Hûleh and two or three places in and around it, may close this section. The lake el-Hûleh is mentioned in the Old Testament as the waters of Merom; in the vicinity of which Joshua smote Jabin king of Hazor and the Canaanites, with a great slaughter.2 Josephus, speaking of another Jabin king of Hazor, places that city on the North of the lake Samochonitis, the appellation by which alone he knows these waters.3 The name el-Hûleh goes back, as we have seen, at least to the apparent nearness as seen through the transparent atmosphere, has doubtless given occasion for the story of another small lake between that of Tiberias and the Hûleh. Richardson's Travels II. p. 446. An English traveller, whom we afterwards met at Beirût, had fallen into the same error on the testimony of his own eyes, as he supposed. 1) The bearings taken from Benît were as follows: Kŭl'at Bânias N. 40° E. Jebel esh-Sheikh N. 40° E. Mouth of Wady et Teim about N. 20° E. Snowy 2) Josh. xi. 5, 7. 3) Joseph. Ant. V. 5. 1. B. J. III. 10. 7. IV. 1. 1. |