he western boundary of the Euphrates valley,
to which I have already referred. If that valley had ever been filled
with water to a height sufficient, not indeed to cover a third of
Ararat, in the north, or half of some of the mountains of the Persian
frontier in the east, but to reach even four or five thousand feet, it
must have stood over the Palestinian hog's back, and have filled, up to
the brim, every depression on its surface. Therefore it could not have
failed to fill that remarkable trench in which the Dead Sea, the Jordan,
and the Sea of Galilee lie, and which is known as the "Jordan-Arabah"
valley.

This long and deep hollow extends more than 200 miles, from near the
site of ancient Dan in the north, to the water-parting at the head of
the Wady Arabah in the south; and its deepest part, at the bottom of the
basin of the Dead Sea, lies 2500 feet below the surface of the adjacent
Mediterranean. The lowest portion of the rim of the Jordan-Arabah
valley is situated at the village of El Fuleh, 257 feet above the
Mediterranean. Everywhere else the circumjacent heights rise to a very
much greater altitude. Hence, of the water which stood over the Syrian
tableland, when as much drained off as could run away, enough would
remain to form a "Mere" without an outlet, 2757 feet deep, over the
present site of the Dead Sea. From this time forth, the level of
the Palestinian mere could be lowered only by evaporation. It is an
extremely interesting fact, which has happily escaped capture for the
purposes of the energetic misunderstanding, that the valley, at one
time, was filled, certainly within 150 feet of this height--probably
higher. And it is almost equally certain, that the time at which this
great Jordan-Arabah mere reached its highest level coincides with the
glacial epoch. But then the evidence which goes to prove this, also
leads to the conclusion that this state of things obtained at a period
considerably older than even 4000 B.C., when the world, according to the
"Helps" (or shall we say "Hindrances") provided for the simple student
of the Bible, was created; that it was not brought about by any diluvial
catastrophe, but was the result of a change in the relative activities
of certain natural operations which are quietly going on now; and that,
since the level of the mere began to sink, many thousand years ago, no
serious catastrophe of any description has affected the valley.

The evidence that the Jordan-Arabah