The Monticellonian., 1918-08-09

i instances contain rapidly descending 1 torrents, even in some places water falls, suitable for supplying meehani- cal power The greatest of these is l the Yarmuk valley up which the Haifa railway aseends toward Damascus. 1 This is the Heiromax of the Greeks, 1 and here shortly before the valley 1 opens into the main Jordan valley there is group of hot sulphurous springs amid which lie the ruins of i the baths and theater of the Greek set i tlement of Amatha. Il health resort for the great city. Gadara, whose abund- ant ruins crown the mountains i'm mediately to the south These sulphur springs, as well as those south of i Tiberias, also developed in Roman times. and of the ancient Gaiiirrhoe i springs. visited by the dying Herod the i Great in hope of cure, in the Wady i Zerka Maan, are all undoubtedly valu- able assets to the land and should be properly developed. They have, even under the primitive conditions obtain ing today, proved of benefit to rheu- matte affections, and are visited by the natives Ut certain seasons. The water of some of these springs reaches a tenn perature-independe of the season. of 143 degrees Fahrenheit, but all Sadations of heat down to the merely pleasantly warm occur.
 Immediately south of the Lake of Galilee is a fairly level plain-once the bottom of the great lake which then filled this valley-which is good corn land while nearer the Jordan some of the lower ground can be easily irrigated. How far the whole 60 miles of the Jordan valley between the two lakes Is capable of complete irrigation is a question for experts, but I gather from the views of one expert from India who visited Palestine when 1 was there, that water can be distribut- ed over the greater part. It will need, however, a big scheme, which must deal with the valley as a whole. Ger tain spots are naturally well provided with springs and streams, and have in the past been very we'll watered, notably the district around Beisan and the Vale of Jezreel to it's west, the Wady Fara, running from Nablus to 1 the Jordan. the eastern side of the Jor- dan around the Wady Zerka (the Jab- 1 bok). and the Jericho district. watered at present in a very incomplete way, 1 from Ain es Sultan (Elisha's fountain) and Ain Duk.
 Water Supply in Roman Times.
 In the Roman era the Jericho plain was also watered from the Wady Kelt by series of aqueducts, the ruins of which exist today, and the whole neigh borhood must for miles around have been a mass of gardens, orchards, corn fields. and palm groves. In Crusading times sugar was cultivated here. and some ruins are now known as Tawa- hin es Sukkar, the sugar mills. Even today there are extensive fruit gar dens of oranges. lemons, bananas, and dates and a great Zeal of wheat and | barley is grown ftl irrigated land in this neighbOrhood. In the various parts of the Jordan valley may be sue cessfully grown, besides wheat, barley, and maize, dates, bananas, grapes, figs,
 oranges, lemons, apricots, vegetables
 and in all probability rice, cotton and
 sugar.
 As the northern shore of the Dead
 sea is approached the soil becomes in
 creasingly impregnated with salt, and
 only supports tamarisks, reeds, and
 other salt-loving plants. The sea is it.
 self vast storehouse of salt, particu
 larly at Jebel Usdum, where there is
 solid mass of crystallized salt rising
 100 feet to 150 feet above the Dead
 sea, of unknown width, and running
 for seven miles along the shore.