sense that here requires our notice. The distinction of the tribe of Judah into "The Mountain," "The Plain," and "The Vale," which we meet with in the Old Testament, was still preserved in the larger territory of Judæa. 1. The Mountain or Hill country, which was that broad back of mountains which fills the centre of the country from Hebron southward to beyond Jerusalem. 2. The Plain, which included the great plain between the hill country and the Mediterranean. 3. The Vale and Wilderness of Judæa, which together embraced that wild and inhospitable region lying between the hill country and the Dead Sea. Josephus divides the whole into eleven districts, of which it is here unnecessary to give the names, and impossible to fix the boundaries. Its chief towns mentioned in the New Testament, are, Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron, Emmaus, Juda or Juttah, Ephraim, Bethany, Bethphage, Gaza, Arimathæa, etc.

Judæa was not naturally so fertile as Galilee or Samaria. It is more mountainous, and its whole eastern side is a wilderness of limestone; and on the south-west are wide wastes. The rocky hills were, however, easily converted into soil by the rains, and the mould was arrested by terraces, and elaborately cultivated. Thus were the ancient heights of Judæa, by the industry of its small native proprietors, enriched and beautified with the fig, the olive, and the vine; but when the inhabitants were rooted out, the culture neglected, the terraces left to decay, and the soil washed down to the valleys, the arid rock alone remained naked and desolate.

Description of Jerusalem.-Jerusalem is built on four hills, Zion, Millo or Acra, Moriah, and Bezetha, and is surrounded by a valley, again encompassed by high ground. The stronghold of the Jebusites was on the southern and larger hill of Zion, on which was subsequently built the City of David; but their town was built

on the northern hill, called Millo in the Hebrew, and Acra (or citadel) in the Greek. Zion was subsequently called the Upper City, and Acra the Lower City; and the depression between the two mountains was filled up by Solomon. East of Millo and Zion was the flat-topped hill of Moriah, on which Solomon built the Temple. The same king united Zion and Moriah by a causeway, and the Maccabees filled up the valley between Moriah and Millo. At a later period a fourth hill was included on the north of Moriah, called Bezetha. The brook Kidron, which is now only the dry bed of a winter torrent, winds round Jerusalem on the north and east along the valley of Jehoshaphat, and encloses the pool of Siloam at the south-eastern corner of the city. On the south of Zion lies the narrow valley of Hinnom, or Tophet. To the east lie the garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, the small village of Bethany, and farther on, bearing towards the north, the town of Jericho near the banks of the Jordan. The village of Emmaus lies on the west; that of Bethlehem on the south. The ravines on three sides of the ancient city form a natural defence. On the west the descents are more gradual, but are protected by depressions of moderate depth. The hills which look down on Jerusalem, and lay it open to destructive attack from modern artillery, probably explain the abundance of spring water for which the city has been celebrated; for in the numerous blockades which it has endured, the besiegers are said to have been often distressed for want of water, the besieged never.

2nd, East of the Jordan: Peræa.-The division of 9 the districts west of the Jordan are easily comprehended by the reader of the New Testament; but those on the east, between the Jordan and the desert, which are sometimes included under the general name of Peræa, or "the country on the opposite side," are most confusing and

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perplexing. The utter want of information concerning their exact boundaries, and the way in which one seems to run into the other, or, as in the case of Decapolis, even to include a portion of territory west of the Jordan, renders it totally impossible even to draw an approximating line of division on the map. It has been therefore thought advisable to give a more detailed account of the divisions of this territory than its historical importance would otherwise warrant.

Peræa in its most extended sense seems to have included the following districts: 1. Peræa Proper. 2. Gilead, or Galaaditis. 3. Decapolis. 4. Batanæa. 5. Gaulonitis. 6. Auranitis. 7. Trachonitis. 8. Iturea. 9. Abilene.

1. Peræa Proper, or the southernmost canton, was a mountainous district, which included many places famous in Old Testament History, and was bounded north and south by the Jabbok and the Arnon. Its chief cities were Ramoth-Gilead, Heshbon, Dibon, etc. Moabitis, the ancient Moab, lay on its southern, and Ammonitis on its eastern frontier.

2. Gilead, or Galaaditis.—This name has been applied, like Peræa, to the whole territory east of the Jordan; as, however, it is continually mentioned in the Scriptures in contradiction to, or apart from, Bashan, (sect. 13,) we may conclude that it referred more particularly to the range of eastern highlands running from Mount Hermon southwards, which were especially distinguished for their rich pastures and aromatic simples.

3. Decapolis, or Ten Cities.-This is a still more doubtful territory, so called from its anciently including ten cities, of which different geographers give different lists. The name was, in course of time, applied to more than ten cities, which may account for these discrepancies. One of the cities, Scythopolis, was certainly in Galilee;

several if not all the rest were east of the Jordan. The Decapolitan towns mentioned in the Gospels were evidently situated in the neighbourhood of the Sea of Galilee.

4. Batanæa. This territory was so called from form- 13 ing a part of the ancient Bashan: the rest being called Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Gaulonitis. Bashan was anciently celebrated for the richness of its pastures and consequent superiority of its breed of cattle. Batanæa lay to the south of the rest of Bashan, and immediately to the east of Peræa or Gilead.

5. Gaulonitis was a small territory stretching along 14 the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

6. Auranitis, or Hauran, was a large district which lay 15 between Gaulonitis and Trachonitis, but at a later period included Trachonitis, Ituræa, and part of Batanæa under the same name. It is represented by Burckhardt as a volcanic region, producing, however, crops of corn and patches of luxuriant herbage. It abounds with interesting remains of cities, among which Greek inscriptions are found.

7. Trachonitis was a rocky, mountainous territory 16 east of the Hauran, full of caves and much infested by robbers.

8. Ituræa. It is impossible to fix the boundaries of 17 this district. Ituræa Proper was a small territory to the north of Auranitis, but the name was often so loosely applied as to include a large portion of the southern territory. Philip is called by St. Luke the tetrarch of Ituræa and Trachonitis, but Josephus mentions his territory as composed of Auranitis, Trachonitis, and Batanæa. Probably Philip possessed all the Palestinian territory northward of the river Yarmuk or Hieromax.

9. Abilene was a district in the extreme north, and 18 formed a part, not of Palestine, but of Cole-Syria. It was originally a tetrarchy under Lysanias, but was sub

sequently given to Herod Agrippa I. by the emperor Caligula. See table at p. 17-19.

19 II. The Gentile nations.-These include the following countries, throughout which St. Paul and others of the apostles preached the gospel of Christ, and founded numerous churches. 1. Syria and Phoenicia. 2. Asia Minor. 3. Macedonia or Northern Greece. 4. Achaia or Southern Greece. 5. Islands in the Mediterranean. 6. Italy.

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20 1. Syria and Phoenicia extended from the borders of Palestine northwards to the sources of the Euphrates. SYRIA was regarded as consisting of two parts. Northern or Upper Syria, which included the whole country down to the beginning of the Lebanon range. Cities Antioch, Seleucia, Laodicea, etc. : 2. Syria Proper or Cale- Syria, which extended to the borders of Palestine, and was divided by the chain of Lebanon, which ran through its whole length like a spine, into a maritime and an interior district. Cities: Damascus, etc. PHOENICIA was a narrow strip of lowland territory, enclosed between the range of Lebanon and the Mediterranean. Cities Tyre, Sidon, Zarepta, Ptolemais, etc. 21 2. Asia Minor was the extreme western peninsula of Asia, bounded on the north, west, and south by the Euxine, Ægean, and Mediterranean, and on the east by the mountains on the west of the upper course of the Euphrates. It was divided by the later Greeks into the following provinces. West or Lydian Asia.-1. Mysia. Cities Troas, Assos, Adramyttium, and Pergamos. 2. Lydia. Cities Ephesus, Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira, and Philadelphia. 3. Caria. Cities: Miletus, Laodicea, and Cnidus. These three districts were those amongst which the gospel truth was taught with the greatest success. South.-4. Lycia. Cities: Myra and Patara. 5. Pamphylia. Cities: Perga and Attalia. 6. Cilicia.