Ir is not at all to be wondered at, that the torrent Kidron was dry in November 1774, though that was a rainy month at Jerusalem that year, since, if the ground remained so dry, from the summer's drought, as to take in the rain as fast as it descended, there could be no water found running in the bed of a torrent.

The gentleman that favoured me with some account of the Holy Land, which he visited in 1774, particularly remarked, that the Kidron was dry, when he was at Jerusalem, in November that year, though that month was, he understood, wetter than that month usually is there. But he observed that the rain was not at that time in very large quantities, or without intermission.

The bridge is a sure proof there is sometimes a considerable stream in that place, as well as the verbal testimony of the inhabitants, by whom this gentleman was told, that the run of water there was almost constant through the winter, and early in the spring. He added, that though it was dry when he saw it, there were evident signs of the passage of water in its channel.

See a preceding Observation.

The writer of these observations lives near a water-course, which is about half the size of the Kidron, according to the account of le Bruyn, or somewhat more, and, like that, has no water but what descends from the clouds: he has often been surprised to find no water running in its channel after considerable rains, when at other times the streams have been very violent, and the trustees for the road which it crosses, and which has lately had turnpikes erected upon it, have thought proper of late to build a substantial brick bridge over it, which foot passengers before passed by a bridge consisting of a couple of planks. The running of the water has been found to depend very much on the earth's being saturated with moisture, and particularly on the sudden dissolution of It is no wonder then to find the channel of Kidron dry in autumn, or when the spring is far advanced.

snow.

It may have frequently appeared strange to many readers, that all the travellers they have consulted have found the Kidron dry but it is to be remembered that those who have published such journals, were not in the Holy Land in winter. The people of Jerusalem, in 1774, affirmed to the gentleman whose account I have been giving, that the water runs there in winter; and, answerable to this, I have been assured by

a He tells us, in his second tome, chap. 48, that it is not above three paces broad, which, I take it, means about fifteen feet. It was dry when he was at Jerusalem in the year 1681, from the middle of October to the middle of November.

VOL. III.

the author of the history of the revolt of Ali Bey, and who lived, I think, some years in that country, that he has seen the water run in the channel of the Kidron.

OBSERVATION III.

Remarks on the Plain where Sodom and Gomorrha stood.

THE description that is given us of some well-watered places in the East of late times, may, I think, serve to enliven our apprehensions of the fruitfulness and the beauty of the plain where Sodom and Gomorrha stood, before God destroyed those wretched cities.

1

That plain is compared to Eden, and to Egypt, in that part of it near to Zoar. But we know not distinctly what Eden was; nor do we now know precisely the nature of that part of Egypt near Zoar, as distinguished from the rest of that celebrated country, which might be very well known to the first readers of the books of Moses, and for some ages afterwards, and enable them to form a more lively idea of the nature of the plain of Sodom, and of Eden, the garden of GoD, than those could do who died but a few generations ago.

Gen. xiii. 10. Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar.

The description that Sir John Chardin has given us, of one of the well-watered places which he observed in the East, may, possibly, produce something of this effect. It is in the South of Persia, and is called Mayn, which it seems signifies a fish, and was so named," on account of their abundance there at certain It is a most delicious place.

year.

times of the Rivulets of the best and most beautiful water in the world run there, and so copiously, as that for seven or eight months the country seems in a manner under an inundation, and its territory is above two leagues round. It is full of gardens, which produce the most excellent fruits, and especially grapes and pomegranates." He adds afterwards, in the next page, that it is near this place that some Persian authors suppose the country and habitation of Job was. That this appeared in no wise absurd to him, there being there abundance of sheep, horses, oxen, and asses, in which the principal part of the riches of Job consisted, according to the account given in his history, which cannot be equally affirmed of all the other places pretended to be the land of Uz.

If this is the description of what the territory of Mayn now is, and what the plain of Sodom formerly was, that plain must have been intersected with many canals, and at times, at least, full of fish; must have abounded in fruit; have had the richest pastures: and been a most delightful district. But instead of being two

Tome 3, p. 97.

leagues round, it must have been vastly larger, if all that the sea now covers was then a fruitful country, for Maundrell tells us, that sea is twenty-four leagues long, and six or seven broad. How large a territory this! as well as how delicious! And something like this, but superior in delectableness, Eden, the habitation of our first parents, seems to have been. It is no wonder that Lot, when allowed to choose, chose this fruitful country, so rich in its pasturage. Gen. xiii. 10.

The evaporation of the water of this sea, seems to be equal, or nearly equal now, to the waters that run into it. It might be so anciently; for though the surface of the water in those numerous canals could not be equal to that of the Dead Sea, yet the perspiration of the numerous plants, &c. might produce a balance. Though the river Barrady, according to Maundrell, is not quite so broad as Jordan," it comes pouring down from the mountains with great rapidity, and brings a vast body of water, and yet is all nearly consumed by the gardens and the inhabitants of Damascus; the waters then of the Jordan, and the other small rivers that run into it, might very well have been dissipated by the inhabitants and vegetables of this large district.

P. 84, ed. 5.

Jordan is about twenty yards over, according to Mauh. drell, p. 83; Barrady not so much, he says, as twenty yards, p. 121; but the mode of expression intimates not much less. i P. 123