File:The Jordan valley and Petra (1905) (14776709414).jpg

Identifier: jordanvalleype02libb (find matches)
Title: The Jordan valley and Petra
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Libbey, William, 1855- Hoskins, Franklin Evans, joint author
Subjects:
Publisher: New York London, G. P. Putnam's sons
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Princeton Theological Seminary Library

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this searchingtest of their strength if we had not pitched themin an olive grove, which gave us considerableshelter. Our position gave us a clue to the cause of thisdisturbance. Looking directly down the valley infront of our tents we could see the Dead Sea, andthe wind followed that line directly, as thoughit were a great chimney, to relieve the pressure uponthe surface of that body of water. This may affordan explanation of those sudden and terrific galeswhich descend upon the Dead Sea. The over-heated eastern plateau starts an ascending current,and the numerous canyons which cut through thegreat eastern boundary of the Sea afford an ex-cellent channel to start a draft, as it were, frombelow, and this in its turn brings about serious con-sequences upon the Sea when the equilibrium ofthe atmosphere is upset. It is thus easy to see why itis that a moderate storm is almost an impossibilityin this region. The phenomenal atmospheric pres-sures developed in the depression of the Ghor, and
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Kerak to Shobek 19 the ease with which they can be disturbed, are aconstant menace to peace and quiet, thus makingthe Dead Sea a species of perpetual storm centre.Tafileh is one of the hapax legomena of theBible. It is mentioned as Tophel in Deut. i., 1,and never appears again. That it was an im-portant place in Crusader days is evidenced by thelarge fortified tower which still stands on thehighest point of the knoll, and is occupied bya garrison of two hundred Turkish soldiers. It isa large village of seven hundred houses. Theinhabitants are nearly all in the middle stage,between dwellers in tents and dwellers in cities.On our return some ten days later we saw themgetting out their hair tents, mending and repairingthem preparatory to taking to the nomad lifefor the summer months. The town is beautifullysituated on the side of a hill, with a well-wateredand well-cultivated valley below it. There are noless than eight springs in and around the village.The one on the main road with a sm

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