Enough has been said, even in this chapter, to give one some idea of the topography of the Holy Land. Imagine a broad, level country one hundred and sixty-five miles long, sixty miles wide at one end, and twenty at the other. On one side this country is bounded by a sea, and on the other by a river. Now imagine that you build a house through the centre of this long, narrow country from one end to the other. Let the roof come down to the ground on either side of the house, leaving a broad plateau on either side, that is, a wide valley between where the roof comes to the ground and the borders of the country. From the top of the house, or mountain ridge, to the Mediterranean is 3,000 feet, while from its top to the Jordan or Dead Sea is 4,000 feet. This gives an approximately correct idea of Palestine. But no one must for a moment suppose the mountain ridge to be regular like the comb of a house, or its sides smooth like a roof. From the central ridge, a succession of peaks rise up to various heights. Beginning at the south, the peaks are Hebron, 3,029 feet above the Mediterranean; Jerusalem, 2,610, and Mount of Olives, 2,724, Bethel, 2,400; Ebal and Gerizim, 2,700; “little Hermon” and Tabor (on the north side of the plain of Esdraelon) 2,000; Safed, 2,775, and Jebel Jurmuk, 4,000. To find the elevation of any of these peaks above the Dead Sea, just add 1,300 feet to the height already given. These several peaks mentioned are just about the centre of the country from east to west. Sometimes the central ridge is level on top, and we find a broad, elevated table-land. During the rainy season, which usually begins with November and ends with March, a great deal of water falls upon this mountain ridge. It can not stay there, so, rolling itself up into torrents, it courses down the steep sides with great swiftness. This has continued for thousands of years, until now the ridge on both sides is seamed, threaded, cut, worn and ditched by these torrents into almost every conceivable shape. The wadys and ravines are not far apart, and are frequently quite deep. So all through Palestine there are a succession of ravines, running from east to west, with rocky ridges steep and high between them.