IV. =Valleys.= The peculiar natural features of Jerusalem, and much of its history, are due to the arrangement of its three valleys. These unite near the southeastern corner of the city. 1. _The Valley of the Kedron_, called also "the Valley of Jehoshaphat" (perhaps referred to in Joel 3:2, 12); and "the king's dale" (Gen. 14:17; 2 Sam. 18:18). This lies on the east of the city, between Mount Moriah and the Mount of Olives. During the summer it is dry; but in the rainy season it is the bed of a brook, from which it receives its name. 2. _The Valley of the Tyropoeon_ (a word supposed to mean "cheesemongers," though the meaning and derivation are questioned) branches from the Kedron Valley at the southern end of Mount Moriah, and extends in a northwesterly direction. The principal ravine curves in crescent form around Mount Zion, but a shallower and less noticeable branch extends further to the north. This valley is now almost obliterated by the accumulation of debris, but its ancient course has been established by recent soundings. 3. _The Valley of Hinnom_, called also, "the valley of the son of Hinnom" (Josh. 15:8), forms the western and southern border of the city, and unites with the Kedron Valley near its junction with the Tyropoeon. Its lower portion, near the Kedron, was called Tophet, or "place of fire" (Jer. 7:31), and Gehenna (Ge-Hinnom). It was at one time the seat of idolatrous worship to Molech, and afterward became a cesspool, and place where the offal of the city was burned. Gihon (1 Kings 1:33) is located by most in the upper portion of this valley; but, by Conder and a few others, in the lower portion of the Kedron Valley, at the spring en Rogel. V. =Mountains.= Jerusalem is and has ever been emphatically a place of mountains; as it stood anciently upon four distinct hills, with others around its walls on every side. The names of these hills are well known, but the identification of them is neither easy nor unanimous among investigators. We name the locations as given by the largest number of leading scholars. 1. _Mount Zion_ is the largest and highest of the four hills within the city. It lies on the southwestern section, between the Valleys of the Tyropoeon on the east and north, and Hinnom on the south and west. Its crown is 2,540 feet high. Upon it, probably, stood the Jebusite fortress which so long defied the Israelites, but was finally taken by David. 2. _Acra_ is a little east of north from Zion, and is an irregularly shaped eminence, now 2,490 feet high, but anciently higher, as its crest was cut down by the Maccabean princes, in order to bring it nearer to the level of the Temple-hill. It is surrounded upon the south, east and north by the two arms of the Tyropoeon Valley. On this may have stood the castle, or Millo. (2 Sam. 5:9.)