=Character of the Plateau of Moab.= In its largest bounds Moab is a territory sixty miles long and thirty miles wide. From across the Dead Sea it looks like a high mountain range, but in reality it is simply a lofty upland plateau^{(46)} towering above the deep gorge of the Dead Sea. Throughout most of its extent it is between two thousand five hundred and three thousand three hundred feet above the ocean level, and therefore from three thousand eight hundred to four thousand six hundred feet above the blue waters of the Dead Sea. It is a gently rolling, treeless plain; its low hilltops are crowned with the ruins of ancient cities. Only a few bushes are to be found upon these bare moors. The prevailing rock is soft cretaceous limestone, which crops out at many points. The soil of the central zone, however, which runs from north to south, averaging about ten miles in width, is exceedingly fertile. Many grain fields are found throughout this territory; but like Gilead, Moab is pre-eminently the land of the herdsman and the shepherd. In the wadies which run down to the Dead Sea thousands of camels are bred, while on the hills above are seen at every point flocks of cattle, sheep, and goats. =Its Fertility and Water Supply.= In the spring-time the upland fields are masses of green, which almost conceal the stones and outcrop of rock. The marvel is that any vegetation is found in a land thus bounded, on the west by the Sea of Death and on the east by the rocky desert. Most of the streams run through deep glens and no springs are found on the surface. The explanation of the marvel is found in the high elevation of the plateau and the great process of evaporation which is ever going on in the Dead Sea basin below. The west winds from the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea come laden with moisture, which they deposit in the winter and spring in drenching rains, and throughout the year in heavy dews at night.