“Christ also visited Perea, the country east of the Jordan. Doubtless he followed the main road to the hot springs on the Yarmuk, and thence to the beautiful city of Gadara, on the mountain above them. He may have gone a little farther east, past _Capitolias_ and _Dium_, cities belonging to the Decapolis, and turned south through a densely populated region to Geraza, whence, by one of the two routes before indicated, he would return to the valley after his mission had been accomplished. It was in Perea that the ‘seventy disciples’ were commissioned to labour, and their welcome and success must have been unusual, for it is reported of them that they ‘returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name’ (Luke x.). The connection of our Saviour with this region opens up an interesting field of inquiry. He may have foreseen that in its rich cities, and among its throngs of human beings, his Gospel was soon to triumph in a remarkable manner, for it is true that in Bashan, a country which we are now accustomed to speak of as a desert, Christianity, in the early centuries of our era, had one of its most important strongholds.” Jesus Christ at one time, either for quietness or for safety, went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and there entered into a house and would have no man know it (Mark vii. 24). A similar reason may have led him to visit Cæsarea Philippi (ancient Paneas and Dan) at the extreme north-east corner of the Holy Land, where the Jordan springs forth a full-grown stream, under the slopes of Hermon. It is generally accepted now that Hermon, and not Tabor, was the Mount of the Transfiguration (Luke ix. 29). Hermon was once _Shenir_, the “Shining,” a name made appropriate by its cap of snow; and some writers imagine a connection between this and the raiment that became white and dazzling. There is one remarkable natural peculiarity of Hermon still to be noticed (says Conder) namely, the extreme rapidity of the formation of cloud on the summit. In a few minutes a thick cap forms over the top of the mountain, and as quickly disperses and entirely disappears. In the accounts of our Lord’s transfiguration, we read that whilst staying at Cæsarea Philippi, he retired with his disciples to “a high mountain apart,” and there can be but little doubt that some part of Hermon, and very probably the summit, is intended. From the earliest period the mountain has been a sacred place; in later times it was covered with temples; to the present day it is a place of retreat for the Druzes. This lofty solitary peak seems wonderfully appropriate for the scene of so important an event; and in this connection the cloud formation is most interesting, if we remember the cloud which suddenly cleared away, when they found “no man any more, save Jesus only, with themselves” (Mark ix. 8).