Palestine contained, besides this, the regions of Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea, to the west of the Jordan, and those of Ituraea, Trachonitis, Bashan, and Gilead, east of that river.

It was a tract 140 miles long, by from 70 to 100 broad, containing probably about 11,000 square miles.

It was thus about equal in size to Belgium, while it was less than Holland or Hanover, and not much larger than the principality of Wales, with which it has been compared by a recent writer.
The great natural division of the country is the Jordan valley.

This remarkable depression, commencing on the west flank of Hermon, runs with a course which is almost due south from lat.

33 deg.