Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/315

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JORDAENS. 287 JORDAN. sell, and Madrid. In the Gallery of Dresden there are a "Presentation in the Temple" and "Diogenes Seeking an Honest ilan:" at Vienna. "Jupiter and Mercury," with "Philemon and Baucis," one of his best mythological pictures. The Metropoli- tan iluseum in Nexs- York possesses three ex- amples, the best of which is a "Holy Family." His genre pieces are divided into two classes: the first being representations of the Flemish proverb, "As the Old have sung, so twitter the Young" — assemblages of bons vivants eating and making merry, of whicji there are examples in the Louvre and principal German galleries; the second class, entitled the "Beanfeast," is a rep- resentation abounding in coarse humor, the best of which is in the Vienna Gallery. Among his portraits are the powerful likeness of Admiral Euyter in the Louvre, of himself in the Uffizi, and of a girl at Cobham Hall. Consult Genard, Xotice Mir Jacob Jordaeiis (Ghent, 1852). JOR'DAN (Heb. Yardcn; probably connected with Syr. yardu, lake, Ar. icird, watering-place.) The principal river of Palestine, called Esh-She- riah or Esh-Sheriah el-Kebir by the Arabs. It flows in a southerly direction, and. starting from the mountains in the north of Palestine, passes through the small lake Huleh (the biblical waters of Merom, q.v. ) and the Lake of Tiberias or of Genneserat (Sea of Galilee), and enters the nortliern end of the Dead Sea. The main sources of the Jordan are three in number: the largest, Nahr Leddan, issues from the mound called Tell el-Kadi ('hill of the judge') near ancient Dan; the second, the Nahr Banias, springs from crev- ices between and from under rocks that choke the mouth of a cave near Banias (the ancient Paneas, Ciesarea Philippi, q.v.) : and the third, smallest and most remote, the Nahr Hasbani, rises near ilount Hermon. L'niting their waters above Lake Hulch, these streams give rise to the .Jordan. Above Lake Huleh the river is 30 to 100 feet in width, just below the lake about 00 feet, and in the valley between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea from 90 to 2.50 feet, and is 540 feet wide at its mouth. In the flood sea.son it reaches a breadth of even two miles. At ordinary times it is fordable in a great many places — in some places even when the ri^'er is in flood. Its isual depth between the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea is 2 to 3 feet; just below Lake Huleh it is about 15 feet deep; the depth of course increases in the flood season. The river is not navigable. In the flood season dangerous rapids are found. In its course the river makes a steep descent. Lake Huleh is about 7 feet above the level of the jIediterranean, while the Lake of Tiberias is about ()80 feet, and the Dead Sea about 1300 feet below that level ; so that between Huleh and the Lake of Tiberias the river falls about 60 feet to the mile, between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea about 9 feet to the mile. It has four main affluents; the Sheriat el-Menadireh (Iliero- max. Yarmuk) and Zerka (.Jabbok) on the east; , the .Talud and Faria on the west. A little below Huleh the river is crossed by a bridge, the '.lisr Benat Yakol).' -over which the road from Damas- cus to Galilee passes, and a few miles below the Lake of Tiberias i*; another bridge, the Jisr Mu- jamia. Below the Lake of Tiberias the valley of the Jordan presents a most remarkable forma- tion. Within a larger valley called the Ghor is a smaller valley called the Zor, and through this the Jordan flows. The precipitous ridges which inclose the valley rise in some places to the height of 3000 or -iOOO feet. The width of the Ghor is from somewhat over a mile to sixteen miles, of the Zor from one-half a mile to two miles. The river runs through the Zor in such a tortuous course that its total length is more than 200 miles, although the distance in a straight line is but 65 miles. Near the Dead Sea vegetation does not exist; but the valley above is covered with grass in the rainy season, and tamarisks, acacias, oleanders, etc., abound. Cereals are raised in various parts of the terri- tory traversed by the river, especially barley. The Jordan was first thoroughly explored by AIol}Tieu.x and I^ynch, by the former in 1847 in the dry season, by the latter in 1848, when the river was in flood. The climate in the .Jordan Valley, owing to the depression, is tropical, and it has been well described as 'a tropical oasis sunk in the temperate zone.' The name 'Jordan' was regarded by the Hebrews as suggesting the 'swiftly flowing' stream ( from" yarad, to descend ) , and hence is al«ays used in Hebrew with the article. Consult : Molyneux, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xviii. (1848); Lynch, Sarrative of the United States Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea (Philadelphia, 1849) ; Official Report (Wash- ington, 1852); Survey of Western Palestine (London. 1889) ; MacGregor, Rob Roy on the Jordan (New Y'ork, 1870) ; George Adam Smith, Historical Geography of the Eohj Land (Lon- don, 1897) : and the travels in Palestine of Rob- inson, Porter, Tristram, and others. JORDAN. A small stream or river of I'tah, connecting Utah Lake with the Great Salt Lake (Map: Utah, B 1). It is about forty miles long and used extensively for irrigation. JORDAN, zhor'dax', Camille (1771-1821). A French politician, born at Lyons. He became interested in public affairs at a very early age and developed into an active opponent of the French Revolution. He published, in 1792, a satire on the Constitutional Church cleverly en- titled Histoire de la conversion d'une dame parisienne. Proscribed by the Directory for his jiarticipation in the insurrection of Lyons, he fled to Switzerland and London. Returning to Lyons in 1796, he was chosen in 1797 to the Council of Five Hundred, where he advocated the principles of religious liberty, gaining tlie nick- name of Jordan les Cloches (Cburcli-lM'll .Tor- dan). After the Revolution of the ISth Fructi- dor he went to Germany. In 1800 he was recalled, and opposed the measures of Bonaparte, exposing the frauds in the election of 1802 in a pamphlet, Vrai sens du vote national sur le cousuhit ft vie. He lived in retirement, devoted to litera- ture, imtil the accession of Louis XVIII. He was elected in 1816 to the Chamber of Deputies and sided with the opposition. JORDAN, CoxRjvD N. (18.?0-1003). An American lianker, born in New York City. He learned the printing trade (1843). became a compositor, and in 1852 was appointed to the staff' of a New Y'ork bank. From 1864 to ISSO he was cashier of another banking establish- ment there, and in 1880-84 was treasurer of the New York, Ontario and Western Railway Com- pany. In 1885 he was appointed Treasurer of the T'nited States, from which post he resigned in 1887, upon the resignation of Daniel Manning