villages there are here are every where so full of people, by the
richness of their soil, that the very least of them contain above
fifteen thousand inhabitants.

3. In short, if any one will suppose that Galilee is inferior to
Perea in magnitude, he will be obliged to prefer it before it in
its strength; for this is all capable of cultivation, and is
every where fruitful; but for Perea, which is indeed much larger
in extent, the greater part of it is desert and rough, and much
less disposed for the production of the milder kinds of fruits;
yet hath it a moist soil [in other parts], and produces all kinds
of fruits, and its plains are planted with trees of all sorts,
while yet the olive tree, the vine, and the palm tree are chiefly
cultivated there. It is also sufficiently watered with torrents,
which issue out of the mountains, and with springs that never
fail to run, even when the torrents fail them, as they do in the
dog-days. Now the length of Perea is from Macherus to Pella, and
its breadth from Philadelphia to Jordan; its northern parts are
bounded by Pella, as we have already said, as well as its Western
with Jordan; the land of Moab is its southern border, and its
eastern limits reach to Arabia, and Silbonitis, and besides to
Philadelphene and Gerasa.

4. Now as to the country of Samaria, it lies between Judea and
Galilee; it begins at a village that is in the great plain called
Ginea, and ends at the Acrabbene toparchy, and is entirely of the
same nature with Judea; for both countries are made up of hills
and valleys, and are moist enough for agriculture, and are very
fruitful. They have abundance of trees, and are full of autumnal
fruit, both that which grows wild, and that which is the effect