1848.] SMBOUCHURE INTO THE DEAD SEA. 495 



eagerly forward, and dismounting in haste, and disrobing with 

 precipitation, rushed down the bank and threw themselves 

 into the stream. 



" They seemed to be absorbed by one impulsive feeling, 

 and perfectly regardless of the observations of others. Each 

 one plunged himself, or was dipped by another, three times, 

 below the surface, in honor of the Trinity ; and then filled 

 a bottle, or some other utensil, from the river. The bathing- 

 dress of many of the pilgrims was a white gown with a 

 black cross upon it. Most of them, as soon as they were 

 dressed, cut branches of the agnus castus, or willow ; and, 

 dipping them in the consecrated stream, bore them away as 

 ' memorials of their visit. In an hour they began to disappear ; 

 and in less than three hours the trodden surface of the lately 

 crowded bank reflected no human shadow. The pageant 

 disappeared as rapidly as it had approached, and left to us 

 once more the silence and the solitude of the wilderness. It 

 was like a dream. An immense crowd of human beings, 

 said to be 8000, but I thought not so many, had passed and 

 repassed before our tents, and left not a vestige behind 

 them."* 



(7.) In their progress down the river, the Americans had 

 occasionally been threatened with an attack from the roving 

 Arabs, but thus far they had not been molested ; and they 

 continued on their way, after the departure of the pilgrims, 

 without meeting any interruption. The gloomy mountains 

 bordering upon the Salt Lake, had been visible in the after- 

 noon of the previous day ; and towards the close of the 18th 

 of April, they reached the embouchure of the river, whose 

 banks were here bordered with sedge and drift-wood, and 

 presented a fit introduction to the dreary waste of waters 

 that lay spread out in the dark chasm beyond. Proceeding 

 directly to the western shore, the boats joined the land party 

 at Ain-el-Feshka (the fountain of the Stride), and shortly 

 after nightfall encamped in the vicinity of the fountain, and 

 within hearing of the convent bell of Mar Saba. 



* Narrative of Lieut. Lynch- p. 2 )0, et seq. 



