$l)c ^farmer's ittontljto bisitor. 



183 



From this acre Mr. Drew has almost sup- 

 plied with abundance whatever was necessa- 

 ry to the. support of a considerable family, he- 

 sides having a surplus tor sale. The town of 

 Hallowed, very near Augusta, has its weekly 

 newspaper, devoted mainly to agriculture, which 

 is scarcely behind that of its sister Augusta. 

 The three beautiful towns of Augusta, Hallowed 

 and Gardiner, each a compact village, doing a 

 prosperous business, lie along the west side of 

 the Kennebeck river, some forty miles from the 

 sea. To these in the way of near completion, is 

 a railroad up the river from Bath, and communi- 

 cating through Brunswick on the direct road 

 which is to extend to Portland. Bath, lately be- 

 come a city, is probably at the lead of all the 

 eastern ports in the building of fine ships. The 

 State of Maine is the greatest of all the States 

 of the Union in ship building. Gardiner has 

 lately become a city ; and the lust day of the old 

 year, by a vote of nearly three to one, Augusta, 

 the capital of the State, situated in nearly every 

 respect like the capital of the Granite State, 

 which lately denied itself the benefits of a city 

 charter, preferring an awkward and expensive 

 apology for the shape of an authority which is 

 felt little for the purpose of benefit, and much 

 in its cost of monies, making taxes greater and 

 more oppressive than those of many of the ci- 

 ties; Augusta, has chosen, under we trust the 

 safe advice of such men as Mr. Drew, Doctor 

 Holmes and others of its agricultural friends to 

 take upon itself the name of a city. The three 

 cities of the Kennebeck, lying contiguous and 

 in sight ol each other, with VValerville, the seat 

 of a Baptist college some twenty miles above, 

 are among the most flourishing and prosperous 

 towns in the country. They are surrounded by 

 an agricultural region which produces the largest 

 and best oxen in the United States: the patron- 

 age given here to three excellent agricultural 

 newspapers shows the true taste and intelligence 

 of the people of Kennebeck. 



There is no more satisfactory demonstration 

 of the verily of Divine revelation as exhibited in 

 the Holy Scriptures than the evidence of the re- 

 searches of the present time, going to show the 

 identity of country of the residence of the pa- 

 triarchs of the Jewish tribes and the places 

 marked in the New Testament as the travels 

 and acts of the Mighty Saviour and his apostles. 

 Great was our anxiety in early childhood to 

 learn something of the country which had so 

 much engaged our earliest reading in the books 

 of the old and new testaments. When we read 

 of miracles, the satisfaction of knowing the ac- 

 curacy of the narrative as to the identity of lo- 

 cation was not the least of the pleasures result- 

 ing from the thirst for knowledge which moved 

 the enthusiasm of the young tyro to read every 

 thing new on the subject within his reach. To 

 persons who have felt us we have felt and as 

 we now feel under perhaps a blunted appetite 

 from a repetition of the evidence to satiety — to 

 the young who thirst for knowledge, we think 

 the following article from Silliman's Journal of 

 Science and Arts will be quite as entertaining as 

 any article we could present in the Monthly 

 Visitor : 



JYblice of the flUrralive of the U. S. Erpedition to 

 the River Jordan and the Dead Sea, by W. F. 

 Lynch, U. S. N., Commander of the expedi- 

 tion ; with maps arid numerous illustrations. 

 The Dead Sea, so remarkable in sacred histo- 

 ry anil full of mysteries both to the popular and 

 scientific mind, lias at last been successfully ex- 



plored. Its headlands have been mapped out, 

 its bottom has felt the sounding had, and bouts 

 from a country unknown to the ancient world 

 have ploughed its sullen waters. Lieutenant 

 Lynch, to whom the Expedition was intrusted 

 by Government, in 1847, took command of the 

 store ship Supply ; and was provided for his 

 explorations with two metallic boats — one of 

 copper and the other of galvanized iron. Ten 

 vigorous young American seamen " pledged to 

 total abstinence" were enlisted us a crew for the 

 boats ; and to their temperance was attributed 

 their recovery from the extreme prostration con- 

 sequent on this hazardous service. Lieutenant 

 Dale, an officer of high attainments and abili- 

 ties, was associated with the commander: and 

 it was with deep grief that we heurd the an- 

 nouncement of his death soon after the explora- 

 tions were completed : he was like Molyneux 

 and Ouriigaii before him, a victim to the deadly 

 influences that still hover over the old "cities of 

 the plain." 



They sailed from New York, Nov. 26, 1847, 

 and landed at Beirut on the 25th of March fol- 

 lowing. On the 28th they left for St. Jeun 

 d'Acre, and took their departure for the lake 

 of Gennesareth, from the river Belus. Their 

 boats, which were made in sections for trans- 

 portation, were placed on trucks brought for the 

 purpose, and drawn by camels. Tue party 

 numbered sixteen besides fifteen Bedawins, all 

 well mounted. On the 6th of April they obtain- 

 ed the first view of the Sea of Galilee and the 

 majestic mountains of Bashan beyond; "like a 

 mirror it lay embosomed amid its rounded and 

 beautiful, but treeless hills." It measures 17 miles 

 long by six broad, and is situated twenty-eight 

 miles east of Acre, and forty-five north of Jeru- 

 salem. The depth was found to he 105 feet 

 where greatest, and the hills around were 600 to 

 700 feet high. Its waters are sweet and trans- 

 parent, and as of old, fishermen here throw their 

 nets with success. The Jordan flowing from 

 Lake Merom far to the north, passes through 

 this sea and continues on south. The party 

 reached Tiberias, "a walled town of some mag- 

 nitude, but now in ruins from the earthquake of 

 1837, which destroyed many of its inhabitants." 

 Near by they visited two baths, in one of which 

 — about eighteen feet across and four feet deep — 

 the water stood ut 143 deg. F. : it was saline and 

 bitter, and gave off an odor of sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen. They rowed along the shores of the 

 lake to the exit of the Jordan. 



The divisions of service now introduced, were 

 as follows: — First, a party by land, keeping as 

 near to the liver as possible ; next, a party in 

 the boats — the former with the camels, Arabs, 

 &c, by Lieut. Dale — the latter by Lieut. Lynch. 

 Dr. Anderson was charged with the geology ; 

 Mr. Bedlow with the topography, scenery and 

 events ; Mr. Francis Lynch with the herbarium ; 

 Lieut. Lynch with the river and its productions ; 

 Mr. Aulick with its topography and a sketch of 

 the river and its shores. A signal of two guns 

 in quick succession from the boats was agreed 

 upon to summon assistance from the land party 

 in case of an attack on the boats, which was the 

 danger most to be feared. 



On the 10th of April they entered the river. 

 The Bedawins, — thirty horsemen with their abas 

 flying in the wind — were armed with guns in 

 European style. Eleven camels led the way ; 

 then followed the cavalry and all in single file, 

 while Lieut. Dale and his officers in the Frank cos- 

 tume, brought up the rear, the whole making an 

 imposing cavalcade. The scenery on leaving 

 the lake was not particularly grand; there were 

 abundance of flowers but no trees. The average 

 breadth of tiie Jordan at this place was about 

 seventy-five feet ; the water was ten feet deep 

 and clear, and where the current was strung 

 they used the oars, only to keep them in the 

 channel. Many wild fowl were frightened from 

 their feeding grounds in the marshes as they de- 

 scended. 



They passed the ruins of the bridge of Semakh 

 which were extremely picturesque, the abut- 

 ments standing in various stages of decay, and 

 tin: filling fragments obstructing the course of 

 the river, save where the water tuns in a sluice 

 among the masses of stone. 



The Jordan is full of rapids, some of which 

 are extremely dangerous, and the boats shot 



lown one after another with no small peril- 

 The river during the day was twenty-five to 

 thirty yards wide, current two and a half knots, 

 water clear and sweet. No rocks cropped out 

 on the banks, but large boulders of sandstone 

 and trap were scattered over the surface. The 

 laud on which the parly encamped is held upon 

 condition that the Sheikh shall entertain all trav- 

 ellers with a supper, and barley for their horses, 

 and they partook on this occasion of an entire 

 sheep and buckets of rice. 



The second day (April 11,) the current at first 

 was about two and a half knots, but soon he- 

 came a foaming rapid, and below were five suc- 

 cessive falls of about eighteen feet in all, with 

 intervening rapids. With much labor and no 

 small difficulty the boats were passed safely down, 

 having been previously unloaded; the men 

 plunged into the water to guide them, and ropes 

 with grapnels were al60 used to let them down 

 stern first in some places. Fishes were often 

 seen in the transparent water, and white storks, 

 ducks, and a multitude of other birds rose from 

 the reeds and osiers or plunged into the thickets 

 of oleunder and tamarisks which line the banks. 



On April 12, they were about three hours from 

 the ruins of Gadara. They visited the place and 

 found them to consist of columns, tombs, re- 

 mains of walls, theatres, &c, indicating ancient 

 magnificence; and tradition reports that from 

 one of these tombs the maniac of the time of 

 our Savior issued. A description of the ruins, 

 by Dr. Anderson, is appended to Lieut. Lynch's 

 narrative. 



In their conflicts with the rapids of the Jor- 

 dan, a wooden boat which they had secured at 

 the sea of Galilee for the transportation of their 

 tents had perished, and the party were obliged 

 in consequence to abandon their tents ; this 

 much needed protection against the expected 

 heat of the Dead Sea, they appear to have been 

 provided with in some other way. No boats but 

 those of metal could have survived the severe 

 shocks to which they were so often exposed ; it 

 was with the utmost difficulty in one case, that 

 they were saved and two of the Arabs rescued 

 from drowning. Rapids continued to occur, 

 proving that the Jordan, except for short and 

 isolated distances, is entirely unfitted for useful 

 navigation. 



The Jordan, like most other rivers, has suc- 

 cessive terraces upon its hanks, and two are very 

 distinct. From a hill three bundled feet high, 

 they had a view of the terraces; they were 

 shaped on both sides by the winter rains into 

 conical hills, pyramidal, cuneiform and tent-like 

 — resembling a giant encampment — extending 

 as far south as the eye could reach ; the river 

 sometimes glittering through the openings, or 

 "clasping some little island with its silvery 

 arms," or dashing in white foam by some pro- 

 jecting point. 



They continued on with safety through the 

 13th, but not without difficulty. The rapid3 

 were most formidable obstacles, proving fully 

 that the representations of the Arab sheikhs 

 were not exaggerated. 



In the course of the day, they passed patches 

 of wheat and barley. A beautiful alluvial coun- 

 try succeeded, but without cultivation, and over- 

 grown by thistles and wild gruss ; large flocks 

 of storks gazed unheedingly upon the caravan. 

 The heat became intense, without a tree or a 

 shelter in the vast plain — the sun's rays beating 

 on their heads and reflected from the gun bar- 

 rels which were painful to touch or behold, and 

 the whole atmosphere quivering us it ascended 

 in heated currents. 



With a current of four to six knots an hour, 

 on April 14th, the boats shot along rapidly, and 

 so great were the windings of the river, that in 

 the course of a quarter of an hour they ran to- 

 wards almost every point of compass — as if the 

 holy Jordan were lingering in the culm and si- 

 lent valley, reluctant to plunge into the salt and 

 hitter sea. 



The scenery of the river through the day had 

 little variety : sometimes the current washed the 

 bases of sandy hills or passed along low banks 

 fringed with trees and flowers, and occasional 

 views were highly. picturesque; then the river 

 became a raging torrent. Now and then a gur- 

 gling rivulet came flowing in, mingling its pure 

 waters with those of the muddy Jordan, The 



