184 



®ljc .farmer's illontljly btsitor. 



high limestone hills formed a hairier on the 

 western side against the overflowings of Jordan 

 and the floods of the sea of Galilee in the win- 

 ter and spring, while the low eastern bank frin- 

 ged with tamarisk and willow and occasional 

 thickets of cane and tangled masses of shrubs 

 anil creeping plants, was almost a jungle. A 

 fresh track of a tiger was seen in the mud where 

 he had come to drink, and at another time a 

 wild hoar dashed through the thicket and told 

 his course by the sound of broken branches. 

 Birds in many places sung in the trees, the real 

 nightingale ceased not her song, and the hulhul 

 — the Syrian nightingale — when disturbed, flit- 

 ted to another bower and renewed her melodies. 

 Rapids and cataracts continued to occur, and it 

 required all the address, courage and strength 

 of the crews, not unfrequently jumping over- 

 board and clinging to the sides of the boats, to 

 prevent their being swamped ; they always steer- 

 ed for the most rapid part of the torrent, as this 

 was the deepest. As twilight came on, the ra- 

 pids were numerous, and from the decay of the 

 light, more dangerous. 



The river was now falling rapidly — at the rate 

 of about two feet in a day — and frequently the 

 sedge and drift-wood were seen lodged on the 

 branches of overhanging trees, higher than the 

 banks, " which conclusively proves that the Jor- 

 dan in its swellings, still overflows the lower 

 plain timl drives the lion from his lair as it did in 

 ancient times." 



The eroded hills on the upper terrace had a 

 conical form ; limestone and conglomerate were 

 the prevailing rock, and it was evident that the 

 whole had been under water. Boulders of 

 quartz and conglomerate were numerous. 



From the nature of the country the caravan 

 was compelled to keep at a distance from the 

 river, and the scouts were visible only occasion- 

 ally upon the bluffs and crests of the hills. Be- 

 ing now in a dangerous region near where Lieut. 

 Molyneux's party was attacked, the land and wa- 

 ter parlies re-united and formed an armed en- 

 campment. The camels were reposing in close 

 proximity, and arms and fires and the people 

 were all around. The caravan, repelled from 

 the western, now crossed over to the eastern 

 banks, while the scouts travelled on the west, to 

 keep a lookout from the heights of land for the 

 safety of the boats, which alone were in danger; 

 the signal of two guns in quick succession from 

 the boats was again agreed upon, that the land 

 forces might close in to their assistance. Some 

 of the party were exhausted by fatigue and by 

 frequent vomiting during the day. 



The river varied between ihirty and seventy 

 yards in width, llie current from two to six 

 knots, and the depth from two to ten feet. On 

 April 15, the heat in the morning was 76 deg., 

 and it soon became oppressive. The mountains 

 towards the east had a glftomy aspect, hem;.' 

 rough anil verdnreless crags of limestone reflect- 

 ing a blinding light. In this dreary waste there 

 was no sound, for every living thing had retired 

 from the withering heat and oppressive glare; 

 the wind sighed as it swept over the barren 

 plain; there was no drapery of clouds — the 

 gleam of dawn deepened at once into the inten- 

 sity of noon. Day after day followed without 

 change; there were no shifting clouds and sun- 

 shine, but a monotonous and wearisome azure. 

 The mountains towards the west rose like is 

 lands from the sea, the peaks illuminated by the 

 sun-light being strongly contrasted with the 

 dark shadows; and although they were hours 

 away, their deep scars and fissures were dis- 

 tinct, and the laminations of the strata resembled 

 the leaves of some gigantic volume. The plain 

 sloped from the base of the hills into conical 

 mounds, and still lower, into the valley of the 

 Jordan. The hanks of the river were fringed 

 with perpetual verdure— the stream winding in 

 a thousand graceful mazes, a bright line ill a 

 cheerless waste, bright by contrast with the 

 harsh dry calcined earth around. There were 

 no elms, ash. hazel, linden, beach or aspen; no 

 laurel, pine, or birch ; still the lily and tamarisk, 

 the oleander, the anemone and the asphodel 

 adorn the Jordan, and the hulhul and nightingale 

 haunt the copses. 



On April 10', at the Pilgrims fon!, conglome- 

 rate was rarely seen, hut in its' place hanks oi 

 semi-endurated clay. The vegetation became 



more luxuriant, the oleander more abundant, the 

 asphodel and acacia less so. 



Higher up the river there was drift wood in 

 the stream, and hushes and blanches were lod- 

 ged high up in the trees which lined the banks. 

 The bounding hills were immense masses ol 

 siliceous conglomerate with occasional lime- 

 stone, this being the geological formation of the 

 Ghor from Lake Tiberias to the Dead Sea. Ra- 

 pids were still of frequent recurrence. 



They arrived at El Meshra, the bathing place 

 of the Christian pilgrims. Tradition assigns 

 this as the place where the Israelites passed over 

 with the ark of the covenant, and where our Sa- 

 viour was baptized by John ; and near it is sup- 

 posed to have been Belhahara, the Saviour's 

 place of refuge. Here also is said to have been 

 the scene of the Saviour's temptation, and the 

 fountain healed by Elijah. Near by was Jericho, 

 and fourteen miles on the other side was Hesh- 

 bon where Sihon, the king of the Amorites, 

 dwelt. The water and land parties united in 

 pitching their tents just at the spot where the 

 pilgrims passed. 



April 18. — The pilgrims arrived at 3 A. M. 

 Thousands of torch-lights with a dark mass ol 

 human beings were seen moving rapidly over 

 the hills, and they were on the ground almost 

 before the tents could be struck and the place 

 cleared. Men, women, and children, mounted 

 on camels, horses, mules and donkeys, rushed 

 impetuously down the bank as if they had been 

 fugitives from a routed army. The Kedawin 

 guard formed a cordon of defense, sticking their 

 spears in the ground and mounting their horses, 

 to prevent the American party from being run 

 down — Moslems shielding one Christian band 

 against another! The party which had arrived 

 was only the van guard ; at five o'clock A. M., 

 the main body came over the crest of a high 

 ridge in one tumultuous eager throng: "Copts, 

 Russians, Poles, Armenians, Greeks, and Syrians 

 from all parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and Amer- 

 ica." Many of the women and children were 

 suspended in baskets or confined in cages: they 

 dismounted, hurried forward, disrobed in haste, 

 and threw themselves into the stream, regardless 

 of observers. They took that plunge in honor of 

 the Trinity and then filled a bottle from the river. 

 They cut branches of the willow, dipped them 

 in the consecrated stream and bore them away 

 as memorials of their visit. The pageant disap- 

 peared as rapidly as it had approached and left 

 the small party to their solitude. The number 

 was said to be 8000, hut probably this was an 

 over estimate. All bathed, except a few Franks, 

 — most of them reverentially, but a few with 

 levity. 



The course of the Jordan had been so tortu- 

 ous, that in sixty miles of latitude, and four or 

 five of longitude, the parly had traversed at least 

 200 miles; and as they had descended twenty- 

 seven threatening rapids besides many smaller 

 ones, and at all times found a rapid current, it is 

 not surprising that the Dead Sea is 1300 feet be- 

 low the level of the Mediterranean. As they 

 approached the Dead Sea, the river was forty 

 yards wide and twelve feet deep, the bottom 

 blue mud. A liitle further on, it was fifty yards 

 wide and eleven feet deep, w.ith muddy bottom, 

 and low sedgy hanks. The high mountains of 

 the Dead Sea were in sight to the S. and W. 

 A heron, a hulhul, a snipe, and many wild ducks 

 were seen. The river now became seventy to 

 eighty yards wide ; and the water was still 

 sweet: it was seven feet deep with a current of 

 three kiots. The Dead Sea was in view to the 

 southward, with mountains beyond. A snipe, a 

 heron, arid a white gull were the only visible in- 

 habitants of the region. 



The mouth of the river is 180 yards wide and 

 three feet deep; as they entered the sea a gale 

 of wind compelled tl em to stand for the north 

 shore, which they reached incrusted over with a 

 greasy salt, and their eyes, lips, and nostri s 

 smarting excessively. The sea subsided as 

 quickly as it rose — its heavy waves in twenty 

 minutes were stilled, and they went on. gliding 

 over a placid sheet of water hardly disturbed by 

 a ripple. A rain aloud which had enveloped 

 the sterile Arabian mauntains, now opened and 

 disclosed their rusged outlines gilded by the set- 

 ting sun ; hut above llie slid more sterile moun- 

 tains of Moah, all was gloomy and obscure. 

 The northern shore is nn extensive mud flat with 



a sandy plain beyond, and is the very type of 

 desolation. The line of high water was desig- 

 nated by trees, having their branches blackened 

 or whitened by salt. The northwestern shore is 

 a bed of gravel sloping from the mountains to 

 the sea ; the eastern is a rugged line of moun- 

 tains hare of all vegetation. 



The land party and the navigators were mutu- 

 ally embarrassed in their efforts to find each 

 other. They pitched their camp "in a canehrake 

 near a brackish spring, and wet, weary and hun- 

 gry, reposed upon a bed of dust beside a fetid 

 marsh — the dark mountains being behind and 

 the sea like a huge caldron before, ils surface 

 covered with a lead-colored mist." This soli- 

 tude was relieved by the sound of the convent 

 bell of Mar Saba, on the western side, informing 

 them that Christian sympathies were near. 



The shore party after leaving the Jordan, 

 passed a sandy tract of damp ravines and slip- 

 pery to the feet of the camels, succeeded by a 

 plain incrusted with salt. The upper terrace of 

 the Jordan, on which the party travelled, was 

 generally about 500 feet above the plain, and the 

 latter was mostly covered with trees and grass. 



One of their encampments sv.ns under a cliff" of 

 crumbling limestone and conglomerate 1000 feet 

 high, and near it was a spring of clear water at 

 84 deg. ; it was soft but blackish, and smelt of 

 sulphur. Pebbles of bituminous limestone were 

 very abundant'. The vegetatiqn being saline and 

 acrid, the camels could not be sustained, and 

 they and the Arabs who had attended the parly 

 were dismissed. Upon the beach there were no 

 round stones, but only those that were angular, 

 and they were of flint. Two partridges of a 

 stone color, like the rocks, were Started before 

 them, and the note of a solitary bird was heard 

 among the cane thicket: birds therefore can live 

 upon the shores of the Dead Sea. 



"But the scene was one of unmixed desola- 

 tion ; and the air tainted with sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen, gave a yellow hue to the foliage of the 

 cane which is elsewhere of a light green." 

 There was no vegetation except of the cane- 

 brakes ; •' barren mountains, fragments of black- 

 ened rocks," and a saline sea wilh dead trees on 

 its margin, bore a sad and sombre aspect. 



Near their ramp, on the 20th of April, they 

 saw a large brown stone-colored hare and a par- 

 tridge. The temperature was 89 deg. F. At 8 

 P. M., "the surface of the sea was one wide 

 sheet of phosphorescent foam, and the waves, as 

 they broke upon the shore, threw a sepulchral 

 light upon the dead bushes and fragments of 

 rocks." This is an interesting observation, and 

 as far as we know it is original. We have never 

 learned that any such appearance has been ob- 

 served in the Caspian or any other internal sa- 

 line water. The luminous appearance probably 

 arises from animalcules, such as are phosphores- 

 cent in the ocean ; mere salt-water, however 

 strong the solution, has no such power. We 

 have then another proof that life is not entirely 

 excluded from this region. 



Soundings were taken in a course directed to- 

 wards the eastern or Arabian shore, a distance 

 of nearly eight statute miles; the greatest depth 

 was 696 feel and 540 feet within a fourth of a 

 mile of the Arabian shore. Mr. All lick reported 

 a volcanic formation, and brought specimens of 

 lava. "Another line of soundings running diag- 

 onally across to the S. E., disclosed a level plain 

 at the bottom of the sea with an average depth 

 of over 1000 feet all across; the bottom blue 

 mud and sand with regular cubes of crystallized 

 sail." The greatest depth on this line was 1005 

 feet, and the greatest observed anywhere was 

 1278 feet. 



These operations were performed under a 

 blazing sun, and the water, greasy to the touch, 

 made the men's hands smart and burn severely. 

 '• By dusk, the sea rolled dangerously, the crests 

 of the waves dashed into the boats, the men had 

 a severe pull, and their clothes were stiff" with 

 salt." 



In a chasm in the mountains, on the eastern 

 side, they found a sweet and thermal spring 

 which flowed into the sea. 



The brook Kidron which in rainy seasons 

 rims in the valley of Jehosaphat at llie foot of 

 the mount of Olives, empties into the Dead Sea 

 in the Wady en Nar (Ravine of Fire); the bed 

 is a deep gorge whose sloping hanks rise 1200 

 feet ; the channel was now dry and filled with 



