14 EGYPT AND PALESTINE. 



bidden ground, and were doubtless on the look-out for some 

 defenceless donkey-rider going down to Jericlio, whom 

 they might rob. The old gentleman first seized had been 

 the standard-bearer of the tribe during the war, and was 

 a well-known reprobate. After driving our prisoners for 

 several miles, as a warning to them not to be again found 

 on the road, we, reflecting that the men might be an 

 awkward encumbrance on the other side of the river, inter- 

 ceded for them with their captor; the Bedouins were 

 liberated, and, having sufficiently demonstrated their grati- 

 tude to us by repeatedly kissing our boots, made off in the 

 direction taken by their companions. 



The ford of the Jordan we were now approaching is on 

 the direct road from Nablous to Es-Salt, and is guarded by 

 a few Turkish soldiers, who keep in repair the old ferry- 

 boat, which has been stationed here to maintain the com- 

 munication of the outlying garrison at Es-Salt with the 

 rest of Palestine. The river flows in a deep trench, a 

 quarter to half a mile broad, and at least 200 feet below 

 the level of the rest of the valley. At the foot of the sharp 

 descent, on a knoll overlooking the turbid stream, we 

 found the tents of the American gentlemen, who, like our- 

 selves, had made up their minds to visit the east side of the 

 Jordan. They had contracted with young Goblan to pro- 

 vide an Arab escort for thirty napoleons — a moderate sum 

 compared with those paid to his father by former travellers. 

 The old Sheikh of the Adwan had, however, failed to 

 appear, according to the contract, to ratify his son's 

 bargain, and our acquaintances naturally hesitated to cross 

 the river without him. 



It was still early in the afternoon, and we ordered our 

 baggage forward to cross at once, while we spent a 

 pleasant half -hour in the tent of the Americans. They were 

 most luxuriously provided for by their dragoman, a young 



