320 Lieut. Lynch 's Expedition to the Jordan and Dead Sea. 



They continued on with safety through the 13th, but not 

 without difficulty. The rapids 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 country succeeded, but without cul- 

 tivation, and overgrown by thistles and wild grass ; large flocks 

 of storks gazed unheeding! y upon the caravan. The heat be- 

 came intense, without a tree or a shelter in the vast plain — the 

 sun's rays beating on their heads and reflected from the gun 

 barrels which were painful to touch or behold, and the whole 



atmosphere quivering as 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 

 towards almost every point of the compass — as if the holy Jordan 

 were lingering in the calm and silent valley, reluctant to plunge 

 into the salt and bitter 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 gurgling rivulet came flowing in, min- 

 gling its pure waters with those of the muddy Jordan. The 

 high limestone hills formed a barrier on the western side against 

 the overflowings of Jordan and the floods of the sea of Galilee 

 in the winter and spring, while the low eastern bank fringed 

 with tamarisk and willow and occasional thickets of cane and 

 tangled masses of shrubs and 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 boar 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 bulbul — the Syrian nightingale 

 when disturbed, flitted to another bower and renewed her mel- 

 odies. Rapids and cataracts continued to occur, and it required 

 all the address, courage and strength of the crews, not un fre- 

 quently jumping overboard and clinging to the sides of the boats, 

 to prevent their being swamped ; they always steered for the 

 most rapid part of the torrent, as this was the deepest. As twi- 

 light came on, the rapids 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 Jordan in its 

 sufellings, still overflows the lower plain and drives the lion from 

 his lair as it did in ancient times/' 



