Part I. 
four or five hundred Men, for fear of the Arabs, and unlefs there be a great 
many Chriftians, they cannot raife a fufficient fumm of money to defray the 
Charges of it; for the Greeks and other Chriftians that are Subjeds to the 
Gra-ûdSignior, pay upon account of this journey, three Piasires and a half the 
head, and the Franks five Piastres. 
Now the year Î went thither, thQ E a fhr of the Greeks fell on thefameday 
with that of the Latins, j and the Greeks, Armcmms, and other Chriftian 
Subjects of t\[Z Grand Signior% made in all above four thoufand. The Bafha 
fent with us a Convoy of three hundred Horfe, and two hundred Foot, 
under the Command of the M^fcllem. About nine of the clock, we came to the 
Fountain of the Apoftles, and a little after, to Bethany : Our way lay all along JA'j 
among Mountains, and the Road was very ftony from Jemfalem to the Plain of fti^s.^^ 
Jericho, where we arrived and encamped about two in the afternoon. We Balmy, 
took no care to carry with us Tents, Vidtiials, nor any other NecelTàries in all 
that Journey ; for the Monks made it their bufinefs to provide us with Horfes, 
Vidualsand Tents, and to ftiew us all, without paying any thing but for our 
Horfes. 
The Town Jericho is about a quarter of a league from thence, which 
formerly was a famous City, but at prcfent conlifts only of thirty or forty 
Brick-Houfes, inhabited by Ârabs. Thefe Houfes were all forfaken when we 
went that way, becaufe the Arabs had fled for fear of the Turks that went 
with us. Near to thefe Habitations, we faw the Houfe of Zacheus, about a TheHoufcof 
quarter of a league from the Camp, as I faid already, and then we returned to 
the Camp. In the Phin of Jencho^ there are Roles of Jericho (as they call f^'^'^s of 
them) but they have not the vertues as many afcribeto thera, for they blow 
not unlefs they be put into water, and then they blow in all fcafons, and at 
any hour, contrary to the Opinion of thofe who fay. That they blow not but in 
Chriftmas'H\g\it ^ and others, on aït the Feftival Days of our Lady j with a 
great many fuch idle tales. I found of them alfo in the Defarts' of Mount 
Sinai. Next day, Tuefday the lixteenth of we fet out about three of che 
clock in the morning, and travelled on ftill in the Plain, till about half an hour 
after five we came to the River of Jordan., which is fomething deep, and per- The River of 
haps half as broad as the Seme at Paris j it is very rapid, and the water of it Jf^^hn. 
thick, becaufe it palTes through fat Land, but they fay it corrupts not, and I The courfe 
filkd a Bottle of it to try the experiment, but the Corfairs whom I met with, oï 'Jordan. ^ 
threw it into the Sea : this River has its fource from two Springs towards Mount 
Ltbanns, called Jor, and Dan, which joyned together, make Jordan : It runs 
from Eaft to South, palTes through the Sea of T^^crm, and lofes it felf in that 
nafty and ftinking Lake, Jfphaltitcs, called the Dead-Sea: It is very full of Lake ^jpy^^t/- 
Fi(h, and on both fides befet with little thick and pîeafant Woods, among t/f^^. 
which, thoufands of Nightinjrales warbling all together, m^ke a moH 
pleafant delightful and charming Confort. Here our Monks quickly ereded Devotions at 
an Altar, upon which, they fayed two Malfes, at the firfr of which, I received Jordan. 
the Sacrament, but it was very incommodious, for it behoved one ( beOdes he 
that Celebrates, to hold the Chalice, Veil, &c. LeJl the Wind which blew high 
might overturn and carry them away,gnd another to hide the Tapers, left they 
fhould be blown cut. During that time, all the Greeks, Cophtes, Armenians, &c. 
Performed their Devotions alfo ; moftpartgo into the Water ftark-naked 
(efpecially the Men) and the Women in their Smocks ; they had of the Water 
OÏ Jordan poured upon their Heads, in memory of our Lords Baptifm, and 
wafhed their Linen in it, carrying away Jarrs and Bottles full of Water, with 
Mud and Earth, which they took up by the River fide, not forgetting Sticks, 
which they cut in the adjoining Woods, and all to be kept as Relicks. This 
River is rendred lUuftrious by many Miracles, as having flopt its courfe 
to let the Children of Iprael pafs over. The Prophet Eltjlu palTed it over 
dry-(hod, upon his Matters Cloak, &c. I was verydefirous we might have 
gone afcerwards to the Dead- Sea, but the Turks would not j and therefore I 
fhall h ere relate what I have learn'd of it from thofe that have been there. The Dead- 
It was in this Sea that the five Cities of the Plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. Sea. 
Were fwallowed up. The water of it is very clear, but extreamly Salt and 
in fome places of it they find Salt as refplendant as Criftial. It bears up all 
C c Yvho 
