THE DEAD SEA AND THE JORDAN. 
375 
After much pleasant conversation in the same strain, we 
shocks hands again and parted ; Doctor Mendoza and his de¬ 
voted followers for St. Saha, and we for the Jordan and Jericho. 
We rode along the beach for some miles, and then struck 
off into a morass, through which our horses plunged and stag¬ 
gered for some miles farther, till we reached a higher part of 
the plain and found a mule-path leading to the Jordan. Our 
Arab guard evinced the most intense anxiety as we drew 
near the boundary of the Bedouin country. As to Yusef, he 
never was more cool and collected in the absolute presence 
of the most dangerous foe. For more than an hour he 
scarcely uttered a word; but with looks of the most profound 
indifference, reined up his steed of the desert, and rode along 
in our very midst, as if he had no further thought of the 
Bedouins than to be the central point of attack when the 
fighting commenced. 
In good time, we drew up our horses on the banks of the 
river. While our guard were busily engaged in disposing of 
their forces on the tops of the neighboring hills, so as to be 
as far away from the Bedouin country as possible in order 
that they might enjoy a more extended view of it, and cut 
off all stragglers that might come in their direction, we dis¬ 
mounted and indulged in various reflections concerning the 
Jordan. The conclusion that I came to was this : I was 
greatly astonished to find the river Jordan no bigger than 
what we call a creek in the back-woods of America ; and 
resolved in all my future readings about rivers, lakes and 
seas in the old world, to look at them through an inverted 
imagination. I stood at the water’s edge, and tossed a peb¬ 
ble across to the other side with all ease. It was not more 
than thirty yards wide at most; and although the current 
was swift, yet it was impossible to get quite rid of the idea 
that the Jordan, so famed throughout the whole civilized 
world, must be somewhere farther on, and this little stream 
only one of its tributaries. Why it was I thought so, it 
would be impossible to say ; but I certainly must admit 
that I never was so disappointed in regard to the size of a 
river in my life. 
