CHAPTER XLIX. 
THRILLING ALARM IN JERICHO. 
A pleasant ride of three hours from the hanks of the Jor¬ 
dan brought us to the reputed site of Jericho. Nothing re¬ 
mains of the ancient city, and I believe it is admitted by the 
best authorities on scriptural history, that there is no ground 
for the assumption that this was the location of Jericho. It 
is not even rendered probable by any reasonable conclusions 
from historical evidence. Without entering into that ques¬ 
tion, we had sufficient to do to credit our senses, when we 
were told that we were in the midst of the village, and that 
there was no other village than what we saw around us. A 
ruinous old Khan, eight or ten wigwams built of mud and 
bushes ; half a dozen lazy Arabs lying about on piles of rub¬ 
bish, smoking their pipes; a few cows, sheep and goats, 
browsing on the stunted bushes; some mangy-looking dogs, 
engaged in devouring the carcass of a dead mule, and a few 
hungry crows waiting near by for a share in the feast, were 
all the signs of habitation and life that we could see about 
Jericho. The Khan stands at a distance of a few hundred 
yards from the huts or wigwams, and is said to be occupied 
at present by a Turkish guard of twenty-five soldiers, sta¬ 
tioned there by the Pasha of Jerusalem, to protect the people 
of Jericho from the Bedouins. We saw nothing of the sold¬ 
iers. Doubtless they were asleep, and the probability is that 
they had been asleep ever since their departure from Jeru¬ 
salem. It appeared, from all we could learn, that in con¬ 
sequence of the depredations committed by the Bedouins upon 
travelers visiting the Dead Sea and Jordan, and also upon 
the Arabs, living in the villages on this side of the river, that 
the Turkish authorities of Jerusalem had agreed to furnish 
