FROM THE DEAD SEA TO THE JORDAN, JERICHO, AND JERUSALEM.--THE VALLEY OF
THE JORDAN.
[Illustration: REEDS AND RUSHES ON THE JORDAN.]
It was a ride of less than two hours from the Dead Sea to the Jordan;
the ground was level and the horses in good spirits, so that the whole
party indulged in the luxury of a gallop. The course of the Jordan was
indicated by trees and great masses of reeds, but the stream was so
completely concealed by them that its waters were not revealed until
rein was drawn at the bathing-place of the pilgrims.
The boys could hardly restrain their impatience to reach the waters of
the river that is so intimately connected with the history of
Christianity. Of course they made immediate preparations for a bath,
according to the custom of the great majority of visitors; the water was
so cold that they remained in it only a few minutes, and were glad to
resume their clothing and make a calm study of the scene.
"The river at this point," wrote Frank in his journal, "is about a
hundred feet wide, and flows with a current so swift that we could
hardly stand against it. We waded and swum to the other side; swimming
was preferable to wading, as the bottom is composed of sharp stones,
which are very disagreeable to walk upon. The guide said the stream was
swollen by recent rains, and at least a foot deeper than at its ordinary
stage.
"There is a ford at this bathing-place, and another higher up. Caravans
and single travellers going from the east to the west bank, or _vice
versa_, usually pass by one of these fords, and sometimes a large party
may be seen here. It is not safe to venture on the other side without a
strong guard, as the Arabs are far worse than those between here and
Jerusalem, probably because they are not under so much restraint by the
government.
[Illustration: AN ARAB SKIRMISH IN THE LAND OF MOAB.]
"Several explorations have been attempted of the Land of Moab, as the
country east of the Jordan is called, but only a few of them have
succeeded. In most instances parties have been compelled to return just
after crossing the border, and before they had accomplished anything of
what they went to see. The Arabs are treacherous, and often violate
their promises after they have received heavy backsheesh to permit
travellers to go on without disturbance. If you want to know more of
this region we advise you to read 'The Land of Moab,' by H. B. Tristram,
one of the few travellers who has explored it. Another interesting work
on this subject is 'The Desert of the Exodus,' by E. H. Palmer, and
don't forget 'The Land and the Book,' which we have already mentioned.
"Mr. Tristram tells in his book how narrowly he escaped being robbed,
and perhaps murdered, by one of the tribes that roam over the country.
It often happens that there is a quarrel between two tribes, and when
any parties from one encounter the other there is certain to be
bloodshed. If strangers happen to be under the escort of the defeated
party they must share its fate, and consequently it is not an easy
matter to select a guard that can carry you through safely.
"When Mr. Tristram's party started from Hebron there were two tribes
from which it was necessary to choose an escort, or rather to whom to
pay black-mail. The choice fell upon the Jehalin tribe, and, after a
good deal of negotiation, a contract was made and signed with them.
"Hardly had they entered the Land of Moab when they met a large band of
the Beni Atiyeh, a tribe with a very bad reputation, and the number was
so great that it was nonsense to think of fighting them. The dragoman
went forward to parley with them, and was stripped of his outer
garments, satchel, money-bag, and belt, before he could speak a word;
the sheik of the escort went at the same time and with better success,
as he managed to get the ear of the chief of the Atiyeh. Two or three of
the men of the escort who ventured to the front were knocked down, and
for a little while there was a good prospect of a very serious result to
the travellers.
"It turned out that the Beni Atiyeh were on good terms with the Jehalin,
and on the payment of a heavy backsheesh they allowed the party to go
on. It would have been far otherwise if Mr. Tristram had chosen his
escort from the other tribe that offered its services, as there was a
bitter quarrel between it and the Beni Atiyeh, and there would have been
no chance of an escape. No mercy would have been shown to the
travellers, and possibly the Arabs would have justified their cruelty by
referring to the old adage, 'A man is known by the company he keeps.'
[Illustration: BATHING-PLACE OF THE PILGRIMS (FROM THOMSON'S "THE LAND
AND THE BOOK").]
"You must know there are two bathing-places on the Jordan; one is
visited by the Latins and the other by the Greeks, and each Church
claims that its bathing-place is the spot where Christ was baptized by
John. Mr. Thomson thinks that neither is correct, and that the scene of
the baptism was considerably farther up the river than any of the
present sites. He argues that, according to the historical record,
Christ came from Galilee, and was baptized by John, and then returned to
Galilee; the road from Galilee reaches the Jordan much farther north
than the present bathing-places, and though it is possible he came to
this point it is hardly probable.
[Illustration: SOURCE OF THE JORDAN.]
"The bank of the river is fringed with willow, tamarisk, and other trees
and bushes, and there are several pretty spots here for forming a camp.
We wanted to stay here for the night, but our guide had sent the tents
by a short route from Mar Saba to the neighborhood of the ancient
Jericho, and after a halt of an hour or so we mounted our horses and
rode away from the river.
"Doctor Bronson says it is quite probable that the passage of the Jordan
by the Israelites, described in Joshua iii. and iv., occurred at the
bathing-place we have visited, or certainly not far from it. According
to the biblical account they passed the river 'right against Jericho,'
and this expression is supposed to mean that they crossed the Jordan at
the point nearest to that city.
[Illustration: PASSAGE OF THE ISRAELITES.]
"During our halt one of our party read the account of this interesting
event while the rest listened. It was not at all difficult for us to
imagine the scene when the Israelites came down from their camp in the
hills of Moab, and took their position on the banks of the Jordan. Here
they halted for the night, and on the next day, when all was ready, the
ark of the covenant, borne on the shoulders of the priests, was advanced
to the edge of the river; as the feet of the bearers touched the water
it receded, and in a few minutes the bed of the stream was dry. Then the
ark was carried to the middle of the channel, and it remained there in
charge of the priests till the whole host had gone over.
"When the last of the procession had passed, Joshua called to the
priests to bring the ark from the bed of the river, and they did so. The
waters at once resumed their course, and the Jordan flowed on as before.
Of course the monuments of stones which were erected by the Israelites
to commemorate their crossing disappeared hundreds of years ago, and we
have only the geographical localities to guide us; but, as we heard the
description of the event, and looked around us, we felt certain that the
spot where the Israelites crossed over Jordan, after their escape from
Egypt, and their wanderings in the wilderness, could not be far away.
[Illustration]
"Before we go on to Jericho let me say something about the famous river
we have just visited.
"The Jordan is about a hundred miles long in a direct line, but its
course is so crooked that the actual length of the stream is a great
deal more; nobody has ever measured it accurately, and therefore I can't
say how much it winds about. One authority says it is sixty-four miles
in a direct line from the Dead Sea to the Lake of Tiberias, and two
hundred miles by the windings of the river. The head-spring of the
Hasbany (the parent of the Jordan) is seventeen hundred feet above the
level of the Mediterranean; the mouth of the Jordan, where it enters the
Dead Sea, is, therefore, about three thousand feet lower than its
source, so the Jordan has a great fall for so short a river.
"The Hasbany and several other streams unite in the Lake of Hooleh, and
from the outlet of that lake the river is called the Jordan. It has a
rapid fall to the Lake of Tiberias; and as it goes out of that lake it
begins its tortuous course, which can be surpassed by very few rivers in
the world. Between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea there are
twenty-seven cascades or rapids; all of them are so great that it is
quite impossible for boats to make the ascent, and it is not by any
means safe to attempt to descend them. Lieutenant Lynch started with
three boats, one of wood and the others of iron. The wooden boat was
bought in the Lake of Tiberias, while the iron ones were brought from
the United States. The iron boats were a good deal battered by the
thumps they received during the voyage, but the exploring party brought
them to the Dead Sea, and used them for completing their work. The
wooden boat was ruined, and abandoned before half the journey had been
accomplished.
"The Valley of the Jordan is called the 'Ghor' by the natives. The word
means a depression or hollow, and the valley may be regarded as a plain
sixty miles long, and from five to ten miles wide, enclosed by
mountains. The mountains on both sides are very steep, and the Valley of
the Jordan is not unlike some of the deep gorges or ravines in our
Western States and Territories. It is broader near the Dead Sea than
farther up. The land is generally fertile, and capable of supporting a
larger population than it contains at present. According to the accounts
in the Old Testament, it was far more productive in ancient times than
it is to-day. It contains ruins of cities that once were populous, and
it is very certain that the land of Canaan has greatly diminished in
importance since the children of Israel came to it and settled.
"There were then as now wandering tribes of shepherds, and their customs
have changed very little in all the centuries that have passed; but
there were more people living in settled places, and the biblical story
shows that Jericho was a walled town with gates, which were shut at
night. The flax drying on the roof of Rahab's house shows that that
plant was cultivated, and the cord by which she let down the spies tells
us very plainly that the people understood the art of spinning. We read
the Bible very carefully while in the Jordan Valley, and have derived a
great many useful hints from it, and much information.
"We wished we could have been here at the time of the annual visit of
the pilgrims, which occurs at Easter, and is a curious sight. There are
pilgrims here in fair numbers through the whole year, and they all
consider it a religious duty to bathe in the Jordan. The great festival
is in April, and at that time several thousand pilgrims leave Jerusalem
immediately after the close of the Easter festivities and come down to
the Plain of Jericho, where they encamp for the night. They come from
all parts of Europe, and there is a good representation from Asia as
well. You can see many varieties of costume, and hear a jargon of
languages that might remind you of the Tower of Babel.
"The camp is a scene of confusion, and long before morning a disorderly
procession is formed, thousands of torches are waved, and the great
crowd presses forward in order to enter the sacred stream at daybreak.
Hundreds of people are in the river at the same moment, and not a year
passes without some of them being swept away and drowned in the swift
current. Men, women, and children are crowded together indiscriminately,
and the wonder is that so few accidents occur. The whole ceremony is
over in two or three hours, and then the pilgrims turn back from the
Jordan and return to Jerusalem.
[Illustration: RECENT ASPECT OF THE PLAIN OF JERICHO.]
"Just as we left the Jordan it began to rain, and we had a disagreeable
ride to Riha, which some writers consider the site of Gilgal; others
think it marks the position of ancient Jericho; but the general opinion
is that Jericho was farther to the west. The modern Jericho is a village
of fifty or sixty houses, and its inhabitants are a degenerate race of
people, who live by a little agriculture and by what they can beg or
steal from visitors. We found our tents pitched a little out of the
village, and were a good deal annoyed by the natives, who crowded around
us and could not be driven away. The children begged for backsheesh, and
the men wanted to amuse us with a 'fantasia,' or dance, but we had been
told it was a stupid performance, and declined to witness it.
[Illustration: AIN-ES-SULTAN, OR FOUNTAIN OF ELISHA (FROM THOMSON'S "THE
LAND AND THE BOOK").]
"There is a tower near the village, which is called by some 'The House
of Zaccheus,' but the indications are that it was not built till the
time of the Crusades, long after Zaccheus was laid in his grave. We did
not have time to visit it, nor did we go to the Ain-es-Sultan, or
Sultan's Spring, which is also known as the Fountain of Elisha. It is a
fine spring, the water rather warm in temperature, as we are told, and
varies but little in volume throughout the year. Biblical students who
have been here say there can be no doubt it is the very fountain which
was healed by the prophet Elisha, and is therefore well entitled to bear
his name. There are several aqueducts by which the water was once
carried over the plain, and used for irrigating the fields, but they are
now so much ruined as to be of little consequence.
"What a night we had in our camp! The rain ceased about sunset, but
during the night it came on again, and fell as though a thunder-cloud
had burst above us. It poured and poured, and not only did it rain, but
the wind blew like a gale at sea. Fred and I remembered what we had said
at Bethlehem the first night we slept in the tents. We concluded we were
going to have all the storm we wanted, and more than once wished
ourselves safely lodged in a solid house.
"The ground was soaked with water, and became so soft that it would not
hold our tent-pegs against the wind. The rain came in through the
canvas, the pegs gave way, and about midnight down came the cold and
sloppy cloth in our faces.
"We shouted for help, and the dragoman came with his men and managed to
fix things up a little, but it was slow and disagreeable work with the
heavy rain falling, and the night as black as the inside of an
ink-bottle. They had one miserable lantern that did little more than
enable us to see the darkness, and by the time they had the tent
arranged so that we could crawl under it we were wet nearly to the skin.
"We tried to laugh it off, but 'twas no use trying. We couldn't either
of us see the fun of it, and couldn't get to sleep again. There we lay
till morning wondering what would happen next.
"The Doctor's tent went down like ours, but he had a thick water-proof
coat and a large wrapper of the same material, so that he was not so
badly off as we were. He didn't escape, though, nor did any of the
others, and when daylight came we all looked as if the best thing would
be to wring us out and hang us up to dry. We were a sorry looking
breakfast-party, but pulled ourselves together and managed to eat
something. Fortunately the rain stopped, but there came a new trouble.
"When we went into camp there was a little brook close by us which we
were to cross in the morning. The heavy rain swelled this brook into a
small torrent that was absolutely dangerous to ford, as one might easily
be swept down with the current and drowned.
"So we went up the bank about a mile, and while the horses were driven
through the water our party walked over an old aqueduct which wasn't the
safest bridge in the world, but a great deal better than no bridge at
all. The channel of the aqueduct was about a foot wide, and the sides
eighteen or twenty inches high; the whole structure was at least fifty
feet above the torrent that dashed below us like the rapids of Niagara.
We walked very carefully, as the least misstep might have sent us
tumbling over the side, with an excellent prospect of being killed by
the fall or drowned in the roaring water. It is hardly necessary to say
we were all heartily glad to be on the safe side of the stream.
"We had a ride of five hours from this bridge to the gates of Jerusalem,
and such a five hours we do not care to have again.
"Before the end of the first hour it came on to rain, and by the middle
of the second hour the rain had changed to snow. And with the rain and
snow there was a high wind, and as we wound among the hills we had it in
all directions, now in our faces, and a few minutes later blowing at our
backs.
"The guide repeatedly called our attention to places of scriptural or
other interest. We tried to look at them, but I fear we were more
concerned about the weather than with what lay around us. But we
remember among other things that the route from Jerusalem to Jericho has
the same character now that it had eighteen centuries ago, and we had an
escort to protect us from falling among thieves. We halted a few minutes
at the ruined khan which is said to be the site of the inn to which the
good Samaritan carried the wounded and plundered traveller whom he found
by the way-side.
"The guide told us that a few years ago an English traveller was robbed
by the Arabs at this very spot, and the scriptural description will
exactly cover his case: 'They stripped him of his raiment, and wounded
him, and departed, leaving him half dead.'
[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF BETHANY.]
"Our road was steadily upward, as Jerusalem is nearly three thousand
seven hundred feet higher than the Dead Sea, and we were not far above
the level of that body of water when we started from Jericho. At several
points we were on the old road built by the Romans; we went by Bethany,
which we did not stop to look at, and wound around the Mount of Olives,
and down through the Valley of the Brook Kedron, which we crossed near
Gethsemane. Then we entered Jerusalem by the Gate of the Tribes, and
rode along the nearly deserted streets to the door of the hotel.
"We were all so benumbed and stiff with the cold that we needed
assistance to descend from our horses, and we could not keep our steps
straight as we entered the building. A good fire and a hot dinner
brought us to ourselves again, and we laughed over our troubles and
began to think they did not amount to much, after all.
"It is very unpleasant to be soaked with rain and chilled with the cold,
but somehow when you get dry and warm again you don't feel so badly. We
shall forget all about the storm and its disagreeable features, but
we'll remember the Dead Sea, the Valley of the Jordan, the site of
Jericho, Bethany, the inn of the good Samaritan, and a dozen other
historic things we have seen since we left our camp at Mar Saba and
descended into the deepest valley in the world. Anyway we'll try to
forget the storm, but I can't help shuddering just a little when I think
of it--it was so cold, and the rain was so wet!
"The rain and snow are still falling as I write in my journal in the
public room of the hotel at Jerusalem. We've sent our clothes to the
kitchen to be dried, and we're dressed in such things as we've been able
to borrow in the house, and a funny-looking group we are. The Doctor has
put on a coat much too short in the sleeves, and says he feels as though
he had gone into a ready-made clothing store and been served with the
first garment that came to hand. Fred is nicely gotten up in an Arab
costume, fez and all; he's trying to speak the language, but isn't very
successful. I'm in part of a suit belonging to one of the gentlemen of
the Palestine Exploration Fund, who happens to be stopping here; but the
most conspicuous garment of my wardrobe is a large blanket, with the
word 'Tigre' on the outside in big letters. It once belonged to the
French steamer of that name, and was left here by a traveller; I may be
placarded as a tiger while wearing this blanket, but feel very far from
what that beast is supposed to be."