William Francis Lynch

“ Perhaps directly before me, for this is near Jericho, “the waters stood and rose up upon an heap,” and the multitudinous host of the Israelites passed over, — and in the bed of the stream, a few yards distant, may be the twelve stones, marking “the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood.”
Tradition, sustained by the geographical features of the country, makes this also the scene of the baptism of the Redeemer. The mind of man, trammelled by sin, cannot soar in contemplation of so sublime an event. ”

“ No other kind of boats in the world than such as we have, combining great strength with buoyancy, could have sustained the shocks they encountered. As the passage by the river was considered the most perilous, alike from the dangers of its channel and the liability to an attack, I felt it my duty, as I have before advised you, to undertake it in person. ”

“ I am happy to say that nothing occurred, and the pilgrims have all departed.
“The great secret of the depression between Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea, is solved by the tortuous course of the Jordan. In a space of sixty miles of latitude and four or five miles of longitude, the Jordan traverses at least 200 miles. The river is in the latter stage of a freshet-a few weeks earlier or later, and passage would have been impracticable. As it is, we have plunged down twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides a great many of lesser magnitude. ”

“ Here they were joined by a few Riha (Jericho) Arabs, all having long-barrelled guns, with extraordinary crooked ram’s-horn powder-flasks, perhaps modelled after the horns employed by the Israelites in toppling down the walls of Jericho. Of this city, the first conquest of the Israelites west of the Jordan, and where Herod the Great died, but a solitary tower remains (if, indeed, it be the true site) . How truly has the curse of Joshua respecting it been fulfilled!
A GLIMPSE OF THE DEAD SEA
Here the wilderness blossomed as the rose. ”

“ Whether it walks or runs, the camel ever throws forward its hind and fore leg on the same side and at the same time, as a horse does in pacing. The fugitive was soon caught, and, true to its early teaching, knelt down the moment a hand was placed upon its neck. ’Akil, abandoning his mare, mounted the prize, and, without bridle or halter, dashed off at full speed over the plain to increase the number of our beasts of burden. ”

“ Nothing but the spears and swarthy faces of the Arabs saved us.
I had, in the meantime, sent the boats to the opposite shore, a little below the bathing-place, as well to be out of the way as to be in readiness to render assistance, should any of the crowd be swept down by the current, and in danger of drowning. ”

“ Although but one man was seen, it was suspected that many were concealed in the ravine; for directly opposite was a large encampment of black tents.
Our Bedouin felt or feigned a conviction that an engagement would take place, and all due preparations were immediately made. The camels were halted, and the horsemen, collecting in front, waited for the reconnoitering scouts to return. In the mean time, our Arabs went through their feats of horsemanship, singing their war song, and seemed to be endeavouring to work themselves into a state of phrensy. ”

“ In all the wild haste of a disorderly rout, Copts and Russians, Poles, Armenians, Greeks and Syrians, from all parts of Asia, from Europe, from Africa and from far distant America, on they came; men, women and children, of every age and hue, and in every variety of costume ”

“ Stopped for the other boat to close in, and prepared for a skirmish; at this moment there was a shot from above, and concluding that the other boat had been fired upon, I directed the men to shoot the first objects they saw in the bushes. Fortunately the man we had first seen had now become alarmed and concealed himself; and immediately after, the Fanny Skinner hove in sight, having stopped a moment to fire at a bird. The man in the bushes proved to be a messenger sent by the Arabs on the hill to show us the place of rendezvous for the night. They had been spoken by the caravan as it passed ”

“ At 3 A.M., we were aroused by the intelligence that the pilgrims were coming. Rising in haste, we beheld thousands of torchlights, with a dark mass beneath, moving rapidly over the hills.
Striking our tents with precipitation, we hurriedly removed them and all our effects a short distance to the left. We had scarce finished, when they were upon us: — men, women, and children, mounted on camels, horses, mules ”

“ Our Bedouin friends here stood us in good stead, sticking their tufted spears before our tents, they mounted their steeds and formed a military cordon round us. But for them we should have been run down, and most of our effects trampled upon, scattered and lost.
A HETEROGENEOUS MULTITUDE
Strange that we should have been shielded from a Christian throng by wild children of the desert — Muslims in name, but pagans in reality. ”

“ At this time, it is said, there are always a great many Arabs prowling about, to cut off pilgrims straying from the strong military escort which accompanies them from Jerusalem, under the command of the Pasha, or an officer of high rank. ”