At about one-third of an hour's distance from hence is Jericho, at present only a poor nasty village of the Arabs. We were here carried to see a place where Zaccheus's house is said to have stood, which is only an old square stone building, on the south side of Jericho. About two furlongs from hence, the mosolem, with his people, had encamped; and not far from them we took up our quarters this night.
March 30.—The next morning we set out very early for Jordan, where we arrived in two hours. We found the plain very barren as we passed along it, producing nothing but a kind of samphire, and other such marine plants. I observed in many places of the road, where puddles of water had stood, a whiteness upon the surface of the ground, which upon trial I found to be a crust of salt, caused by the water to rise out of the earth, in the same manner as it does every year in the valley of salt near Aleppo, after the winter's inundation. These saline efflorescences I found at some leagues distance from the Dead Sea, which demonstrates that the whole valley must be all over plentifully impregnated with that mineral.
Within about a furlong of the river, at that place where we visited it, there was an old ruined church and convent, dedicated to St. John, in memory of the baptizing of our blessed Lord. It is founded as near as could be conjectured to the very place where he had the honour to perform that sacred office, and to wash Him who was infinitely purer than the water itself. On the farther side of the aforementioned convent there runs along a small descent, which you may fitly call the first and outermost bank of Jordan; as far as which it may be supposed the river does, or at least did anciently, overflow at some seasons of the year, viz., at the time of harvest[576]; or, as it is expressed, Chron. xii. 1., in the first month, that is in March. But at present (whether it be because the river has, by its rapidity of current, worn its channel deeper than it was formerly, or whether because its waters are diverted some other way,) it seems to have forgot its ancient greatness; for we could discern no sign or probability of such overflowings when we were there, which was the thirtieth of March, being the proper time for these inundations. Nay, so far was the river from overflowing, that it ran at least two yards below the brink of its channel.
After having descended the outermost bank, you go about a furlong upon a level strand before you come to the immediate bank of the river. This second bank is so beset with bushes and trees, such as tamarisk, willows, oleanders, &c., that you can see no water till you have made your way through them. In this thicket anciently (and the same is reported of it at this day) several sorts of wild beasts are wont to harbour themselves; whose being washed out of the covert by the overflowings of the river, gave rise to that allusion, "He shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan."[577]
No sooner were we arrived at the river, and dismounted, in order to satisfy that curiosity and devotion which brought us hither, but we were alarmed by some troops of Arabs appearing on the other side and firing at us, but at too great a distance to do any execution. This intervening disturbance hindered the friars from performing their service prescribed for this place, and seemed to put them in a terrible fear of their lives, beyond what appeared in the rest of the company; though, considering the sordidness of their present condition, and the extraordinary rewards which they boast to be their due in the world to come, one would think, in reason, they of all men should have the least cause to discover so great a fear of death, and so much fondness of a life like theirs.
But this alarm was soon over, and every one returned to his former purpose; some stripped and bathed themselves in the river, others cut down boughs from the trees, every man was employed one way or other to take a memorial of this famous stream. The water was very turbid, and too rapid to be swam against. For its breadth, it might be about twenty yards over; and in depth it far exceeded my height. On the other side there seemed to be a much larger thicket than on that where we were, but we durst not swim over to take any certain account of that region for fear of the Arabs, there being three guns fired just over against us, and (as we might guess by their reports) very near the river.
Having finished our design here, we were summoned to return by the mosolem, who carried us back to the middle of the plain; and there, sitting under his tent, made us pass before him, man by man, to the end he might take the more exact account of us, and lose nothing of his caphar. We seemed at this place to be near the Dead Sea, and some of us had a great desire to go nearer, and take a view of those prodigious waters. But this could not be attempted without the licence of our commander-in-chief. We therefore sent to request his permission for our going, and a guard to attend us, both which he readily granted, and we immediately prosecuted our purpose.
Coming within about half an hour of the sea, we found the ground uneven, and varied into hillocks, much resembling those places in England where there have been anciently lime-kilns. Whether these might be the pits at which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown by the four kings[578], I will not determine.
Coming near the sea, we passed through a kind of coppice, of bushes and reeds; in the midst of which our guide, who was an Arab, showed us a fountain of fresh water, rising not above a furlong from the sea; fresh water he called it, but we found it brackish.
The Dead Sea is inclosed on the east and west with exceeding high mountains; on the north it is bounded by the plain of Jericho, on which side also it receives the waters of Jordan. On the south it is open, and extends beyond the reach of the eye. It is said to be twenty-four leagues long, and six or seven broad.