These pilgrims come in such haste and confusion that frequently some of their number are drowned. And yet so great is the fanatical enthusiasm of the crowd that little or no concern is awakened by the ill-timed death of the unfortunates. The usual bathing-dress is a long, loose-flowing, white gown. After bathing, the pilgrims carefully fold up these robes, thus consecrated, and carry them home with them to far-distant lands, in different parts of the world, and use them as burial-shrouds.
I have never seen a better place for bathing and swimming. From the west side one wades down into the river, getting deeper and deeper the farther he goes from the bank. When about half way across, the water becomes too deep for wading, and close to the eastern bank it is so deep that one can hardly dive to the bottom. One finds water any depth from two to twelve feet. The bottom, being composed of sand and smooth rock, is all that could be desired. We are so delighted to be here that we hardly know how to leave. We remain, day after day, reading, fishing, swimming. We catch several messes of sweet, fresh fish, and fry and eat them on the banks of the stream.
Having spoken somewhat at length about that place in the Jordan where it is supposed, with reasonable certainty, the Savior was baptized, and which is also the bathing-place of the pilgrims, I now proceed to describe the river from one end to the other. But, before speaking of the river proper, I desire to say something concerning the Ghor, or valley, of the Jordan.
Beginning at the upper end of the Dead Sea, the Jordan valley extends one hundred and ten miles directly northward. It varies from three to ten miles in width, and has an average width of six miles. Now this valley, one hundred and ten miles long and six miles wide, is shut in on the east and west by great walls of rock. The eastern bluff is bolder than the one on the west—that is, it is more nearly perpendicular. It is also more regular as to altitude, the height ranging probably from 1,800 to 2,000 feet. The western wall, though less regular than the other, is sometimes as precipitous, and has some peaks that are as high, if not higher.
The entire valley is very deep, its northern end being 700 feet lower than the Mediterranean, while its southern end is 600 feet lower still. The whole valley is therefore one vast inclined plane, sloping from north to south. Through this valley, somewhat nearer to the eastern than to the western side, the Jordan winds its serpentine path.
The river has its source in three bold springs near the upper end of the valley. One of these springs bursts forth from the side of Mt. Hermon, 2,200 feet above the Mediterranean. A second strong spring gushes out from under a bold rock-cliff at Caesarea Philippi. These two springs are on the eastern side of the valley, while the third, which is of itself a small river, issues from the foot of the western hills, near the city of Dan. All of these fountains are large and beautiful. All of them send forth copious streams of fresh and sparkling water. Any one of them could run a half dozen mills, or factories, or irrigate the whole valley. These crystal waters, after flowing gently, and sometimes rushing madly, along their separate courses, unite for the first time in the little Lake of Huleh, or the waters of Merom, as it is often called.
Huleh, about two by four miles square, is in the southern end of an exceedingly rich and fertile plain. In this plain, and around these waters, Joshua had some of his hardest-fought battles. Leaving this lake, the waters flow rapidly through a narrow, rocky gorge for eleven miles, and then empty into the Sea of Galilee, which is, in round numbers, 700 feet lower than the surface of the Mediterranean. Remember, one spring came out from Hermon’s side 2,200 feet above the Mediterranean. In the short distance of thirty-six miles, therefore, the waters have fallen 2,900 feet!
A FORD OF THE JORDAN.