VIEW IN THE VALLEY OF THE JORDAN.
The stream is from seventy-five to three hundred feet wide, and probably has an average depth of six and a half feet, or more, even during the dry season. At some places, however, the depth is much greater than this. Here and there, islands, robed in garments of living green, and decked with flowers of every hue, float, fairy-like, upon the bosom of the river.
The terraces along the river are frequently one mass of vegetation. The weeping-willow grows on the banks, and dips her flowing tresses in the sacred stream. As one follows the windings of the historic river, his way is continually cheered by the gushing sound of some crystal rivulet, by the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, by the sight and song of birds. The tangled vine, the matted cane, the thick-growing forest trees of considerable size, and a great variety of undergrowth, form a general rendezvous for wild animals, and a perfect paradise for birds. Hyenas, tigers, wild boars, and bears abound here, especially on the eastern side of the river. Here hawks, herons, pigeons, ducks, doves, and swallows build their nest and raise their young. Here also the bulbul and the nightingale sing their songs of praise.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE DEAD SEA.
A Wonderful Body of Water—Receives 20,000,000 Cubic Feet of Water per Day—Has no Outlet—Never Fills Up—In the Sea—Johnson’s Suggestion as to my Identity—Why One Cannot Sink—“Salt Sea”—Caught in a Storm—Danger of Death—Dreary Waste—Sea of Fire—Johnson’s Argument—New-Born Babe—Child Dies—Lot’s Wife—Her Past History and Present Condition—The Frenchman’s Book—Why the Sea is so Salt—Why it Never Fills Up—Sown with Diamonds—Origin of the Dead Sea—God’s Wrath—The Sodom Apple—The Sea an Emblem of Death.