Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine/Chapter 17

by Edward Hull

CHAPTEE XVII.

JERICHO AND THE JORDAN VALLEY.

Our next excursion was to Jericho and the banks of the Jordan. We left Jerusalem early on Monday morning, 14th January, and crossing the valley ascended the Mount of Olives, passing the Garden of Gethsemane, and the village of Bethany, the home of the young Sheikh who accompanied our party, and whose father is lord paramount of the district we were to traverse. I took a great fancy to this young fellow from his appearance and conduct. He was slight of build, sat his horse gracefully, and was always polite and ready to oblige. It is unnecessary for me to attempt to describe the well-known road from Jerusalem to Jericho; no parable is better known than that of which the scene is laid here; and, one may add, no example is more rarely followed than that of the Good Samaritan!

The hills which bound the valley are much of the nature of the chalk downs of the South of England. From Bethany onwards towards the Wâdy-es-Sidr they consist of limestone, sometimes chalky, and dipping steadily eastwards. We are now on the eastern side of the great arch of Central Palestine, as we were on the western side when ascending towards Jerusalem from Ramleh. On approaching the Wâdy-es-Sidr, however, we find that the strata become contorted; and on crossing the brook, the cause of this disturbance of the beds becomes evident, in the occurrence of a mass of volcanic rock, which has here been intruded into the limestone, and has to a great extent altered and calcined the rock itself. This volcanic rock is of a red colour, variegated with yellow and white; it is soft, and resembles "Domite" in general character, except that I could not recognise any crystals of mica, hornblende, or other minerals. It seemed to me, that we have only here the upper surface of a deep-seated mass, where it has come in contact with the limestone, so that we have no opportunity of judging of its characters as they would appear if observed at some depth. Its presence at the surface is due entirely to denudation, and it again breaks out under the Khan el Ahmar, where the limestone beds are contorted and calcined.^[1]

As we were resting under the rocks near the Khan, a large party of Russian pilgrims, mounted on donkeys and ponies, arrived on their way to receive baptism from the Patriarch of the Greek Church in the sacred waters of the Jordan. They presented a strange spectacle—their pots and pans for cooking, their little stores of food and clothes fastened on the pommels of their saddles—all chattering briskly and pressing onwards to reach the hospitable roof of the Greek Convent (which stands in the midst of the Jordan Valley) before nightfall. We were pretty well mixed up with these pilgrims for the most part of our way, which did not tend to our own gratification, or facilitate observation on the natural phenomena around us. At length, towards evening, we found ourselves on the brink of the Wâdy Kelt, one of the deepest ravines in Palestine, generally considered to be "the Brook Cherith that is before Jordan," where Elijah was fed by the ravens.^[2] As Conder says, the whole gorge is wonderfully wild and romantic. It is bounded by vertical cliffs of limestone in nearly horizontal courses several hundred feet in depth, and hollowed into eaves, the abode in past times of Anchorites. The bottom of the gorge is lined with tall canes, and the water, which rises in a spring amongst the mountains, nearly four miles from the spot where it debouches on the plain of Jericho,^[3] is probably perennial, even during the longest droughts. Terrible, therefore, must have been the drought in the days of Ahab, "when the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land."

At a bend of the road near the mouth of the Kelt we found ourselves overlooking the plain of Jordan, The pilgrims gave a shout of joy as they beheld the object of their long and toilsome journey. A vast expanse of green and brownish tints stretched from our feet away to the distant hills of Moab; and in front, amongst the groves and gardens of Gilgal, rose the huge pile of the Greek Convent, where the travellers were to rest.

To the extreme right we could get a glimpse of the northern lip of the Salt Sea; and to the left, looking across the deeply worn channel of the Kelt, were the mounds of Jericho rising from amongst gardens, and lying near the foot of the stupendous cliffs of Jebel Karantul, which here bound the plain of the Jordan. Over the whole scene was spread a lurid haze, indicative of the grand thunderstorm which was to burst upon us during the night.

Descending by the steep pathway into the plain, we turned our horses' heads towards the left; and crossing the Kelt pushed onwards towards the mounds of ancient Jericho, where our tents had been pitched, by the side of the warm and copious spring of Ain es Sultân. The site and surroundings of ancient Jericho have often been described, and it is unnecessary for me to say much on the subject.^[4] It is a spot of great interest, where baths, aqueducts, roads, and mounds of pottery attest its former importance. The source of this is, without doubt, to be found in its magnificent springs, both of tepid and cold waters. These impart verdure to the soil; and for sanitary purposes were, as we know, highly prized, especially in Roman times. Jericho was the city of palm-trees, of which none now remain; but the constant supply of running water, combined with the intense heat, causes the gardens of Gilgal, close by, to produce lemons and oranges, bananas, castor-oil plants, besides melons, figs, and grapes. Sugarcanes were extensively cultivated down to the time of the Crusaders, and the ruins of the sugar-mills formed a prominent object on the hill above our camp.

Our tents were pitched a few yards below the Sultan's Spring, which issues forth into an ancient basin of hewn stone. The temperature of the water is 84° Fahr.,^[5] and the stony bed of the brook is thickly strewn with the dark purple shells of several species of molluscs. Our camp was at an elevation (by aneroid) of 520 feet above the Salt Sea, and on the margin of a terrace which stretches for several miles towards the banks of the Jordan. A second terrace of gravel may be observed on both sides of the limestone ridge on which were erected the sugar-mills; this terrace is 630 feet above the same datum, and seems to represent the principal terrace which borders the southern margin of The Ghôr, to which Jebel Usdum belongs. According to Tristram, the surface of the lower plain is formed of mud and silt, containing fresh-water shells of the Jordan and its tributary streams, of which Melanopsis prœrosa and M. Saulcyi occur in this locality; and lead him to the conclusion, that within a comparatively recent geological period, the whole lower valley has been exposed to fresh-water floods from the upper Jordan, where these shells abound.^[6] When crossing the Cherith Valley, on our way to the banks of the Jordan on the following day, we searched the marly and gravelly banks for remains of shells, but without success; we were then about 275 feet above the surface of the Salt Sea.^[7]

At about a mile from the banks of the Jordan, we descended about 40 feet on to a lower terrace, a little over 200 feet above the same datum. The materials are of white marl, encrusted with saline matter, and they break off in a succession of little plateaux with symmetrical banks, descending to the alluvial plain which borders the river, and which sustains a dense growth of trees, shrubs, and reeds—the haunts of the wild boar. Altogether, between the escarpment of Jebel Karantul, which bounds the valley of the Jordan on the west, there are three well-marked terraces, which have successively formed the bed of the ancient inland sea, namely^[8]:—

	The Upper Terrace,	with an elevation of	630	to	600	feet.
	The Second Terrace	,,	520	,,	250	,,
	The Third Terrace	,,	200	,,	130	,,
	The Alluvial Plain,	liable to floods	90	,,	0	,,

All these terraces, except perhaps the upper, have doubly sloping surfaces, both towards the centre of the valley, and towards the Salt Sea, so that the levels taken along one line would not correspond exactly with those taken along another. The upper terrace only slopes towards the centre of the valley, as its upper surface corresponds almost exactly with the terrace of Jebel Usdum, and the other old sea margins, near the southern end of The Ghôr.

On arriving at the fords of the Jordan, which have been so often described as to require but little notice here,^[9] some of our party prepared for a plunge into its turgid waters, with, I fear, less reverent thoughts than the ardent pilgrims we had fallen in with the day before. The stream is about 50 yards from bank to bank, which are clothed with tamarisks, willows, and tall reeds.

While we were having lunch on the grassy terrace, some Greek or Russian pilgrims came down from the convent to bathe, and it was an amusing, if not very edifying, sight to watch their performances. From the delicate manner in which they entered the stream, it might be inferred that bathing was not a pastime in which they often indulged; and as some of them, at least, probably recollected that they would not again have so excellent an opportunity for fleshly purification, they proceeded to a very systematic course of washing, aided by a good lather of soap!

I was surprised to observe the water of the Jordan so turgid that it reminded me of the waters of the Nile, or of some streams descending from glacier valleys. It is well known that streams which issue forth from lakes, as is the case with the Jordan, are generally clear, as the mud is deposited in each instance over the bed of the lake itself. The Rhone may be cited as an illustration. Entering the head of the Lake of Geneva, charged with mud from the Alpine glaciers, the suspended matter subsides, and the waters issue forth at the lower end clear as crystal. Such, I supposed, would be the case with the Jordan; but, as I am informed, though the river issues forth from the Sea of Galilee as a clear stream, it flows along between muddy banks, so that its waters become more and more impregnated with silt, till on entering the head of the Salt Sea they resemble those of the Nile at Cairo. The temperature of the water was 61° Fahr. ; that of the air 72° Fahr., in the shade about noon.^[10]

On our way back from the Jordan, both we and our horses were unanimous as to the excellence of the ground for a trial of speed, so giving them the reins we were soon flying over the ground neck to neck. It required neither whip nor spur to make our little steeds show their mettle, for they were ever ready for the course, and none liked to be beaten. Gordon's horse proved, I think, to be the fastest; Laurence's next; but we were all very nearly matched. We reached our tents in the evening, well satisfied with our day's ramble.^[11]

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1. This rock is noticed by Tristram, "Land of Israel," p. 200, as also the occurrence of the "wavy undulations and folds" of chert; but surely not "irrespective of the stratification"?
2. 1 Kings xvii, 3. The term is 'Oreb (Corvus umbrinus), but it has been suggested that by the word in this passage is meant the Arabs. I confess to a preference for the usually received interpretation. The life of Elijah was one dependent throughout on the miraculous interposition of God; and this was only one amongst many miracles.
3. Conder, "Tent Life in Palestine," p. 211.
4. The account in Murray's Handbook is excellent.
5. According to Baedeker; but only 71° Fahr. as determined by Mr. Laurence, of our party.
6. “Land of Israel.” 2nd edition, p. 221.
7. This is probably the same terrace described by Tristram near Ain Jidi, consisting of “chalky limestone and gravel” mixed with shells of existing species at a level of 250 feet above the Salt Sea waters. This terrace slopes upwards into the valleys which open out on the plain. (Ibid., p. 281.)
8. The elevations, as determined by the aneroid, are only approximate.
9. See Tristram's graphic picture, and more graphic description, of crossing the fords, "Land of Israel," p. 523, et seq.
10. As determined by Mr. Laurence.
11. The great, almost only, danger from a gallop in this country, is due to the burrowing animals, such as moles, jerboas, &c., and the rider has to keep a sharp look out to prevent his horse putting his foot into one of the holes. A lady whom we met on board the steamer at Beyrût was thrown from her horse which had stumbled in consequence of a mole burrow.