The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-08-21 00:00:00

THE RIVER JORDAN.

A very interesting work entitled " Narrative of the
United States Expedition to the River Jordan and the
Dead Sea," has just been published by Captain Lynch,
commander of the expedition. The whole volume de-
serves a careful perusal, but of course we can only find
room this week for one or two extracts, more of which
we shall probably give hereafter.
On entering the Jordan from the Lake of Tiberias, the
course of the river was found to be very sinuous and full
of rapids, the descent of which was often accompanied
with risk ; the following description will give an idea of
the obstacles which were met with, more or less, every
day during the navigation :
" At 10 15 a.m., cast off and shot down the first rapid,
and stopped to examine more closely a desperate-looking
cascade of eleven feet. In the middle of the channel was
a shoot of an angle of about sixty degrees, with a bold,
bluff, threatening rock at its foot, exactly in the passage.
It would therefore be necessary to turn almost at a sharp
angle in descending, to avoid being dashed to pieces.
This rock was on the outer edge of the whirlpool, which
a cauldron of foam swept round and round in circling
eddies. Yet below were two fierce rapids, each about one
hundred and fifty yards in length, with the points of
black rock peering above the white and agitated surface.
Below them again, within a mile, were two other rapids
—longer, but more shelving and less difficult.
" Fortunately, a large bush was growing upon the left
bank, about five feet up, where the wash of the water
from above had formed a kind of promontory. By swim-
ming across some distance up the stream, one of the men
had carried over the end of a rope and made it fast around
the roots of the bush. The great doubt was whether the
hold of the roots would be sufficient to withstand the
strain, but there was no alternative. In order not to risk
the men, I employed some of the most vigorous Arabs in
the camp to swim by the side of the boats, and guide
them, if possible, clear of danger. Landing the men,
therefore, and tracking the Fanny Mason up stream, we
shot her across, and, gathering in the slack of the rope,
let her drop to the brink of the cascade, where she fairly
trembled and bent in the fierce strength of the sweeping
current. It was a moment of intense anxiety. The
sailors had now clambered along the banks and stood at
intervals below, ready to assist us if thrown from the
boat and swept towards them. One man, with me in the
boat, stood by the line: a number of naked Arabs were
upon the rocks and in the foaming water gesticulating
wildly, their shouts mingling with the noise of the bois-
terous rapids, and their dusky forms contrasting strangely
with the effervescing flood, and four on each side, in the
water, were clinging to the boat, ready to guide her clear
of the threatening rock if possible.
" The Fanny Mason, in the meanwhile, swayed from
side to side of the mad torrent, like a frightened steed,
straining the line which held her. Watching the moment
when her bows were brought in the right direction, I gave
the signal to the rope. There was a rush, a plunge, an
upward leap, and the rock was cleared, the pool was
passed, and, half full of water, with breathless velocity,
we were swept safely down the rapid. Such screaming
and shouting I the Arabs seemed to exult more than our-
selves. It was in seeming only : they were glad ; but we
were grateful. Two of the Arabs lost theirhold and were
carried far below us, but were rescued with a slight injury
to one of them.
" It was exactly twelve o'clock when we cleared the
cascade. Mr. Aulick soon followed in the Fanny Skinner,
and by his skill and coolness passed down in perfect
safety. '
The descent of the Jordan was made in April, when
the river, though subsiding, was still full, and occupied
eight days of hard work. The general character of its
course is described in the following extracts :
" The boats had little need of the oars to propel them,
for the current carried us along at a rate of from four to
six knots an hour, the river, from its eccentric course,
scarcely permitting a correct sketch of its topography to
be taken. It curved and twisted north, south, cast, and
west, turning in the short space of half an hour to every
quarter of the compass—seeming as if desirous to pro-
long its luxuriant meanderings in the calm and silent
valley, and reluctant to pour its sweet and sacred waters
into the accursed bosom of the bitter sea.
" For hours in their swift descent the boats floated
down in silence, the silence of the wilderness. Here and
there were spots of solemn beauty. The numerous birds
sang with a music strange and manifold ; the willow bran-
ches were spread upon the stream like tresses, and creep-
ing mosses and clambering weeds, with a multitude of
white and silvery little flowers, looked out from among
them ; and the cliff swallow wheeled over the falls, or
went at his own wild will darting through the arched
vistas, shadowed and shaped by the meeting foliage on
the banks ; and, above all, yet attuned to all, was the
music of the river, gushing with a sound like that of
shawms and cymbals.
" There was little variety in the scenery of the river
to-day. The stream sometimes washed the bases of the
sandy hills, and at times meandered between low banks,
generally fringed with trees and fragrant with blossoms.
Some points presented views exceedingly picturesque—
the mad rushing of a mountain torrent, the song and
sight of birds, the overhanging foliage and glimpses of
the mountains far over the plain, and here and there a
gurgling rivulet pouring its tribute of crystal water into
the now muddy Jordan. The western shore was peculiar,
from the high calcareous lime-stone hills, which form a
barrier to the stream when swollen by the efflux of the
Sea of Galilee during the winter and early spring ; while

the left or eastern bank was low, and fringed with tama-
risk and willow, and occasionally a thicket of lofty cane,
and tangled masses of shrubs and creeping plants, giving
it the character of a jungle. At one place, we saw the
fresh track of a tiger on the low clayey margin, where he
had come to drink. At another time, as we passed his
lair, a wild boar started with a savage grunt and dashed
into the thicket ; but, for some moments, we traced his
pathway by the shaking cane and the crashing sound of
broken branches.
" The birds were numerous, and at times, when we
issued from the shadow and silence of a narrow and ver-
dure-tented part of the stream into an open bend, where
the rapids rattled and the light burst in, and the birds
sang their wildwood song, it was, to use a simile of Mr.
Bedlow, like a sudden transition from the cold, dull-
lighted hall where gentlemen hang their hats, into the
white and golden saloon, where the music rings and the
dance goes on.
" The hawk, upon the topmost branch of a blighted
tree, moved not at our approach, but—
. Stood with the down on his beak,
And stared with the foot on has prey;'
and the veritable nightingale ceased not her song, for she
made day night in her covert among the leaves ; and the
bulbul, whose sacred haunts we disturbed when the cur-
rent swept us among the overhanging boughs, but chir-
ruped her surprise, calmly winged her flight to another
sprig, and continued her interrupted molodies.
" Many islands, some fairy-like, and covered with a
luxuriant vegetation, others mere sand-bars and sedimen-
tary deposits, intercepted the course of the river, but
were beautiful features in the general monotony of the
shores. The regular and almost unvaried scene of high
banks of alluvial deposit and sand-hills on the one
hand, and the low swamp-like shore, covered to the
water's edge with the tamarisk, the willow, and the thick
high cane, would have been fatiguing without the frequent
occurrence of sand-banks and verdant islands. High up
in the sand-bluffs, the cliff-swallow (asfur) chattered from
his nest in the hollow, or darted about in the bright sun-
shine, in pursuit of the gnat and the water-fly." . . .
" But, altogether, the descent to-day was much less
difficult than those which had preceded it. The course of
the river formed a never-ending series of serpentine
curves, sometimes dashing along in rapids by the base of
a mountain, sometimes flowing between low banks, gener-
ally lined with trees and fragrant with blossoms. Some
places presented views extremely picturesque, the rapid
rushing of a torrent, the song and sight of birds, the
overhanging trees, and glimpses of the mountains far
above the plain. The river was falling rapidly; the
banks showed a daily fall of about two feet, and fre-
quently we saw sedge and drift wood lodged high up on
the branches of overhanging trees—above the surface of
the banks—which exclusively proves that the Jordan in
its ' swellings' still overflows the lower plain, and drives
the lion from his lair, as it did in the ancient time."

SECOND EDITION.

Standard-office, Two o'clock, p.m.

_ -

LIVERPOOL CORN MARKET.—Tx is DAY

We have still very little produce either coastwise or from
Ireland, and the arrivals of grain from Europe for the week
ending yesterday are generally rather moderate: from the
United States, however, we have to note a further liberal supply
of Indian Corn, with upwards of 30,000 barrels of Flour thence
and Canada. _ _ _ _

At this day's market there was a fair attendance of country
millers and dealers, and Wheat of all descriptions was in mo-
derate request, for present consumption, at the rates of this
day week.
Prime brands of Flour were in tolerable request on the full
terms last noted, inferior kinds remaining neglected.
In Barley, Malt, Beans, and Peas, no change.
Oats and Oatmeal dull, each merely supporting late prices.
Of new Irish Oats few small parcels were at hand, and were
sold at 2s. 10d. to 3s. per 451 b. Oatmeal very difficult.of sale,
at late prices.
Indian Corn being in limited demand, yellow receded Is. per
qr. from the rates of this day week; but white being scarce,
realized an advance of Is.
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