Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-04-08

| among the crowd of men, with their chill
dren ON their shoulders. and dip them re-
peatedly y under the water, in utter disregard
of their cries and screams. Still more Vi
olently do the Russians and Greeks act :;
their fanaticism is only appeased when
same of thier number, as often happens,
have lost their lives in the rushing river
a fate apparently envied by the survivors.
The water of the Jordan is sweet, fresh,
and clear as crystal, except at the time
when it overfows its banks. 1t then dis
turbs the sand on its shores, and mingles
with it, thus becoming of a dirty yellow
color but, when left to stand, it soon
clears, and the sediment falls to the bottom.
The Jordan (Schenet Ell Kebir) takes its
source in a marshy district near Hasbeiah
in Lebanon flows through the Lake of
Gennesareth and then, after many curves
and windngs, rushes into the Ghor, and
loses its waters in the Dead Sea Its di-
rect course is about one hundred and twen-
ty-fve miles in length but it has many
windings and angles near Jericho its width
is eighty feet. At its entrance into the
Salt Sea, where it creates a small delta,
Lieutenant Lynch found it hundred and
eighty yards in BREADTH with a depth of
three feet
At one time the Jordan mirrored in its
waters beautiful towns, but now only mis-
cradle ruined houses. Not far distant from
its banks was Jericho, the renowned " city
of dates" Who does not know the Bible
narrative, according to which, at the sound
of the trumpets of Joshua, the walls crum-
bled into dust and ruin, and all the inhab-
itants, excepting Rahab and her father
house, were extirpated? When rebuilt, it
acquired fame as the seat of the school of
the prophets: it flourished anew, and be-
came, after Jerusalem, the first town of
Palestine In the time of augustus, Her
cd held his court there fine palaces over
topped the palm-trees mighty aqueducts
provided refreshing water to the pOpulous
commercial town; the spectacle-loving null
titude were attracted by an amphitheater,
in the arena of which the people assembled
to deliberate extensive storehouses were
used by the rich merchants for the costly
commodities with which they supplied the
luxurious inhabitants of Rome and Alex
andria and the city was entered by in
geniously- constructed roads, winding over
the rocky mountains. Here were gathered
Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs; from
Italy and Spain came soldiers, dancers,
gIadiators. In these thronged streets the
wild children of Ishmael and Esau-dwell-
crs in tents, picturesque and warlike-
came TO sell their focks and herds, tattened
on the rich pastures of the Jordan; men
whom neither emperor nor queen could
bind.
With the glory of Jerusalem set also the
star of Jericho. Sandy waste and heaps
of stones, broken columns, half-buried in
rubbish, and arches of acqueducts over
grown with creepers, are the sole remains
of the palace of the king and its ancient
glories \ miserable village of some thirty
poor novels, more resembling cowsheds than
human dwellings, alone remains here and
there Il black Bedouin tent and an old
watch-tower- is the aspect of the
present Jericho
The dwcllers in Riha, the modern rep
resentative of Jericho, are of the negro
type: Incy nave black, woOlly hair, anC
their countenances are deficient in intelli
gence The appearance of the dirty huts
of matted mud and rushes, in whose inte
rior the half-naked inmates lie extended
with their shaggy dogs by their side, only
cxcites disgust. Hedges of thorns, to repe
the nightly incursions of jackals, inclost
the village; and what was once the most
lovely region of Palestine, and made over
as gift to the beautiful Egyptian Queer
/ Cleopatra, is now the resort of wild robber
I tribes.-ChriStian Miscellany.