Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-30
A SWIM IN THE DEAD SEA,
Interesting Visit to the Holy River
Where Christ WINS RaDtizeI.

Where Christ Was Baptized.
From the Chicago News
The German traveller. Professor H. w.
Vogel, describes in Vom Feis yum Nicer
recent visit to the Dead sea and round
about Jordan as the Bible calls the
neighborhood Of the holy river where Jesus
Christ was baptized by John.
The railroad leading to Jerusalem has
no branch to the Dead sea, and the travel
ers rode for ten hours on horseback before
they heard the roar of the waves of this
largest inland lake, which is popularity
supposed to be silent and calm. Survey
ing the country fIom the top of Mount
Ol1ves. says Professor Vogel, Il judged
the distance from Jerusalem to the Dead
sea TO be not more than three hours ride,
but soon discovered my error after travel
ing through. the barren and lonely land
scape
Very frequently we had to dismount for
rear of breaking our necks in climbing
the precipices or descending into the Wabis
valley. After about four hours ride we
came to a great white mosque, erected
over the grave Of Moses, SO We were told.
The Moslems seemingly never heard of the
passage IN hoiy scriptures which says:
And no one has found his grave up to this
day. They have a. grave of Adam, too,
IN one of the Jerusalem churches. After
dlSmounting for luncheon at the mosque
We discovered another party of tourists,
the society of hotel employees of Cairo,
twelve in number. Their leader informed
us That the Dead sea was but few miles
away, but the observation proved as much
OF an optical delusion as my own was on
Mount Olives. We had yet to climb many
height and had to traverse many a
stony valley before we reached its neigh
borhood.
when we were about half mile from
the Dead sea We heard the terrible roar
OF the breakers. and FIVE minutes later
We saw the white foaming surf About
ten feet from the strand the water was
calm and of blush color. A fresh re-
freshing wind blew over the lake and into
our faces, and we had hearty laugh over
the stories that say Whit from the Dead
sea Is poisonous. Poisonous. indeed, and
that no bird dared cross it, 1 saw hun
dreds flying about in the best of spirits.
Another superstition is that it would
be suicidal to battle in the Dead sea- None
OF US could swim, but that mattered lit
tie, as the density of the water is so great
mat the human body will not sink in it.
Before we reached deep water, however,
we mad become very much exhausted by
our battle with the tremendous surf.
Riding further north, We came to the
iord OF the Jordan. where our Savior was
baptized by John.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to
Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.
But John forbade him, saying: Il have
thou to me?'
And Jesus answering said unto him:
Suffer 1t to be SO now; for thus it be-
Comeln US TO fulnll all Righteousness"
Then he suffered him.
And Jesus. when he was baptized, went
up straightway out of the water
The description of the neghborhood in
Matthew iii. holds good to this day; the
river flows at this point through muddy
fiat and We found the ford passabIe, as it
was in the period when our Lord was bap-
tized there.
AT this famous historical point we were
surprised to find establish I'd a German
saloonkeeper, who welcomed US in ELUSIVE
style. He lived in sort of barn construct
ed of rafters and dried mud And there
was beer garden, too, with arbors offer
ing protection against the hot sun, rough
tables and benches. The proprietor proved
to be a native of the Prussan town of
Gmesen; his name was Mayer He sold
beer or some kind of stuff masquerading
under that name, and native wines, the lat
ter being quite good.
1.-The photographs we took of the river
gave a faithful picture of the neighbor-
hood, but the camera missed a sign pole
near the edge of the water with the legend
Boats to Let Mayer had half a dozen
of them. beautifully painted, and asked two
francs for an hour for their use. We had
good meal and rest at his inn, and in the
morning departed for Jericho, after filling
our bottles with Jordan water for baptis-
mails at home"