The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-01-02

the historical associations connected
with the famous Jericho of old
We continued due east and came to
barren desert of fantastic shaped
mounds of white mari. At p. m.
we came to the Jordan The river flows
through a tOrtuous glen varying from
200 TO 800 yards i'll breadth, and from
II. to 100 feet below the surrounding
plain. Tie sides OF the glen are
abrupt and broken, composed OF mari
and clay, intermixed with strata OF
limestone The bottom is smooth and
sprinkled with shrubs. The banks Of
the river are fringed with tamarisk,
oleander and willow, among which
weeds and underwood spring up so as
to form impenetrable jungles, dens
for the wild boar and the leopard, and
occasionally for the Bedouin robber
The river flows between steep banks
of clay and in size and appearance is
not unlike the Tiber at Rome, though
more rapid. It's breadth is so or so
feet and it's depth is often from S to
II feet.
Here on the banks OF the Jordan
we rested for a short time in a lone
ly, old, poor inn. 1 bought me a
bottle of Muenchner beer, paid five
francs for it, emptied it and filled it
with Jordan's water, and brought it
with me home to Sauk Centre.
Under the protection of a Bedouin
police we rode along the shore of the
Jordan through regular desert to-
wards the Dead Sea. After one and
half hours ride we arrived there and
saw some Arabs extracting salt from
sea water by means of pools in the
sand. drought some Of the salt home
with ME. There are no human habi-
tations of any kind here and no
flOcks
We bathed in the Dead Sea. The
water is of delightful temperature
Its specific gravity is SO great that a
human body cannot sink in it. Care
must be taken not to submerge the
head, as the water burns the surface
of the uncovered membrane. The batl
is refreshing, although the deposit of
salt on the skin burns little.
The Dead Sea, placed at the south
ern end of the valley of the Jordan,
presents about the same extent as
does Lake Geneva. 1t occupies a
vast basin which is certainly the deep
est depression Oh the face of the
earth, for it's surface is 400 metres
below the Mediterranean. Rocky
walls rising to 800 metres surround
it on every side This sea is nOur-
ished by the Jordan, whose waters are
during a part of the year, charged
with mud and organic matter pro-
ceeding from its source and the SHOWS
Of Mount Hermon. The saline, ther-
NAL, bituminous springs contribute
around it's margin considerable
amount of water, which may double
that brought down by theJordan
The waters of the Dead sea CAN
not escape by any known issue and
as it is very evident that its level has
ssubsided considerably the evaporation
must raise every day an enormous
mass, which is, however, easily drawn
up by the rays of a fiery sun, the
valley of the Dead sea being one of
the hottest points on the globe.
We receded from the sea and re-
turned to Jericho late in the night.
The hotel must have been first class,
according to the price l had to pay
the following morning, when we left
Jericho and returned to Jerusalem. We
had accomplished our object with
many difficulties and many wonder
ing eyes were turned upor us when
We entered the Holy City.
Koon cnwe cnmfOrtahlo