Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-12-17
Especial correspondenceD

vERICHO, 191O-Thc Jordan! How
shall ! make you see it as it winds
It's way through this great cash
- in the thirsty face OF old Mother
Earth? All day long have been trav-
cling upon its banks in this, the lower
part of its course. have visited the
ford where Joshua crossed with his
army of Jews when he took possession
Of Canaan. have stood on the spot
where 1t IS said that Jesus was bap-
tiled OF John. and have gone over the
place where the waters We're parted by
the cloak of Elijah. Here at jericho |
am within n short gallon of the Dead
sea, into which the Jordan flows, ana
sitting on the steps of my hotel ! can
see Mount Nebo, where Moses stood
when he viewed the Promised Land
which he was not to enter. In former
travels | have seen the Jordan. near
the Sea of Galilcc. and have been not
far from its source in the Lebanon
mountains.
IN THE CELLAR OF THE EARTH
This Jordan valley is the cellar OF
the world. 1t Is Il great trench, which
begins n thousand or more feet above
the sea, In the Lebanon mountains, and
within n distance of 1G0 miles as the
crow flies, cuts its way down to 1909
feet below sea level, where it ends in
the Dead sea. The bottom of that sea
is q half mile below the surface of the
Mediterranean, and in Jericho. where I
am writing. we are almost 1000 feet be-
low the highest point in Jerusalem.
There Is no other part of the earth un-
covered BY water where the land for any
distance Is sunkcn for even 200 feet be-
low the level of the ocean. This is the
greatest trough of the world, and one of
the strangest.
Typical of heaven, the valley of the
Jordan Is cmblcmatic of hell The most
of 1t Is MS thirsty as the dry sands of
the Sahara, and just now it's heat is as
torrd as Tophet. The plain over which
! rode today OH my way to the river
was covered with thorn bushes. The
only green after leaving the irrigated
farms about Jericho was that which
borders the gully through which the
Jordan runs, the remainder being of
alkaline earth thrown up by the floods
In castles and mounds. making gullies
and hills of all sizes and shapes.
The mean temperature of Jerusalem
Is 81 Fahrenheit. 1t Is temperate
throughout and the snow falls there in
the winter. The heat here is as great
as that of the center of Nubia. Dates
can be grown. and in the past Jericho
was known as the city of palms.
A BIRD's-EYE VIEW OF THE JoR-
DAN.
But this Is not the character of the
whole course OF the Jordan. Let me
give you Il bird's-eye view of the river,
or, better, let us suppose we have taken
an aeroplane and are going from its
source in the Lebanon mountains to
where 1t loses itself in the great sea
OF salt below. 1t rises on the foot of
Mount Hcrmon. whose peak is covered
with snow the greater part of the year.
It has two or three different sources.
one Is near Dan and higher up Is an
other at Banias, near the spot where
Christ said:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock
will ] build my Church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it,
II is from Banias that the Jordan has
its chief start. 1t comes from cave in
the limestone rock which is now .cholicd
up with stones, but out of which the