The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-03
WHERE GOD TALKED WITH MEN
Fly c. F. MARKELL

1 suspended upon two long poles, fastened
 tc the sides of pair of horses driven | .aLdem. It is quite primitive and be- | tween the two I should much prefer | walking.
 At last L reached the valley of the
 Jordon. the Ever that goes down, and began to move across its desolate trail
 This river is remarkable in several re-
 spects. While the average width of it's
 bed Is but a few hundred feet, it's valley varies in width from two toi 14 miles, something unapproached by any other stream on earth. The name Ha-Yarden, Jordon, means the deseender and the Jews rarely refer to 1t as the Jordon
 river; 1t was to them simply that which
 goes down.
 Though only 115 miles in length, as the
 crow flies, its meanderings embrace about 235 miles. yet in this short distance it falls 5000 feet, greater descent than that of the Mississippi and yolga combined. whose length is nearly 5000 miles. Mars
 or some other planet may be able to
 match the Jordon valley, but nothing else
 on this planet can do so; It is the deepest ditch on earth.
 As I neared the stream my way seemed to be covered with snow or salt, but it was only the alkali oozing from the ground. When stood upon it's banks
 was 1900 feet below the surface of the
 Mediterranean sea. History, religion and
 travel have touched this mysterious river chiefly at three points, Mt. Hermon, Cali lee and the Dead Sea and had seen them all. Was I disappointed? No; the mys- terious can never be disappointing and the
 historical must ever enthrall. l had to
 fight my way to the waters edge, for the banks were thronged with Russian
 pilgrims bathing in the flood and many
 of them of both sexes were devoid of clothing. AsM waited my turn to engage boat I was directed to look at a solitary tree in the distance which marked the
 spot of Gilgal and then I was shown the remnants of Lots wife. a saline pill lar which the camels had licked to within
 a few inches of the ground. It is strange that Arab and Christian still ahere to this interpretation of a fact which Is mistranslation of one of the most poetic passages in the Bible. The original does
 not say that Lots wife turned into 8
 pillar of salt but that she turned ''as'
 pillar of salt; that is, she blanched and she beheld the destruction and doom of her beautiful and beloved city.
 l boated on the Jordan and filled bot tie with its water, but as it soon becomes fetid unless boiled I later had it so treat ed at a public boiling shop in Jerusalem where the ebulition Is performed before the travellers eyes to remove all doubts of deception. The stream was sullen, tur- bid and muddy, and its surface was cov- cred with leaves, twigs and all manner Of debris. In fact so muddy is the stream that its course can be traced as 1t passes through the Sea of Galiee so that it has given rise to the tradition that the Jor- dan flows through and out without ming ling its waters with those of the sea. Thick growing trees and brilliant flowers adorn It's banks: the song of the bird com
 mingles with it's flood and it's waters
 swarm with fish, but few, except the most daring, have ever sailed down its entire course, for wild beasts turk in the thickets, the deadly miasma haunts its channel and it's turgid current is provo cative of disaster
 My next objective point was the Dead sea, the lowest spot on the face of the globe. And, oh, how incredibly blue were its waters as they slept that afternoon under the warm April sun. It is strange that this body of water has never been called the Dead sea by those living in proximity thereto, for to the Hebrews it was the Salt sea- or the Eastern sea-" to the Romans the Asphalt lake," and to the Arabs today call 1t the Sea of Lot" Forty seven miles long, ten miles wide and with an average depth of 1000 feet tho Dea sea daily receives from the Jor-
 
 which must be taken up by evaporation as the sea has no outlet This creates an unusual extent of mineral mpregna- tfon and while the, ocean has 4.6 per cent of solid matter in solution, the water of the Dead sea has 26 per ceHt. No one can drink of it, no fish frequent It's depths, no flocks graze beside it, and the Arabs say that no bird will fly over it. It irritates the skin of the bather, which I found out by experi- ence, for while I cannot swim I had to take a dip in its waters Sinking is impossible. and while bathing l rs- clined as if in a hammock and enjoy ad a cigar. The waters are so stransparent that stones may be seen upon the bottom 30 feet deep and its beach is of dazzling whiteness, but strewn with heaps of driftwood and debris brought down by the Jordon and bleached like bones or encrusted in salt.
 When I spoke moment ago of an average depth of 1000 feet. I, of course. referred to the sea proper, for while it's lower end is as shallow as IA feet 1t there becomes bog and mass of slime pits. impossible navigation, clogged with masses of bituminous asphalt anl typical of desolation. There also is a mountain of pure rock salt seven miles long and 500 feet high and there grow the Apples or Sodom, Deautiful fruit which resembles the orange and which, when too mature, crumb bles like ashes on the eaters lip. l had a rather thrilling experience during my dip in the Dead sea, for whie bathing regular monsoon was encountered. The sky was clear overhead but 1t was raining on the Judean hills three miles off and the rain was Ca.
 distance so that it fell in torrents upon me.
 My dragoman and attendants had wild chase over the sands after my clothing, which the wind had whisked