The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-05-14
GORGE OF THE RIVER ARhOH

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agined. Here was extinguished the
last spark of Jewish independence.
An eight-mile journey along tho
coast from here, and Jebel 'Usdum
comes into view. This is nothing less
than a mountain of rock salt, six miles
long, rising at one point to a height
of 500 feet. In this mountain is a
large cave which was explored to the
extent of about two hundred yards.
1t is dimly lighted up to this point
by a natural shaft in the rock salt,
which admits the sunlight from above.
The shaft is so feet high and 20 feet
in diameter.
From the ceiling of this "a hang
great snow-white stalactites, very salty
and bitter to the taste. The approach
to this mountain presents most fan
tastic appearances of walls, buttres-
ses, parapets, projecting towers, ETC..
caused by the qualification and lay
of the salt powders.
Canyons Of Palestine.
Going northward, the magnificent
gorge of the river Arnon was reached.
This certainly contains the finest nat
ural scenery in Palestine. The sides
Of the canyon rise perpendicularly
about three hundred feet, and are
only about two hundred feet apart,
here overhanging, there overlapping
or dovetailing into one another, as
though this mighty mass had been
violently rent asunder to allow the
seething stream of the Arnon, with its
cascades and whirlpools, acces to the
sea. The gorge was explored for a
distance Of half a mile, probably far
ther than anyone had before pene-
trated.
Here one is afforded a striking pic
ture of the difference between the
western and the eastern sides of this
wonderful sheet of water. The cliffs
along the former are of limestone,
while those on the eastern shore are
Of sandstone of exquisite hues. Words
cannot describe, mol can the painter
depict, much less the camera portray,
the exhaustless variety and beauty
Of the veining and tracery in the
richly shaded sandstone forming the
cliffs Of this wonderful gorge.
About eight miles farther north lie
| the hot baths of Callirhoe. Here Herod
came, when stricken with his last
sickness. in the hope Of finding that
recovery which he sought in vain, and
here the remains of his buildings can
be seen. Several miles higher up lies
the castle of Machaerus, where John
the Baptist was beheaded. This is
evidently a very volcanic region. From
great clefts in the mountain-sides.
where one a distinctly hear the
bubbling of the flowing hot waters,
clouds Of steam rise up.
The Zerka-a stream almost as
great as the Arnon, and amidst sur.
roundings of much the same charac.
ter, but having a small plain on the
seashore that might very we'll be cul.
tivated-fows into the sea some IF.
teen minutes journey farther north
from Callirhoe.
Here, as elsewhere, the wild clean
der, with its beautiful pink flower, is
abundant, also the reed, with its feath'
cry tuft or bloom, shaken by the
wind" and referred to by Christ; also
the willow, the tamarisk, and the
"gharaf," a prettylooking wild fruit
much like a cherry, as well as that
strange plant, the apple of Sodom
This. though looking like a beautiful
fruit, collapses at the touch, and con
tains nothing but a little smoke-like
dust and some silk.like fiber. Mount
Nebo, from which Moses viewed the
Promised Land, is about opposite the
north end of the sea, on the table
lands, and Medaba about ten miles
inland, in q straight line. Between
Medaba and Kerak, before crossing
the River Arnon, lies the ancient Di
bon, where was discovered the h1stori,
Moabite Stone