The passage of the river by king David in his flight from Absalom has one peculiarity — a. ferry-boat was used to convey his household over the channel (2 Sam. xix, 18). The passage was probably effected at one of the fords in the plain of Jericho. The word rt"iZ3> simply signifies a thing for crossing; it may have been a " boat," or a " raft," or a few inflated skins, such as are represented on the monuments of Nineveh, and are stiU used on the Euphrates and the Jordan. See Ferry.
Naaman's indignant depreciation of the Jordan, as compared with the " rivers of Damascus," is well known. The rivers of Damascus water its great plain; convert- ing a desert into a paradise ; the Jordan rolls on in its deep bed, useless, to the Sea of Death.
The great event of the N.-T. history enacted at the Jordan was the baptism of our Lord. This has made it the queen of rivers, and has given it the title "sacred." The exact spot is disputed. See Bethbaua ; ^Enon. The topography and the incidents of the narrative, hot h before and after the baptism, unquestionably point to the same place, alreadj' famous as the scene of three miracles (Porter, Handbook, \\ 198). In commemora- tion of the baptism, the Christian pilgrims who assem- ble at Jerusalem at Easter visit the Jordan in a body and bathe at this spot (Stanley, p. 308).
The references to the Jordan in the writings of Jose- phus contain nothing of importance beyond what has already been mentioned in connection with the fouii-
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tains and the physical features. Greek and Roman ge- o^aajihers seem to have known but little of the river. Pliny praises its beauty, and states that, " with the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves onward towards Asphaltites, a lake of gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up" {Hist. Nal. v, 15). Strabo makes the singular assertion that it is *• naviga- ted upirards with vessels of burden !" Of course, be can only refer to the Sea of Galilee (xvi,2, IG). Pau- sanias tells how strangely the river disappears in the Dead Sea (book v, 7, 4).
C. Mineral, Animal, and Vegetable Productions. — Some of these have been incidentally noticed above. As there were slime-pits, or pits of bitumen, and salt-pits (Gen. xi, 3 ; Zeph. ii, 9) in the vale of Siddim, on the extreme south, so Mr. Thompson speaks of bitumen wells twenty minutes from the bridge over the Hashbeiya on the ex- treme north ; while Ain-el MeUahah above Lake Hiileh is emphatically " the fountain of tlie salt-works" (Lynch's Narrative, p. 470). Thermal springs are frequent about the Lake of Tiberias; the most celebrated, below the town bearing that name (Robinson, ii, 384, 385) ; some near limmaus (Lynch, p. 467), some near Magdala, and some not far from Gadara (Irby, p. 90, 91). The hill of Dan is said to be an extinct crater, and masses of vol- canic rock and tufa are noticed by Lynch not far from the mouth of the Yermak (Narrative, April 12). Dark basalt is the characteristic of the rocks in the upper stage ; trap, limestone, sandstone, and conglomerate in the lower. On the second day of the passage a bank O'f fidler's earth was observed.
How far the .Jordan in olden time was ever a zone of cultivation, like the Nile, is uncertain. Now, with the exception of the eastern shores of the Lake Huleh, the hand of man may be said to have disappeared from its banks. The genuine Arab is a nomad by nature, and contemns agriculture. There, however, Dr. Robinson, in the month of May, found the land tilled almost "down to the lake, and large crops of wheat, barley, maize, ses- ame, and rice rewarded the husbandman. Horses, cat- tle, and sheep — all belonging to the Ghawarinah tribe — fattened on the rich pasture; and large herds of black buffaloes luxuriated in the streams and in the deep mire of the marshes (iii, 896). These are doubtless lineal descendants of the " fat bidls of Bashan ;" as the " oaks of Bashan" are still the magnificent staple tree of those regions. Cultivation degenerates as we advance south- ward. Corn-fields wave around Gennesareth on the west, and the palm and vine, fig and pomegranate, are still to be seen here and there. Melons grown on its shores are of great size and much esteemed. Pink ole- anders, and a rose-colored species of hollyhock, in great profusion, wait upon every approach to a rill or spring. These gems of nature reappear in the lower course of the Jordan. There the purple thistle, the bright yellov/ marigold, and scarlet anemone, saluted the adventurers of the New World : the laurustinus and oleander, cedar and arbutus, wiUow and tamarisk, accompanied them on their route. As the climate became more tropical, and the Lower Ghor was entered, large ghurrah trees, like the aspen, with silvery foliage, overhung them ; and the cane, frequently impenetrable, and now in blossom, "was ever at the water's edge." Only once during the wliole voyage, on the fourth day, were ]iatches of wheat and barley visible ; but the hand that had sowed them lived far away. As Jeremiah in the O. T., and St. Je- rome and Phocas (see Reland) among Christian pilgrims, had spoken of the Jordan as the resort of lions, so tracks of tigers, wild boars, and the like presented themselves from time to time to these explorers. Flocks of wild ducks, of cranes, of pigeons, and of swallows were scared by their approach ; and a specimen of the bulbul, or Syrian nightingale, fell into their hands. The scenery throughout was not inspiring — it was of a subdued char- acter when they started, profoundly gloomy and dreary near ford Sukwa, and then utterly sterile just before they reached Jericho. With the exception of a few IV.— S s s