The natural history of the Jordan is not well explained, arid there are few geological illustrations of the country which it traverses. Limestone, basaltes, different salts, and asphaltum, seem to be the more remarkable substances. The banks in some places are woody, and abounding in reeds, front which the Arabs obtain materials for the shafts of their lances and arrows ; and the Turks employ the more slender kinds fir writing. Wild beasts and game are ex ceedingly plentiful around Baniass, and the huntsmen se t file to the reeds on the confines of the lake Samachonitis, to dislodge the wild beasts from among them. Lions, ti gers, and bears, descend from the neighbouring mountains, to which must be added many other ferocious animals of prey. Chateaubriand found the waters of the Jordan bit terish ; but though he drank a great quantity, he suffered no injury. They hold in solution the same ingredients as the Dead Sea, hut in rely small portions ; nor is this sur prising, considering that there arc salt streams in the neigh bourhood. It is related in Scripture, that a bitter stream, which ran through the plain of Jericho, was converted by the prophet Elijah to a limpid brook to fertilize the fields. Notwithstanding the mineral impregnations of the Jordan, it contains plenty of fish, which are sometimes carried down to the Dead Sea, where they perish. It is generally un derstood that the waters of this sea are alike pernicious to animal and vegetable life. Troilo affirms that he has col lected the dead fishes as they were thrown on the banks; but Chateaubriand, having encamped on its banks, heard a noise towards midnight, which his companions from Beth lehem assured him " proceeded from legions of little fishes leaping towards the shore." It is said that the peculiar quality of the Dead Sea is derived from a great mountain towards the southwest extremity, composed of numerous strata of sal gem, and that from a high rock, probably not distant from the mountain, an island of considerable extent may be discovered.
But whatever he the physical nature of the waters of the Jordan, the credulous have conferred on diem the proper ty of washing away sin. Originally this river only served for the necessities of the human race, and as a boundary to the restless tribes of the Jews ; but it was viewed with pe culiar veneration by succeeding generations. While the
Christians had possession of Palestine, (luring the Crusades, its waters were carefully transported to Europe, for the pur pose of baptizing the families of Potentates. The Jordan is vet a place of great resort to those troops of pilgrims who continue to visit the Holy Land, and they endeavour to bathe in the very spot where our Saviour was baptized by John. The pilgrims desire total immersion ; hut the fe male part of them only strip to their under garments, and have the water poured on their heads. The Greeks bathe at a place three or four miles distant from the other Chris tians, on account of a dispute concerning the precise site of the sanctified spot. It appears that, independent of other times, an annual cxcursion for bathing takes place on Easter Monday, when all the pilgrims, men, women, and children, leave Jerusalem in a great caravan, with the go vernor of that city at their head. The road leads past seve ral places mentioned in Scripture ; among which is the city of Jericho, now an inconsiderable village. About half a mile from the river there is a ruinous convent, dedicated to St John, up to which, according to tradition, it formerly flowed ; but modern observers consider the fact improba ble, from the height and steepness of its present banks. The pilgrims descend to a place still lower, yet their immersion is not accomplished without danger ; and there are in stances of many, who had entered the river incautiously, being carried away and drowned. A tax is imposed upon each on the way to the river, and something is also exacted by the governors on their return. In the year 1807, fifteen hundred pilgrims visited Jerusalem ; and bathing in the Jordan is always one of the principal objects of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. See Mai iti, Viaggi, torn. iii. Shaw's Travels, p. 374 Pocoeke's Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 72. Ti,ompsun's Travels. Hasselquist's Travels. Vol ney, Voyages, tom. it. p. 279. Chateaubriand, Voyages, tom. i. La Roque, Voyage en Syrie. (c)