escort was, therefore, inclined to put us forward as a forlorn-hope, and
secure their own retreat in case of an attack. But as we were all well
armed, and had never considered their attendance as anything more than a
genteel way of buying them off from robbing us, we allowed them to lag as
much as they chose. Finally, as we approached the Pilgrims' Ford, one of
them took his station at some distance from the river, on the top of a
mound, while the other got behind some trees near at hand; in order, as
they said, to watch the opposite hills, and alarm us whenever they should
see any of the Beni Sukrs, or the Beni Adwams, or the Tyakh, coming down
upon us.

The Jordan at this point will not average more than ten yards in breadth.
It flows at the bottom of a gully about fifteen feet deep, which traverses
the broad valley in a most tortuous course. The water has a white, clayey
hue, and is very swift. The changes of the current have formed islands and
beds of soil here and there, which are covered with a dense growth of ash,
poplar, willow, and tamarisk trees. The banks of the river are bordered
with thickets, now overgrown with wild vines, and fragrant with flowering
plants. Birds sing continually in the cool, dark coverts of the trees. I
found a singular charm in the wild, lonely, luxuriant banks, the tangled
undergrowth, and the rapid, brawling course of the sacred stream, as it
slipped in sight and out of sight among the trees. It is almost impossible
to reach the water at any other point than the Ford of the Pilgrims, the
supposed locality of the passage of the Israelites and the baptism of
Christ. The plain near it is still blackened by the camp-fires of the ten
thousand pilgrims who went down from Jerusalem three weeks ago, to bathe.
We tied our horses to the trees, and prepared to follow their example,
which was necessary, if only to wash off the iniquitous slime of the Dead
Sea. François, in the meantime, filled two tin flasks from the stream and
stowed them in the saddle-bags. The current was so swift, that one could