The river Jordan, for some miles above the point at which it joins
the Dead Sea, runs through very steep banks,--banks which are almost
precipitous,--and is, as it were, guarded by the thick trees and
bushes which grow upon its sides. This is so much the case, that
one may ride, as we did, for a considerable distance along the
margin, and not be able even to approach the water. I had a fancy
for bathing in some spot of my own selection, instead of going to
the open shore frequented by all the pilgrims; but I was baffled in
this. When I did force my way down to the river side, I found that
the water ran so rapidly, and that the bushes and boughs of trees
grew so far over and into the stream, as to make it impossible for
me to bathe. I could not have got in without my clothes, and having
got in, I could not have got out again. I was, therefore obliged to
put up with the open muddy shore to which the bathers descend, and
at which we may presume that Joshua passed when he came over as one
of the twelve spies to spy out the land. And even here I could not
go full into the stream as I would fain have done, lest I should be
carried down, and so have assisted to whiten the shores of the Dead
Sea with my bones. As to getting over to the Moabitish side of the
river, that was plainly impossible; and, indeed, it seemed to be the
prevailing opinion that the passage of the river was not practicable
without going up as far as Samaria. And yet we know that there, or
thereabouts, the Israelites did cross it.

I jumped from my horse the moment I got to the place, and once more
gave my purse and pistols to my friend. "You are going to bathe
again?" he said. "Certainly," said I; "you don't suppose that I
would come to Jordan and not wash there, even if I were not foul
with the foulness of the Dead Sea!" "You'll kill yourself, in your
present state of heat;" he said, remonstrating just as one's mother