The Plain of Jericho, seven by ten miles in extent, was at one time, according to Josephus, “a divine region, covered with beautiful gardens, and groves of palms of all kinds, the whole splendidly watered.” The water supply, no doubt, came then, as it comes now, from the Sultan’s Spring, or, as it is sometimes called, the Spring of Elisha. This bold and beautiful fountain bursts forth from the foot of the Judean hills some two miles from Jericho, and, flowing across the plain in a southwesterly direction, empties into the Jordan. From the main channel, a large number of small streams flow out in different directions into the valley, and thus fructify a considerable portion of the plain. The half cultivated patches we find here now, though only partially irrigated, are exceedingly rich and productive. The climate in this valley is suitable to the growth of almost any tropical or warm-natured plant. But the meagre crops are confined to wheat, millet, tobacco, cucumbers, and beans. On this plain, near the Wady Kelt, through which we entered the valley, is a large stone reservoir, 471 feet by 564 feet, called the Pool of Moses. Going across the plain to this mammoth pool, is an old aqueduct which evidently supplied it, at one time, with water. Then smaller aqueducts carried the water to all parts of the valley. This pool, and these aqueducts, were probably built by Mark Antony just before he gave this region of country to Cleopatra, or by Herod the Great, whose base life was ended at Jericho in a fit of agony. By this means of irrigation the valley became what it might be made again—“the glory of the Jordan.” CHAPTER XXXIII. BEYOND THE JORDAN. Plain of Moab—Children of Israel—Moses’s Request—Moab a Rich Country—Lawless Clans—A Traveler Brutally Murdered—A Typical Son of Ishmael—Dens and Strongholds—Captured by a Clan of Arabs—Shut up in Mountain Caves—Heavy Ransom Exacted—The Moabite Stone—Confirmation of Scripture—Machaerus—John the Baptist—Prison Chambers—Character of John—How to Gauge a Life—Hot-Springs—Herod’s Visit—“Smell of Blood still”—Mount Nebo—Fine View—Life of Moses—From Egypt to Nebo—An Arab Legend—Death of Moses.