=Fords of the Lower Jordan.= The lower course of the Jordan is now spanned by four bridges. In ancient times the dwellers in Palestine were obliged to depend entirely upon its fords, of which there are between twenty and twenty-five. One of the more important is at the point where the river leaves the Sea of Galilee and is still used as a ferry. Another is the famous ford of Abarah, a little northeast of Bethshean. The third is a little farther south, opposite the ancient Pella. Another, the Dâmieh ford, is at the mouth of the Jabbok. The fifth is northeast of Jericho just below the point where the Wady Nimrin enters the Jordan. The most famous is the Pilgrim Ford, southeast of Jericho, just below the place where the Wady Kelt joins the Jordan. Owing to the alluvial character of its banks, its rapid current, and the frequency of the floods, fed by the melting snows from the Lebanons and by the heavy storms of the winter and spring, the Jordan has always proved a river difficult to cross. Its rôle throughout all of its history has been that of a divider rather than that of a binder together of tribes and races. Throughout its course of one hundred and seven miles it is rarely navigable. Flowing, as it does, into the barren waters of the Dead Sea, the Jordan was, therefore, a check upon rather than an encouragement to commerce. =Ancient Names of the Dead Sea.= The residue of the ancient inland lake is represented by the present Dead Sea. This name is comparatively modern. In the Bible it is called by various names, such as simply the Sea, the Sea of the Plain, the Eastern Sea, or the Salt Sea. To-day it is known among the Arabs as the Sea of Lot.