At the hot baths of the lake we found our tents already pitched, and my old friend the missionary,--Thomson, from Bayroot,--who had been travelling on the eastern side of the lake, (a territory so little known,) and, as he and I believed, had discovered the true Gadara. We compared notes about affairs of the Arabs at the time. Several of the juvenile travellers set themselves to swimming before dinner at sunset, the huge hills at the back casting long shadows across the lake. We all had tea together, as we were to separate to our several destinations in the morning; and on my retiring to sleep, the thermometer was at 99 degrees Fahrenheit inside the open tent. _Saturday_, 19_th_.--Bathing before the sun rose. Our travellers engaged the boat from Tiberias for the day, and it came up from the town to our camp with the sail spread. Large flights of aquatic birds as usual flitting and diving about the lake, and the fish abundant, rising and splashing at the surface. For an hour or two before starting on my way southwards, I lay on the beach contemplating the lovely scenery, and collecting my thoughts, both as to the past and for the future. The principal object of meditation was of course the placid lake itself-- "Dear with the thoughts of Him we love so well." Then the noble old mountain of Hermon, crowned with snow, now called _Jebel esh Shaikh_; which the Sidonians called Sirion; and the Amorites called Shenir, (Deut. iii. 9.) Next the ever-celebrated Jordan, with its typical resemblance to the limit dividing this life from the purchased possession of heaven,--recalling so much of bright images of Christian poetry employed to cheer the weary pilgrim, in anticipation of the time when "We'll range the sweet fields on the banks of the river, And sing of salvation for ever and ever!" Gratefully acknowledging the providence which had brought us happily so far, the present writer then girded up his mental loins, and returned to Jerusalem; but on the way occasionally glancing towards the eastward range of mountains,--the land of Gilead,--now called Belka and 'Ajloon, lately traversed; and with a feeling unknown since the verses were first echoed in childhood, the words involuntarily issue from the lips: "Sihon, king of the Amorites, For His mercy endureth for ever, And Og the king of Bashan, For His mercy endureth for ever!" Having learned that 'Akeeli Aga el Hhasi was encamped on the Jordan side, at no great distance, I resolved to visit this personage, who has since then become much more famous as a French protege, being an Arab of Algeria, but at this time only noted as having been the guide of the United States Expedition to the Dead Sea in 1848, and as being at the moment commissioned by the Turks as a Kaimakam of the district, seeing that they could not hold even nominal rule there without him.