Not only does the name of Salem occur in the village three miles south of the valley, but the name Ænon, signifying “springs,” is recognisable at the village of ’Ainûn four miles north of the stream. There is only one other place of the latter name in Palestine, Beit ’Ainûn near Hebron, but this is a place which has no very fine supply of water and no Salem near it. On the other hand, there are many other Salems all over Palestine, but none of them have an Ænon near them. The site of Wâdy Fâr’ah is the only one where all the requisites are met--the two names, the fine water supply, the proximity of the desert, and the open character of the ground. The identification has been questioned on the assumption that Ænon should be found near the desert of Judea, where John first preached (Matt. iii. 1), but it will afterwards be seen that there is good reason for placing Bethabara, where also he baptized, far from Judea and higher up the valley of the Jordan than even this site of Ænon; and the large area thus supposed to have been the theatre of the Baptist’s wanderings fully accords with the words of the third Gospel, “He came into _all the country_ about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance” (Luke iii. 3). Here then in the wild desert valley, beneath the red precipices where the hawk and kite find nests in “the stairs of the rocks,” or by the banks of the shingly stream with its beautiful oleander blossoms shining in the dusky foliage of luxuriant shrubs, we may picture the dark figure of the Baptist in his robe of camel’s hair, with the broad leather Bedawi belt round his loins, preaching to the Judean multitude of pale citizens, portly grey-bearded Rabbis, Roman soldiers in leathern armour and shining helmets, sharp-faced publicans, and, above all, to the great mass of oppressed peasantry, the “beasts of the people,” uncared for, stricken with palsy, with blindness, with fever, with leprosy, but eagerly looking forward to the appearance of that Messiah who came to preach the Gospel of the poor. The scenery of Samaria differs from that both of Judea and of Galilee; with the exception of the rugged hills south of Gerizim--the Mount Heres (or “rough mountain”) of the Bible--the greater part of the district consists of chalk hills covered with olives, and of open valleys and plains which are wonderfully fertile. The great mountain blocks of Galilee belong to the wilder ranges of Lebanon, and the long ridges of hard limestone in Judea to a class of far less picturesque scenery.