Of course the whole party was desirous of taking a voyage on the lake, and they sent Ali to engage a boat with that object in view. According to the biblical account there were many vessels there during our Saviour's time, but at present there are only three boats, and rarely more than two of these are afloat at once. The lake abounds in fish, and, if there was a sufficient population to buy and pay for the proceeds of the work, a dozen or a hundred fishermen could do a good business. But with nobody to eat them it would be idle to catch the fish; and as the natives do not understand sport for its own sake, the finny inhabitants are not seriously disturbed. Ali secured a boat for the excursion, and it was arranged that the rest of the day should be spent on the lake. The saddle-horses were to go with the baggage-animals to Tell Hum, where the camp would be formed for the night. Everybody was delighted with this arrangement, and the youths could hardly restrain their impatience to be off on the voyage over the Sea of Galilee. The boat was of the Oriental pattern, and without any deck or awning to protect the travellers from the sun, which generally beats down on the waters with a good deal of energy. Umbrellas were brought into requisition, and thus equipped, and with provisions to satisfy their hunger when the hour came for the mid-day meal, the six strangers and their dragoman took seats in the stern of the boat and pushed away from land. [Illustration: MAP OF THE SEA OF GALILEE.] It was the plan of the party to make the circuit of the lake, and visit points of interest whenever the wind favored and it was safe to do so. Ali told them that as they had no escort, and had no arrangements for paying backsheesh, for the plain reason that there was no one at Tiberias with whom they could negotiate, it would not be judicious to land on the eastern shore. The country is in possession of the Bedouins, who have no hesitation at plundering the traveller of all that he has about him, and then demanding a heavy backsheesh to let him go. On this statement of affairs it was unanimously agreed that nobody cared to land on the eastern shore. The boat followed the coast to the vicinity of Kerak, which is close to the exit of the Jordan, and then turned to the north and east in the direction of Kalat el-Hosn. On the maps this place is generally laid down as Gamala; it is a heap of ruins, and has been without inhabitants since the city of Gamala was destroyed by Vespasian, and the surrounding region of Gamalatis passed under his control.