The remainder of the Jordan’s course runs between the seas of life and death. I refer to the Sea of Galilee at the north and the Dead Sea at the south. The first, though somewhat brackish, is full of fish and surrounded by verdure. The other is saltier than any other water on earth, and so bitter and poisonous that no living thing can exist within it. The distance between these two seas in a straight line north and south is about sixty-five miles, and the slope from one to the other is almost twelve feet to the mile, or over six hundred and sixty feet. Connecting them is this great trough of the Jordan, from one to sixteen miles wide. Through it flows the sacred river, twisting about like a corkscrew, and making so many turnings that it flows more than two hundred miles in an airline distance of only sixty miles. It runs with great force and there are numerous falls where electric plants might be put in. The land on each side might be turned into rich farms if it could only have water, and it may be that the good fairy of electricity will some time bring the dead earth to life. There are some farms in the upper part of the course of the Jordan and there is a sugar plantation half way between Galilee and the Dead Sea, where soldiers work as labourers. There are small fields of grain, including millet, wheat, and barley here and there, and I am told that rice and indigo can be grown. Down near the Dead Sea there is considerable cultivation on the Jericho plain. The land is irrigated by a stream from the mountains of Judea and by the spring of Elisha. It is cut up into small patches covered with orange groves, almond orchards, and vineyards. Much of the fruit goes up to Jerusalem. There are also fields of eggplants, tomatoes, and melons, and dates could undoubtedly be grown. All the way from here to old Jericho, a distance of about three miles, are orchards, vineyards, and gardens. They are fenced with thorn bushes, the thorns on which are great hooks turning inward. They are said to be the same thorns as those of which the crown of our Saviour was made. [Illustration: A thick mist always hangs over the weird waters of the Dead Sea, while intense heat and insect pests make its shores almost intolerable] [Illustration: The current is swift in this place and we hire a fisherman to take us across the Jordan. Under Turkish rule the river was considered the personal property of the Sultan, who allowed no pleasure craft upon it] [Illustration: Bethlehem is a maze of narrow, winding streets, lined with box-like houses having flat grass-grown roofs and overhanging windows. Here Rachel died and was buried; here dwelt Ruth and Boaz, and here were born David and the Saviour]