Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/329

Rh in truth, may well be doubted. But, at any rate, this is devoutly believed to be the spot, and as such it is the most frequented place of pilgrimage in the valley of the Jordan. Here the pilgrims come by tens of thousands every year, rushing into the stream, like the Hindoos into the Ganges, as if the least touch of its holy waters were sufficient to wash away sin. We too bathed like the rest, though with no such sense of its miraculous virtue. However we may smile at a too easy credulity, no Christian can come to this place on the banks of the Jordan without emotion at the thought that he is perhaps on the very spot, where our Saviour stood while the Baptist poured the waters on His sacred head, and the Spirit descending like a dove rested upon Him, and a voice was heard from the cloud saying "This is My beloved Son!"

From the place of baptism, it is a two hours ride to Jericho. If, as is probable, Joshua crossed the Jordan at or near this point, we were now following the line of his march to his first battle and his first victory. The plain is not much more secure now than in the days of the Hebrew leader; for though in the course of centuries it has been swept by countless armies — by the Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Roman, the Moslem, and the Crusader — yet it is to this day a lurking-place of the Bedaween, who often despoil pilgrims and unprotected travellers.

That afternoon's ride was a fearful one because of the heat. The sun poured down on the plain as on the desert, and indeed it is like a desert in its desolate character. The soil is fertile, and yet it produces little, simply for want of irrigation, while on the border of the plain is a river which might be made to overflow it as the Nile overflows the valley of Egypt. The Doctor, who has a quick eye for utilizing natural resources, immediately had a plan for