Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1891 — THE CITY OF JERICHO. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE CITY OF JERICHO.

It Is at the Present Time the Most Squalid Place In Palestine. Jericho is between thirteen and fourteen miles northwest of Jerusalem, and it is to-day the most squalid town in Palestine. There were, in former times, three Jerichos. The Jericho of Joshua, it is was located near the lovely Fountain of Elisha—called “Ain es-Sultan” by the Arabs—the place where Elisha healed tae waters with Slit. This was the Jericho of the Jews, whose history is so full of romance. The Jericho of the Romans—

that is, of Herod’s or of Christ’s day—was more than a mile away, as the old aqueiduct beyond Ain es-Sultan and the Roman ruins thereabout indicate. The ruins of the Jericho of the time of the crusades probably lie beneath the modern village, only a short distance from the Fountain of Elisha. The present Jericho is opposite the opening of the Valley of Achor, in which Achan, “the troubler of Israel,” was stoned, and through which runs what is supposed by some to be the Brook Cherith, where Elisha was fed by the ravens. A fine stone bridge, thirtyfive feet high, with pointed arches, crosses the Cherith here. Standing upon it, one can see several ruined aqueducts, showing how much attention must have been given to the irrigation of the entire plain. Some of these aqueducts have two tiers of arches, and are handsome even in their ruin.

JERICHO HOME BRIDGE OVER THE CHERITH.