Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1877 — Bathing tn Famous Waters. [ARTICLE]

Bathing tn Famous Waters.

r—- J," ’ Th® Jordan is -color of a tew slate—a slate with the greenish-gray cloud still covejang its surface. Its waters are thiekened with clay, hut delicto® &i and very refreshtnfwFa pilgrim’s palate. Is ita wonder that the river rushes Hke a millrace ? From its source tofts -mouth, .186 miles in a bee-rtttte, ft descends B,POO feet. Its very.- name, Yarden,” in Hebrew fountaingift jea- a Jt,riaes to its mitoit and covera Ine plaiiik and drives back the flocks and herds that feed along its banks. You il; <|ften ,you cannot We got out of our clothes, and with the fresh air of the morning blowing upon us, w«4*bm i«Sf m flood. There was life in every drop of it. There can be no doubt about*it; as a tonic the Jordan is unrivaled. While we waded cautiously near the shore, sitting down in the water with as little of the current as possible, we were startled by a crashing of of the bush emerged the Kusaian pilgrims in the wildtSstWeifcment. <*Each- stroVe to 'ffi: and «*tanw white garment—a k ind of shroud in which ft is their wish to te buried—and having immersed themStjfvesHhrAe Jer<mn,Uit>y took off the shroud, rolled it carefully up, and phtoedit in their lugga&t returned quite naked to pass a half hour in the river. 45550 W plains. W the Jordaji bank,, .apd .were sheltered that fringes it. All ■BFUfce; though wer could have leaped into the stream wftha hop. and a jump, we caught only occasional IEMESs willow. Until we werq Actually upon the shore of the sea, plowd*g<tlirough pebbles and soft sand, we strained Our eyes in vaffl'tWHHF me' of death, eager to catotf "i its bitter waters. Our trtffl WoffhdihWmgh a dense growth of cane, oleanders, cactus and tamarisk. We trotted over the baked soil in Indian file, thinking of the wild; boars, wolves, jackals and leopards that prowl in the vale of GUgiFAhe vale that was of old compared to “ the Garden of the Lord.”

We saw nothing, not areaa yultuw, though no panorama of the Dead Sea is complete without a shadow of his wings .darkening the canvas. ' Out of the splendid distance, over the ‘Spit Sea, the Sea of Asphalt, the Lake of EoL-call It by what name yon will, for it bears all these—Over the Eastern Sea of the old prophets, stole the withering breath of a furores, Our horses sweltered in the heat. There was no possible shelter near the shore, for ouj camp trappings had already gone up Into the wilderness. A dip Into the gummy.and elastic water was all we asked now, and in ten minutes we stood upon the .sand half blinded with the heat and glare that nearly overcame us before we were safe out of it The sea near the plain of the Jordan is shallow. Looking toward the south, the eye is lost in the profound mists that envelop it. Bix and forty miles of sky blue crystal, 1,800 feet in depth, the topmost wave of wfiich is 1,800 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. Neither fish, shells, nor coral are found here. There are fish bones on the shore, the wrecks Of the Jordan. The bitter oil—it is hardly worthy of the name of water—strangles everything to death and then 'spits it out into the sun. Bix million tons of sweet water fait into the Dead Sea daily; six million tons rise out of it, spiritualized, and float over it. When we passed into the water we felt the weight of it before we had got kneedeep. Boon we grew buoyant, and kept our balance with some difficulty. It was like flying to swim on corks that won't keep their places. A few steps further and over we went, heels up, and, to our surprise, heads up, likewise. The bath was certainly most refreshing, and the novelty of it not unlike a good-natured practical joke. When least suspicious, over we went on all-fours, bobbing like bladders, and finding it extremely difflcut to make much headway thraugh the almost solid w ate;. The Dead Bea does for a change of medicine; it is as bitter as gaij; but I would as soon..:think of Shimming in a strong solution of feather beds. When we had once more got into our clothes and struck outspr the wilderness, our akin burnt like fire, and we shed flakes cd salt in suclf profpstpn you might have easily mistaken us for Of the Lot family.— Chronicte.