ve dropped 1,100 feet, and gradually the ground
grows less rocky, the hills on the right swing away, and on the
left, just ahead, is the square-topped El-Kuruntal, the so-called
'Mountain of Temptation,' and the gateway of the Jordan Valley.
Reaching the plain the pace grows faster, and clouds of dust arise
worse than ever. Our connecting files find great difficulty in
keeping in touch, so that every now and then those in rear must
gallop to keep up. A small wadi to be crossed makes the pace still
more uneven. We cross the Wadi Nueiame and reach our camping
ground. Again the putting down of lines; again supperless and tired
out to lie down on a blanket in the dust, in that unnatural hollow
1,250 feet below the SEA-LEVEL, THE PLACE OF SWELTERING SUN,
SAND-SPOUTS, SCORPIONS, SNAKES, SPIDERS AND SEPTIC SORES; OF
SCORCHING WIND AND SHADOWLESS WASTE; THAT HELLISH PLACE--THE JORDAN
VALLEY!"

FOOTNOTES:

[16] _See St. John, chap. xi._

[17] _See II Kings v, 10._

INCIDENTS IN THE JORDAN VALLEY CAMPAIGN.

A few days were necessarily spent in the Wadi Nueiame in exercising the
horses and becoming acclimatized to the temperature, which rarely falls
below 100 deg., even at night, and is usually 120 deg. in the shade (or over)
during the day. On July 7th, "No. 1" Section paraded at 19.00 and proceeded
to the east of the Jordan to relieve a section of the 21st Squadron in the
line. "A" Sub-section took over the emplacements in No. 3 Post, and "C"
Sub-section those in No. 5 Post. The relief was completed by 23.00. The
next evening, the remainder of the Squadron relieved the 21st Squadron
in their camp at the Ghoraniyeh Bridge. One section only going at a time to
avoid attracting attention and being shelled by the Turks, who were posted
in the hills. The new camp was within 100 yards of the Jordan,[18] nearly
surrounded by cliffs, the tops of which were level with the plain above.
The cliffs themselves only being formed by the depression in the plain
before it gives way to the lower ground in the immediate vicinity of the
River Jordan and the east of it. The river at this point is actually 1,250
feet below the level of the sea!

[Illustration: Squadron Camp in the Jordan Valley. "No. 2" Section.]

On arriving in the camp, "No. 2" Section took over the machine-gun
positions for the inner defences of the bridgehead. These had to be manned
at nigh