ly in the Jordan Valley.
It was reported to us that the 4th Division had had tough work in the
streets of Tiberias in order to capture it. They had now gone round the
southern shores of the lake and joined forces with the Sherifian Troops,
who had been harassing the enemy's Fourth Army east of the Jordan and were
now pursuing them northwards. Practically the whole of the Turkish Seventh
and Eighth Armies, which previously held the line west of the Jordan, had
now been accounted for.

At 12.00 we continued the advance along the shores of the lake through
pleasant, cultivated country, to the north-west corner; then northward, for
about six miles, and down an avenue of trees, past the pretty little Jewish
village of Jataine.

The Australians, in front, were held up at Kusa Atra on the Jordan by
artillery and machine-guns at the bridge, which the enemy had destroyed.
That night the 14th Brigade encamped within two miles of this bridge,
having marched over 30 miles that day. Early the next morning (September
28th) the Australians crossed the river by the ford, and "scuppered" the
party which had been holding them up, but, unfortunately, with the loss of
a few of their number. The 14th Brigade accordingly moved down to the river
at 09.00 and watered, and at 15.00 crossed by the bridge which had, by
then, been repaired by the Royal Engineers ("No. 2" Section with advance
guard fording), and continued north-easterly along what would have been a
good road with the help of a steam roller (but at present was the reverse,
owing to the large stones put down not being rolled in), to Kuneitra (14
miles by the map but actually hardly less than 20), arriving 23.00.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] _Damascus is a very ancient city, and existed even in the time of
Abraham. The story that it was here that Cain killed Abel is alluded to
by Shakespeare (I King Henry VI, I, 3). While other cities of the East,
which were at one time of equal importance, now mostly exist as mounds
in the desert, Damascus is still what it was--the capital of Syria.

The following are some of the numerous Biblical references to Damascus:
Gen. xiv, 15; II Sam. viii, 5 ("David slew of the Syrians two and
twenty thousand men"); II Kings vi, vii, viii, xiii, xiv, xv, xvi; I
Chron. xviii, 5 (accounts of battles between the Kings of Judah and
Israel and the Kings of Damascus); Isa. xvii; Amos i, 3; Jer. xlix, 23
(prophetical).