eady disappeared from the Valley of the Jordan.

Rihah is a vile little village of tents and mud-huts, and the only relic
of antiquity near it is a square tower, which may possibly be of the time
of Herod. There are a few gardens in the place, and a grove of superb
fig-trees. We found our tent already pitched beside a rill which issues
from the Fountain of Elisha. The evening was very sultry, and the
musquitoes gave us no rest. We purchased some milk from an old man who
came to the tent, but such was his mistrust of us that he refused to let
us keep the earthen vessel containing it until morning. As we had already
paid the money to his son, we would not let him take the milk away until
he had brought the money back. He then took a dagger from his waist and
threw it before us as security, while he carried off the vessel and
returned the price. I have frequently seen the same mistrustful spirit
exhibited in Egypt. Our two Bedouins, to whom I gave some tobacco in the
evening, manifested their gratitude by stealing the remainder of our stock
during the night.

This morning we followed the stream to its source, the Fountain of
Elisha, so called as being probably that healed by the Prophet. If so, the
healing was scarcely complete. The water, which gushes up strong and free
at the foot of a rocky mound, is warm and slightly brackish. It spreads
into a shallow pool, shaded by a fine sycamore tree. Just below, there are
some remains of old walls on both sides, and the stream goes roaring away
through a rank jungle of canes fifteen feet in height. The precise site of
Jericho, I believe, has not been fixed, but "the city of the palm trees,"
as it was called, was probably on the plain, near some mounds which rise
behind the Fountain. Here there are occasional traces of foundation walls,
but so ruined as to give no clue to the date of their erection. Further
towards the mountain there are some arches, which appear to be Saracenic.
As we ascended again into the hill-country, I observed several traces of
cisterns in the bottoms of ravines, which collect the rains. Herod, as is
well known, built many such cisterns near Jericho, where he had a palace.
On the first crest, to which we climbed, there is part of a Roman tower
yet standing. The view, looking back over the valley of Jordan, is
magnificent, extending from the Dead Sea to the mountains of Gilead,
beyond the country of Ammon. I thought I could trace the point where the
River Ya