River Baxiias—Strange Rock—Afloat Alone—Hiding—”Waltzing “— Meeting of the “Waters—Pursued—At Bay—Fired At—Caught— Captive’s Appeal—Carried to Captivity—Before the Court—Sentence—Taunts—Revenge—Escape.

The banks of the Banias are otherwise uninteresting, and about six feet high along the plain. Shrubs line them at intervals, but they are mostly bare and gravelly. Buffaloes and horses browse on the luscious grass. On the Abana the difficult parts for the canoe were in deep rocky defiles, where no man, friend or foe, could come along the banks. The Hasbany joins the Banias in a proper orthodox way, each river yielding its tribute quietly to the united whole, and for the first time is formed the veritable Jordan. The water mob of swimmers closed nearer and waxed larger as more crossed the river. The men were rough and boisterous. The boat heeled and plunged as if in a terrible sea. Jordan’s visible stream arises from the cavern (Panium), and divides the marshes and fens of the Lake Semechonitis.