Through the white desert of the Bukei'a we marched north to a deep gorge, and descended into the broad flat plain of Jericho--a dusty expanse, with a black oasis of trees near the hills, and a black line of jungle round Jordan.
In this descent we came for the first time upon beds of the curious "stink-stone,â or bituminous shale, probably part of the bed of a former Salt Sea at a higher level. It is a rock outwardly white like limestone, inwardly black, with a strong odour, and burning freely; here also the knolls and peaks of marl are striped with pink and yellow, and interstratified with great layers of flint.
Reaching Jericho we were again disappointed. The long groves which appear so charming at a distance are entirely composed of thorny shrubs. The Dôm or Zizyphus grows into a tree, with small green leaves and formidable prickles; the Nebk, another species, forms long hedges of briar, of which it is said the cruel Crown of Thorns was woven, for which reason it is called Spina Christi. The Zakkûm or balsam-tree (Balanites) is equally thorny, and beneath these grow poisonous nightshades, and other noxious plants. The distant beauty of the groves is only a mockery, and the environs of Jericho, when reached, are as stony and unlovely as any other part of the country.
Yet, in some respects, the place is still charming. Here, late in autumn, the sound of running water, and the song of birds greeted our ears. Among the high mounds, or Tellûl, bare and dusty, a fresh beautiful stream was flowing from 'Ain es Sultân, the site of the first Jericho. The great spring wells up in a stony pool, under a high hillock, and opposite to this Tell is a jungle crowned by a very large castor-oil tree and other thick foliage. In this grateful shade the birds have found a retreat. The great grey shrikes (Abu Zereik) sit on the top branches, and the queer "hopping thrushes,â with their tails stuck up like rapiers, bound about beneath. The bulbul also sings in the groves--a grey bird with a black head and a curious yellow patch at the root of the tail. Still more beautiful are the great Smyrna kingfishers (Abu Nukr), in their blue coats and chocolate-coloured waistcoats, white-throated, with bills like red sealing-wax; and the grey African species (Abu Kubeia), which also flutters above the stream. Last, but not least, come the lovely sun-birds (Suweid), peculiar to the Jordan Valley, darting about like little black wrens, but resplendent, when seen close, with all the colours of the prism.