Aenon Lieut

Aenon. Lieut.

Conder finds the site of this baptizing-place of John in Aimin, three or four miles north of the springs in Wady Farah, east of Nablus; and the neighboring Salim, or Shalem, in the present Salim, about the same distance south of these springs (Quar. Statement of the " Pal. Explor. Fund," July, 1874, p. 191 sq.); and' Dr. Tristram adopts the identification, confirming the local use of these names (Bible. Places, p. 192). The. latter remarks that "at the head of the valley of Shechem. are copious springs in a broad, open valley called Wady Farah. This valley rises near Salim [so called by the Samaritans, but not by the peasantry], separating Mount Ebal from the chain of Nebi Belan, and forming a great geological feature of the country. It soon becomes a deep and narrow ravine, with steep hill-sides burrowed with caverns, in which a perennial copious stream, shaded by oleanders, runs towards the Jordan. There is a succession of springs after the ruins of Burj Farah, with flat meadows on either side, where great crowds might gather on either bank of the stream. It is one of the most picturesque spots in the country, and is close to one of the old main lines of road from Jerusalem to Galilee."