Volume 2

The Disciples Baptize
151
the baptizers and the sponsors. The water was thrice
poured from a shallow dish over the head in the name of
Jehovah and Him whom He had sent. Four disciples baptized
at the same tinle, two others imposing hands as
sponsors. This ceremony, with the instructions of Jesus in
preparation for it, lasted until evening. Many of the
aspirants to Baptism were not admitted to its reception.
At daybreak next morning, the disciples embarked for
Seleucia and the appointed place nearby. The lake at
some distance from Adama took the figure of a violin,
narrowing off to about fifteen minutes in breadth.
Seleucia, a city of only moderate importance, was,
however, a well-fortified place, being surrounded by two
walls and an intervening rampart. On the northern side,
especially, it was so steep as to be wholly inaccessible; in
that quarter the pagan soldiers dwelt. The women lived to
themselves in a separate part of the city in long rows of
buildings, each occupying a private apartment. The few
Jews here residing were very greatly oppressed. They
lived in miserable holes in the walls, and had to perform
the lowest and most painful labors on the canals and
marshes.
I saw no synagogue here but only a round temple,
which stood on a circle of pillars upon which were enormous
figures in the attitude of supporting the building. In
the center was an immense column, in which were the
steps that led up into the edifice. Underneath were subterranean
vaults, wherein the urns containing the ashes of
the dead were deposited. Nearby was a somber-looking
place in which they were accustonled to consume the
bodies of their dead. In the temple were idols of serpents
with human faces, human figures surmounted by dogs'
heads, and one holding the moon and a fish.
The soil around these parts was not very productive,
though the inhabitants were remarkably industrious. They
made all kinds of cordage for the harness of horses as well