by the divine judgment on the plain, and not in the midst of a range of hills like Usdum; while, from all that is known of the relative positions of Sodom and Zoar, she would in this spot have been miles out of her route to the city of refuge. putatious among us to be well-nigh conclusive. No description can give an adequate idea of the present dreary aspect of the | Ouad-ez-Zouera. On all sides, nothing is to be seen but immense chasms, rocks violently torn from their original masses, and hurled down into the bottom of the ravine; together with perpendicular cliffs of a soft crumbling stone, resembling volcanic ashes. Mountains there are, too, that look as if they had been calcined by intense fire.* Tearing ourselves from a spot consecrated by so many mournful and monitory associations, we hasten to retrace our steps once more, and find ourselves soon emerging from the shadow of the Salt Mountain, and entering upon the great southern plain. A considerable portion of this region is a mere salt-marsh, which the sea overflows During the recent march of the French party through this valley, they were so fortunate as to witness a storm of appalling grandeur burst over the Dead Sea, and which gave them a vivid conception of the terrible catastrophe that had destroyed the doomed cities. It is thus described by M. de Saulcy :—— "When we began ascending the first acclivities of the Quad-ez-Zouera, large black clouds, driven by the westerly wind, passing above our heads and over the As we have thus undoubtedly stumbled upon the ruins of the metropolis of the Pentapolis, many of our company-knowing that Zoar was situated at no great distance from Sodom, and remembering, moreover, that we only just now passed the mouth of a valley, which our Bedouin guides designated the Ouad-ez-Zoueraare bent on retracing their steps, for the purpose of exploring the valley in quest of some vestiges of that celebrated retreat. Cheerfully acceding to this desire, we turn our faces northward, and soon find ourselves again amid the huge fragments of the fallen city, at the extremity of the Salt Mountain. Here we enter upon a large and beautiful plain, planted with mimosas, and which in ancient times had probably been rich in fertility. Beyond this plain is the mouth of the Valley of Zoar, which we enter, and soon find ourselves among gigantic ruins, of the same age and description as those of Engedi and Usdum. The locality is called by the Arabs, Zouera-etTahtah, the lower Zoar, or Zoar at the foot of the hills. It has taken us twenty minutes to reach the spot-the distance being about one mile and a quarter-which corresponds singularly with the time occupied, and the distance traversed, by the fugitives from Sodom, referred to in Genesis xix, 15, 23. Lot is expressly said to have departed from Sodom "when the morning arose," and to have entered Zoar when" the sun was risen upon the earth." Now, in the short interval elapsing between these phenomena in Syria, it would have been quite impossible for Abraham's nephew to have crossed the plain now sub-pletely mastered. See, sir, see, they exclaimed: the merged beneath the southern bay of the Dead Sea, and reached the spot on the eastern side which is usually regarded as the site of Zoar; while this locality fulfills all the requirements of the case. Seated among the gray fragments of fallen edifices, one of our number is engrossed in the perusal of the masterly arguments by which De Sauley has sought to demonstrate that this is the very spot where the fugitives found an asylum from the desolating storm that raged around them; and these arguments are felt by the most dis Djebel-Esdoum, rushed down upon the Dead Sea in the direction of the Rhôr-Safieh, then rising again along the flank of the mountains of Moab, soon cleared the view, and allowed us to contemplate the expanse of water, resembling a vast motionless sheet of molten lead. By degrees, as the storm hurried toward the east, the western sky became again pure and radiant: then for a moment the setting sun darted above the mountains of Canaan fiery rays, which seemed almost to cover the summits of the land of Moab with the flames of an enormous conflagration, while the bases of those imposing mountains remained as black as ink. Above was the dark lowering sky; below, the sea, like a metallic sheet of dull leaden gray; around us, the silence of the desert, and utter desolation. Afar off, in the west, a bright, cloudless sky, shining over a blessed land, while we seemed to be flying from a country condemned forever. It is impossible to describe this scene, which to be fully understood and felt must have been witnessed. Our Bedouins themselves, though accustomed to the grandest operations of nature, participated in the sensations by which we were com Lord is smiting Sodom! And they were right. The tremendous spectacle which was witnessed by Lot, from nearly the same spot where we were now standing, must have borne a striking resemblance to the magnificent repetition with which we had just been favored by the same presiding Providence." Dr. Robinson, who passed through this ravine on his way to Kerak,-which he calls Wady-ezZuweirah, s -saw the sea from this spot by sunrise, under an aspect altogether different from the one just described. He says: "When at the last descent, the sun rose over the eastern mountains. As we looked down through the narrow opening over the valley, the calm glassy waters of the lake became liquid gold, and the verdant shrubs along the shore, tinged with sunny hues, gave for the moment an impression of beauty to a scene in itself stern and desolate as death." during the rainy season, and abounds with sluggish water-courses and mud-pits, in which the traveler, if not careful, is in danger of being engulfed. To this flat and dismal tract succeeds a region covered with a growth of gigantic reeds, so densely planted that it is difficult to make our way through them. Escaping at length from these, we enter upon a prettily-wooded country, interspersed with open districts, cultivated with wheat, barley, and tobacco. Some of the wild plants flourishing here are of a remarkable appearance. Ever and anon, as we press onward through scenes delightful in contrast with the dreary realms recently trodden, we find ourselves entangled in a forest of a most novel description, consisting of clumps of slender trunks of trees entwined together like sticks in a fagot. Thousands of prickly | branches interlace each other around these impenetrable clusters, forming countless thickets, which it is impossible to pass without leaving portions of our dress suspended from the thorns. Traces of the wild boars and panthers that infest this region are everywhere visible. Beautiful little pink doves look down upon us from the branches of the trees, and exquisite humming-birds, with emerald and ruby frills, flutter joyously around us. Even floricultural products are met with on this part of our route. The next point of interest inviting our examination is found beside the path generally traversed on the way to Kerak, and consists of some extensive and very ancient ruins, which have been often visited and described by modern travelers, some of whom have supposed them to mark the site of Zoar. De Saulcy having, as we have seen, fixed the locality of Zoar on the opposite coast, has, with a better array of argument, indentified these huge fragments of architecture as the remains of Zeboiim. He finds a strong corroboration of this view in the name still attached to the spot-Sebâan-in which he recognizes the Zeboiim of the Scriptures. The ruins, too, are said to be manifestly of the same age as those of Sodom, while there is no known record of any other city of ancient times having stood in this region. But let us turn aside and see this sad sight. In doing so, we diverge from the direct course when arrived at the heel of the peninsula, and, as will be seen on the map, enter the mouth of a valley, and ascend toward the On higher ranges of the land of Moab. reaching the spot indicated by Sebâan, the ruins in question first appear, and extend from thence, in greater or lesser quantities, as far as the presumed site of Zeboiim. Here we find ourselves surrounded by remains of so stupendous a character, that it is at once evident they could not belong to a town or city of inferior extent to that of Sodom. Several terrific craters still frown upon the devasted position, and suggest to the beholder how instantaneously, by their simultaneous explosion, they must have accomplished the annihilation of the doomed city. It is a solemn, a grand, a thought-inspiring scene, and willingly would we linger here awhile, and indulge in profitable musings; but time presses, and we have still a wearying distance to travel. As we descend the ravine, on our return, a large extent of land, spreading into the sea, lies before us. This peninsula was known in the old Hebrew times as "The Tongue," (see Joshua xv, 2, margin,) and it is very remarkable that by the Arabs it is still designated by the same name-ElLisan. In shape, it is said by Lynch to resemble an outspread wing; but a better comparison would be with a huge human foot, the sole being parallel with the western coast, and the toes pointing northward. It is a bold, broad promontory, with a steep white ridge running like a spine down the center. Myriads of dead locusts strewed its sea margin when visited by the American expedition. It is doomed to utter barrenness. The scene indeed is so dreary, and the atmosphere so stifling and oppressive, that we feel no temptation to linger in its neighborhood; and, accordingly, climbing the reviving uplands of Moab, we hasten onward toward the termination of our rambles. III. IN the excursion round the shores of the sea, thus completed, we have bestowed scarcely any notice on the waters themselves. This has been reserved for the present division of this paper; which is designed to describe, with great brevity, a few of the aspects and phenomena that arrest the attention of the circumnavigator of the bosom of the lake. With the view of keeping up the idea of a personal trip, we will suppose (if the anachronism can be pardoned) that just as we have reached the green banks of the Jordan, in the month of April, the boats of the American expedition are gayly sweeping by on their enterprise of science; in which, through the frank courtesy of the commander, we are permitted to embark, so as to share with them in the privileges and the privations of the voyage. In narrating some of the sights we may see, and the experiences we may meet with, we shall not scruple to draw freely upon the journal of our leader, Lieut. Lynch. Of course, only such incidents of the voyage can be noted as will directly serve to illustrate the peculiarities of the region. The course pursued will be found indicated on the map, which also represents the varied depths of the soundings in different parts of the lake. the old tradition that no animal or fowl can live upon these waters. By the time we have been several hours upon the briny sea, our arms, instruments, and everything metallic, have become bronzed by the saline atmosphere. Some stones, in the bottom of the boat, are so incrusted with salt as to look as if whitewashed. The outward surface of the boats, too, we observe, exposed to the friction of the brine, is as bright as burnished gold, though, after contact with the air for a short period, it is found rapidly to corrode. The hands of the boatmen engaged in taking the soundings are covered with a continual lather; while a book, which was accidentally dropped into the lake, can no how be dried. When about midway between Engedi and the point of the peninsula, one of our seamen picks up a dead quail; and about the same spot, in one of the deep sound : a blade of grass from the briny abyss, faded indeed in color, but of as firm a texture as any plucked on the margin of any mountain stream. That it is the product of the bottom of the salt lake is incredible it must have been washed down from one of the tributaries in connection with a heavier substance. While referring to the soundings, we may observe that the bottom consists in different parts of various materials Deep is the anxiety that presses upon our minds as we draw near the point that will usher us upon that mysterious abyssings, the line, singularly enough, brings up of waters where several of our predecessors inhaled the miasm of death; nor are our feelings of dread at all likely to be assuaged by the reception awaiting us on our entrance. For as we emerge from the Jordan, which at its mouth is about one hundred and eighty yards wide, we are assailed by a violent wind, which gradually increases to a gale, lashing the usually quiescent surface of the lake into heavy, foam-crested billows. As we tremblingly labor on toward the eastern coast, the spray, evaporating as it falls, leaves incrustations of salt upon our clothes, our hands and faces; and while exciting a prickly sensation wherever it touches the skin, is especially painful to the eyes and lips, which it causes to smart excessively. While thus tempest-tossed, and expecting every moment to founder, we cannot repress the feeling that the divine Avenger is frowning upon our attempt to navigate a flood environed by the monuments of his dread displeasure. These apprehensions, however, are of short duration, for, as the wind suddenly abates its fury, the water, from its ponderous, leaden quality, speedily settles into a placid sheet, with the gentlest possible ripple, over which we at length are gliding tranquilly. the line sometimes bringing up blue, yellow, or brown mud; sometimes crystals; while at other times it descends upon a hard stratum of gravel. Hitherto, no indication has been discovered of any submarine ruins which would imply that either of the cities of the Pentapolis has been engulfed beneath the flood. As we approach the southern extremity of the sea we perceive large pieces of a black and shining substance floating on the surface of the waters. Rowing toward one of them, we find that it consists of bitumen or asphaltum, similar to what is so often picked up on the shores. This natural product of the region seems to be most plentiful at the shallow southern end, and, according to all local traditions, flows from concealed fountains in the submerged plain. It is supposed that, issuing from As the sun shines upon the sea, it justi- its springs, it spreads and accumulates like fies the comparison that has sometimes a coat of lava over the adjacent sea-bed, been made between it and molten lead. from which position it is from time to time When about a mile from the western shore, detached and brought to the surface by we pass a solitary duck, swimming toward the earthquakes that still visit those volhis cane-brake on the shore—thus refuting | canic precincts. Stories are told by the Arabs of islands of bitumen occasionally appearing in a sudden and inexplicable manner, and which they are accustomed to dispose of to advantage.* These remarkable facts seem to point to the conclusion, that in that shallow portion of the sea south of the tongue, or peninsula, we have the site of the Vale of Siddim, which from the most ancient times was full of slime-pits, or wells of asphaltum. And thus, too, in the bitumen, the sulphur, and the Mountain of Salt, we find collected in this region all the combustibles that needed only to be ignited to produce the most tremendous conflagration and catrastrophe. But to return to the incidents of the voyage. Many attempts are made, as we glide along, to ascertain the existence of aquatic life in the waters beneath us; but in none of our endeavors have we been successful. Although birds, beasts, and insects are met with upon the shores, there appears to be no living thing within the sea itself. Sometimes, it is true, a dead fish is found, which leads to animated discussions on the subject; yet the result of a careful and intelligent examination invariably is, that the object of so much scientific curiosity has been borne into the sea by some of its tributary streams, where it is speedily poisoned and expires. And to place the matter beyond further doubt, Dr. Robinson, in support of this statement, relates the following striking facts: "The Arabs believe that this bitumen only appears after earthquakes. The sheikhs of the Ta'amirah and the Jehálin related that, after the earthquake of 1834, a large quantity of asphaltum was cast upon the shore near the south-west part of the sea, and of which the Jehalin brought about sixty kuntars into market. My companion (Rev. E. Smith) also remembered that, in that year, a large amount had been purchased by the Frank merchants at Beirut. During the last year, also, after the earthquake of January 1st, 1837, a large mass of bitumen (one said like an island, another like a house) was discovered floating on the sea, and was driven aground on the west side, not far from the north of Usdum. The Jehâlin and the inhabitants of the Yütta swam off to it, and cut it up with axes, so as to bring it to shore. The Ta'âmirah heard of it, and went to get a share. They found seventy men already upon and around it. It was carried off by camel-loads, partly up the pass of Engedi, and sold by the Arabs for four piastres the pound. The share of the Tamirah brought them more than $500; while others sold to the amount of $200 or $8000. Except in those two years, the aged sheikh had never known of bitumen appearing, nor heard of it from his fathers." This account will corroborate the assertions of several ancient writers-Josephus, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny-to the same effect. The latter describes the existence of islands of sev eral acres in extent, from which the Egyptians, he adds, drew their store of resinous matter for the process of embalming. our commander, subjecting a portion of the water to a powerful microscope, is unable to detect any animalcula or vestige of animal matter whatever. Dr. The proverbial density and unusual specific gravity of these waters, as might be expected, have been subjected to numerous tests by some of our companions. So early as the time of Vespasian experiments were tried by tying the hands of criminals behind their backs, and casting them into the lake, where they are said to have floated like corks upon the surface. Robinson bathed in the sea just under Engedi, and states that so buoyant did he find it, that although he could not swim before, here he could sit, stand, lie, or swim in the water without difficulty. The experiments made under the direction of Lieut. Lynch fully corroborate these representations. Among these are trials with a donkey and a horse, which swim without losing their balance. A muscular man, too, who has just fallen out of our boat, floats nearly breast high, without the least exertion. Two fresh eggs, too, which would certainly have gone to the bottom in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, here contrive to support themselves on the surface. As another proof of this extreme density, it is observable that our boats, with the same freightage, draw one inch less water here than in the Jordan. As we enter the southern basin, where the bottom of the sea is visible to us as we glide along, and the surrounding mountains reflect upon us an intolerable glare, the feelings of drowsiness, which have long been creeping over us, become quite overpowering. A hot, blistering hurricane is rising from the south-east, which soon converts the air into a consuming furnace, beneath whose withering blasts the physical strength of the rowers rapidly sinks. The men pull mechanically with half-closed lids, and every one else, except the commander, has sunk into a state of stupor and temporary helplessness. With the view of seeking shelter from the sirocco blast in the shadow of some ravine, the toiling rowers strive to reach land, which they at length accomplish. But now a new difficulty awaits us; for, on attempting to gain the shadow of the rocks, it is found that the shore is heated to such an extent as ashes-the perspiration streaming from us to render it just like running over burning as we painfully urge our way. The ter rible sirocco at length subsides, but our northern and more depressed portion of the expeditionists are evidently beginning to bed of the sea, there may be distinctly suffer seriously in their health. The figure traced an ancient channel or ravine, eviof each is assuming a dropsical appear- dently a continuation of the bed of the Jorance; the lean are growing stout, and the dan, and which seems to correspond with stout almost corpulent; the pale-faced are a similar ravine at the southern extremity becoming florid, and the florid ruddy; while of the Dead Sea. The American writer the bodies of the men are covered with also states, in confirmation of the same pustules and festering sores. These alarm- conjecture, that the lateral valleys examing symptoms of indisposition, coupled ined by him have a southward inclination with the remembrance of the fatal charac- near their outlets. If this be so-though ter of the climate, induce the commander it is right to remark that his statement is at once to propose a land excursion to directly in opposition to that of Dr. RobinKerak, that, on the breezy highlands of son-the circumstance is not without an Moab, their health may be reëstablished. | important bearing upon the question. For As it forms no part of our present purpose, if the northern chasm of the lake had formhowever, to visit that rocky region, and as ed the primitive reservoir in which all the our allotted time is well-nigh exhausted, waters of the region were collected, we we cordially thank the American expedi- should certainly have expected to find a tionists for their companionship, and take northern instead of a southern deflection, our leave of them. distinctly marking the outlets of all the wadys situated south of the peninsula. IV. IT but remains for us now, in conclusion, to say a few words as to the probable origin of this extraordinary lake. Seating ourselves, accordingly, on the pinnacle of one of the loftiest western hills, from whence a large portion of the region is visible to us, bathed in the mellow light of the setting sun, we will pass hastily in review some of the hypotheses which have been entertained by the learned, as regards the primitive condition of this blasted and desolated region. Some writers have expressed their belief that the lake has, from the earliest epoch, occupied the full extent of its present basin. Such a view, however, can be maintained by no one at all acquainted with the physical features of the surrounding country; for where, then, are we to look for the fertile "vale," or " plain," so often referred to in Scripture, and by whose luxuriant productiveness Lot was allured to the spot? It must be clear at once that such a position is quite untenable. The next hypothesis-perhaps the most popular, and that enrols many great names among its advocates-is, that no great reservoir of water originally existed here at all; but that the Jordan pursued its beneficent way across this sunken plain, and onward, through the valley El-Arabah, to the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea, into which it emptied itself. In favor of this theory is the remarkable fact related by Lieut. Lynch, namely, that, through the The great and apparently fatal obstacle to the reception of this theory is the fact, that a few miles to the south of the sea there runs a transverse ridge of hills, which forms a watershed that divides the valley, causing the waters of the surrounding region to flow in part northward into the lake, and in part southward into the Elanitic gulf. This natural barrier, which was not long ago discovered, is deemed by many sufficient to explode the notion that the Jordan formerly traversed the Arabian valley. By others, however, it is regarded as by no means so conclusive; since, as it is argued, the tremendous disturbing agency that was adequate to submerge the plain of the Dead Sea to a depth of thirteen hundred feet, was surely equal to the upheaving of the ridge in question. Another fact hostile to this theory, moreover, is, that the Red Sea, according to Rusegger, lies more than thirteen hundred feet above the present level of Lake Asphaltites. As a kind of compensation for this adverse assertion, the conjecture is hazarded by some authorities, that when the ancient channel of the Jordan was interrupted by the volcanic convulsions that upheaved the watershed, an under-passage may have been riven in the strata of rocks below, through which a large portion of surplus water annually flows off into the Elanitic gulf. In favor of this view, we are told by Captain Moresby, who has lately explored the region, that at the head of the gulf he could find no bottom at a depth of |