made to it by the prophets. "On its margin and over a good part of its surface there are a great many sedges, rushes, and lotuses. Thousands of aquatic birds are seen gamboling on its bosom, and many swallows skimming its surface. Its waters have not quite the purity of the Lake of Tiberias, as it is fed by several muddy`streams running through a morass. It would be no difficult matter to effect its drainage." 1 (3.) The LAKE or SEA OF SODOM, or the DEAD SEA, has been celebrated not only by the sacred writers, but also by Josephus, and several profane authors. It was anciently called in the Scriptures the SEA OF THE PLAIN (Deut. iii. 17., iv. 49.), being situated in a valley, with a plain lying to the south of it, where once flourished the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, with the other cities of the plain; -the SALT SEA (Deut. iii. 17.; Josh. xv. 5.) from the extremely saline, and bitter, taste of its waters; the SALT SEA EASTWARD (Numb. xxxiv. 3.), and the EAST SEA (Ezek. xlvii. 18.; Joel ii. 20.), from its situation relatively to Judæa. By Josephus and other writers it was called the LAKE ASPHALTITES, that is, the Bituminous Lake, from the abundance of bitumen found in it; and by Jerome, the DEAD SEA, from ancient traditions, erroneously though generally received, that no living creature can exist in its stagnant and hydro-sulphuretted waters; which, though they look remarkably clear and pure, are in the highest degree salt, bitter, and nauseous, and of such a degree of specific gravity as will enable a man to float on their surface without motion. The acrid saltness 1 Carne's Recollections of the East, p. 39. Wilson's Lands of the Bible, vol. ii. p. 162. Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 8. § 4; Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. v. c. 16.; Tacitus, Hist. lib. v. c. 6.; Justin. lib xxxvi. c. 3.; Strabo, lib. xvi. pp. 1087, 1088. edit. Oxon. * Irby's and Mangles' Travels, p. 330. Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, vol. viii. p. 164 An analysis of the water of the Dead Sea (a phial of which had been brought to England by Mr. Gordon of Clunie, at the request of Sir Joseph Banks), conducted by Dr. Marcet, gave the following results:-This water is perfectly transparent, and does not deposit any crystals on standing in close vessels. Its taste is peculiarly bitter, saline, and pungent.— The application of tests or re-agents proves that it contains the muriatic and sulphuric acids. There is no alumina in it, nor does it appear to be saturated with marine salt or muriate of soda.-On summing up the contents of 150 grains of the water, they were found to hold in solution the following substances, and in the undermentioned proportions : : Salts. Acid. 3.89 grains. 8.61 7.15 And, consequently, the proportions of these salts in 100 grains of the water would be: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for 1807, part ii. pp. 298312. Another analysis, made by the eminent French chemist, M. Gay-Lussac, in 1819, of its waters is much greater than that of the sea; and the land, which surrounds this lake, being equally impregnated with that saltness, refuses to produce any plants except a few stunted thorns, which wear the brown garb of the desert. To this circumstance Moses alludes in Deut. xxix. 23.: "The whole land thereof is brimstone and salt." The air itself, which is by evaporation loaded with it, and which is impregnated with the sulphureous and bituminous vapours, is fatal to vegetation; hence arises the deadly aspect which reigns around the lake. These exhalations Captain Lynch (of the United States' Navy, who in 1847 first navigated the Dead Sea since those cities were engulphed in it) ascribes to the fœtid springs and marshes along the shores of the sea, increased perhaps by exhalations from stagnant pools in the flat plain which bounds it to the north. Wood, all incrusted with salt, lies in great quantities on the shore. Here formerly stood the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which, with three other cities of the plain, were consumed by fire from heaven. To this destruction there are numerous allusions in the Scriptures, as displaying most signally the certainty and suddenness of the divine justice, which sooner or later overtakes the impenitently wicked. Viewing this sea from the spot where the Jordan discharges its waters into it, this body of water takes a south-easterly direction visible for ten or fifteen miles, when it disappears in a curve towards the east. Its surface is generally unruffled, from the hollow of the basin in which it lies scarcely admitting the free passage necessary for a strong breeze; it is, however, for the same. reason, subject to whirlwinds or squalls of short duration. The expanse of water at this point has been supposed not to exceed five or six miles, though the mountains, which skirt each side of the valley of the Dead Sea, are apparently separated by a distance of gave nearly similar results. (See Quarterly Journal of Science, &c. vol. viii. p. 165.) Dr. Robinson has given the analyses of Dr. Marcet and of Gay-Lussac, to which he has added those of Prof. C. Gmelin, of Tubingen, in 1826, and of Dr. Apjohn, of Dublin, in 1829. (Biblical Researches, vol. ii. p. 224.) The result of these several analyses is, that the amount of salts is in general equal, while the relative proportions assigned to the different salts are exceedingly diverse. "Hence it appears that the Dead Sea water now contains about one fourth of its weight of salt, supposed in a state of perfect desiccation; or, if they be desiccated at the temperature of 180° on Fahrenheit's scale, they will amount to forty-one per cent. of the water. If any person wish for a stronger confirmation of the Scripture account of the origin of the Dead Sea than this furnishes, we can only pity the miserable state of incredulity to which he is reduced, and commit him to the influences of that power which can cause the wilderness to blossom as the rose,' and from 'stones raise up children unto Abraham.' Eclectic Review for 1809, vol. v. part i. p. 134. In the vicinity of this sea Captains Irby and Mangles collected lumps of nitre and fine sulphur, from the size of a nutmeg to that of a small hen's egg, which had been brought down from the surrounding cliffs by the rain. Travels in Egypt, &c. p. 453. Volney's Travels in Egypt, vol. i. p. 288.; Turner's Tour in the Levant, vol. ii. p. 227. 3 Captain Lynch's Narrative, p. 296. Lord Lindsay's Letters on Egypt, &c. vol. ii. p. 67. M. de Sauley, a recent traveller in Palestine, misled (as it appears) by the traditional statements of his Arab guides, imagined that he had found the remains of buildings and cities, and especially of Sodom. His hypothesis (for it is no more) has been refuted, 1. by the Rev. J. P. Thompson, of New York, in a Memoir on the Recent Explorations of the Dead Sea, in the Bibliotheca Sacra for July, 1855, pp. 528-558.; and 2., as to Sodom and Zoar, by M. Van de Velde, who travelled in Syria and Palestine in 1851 and 1852. For the other three cities of the plain, M. Van de Velde did not think it worth while to seek. (Van de Velde's Narrative, vol. i. pp. 115-117.) Buckingham's Travels in Palestine, p. 293. 2 eight miles. These mountains present to the eye of the spectator granite, and those other rocks, which (according to the Wernerian system of geology) characterise the oldest or primitive formation. Åt the northern extremity of the sea there is found a black shining stone, which partially ignites in the fire, and emits a bituminous smell: it is used at Jerusalem for the manufacture of rosaries and other little articles. Sulphur and nitre are also found in various parts. All these circumstances testify to the volcanic nature of the whole region, which, at a remote period, was the theatre of immense volcanoes. Josephus states the total length to be 580 [Greek] stadia, or about fifty-six miles, and its breadth 150 stadia, or between fifteen and sixteen miles. With his computation nearly agrees the account of Mr. Carne, who visited this sea in 1825, and who reckons its length at about sixty miles, and its general breadth at eighteen. But the accurate admeasurement of the Rev. Dr. Robinson, made in 1838, in which Dr. Wilson acquiesces, fixes its length at thirty-nine or forty geographical miles, or about fifty English miles, and its general breadth at ten or twelve miles.4 Towards the south a broad peninsula projects from the eastern shore, and contracts its width to within two miles. South of this point the water is shallow; and in summer, in consequence of evaporation, the depth decreases from twelve or fifteen feet to less than one foot. Silence, awful as death, hangs over the lake: a ripple is seldom to be seen on its surface, and its shores are rarely visited by any footsteps but those of the wild Arabs, who collect from them the chief supply of salt for their families and flocks. Not a bird builds its nest, or pours forth its strains in the vicinity of this sea: nor is anything to be found near it: and "its desolate though majestic 3 "The mountains on the Judæan side are lower than those of the Arabian, and also of a lighter colour; the latter chain, at its southern extremity, is said to consist of dark granite, and of various colours. The hills, which branch off from the western end, are composed entirely of white chalk: bitumen abounds most on the opposite shore. There is no outlet to this lake, though the Jordan flows into it, as did formerly the Kedron, and the Arnon to the south. It is not known that there has been any visible increase or decrease of its waters." (Carne's Letters, pp. 317, 318.) But their uniform level is sufficiently accounted for by the quantity which is evaporated. (See Dr. Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. pp. 157, 158., and Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. ii. p. 226.) Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. ii. pp. 221, 222. Volney's Travels in Syria, vol. i. pp. 281, 282. Travels of Ali Bey (M. Badhia), vol. ii. p. 263. Buckingham's Travels, pp. 443-448. Russell's Palestine, p. 412. On Mr. Carne's arrival at its shore, where the waters lay like lead, there was not a breath of wind. 66 Whoever," says this intelligent traveller, "has seen the Dead Sea, will ever after have its aspect impressed upon his memory; it is, in truth, a gloomy and fearful spectacle. The precipices, in general, descend abruptly into the lake, and on account of their height it is seldom agitated by the winds. Its shores are not visited by any footstep, save that of the wild Arab, and he holds it in superstitious dread. No unpleasant effluvia are perceptible round it, and birds are seen occasionally flying across..... A few inches beneath the surface of the mud are found those black sulphureous stones out of which crosses are made, and sold to the pilgrims. The water has an abominable taste, in which that of salt predominates; and we observed incrustations of salt on the surface of some of the rocks." Letters from the East, pp. 316, 317. Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. ii. pp. 217, 218. Bibliotheca Sacra, (New York,) 1843, p. 17. Wilson's Lands of the Bible, vol. ii. p. 24. Schwartz's Descriptive Geography of Palestine, pp. 43-45. On the geological phenomena of the Dead Sea there is an elaborate memoir by Dr. A. Lee in the American Biblical Repcsitory, vol. iii. (N. S.) pp. 335-352. features are well suited to the tales related concerning it by the inhabitants of the country, who all speak of it with terror."1 The depth of this sea varies in different parts. M. Cornille, who advanced upwards of fifty paces into this sea, found that its depth did not exceed two feet. He states that he walked, not upon sand, but upon the reddish bituminous earth, covered with a hard crust, which shook at the slightest motion over it.2 Dr. Robinson and one of his companions waded out eight or ten rods before the water reached their shoulders. But the greatest depth of this sea, as ascertained by Captain Lynch, is 208 fathoms, or 1300 feet. The most important discovery, however, which he made with reference to the accuracy of Scripture history, is connected with the soundings. "The inference from the Bible" (he remarks) "that this entire chasm was a plain sunk and overwhelmed' by the wrath of God seems to be sustained by the extraordinary character of our soundings. The bottom of this sea consists of two submerged plains, an elevated and a depressed one; the last averaging thirteen, the former about thirteen hundred feet below the surface. Through the northern, and largest and deepest one, in a line corresponding with the bed of the Jordan, is a ravine which seems to correspond with the Wady el Jeib, or ravine within a ravine, at the south end of the sea." 4 (4.) The GREAT SEA, mentioned in Numb. xxxiv. 6. and elsewhere in the Sacred Volume, is the Mediterranean Sea, so called by way of eminence. In Exod. xxiii. 31. it is called the Sea of the Philistines, because their country bordered on its shores: in Josh. xxiii. 4. the Great Sea westward; and in Deut. xi. 24., Joel ii. 20., and elsewhere, the Uttermost, or Utmost Sea. (5.) The RED SEA, so often noticed, is now known by the appellation of the Arabian Gulph.5 V. Besides the preceding rivers and lakes, the Scriptures mention several FOUNTAINS and WELLS. In a country where these are of rare occurrence, it is no wonder that they should anciently have given rise to strife and contention." (Gen. xxi. 25., xxvi. 20.) The most remarkable of these fountains and wells are 1. The Fountain of En-Rogel; 2. The Upper and Lower Pools of Gihon; 3. The Fountain and Pools of Siloam; and 4. The Pool of Bethesda: which being situated in and near to Jerusalem, a notice of them is given in pp. 27-29. supra. To these may be added, (6.) JACOB'S WELL, a deep well entirely hewn out of the solid rock, which is situated at a small distance from Sichem or Shechem, For an account and refutation of the ancient traditions concerning the Dead Sea, sce Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. pp. 400-406. 8vo. New Monthly Magazine, vol. lii. p. 354. A comprehensive digest of nearly all that has been written concerning this sea will be found in the Modern Traveller, Palestine, pp. 204-224. 2 Souvenirs d'Orient, par Henri Cornille, pp. 345, 346. Paris, 1836. 8vo. Biblical Researches, vol. ii. p. 213. Capt. Lynch's Narrative, pp. 378, 379. See the article RED SEA, in the Historical and Geographical Index, infra. When Capt. Light descended, in 1814, into the beautiful plain of Sephora, or Sephoury, at a short distance from Nazareth, he saw in the centre a band of herdsmen, armed with muskets, watering their cattle in a large stone reservoir. With them he was obliged to have an altercation before they would permit him to water his horse, without paying for the privilege. Travels, p. 196. Three Wecks in Palestine, p. 68. also called Sychar, and at present Napolose; which place was the residence of Jacob before his sons slew the Shechemites. Dr. Wilson ascertained it to be seventy-five feet deep, and its diameter about nine feet. It bears marks of the greatest antiquity; and it has been visited by pilgrims of all ages, but especially by Christians, to whom it has become an object of veneration from the memorable discourse of our Saviour with the woman of Samaria. (John iv. 5-30.) The spot is so distinctly marked by the evangelist John, and is so little liable to uncertainty, from the circumstance of the well itself and the features of the country, that, if no tradition existed for its identity, the site of it could scarcely be mistaken.' In consequence of the scarcity of water in the East, travellers are careful to stop as often as possible near some river, fountain, or well: this will probably account for Jacob's halting with his family at the ford Jabbok (Gen. xxxii. 22.); for the Israelites assembling their forces near the fountains of Jezreel (1 Sam. xxix. 1.), as the celebrated Moslem warrior Saladin afterwards did2; and for David's men that were unable to march with him, waiting for him by the brook Besor. (1 Sam. xxx. 21.) It is not improbable that the ancient wells, mentioned in Gen. xvi. 14., xxiv. 20. and Exod. ii. 16., were furnished with some conveniences for drawing water to refresh the fainting traveller, and with troughs or other contrivances for supplying cattle with water, similar to those which are to this day found in Persia, Arabia, and other countries in the East. In Eccl. xii. 6. Solomon alludes to a wheel as being employed for the purpose of raising water." Great precautions were taken anciently, as well as in modern times, to prevent the moving sands from choking up their wells, by placing a stone over the mouth (Gen. xxix. 2-8.), after the requisite supply had been drawn up; or by locking them up, which Sir John Chardin 3 'Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. pp. 278-280. Addison's Journey southward from Damascus, in the Metropolitan Magazine for 1839, vol. xxv. p. 148. Dr. Wilson's Lands of the Bible, vol. ii. pp. 54. 57. Some learned men have conjectured that Jacob's well was only a cistern or reservoir for rain water; but the whole of the surrounding scenery confirms the evangelist's narrative, and the antiquity of the well. Such cisterns, indeed, are common in the oriental deserts to this day; and it is perhaps to conveniences of this kind, made or renewed by the devout Israelites, in the valley of Baca, to facilitate their going up to Jerusalem, that the Psalmist refers (lxx xiv. 6, 7.) where he speaks of going from strength to strength till they appeared in Zion. Harmer's Observations, vol. ii. p. 184. To prevent accidents by the owners of such cisterns leaving them uncovered, Moses enacted various regulations. See Exod. xxi. 33, 34. 2 Harmer's Observations, vol. iii. p. 401. The Christian kings of Jerusalem, in the close of the twelfth century, also assembled their forces at a fountain between Nazareth and Sephoris. Ibid. In the villages of Ethiopia Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury frequently met with huts by the road side, containing large jars of water for travellers. When there is no hut the jar is generally placed under a pine tree. Journal of a Visit to Ethiopia, p. 35. In Smyrna and many other places in the East, a large wheel is fixed over the mouth of a well in a vertical position: to this wheel a number of pitchers is attached in such a manner, that by means of its revolution, which is effected by a horse, they are continually descending and filling, and ascending and discharging themselves. (Hartley's Researches in Greece, pp. 235, 236.) In the Russian Government of Iver, Dr. Henderson was struck with the number of wells which he saw, over each of which is built a large wooden apparatus, consisting chiefly of a windlass, with a wheel about six feet in diameter, which is turned round by the hand, and thus the water is drawn up in a bucket. He is of opinion that it is obviously to a machine of this kind that Solomon refers in his highly figurative picture of old age. Biblical Researches, p. 32. |