100 On the Difference of Level between the 



doubt of the low position of the Dead Sea, yet that the amount 

 of the depression is as yet by no means ascertained. Travel- 

 lers have lately started from England for Palestine provided 

 with good barometers ; but it is evident that no great certainty 

 can be obtained on the subject, unless observations are made 

 for at least some months, and unless corresponding observa- 

 tions are made at some neighbouring point on the coast of the 

 Mediterranean, which have been awanting in all the measure- 

 ments hitherto made. 



The fact of the depression of the Dead Sea will, at the same 

 time, decide another question, which has of late years been a 

 subject of discussion among geographers. It is well known 

 that it was discovered in 1805 by Seetzen, and afterwards con- 

 firmed by Burckhardt, Bankes, and many other travellers, that, 

 from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, a continuous 

 longitudinal valley, like a trough, runs down to the Gulf of 

 Akaba, the eastern branch of the bifurcation of the Red Sea. 

 This very distinct valley, which has quite the appearance as if 

 it were a continuation of the Gulf, has for some time given rise 

 to the opinion, that the Dead Sea formerly stood in connection 

 with the Red Sea, and hence, that the Jordan formerly flowed 

 into the latter.* The low position in which it is now proved 

 that the Dead Sea is placed, shews, however, that, at least in 

 the present condition of the surface of the earth, it must al- 

 ways have been an inclosed basin. This opinion receives a 

 further confirmation from the nature of the longitudinal valley 

 just spoken of. M. Bertou, who was the first to travel through 

 it in its whole extent, found that it by no means presents a 

 continuous flat surface, but that it consists of three distinctly 

 separated portions, Wadi el Ghor, Wadl el Araba^ and Wadi el 

 Akaba; and that, nearly in the middle of its length, it contains 

 a water-shed called El Sateh (the roof), whence the streams flow 

 on the one side to the Red Sea, and on the other to the Dead 

 Sea. The northern portion TFadi el Ghor^ which is, upon the 

 whole, very fruitful, is, as it were, a continuation of the Dead 

 Sea, and salt streams descend from the mountains to its mar- 

 gin, which evidently give rise to the great saltness of this sea. 



* Vide Von 1105*8 Oeschichte der natiirlichen vdvUnderungen der Erdoher- 

 MchCf ToL ii. p. 118 ; and other authoriti6$. 



