EXPEDITION TO THE DEAD SEA. 



CHAPTER I 



(1.) Destruciion of the Cities of the Plain. Traditions. Peculiar Position and 

 Character of the Dead Sea. Unsuccessful Attempts to Explore it.— (2 ) Pro- 

 jected Expedition of Lieutenant Lynch. Departure from New York. 

 Smyrna. — (3.) Firman of the Sultan. Beirut. St. Jean d'Acre. — (4.) Prep- 

 arations for the Overland March. The Escort. Bedawin — (5.) Incidents 

 by the Way. Arabian Villages. (6.) Arrival at the Sea of Galilee. 



(1.) Centuries have been multiplied upon centuries, cycle 

 after cycle has been numbered on the dial-plate of time, since 

 the setting sun smiled for the last time on the fertile valley 

 of Sidtlim, and threw its bright effulgence of mingled purple 

 and gold far and wide over the groves, and gardens, and vine- 

 yards, blooming with freshness and beauty, that surrounded 

 the lovely cities of the plain. Ere the morning's dawn, a little 

 group, but four in number — the father, well stricken in years, 

 and the wife of his bosom, with two young daughters, the pledges 

 of their love — might have been seen hastening for their lives tow- 

 ards the gates of Zoar. None dared to look behind them, for the 

 anger of the Most High was kindled — none save the mother, 

 who, moved either by the curiosity perhaps unjustly attributed 

 to her sex, or the yearning of her heart for the daughters and 

 sons-in-law she had left behind her, turned to cast one more 

 look on the fair scene which had been marred by the vices of 

 man, and was now doomed of God. In an instant, the foun-. 

 tains of life were sealed up, and her frame hardened into 



