516 DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES. [1848. 



existed, when lie describes the country inhabited by the 

 Canaanit.es, which extended to Lasha, on the Persian Gulf;* 

 and is it not inconsistent with the fertile character of the 

 plain, to which he repeatedly refers, that it should be watered 

 by a stream terminating in a salt pool ? After the quarrel 

 between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, also, the latter 

 chose all the plain of Jordan, and journeyed to the east; but 

 no mention is made of his crossing any sea, as he would have 

 done, provided there had been one in existence.! 



But it may be said, that the vale of Siddim occupied the 

 southern part of the basin, where the shallow lake now is. 

 This is hardly probable, however, although it is quite likely 

 that the five cities stood upon or near the south end of the 

 plain ; for we are told that their kings went out to meet 

 Chedorlaomer "and the kings that were with him," who 

 were approaching from the north, and "joined battle with 

 them in the vale of Siddim."! 



With regard to the manner in which the cities were 

 destroyed, there has been a great deal of conjecture, for the 

 most part idly, or at least unprofitably hazarded. We know 

 that the Almighty usually operates with secondary causes ; 

 and it may be that volcanic agency, as has been presumed, 

 was the physical instrument employed by him in this case, 

 that the Salt Sea was formed by the subsidence of the plain, 

 or from the damming up of the Jordan by a current of lava, 

 or both combined ; and that the showers of fire and brimstone 

 were occasioned by the fall of volcanic ejections. § But the 

 most reasonable supposition is, that, simultaneously with the 

 fire and brimstone rained out of heaven upon the doomed 

 cities, volcanic eruptions took place ; that the slime pits, or 

 pits of bitumen according to the version of the Septuagint, 

 with which the plain was filled, I! were inflamed; and that 

 the combustion of the soil or the underlying strata was 

 followed by the subsidence of the plain.1T 



Be this as it may, — there lies that solitary and desolate 



* Genesis, x, 19. \ Ibid., xiii. 11. }■ Il ' 1,i - *' v . s - 



§ See Daubcny on VoK: jkks f Genesis, xiv, 10. fl Ibid., xix, 24, 23. 



