1848.] TRIBUTARY STREAMS. 507 



last, however, there appears to be a greater abundance of salt 

 than is found in other parts of the lake ; and at the extreme 

 south end, there appears to be a layer of slimy mud, a foot deep, 

 resting upon a thick crust of salt, beneath which is another foot 

 of mud, and still below this is the firm bottom. At this extrem- 

 ity of the lake, there is an extensive mud flat, reaching to the 

 foot of high hills bounding the basin occupied by the sea to the 

 southward, in which there is an opening corresponding to El- 

 Ghor at the north, which has led to the supposition that the 

 Jordan once had a continuous course through this opening or 

 ravine, to the Gulf of Akabah, one of the arms of the Red 

 Sea. This ravine is known as Wady-el-Arabah, and the 

 supposition connected with it will be hereafter noticed. 



Salt is found so abundantly along the southern sea, that it 

 is quite an important article of traffic. Most of the bitumen, 

 also, that is met with in commerce, is obtained from this sea, 

 and is hence called Jewish bitumen. Sulphur is plentiful, 

 and it is sometimes procured on the shores of the lake in 

 large lumps. There are indications, likewise, of nitre, gyp- 

 sum, and alum. Bromine is contained in the water, and to 

 the presence of this substance its caustic taste must in great 

 part be attributed. 



Besides the Jordan, the most important tributaries of the 

 Dead Sea are the river Anion, which enters it from the east, 

 through a narrow opening in the mountains flanked by walls 

 of naked rocks piled in ledges on either hand ; and the Brook 

 Kidron, which has its source in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and 

 discharges its waters, usually vary diminutive in volume, 

 through the Wady-en-Nar, or Ravine of Fire. There are, 

 also, a great number of springs on the margin of the lake, 

 the waters of most of which are absorbed by the sandy soil. 

 The largest of these are the hot springs of Callirohoe on the 

 Arabian shore, which discharges considerable water through 

 their outlet, the Ztirka Main. Almost all the springs, too, 

 in the southern valley, north of Wady Talh, which appears 

 at this day to be the dividing ridge between the waters of the 

 Dead Sea and those of the Red Sea, flow into the former. 



