1848.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 515 



prevails, the torrents plunge down several hundred feet, while 

 on both sides of the southern portion, the ravines come down 

 without abruptness, although the head of Wady Kerak is 

 more than a thousand feet higher, than the head of Wady 

 Ghuweir. Most of the ravines, too, * * * have a south- 

 ward inclination near their outlets, that of Zurka Main 

 especially, which, next to the Jordan, must pour down the 

 greatest volume of water in the rainy season. But even if 

 they had not that deflection, the argument which has been 

 based on this supposition would be untenable ; for tributaries, 

 like all other streams, seek the greatest declivities without 

 regard to angular inclination."* 



It is, indeed, to be regretted, so far as the elucidation of 

 this subject is concerned, that Lieutenant Lynch felt 

 restrained by his instructions from prosecuting his reconnais- 

 sance through the Wady-el-Arabah, or lower Ghor, to 

 the Red Sea ; for, unless such an examination, carefully 

 made, shall disclose insuperable difficulties, it must still 

 appear highly probable that there has been a depression, or 

 subsidence, of the whole Ghor from the Jabok to Wady 

 Talh ; and that the Jordan once flowed into the Gulf of 

 Akabah, and carried with it the saline and other substances 

 which, since the sudden convulsion that interrupted its 

 course, have been accumulating at the southern extremity 

 of the Sea of the Plain. 



Taking the account given in Scripture as the guide, this 

 inference appears to be the only plausible one. The same 

 form of expression (" Bela, which is Zoar") used in Genesis 

 xiv, 2, in describing the cities of the plain, is employed by 

 the inspired historian in the following verse, when he speaks 

 of the vale of Siddim, which, he says, u is the Salt Sea." 

 Now Zoar was not known by that name till after Lot had 

 taken refuge there ; and is it not fair — nay, even necessary — 

 to infer, that the Salt Sea had no existence until the vale of 

 Siddim was overwhelmed ? Furthermore, it seems strange, 

 that Moses did not mention the Salt Sea, if it previously 



* Narrative, p. §08, et acq. 



