Madden's Travels in Turkey, 8rc. 131 



life in neither air, earth, nor water. I sickened of the prospect; my 

 spirits were completely overpowered. 



" I reposed on the bare rock for half an hour ; my feet were cut 

 in many places with the sharp flints which abound here, and it was 

 with difficulty I could descend the mountain. About six in the 

 morning I reached the shore, and much against the advice of my 

 excellent guide, I resolved on having a bath. T was desirous of 

 ascertaining the truth of the assertion, that * nothing sinks in the 

 Dead Sea.' I swam a considerable distance from the shore ; and 

 about four yards from the beach I was beyond my depth ; the water 

 was the coldest I ever felt, and the taste of it most detestable ; it 

 was that of a solution of nitre, mixed with an infusion of quassia. 

 Its buoyancy I found to be far greater than that of any sea I ever 

 swam in, not excepting the Euxine, which is extremely salt. I 

 could lie like a log of wood on the surface, without stirring hand or 

 foot, as long as I chose ; but with a good deal of exertion I could 

 just dive sufficiently deep to cover all my body, but I was again 

 thrown on the surface, in spite of my endeavours to descend lower. 

 On coming out, the wounds in my feet pained me excessively : the 

 poisonous quality of the waters irritated the abraded skin, and ulti- 

 mately made an ulcer of every wound, which confined me fifteen 

 days in Jerusalem ; and became so troublesome in Alexandria, that 

 my medical attendant was apprehensive of gangrene." 



On the shores of the lake the author found several fresh- 

 water shells, and the putrid remains of two small fish, which 

 he believes to have been carried down by the Jordan, for he is 

 convinced that no living creature is to be found in the Dead 

 Sea. He spent two hours in fishing, but he only caught some 

 bitumen. The face of the mountains and of the surrounding 

 country bore to him all the appearance of a volcanic region, 

 though he confesses he neither found pumice-stone nor ge- 

 nuine black lava. The soil was covered with white porous 

 stone and red- veined quartz. On the mountains on the western 

 side of the lake were large quantities of the stink stone, the 

 recent fracture of which produces a strong smell of sulphur- 

 etted hydrogen. The surface of the water on these shores is 

 covered with a thin pellicle of inflammable asphaltum. This 

 proceeds from fissures in the rock on the opposite beach. 

 After coagulating in the cold air, it cracks in pieces with an 

 explosion, and is drifted over to the western beach. On com- 

 ing out of the water the author found his body coated with it, 

 and likewise with an incrustation of salt, about the thickness 

 of a sixpence. The rugged aspect of the mountains, the ter- 

 rible ravines on either shore, the romantic forms of the jagged 

 rocks, all prove that the surrounding country has been the 

 scene of some terrible convulsion of nature. I have no hesi- 



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