1888. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Ley 
At the southern end of the Dead Sea are extensive deposits of 
rock salt, overlooking the Sabkha or salt marsh of the southern 
shore. ‘The Dead Sea itself, 1293 feet below the Mediterranean, 
is too salt to allow of any animal or vegetable life, and that not- 
withstanding the enormous inflow of fresh water from the Jor- 
dan, Zerga Ma’in, Mujib, and other tributaries. Ancient de- 
posits at various elevations on the rocky walls which frown above 
the sea, show clearly that the level of the water was once much 
higher. Bitumen in small quantities floats upon the surface of 
the sea, and is washed to the banks, a circumstance which gave 
the sea its ancient name of Lacus Asphaltites. All around its 
banks are the gaunt, decorticated trunks and branches of Jordan 
driftwood, the skeletons of ages of death. 
Near the northern end of the Dead Sea is a series of pits, the 
significance of which is not known. 
The Jordan valley rises gradually from the Dead Sea to the 
Lake of Tiberias, which is 600 feet below the Mediterranean. 
At Tiberias, and at the base of the northern spurs of Gilead, on 
the opposite side of the Jordan valley, are hot springs, indicat- 
ing the volcanic forces. everywhere near the surface in this 
region. 
From Tiberias the valley rises, until at the Huleh it is at the 
sea level, and thence rises gradually to the dyke which separates 
the Jordan valley from Ccelesyria, and through which the 
Leontes breaks away to the Mediterranean. 
The valley of Coelesyria is the bed of an ancient lake, which 
had an outlet to the north through the Orontes, and to the south 
through the Leontes, the former of which now rises from Lebanon, 
and the latter from Anti-Lebanon. ‘The elevation of this fertile 
plain is about 2,500 feet above the sea. ‘Ihe soil is a rich dark 
loam, and yields abundant harvests even to the rude agriculture 
of that people. 
The valley of the Orontes is bounded on the west by the 
Nusairy range, and on the east by the low hills formerly de- 
scribed. Just before it turns westward to the sea, it breaks 
through the eastern spurs of Amanus, near Darkfish, and flows 
for miles at the bottom of an almost inaccessible cafion. The 
floor of the valley of the Orontes, near Hems, is strewn with 
basaltic masses of great antiquity. 
The last of the five strips which constitute the leading physi- 
cal features of this land is the plateau of the Syrian desert, 
which is well-nigh unexplored. This is bounded to the east by 
the watershed of the Dhohr-el-Barriyah (Backbone of the Wil- 
derness), which separates it from the Euphrates valley. 
The flora and fauna of this land are as rich as might have been 
expected from the great diversity of elevation, physiography, 
