TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 95 
may be inquired, whether either of its applications favour any of the three etymolo- 
gies, which, as was above mentioned, have been proposed for it, or rather a fourth 
must be resorted to for it in one or other—or both—of those applications. Now, 
a retrospect at the conditions of the problem evinces that two of the etyma must be 
summarily set aside. The third, viz. Pahla = “ Border-land,”’ is suitable to 
Pahlm? as denoting the hybrid speech of Khuzistan; but, manifestly, it is not at 
all appropriate in reference to the language of Farsistan and Kohistan, of which the 
Dari employed by Tabari and Firdausi was the offspring; and hence it becomes 
desirable to find one which may lie at the root of and explain both applications. 
Various reasons recommend pahalam = par’ uwam = parum, &c., a word which 
means both “excellent ’’ and “ancient,”’ and which moreover—what it is especially 
important to observe—is sometimes contrasted in usage with the later ‘‘Parst,” and 
synonymous with ‘‘ Zaban-e-Bastant’’= “the ancient tongue.” It will thus appear 
probable, that the Pahlavas and Pahalwan are so designated as being ‘the ancient 
tribe,”’ and the Pahlavi as being “‘the ancient speech.”” If so, one may collate the 
Pelasgoi and the Graioi or Greci in relation to the Hellenes, as also the Prisci and 
the Casci in relationto the Latini ; and this, whether or not “‘ ancient ”’ be likewise 
the radical sense of—that much-tortured appellative—Pelasgoi, as well as of Casci, 
of Prisct = pristini, and of Graioi—an abridgement of geraiot which is illustrated by 
graia and graus. It were needless to embarrass this analogy by suggesting further, 
that Pelasgot,—if strengthened from Pelagoi, a sister-form of Palaioi,—might not 
. €yen serve as an etymological link between Prisci (coll. prius, primum, prin, paros, 
perusi, palat, &c.) and Pahlava or Palhava, through a series of letter-changes, which 
separately would be easy, although cumulatively they might appear improbable. 
GEOGRAPHY. 
An Attempt to account for numerous appearances of sudden and violent drain- 
age seen on the sides of the basin of the Dead Sea. By Capt. W. ALLEN, 
RN, F.RS, FRGS. 
The Dead Sea, the lake Asphaltites of the ancients, is now generally understood 
to have a depression of more than 1300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean ; yet 
hitherto no satisfactory theory has been given of the cause of the phenomenon. If 
Capt. Allen ventures to offer one, it is because he thinks it right to record impres- 
sions forced on his mind, by certain features which arrested attention on approaching 
its mysterious shores, by the road of Jericho. 
These features were :— : 
1. Some indications of lines of alluvial deposit on the sides of the mountains, a little 
below the level of the sea ; especially observable on the eastern declivities. 
2. A succession of sand-cliffs on both sides of the Jordan. 
3. Some parallel lines of pebbles, about 50 feet wide, near the Dead Sea, per- 
fectly resembling its actual beach, which is composed principally of flat pieces of 
bituminous shale, with fragments of Lydian stone. These lines of pebbles are re- 
markable, because previously not a stone had been seen for several miles ; while 
between and beyond them the soil is a very soft alluvium. 
_ 4. The precipitous mountains rising from this sea are rent with ravines, and their 
innumerable peaks have a tendency to group themselves in a succession of plateaux. 
5. Near the N.W. angle of the sea are some conical hills, with flat summits and 
steep furrowed sides. These had all the appearance of sedimentary formation, which, 
however, was gradually less observable in ascending the mountain ; and at last the 
horizontality of the strata could only be detected in a general sense. 
Similar appearances in terraces and cliffs have been noticed in the Southern as 
well as in the Northern Ghor, which both slope downwards to the Dead Sea. 
Now, if these remains of sedimentary deposit be admitted as evidences of occa- 
sional subsidence of the waters of the Dead Sea, its surface may be traced by them 
to its original level with the Gulf of Akabah, to which it would then have been joined 
by a narrow strait, similar to that of Tirahn, by which this gulf communicates with 
