£46 Notices in Palestine. 
the fine surface which we might have expected, had they beeiy 
of Grecian marble, we find them of a dull, dirty color, and 
rough from decomposition. : 
‘<'The rocks of Carmel and Tabor are doubtless calcareous, 
as you suggest: I have visited only the latter. Those of the 
banks of the Dead Sea are deeply tinged with iron, which 
gives the appearance of having been burned. Bat it is real- 
ly singular, that any traveller should ever have suggested 
that there is any appearance of a voleano in that region. 
Certainly there is none on the western shore. The moun- 
tain to which Dr. C. has alluded must have been Frank 
Mountain, or Mount Ferdees, as the neighbouring Arabs call 
it. From Bethlehem it has precisely the appearance which 
the Dr. ascribes to it. The Dead Sea seems *“ very near,” 
when viewed from Bethlehem, as_ the same author observes ; 
therefore, this mountain, situated in the same direction, must 
have appeared to him as near the western shore of that sea. 
But instead of being actually near it, the distance between it 
and the sea must be at least 12 or 15 miles. Mr. Fisk and I 
visited it together, and found not the most distant indication 
of its ever having been volcano. You may find a descrip-. 
tion of it in Dr. Pococke, under the name perhaps. of the 
‘‘ Mount of Bethulia.” It is supposed also to be the ‘* Hero- 
dium” of Josephus. (See B. 14, c. 13, sec. 9. and B. 15, 
c. 9. sec. 4.) It is about 4 or 5 miles from Bethlehem. 
** The tombs of the last Jewish Sanhedrim are not the same 
as those of the Kings. The former are a mile anda half 
. from Jerusalem. Mr. F. visited them in the spring of 18233 
went into six different apartments, and counted 63 coffins or 
' places of deposit for dead bodies, when, his light failing, he 
returned. ‘The Jews say there are just 72 coffins in these 
tombs. The cave of David is natural.. Mr. F. and. my- 
self also visited this place together. The only apartment we 
entered was 80 or 90 feet long, 40 broad, and perhaps 20 
high. We discovered passages leading off in various direc- 
tions, and were told they terminated in other apartments, but 
they were too narrow and dusty to be comfortably explored. 
The dust spread over the floor of the cave some inches in 
epth, and so filled the air from our walking in it, that we 
were much annoyed by it. You remark in the phlet, 
that Borekhardt saw on Mount Lebanon “ one fouil shell.” 
You may be interested to know that the rocks of some of the 
high peaks E. of Beyroot, the highest that I have visited, are 
