380 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



der-storra, without excluding a supernatural cause from the expla- 

 nation of the phenomena. Captains Irby and Mangles collected, 

 on the southern coast, lumps of nitre and fine sulphur, from the size 

 of a nutmeg up to that of a small hen's egg, which, it was evident 

 from their situation, had been brought down by the rain : their 

 great deposit must be sought for,' they say, ' in the cliff'.' 



In the plain bordering upon the lake are high rushes, which give 

 way to a variety of bushes and wild plants ; among others, several 

 species of acacia, the dwarf mimosa, the tamarisk, the wild cotton 

 plant, the doom, and the oschar. Captain Mangles describes also 

 a very curious tree, which abounds here ; its fruit resembling the 

 currant in its growth, but with the color of a plum ; having a 

 strong aromatic taste resembling mustard, and, if taken in any 

 quantity, producing the same irritability in the nose and eyes. The 

 leaves have the same pungent flavor in a less degree. On the 

 borders of the Derrah, they observed another peculiar shrub, its 

 branches inclining downwards, of a dull green, with little or no 

 foliage ; the fruit about the size of an almond in its green husk, 

 and not very dissimilar in color, but seamed or ribbed. When 

 ripe, it becomes soft and juicy, like a green gage, but the skin 

 retains its roughness. It contains a stone. The taste has a sort of 

 sweetness, mixed with a strong bitter ; the smell is sickly and dis- 

 agreeable. It is said by the natives to be poisonous, children 

 being reported to have frequently been disordered, and even to 

 have died, after eating it. 



It was long a received tradition, that no living thing could pass 

 over this lake without being suffocated by the vapors, and that no 

 fish could endure the deadly waters. Captains Irby and Mangles 

 found on the shores a great number of dead locusts, which might 

 almost seem, they remark, to lend some countenance to the tale, 

 were it not a spectacle sufficiently common upon other shores, as 

 about El Arisen, and in Sicily. These, however, had not become 

 putrid, nor had they any smell, as when cast up by any other sea, 

 being completely penetrated and encrusted with salt; and they 

 had lost their color. Of the fabulous nature of one part of the 

 tradition, the travellers had ocular demonstration ; first, in a pair 

 of Egyptian geese, and afterwards in a flight of pigeons which 

 passed over the sea. And Maundrell saw several birds, he does 

 not say of what species, flying about and over the sea, without any 

 visible harm. The latter part also of the report, he adds, 1 1 have 

 some reason to suspect as false ; having observed among the peb- 

 bles on the shore two or three shells of fish, resembling oyster- 

 shells. These were cast up by the waves, at two hours' distance 

 from the mouth of the Jordan ; which 1 mention, lest it should be 

 suspected that they might be brought into the sea that way.' 



