SCIOPTICON MANUAL. 109 



THE YALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. The Valley of Jehosh- 

 aphat was the favorite bury ing-place of the Jews from 

 the earliest times; accordingly we find in it a number of 

 remarkable tombs. The monolith of Zachariah is a 

 cubical block of about twenty feet every way, and sur- 

 mounted by a flattened pyramid of at least ten feet 

 elevation. It is one solid mass hewn out of the moun- 

 tain, the adjacent rock being cut away, so that it stands 

 entirely detached; there is no known entrance. The 

 tomb of St. James shows a fine front to the west. The 

 cave extends forty or fifty feet back into the mountain. 

 Some two hundred feet north of this is the tomb of 

 Absalom. The entire height of this very striking "pil- 

 lar" cannot be less than forty feet. Believing it to be 

 Absalom's tomb, the natives throw stones against it, 

 and spit at it as they pass by. Close to this monument, 

 on the northeast, is the reputed tomb of Jehoshaphat. 



" THE DEAD SEA/' says Dr. Thomson, " without any 

 reference to what others have said, I can testify to the 

 following facts : The water is perfectly clear and trans- 

 parent. The taste is bitter and salt, far beyond that of 

 the ocean. It acts upon the tongue and mouth like 

 alum, smarts in the eyes like camphor, produces a burn- 

 ing, pricking sensation, and it stiffens the hair of the 

 head much like pomatum. The water has a much 

 greater specific gravity than the human body, and 

 hence I did not sink lower than to the arms when 

 standing perpendicularly in it. We saw no fish nor 

 living animals in the water, though birds were flying 

 over it unharmed. All of us noticed an unnatural 

 gloom, not upon the sea only, but also over the whole 

 plain below Jericho. It had the appearance of Indian 

 summer in America, and like a vast funeral pall let 



