'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST.' 355 



vultures were sitting on the narrow ledges of the rocks and 

 the sharp parallel ridges that here run down from the moun- 

 tain and are separated from each other by ravines. After 

 about an hour we reached the foot of the mountain, and all 

 at once found ourselves amongst thick bushes and on sandy 

 ground, capital for riding over. Dense thickets alternated 

 with grassy flats, which we crossed at full gallop, and after 

 descending the bed of a now dried-up torrent we rode 

 through tall reeds, long grass, and high bushes to the flat 

 shores of the Dead Sea. 



Every step that the horses made sounded as if they were 

 breaking through a crust of frozen snow, for here the sand, 

 and also the bits of wood which had been washed up, are all 

 coated with saltpetre. The Bahr-Lut (Lot's Lake), as the 

 Dead Sea is called by the Arabs, is a wonderful mountain 

 lake large, deep blue, and fine in form. It is bounded on 

 the east by the rugged grey-green hills with which we had 

 become acquainted during the last few days, and on the west 

 by really lofty mountains with whitish-grey cliffs. The 

 water itself is a thick heavy solution, so strongly saturated 

 with mineral matter that it is impossible for any living thing 

 to exist in it, and the lake is truly dead. Bathing, which 

 some of the gentlemen now indulged in, was unattended by 

 any risk of drowning, for its waters are so buoyant that one 

 cannot sink, but, on the other hand, they leave a thick deposit 

 of salt on the skin that is by no means pleasant. 



The air of the Dead Sea, like that of deep mines, is as 

 heavy as lead, and has an enervating influence on every one. 

 This is caused by its low level, for it lies 394 metres below 

 the Mediterranean. 



We rode along it a little way close to the shore, and 

 then turned northwards across some loamy and sandy 

 flats. To our right was a plain, extending to the thickly 

 overgrown meadows of the Jordan, to our left a slope of 



2A2 



