574 Phyfical Obfervations &c. 



confiderable River that I have feen either in the Levant or 

 Barhary. However I could not compute it to be more than 

 thirty Yards broad, though this is in a great Meafure made up 

 by the Depth, which, even at the Brink, I found to be three. 

 If then we take This, during the whole Year, for the mean 

 Depth of the Stream, (which, I am to obferve further, runs 

 about two Miles an Hour,) the Jordan will every Day dif- 



3kf^urt?-^^^^^^ into the Vead Sea about 6, 090, ooo Tons of Water. 



/frf/r<7w h in gQ great a Quantity of Water being daily received, without 

 any vilible Increafe in the ufual Limits of the 'Dead Sea, hath 

 made fome conjedlure ', that it muft be abforbed by the burn- 

 ing Sands ; others, that there are fome fubterraneous Cavities to 

 receive it; or elfe that there is a Communication betwixt it 

 and the Serhonic Lake ; not confidering that the Dead Sea 

 alone, will lofe every Day, near one third more in Vapour, 



The Extevt of th-an what this amounts to. For provided the Dead Sea 

 ^^'fhould be, according to the general Computation, feventytwo 

 Miles long and eighteen broad, then, by allowing, according 

 to Dr. Halley\ Obfervation, 6914 Ton of Vapour for every 

 fquare Mile, there will be drawn up every Day above 8, 960, 000 

 Tons. Nay further, as the Heat of the Sun is of more Acti- 

 vity here than in the Mediterranean Sea, exalting thereby a 

 greater Proportion of Vapour than what hath been eltimated 

 by our ProfelTor : fo the Jordan may, in fome Meafure, make 

 up this Excefs, by fwelling more at one Time than another* 

 though, without Doubt there are feveral other Rivers ', parti- 

 cularly from the Mountains of Moah , that muft continually 

 difcharge themfelves into the Dead Sea. 



rJfedfrom^ I was informed, that the Bitumen, for which this Lake hath 



of it In m- been always remarkable, is raifed, at certain Times, from the 



1 Origo Lacus Alphahitis ex aquis Jordanis derivari poteft, qus delabentcs continue ali- 

 cubi coUigi debucre, quod olim ante natum hunc lacum videtur infra terras fuperficiem 

 faftum fuiffe, ita ut in ampliflimas voragines ant ipfum oceanum defccnderinr. Poft incer- 

 tum, quaratione, ardioreique videntur fadi fuifle illi meatus, fie ut aquae Jordanis quutn 

 non ita copiofas deflucre poHcnt, partem terras inundaverint, atqueita lacum hunc effecerint, 

 cujus aqusE & ipfse per meatus aliquos fc exonerant, quum aquis Jordanis non augentur. 

 Rel. ?a,l&fi. p. 2J7-8. Sand/s Trav. p. ill. 2 Galeaus quamvis nomcn yirnonis non ad- 

 icribit, videtur tamen earn innuere, quum duos ottkjmb* fuyt^^s ^9 ■ythH^tis h^vTot l^^^voi in lacum 

 Afphdltitem inHuere fcribir. Galen, apud RiUnd. ibid. p. 292. Jacobus Cerbtis (apud Reland, 

 p. 281.) odo hos tluvios illabi monet m lacum y^fpbaltitem. i.Jordanem. z.Arnonem. 5. Flu- 

 men cum Arnone de magnitudine certans a monte regali procedens, attingens Orona'm. 

 4. Fluvium prope puteosbituminis &vallem falinarum. 5. Fluvium deOrfa^^rw^ venientem. 

 6. Fluvium ab ArtAxa. egreffum qui Thecuam irrigat. 7. Cedronem. 8. Charith torrentem ex 

 monte Qmrentano ortum & prope Engaddim in lacum Afphaltitem fe exonerantem. Sanutus 

 (ibid, p.280.) hosfluvios recenfct in lacum Afphaltitem illabi. Arnonem alium qui in principio 

 mare mortuum intra:. Alium qui novem leucis inde mare mortuum ingredicur. 



Bottom, 



miffheres. 



