LAKES. 315 



when compared with the former, has greater historical and physical interest. It receives 

 that venerated stream, the Jordan, and flows over the presumed site of judgment-stricken 

 cities, while its waters have a peculiar character, owing to their holding salts in excess. 

 The general breadth of the lake, which is very uniform, is estimated by a recent and 

 careful survey at about nine geographical miles, and the length at thirty-nine ; but the 

 length appears to vary two or three miles in different years, or seasons of the year, 

 according as the water extends more or less upon the flats at its southern extremity. 

 During the rainy season, the influx derived from the Jordan and other streams is suf- 

 ficiently copious to raise the level ten or fifteen feet, which is gradually lowered by 

 evaporation under the burning heat of an unclouded sun in summer and autumn. Irby 

 and Mangles speak of observing the effect of the evaporation arising from it, in broad 

 transparent columns of vapour, not unlike water-spouts in appearance, but very much 

 larger. The lake lies in a deep cauldron, surrounded by lofty cliffs of naked limestone 

 rock, the western range running up to the height of 1500 feet above the water, and the 

 eastern to 2500. Sterility and death-like solitude prevail upon its shores, nor is it sur- 

 prising, considering its dreary aspect, the tremendous catastrophe of the cities once 

 associated with it, and the nature of its waters, that such wild stories should have been 

 so long current respecting this pool. Josephus, after speaking of the conflagration of the 

 plain, remarks, that " there are still to be seen ashes re-produced in the fruits ; which, 

 indeed, resemble edible fruits in colour, but on being plucked with the hands are dis- 

 solved into smoke and ashes." These are the far-famed apples 



" which grew 

 Near that bituminous lake where Sodom stood," 



but which, stripped of the marvellous, are the 'Osher of the Arabs. This fruit externally 

 resembles an apple or orange, but is filled chiefly with air, and bursts upon pressure. 

 So far, however, from being peculiar to this region, it is found in great abundance in the 

 Arabian peninsula, and along the valley of the Nile. In July, 1835, the Dead Sea was 

 surveyed for the first time in a boat by Mr. Costigan, an Irishman, with a Maltese sailor 

 as his servant, but who died soon after completing its tour. Mr. Stephens was informed 

 by the servant, whom he found at Beyrout, that they had moved in a zig-zag direction, 

 crossing the lake several times ; that every day they sounded frequently with a line of 

 175 brachia, each about 6 feet ; that they found the bottom rocky, and of very unequal 

 depth, sometimes ranging 30, 40, 80, and 20 brachia, all within a few boats' length ; that 

 sometimes the lead brought up sand, like that of the neighbouring mountains ; that they 

 failed but once to find the bottom, and in that place there were large bubbles all around 

 for thirty paces, rising probably from a spring ; that in four different places they found 

 ruins, and could clearly distinguish large hewn stones, which seemed to have been used 

 for buildings ; that at the south end of the lake a long tongue of high land projects into 

 the water, and is composed of solid salt, which has at a distance the appearance of an 

 island, the extremity being higher than the isthmus. The lake was again surveyed in a 

 boat in March, 1837, by Messrs. Moore and Beke, who found its depth in some places 

 1800 feet. The aspect of the Mare Mortuum the deep mountain ravine in which it 

 rolls the wilderness around the silence, solitude, and infertility of the district to- 

 gether with the remembrance of ancient disaster, make a deep impression upon the mind 

 of the visitor, and explain the tales of the ignorant and enthusiastic pilgrims of a former 

 age, who transformed the howling of the wind upon its surface into the cry of guilty 

 spirits haunting its recesses. " The view of this evening," says Dr. Robinson, " from 

 our lofty encampment was most romantic. The whole Dead Sea lay before us. The 

 full moon rose in splendour over the eastern mountains, and poured a flood of silvery 



