FOSSIL FOOD 275 



come upon a bed of rock salt, it almost invariably lies upon 

 a floor of solid gypsum. 



The Caspian, being still a very respectable modem sea, 

 constantly supplied with fresh water from the surrounding 

 rivers, has not yet begun by any means to deposit salt on 

 its bottom from its whole mass ; but the shallow j)ools and 

 long bays around its edge have crusts of beautiful rose- 

 coloured salt-crystals forming upon their sides ; and as 

 these lesser basins gradually dry up, the sand, blown before 

 the wind, slowly drifts over them, so as to form miniature 

 rock-salt beds on a very small scale. Nevertheless, the 

 young and vigorous Caspian only represents the first stage 

 in the process of evaporation of an inland sea. It is still 

 fresh enough to form the abode of fish and moliusks ; and 

 the irrepressible young lady of the present generation is 

 perhaps even aware that it contains numbers of seals, being 

 in fact the seat of one of the most important and valuable 

 seal-fisheries in the whole world. It may be regarded as a 

 typical example of a yet youthful and lively inland sea. 



The Dead Sea, on the other hand, is an old and de- 

 crepit salt lake in a very advanced state of evaporation. It 

 lies several feet below the level of the Mediterranean, just 

 as the Caspianlies several feet below the level of the Black Sea ; 

 and as in both cases the surface must once have been con- 

 tinuous, it is clear that the water of either sheet must have 

 dried up to a very considerable extent. But, while the 

 Caspian has shrunk only to 85 feet below the Black Sea, 

 the Dead Sea has shrunk to the enormous depth of 1,292 

 feet below the Mediterranean. Every now and then, some 

 enterprising De Lesseps or other proposes to dig a canal 

 from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, and so re-esta- 

 blish the old high level. The effect of this very revolutionary 

 proceeding woul(J be to flood the entire Jordan Valley^ 

 connect the Sea of Galilee with the Dead Sea, and play 



