Lieut. Lynch' s Expedition to the Jordan and Dead Sea. 32 



of vegetation, presenting a scene of " utter and dreary desola- 

 tion." At the foot of the cliff of Hathural they observed narrow 

 strips of cane and tamarisks — a luxuriant line of green — and 

 almost the only verdant spot that had been seen for a long dis- 

 tance ; a beach of coarse dark gravel below and barren brown 

 mountains above bounding the prospect. Soda plants were 

 found up^n the shore. Sulphur picked up on the Jordan near 

 the Dead Sea, was brought by an Arab. 



The mountain at Ain Jidy (Engaddi) is 1500 feet high, and 

 in its sides are many caverns excavated in former times, the 

 mouths of some of which are now entirely inaccessible. It is a 

 curious fact regarding the birds, insects and other animals of this 

 region, that they are all of a stone color ; this was the case with 

 a cat-bird brought in by an Arab. Along the beach they saw a 

 hawk and some doves, "all of the same color as the mountains 

 and the shore." " Four young boars were brought in by an Arab ; 

 they escaped from him and ran to the sea and were caught, and 

 because the Americans would not buy them they were killed." 

 Sulphurous smells were not unfrequent, and sometimes the odor 

 of sulphuretted hydrogen was perceived, probably from the 

 springs and marshes along the shore. 



On the 21st they made an encampment as a point of rendez- 

 vous for their surveys, and called it " Camp Washington." There 

 is a peninsula on the southern side of the sea, for which they now 

 steered, leaving a party at the camp for the purpose of triangula- 

 tion. The peninsula is a broad bold promontory forty to sixty 

 feet high, with a central ridge elevated some twenty feet more, 

 and a foot of sand, salt, and bitumen ; the vertical face extending 

 a U around had a coarse and chalky appearance. Dr. Anderson 

 thought the peninsula to be one-third higher, and to consist of 

 a calcareous marl ; a part of it he found chalky, with flints. 

 "There were a few bushes, their stems partly buried in the wa- 

 ter, and their leafless branches encrusted with salt," which with 

 the dead trees, standing and prostrate, were the only vestiges of 

 vegetation. The mind cannot conceive a more dreary scene, or 

 an atmosphere more oppressive. The distance from the point of 

 the peninsula across to the western shore was ascertained to be 

 about nine statute miles, and the greatest depth of the water 

 U28 feet. All the party were affected by drowsiness while 

 crossing the water, and on the land the oppressive heat and sul- 

 phurous odors produced sickness. 



ped 



pe 



saaa, 1200 to 1500 feet high, and on its summit a line of broken 

 w alls with an arch, constructed as it is said, by Herod ; it had a 

 commanding but dreary prospect, overlooking the deep chasm of 

 r "is mysterious sea." Near the south end of the sea they ob- 



Sbcond Series, Vol. VIII, No. 24.— Nov., 1849. 42 



