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



dreary solitude to divest themselves of the idea that there was 

 nothing but death in the world and they alone alive. They 

 picked up large pieces of bitumen on the sea shore. A breeze 

 from the west passing over the marshes brought with it a nause- 

 ous smell. 



Till the 30th, with a single exception, all had been well ; but 

 now dropsical appearances began — " the lean had become stout and 

 the stout almost corpulent ; the pale faces had become florid, and 

 the florid ruddy ; the slightest scratch festered, and pustules fol- 

 lowed — the sea water irritated the sores excessively; yet all had 

 a good appetite." Except the smell from the marshes, and from 

 thermal springs, there were no indications of malaria, the sea itself 

 being perfectly inodorous. The appearance of the men was dis- 

 tressing. Some with their bodies bent and arms dangling slept 

 profoundly, but with a flushed and feverish sleep; others with 

 heads thrown back and lips cracked and sore, seemed, even in 

 sleep, to be worn down by heat and fatigue ; others from reflect- 

 ed light looked ghastly, their limbs twitched, and they would start 

 suddenly from sleep. 



Prudence therefore demanded a return, although they were re- 

 luctant to leave any part of the work unfinished. Partly for 

 recreation, they accepted an invitation from the Christian sheikh 

 Abd 'Allah, to visit Kerak, on the mountains of Moab, seventeen 

 miles east of the Dead Sea. 



While the party were waiting for horses, they " dined sumptu- 

 ously with the Arab Christians, on wild boar's meat, onions, and 

 the last of their rice." Their horses arrived, and with them, Mu- 

 hammed, the son of the Muslim sheikh, and also Abd 'Allah the 

 Christian sheikh himself, the latter residing in Kerak, and the 



former chiefly in black tents about half a mile from Kerak. Mu- 

 hammed being about to mount his horse, ordered one of the Fel- 

 lahiu (a common Arab) to stoop, and "placing his foot upon the 

 abject creature's back, he sprang upon his horse;" his counten- 

 ance and manner were insolent and overbearing, while Abd 'Al- 

 lah, the Christian sheikh, his senior by twenty years, was mild 

 and even meek. 



The boats excited great surprise, and both the Muhammed and 

 Christian Arabs were indulged in an excursion by rowing upon 

 the sea. " They stuck plugs of onions in their nostrils to coun- 

 teract the malaria they had imbibed from the water." They call 

 it " the sea accursed of God," and thought it madness for men to 

 remain so long upon it. The party consisted of fourteen besides 

 the interpreter and cook, and the escort of twelve mounted Arabs 

 and eight footmen, besides a number who had gone ahead. 

 They crossed a plain of tertiary formation, ferruginous and fria- 

 ble limestone, marls, &c. 



