OF LAKE-BASINS. 



655 



That lake is 13 geographical miles long by 6 in width ; its surface isG53 

 feet below that of the Mediterranean, and its greatest ascertained depth 

 165 feet, according to the cursory soundings made by the American 

 expedition under Lieutenant Lynch. From the Lake of Tiberias the 

 Jordan runs due south in a trough, as strait as an arrow, and about 7 

 miles wide from wall to wall, to plunge into the chasm of the Dead Sea 

 — a distance of about 60 miles — during which it falls 983 feet, or at 

 the rate of about 16-4 feet per mile. The immediate bed of the river, ' 

 eroded by fluviatile action, is so excessively tortuous as, by calculation 

 (Lynch), to triple the length of its course, which throughout is a nearly 

 continued cataract. 



The Dead Sea is 46 English miles long by 101 wide, of a narrow 

 oblong form, and its area has been estimated to cover about 250 square 

 miles. The depression of its surface below the Mediterranean has been 

 variously estimated from 1,446 feet (barometrical, von Wildenbruch) 

 to 1,312 and 1,316 feet by trigonometrical and levelling operations, the 

 former by Captain Symonds, the latter by Lieutenant Lynch. The last 

 two estimates may practically be considered to be identical, as the 

 height of the lake varies at different seasons, and Lieutenant Lynch's 

 does not appear to have started from any bench-mark or fixed datum. 

 Captain Symonds's estimate of 1,312 feet is adopted here. 1 The depth 

 of the lake has been variously described. Messrs. Moore and Beeke 

 assign a maximum of 2,400 feet; while Lieutenant Lynch, with a party 

 of sailors accustomed to using the lead, only got a maximum, by sound- 

 ings, .of 1,308 feet between Ain Terabeh and Wady Zurka, about 9 

 miles from the mouth of the Jordan. This, added to Captain Symonds's 

 result, would give a depression of 2,620 feet below the level of the 

 Mediterranean. That this depth was originally very considerably 

 greater can hardly be doubted, since the Dead Sea, with no outlet, has 

 had poured into it the silt of the Jordan and of the other streams 

 that flow into it, and have flown from all points of the compass 

 during a long lapse of ages, of which there are no data for arriving 

 at even an approximate estimate. The southern end of the lake has 

 been filled up by the deposition of inpoured silt. That the chasm is 

 precipitous is distinctly proved by Lynch's sections, he having ascer- 

 tained a depth of 900 feet, close to the margin, on tha eastern side. 

 The southern extremity is bounded by the Khashm Usdum, or salt- 



1 Up to the time of his fatal illness, 

 Dr. Falconer was engaged in collecting 

 information on tho physical geography 

 and geology of the ' Dead Sea.' The last 

 occasion on ■which he ventured out was 

 to attend a meeting of the Council of 

 the Eoyal Society, for the purpose of 

 xirging the propriety of voting a sum of 

 money, for finally determining the vexed 

 question of the relative levels of the 

 Dead Sea and of the Mediterranean. 

 This investigation was subsequently con- 

 ducted by Col. Sir Henry James, and 

 from a Eeport presented by him to the 

 Eoyal Society on May 3, 1866, it appears 

 that on March 12, 1865, the level of the 

 Dead Sea was 1,292 feet below that of 



the Mediterranean, and it was ascer- 

 tained that during the early summer the 

 level of the sea falls at least six feet 

 below the level at which it stood on the 

 day the levelling was taken. The sound- 

 ings in the Dead Sea by Lieut. Vignes of 

 the French Navy gave a maximum depth 

 of 1,148 feet, making the depression of 

 the bottom of the Dead Sea 2,446 feet 

 below tho level of the Mediterranean. 

 The soundings in the Mediterranean, 

 midway between Malta and Candia, by 

 Capt. Spratt, E.N., gave a depth of 1 3,020 

 feet, or a depression of the bottom fivo 

 times greater than that of tho bottom of 

 the Dead Sea.— [Ed.] 



