46 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



must have remained stationary for a very considerable period, while most 

 of the upper marls became converted into the lower formation by a long 

 process of denudation. From the latter elevation to the present the subsi- 

 dence has no doubt been very recent, and is still continuing. The most 

 recent deposits of the Dead Sea are of course perfectly barren, except of 

 mixed drift, or where these have been converted into marshes or fertilized 

 by the few small fresh-water streams. 



But I anticipate, in my anxiety to get down to the fertile Ghor es 

 Safieh. 



At 'AyAn Buweirideh a small flock of pintail grouse circled round 

 the wells, but I failed to obtain a specimen. Subsequently I recognised 

 the note, and obtained the bird, Pterocles senegalensis, Linn., at Bir es 

 Seb4. Its call is very peculiar, recalling the strange utterance of the 

 Manx shearwater. 



On the night of the 14th we were visited with a thunderstorm and a 

 tremendous downpour of rain. Rain had also fallen on December 3, 

 the day we left 'Akabah ; this was our total from Cairo to the Dead Sea. 

 The thunder on the 14th was grand, and continuous for about three- 

 quarters of an hour. Lightning flashed at about every five seconds. 



CHAPTER IX. 



SOUTH END OF THE DEAD SEA. 



On December 16 we obtained our first view of the Dead Sea, and 

 descended to the plain at its southern extremity. The whole depression 

 in which the Dead Sea lies, 1,300 feet below sea-level at its surface, is 

 called the ' Ghor,' or ' Hollow.' On the first night we camped in the 

 Ghor el Feifeh, and from the 17th to the 26th inclusive we were detained 

 at the Gh6r es Safieh while waiting for means of transport from 

 Jerusalem, 



This enforced delay in so unique a locality was to me a most fortunate 

 circumstance. Previous visitors do not appear to have obtained more than 

 a hurried peep at the Ghor es Safieh. The difficulties arise from the 



