182 
THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 
composed, from pole to pole, circumference to centre ; and in 
doing this, he finds himself, in his researches, right alongside of 
the navigator, the geologist, and the meteorologist, with a host of 
other good fellows, each one holding by the same thread, and fol- 
lowing it up into the same labyrinth — all, it may be, with different 
objects in view, but nevertheless, each thread will be sure to lead 
them where there are stores of knowledge for all, and instruction 
for each one in particular. And thus, in undertaking to explore 
the physical geography of the sea, I have found myself standing 
side by side with the geologist on the land, and with him, far away 
from the sea-shore, engaged in considering some of the phenome- 
na which the inland basins of the earth — those immense indenta- 
tions on its surface that have no sea-drainage — present for con- 
templation and study. 
370. Among the most interesting of these is that of the Dead 
Sea. Lieutenant Lynch, of the United States Navy, has run a lev- 
el from that sea to the Mediterranean, and finds the former to be 
about one thousand three hundred feet below the general sea-level 
of the earth. In seeking to account for this great difference of 
water level, the geologist examines the neighboring region, and 
calls to his aid the forces of elevation . and depression which are 
supposed to have resided in the neighborhood ; he then points to 
them as the agents which did the work. Truly they are mighty 
agents, and they have diversified the surface of the earth with the 
most towering monuments of their power. But is it necessary to 
suppose that they resided in the vicinity of this region? May 
they not have come from the sea, and been, if not in this case, at 
least in the case of other inland basins, as far removed as the other 
hemisphere ? This is a question which I do not pretend to answer 
definitely. But the inquiry as to the geological agency of the 
winds in such cases is a question which my investigations have 
suggested. It has its seat in the sea, and therefore I propound it 
as one which, in accounting for th^ formation of this or that inland 
basin, is worthy, at least, of consideration. 
371. Is there any evidence that the annual amount of precipi- 
tation upon the water-shed of the Dead Sea, at some former pe- 
riod, was greater than the annual amount of evaporation from it 
now is ? If yea, from what part of the sea did the vapor that sup- 
plied the excess of that precipitation come from, and what has cut 
