210 
HUDLESTO?^: GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE. 
Koman empire, from the numerous remains of villas in the environs. 
It only requires that the detestable Bedoueen should be driven away, 
for the place to become one of the most charming in the east. Allu- 
sion has already been made to the hot spring-s of Calirrhoe, and to 
the marvellous scenery of the gorge in which they occur. These 
are hotter than the Gadara waters, being about 140'^ F. This also 
is about the temperature of the hot springs of Emmaus, on the west 
side of the Lake of Tiberias, which have been made the subject of 
analysis. There is considerable general analogy between these 
waters, and those of Harrogate. The water of Emmaus is a highly 
saline sulphur water, containing bromide of magnesium in very 
appreciable traces. 
We cannot quit this part of the subject without a word about 
the waters of the Dead Sea. 
Well may the Arabs express astonishment when they see the 
spring- floods of the Jordan swallowed up jesiv after year, without 
any material increase in the size of the lake. To them the notion of 
evaporation will hardly present itself, — an evaporation which makes 
this place the recipient of everything that is soluble throughout 
the valley. 
The waters are so bitter and briny, that the fish of the Jordan 
are pickled at once, and cast up on its shores. Some persons have 
started the idea that the waters of the Dead Sea owe their salinity 
to the vicinity of Jebel Usdom, but when we compare the compo- 
sition of the salts of the Dead Sea waters with those of the Salt 
Mountain, it is at once perceived that such can not be the case. 
The rock salt of Jebel Usdom is nearly pure Chloride of Sodium, so 
that nothing but common salt and gypsum could be obtained from 
this source. Let us now turn to the composition of the waters of 
the Dead Sea. The amount of saline matters vary much according 
to position and depth. Samples from considerable depths contain ^ 
of their total weight as dissolved solid matter ; the salts of magnesium 
exceed those of an}'- other base, and there is a very considerable pro- 
portion of bromide. Sodium, calcium and potassium come next in 
the order named ; all these exist principally as chlorides and 
sulphates ; carbonates are very scarce. There can be no doubt 
