CHARACTEKISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF LAKES 547 
Hill,^ writing in 1900, said that the surface of the Dead Sea had 
risen considerably, as the Rujn el Bahr, an island existing a few 
years before near the north end of the lake, had disappeared, and 
the Jordan had been invaded by the lake, and much of the land 
in the neighbourhood submerged ; the beach on the east shown in the 
Exploration Fund map had also disappeared, water of considerable 
depth coming close up to the cliffs and rocks. He suggested that 
volcanic action might be raising the bed of the lake. The water 
does not appear to fall during the summer, so the rise cannot be due 
to the rainfall at any particular season ; but it is possible that a wet 
cycle may have set in, and the rise may be due to the increased 
rainfall of late years. 
On the other hand, according to a note in the Deutsche Rundschau^ 
referred to in the February Geographical Journal'^ of 1900, the water 
of the Dead Sea had recently undergone a marked diminution in 
volume, mainly, it was said, owing to the increased diversion of the 
water of the Jordan for irrigation purposes. The bed of the lake was 
said to appear like a deposit of dry salt. Monthly measurements 
of the rise and fall of the lake taken for the Palestine Exploration 
Fund during an exceptionally dry year, October 1900 to October 
1901, showed a rise of 1 foot 3 inches up to 30th March 1901, and 
then a fall of 1 foot 9 inches to October. Thus the level of the 
lake was lowered 6 inches in the year. Dr Masterman, who 
made observations of the fluctuation of the level of the Dead Sea 
from 1901 to 1906, reported^ that 37*95 inches of rain had fallen 
between autumn 1905 and spring 1906, and the level had risen 
34 inches. The figures given for the years 1901-1905 show that the 
extent of the rise is not always proportional to the rainfall. 
Putnam Cady* reports that at certain points along the shore on 
the east coast great quantities of oil flow from the rocks and spread 
over considerable portions of the sea. On the shore large pieces of 
pure sulphur and lumps of bitumen weighing several pounds were 
found. He also writes of a strong current setting towards the north 
along the east coast, and of disturbances of level due to differences of 
barometric pressure at different points on the lake. 
Lynch ^ states that no animalcules or animal matter were detected 
in the water by a powerful microscope, although the surface of the sea 
one evening was a wide sheet of phosphorescent foam, a phenomenon 
1 Quarterly Statement, Palestine Exploration Fund, July 1900, p. 273. 
2 See vol. XV. p. 175, 1900. 
^ Quarterly Statement, Palestine E-qjloration Fund, July 1906. 
^ "Tlie Historical and Physical Geography of the Dead Sea Eegion," Bull. 
Amer. Geogr. Sac, vol. xxxvi. p. 585, 1904. 
^ Op. cit., p. 324. 
