Sea extended no farther south than the peninsula, and that 
the cities destroyed lay on the south of the lake as it then 
existed. Lot fled from Sodom to Zoar, which was near; and 
Zoar, as we know, was in the mouth of Wady Kerak, as it 
opens upon the neck of the peninsula. The fertile plain, 
therefore, which Lot chose for himself, where Sodom was 
situated, which was well watered, like the land of Egypt, lay 
also south of the lake f as thou comest to Zoard Even to the 
present day more living streams flow into the Ghor at the 
south end of the sea than are found so near together in all 
Palestine besides.” (Physical Geography of the .Roly Land, 
P-21.) 
34. All this, I admit, is theory ; but then it is theory sug- 
gested by the physical aspect of the country, and by scientific 
observation — theory, too, which accords with and explains the 
Biblical narrative. The subject is not one for vague specu- 
lation, much less for dogmatic assertion. The problems which 
the Dead Sea presents must be solved, if solved at all, by 
careful scientific research. 
35. One other point I wish to note ere I close. The hill- 
sides and narrow strips of plain, on both the eastern and 
western shores of the Dead Sea, appear to be marked by a 
series of terraces, in all probability the shore-lines of former 
ages. The highest of these I noticed when examining the 
ranges of Moab under Nebo. Its elevation corresponds 
pretty nearly with the level of the Mediterranean, being about 
1,300 feet above the surface of the lake. There is a cor- 
responding terrace on the western side, of which Canon 
Tristram says : — “ These terraces in the old secondary lime- 
stone must be about the present level of the Mediterranean, 
and they seem to tell of a period long antecedent to the ter- 
tiary terraces and deposits below.” ( Land of Israel, p. 247.) 
36. About 230 feet above the level of the lake are traces of 
another ancient shore-line, marked by a strip of alluvial 
marl adhering to the rocks and cliffs, particularly at the 
north-west angle. The deposit is mixed with shells of exist- 
ing species, layers of gypsum and gravel. This terrace, or 
shore-line, might correspond with the general level of the 
lower section of the great valley, through which, as I have 
shown, the Jordan has cut for itself, at a more recent date, a 
deep channel. It has also been observed that where there 
are ravines running down to the lake between high cliffs, the 
deposit reaches up their sides in places to a height of 400 
feet, and then slopes away in a series of terraces to the level 
of the lake, indicating, just as is indicated at various places 
along the banks of the Jordan, a series of stages in the 
