135 
Bitumen, in this fluid state, has been called by some Latin 
writers, oleum, vivum. Thus, 
Vulcano condicta donius quam subter eunti 
Stagna sedent venis oleoque madentia vivo. — gratius. 
Hieronymus observes, that the lake Asphaltitis is called the Dead 
Sea, because no animal can live in it : and if any fish, by chance, 
come into it, they soon die, and swim on the surface*. 
Diodorus, who wrote about forty years before Christ, relates, 
that Demetrius, after his battle with Ptolomceus, formed his camp 
on the Asphaltine lake, which, he observes, is highly worthy of de- 
scription. He describes it as situated in the middle of the province 
of Idumcea, being five hundred stadia in length, and sixty in width. 
Its water was so bitter and fetid, that no fish, nor any other animal, 
could live in it ; and, although many rivers of fresh water emptied 
themselves into it, its strong odour was still prevalent. On the 
middle of this lake, a mass of solid bitumen arose every year ; some- 
times more than three acres, and at other times rather less than one 
acre, in extent. The barbarous inhabitants of the borders of the 
lake named the larger mass. The Bull, and the smaller. The Calf. As 
the bitumen swam upon the water, it appeared, to those who viewed 
it from a distance, to resemble a kind of island. The rising of the 
bitumen, he says, is preceded for twenty days, by certain peculiar 
signs. The smell of the bitumen, with an injurious vapour, is dif- 
fused to the distance of many stadia around the lake ; and what- 
ever articles of gold, silver, or brass, are within its influence, lose 
their original colour; which they, however, regain when all the 
bitumen has exhaled. A neighbouring spot, under which a subter- 
raneous fire exists, yields a vapour which smells much more strongly, 
and which renders the inhabitants unhealthy and short lived; and 
* Hieronym. in Ezekiel, sec. xlvii. 
