JERUSALEM TO BETHLEHEM. 401 
peculiar resort; that shells abound upon its chap. 
shores'; that the pretended "fruit, containing -■ 
ashes," is as natural and as admirable a pro- 
duction of nature as the rest of the vegetable 
kingdom*; that bodies sink or float in it, 
according to the proportion of their gravity to 
the gravity of the water " ; that its vapours are 
not more unwholesome than those of any other 
lake^; that innumerable v^/«^'^ people the neigh- 
bouring district"; — notwithstanding all these 
facts are now well established, even the latest 
authors by whom it is mentioned, and one. 
(3) See Maundrell, Hasselquist, &c. 
(4) It is the fruit of the Solaniim Melongena. Husselquist found it 
in abundance near the Dead Sea. When the fruit is attacked by an 
insect {Tenthredo), the inside turns to dust; the skin only remaining' 
entire, and of a beautiful colour. See Hasselquisl's Trav. p. 288. 
Lond. 1766. 
(o) De Chateaubriand's Travels, vol.\. /?. 416. Loud. )81I. This 
author gives {ibid. p. 412.) the analysis of its waters, being the result 
of an experiment made in London, upon a bottle of it, brought home 
by Mr. Gordon. Its specific gravity is 1,211. It is perfectly trans- 
parent, and contains the following substances, in the under-mentioned 
proportions : 
Muriat of Lime . . . 3,920 
Magnesia 10,246 
Soda 10,360 
Sulphat of Lime . . . .0.S4 
24,580 in 100 
(6) " The pestilential vapours said to issue from its bosom, are 
reduced to a strong smell of sea-water, &c." De Ckdlcaubriand's 
Travels, vol. 1. p. 416. 
(7) Ibid. p. 417- 
VOL. IV. C C 
