JERUSALEM TO BETHLEHEM. " 403 
long continue unexplored. The thirst of know- chap. 
_ ^1 A.. 
ledge, and the love of travel, have attained to <_ y. > 
such a pitch, that every portion of the globe 
will be ransacked for their gratification. In- 
deed, one of the advantages derived from 
the present perturbed state of nations is that 
of directino- the observation of enliohtened 
travellers to regions they probably would 
not otherwise have noticed. 
Reland, in his account of Lake j4sphaltites''y 
after inserting copious extracts from Galen, 
concerning the properties and quality of the 
water, and its natural history, proceeds to 
account for the sti'ange fables that have pre- 
vailed with regard to its deadly influence, by 
shewing that certain of the Antients confounded 
this lake with another, bearing the same appel- 
lation of Asphaltkes (which signifies nothing 
more than bituminous^), near Babylon; and that 
they attributed to it qualities which properly 
belonged to the Babylonian waters ^ An account 
(5) Palmt. Illust. lib. ii. cap. 38- torn. I. p. 238. Trag.Bat. 1714. 
(6) *' Mare mortuum, in quo nihil poterat esse vitale, et mare 
amarissimum, quod Graeci X/^aysjv 'Air^aXTiVjiy, id est Stagnum hituminis, 
vocant." Hieron. in Comm. ad. Ezeh. xlvii. 
(7) " Credo itaque confudisse quosdam veterum hunc lacum 
Asphaltitem cum alio lacu ejusdem nominis circa Babylonem, et uni 
tribuisse quod alteri tribuendum fuerat." 
