; 372 ARKK S TRAVELS. 
Bear to us, that we thought we could have rode thither i*s a 
very short space of time. Still nearer stood a mountain upon 
its western shore, resembling, in its form, the cone of Vesuvius, 
near Naples, and having also a crater upon its top, which was 
plainly discernible. The distance, however, is much greater 
than it appears to be; the magnitude of the objects beheld in 
this fine prospect causing them to appear less remote than they 
really are.* The atmosphere was remarkably clear and se¬ 
rene; but we saw none of those clouds of smoke, which, by 
some writers, are said to exhale from the surface of lake As¬ 
phalt ites, nor from any neighbouring mountain. Every thing 
about it was, in the highest degree, grand and awful. Its deso¬ 
late, although majestic features, are .well suited to the tales 
related concerning it by the inhabitants of the country, who 
all speak of it with terror, seeming to shrink from the narrative 
of its deceitful allurements and deadly influence. 44 Beautiful 
fruit,” say they, 44 grows upon its shores, which is no 
sooner touched, than it becomes dust and bitter ashes.” In ad¬ 
dition to its physical horrors, the region around is said to be 
more perilous, owing to the ferocious tribes wandering upon 
the shores of the lake, than any other part of the Holy Land. A 
passion for the marvellous has thus affixed, for ages, false 
characteristics to the subiimest associations of natural scenery 
ki the whole world; for, although it be now known that the waters 
of this lake, instead of proving destructive of animal life, 
swarm with myriads of fishesthat, instead of falling victims 
toils exhalations, certains birds j make it their peculiar resort; 
that shells abound upon its shores :§ that the pretended 44 fruit, 
containing ashes,” is as natural and as admirable a production 
of nature as the rest of the vegetable kingdom ;]J that bodies 
'■■■ ■ v • ' . .; . 1;Y • ;i l I #4 $$$. f ^ | 
* It is pleasing to confirm, by actual observation, the strong internal evidences of 1 
the genuineness of Sandys’ narrative. These were his remarks upon the same spot. 
From this ridge of hi.ls, the Dead Sea doth appeare as if neere at hand: but not 
so found by the traveller ; for that those high declining tnountaines are not to be di¬ 
rectly descended.” Sandy,s’ Travels, p. 176. Load. 1637. 
f “ About midnight [ heard a noise upon the lake. The Hethlebemites told me 
that it proceeded from legions of small fish, which come and leap about upon the 
shore.”* De Chateaubriand’s Travels, vol. I. p. 411. Lond.1811. 
t See Maundrell’s Journey, p. 84. Oxfi 1721. There were many lakes where the 
same fable was related of birds falling dead in flying over them. A lake of this na¬ 
ture was called Avernus, i. e. Aoknus, without birds. Reland refutes the fable, as 
applied to the Lake Asphaltites. “ Quod vero quidam scribunt aves supra lacuna 
hunc volantes necari, nuac quidem certe experlentiae repugnat ” Palaest. Illust. 
lib. i. cap. 38. Utr. 1714. 
§ See Maundrell, Hasselquist, etc. 
-|| It is the fruit of the Solanum Melongena. Hasselquist found it in abundance near 
t£e Dead Sea. When the fruit is attacked by aa insect ( TeAthndo t ) the inside turns 
