Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/186

170 170 THE WESTERN SHORE OF THE DEAD SEA.

between the mountains and the Dead Sea, near 'Ain Feshkah. The wady descends from the elevated Plain of el Bukei'a, which contains other names like Kumran, which are severally and together very suggestive of a connection with Gomorrah.

THE WESTERN SHORE OF THE DEAD SEA.

Has Feshkah to Ras Mersid.

Dr. Tristram's description of his bold examination of the coast between Kas Feshkah and Eas Mersid is hardly con- current with the new Survey.* At Eas Feshkah, the plain is brought to an absolute termination by the descent of the head- land into deep waters, rendering a passage impracticable even to an adventurous cragsman like Dr. Tristram, who had to scramble up and down the rocks and gullies away from the water line to reach the south side.f Lieutenant Conder pays high compliments to Dr. Tristram's map of the Dead Sea ; but there are discrepancies between the two maps which claim some explanation. In the older map, there is first, the bold bank projected into the sea on the south of Eas Feshkah, and next is the advance of the cliff to the shore on the north of Wady Derejeh, neither of which are supported by the New Survey. If these may be explained by a difference in the level of the waters, or otherwise, it would be well to^do so.

From Eas Feshkah to Eas Mersid, a distance of 15 miles, the shore of the Dead Sea is restored, and gradually becomes about half a mile in width, at the foot of overhanging cliffs rising to a height of 2,000 feet. Eight miles south of Eas Feshkah, the strand projects into the sea, and becomes a mile wide, apparently from the detritus brought down from the mountains by Wady ed Derajeh (meaning steps), and Wady Husasah (meaning gravel). Between the two great head- lands, the cliffs form a slight curve which recedes for a mile and a half at Wady ed Derajeh, from a chord line stretched


 * "Land of Israel," 276, 277. f Ibid., 254.