Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/538

 S22 PALAESTINA. Jordan unci die Beschiffung des Todten Meeres, ein Vorlrag, tj'c., 1850. The original documents, from which these are chiefly compiled, are: — Comte de Bertou, in the Bulletin de la Soc. Geog. de Paris, torn. xii. 1839, pp. 166, &c., with chart; Russegger, JReiseti in Europa, Asien, Afrika, Sec, vol. iii. Stutt- gart, 1847, pp. 102—109, 132—134; Herr von Wildenbruch, Monatsherichte de Gesellschaft fur Erdhmde zu Berlin, 1845, 1846.) IV. The Dead Sea. Of all the natural phaenomena of Palestine, the Dead Sea is that which has most attracted the notice of geographers and naturalists both in ancient and modem times, as exhibiting peculiarities and sug- gesting questions of great interest in a geological point of view. Names. — The earliest allusion to this sea, which, according to the prevailing theory, refers to its ori- ginal formation, is found in the book of Genesis (xiv. 3), where it is identified with the vale " of Siddim," and denominated " the Salt Sea '' (-^ ^d- Aarro-a rwv aKwv, LXX.) ; comp. Numb, xx.xiv. 3, 12); which Salt Sea is elsewhere identified with " the sea of the plain '" (Deul. iii. 17, iv. 49 ; Josh. iii. 16, xii. 3), dda(TiTa "ApaSa, LXX. ; called by the prophets Joel (ii. 20), Zachariah (xiv. 8), and Eze- kiel (xlvii. 18), the "former," or ''eastern sea." Its common name among the cla.ssical authors, first found in Diodonis Siculus (inf. cit), and adopted by Josephus, is " Asphaltitis Lacus " (^aa(paT'iTts X'ilJLVT]), or simply ^ 'A(T<J)oATiTis. The name by which it is best known among Europeans has the authority of Justin (xxxvi. 3. § 6) and Pausanias (v. 7. § 4), who call it doAacrcro t) veKpd, " Mortuum Mare." Its modem native name is Bahr Lut, " the Sea of Lot," — therein perpetuating the me- morial of the catastrophe to which it may owe its formation, or by which it is certain that its features were considerably altered and modified. The name assigned it by Strabo must be referred to a slip of the author; for it is too much to assume with Fal- coner that the geographer had written 2o5djH7js ilJ.vr), when all the copies read SepSojcls A. So copious are the modern notices of this remark- able inland sea, that it would be vain to attempt even an abridgment of them ; and the necessity for doing so is in great measure superseded by the late successful surveying expedition, conducted by Lieut. Lynch of the American navy, whose published nar- rative has set at rest many questions connected with its physical formation. The principal ancient writers will be quoted in detail and in chrono- logical order, that it may appear how far they have borrowed one from another, or may be regarded as independent witnesses. Their notices will then be substantiated or controverted by modern writers. The questions relating to the formation of the sea, its volcanic origin, and the other igneous phaenomena in the country, will be reserved for another chap- ter. The earliest extant writer who has noticed at any length the marvels of the Dead Sea, is Diodorus Siculus (b. c. 45), who has twice described it ; first in his geographical sui-vey of the country (ii. 48), and subsequently in his account of the expedition of Demetrius against the Nabataei (xix. 98), to which last account a few particulars are added, which were omitted in the earlier book. " We ought not to pass over the character of this lake (Asphaltites) unmentioned. It is situated in PALAESTINA, the midst of the satrapy of Idumaea, in length ex- tending about 500 stadia, and in breadth about 60. Its water is very salt, and of an extremely noxious smell, so that neither fish nor any of the other ordinary marine animals can live in it : and although great rivers remarkable for their sweetness flow into it, yet by its smell it counteracts their effect. From the centre of it there rises every year a large mass of solid bitumen, sometimes more than 3 plethra in size, sometimes a little less than one plethrum.* For this reason the neighbouring bar- barians usually call the greater, bull, and the lesser, calf. The bitumen floating on the surface of the water appears at a distance like an island. The time of the rising of the bitumen is known about twenty days before it takes place; for around the lake to the distance of several stadia the smell of the bitumen spreads with a noxious air, and all the silver, gold, and brass in the neighbourhood loses its proper colour; which, however, returns again as soon as all the bitumen is ejected. The fire which bums beneath the ground and the stench render the in- habitants of the neighbouring country sickly and very short-lived. It is nevertheless well fitted for the cultivation of palms, wherever it is traversed by serviceable rivers or fountains available for the pur- poses of irrigation. In a neighbouring valley grows the plant called balsam, which yields an abundant income, as the plant grows in no other part of the world, and it is much used by physicians as a medicine. " The bitumen which rises to the surface is car- ried off by the inhabitants of both sides of the lake, who are hostilely inclined towards each other. They carry away the bitumen in a singular manner with- out boats : they construct large rafts of reeds, which they launch into the lake. Upon each of these not more than three can sit, two of whom row with oars attached to the raft, and the third, armed with a bow, drives off those who are saihng up from the opposite side, or who venture to use violence ; but when they come near to the bitumen they leap on it with axes in their hands, and, cutting it like soft stone, they lade their raft, and then return. If the raft break and any one fall off, even though he may he unable to swim, he does not sink as in other water, but floats as well as one who could swim; for this water naturally supports any weight capable of expansion, or which contains air, but not solid substances, which have a density like that of gold, silver, and lead, and the like : but even these sink much more slowly in this water than they would if they were thrown into any other lake. This source of wealth the barbarians possess, and they transport it into Egypt and there sell it for the purposes of embalming the dead ; for unless this bitumen is mixed with the other spices, the bodies will not long remain undecayed." It has been mentioned that Strabo (cir. A. D. 1 4) describes it under the name of Sirbonis Lacus, a palpable confusion, as regards the name, with the salt lake on the eastern confines of Egypt [SiRBONia Lacus], as is evident from his statement that it stretched along the sea-coast, as well as from the length which he assigns it, corresponding as it does with the 200 stadia given by Diodorus Siculus as the length of the true Sirbonis Lacus, which that author properly places between Coelesyria and two plethra in size.
 * In book ii. he says the smaller masses were