Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/541

Rh peeling off a solid surface of salt, several inches in thickness ; they were collecting it and loading it on asses." (Travels, p. 139.) It has been sometimes as.serted that the water is so saturated with salt that salt cannot be dissolved in it. The experiment was tried by Lieut. Lynch with the following result: — "Tried the relative density of the water of this sea and of the Atlantic — distilled water being as 1. The water of the Atlantic was 1.02, that" of this sea 1.13; the last dissolved, the water of the Atlantic , and distilled water , of its weight of salt. The boats were found to draw 1 inch less water when afloat upon this sea than in the river." (Lynch, p. 377.) The experiment tried by Vespasian has been repeated by nearly all travellers, of course with the same result. The density and buoyancy of the waters is such that it is impossible to sink in it. " A muscular man floated nearly breast high, without the least exertion." Several analyses of the waters have been made with various results, to be accounted for, as Dr. Robinson supposes, by the various states of the sea at different seasons ; for its body of water is increased to the height of 7 feet or more in the rainy season (Lynch, p. 289), or, according to Dr. Robinson, 10 or 15 feet; for he found traces of its high-water mark, at the south end, in the month of May, more than an hour south of its limit at that time. The following are the results of the analyses, the standard of comparison for the specific gravity being distilled water at 1000: —

. Dr. Mar- GaH-Lus I'f. Gme- llr. Av- fipeciBc Gratify - set, 1807. sac,' 181S. lin, lX2(i. john,1839. I'^Il 1228 1212 1153 Chloride of Calcinm .1-920 3-98 3-2141 2-43S f. Magnesium 10-245 15-31 11-7734 7-370 Bromide of .Ma^esium

— 0-1393 0-201 Chloride of Potasiium — _ 1 -s?.^ (l-,S.52 „ Sodium 10-350 6-95 7-0777 7-S39 „ Manjianese

0-2117 0-005 „ Aluminum

0-0S3fi — Ammonium

0-0075

Sulphate of Lime 0-0i4 — 0-11.527 0-075 ls-;so 24-580 '^I?24 24-5.-19S Water - -S-420 73-76 75-46U2 SI -220 100 ino ino HID (Rdbinson, Bib. Res. ii. pp. 224, 225.) Russegger says: — " The excessive saltness of the Dead Sea is easily accounted for by the washing down of the numerous and extensive salt-beds, which are peculiar to the formation of the basin, in which also are found bituminous rocks in sufficient quan- tity to enable us, without doing violence to science, to explain several chemical and physical peculiarities of this lake-water by the continual contact of these rocks with water strongly impregnated with salt." {Reisen, p. 207.) 4. Evaporation. — The enormous quantity of water brought down by the Jordan, particularly in the rainy sea.son, and by the other streams around the Dead Sea, some of which are very considerable, - — as e. g. the Anion was found to be 82 feet wide and 4 feet deep at its mouth, — is all carried off by evaporation ; and, when the small extent of the sea is considered, it is clear that the decomposition of its waters must be very rapid. The ancient writers speak of a noxious smell, of bubbles like those of boiling water, of much soot, and an invisible vapour, tarnishing all metals, and deleterious to the inha- bitants; and its change of aspect thrice a day may also be ascribed to the same cause. Now it is remarkable that nearly all these phaenomena have been noticed by recent explorers, and the single one which is not confirmed is accounted for in a manner which must exempt the ancient geographers from the charge of misrepresentation or exaggeration; and it may well be believed that the enormous chemical processes, perpetually going forward in the depths of the sea, may occasionally produce effects upon the surface which have not been chronicled by any modern traveller. Lieut. Lynch, while encamped near Engedi, remarked, " a strong smell of sul- phuretted hydrogen," though there are no thermal springs in this vicinity; and again, " a foetid sul- phureous odour in the night;" — " the north wind, quite fresh, and accompanied with a smell of sulphur." Lieut. Molyneux detected the same disagreeable smell the night he spent upon the sea, which he ascribed to the water (Journal of the R. Geoff. Soc. vol. xviii. .p. 127, 1848.) But Lieut. Lynch states that, " although the water was greasy, acrid, and disagreeable, it was perfectly inodorous." He is therefore inclined to attribute the noxious smell to the foetid springs and marshes along the shores of the sea, increased, perhaps, by exhalations from stagnant pools in the flat plain which bounds it to the north. (Expedition, pp. 292, 294, 296, 300.) The " pale-blue misty appearance over the sea." " the air over the sea, very misty," and " the two extremities of the sea misty, with constant evapora- tion " (p. 294), are other notes indicating the un- natural state of the atmosphere surcharged with the gases disengaged by the proce.ss. On a stormy night " the surface of the sea was one wide sheet of phos- phorescent foam, so that a dark object could have been discerned at a great distance " (p. 28 1 ; conip. Molyneux, /. c. p. 129). A kind of mirage, no- ticed by many travellers, may be attributed to the same cause. " A thin haze-like vapour over the southern sea : — appearance of an island between the two shores " (p. 288). This phaenomenon is more fully noticed by Irby and Mangles; " This evening, at sunset, we were deceived by a dark shade on the sea, which assumed so exactly the appearance of an island that we entertained no doubt regarding it, even after looking through a telescope. It is not the only time that such a phaenomenon has pre- sented itself to us; in two instances, looking up the sea from its southern extremity, we saw it appaiently closed by a low, dark line, like a bar of sand to the northward ; and, on a third occasion, two small islands seemed to present themselves between a long sharp promontory and the western shore. We were unable to account for these appearances, but felt little doubt that they are the same that deceived Mr. Seetzen into the supposition that he had dis- covered an island of some extent, which we have had opportunity of ascertaining, beyond all doubt, does not exist. It is not absolutely impossible, however, that he may have seen one of those tem- porary islands of bitumen, which Pliny describes as being several acres in extent." (Travels, p. 141.) Two effects of the heavy atmosphere of tlie sea remain to be noticed: one, the irresistible feeling of drowsiness which it induced in all who navigated it; the other, confirming, in a remarkable manner, the ancient testimonies, above cited, that the water appeared to be destructive to everything it touched, particularly metals; viz. that -'everytiiing in the boat was covered with a nasty slimy substance, iron dreadfully corroded, and looked as if covered with coal-tar." (Molyneux, /. *;. p. 128.) The " bubbles like those of boiling water," mentioned by Strabo, may be identified with the curious broad strip of foam, lying in a straight line nearly north and south throughout the whole length of the sea, whicL