Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/222

184 glens and valleys of Palestine and Moab on either hand. Under such climatic conditions, we may feel assured, a luxuriant vegetation decked with verdure the hills and vales of Palestine and Arabia Petræa to an extent far beyond that of the present; and amongst the trees, as Sir J. D. Hooker has shown, the cedar may have spread far and wide.

11. The author has not thought it necessary to go into the question of the origin of the salinity of the Salt Sea, as this question is now fully understood. He is obliged to differ with Dr. Lartet in his view of the origin of the salt mountain, Jebel Usdum, which he (the author), as also Mr. Hart, regards as a portion of the bed of the Salt Sea, when it stood about 600 feet above its present level. This level exactly corresponds to that of the terraces, both along the south and east of The Ghôr, formed of lacustrine materials. The upper surface of Jebel Usdum was examined by Messrs. Hart and Laurence, of the Expedition, but previous explorers had considered the sides inaccessible.

12. The author concurs with previous writers in considering that the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods succeeded each other over this region (at least as far as the marine deposits are concerned) without any important physical disturbances; in consequence of which the limestone formations of these periods are in physical conformity and are generally incapable of separation without prolonged and detailed examination. It seems probable, however, that while the Nummulitic limestones predominate in the Egyptian and Nubian areas, those of the Cretaceous period were more fully developed over the area of Arabia Petræa and Palestine.

13. A complete series of meteorological observations, consisting of maxima and minima readings of the thermometer, and levels of the barometer, were made by Mr. Laurence, and will appear in the scientific work to follow.

14. A series of photographic views were taken by Dr. E. G. Hull, and a selection from them will be published.

15. A large collection of plants, and a smaller of animals, was made by Mr. H. C Hart.