Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/251

Rh the order read اخصوا الرجال i.c., "Mutilate the men." This cruelty was literally carried out. The sufferers all died in consequence, and were buried where they had lived, and the human bones now found in the caves in Wady Kababeh are theirs." The fellah who related this could neither read nor write.



{{c|{{fs|105%|{{sc|{From the Reports of the sittings of the "Société de Géographie," Nos. 17-18, 1893.)}}}}}}

of the principal objects of the long journey which I made in Syria during the summer of 1890, was the study of the deep fauna of this lake. Up to that time scarcely anything was known of it except the molluscs, and especially the fish, and the considerable number of these last caused it to be anticipated that waters so swarming with fish would harbour a rich population of inferior animals. These anticipations have not been deceived, but this is not the place to narrate the zoological results of my researches; let it suffice me to say that, thanks to a special kind of dredge, I have been able to study with much care the bathymetric distribution of the organisms which live in the lake. This study promised to be especially interesting in the great depths described by Lortet (820 feet), and by Macgregor, after Armstrong (935 feet). Now, these depths I have never been able to find, although for six days I traversed the lake in every direction, carrying my researches principally towards the points which M. Lortet himself kindly indicated to me before my departure from France.

Reluctantly I had to abandon my soundings, promising myself to clear up the question on my return. This has not been easy, and has demanded on the one hand long bibliographical researches, on the other a whole correspondence with Messrs. Armstrong and Lortet. The problem is not yet quite elucidated, but I think I have reduced it to its lowest terms, and a few casts of the lead will be sufficient to settle it definitely. In my efforts to explain it I have had occasion to notice several errors which little by little have been credited, and which it is necessary to cause to disappear from science. A few words of history are necessary in order to state properly the facts of the question.

In the month of August, 1847, Lieutenant Molyneux, of the English navy, succeeded by dint of great efforts in conveying a boat from Haifa to Tiberias; for two days he navigated the Lake of Gennesaret, occupying