From the Jordan to the Dead Sea: —The Jordan, a short distance below the pilgrims’ bathing-place, sweeps round to the W., and then to the S.E. and S. again; widening gradually as it advances, and becoming more sluggish. Towards the mouth of the river the banks are low and muddy. At the mouth the width is 180 yds., and the depth only 3 ft.; but there is no ford, owing to the soft and slimy nature of the banks and bed. The embouchure is considerably inclined to the north-eastern angle of the Dead Sea, and immediately in front of it are 3 small mud islands from 6 to 8 ft. high, apparently subject to overflow.

In going from the Jordan to the Dead Sea it is better to strike across the plain in a south-western course, as we thus escape the soft banks of the delta, and save a détour. Immediately on gaining the upper bank or terrace we enter a ‘fat, smooth plain, covered with a white sulphureous crust, and without almost a single vestige of vegetation. Here we feel the oppressive atmosphere of this desolate region in all its intensity. The air becomes close and hazy as the sun ascends, giving a wavy motion to the parched soil, and a strange indistinctness of outline to distant objects. After an hour's weary ride over a trackless desert we suddenly reach the shore of that mysterious sea, with its unwholesome swamps, and slimy margin, and ridges of drift of broken canes, and willow-twigs, and poplar trunks ; all lying among the salt incrustations. The scene is solemn in its dreary desolation; the retiring mountains on either side being entirely naked, of a dull gray hue, streaked with purple shadows, hot and parched to the last degree. A little peninsula (an island when the water is high) with a long narrow neck is before us; riding out to it we find it entirely covered with ruins, apparently of great antiquity, consisting of large unhewn stones lying in confused heaps, and here and there arranged as foundations. Here too is a quantity of drift timber. The inquisitive traveller will now test the buoyancy of the water by a bath,.and its saltness and incomparable bitterness by a mouthful; while he is occupied in scrubbing the slimy incrustation from his body, and trying to eradicate the nauseous taste from his mouth, we may indulge in a glance at the scenery and history of the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is, whether considered physically or historically, the most remarkable sheet of water in the world. It lies in the lowest part of that deep ravine which extends from the base of Hermon to the gulf of ‘Akabah. A section of the ravine, more than 140 m. in length, is below the level of the sea, and the depression of the surface of the Dead Sea amounts to no less than 1312 ft. A single glance at the features of this region is sufficient to show that the cavity of the Dead Sea was coeval in its conformation with the Jordan Valley on the N., and the ’Arabah on the S. The breadth of the whole valley is pretty uniform, only contracting a little to the S. of the Lake of Tiberias, and expanding somewhat at Jericho ; the mountains on each side thus run in nearly parallel lines from Hermon to ‘Akabah. The Dead Sea, therefore, occupies a section of the great valley, which only differs from the rest in being deeper and covered with water. On the E. and W. it is shut in by lofty cliffs of bare white or gray limestone, dipping in many places into its bosom without leaving even a footpath along the shore. Its length is 40 m., and its greatest breadth 8 ½ , narrowing to 5 at the northern extremity. Near its S.E. angle, opposite the ravine of Kerak, is a broad low promontory, with a long point or cape stretching more than 5 m. northward up the centre of the sea. And it is worthy of special notice that the whole section of the sea, N. of this promontory, is of great depth, varying from 40 to 218 fathoms; and in some places the soundings show upwards of 118 fathoms within a few yards of the eastern cliffs. The southern section, on the other hand, is quite shallow; hever more than from 2 to 3 fathoms, and generally only about as many feet.

Lying in this deep caldron, encompassed by bare white cliffs, and exposed during the long Syrian summer to the unclouded beams of a burning sun, nothing could be expected on the shores of the Dead Sea but sterility and death-like solitude; and nothing else does the traveller find, save where, here and there, a brackish fountain, or mountain streamlet, creates a little thicket of willow, tamarisk, and oleander. Around these, however, birds sing sweetly as in more genial climes, and the Arab pitches his tent like his brethren on the high eastern plateau, and a luxuriant harvest rewards the labours of the husbandman—all showing that the stories so long current about the deadly exhalations from the poisonous waters are wholly fabulous. It is true that the tropical heat of the climate, causes immense evaporation, which often renders the atmosphere heavy and dark, and the marshes of the Ghôr give rise in summer to intermittent fevers, so that the proper inhabitants, including those of Jericho, are a feeble and sickly race; but this has no necessary connexion with the Dead Sea or the character of its waters. The marshes of Iskanderûn, on the shore of he Mediterranean, are much more unhealthy than any part of the Ghor.

The geological structure of the shores of the Dead Sea has never yet been thoroughly examined. The most careful survey hitherto published is that of Dr. Anderson of the American Expedition, and may be seen in the Official Report presented to the United States Government. The whole range of cliffs along the western shore is limestone, similar to that in the neighbouring Judean hills; it only varies in its shades of colour, being mostly white, but occasionally changing to a yellow and even a reddish hue. Along their base are several brackish and tepid springs; and at the N.W. angle of the sea are salt marshes, covered with a whitish nitrous crust, amid which pieces of pure sulphur are often met with. S. of ’Ain Jidy are similar marshes, with salt-pits, in which sulphur, asphalte, and even pumicestone abound; these chiefly occur at the little bay called Birket el-Khulîl. At the S.W. corner are the remarkable salt-hills of Usdum, already alluded to (Rte. 4), which are the principal causes of the extreme saltness of the water. On the S.E., beyond the marshy ground of the Ghôr, are sandstone mountains, a continuation of the Edom range; these give place to limestone in the valley of Kerak, but northward the sandstone again appears in thick strata below the limestone mountains of Moab. The promontory, or peninsula, el-Lisán “the Tongue,” as the Arabs call it, is a post-tertiary deposit of carbonate of lime and sandstone disintegrated, intermixed with sulphur and gypsum. At the mouth of Wady Zurka Ma’în are the celebrated warm springs of Callirrhoe, to which Herod the Great went in the vain hope of being cured of his loathsome disease. Here, between lofty perpendicular cliffs of red sandstone, a copious stream of sweet warm water flows into the lake. N. of this the cliffs bordering on the shore are composed of sandstone, over which limestone lies in places; and dykes and seams of old trap-rock also frequently occur. Here too, near the N.E. angle, we observe considerable quantities of post-tertiary lava; pumice-stone so light and porous that its specific gravity is less than that of the waters on which it easily floats; and likewise volcanic slag of various kinds.

It will thus be seen that, though the mountain ranges on each side of the Dead Sea are wholly, or almost wholly, composed of stratified rock, yet igneous rock is not entirely wanting ; and this, with the warm springs, the sulphur, pumice-stone, and volcanic slag, proves the presence of volcanic agencies in the valley at no very remote period. Few travellers visit Jerusalem who do not carry away with them, in the form of inscribed book, or cup, or “holy cross,” a portion of the black bituminous stone found in large quantities along the shores of the sea. Josephus tells us that the sea in many places sends up masses of asphaltum, which float on the surface; and the same phenomenon is still occasionally witnessed, especially after earthquakes. Dr. Robinson was informed by the Arabs that after the earthquake of 1834 a large quantity of asphaltum was cast upon the shore near the S.E. corner ; after the earthquake of 1837, also, an immense mass was discovered floating on the surface, and was driven aground on the W. side, not far from Usdum. These facts are all of the greatest importance when viewed in connexion with the historic notice in the Bible. The extreme saltness and pungent bitterness of its water are also remarkable characteristics of this sea; and are doubtless owing to the nature of the soil, which abounds with salt-springs, pits, and marshes; and especially to the huge ridge of fossil salt, called Jebel Usdum, at its southern end (see Rte. 4). Some idea may be formed of the character of the Dead Sea water from the fact, that, while the saline particles in the ocean amount to only 4 per cent., the former contains 26 ¼ per cent., and its specific gravity is, therefore, about one-fifth greater than that of the ocean. It is, in fact, impossible for the human body to sink in it. A bath in it is pleasant and refreshing, if care be taken to keep the water out of the mouth and eyes; the only strange effect produced is a slight greasiness of the skin, which remains for a day or so.