The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-07 00:00:00

LITE RAT VIE.

NARRATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES
EXPEDITION TO THE RIVER JOR-
DAN AND THE DEAD SEA. By W. F.
Lynch, U.S.N., Commander of the Expedition.
Narratives of travels in the Holy Land are pos-
sessed of a peculiar and universal charm, occasioned
in part by their sacred associations, and in part, pro-
bably, by the fact of the names and places to which
they relate having been from our childhood familiar
to us as household words. Hence' although that at-
tractive region has been celebrated by the genius of
Chateaubriand and Lamartine, both especially qua-
lified to chronicle such a pilgrimage, we turn with
interest to every new account of the most interesting
portion of the globe. Tha narrative before us differs
in some respects from all its predecessors; it describes
a hitherto unexplored region, and, moreover, it—this
record of the world of bygone times—is written by
an American. Lieutenant or Captain Lynch has
treated the subject, as it should be treated, con amore.
His remarks exhibit the intelligence of an educated
man together with the enthusiasm of a true believer.
This visit to the Holy Land had it seems been for
years one of his favourite day-dreams. When, em-
barked on the expedition, the land of America had
disappeared from sight, he writes with exultation—
" The yearnings of twenty years were about to be gra-
tified. When a young midshipman, almost the very
least in the escort of the good Lafayette across the ocean,
my heart was prepared for its subsequent aspirations.
In truth, in our route across the Atlantic, in the silent
watches of the night, my mind, lost in contemplation,
soared from the deep through which we ploughed our
way, to that upper deep, gemmed with stars, revolving
in their ceaseless round, and from them to the Mighty
Hand that made them ; and my previous desire to visit
the land of the Iliad, of Alexander and of Csar, became
merged in an insatiate yearning to look upon the
country which was the cradle of the human race, and the
theatre of the accomplishment of that race's mysterious
destiny; the soil hallowed by the footsteps, fertilized by
the blood, and consecrated by the tomb, of the Saviour.
Twice, since, at distant intervals, I contemplated making
the desired visit. But the imperative calls of duty in the
tirst instance, and a domestic calamity in the second,
prevented me. As I have before said, in the spring of
the present year I asked permission to visit the lands of
the Bible, with the special purpose of thoroughly ex-
ploring the Dead Sea; the extent, configuration, and de-
pression of which ore as much desiderata to science as
its miraculous formation, its mysterious existence, and
the wondrous traditions respecting it. are of thrilling
interest to the Christian. The same liberal spirit which
decided that the expedition should be undertaken, di-
cted ample means to be furnibhed fur its equipment.
NN7 WI our boats, therefore, and arms, ammunition, and in-
struments, I felt well prepared for the arduous but de-

lightful task before tue.."
The same sentiments pervade the entire work ; its
composition, like the expedition to which it relates,
has evidently been a labour of love. The expedition
was eminently successful. The following passage
gives the result of its labours :
" Before retiring we bathed in the Dead Sea, pre-
paratory to spending our twenty-second and last night
upon it. 'We have carefully sounded this sea, determined
its geographical position, taken the exact topography of
its shores, ascertained the temperature, width, depth,
and velocity of its tributaries, collected specimens of
every kind, and noted the minds, currents, changes of the
weather, and all atmospheric phenomena. These, with
a faithful narrative of events, will give a correct idea of
this wondrous body of water, as it appeared to us.
"From the summit of these cliffs, in a line a little north
of west, about sixteen miles distant, is Hebron, a short
distacce from which Dr. Robinson found the dividing
ridge between the Mediterranean and this sea. from
Beni Na'im, the reputed tomb of Lot, upon that ridge,
it is supposed that Abraham looked " towards all the
land of the plain," and beheld the smoke, " as the smoke
of a furnace." The inference from the Bible, that this
entire chasM was a plain sunk and " overwhelmed" by the
wrath of God, seems to be sustained by the extraordi-
nary character of our soundings. The bottom of this
sea consists of two submerged plains, an ekvated and a
depressed one; the last averagiflg thirteen, the former
about thirteen hundred feet below the surface. Through
the northern, and largest and deepest one, in a line cor-
responding with the bed of the Jordan, is a ravine,
which again seems to correspond with the Wady el Jeib,
or ravine within a ravine, at the south end of the sea.
" Between the Jabok and this sea, we unexpectedly
found a sudden breakdown in the bed of the Jordan. If
there be a similar break in the water-courses to the south
of the sea, accompanied with like volcanic characters,
there can scarce be a doubt that the whole Ghor has
sunk from some extraordinary convulsion; preceded,
most probably, by an eruption of fire, and a general con-
flagration of the bitumen which abounded in the plain.
I shall ever regret that we were not authorized to explore
the southern Ghor to the Red Sea.

" All our observations have impressed me forcibly with
the conviction that the mountains are older than the sea.
Had their relative levels been the same at first, the tor-
rents would have worn their beds in a gradual and cor-
relative sloop;—whereas, in the northern section, the
part supposed to have been so deeply engulphed, al-
though a soft, bituminous limestone prevails, the torrents
plunge down several hundred feet, while on both sides of
the southern portion, the ravines come down without
abruptness, although the head of Wady Kerak is more
than a thousand feet higher than the head of Wady
Ghuweir. Most of the ravines, too, as reference to the
map will show, have a soutlawardlinclination near their
outlets, that of Zerka Maine or Callirohoo especeially,
which, next to the Jordan, must pour down the greatest
volume of water in the rainy season. But even if they
bad not that deflection, the argument which has been
based on this supposition would be untenable; for tribu-
taries, like all other streams, seek the greatest declivities
without regard to angular inclination. The Yerman
flows into the Jordan at a right angle, and the Jabok
with an acute one to its descending course.
"There are many other things tending to the same
conclusion, among them the isolation of the mountain of
Usdum; its difference of contour and of range, and its
consisting entirely of a volcanic product.
" But it is for the learned to comment on the facts we
have laboriously collected. Upon ourselves, the result
is a decided one. We entered upon this sea with conflict-
ing opinions. One of the parties was sceptical, and
another, I think, a professed unbeliever of the Mosaic
account. After twenty-two days' close investigation, if
I am not mistaken, we are unanimous in the conviction
of the truth of the Scriptural account of the destruction
of the cities of the plain. I record with diffidence the
conclusion we have reached, simply as a protest against
the shallow deductions of would-be unbelievers."
Interesting as the narration of the travellers' adven-
tures may be, those adventures were not always quite
agreeable to the travellers themselves. At times they
suffered intensely from heat and thirst, e. g. :
"In the early part of the night, there was scarcely a
moment that some one Was not at the water-breakers;
but the parching thirst could not be allayed, for, al-
though there was no perceptible perspiration,' the fluid
was carried off as fast as it was received into the system.
At 9, the breakers were exhausted, and our last waking
thought was water. In our disturbed and feverish slum-
bers, we fancied the cool beverage purling down our
parched and burning throats. The mosquitoes, As if
their stings were envenomed by the heat, tormented us
almost to madness, and we spent a miserable night,
throughout which we were compelled to lie encumbered
with our arms, while, by turns, we kept vigilant watch.
" We had spent the day in the glare of a Syrian sun,
by the salt mountein of Usdum, in the hot blast of the
sirocco, and were. now bivouacked under the calcined
cliffs of Moab. When the water was exhausted, all too
weary to go for more, even if there were no danger of
a surprise, we Shrew ourselves upon the ground—eyes
smarting, skin burning, lips, and tongue, and throat
parched and dry; and wrapped the first garment.
.we
could find around our heads to keep off the stifling
blast; and, in our brief and broken slumbers, drank
from ideal fountains.
"Those who have never felt thirst, never suffered in a
simoom in the wilderness, or been far off at sea, with
"'Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink,'

can form no idea of our sensations."
In another place we find the commander of the ex-
pedition making the following rather unsatisfactory
observation :—" Thus far all, with one exception,
had enjoyed good health, but there were symptoms
which caused us some uneasiness. The figure of each
one had assumed a dropsical appearance. The lean
had become stout, and the stout almost corpulent ;
the pale faces InnAl become florid, and those which
were florid ruddy ; moreover the slightest scratch
festered., and the bodies of many of us were covered
with small pustules. The men complained bitterly of
the irritation of their sores whenever the acrid water
of the sea touched them. Still all had good appetites,
and I hoped for the best; there could be nothing
pestilential in the atmosphere of the sea." " Where-
ever there is an evil," adds Captain Lynch, " there
is usually its antidote near at hand ; and perhaps the
remedy for these cutaneous diseases (above-men-
tioned) is to be found in the acrid juices of the
osher, which grows here and upon the southron shores
of this sea." This " osher' is no other than the
celebrated apple of Sodom—
" All gold and ruddy on the rind,
And ashes at the core."

"This fruit," says Captain Lynch, "is doubtless the 1
genuine apple of Sodom, for it is fair to the eye and
bitter to the taste, and, when ripe, is filled with fibre;
and dust. We have succeeded in bringing safe) y
home some of the green and the dried fruit, end a/.so
the leaves and blossoms of the osher, put up in spb:its
of wine." Among the numerous interesting anecch)tes
scattered throughout the narrative, the follownE- is
singularly sad, and might have formed the ground.
work of one of Moore's or Byron's Eastern poems
" Towards noon it became very warm, and we tvere
thirsty. Meeting an old Arab woman, we dispatched
her to the Subeih for some leban. We noticed that
'Awad, our Ta'amirah guide, was exceedingly polit a to
her. But when she returned, accompanied by her
daughter, a young and pretty fellaha, he became sad,
and scarce said a word while they remained. On being
asked the reason of his sudden sadness, he confessed
that he had once spent twelve months with that tribe,
sleeping, according to the custom of Arab courtship,
every night outside of the young girl's tent, in the hope
of winning her for his wife. He said that they were
mutually attached, but that the mother was opposedNo
him, and the r demanded 4000 piastres, about 170
dollars. 'Awad had 2,000 piastres, the earnings of his
whole life, and in the hope of buying her (tor such
is the true name of an Arab moin), lie determined