The Sun.
London, England, 1823-03-26 00:00:00

THE DEAD SEA.

As this vast body of water, Which covers
many cities, is little known, it maybe interesting
to our. Readers to give a description of it, and of
the horrors of the country around, which had
been visited with the vengeance of Heaven, as
communicated by an English Traveller, who
recently witnessed these terrific scenes of Deso.

ation

After being accommodated with a strong mi-
litary escort by the Governor of Jerusalem to
Jericho, and receiving another from the Chief of
the Arabs in that quarter, he says, in allusion
to tfaversing the Plains of Jericho :—" I set out
on a tract along a dead plain. The day was
dark and gloomy, as if Heaven had, in its
righteous judgment frowned on this land, and
marked it out as one that should be eternally ex-
cluded from the regard or superintendance of
Providence, which exhibited a woeful picture of
[ desolation around. The tract was so deep as to

render it difficult to get forward with the mules and
horses. Not an animal except these was to be
found, for whom, indeed, the ground could af..
ford no kind of sustenance on account of its na.
kedness, the notes of a bird to be heard, or even

the smallest insect to be seen."
After arriving at, and giving a most interesting
deicription of the River Jordan, it is added,
" Leaving the banks of this celebrated River, I ,
directed my course to the Dead Sea, and stretched
along the plain or desert, in a northern direction.
In the course of this ride the weather brighten.
ed but this was only calculated to lay open, in
a more frightful form, that awful scene of deso-
lation, and; in fact, was lifting up the shroud from
the disfiguration of death itself. The accursed
soil over which my path lay was white, re.
seinbling powder, which the rains had con-
"veiled literally into mortar. As 1 proceed:
• ed, MY attention was vividly.excited by views of
regularly formed castles, fortifications, and other
edifices ; but on approaching these the illusion
vanished, and I found 'them to be merely masses
of moving sand, which had assumed in the course
of time theSe fantastical appearances.

No language of the maxi eloquent writer can
giveta tiffial
Ipv rhoi
cp
he rreignsdescription
iri thiso of
dtehvaott
emdo urer ngfi uo
nl
,defvroasm-
those curses denounced against it, or express that
solemn horror, which the scene is so much calcu-
lated to inspire. This country must be visited,
in order that its state may be believed, and which
may be said as strikingly monumental of the tree
mendous wrath of Almighty God, To the ter-
rible acts indeed exercised in his powerful ven-
geance, we find allusion repeatedly made in the
sacred volume. A profound silence, awful as
deaths bangs over this Lake, but the-sound of its
hollow waters slowly rolling before the wind,
along with heavy showers, were even more
ap-
palling than the desolation of its shores. At this
time, tater reading. from the book of inspiration
that tragical and heart-rending description of
" the fire and brimstone," which rained upon the
place, I gazed on every thing around me, in the
midst of my savage guards, drawn up on the
beach, and was rivetted to the spot in silent
wonder and awful dread ; feeling as if I had
been brought to the very verge of the habitable
world. The strongest wish that I could express
at this never-to-be-forgotten moment was, that
those 4fidels who know not Gods or believe in
his Gospel, were standing on the precise spot,
spectators of those terrible scenes which would
have shaken them to the centre, unhinged every
nerve, and brought home powerful conviction to
their miserably deluded minds, on the existence
of demonstrative guidance of the authenticity of
Revelation, anti that there is an Almighty Power
-whose arm has been made bare, has thrown down
the thunderbolt sof his vengeance, and has burned
up his adversaries!
No fish exist in its waters, nor could I per-
ceive on its shore any shells. I bathed, but I
cannot say I was sensible of the water being
buoyant, as some have asserted. The smell ap-
proaches to that of Harrowgite, and also not un-
like bilge water. I found pieces of bitumen,
which are black, and hard as flint, on applying
which to fire, a smoke issues; and the place
where this experiment is made_ appears to be
strongly impregnated with a sulphurous smell.
The lake assumes the form of, a bow, lies
between a chain of stupendous mountains,
is estimated at eighty miles in length, twenty in
breadth, and although understood to have no
visible issue, yet does not overflow. Science has
truly deep reason to deplore that no effort has
been made on the part of Bui-opean Governments
for permission from the Turks to transport a small
vessel, which might be effected. from Joppa
(Jaffa), or materials to construct one on the
Banks of this Lake, in order that every part of
it might be explored. When itis considered that
hitherto all the knowledge possessed relative to
this prodigious body of dead water, has been de-
rived from the hasty observations of solitary tra-
vellers like myself, it cannot admit of doubt that
many curious discoveries might be made, and the
truth also of what has been supposed, with regard
to vestiges of remains of the demolished cities
under water, would he most accurately ascer-
tained ; in short the precise length, breadth, cir-
cumference, and depth of the Ivhole, with other
objects highly important.
The situation of this country, as described by
Moses at the time he wrote, appears to have been
the same as at the present moment ; he observes
that 44 the whole land is brimstone and salt, it
44 is not sown, or beareth, nor any grass gioweth
" thereon," and the acts of Divine vengeance
which have thrown it into such an awful state,
have been recorded by infinite wisdom, as holding
up an everlasting warning to countries involved
in sin and wickedness. In short, no language
can more accurately describe the horrid situation
of this region, than what is to be found in the
pages of Holy Wilt.
On the whole, the vast wildernes's, frightful
sterility, and strange apparitional form of the
moving sands, are sufficient, .without any extra-
vagant fiction and chimeras of the imagination,
to impress deeply e beholder with the most pro-
found sentiments of religious awe, and the dread-
ful power of an avenging deity, 1 filled two
bottles with the water, and as the shades of night

were, approaching, the guards represented the
danger of remaining longer, since an attack might
be apprehended from some of the tribe of Arabs,
who lurk about this lake, and are known to
conceal themselves in the loose sands, watching
for prey. I mounted my mule, and departed on
return to Jericho, and from thence to J erusalem,
happy I had accomplished a journey w ilia has
been always considered as attended with iu
much peril and difficulty.
(From Travels in the Holy Land, by IVILLI.oc RAr
• WILSON, Esq.)

CORONERS' INQUESTS,

--•eessee•—_
DEATH BY FIGHTING. ' I ‘
Yesterday morning, an inquiry took plac
fore CHARLES JEaiMETT, Esq., the Coroner for Sorrel, :'
a respectable Jury, at the Elephant and Castle, Newinetoir
touching the death of John Brim, who was unfortanstO
killed in fighting, at Newington, with two coal-heavers, i '
ti
Stroud.
T. and Moore.
Mr Sillito sworn—On Saturday last, between the 44
of four and tive in the afternoon, I was passing along Ne i '
ton-road, on the side called King's.row, and sate meet
Bons loaded with coal, following each other, and a hone
mg dose to the bridge, by the road-side, opposite the bu-
shop, kept by the deceased. The driver of the first team !,,
fully struck the horse, and the animal plunged on the foOt4PT 4
and I narrowly escaped being' killed. I expostuted with olc
man on his behaviour, and he poured forth the foulest aloe:
gee.
sn,dhtahiedre:eisdnu
probpolounwnds.:d
—At this moment the decased came out of his own shop, aP','.
wine words were exchaned between him and the caner ivh9 .
andl
byd i
somenotsaw
time afterwards I saw the deceased in his room sitting n
to be faint and sick, but I did not then suppose inn' "." f osir,
dying state ; I conceived his state to be die effects o
exertion.
C-onwera—Did you know either of the men by nail
did not. see the
hthmisoe rerfiersoi
aftttihvbesel blow
ails;
etsilaci:etiknorili.pageeflf
Mary Ilighton sworn.—l live in Eing's.raw ,I, Se; :, s 0 , ,
ceased Briggs and the coal-heaver fighting, and 'Tfro tint
knocked down by his opponent ; he fell agoinit ns—
bit of
he a
stood at my door for sale, with such violence that t
0.
the stove was bent. The deceased was picked up, sn
other eoal.heaver struck him on the ear. to the
The evidence of all the other witnesses examined oeir
same effect.—Vadict, Manslaughttr against both i"' -
3foorr. k on inguii.
SUICIDE—Last night, between 7 and 8 o'doc r ii,bs '
lion was taken at the Plough Tavern, BeSUfOO.lO
Strand, before Mr. Hums Deputy Coroner for West
on the bod of George Ilakwick, a wheelwright, wbo P'
himself.—Verdict, Insanity. ~., w beli
, st f
INQUEST IX THE Ft.EIT.—A coroner's oul-i-td,,, flee
yesterday before T. SHELTON, Egg. Coroner, tinc,l.lol.:
Prison, on the body of John ' Brown,a prisoner, con.ine el
contemprof the Court of Chancery. The decesslice'wo obe
the prison about tire months ago, aged 40 Yearg• , • lobo itv-
served, within a few days,after, to repine much, woir_ ,ree
puted to a fretful disposition, and which nothing try -
move. He gradually lingered under extreme debility
day night last, !ken he expired. The Cormier sai
_(l7.
nothing attache', to the death of the deceased the r
the Jury to entertain any other opinion than thettf;"„
tural death. The jealousy' of the law was slide, 1,X,"
required Inquests to be held on persons villa done
was the only thing that urged the present a
11 the
without hesitation, returned a Verdict of " Die Y
thou of God."

seemed?
‘,. ti,gbitur•
there
cola
`le (lied 4"
tit 10:1:1
FllOll, ,q,
111
• Valt4*

OF
3CgairFn,
.I.;anAMdtivErS
gre531111T4'...11111 3cel'ilL:1.1.11,0311:14.
EmnornTihCniU;ou.Penemlen Heath, near Maid,tone' Votofilo 11,if
custihhceerilette:itrs:(lnno
nso procession e,uaiLn4ts
etiFetlyir oiii
nftlitmmihcenneg:tohawthge,
ilarlsargenaeaeg
osoaynesdee,tl;no, contrition, tibutio.hif his
anCOST/al;:)liicuAltifivto/10icep'$eril3011.11iioti
to the attentions of' the worthy Chaplain, ,td- it rust of ,
n
spreattl'i)hm e time expected
g,ebare flioowr etuli'slrna,Ol
hitiehlN'eaalenerpfte4:::
d
atirtithn:anet:aiitttt cameawhaseubtodlntli
evSs.ueditntd.sailylviviteaerssr:nldponecifroleediCnlestitv,a4.tid,rreL„ °nhalsrter°lll,4l4:ll:ll4:vaiiptle::-.;)0
phhatti,s-t,
Book, opem7eedd atf7rtwhearf.t.llecit
the gaol,
would be received,.ulte
coopidoor4 the
:perrixtaehisseenion had reached the
read ;
it was, he raised his eyes, and slba - the (7-4,/;-lteb''
alto Ttli,;: from Ilissorcs.iii
,14;
gallows, and desa3ihreedkeadrrthlifveedthelategat'llie
Greenwich, who conveyed him to Vol, sited
id taltr ' I 10
any message to send home, if ho had he welt. the vase icip
man said—" No, I have done all, that—that 1.3
...nd Jr , tte
told you of—Bob is "the man. "--The Bet We ocepdlet $
thbuetnt thjisninhedandhkienrehi iniefp.rayert
yellow silk handkerchief, when he Celled Farmer'
o WITO6 0,
and give it to a wouatsibleroht
don't forget--I hope lam going wa ,
xecutioner was putting the rape hierOtlnu„ ,a, hcIP ill' 000
-c 4 Don't put me into an y pergotorY ~.. Y4lll ",; Noboasro.
A "tl-- l'
Steel ; you know her—tell ber I sent
biletttochr evrcice.......lil 0 bit
Sin ' itOber 1 0
at
lotind° gdflsthvirattest .bhoe::::1plo,.:
stell, t iolbSrva
3, liiii Ineji.c
trit I,ti n:en . l ich:::e.,ll:.
winchoebt)ll"tai
iertt
i.ri
tbr:lSo4,l,:fittinr:
I:I:sill:1:e
vil:p!s,.,,til,a .i.e:r:
stab
I:trgsli.ill
1:
1,11.
ti
tciootlertiotil,ic, ~,,,tici,..
. that is the man I die for •he is the man thav_is,grest 0
hen NOettifeareel.'ittlyl Ideisthrecsn6saedlid &toll-Fern- ''lt --si:e:e his on",',,cjie,
Other man but him; the for;
forgive lit t....01,14;1 et
but I ant innocent of that—thank (Ical ..4,11.11 lln evel
great—his brother Joules triode the bullet, 14..1% ~,, a 1 ,if
him 'do, 11.,0,
....i t --1 1
eh
thenis ow
said
mdofuot
the h told
el LI
eme
ue t
is 00
Ire
rt: I, ,
__,..
abijetlmeni: eoal i e 7
~,v,
asctitiyaounecrahnL—lertrilitiemn,ehveersaliPdr—eP`ra'inti°ll: Wwardsiu. irtiretieltrifo),l3:
Oh God receiVe the . soul of a sinner.—Alell.„,t eti 400
prayers"—and immediately the dCOI fell, ani.tr.l !ash'
sufferings. Ile was a single man, and Annoppii7o,
.with whom lie cohabited ; he was a M°l4-4------