Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1848-07-29
YLARIETsY.
The Dead sea.

WE fsup1oin q lew SAudSts ioib thO hoi :
mtiye sof NJ. Chateaubriand, BY way of
whetting the public curiosity for the report
which is expected from Lieut.. Lynch on his
return to the United States. In his approach
TO the lake he says: s''-22 sa 7'1'
eve marched two hours with pistols in
our hands, as in an enemy's country. We
followed the assures formed between the
sand.hills, in mud baked by the rayslof the
slp.G A crust of salt covered the surface,
and resembledsa snowy plain, from which
few stunted shrubs reared their heads. We
arrived all at once at the lake; say all at
once, because thought we were yet con-
siderable distance from it, No murmur, no
cooling breeze announced the approach to
It's margin. The strand, bestrewed with
stones, was hot; the waters of the lake were
inotionless, and absolutely dead along the
shore. w
"The first thing did on alighting was to
walk into the lake up to my knees, and 10
taste the water. | found it impossible to
keep il in my mouth. II far exceeds that of
the sea in sadness and produces upon the
lips the effect of a strong solution of alum.
Before my boots were completely dry they
were covered with salt; our clothes, our
hats, our hands, were in less than three
hours irnpregnated with this mineral"
I Legions of small fish leaped about the
shore nj night, which contradicts the opin-
ion generally entertained that the Dead Sea
produces no living creature.
"fhis celebrated lake, (says NJ. Chau-
teabriand,) which occupies the site of Sod
dm ,aBd Gomorrah, is called in Scripture
the Dead or Salt Sea; by the Latins and
Greeks, Asphaltites; Almotanah and Bahar
Loihs by the Arabs; and Ula Deguisi by
The Turks. ] cannot coincide in opinion
with those who suppose the Dead Sea to
nc the crater of "A volcano. have seen
Vesuyius, Solfatara, Monte Nuovo, in the
Lake of Fusino, the peak of the Azores;
the Mamelif opposite to Carthage, the ex-
tinguished volcanoes Of Auvergne, and re-
marked in all of them the same characters;
that Is TO say, mountains eXcavated in the
form Of a funnel, lava and ashes, which ex
hibiied .incontcstble proofs Of the agency
CT fire. The Dead Sea, on the contrary,
is lake Of great length, carved like bow,
placed between two ranges of mountains,
which have no mutual conference in form,
40 homogencousness Of soil. They do not
meet at the two extremitles of the lake, but
continue, the one to bound the valley of
Jordan aud to run northward as far as the
Lake of liberlas; the other TO stretch away
10 the south till lost in the sands of Yemen.
Bitumen, warm springs, aud phosphoric
stones are found, IL is true, in the mountains
of Arabia; but ] met with none Of these in
the opposite chain. But, then, the presence
Of hot springs, sulphur, and asphaltos is not
sufficient to attest the anterior existence of
avolcano. With respect to the eDgulphed
cities, ! adhere TO the account given in
Scripture without summoning physics TO
my aid. Besides, it we adopt the idea of
Professor Mchels and the learned Bisch- I
ing, in his Memoir on the Dead Sea, phys /
les may be admitted in the catastrophe of
the guilty cities without offence to religion.
Sodom WINS built upon mine OF hitumen,
as we know from the testimony OF Moses
and Joscpbus, who speak concerning wells |
of hitumen in the valley Of Siddim. Light
ming kindled the combustible mass and the I
cities sunk in the subterraneous contlagra-
ton. NJ Matte Brun ingcnously suggests |
that Sodom and Gomorrah themselves might |
have been built Of bitumnous stones, aud
thus have been set in flames by the fire of
Heaven"
,"Scverai travellers, and among others /
Trolo aud d'Aryieux, assert that they re-
marked Fragments of walls aud palaces in .
the Dead Sea- This statement seems to be I
confirmed by Manndrell aud Father Nau.
The ancicnts speak more positively on this /
suhject: Josephus, who employs poetic |.
oppression, says that he perceived ON the
banks of the lake the shades of the over
whclmed cities Strabo gives circumfor-
ence of sixty stadia to the ruins of Solom,
which are mentioned also 10y Tacitus. |
know not whether they still exist, hut as
the lake rises and falls at certain seasons, it
is possible that IL may alternately cover aud
expose the skeletons of the reprobate cit
ies.'