Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1864-03-19

1
From narrative Of a late expedition TO
the Dead sea, edited by e p. Montague, a
notice of which we 6nd in the last Litera
ry World, we extract the following; n
This morning we are examining the bills
Of Usdom, and seeking with good deal oI
curiosity the ever lannon's "Pillar. OF Salt, !
which marks the Judgment Of God upon
Lots wife. Ou pulling around the shores
OF the sea we saw an immence column,
rounded and ;urret shaped, facing towards
the southeast. This, we are told by our
| Arabs, was the Pillar Of Salt Ia which
Lots wife was encased at the overthrow
Of Sodom
With some difficulty we landed here,
and our esteemed commander and Dc.
Anderson obtained specimens Of 1t. Our
boats crew landed also, aud their curiosi
" was gratified by gathering specimens,
some from its summit and others from its
basis. 1t was measured and found to be
sixty feet 10 hight aud forty feet in circum.
ference. We cannot suppose that Lots
wife was person so large that her diner
sions equalled those of this column. Many
think that the statue of Lots wife was
equal to the pillar Of salt which the Blo,e
speaks oi let that pillar be where il may,
and whatever be its size They will not
probably credit this as the pillar, their pre-.
conceived notions having much to do with
the matter, and they would have every
body think that she was at once transform
ed into column of very fine grained,
beau'iful white salt, abou; five feet or q
few inches more in hight. aud in circumier
ence that Of q common s. Zed person of the
niuer eeuth oontpry. b. that as it may no
two minds have, perhaps. formed exactly
the same opinion Oh this matter who have
no, visited this spot. But here We are,
around this immense column, aud we fnd
that il is really Of solid rock salt. one mass
of orystalisation 1t is in the vicinity
which is pointed out In the Bible 10 relation
to the matter 10 question and it appeared
to be the only one of its kind here. Aud
the Arabs OF the district to whom this pill
lar is pointed out declare il to be that Of
Lots wife, the identical pillar of silt to
which the Bible has reference. The ira.
dition having been handed down from each
succeeding generation to Their children, as
the American will hand down TO succeed.
ing generation the tradition of Bunker Hill
1
Monument near Boston. My own opinion
Of the Matter is, that Lot's wife having lin
gered behind in dsobedience to the ex
pressed command of God--5iven in order
! to iusu' her safety--that while SO linyer'
! iDg she became oye:whelmed in The descen
/ ding fluid and formed the model or founda
ton of this extraordinary COLUMN. ii il
had been produced by common, by natural
causes, it, is but right to suppose that
others might be found of a similar dis
crption One is scarcely able to abandon
The idea that it stands here lasting me
mortal Of Gods Furnishing most deliber
ate act Of disobedience coRmit'ed at Q
time when he was about to show dis tin
gushing regard for The very person. We
carefully brought away our specimens, in
tending to show them to our friends in
America, when we shall have the good
fortune to arrive there, and talk with then
on the subject.