Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-01-22
For the Messenger
The Dead Sea Again.

nected with the Dead Sea. But | am not
satisfied with the answers of your eorrespon-
dent, nor the correctness of his alleged facts.
As to the author quoted, / have never
seen them, and can form no opinion as to
their credibility. But the earliest authority
on this subject is the Bible, which is per-
fectly silent until after the destruction of the
cities of the plain, when it is often mention
ed in the Pentateuch, the Book of Joshua,
and the earlier books of the Old Testament.
not as the :. Dead Sea .' because Of the
number of dead lying beneath its waters, -
for this name was never applied to that sea
until the second century after Christ. Be
fore this it was known as the - Salt Sea,
' Sea of Arabah' the 80 East Sea- And in
some other names applied to this sea, lind
IL strong intimation at least, that the sea was
created at the time of the destruction of
Sodom; hence it is called in the book of Es
dras, VI, the . Sodomitish Sea- and in
the Talmudical books it is called the g Sea
Of Salt and the . Sea of Sodom.' Diodo-
rus Siculus and after him Josephus, calls it
the q Asphaltic Lake, from the vast amount
of asphaltum found there after the destruc-
ton of the cities of the plain. The Arabic
name is = Bahr- Leu'' the .. Sea of Lot"
All these later names associate the lake with
the catastrophe. and no mention is made of
any lake before that time.
If it is proper for me to answer at this time
my own inquiry, | would only say it is my
opinion that, previous to the formation of the
Dead Sea, the waters of the Jordan, and the
other rivers of the valley of Siddim, ran into
the Persian Gulf, or the right arm of the Red
Sea. There are two authors of responsibility
that favor this view, and show that there has
been an upheaval of all that tract of country,
and that there are still signs of depression
through that region From all that | can
learn, doubt the existence of lake where
the Dead Sea now is, previous to the destruc-
ton of the plain by an earthquake, or by
volcanic action, accompanied by hurricane
Of fire and birthstone. But may be mis-
taken
The answer your correspondent gives TO
my second question is not sat sfactory to my
lullu 1T all nave iOl ltft AticN AAtet tAieAN
the lake has a subterranean outlet, and he
saws " We are curious enough To ask the
qnestion how do travellers know. as Q as
>crts that there is no subterranean outlet >
He saws further that, " Every writer we
have read speaks of its depth As unknown"
fear your correspondent has not read many
late or authentic books on this subject, and
will answer his question, = Have they eX
plorod its entire bottom" in the affirmative.
Lieut. Lynch in lS4S-and since him Drs.
Anderson, Robinson. and Lieut.. Molyncux
have made surveys. and the result of Lieut..
Lvnch's measurements are as follows
The upper portion is a perfect basin des-
cending rapidly till it attaiHs, at about one
1hird Of its length from the north end,
depth of 1908 feet. Immediately west Of the
upper extremity OF the peninsula, however,
this depth decreases suddenly to $50 feet,
then t. Il. and by the time the west point
Of the peninsula reached To Is feet Be
low this, the southern portion is a mere Ia
COON of almost even bottom, varying in depth
from | > feet in the middle to at the edges
81 its greatest depth has been ascertained,
and small depth it is, only 1908 feet.
Well, if there were a subterranean passage
for the outlet of -, $50 900 tons of water a
day. it would unquestionably make whirl-
pool. or at least a decided depression in the
surface of the lake, yet the surface in calm,
is as smooth as glass. Now, if the waters
pass out by some underground passage, where
do they %? Look at the topography of the
country for a moment. and you will see an
insurmountablc difficulty here. The valley
of the Jordan is deep, narrow, natural fs
sure. which runs like n furrow from the Gulf
of Akaba t. the range of Lebanon, and from
the range of Lebanon To the extreme north
of Syria. Well, according to the reports of
Lieut.. Lynch in lS4S, the surface of the lake
was 1867 5eIo,c the level of the Mediterra-
mean at Jaffa. Well, add to this the depth
of the lake at it's deepest point, where the
outlet would naturally be, and we have
2624.7 feet. The fact is, the bottom of the
Dead Sea, geographically, underlies all the
large bodies of water in that country what
can therefore, be the ultimate receptacle of
these - many waters -
And if it is true C) that the waters that
are poured into the Dead Sea by the Jordan,
the Aron. and thirty-one smaller rivers, are
buta ripping brook " compared with those
that are poured into the Caspian Sea. it is
also true that the Dead Sea, as to size or
capacity of basin, is not more than to 5000
when compared to the Caspian Sea. And is
not the calculation Htle strong that makes
the Sihon t,cesty times larger than the Jor-
dan? Let us zee. The Jordan passes 6,00O,-
600 tons of water per day. Twenty times
6 ,O00. 900 are 120, ,000, 900. Pretty large
river But compare the two lakes and the
difference in the size The lakes specified by
your correspondent, especially in Asia, are
in the midst of vast sandy deserts, which
may filter the waters and return them pure
for some other rivers but the basin of the
Dead Sea is lime, magnesia, soda and SALT
which minerals, combined with soil, make
the hardest, tightest bottom that be
found.
find one difficulty in his answer to ques-
ton third, yet this is more satisfactory than
the others. 90 says, ''The fresh waters
from the rivers, being lighter than the water
of the sea. would float on the surface, and
counteract the tendency to form crystals. -
This is true; and yet the waters of the lake
that have been analyzed have been dipped
from the surface, and these contain salts to
the amount of oae-fourth the weight of the
entire body of water
The answer to my last. or fourth question
is the most satisfactory Of any. | would be
glad to hear from - s. again, and from any