Richland beacon., 1877-03-31

gantic forms, stretching iur away into
the limitless distance, where they dissolve
in luminous tropical haze; sea OF
living sapphire, more lovely than any
SCI save that which bathcs the enchanted
Nesuvian coast; s,oping beach spark
ling with pebbles that are silvered with
salt crystals and sands that seem to creep
and scintillate in the intense heat of the
monday sun; few gaunt and stunted
shrubs standing near the forsaken shore;
a few broken boughs strewing the sand.
white and shining like gnawed bones,
not thing visible, not living thing
within the pellucid chambers of that
fatal sea. Only ripples slide noiselessly
over the sands and sink back again iSto
the depths as if dragged thithcr by the
contraction of the elastic and unbroken
surface of the sea. Shore, sea and sky
are resolved into chimera of unearthly
beauty. The sky is not more profound
thar
THE BLTE ABYSS
that separates those rosy hills to the cas-.
and west. There is no palpable surface
there: no visible division of the elements,
Let 1t be air or water-it might be
either-the only impression II conveys
to the mind is one of pure color. Only
such radiant hills as those that girde it
are worthy of it. They also are marvels
of color. Pink and pale in the twilight,
I scarlet in the rise and set of the sun,
they never become commonplace, but
change their tints as live coal changes
when the reviving air blows uponit. Out
of the splendid distance, over the Salt sea,
sea of Asphalt, the lake of Lot-call it
by what name you will, for it bears all
these-Over the earstern sea of the old
prophets, stole the whitening breath ola
furnace. Our horses sweltered in the
heat. There was no possible shelter near
the shore, for our camp trappings had
already gone up into the wilderness. A
dip into the gummy and elastic water
was all We asked now, and in ten minutes
we stood upon the sand half blinded
with the heat and glare that nearly over
came us before we were safely out of it.
The sea near the plain Of the Jordan is
shallow. Looking toward the south the
eye is lost in
THE PROFOUND MISTs
that envelope it. Six and forty miles OF
sky-blue crystal, thirteen hundred feet
in depth, the topmost wave of which is
thirteen hundred feet below the level of
the Mediterranean. This sea is a mys-
terry and miracle bu: the cities of the
sinners are not under these waves, as
many saint fondly fancies. Look for
traces Of them among the sulphur fields,
the salt pillars-there are enough of
these to furnish Lot with half hun
bred wives-the asphaltum beds, the
shores that have been fertile and fruit
full but are now as the abomination of
desolation. Neither fish, shells noe coral
are found here. Sea.fsh perth in
these waters because they have been
reared on something less than four per
cent. of salt to ninety-six of water, and
here they find fourth part of the whole
consists of various salts-chlorides of
magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium,
bromide Of potassium and sulphate of
lime. That is certainly enough to turn
the stomach of any sort of fish. There
are fish-bones on the shore, the wrecks
t of the Sordan. The bitter oil-it is
hardly worthy of the name Of water
that strangles everything to death and
then spits it out into the Gun. invites
f you to its embrace with a siren grace,
e but you curse her after the first Joy is
8 over, for she daubs you with salt and oil.
3 Six million tons o. sweet water fall into
, the Dead sea daily; six million tons rise
,. out of it, spiritualized, and float over it,
NEBULoUs ISLANDS OF LIGHT,
that are a. much at cas-, in the sky as
islands more substantial would be in the
luminous breast of this enchanted sea.
3 When We passed into the water we felt
the weight of it before we had got knee
deep. Soon we grew buoyant and kept
our balance with some difficulty. 1t was
like trying to swim on corks that won't
: keep their places. A few steps farther
and over we went, heel NY, and, to our
. aurprlse, heads up, likewise. The bath
, was certainly most refreshing, and the
novelty of it not unlike a good natured