The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-08-08
A STRANGE, WEIRD WATER.
THE DEAD SEA AND ITS MYSTERIES.

There 10 something slngularlY ueluSlV'
about objects seen at distance in the
Holy Land. The atmosphere being very
dry, distance is swallowed up and OBJ
jects far away seem quite at hand. No
only is distance seemingly diminished
but another curious thing is, small OBJ
, jects appear to be vary large and great
objects seem dwarfed. A an seen on {
bare, rock ridge, miles off, with the sky
for background, will be magnified into
huge giant, and our first view of the
Sea of Galilee made 1t about one mile
!, wide and three miles long, though itE
correct dimensions are six miles in width
and thirteen in length,
This delusive experience came to ue
very vividly in our journey to the Dead
Sea. We left the new Jericho, the Jeri-
cho Christ, early one morning before
sunrise for drive to the Dead Sea ald
the Jordan before the sun became too
hot in that dreadful hot region. When
we started the Dead Sea was in full view
and seemed only three miles away. On
we rode, mile after mile, and the sea
seemed no nearer and no further. We
were amazed. Each one asked his neigh
il it were the real thing or only mir
age we were looking at Then the sun
came up over the hills of Moab and il
J frightened the sea and brought it even
nearer. Away down over ITS bosom we
could look twenty miles, the place where
old Mount Psgah, the same on which
Moses found resting place, threw a
deep, irregular mass of shadow across il
toward the west, and still we had to
journey on tN get to its shores.
When at last we jumped from our hor-
see to the pebbly beach and compare !
watches, we found we had been travel
ing more than two hours, and what
seemed only few miles had gone on
stretching out to ten and twelve. 1t was
then after o'clock in the bracing cool
and brightness of an early spring morn
ing, and the view was worth all the toll
to enjoy. The sea was like a mirror
with a peculiar light shade of green in
its waters. On either side as you looked
away to the south, as we stood at its
northern extremity, lowered high up 10
bare, rugged grandeur the bills Of Moab on
the east ard the mountains of Judea on
the west, These hills were OF varying
shades of deep brown and crowded so
close on the water that no living thing
could find a pathway.
At places the rocks made steep walls
which, with the reflection in the waters,
seemed to continue the gloomy enclos-
ure, measureless fathoms into their
depths. There is no verdure and NO
disposition to verdure on these sides.
The curving end Of the sea is covered
with drift wood, and in places large
trunks of treers are up on the beach ten
feet from the water line. AS the Jordan
| ,a al, rttch;nn DO inf, II RnrruinO
enormous quantities of a very muddy
water, it undermines the shrubbery and
trees growing along irs banks, which in
ltime topple over and drift into the Dead
Sea. This is especially true of the early
spring time, when the rains are frequent
and the water in the sea is very notice
ably increased.
The swift current of the Jordan car
ries the drift far out, when strong
southeast hot wind from the desert viii
fnat it close to the ehore, and the watel
falling in the dry season the debris viii
be beacbed high and dry. In this fl
Jordan plain lying to the north and ad-
jacent to the sea, there is vegetation IN
the form of strange bush and low-lylnG
shrub that seems to thrive on salt. TbC
s'range thing about it lie, you see sal
oozing over the ground for some mileI
away from the Dead Sea, and this weed
even flower bearing, thrives in the mids
of this salt. The evidence OF salt is
white line or white spots, as il the sui
had drunk up a water impregnatet
with salt. leaving the saline element be.
hind. The truth is, much OF this vale.
is filed with deposits Of rock salt, hell
in solution by the rain flowing over it
and leaving it behind agtil II smal
white crystals when the water has evap
: Grated. AS the traveller descends into
, lower leval of this Jordan valley, on hi
way TO the Dead Sea. he meets terrace
and fantastic formations or mari, lime
stone and gravel, with gypsum and rock
sault, recent deposits of the lake itseli
and which mark its former great exten
by rising to height OF 400 feet abov
Il its present surface.
There is little or no room for all III
. wild and mysterious legends about thi
4 sea. A marvel it Is in itself, and it un
/ doubtedly marks some catastrophe OF
/ exceptional character, but beyond this
/ much said of it is the result Of superst
| ton and dread. saw none OF the sc
] called Dead Sea fruit, and, althoug
& the spot that morning was devoid Of al
4 life, know that the notion, that n
| bird can fly over its deadly waters, an
| that no person can breathe its poisont u
/ exhalatioDs, and that 10 its center is a
] abyss into which the accumulate
Z waters OF the Jordan and other river
/ descend, are myths.
The Dead Sea is called in the Scrlptur
/ the Sea of the Plains, the Salt Sea. tn
East Sea. In the Talmud it is write
). of as the Sea OF Sodom, ,and in Josephus
8 Lake Asphaltites. Owing to the dread
4 full legends OF its deadly power it wa
named by the Greeks the dead Sea,
by which name it is now generall
known, although the Arabs call 1t BabI
! Lut, the Sea of Lot. Accordingito tn
; most accurate measurements. the s6a
forty-six English miles in its creates
length and nine and half miles in th
greatest width at Ain Turabeh. II
depth measures from 1900 to 10 feet Il
Z it's lower extremity, and this depth var
y : les only a few feet in the time Of tn
X lspring rains,
Lartet has called by a singular felicit
or expression his last great work o
u Palestine LA Mer Mo rte," the Dea
n Sea, as il the Dead Sea were Palestine
}, and as IL the whole structure Of the Hol
Land were hung on this strange, weir
= sheet of water. The title Of the book !
not so strange when we remember this
II the great valley OF depression in whic
. the lake lies is one OF the most remark
able features not only OF Palestine bu
Of the world. II is. we believe, by Ion
N odds the lowest body of water in tn
world. Its surface is 800 feet belov
u the level of the Mediterranean and il
bottom $500 feet lower than the ocean
As we travel from Jaffra up TO Jerusa
lem, a distance by the road of fort
miles, the ascent ia 2 665 feet. AS W
90 "down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
In the language of the parable OF tn
: Good Samaritan. we descend into pi
nearly 1900 feet below the average levI
i of the Judean Hills within dist no G
I twenty miles,
eh The main source Of supply Of the Dea
5; Sea is the Jordan, which rises in the ar
l. ii Libanus, flows eoutherly into the Sc
A of Galilee, emerges from the Sea and b
a plunge Of 1000 feet, divided betwee
twenty-seven rapids, rushes headlon
\ into the Dead Sea. As the crow dies
D is sixty miles between the Sea OF Galile
\ and the Dead Sea, but this wonderfr
river, by ITS numberless corkscrew vino
, ings, is increased to nearly 200 mile
h within this distance. The only boa
'r known that ever descended the Who'll
course of the Jordan was that of Leu
Lynch of the American Navy, who's
:, description is very vivid. He writes
- !, 9 tt Q Soatt had little need of oars to pre- p
- them, for the current carried us alon
at the rate of from four to six knots a
hour, the river from Its eccentric cours
g scarcely permitting a correct sketch G
t. it's topography to be taken. 1t curve
and twisted north, south, east and wes
II turning in the ahnrL aIiaca of half a