Evening star., 1896-08-07

The Peculiar and Surprising Delights
of Dead Sea Bathing.
From the Utahman.

The Peculiar and Surprisinx Delights
of Dead Sea Bathing.
From the Utahman.
1t may seem preposterous to talk Of the
finest sea-bathing on earth a thousand
miles from the ocean; but truth Is no less
truth because it appears absurd. The sea-
bathing IN Great Salt Lake infinitely sur
passes anything of the kind on either the
Atlantic or Pacific coast. The water con-
tains many times more salt and much more
soda, sulphur. magnesfa. chlorine, bromile
and potassium than any ocean wa.er on
the globe. 1t is powerful In medicinal vir-
tues. curing or benefiting many forms of
rheumatism, rheumatic gout, dyspepsia
nervous disorders and cutaneous diseases.
and 1t acts like magic on the hair OF those
uhfortunates whose tendencies are to bald
headedness. 1t Is Il prompt and potent
tonic and fnvigorant OF body and mind, and
then there Is no end of fun in getting ac-
quainted with its peculiariiies. A first bath
In 1t Is always as good as a circus, the
bather being his or her own amusing trick
Mule. The specific gravity Is but . trifie
less than that OF the Holy Land Dead Sea-
the actual figures with distilled water as
Unity being, for the ocean. l027; for Salt
Lake, 1.107. and for the Dead Sea, l1l6
The human body will not and cannot sink
in it. You can walk out in it where 1t is
fifty feet deep. and your body will stick up
shoulders upward. You can sit down in it
perfectly secure where il is fathoms deep
Men lie on top Of ii with their arms cross
ed under their heads and smoke their
cigars. Its buyoancy is indescribabie ard
unimaginable. Any one can float upon il al
the first trial: there Is nothing to do but lie
down gently upon it-and float. But swim
ming Is an entirely different matter. The
moment you begin to paddle your own
canoe lively and-to the lookers-on-
-nT0vOklnR-
y0N stick your hands under to make a
stroke, your feet decline to stay anywhere
but on top: and when. after an exciting
tGssle with your refractory pedal extremi-
ties, you again get them beneath the sur
face, your hands fly out with the splash
and splutter of half dozen fiu-ter wheels
If. on account Of your brains being heavier
than your heels, you chance to turn a
somersauit and your head goes under. your
heels will pop up like pair of frisky did
apper ducks. You cannot keep more than
one end Of yourself under water at once
but you soon learn how to wrestie with its
novelties. and then Ii becomes "a timing Of
beauty and q joy for any summer day
The water is delightful to the skin. every
sensation Is exhilarating, and one cannot
help feeling In 1t like giided cork adrift
In Jewei-rimmed bowl of champagne
punch. In the sense of luxurious ease with
which 1t envelopes the bather it is unrival-
ed on earth. The only approximation to 1t
Is In the phosphorescent waters of the
freeze until the thermometric mercury tum-
bles down to eighteen degrees above zero,
or fourteen degrees below the ordinary
freezing point 1t is as clear as crystal.
with bottom Of snow-whi.e sand. and
small objects can be distinctly seen at
depth OF twenty feet. There is not a fish or
any other living thing In all the twenty
hve hundred or three thousand square miles
OF beautiful and mysterious waters, except
the yearly increasing swarms of summer
bathers. Not a shark or a stingaree to
scare the tinid swimmer or f1oater, not a
crab or crawfish to nip the toe of the
nervous wader. not a minnow or a froR. a
tadpole or pollywog-nothing that lives
moves. swfms. crawls or wiggies 1t Is the
ideal sea-bathing place Of the world