Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-01-07

and a fair skin. He was very short,
and unmistakably handy legged, long
bodied and short limbed."
SITE OF soDoM AND eoMoRRAH.
Also the Volcano That Destroyed Them
Gave Where Lot Stayed.
Ellsworth Huntington, head Of the
recent Yale expedition to Palestine. de-
clares that he has verified the Bible
story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Hundreds Of pages" he says In Har-
per's Magazine, have been written to
prove that the story is myth, or that
the ancient towns were destroyed by
the bursting forth Of oil wells like
those Of Texas or Balu, which some
times are isnited and burn for days.
Other hundreds Of pages have been
devoted to proving that Sodom and
Gomorrah were or were not at the
north end of the Dead Sea, and that
they were or were not buried under
the saline deposits at either end Of
the lake.
Among recent writer's there seems
to be tendency to believe that Sodom
and les sister town were probably To-
Gated at the south end Of the lake.
where the name Usdum Is thought to
represent Sodom, and where Arab ira
dition now locates the III fated cities.
The means Of their destruction are
believed to have been the oil wells
mentiond above. This rather unsatis-
factory conclusion has been adopted
largely because 1t has been supposed
that no volcano is located In such q
position that 1t could have borne any
part in the story.
According to the story In Genesis.
Lot and Abraham were at Bethel. ten
miles north Of Jerusalem, when their
herdsmen quarreled and they decided
o separate. And Lot lifted up hia
eyes, and beheld all the Plain Of the
Jordan, that 1t was well watered every
where, before Jehovah destroyed So
dom and Gomorrah, like the garden Of
Jehovah, like the land Of Egypt. as
thou goest up to Zoar. So Lot chose
MIN all the Plain Of Jordan
Then the story goes on to the time
when Jehovah rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrah birthstone and fire
from Jehovah out Of heaven, while
Lot fed to the near town Of Zoar. He
did not stay there long. but went out
Of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain
in a cave.
Having freshly read the story and
having looked over the strong argr-
ments for locating the towns south Of
the Dead Sea and for believing Item
to have been destroyed by something
in the nature of bituminous outbursts,
was taken by surprise when l visited
the little ruin of Suweimeh and picked
up bits of genuine scoriaceous lava,
while the sheikh who acted as guide
told the story of Sodom as the story
of Suweimeh or Suweim. The name
may be corruption Of Sodom.
Il went into the mountains at once
from Suweim in order to see where the
lava came from. AS we climbed the
lower hills the sheikh noticed that
picked UP black pieces Of lava and
broke them open.
Don't bother with those he said.
Up here pointing southeast there
is a whole mountain Of black rock like
that
Not two miles from Suweim, along
the line Of the great fault which sep
arates the Ghor from the plateau OF
Moab, we found the mountain, gen.
uine little volcano of very recent date
geologically. From it flowed a sheet
of lava which made the small headland
already mentioned between Suweim
and Ghuweir. The name Ghuweir s
believed by many students to be cor
ruption of Zoar, although 1t may also
be an Arabic word, the diminutive OF
Ghor, meaning Little Valley
"A late eruption Of ashes from the
volcano may easily have wrought hav-
oc in a town located near Suweim. On
the other hand Ghuweir lies In such a
situation that it would be protected
by intervening hills.
"The present ruins of Ghuweir doubt
less date from time many hundred or
even one or two thousand years after
the days Of Abraham and Lot. There
Is one work Of man, however, which
may go back to the period of the Pa
triarchs and which may have played
part In the Biblical narrative.
Near the head Of the valley which
leads eastward from Ghuweir up to-
ward the plateau Of Moab we discover
ed a carefully excavated cave among
the mountains at place called FL
Ghuttar, between Abu Hassan and Beth
Peor. It is about twenty feet long and
fifteen feet wide, carefully hewed out
of the limestone above spring. TWO
windows look down the wadi toward
Zoar, and door with rock cut
through to lead of the water of rains
has been so located that 1t can be
reached only by climbing preciplce
by means Of six or eight little inches
cut in the rock or by climbing down
over some difficult steps in the rock
above.
Nowhere else in this region Is there
known to be an artificial cave upon
which any such care has been bestow-
ed as upon this. The discovery OF the
cave, together with the volcano and
the tradition Of Suweimeh, supplies all
the elements of the story of Sodom
and Gomorrah in exactly the location
where the Biblical account would lead
one to expect them.
The supposition that the climate OF
past times was different from that OF
today disposes Of the difficulty which
has arisen from the Scriptural refer
ence to the fertility Of the land. On the
whole, the result Of a strictly geo.
graphic study of the region tends to
show that the Biblical account Is cor
rect almost exactly as 1t stands. The
fact that students of the highest ability
have been in such doubt as to the To-
Qhnua