Descriptive Geography And Brief Historical Sketch Of Palestine

Excerpt from book: Section 3CHAPTER II. EXPLANATION OF THE SEAS, RIVERS, MOUNTAINS, AND VALLEYS OF PALESTINE. Palestine has three lakes* or seas :—1, the Dead Sea, or Lake Asphaltites; 2, the sea of Genezereth, or Lake of Tiberias; and 3, the sea of Merom, or Lake Semechonitis. Dud o' Or nSon D' (Gen. xiv. 8.) The Salt or Dead Sea (Lake Asphaltites) is called in the Arabic language Bachr Lot (Lot's Sea), and is 70 Englishmiles in length, and from 15 to 20 in breadth.* Towards the south, however, it is narrow and shoal, and about 4 miles broad, and from 3 to 4 feet in depth. This sea is enclosed on the east and west by high mountains and rocks; but towards the southeast there is an extensive, fair and fruitful plain, several miles in size. It is true that the water of this sea is clear and pure; nevertheless it is more impregnated with salty matter than all other sea-waters, and is withal very bitter, somewhat sulphurousin smell, and so acrid that no one can keep it in his mouth. When I made the attempt to take a little of it in my mouth, the sharp, bitter, and sulphurous taste remained perceptible more than half an hour. Salt thrown in this water remains undissolved. 100 parts of this water contain 42 parts of salts, 24 parts bitter, salty, and sour calcareous earth, and 7 parts salty natron. The weight of this water, compared to pure distilled water, is as 1211 to 1000. To institute several comparative experiments, I employed water from the Dead Sea, some taken from the Mediterranean at Jaffa, and the usual cistern (rain) water; and, on weighing them, I found that the first compared to the second as 9 to 8, and to the latter as 9 to 7. I have, however, to remark here, that I made these experiments in the month of April, at which time the Dead Sea had, on account of continued rains, taken up many streams, through which...