mostly desert, is still better watered, through these streams and by the many fountains, than any other district throughout the whole country.1

In the same plain were slime-pits; that is to say, wells of bitumen or asphaltum; the Hebrew word being the same, as that used in describing the building of the walls of Babylon, which we know were cemented with bitumen.2 These pits or fountains appear to have been of considerable extent. The valley in which they were situated, is indeed called Siddim; but it is said to have been adjacent to the salt sea, and it contained Sodom and Gomorrah.3 The streams that anciently watered the plain, remain to attest the accuracy of the sacred historian; but the pits of asphaltum are no longer to be seen. Did they disappear in consequence of the catastrophe of the plain?

The remarkable configuration of the southern part of the Dead Sea, I have already described;-the long and singular peninsula connected with the eastern shore by a broad low neck; the bay extending up further south, in many parts very shallow; and the low flat shores beyond, over which the lake, when swollen by the rains of winter, sets up for several miles. Indeed the whole of this part of the sea, as I have said, as seen from the western mountains, resembles much the winding estuary of a large American river, when the tide is out, and the shoals left dry. I have also related the sudden appearance of masses of asphaltum floating in the sea; which seems to occur at the present day only rarely, and immediately after earthquakes; and also, so far as the Arabs knew, only in the southern part of the sea.5 The character of the

shores, the long mountain of fossil salt, and the various mineral productions, have also been described.'

In view of all these facts, viz. the necessary existence of a lake before the catastrophe of Sodom; the well-watered plain towards the South, in which were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and not far off the sources of bitumen; as also the peculiar character of this part of the Dead Sea, where alone asphaltum at the present day makes its appearance;-I say in view of all these facts, there is but a step to the obvious hypothesis, that the fertile plain is now in part occupied by the southern bay, or that portion of the sea lying south of the peninsula; and that by some convulsion or catastrophe of nature, connected with the miraculous destruction of the cities, either the surface of this plain was scooped out, or the bottom of the sea was heaved up, so as to cause the waters to overflow and cover permanently a larger tract than formerly. In either case, it would follow, that the sources of bitumen would in like manner be covered by the sea; and the slimy substance becoming hardened and fixed by contact with the waters, might be expected occasionally to rise and float upon the surface of this heavy flood. The ancients describe the masses of asphaltum as thus rising from the bottom of the sea, apparently in greater abundance than at the present day; although this circumstance perhaps may be accounted for, by supposing that the bitumen was not anciently, as now, eagerly gathered up and carried away.2

The country we know is subject to earthquakes; and exhibits also frequent traces of volcanic action. In the whole region around the lake of Tiberias these traces are decided; and at a short distance N. W. of Safed, we afterwards came upon the crater of an ex

1) Page 218, seq. 482, seq.

2) See pp. 229, 230.

tinguished volcano. It would have been no uncommon effect of either of these causes, to heave up the bottom of the ancient lake, and thus produce the phenomenon in question. But the historical account of the destruction of the cities, implies also the agency of fire: "The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;" and Abraham too "beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." Perhaps both causes were at work; for volcanic action and earthquakes go hand in hand; and the accompanying electric discharges usually cause lightnings to play and thunders to roll. In this way we have all the phenomena, which the most literal interpretation of the sacred records can demand.

Further, if we may suppose, that before this catastrophe, the bitumen had become accumulated around the sources, and had perhaps formed strata spreading for some distance upon the plain; that, possibly, these strata in some parts extended under the soil and might thus easily approach the vicinity of the cities;—if indeed we might suppose all this, then the kindling of such a mass of combustible materials, through volcanic action or by lightning from heaven, would cause a conflagration sufficient not only to ingulf the cities, but also to destroy the surface of the plain, so that "the smoke of the country would go up as the smoke of a furnace;" and the sea rushing in, would convert it to a tract of waters. The supposition of such an accumulation of bitumen, may at first appear extravagant; but the hypothesis requires nothing more, (and even less,) than nature herself actually presents to our view, in the wonderful lake or tract of bitumen found on the island of Trinidad.2--The subsequent barren

1) Gen. xix. 24, 28.

2) See Transactions of the

Royal Geological Society, London 1811, Vol. I. p. 63, seq. The ac

ness of the remaining portion of the plain, is readily accounted for by the presence of such masses of fossil salt, which perhaps were brought to light only at the same time.

The preceding views and suggestions are not the result of mere conjecture; but rest upon a basis of facts and analogies supplied by the researches of sciNor do they depend simply upon my own unaided authority, which would be nothing in a matter of this kind. Through the kindness of the distinguished geologist Leopold von Buch, whose researches have been particularly directed to the phenomena of volcanoes, I was permitted to lay before him an abstract of the facts which have been more fully detailed in this work; and the following letter in reply contains his commentary upon them.

SIR,

Berlin, April 20, 1839.

It is rather in reply to your kind confidence, than in the hope of presenting any observation of importance, that I address to you these lines.

The valley of the Jordan is a fissure (crevasse), which extends from Mount Lebanon to the Red Sea without interruption. Such it seems to me, is the result of your researches, as well as of those of M. de Bertou and of M. Callier; who nevertheless find fault with Ritter for having said the same thing. These long fissures, especially frequent among limestone mountains, give the configuration to our continents. If they are very large and deep, they afford passage

count of this extraordinary lake of pitch, illustrates so strikingly what may well have been the character

of a portion of the ancient plain of Sodom, that I subjoin some extracts at the close of Note XXXVIII.

to the primitive mountains, which for that reason form chains, in the direction which the fissure prescribes. We might therefore expect a greater development of the volcanic agents at the bottom of this fissure, than upon the heights.

According to the most recent researches, fossil salt is a product of volcanic or plutonic action along an opening of this nature. But, fountains of asphaltum or bitumen are so likewise; as is proved by the numerous sources of bitumen from the foot of the Zagros in the environs of Bassorah as far as to Mosul, and also at Bakou; as is proved further by the source of bitumen in the Gulf of Naples, or at Mellilli near to Syracuse; as is proved too by the sources of bitumen in the isle of Zante, and even by the bitumen of Seyssel, of which they make side-walks in Paris.

The asphaltum of the Dead Sea, is probably nothing more than bitumen consolidated at the bottom of the lake; which, not being able to flow off, forms by consequence a layer at the bottom, as in the island of Trinidad. It is quite probable, that this accumulation may have taken place in remote times, as well as in our day; and if some volcanic action, an elevation of the soil, or shocks of earthquakes, have brought to light masses of asphaltum analogous to that which you describe, (a phenomenon of the highest importance, hitherto unknown,) we can very well conceive of the conflagration of entire cities, by the inflammation of materials so eminently combustible.

Could some mass of basalt be discovered in the southern part, or towards the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, one might believe that a basaltic dyke had been heaved up at the time of the celebrated catastrophe; just as this took place in 1820, near the isle of Banda, and at another time at the foot of the