Mountains of Usdum.

RUINS of all kinds are mournful to contemplate. Among the many sad sites of primitive prosperity for which the East is renowned, few, all things considered, strike us as sadder than the blighted region occupied by the DEAD SEA. The fame of this spot is of such ancient date and universal interest, as to require no explanation here. Its marvels have been recounted No. 3.

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to every age. The mysterious traditions of the spot have formed some of the earliest recollections of our childhood; and wherever the Bible has penetrated, the admonitory echoes of that terrible overthrow, of which it is the monument, are being continually repeated.

Obviously smitten by supernatural agency, the Dead Sea became to the superstitious ancients the haunt of ideal phantoms, and its ominous name grew into a synonyme for terror among surrounding nations. Its seclusion in the heart of deserts served to deepen the mystery of its history, and intensify the awe with which it was everywhere regarded. In days of scientific ignorance, when the love of the marvellous was especially strong, its phenomena were eagerly seized upon and exaggerated by the imagination. Strange sights were said to be seen here, and mysterious sounds to be heard. Spectral forms issued out of the accursed deep, and a sepulchral light flickered upon its molton flood. Every creature, it was believed, that inhaled its malaria, perished. The foot of the pilgrim hesitated and trembled as it drew nigh, for, in the old times, the terrible footprints of an incensed Deity were reverently traced upon the soil. Such, until recently, were the popular sentiments which almost universally prevailed respecting this realm of dreariness and death. More intelligent examination and careful scientific research, however, have done much to explode these legendary tales. One traveller after another has dispelled some portion of the illusion that overhung its deeps or rested on its shores; and although its forbidding aspects are now revealed to our curious gaze in the journals of modern tourists, showing it to be one of the dreariest wastes in the wide world, still it has been divested of those supernatural accessories of terror which had been inspired by religious dread, and transmitted from age to age.

Without going into unnecessary details as to the traditional associations of this extraordinary lake, we shall proceed at once to exhibit the results of the various attempts that, of late years, have been made to explore and describe this region. In order to popularize the subject as much as possible, we shall distribute such information as we can compress within the limits of this tract under the following sections:-(1.) A brief historical sketch of the various travellers by whom the Dead Sea has been recently visited and delineated-(2.) An imaginary excursion around its shores-(3.) A sail upon its waters; and (4.) An examination of some of the hypotheses that have been entertained respecting its probable origin.

I.

The few earlier travellers who have visited this celebrated lake, and favoured the world with their observations, seldom spent more than a few hours upon some single point, or points, in a circuit of shore embracing at least 120 miles. From such fitful irruptions into the district, no sound generalizations could possibly be formed; while the exaggerated expectations with which they too generally approached the spot, would be almost sure to impart an untrustworthy bias to their report. One of the first in the enlightened band of travellers who, during the early part of the present century, have done so much to unveil this mysterious region to the Christian world, was SEETZEN. This intrepid man visited the Dead Sea en route to Kerak and Petra, at a time when travelling in Palestine was far more hazardous than it now is. To increase the chances of safety, he assumed an oriental disguise, and chose a sheikh as his companion and confidant. As they were obliged to make their observations by stealth, and conceal the papers containing their scanty records, the information derivable from this source is necessarily brief and imperfect.

On a fine May morning, in the year 1818, a considerable party might have been seen emerging from the gate of Hebron, and taking the south-eastern road, that led through Bethlehem and the wilderness of Tekoa to the southern end of the Dead Sea. The principals in the equestrian company consisted of Captains Irby and Mangles, and Messrs. Legh and Bankes, accompanied by both Frank and Arab attendants, all of them being attired in the picturesque costume of the Bedouins. The Englishmen, to carry the disguise still further, were addressed by fictitious oriental names. About mid-day the travellers obtained from an eminence a fine view of the southern extremity of the sea. Stimulated by the spectacle, they pressed on with ardour, and reached the great southern plain by six o'clock; in the shelter of a ravine, on the western side of which, they baked their evening meal, and spent the night. Rising at dawn, on the following morning from their rocky couch, they passed round the southern end of the sea to the eastern side, which they found well wooded and cultivated. Continuing their course northwards, on their way to Wady Kerak, they passed through a district inhabited by the Ghorneys-a wild, halfsavage-looking tribe of Arabs, who have abandoned a nomadic life, and settled down to the tillage of the soil. After a

temporary bivouac in the thicket which shelters the reed-built dwellings of this people, and partaking of their hospitality, the party proceeded towards the opening of a ravine through which the perilous road to Petra winds. Here our travellers disappeared, and, for a period of eighteen days, we see no more of them on the borders of the silent lake. At the expiration of that date, however, having in the interval, at the peril of their lives, inspected the extraordinary monuments of the ancient Nabatheans, they returned and completed the exploration of the southern extremity of the sea. During their researches in this neighbourhood, they stumbled upon the vestiges of an ancient city, which Irby and Mangles conjectured to be the ruins of Zoar.

After this expedition, seventeen years rolled by without any fresh recorded attempt, of any importance to penetrate these shores. The next case, though it led to no practical results, is invested with a painful interest, from the tragical issue of the enterprise; for the Dead Sea, as well as the Polar Sea, has had its victims and martyrs. Although most of the strangers who from time to time have looked down from some adjacent eminence upon the beautiful expanse at their feet, have probably longed again and again for a vessel in which to sail pleasantly upon the surface of a flood never, perhaps, furrowed by a keel; yet, singularly enough, it was not till the year 1835 that any determined effort was made to realise this wish. Brave as was the resolution, in this instance, however, the means resorted to were marked by lamentable rashness and indiscretion. The enthusiastic navigator in question was a young Irishman, named Costigan, who, to carry out his ambitious project, superintended the construction of a boat to Jericho, which, when completed, was launched upon the lonely waters, beneath the fierce beams of a July sun. He was so sadly inexperienced as to embark without taking with him ordinary provisions, and was accompanied by only one servant. The two amateur navigators succeeded in reaching the southern extremity, where they were left for two or three days without fresh water, exposed meanwhile to the blaze of a midsummer sun, and were compelled to row hard to get back to the northern end. After reaching the shore, they lay for a whole day too enfeebled to move, and trying to regain strength by laving each other with the heavy waters of the lake. At length the servant managed to crawl as far as Jericho, where Costigan had left his horse, which was immediately sent to him with a supply of water. Medical