The fundamental rocks laid open on the flanks of Jebel Shomar, a massive and precipitous mountain which rises behind Es-Safieh, and runs along the E. side of the Ghor for several miles, are composed of great beds of volcanic materials (agglomerates, tuffs, and sheets of porphyry, pene- trated by numerous dj'kes). They have a slight dip northwards, and are overlain by red and purple sandstones and conglomerates of C arboniferous age ('Desert sandstone'), then by Carboniferous lime- stone formint' the terrace of Lebrusch, and this by the red and variegated sandstones of Lower Cretaceous age ('Nubian sandstone') which form the greater part of the mountain flanks, and are ultimately overlain by the Cretaceous limestones composing the crest of the Moabite and Edomite escarpment.
Such is the general geological structure as far as regards the more ancient formations. The form and features of the Ghor were considerably modified by rain and river action in Pliocene and Pleistocene times. At the latter stage, corresponding to the close of the Glacial epoch, the waters of the Jordanic Valley appear to have risen to such a degree as to have formed a lake whose area included those of Merom, Galilee, and the Dead Sea, and whose S. margin extended into the Arabah as far as the 'Ain Abu Werideli ; thus producing a lake which had a length from N. to S. of 200 miles, and whose surface rose to the level of the Mediter-
* The fortress of MasAdft wafl the last refuge of the band of Zea'ota of tlie Jews who defended themselves against flilva, tha Roman general (a.d. 71), and at last destroyod theniselrea to escape capture (Jos. War*, Vll. viii. ix.X
%
DEAFXESS
DEBIR
5/7
ranean. Tlie evidence for thus conclusion is to be found in the occurrence of terraces of lacustrine materials at intervals dowTi the Arabah from 'Ain Abu Werideh, a locality nearly 40 miles S. of the marj,'in of the Glior. These terraces contain numerous semi-fossil shells of the genera Melania and Melimopsis.' It is easy to understand that during the Glacial epoch the large rainfall and the melting of the snows of the Lebanon, accompanied by a clunate less tropical than that which now prevails, may have added enormously to the supplies of water poured into the Jordanic basin, thus rais- ing the surface to the level indicated. With the subsequent diminishing rainfall, and the recur- rence of sub-tropical conditions of climate, evapora- tion would <7radually gain upon precipitation ; and the surface of the waters, contracting stage by stage, would ultimately fall to their present limits, where evaporation anif supply have nearly balanced each other. It was during such successive stages of diminution in volume, and lowering of the surface, that the terraces of lacustrine materials were formed, and converted into land surfaces ; these commence at their highest limit with those of Abu Werideh, and are succeeded by others at lower and lower levels till the present margin of the Dead Sea shore is reached. The salinification of the waters necessarily accompanied this process ; because the salts dLssolved in tiie waters remained behind durin" the process of evaporation, and consequently tended to augment till saturation was reached. The Dead Sea waters, therefore, resemble those of all closed lakes which are more or less saline owing to similar catises.t
LiTBRATUR«, — Conder, Tent Work, 1880; Hull, 'Arabia Petrsa >n<I I'aleatlno.' In tftm. PEF, lS8a ; Lartet, Voyagt tfExplorn- tUm (It la MtT Mortt, 1880 ; Lyni-h, Report of U.S. Exjmlilwn to tki Jitrdan and Dead Se-i, 1852 ; Robinsnn, HR, lS(i6 ; Di- Saulcy, Voyagt dnns la Syrit, 1853; Schubert, Reiie in den iforgcnlund, 1837; Tristram, /yind V Isratl, 2nd ed. 1872. Ixind of Mood, 1878, ' Fauna and Flora of Palestine," in Hem. PEF, 1S'<4 ; O. A. Smith, i/u<. Geo;;. 499 fl. E. HuLL.
DEAFNESS.— See Medicine.
DEAL. — A 'deal' is a part or share (A.-S. dael, Ger. theil), and it may be a large or small part. In mod. Enc. we are allowed to say only ' he gave a great deal, or a good deal, of trouble,' scarcely ' he gave a deal of trouble,' and never ' a small deal. In older Eng. Chaucer could say (Hotutt of Famt, i. .S31)—
' O, have ye men awich goodliheed In speche, and never a deel of troutheT*
And Latimer could represent philosophers saying that 'God walked up and down in Heaven, and thinketh never a deal of our affairs.' In AV deal is used in the phrase ' tenth deal ' or ' tenth deals,' for Heb. ['nyy U.iArCn, wherever that word occurs (RV ' tenth part ' or ' tenth parts '). See Wbiqhts AND Measures.
To ' deal' Is to divide or distribute (A.-S. datlan), a< In 2 S 6i> •he dealt among all the people ... to every one a cake': 1 Ch 18>, Is 687 'd. thy bread to the hunitry'; and Ro 123 'accordinjf as Ood hatii dealt to every man the measure of faith.* Cf. Wyolif, Lk 01^ 'And whanne he hadde take the fyue looves and twel flschia, he bihccld in to hcuene, and blesfiide hem, anri brnk and delide to hiee didciplis, that thel schulden •ette forth bifor the cumpanyea"; and Coverdale. Dn b"^ 'Thy kynifdonie i» dcit in partes.' From this the verb Ttaj»ed into the si'iirte of dealing well or ill with a person, and then havint: any tranwiction with, — meanings that are freelv found in AV as in mod. use, Ac 25^ ' this man, about whom ail the multitude of the Jews iiave dealt with me'(irirvx" f**'t ^^ 'made suit