II. Physical Features, — 1. Generid Position. — The Dead Sea is situated in the lowest part of that great valley which stretches in a direct line due south from
the base of Hermon to the head of the gulf of Akabah. The valley is a chasm or fissure in the earth's crust, be- ing fur nearly 200 miles below the level of the ocean. The Dead Sea is the reservoir into which all its waters fjow, and from which there is, and can be, no escape except by evaporation. It is the lowest and largest of the three lakes which interrupt the rush of the Jordan's downward course. It is, in fact, a pool left by the ocean in its retreat from what there is reason to believe was at a very remote period a channel coiniecting the Metli- terranean with the lied Sea. As the most enduring result of the great geological operation which deter- mined the present form of the country, it may be called, without exaggeration, the key to the physical geogra- phy of the Holy Land. It is therefore in every way an object of extreme interest.
The valley is shut in on the east and west by parallel ranges of mountains, having steep, rugged, and bare sides, furrowed by wild ravines. The eastern range is somewhat higher than the western. In tlie parallel of Jericho the ranges expand slightly, and the valley there attains its greatest breadth — about twelve miles; but they contract again at the northern end of the Dead Sea, and continue in parallel lines throughout its entire length. The cliffs which hem in the valley are here steeper, higher, and wilder than elsewhere, and the scener\-' is more bleak and desolate. The sea occupies the whole width of the valley, in many places washing the sides of the cliffs.
2. Terrace Banks. — It is deserving of special note that the mountain-sides and low plains on both the eastern and western shores of the Dead Sea are marked by a series of terraces, manifestly water-lines of some remote ages. Tiie highest is very distinctly seen on the mountain-chain of Jloab, extending ahjng the tops of the cliffs like a huge shelf. Its elevation appears to be about 1300 feet; and on the western range, at vari- ous places, there is a corresponding terrace. This ter- race has been frequently noticed by travellers, but special attention was recently given to it by Tristram who remarks: "These terraces in the old Secondary limestone must be about the present level of the Jledi- terranean, and they seem to tell of a period long ante- cedent to the Tertiary terraces and deposits below, when the old Indian Ocean wore the rocks and scooped out the caverns, as its unbroken tide swept up from the coasts of Africa ; or when the Salt Sea formed one in a chain of African lakes" {Land of Israel, p. 247).
About 230 feet above the present level of the Dead Sea are traces of another ancient shore-line, marked by a strip of alluvial marl adhering to the rocks and cliffs, particularly at the north-west angle, and down as far as Ras el-Feshkhah (^ihid. p. 25G). It is also seen at Wady Derejah and Ain-Jidy. The deposit is mixed with shells of existing species, layers of gypsum, and gravel. Where there are ravines running down to the sea be- tween high cliffs, the deposit reaches up their sides in places to a height of 400 feet, and then slopes away in a series of terraces to the present level of the sea, as if the water had gradually and slowly evaporated. At one point Tristram counted on the shore "no less than eight low gravel terraces, the ledges of comparatively recent bea(^hes, distinctly marked. The highest of these was forty-four feet above the present sea-level" (p. 278). At Jebei Shukif, a short distance north of Engedi, Tris- tram, in addition to the lower terraces noted elsewhere, measured the elevations of three high terraces. The tirst at a height of 322 feet, marked by a deposit of marl on limestone; tlie second GG5 feet, formed of liard limestone; and the third 1G54 feet, of crystalline lime- stone {ibid. p. 295).
3. Circuit of the Shore. — The contour of the Dead Sea, as delineated in most maps, is regular,- the shore- lines having few indentations, and the curves at the north and south being uniform. Recent researches — especially those of Lynch, Robinson, and Tristram — have shown that tins regularity of outline is incorrect.
SALT SEA
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SALT SEA
The western shore especially has long promontories and deep bays, aiul the curves at itic iiortli and south are verv far" from l)eiiig so gracefully rounded as most cliar- tographers have delineated them.
On the north, at the embouchure of the Jordan, a low jiromontory is in process of gradual formation by the muddy deposits brought down by the river. It is mostly bare, destitute of all vegetation, and, like the adjoining ))lain. covered with a nitrous crust. At present it projects into tiie lake more than a mile. When the water is vcr\- high, a portion is overflowed. To the westward lies a deep bay, and beyond it a long, low isthmus, covered with cairns of loose rounded stones. De Saulcy has given to this isthmus the name Eejiim Lut, " Lot's ruin ;" but this name is not heard on the spot. The ru- ins arc shapeless and desolate. They are of the highest antiquity, and may perhaps be of the ajra of the "cities of the plain."