DIVING FOR SALT IN THE DEAD SEA.

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 22, 8 January 1907, Page 6

DIVING FOR SALT IN THE DEAD SEA.

—-5 The awful desolation of the Dead Sea, which lies pearly 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, is broken here and there by the salt divers, whose work is probably as ancient as the human race itself. From remote antiquity the salt of the Dead Sea has been collected afnd brought to the Jerusalem market, where it is used for curing hides and for domestic purposes. Dead Sea water contains over 25 per cent, of solid substances, of which 7 per cent, is chloride of sodium, or common salt. The Dead Sea contains no living creature. Sea fish put into its waters speedily die. Not a single boat navigates its strange waters, nor is there any sign of life, save the isolated parties of salt divers, who scrape and slowly amass their glistening heaps of crystal near the mouth of the Jordan. W 7 hen a sufficient cargo is made ready a long string of camels crosses the desert, and the'salt is loaded up into, panniers, or ‘‘shwerrios,” and taken into Jerusalem, where it finds a ready market,.

Salt, as is weW-known, has been used as currency from time immemorial, just as bricks of tea are used today in Central Asia, especially in the borderland of China and Siberia.