DEAD SEA WONDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

DEAD SEA WONDERS.

REMARKABLE EXPLORATION BY

MOTOR BOAT.

An* interesting account of a trip round the Dead Sea by a motor boat is given in the Geographical Journal by Mr. Jacob E. Spafford, a member of the American colony in Jerusalem.

In circumnavigating the lake four or five very fertile little plains, or ghors, were met with. " These plains," writes Mr. Spafford, "naturally bring to mind the connection of the Dead Sea with Sodom and Gomorrah, the 'cities of the plain,' that were overthrown. They have been variously placed on each side of the sea. "These plains and the small oasis at Engedi aro the only points where life of any kind and water are to be found. Engedi, our first stopping-place, is the only spot on tho west side where fresh water is to be had. This evidently was a little paradis in the time of Solomon, and is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament.

" The cliffs on the west side of the sea, which form an almost unbroken wall (excepting for the rugged torrent beds), and which vary from 300 to 190 ft in height, are all of limestone, whereas on the east side of the lake tho formation is entirely 'sandstone of exquisite hues. The abundance of water on this side, too, as compared with the other, is very striking. "About 10 miles from Engedi lies the peerless natural fortress of Masada (Sebbeh), first fortified by the Maccabees, then used as a place of refuge by Herod. At the foot of the tableland can bo seen the Roman walls of circumvallation and the two Roman camps on either side of the small ravine. " The fortres, which is 1700 ft abovo the sea, has steep sides at about an angle of 75deg., and cannot ho approached except from a connecting neck, calico tho Serpentine. A .more inhospitable place, or one more disadvantageous to besiegers, could not be imagined." A Wonderful Oave. Eight miles way is Jcbel Usdum, a mountain of rock salt, rising to a height of 500 ft. In this mountain is a large cave, which was explored to the extent of about 200 yds, at which point a tapering cylindrical shaft, of about 20ft in diameter. was discovered, piercing the solid rock salt 80ft high, as though through polished marble, evidently the effects of the rain. "Great snow-white stalactites hung from the ceiling. The approach to this mountain presents most fantastic appearances of walls, buttresses, parapets, projecting towers, etc., caused by the stratification and lay of tho salt boulders. '' A little south of Masada lies the rich Ghor-el-Mizra. Hero and elsewhere abounds the apple of Sodom, described by Josephus."