side of the old road, near the ruined arch of a bridge, and the tombs of some devout Christians. On entering the gate, the traveller passes through a long and broad street, still called Straight, which is said to be that in which Saul lodged when he was visited by Ananias. The interior of Damascus is not at all in character with the excessive beauty of nature without the walls. Very many of the streets have a mean appearance; the houses are low; and the most pleasing features of the interior are the rivers and groups of trees, the coffeehouses, and the luxurious houses of the rich. The chief building in the middle of the city, with a large dome and two roofs, is the grand mosque, formerly a Christian cathedral. The architecture of this building is very superior in beauty and variety to that of any other mosque in the Turkish dominions. So peculiarly sacred is it held by the Mahometans, that Christians are rarely allowed to enter it, though it was originally reared by members of that faith.

Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

1

THE Dead Sea is in the Holy Scriptures most commonly called the Salt Sea, but sometimes the east, 2 or former3 Sea, and the Sea of the Plain. The site which it now occupies was anciently, in part if not wholly, a fertile and populous plain, watered by the river Jordan. 5 But though the soil was

(1) Gen. xiv. 3. The vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.—— -Deut. iii. 17. The sea of the plain, even the salt sea.

(2) Joel ii. 20. With his face toward the east sea.

(3) Zech. xiv. 8. Half of them toward the former sea. (Obs.)-In scripture language, the words former and before denote the east; latter and behind, the west; on the right-hand, the south; and on the left-hand, the north; the spectator being supposed to face the rising sun.

(4) Deut. iv. 49. Even unto the sea of the plain.

(5) Gen. xiii. 10. Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where.

6

4

2

rich on the surface, it was composed beneath' of the inflammable slime or bitumen still common in many parts of Asia, which was used as cement in building. This fruitful land was turned into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwelt therein;3 the four cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, being overthrown with their inhabitants and produce by burning brimstone from the Lord out of heaven.5 So complete was their destruction, that the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah is quoted by the prophets as a type of the irremediable ruin which God was about to bring on other guilty nations. It does not become us to inquire, to what extent the Almighty employed natural agencies to bring about this terrific overthrow; but as a question of Physical Geography, we may briefly notice the various opinions which have been held, as to the alteration produced in the features of the country, by the Divine visitation. The course of the Jordan having been the same before this awful event that it is now, some have supposed that its waters were discharged into a subterraneous lake, covered by a crust of bitumen and earth, and that this, at the time of the destruction of the plain, sunk to the bottom with the guilty cities. Others are of opinion, that the course of the Jordan anciently extended to the Red Sea, the high intervening land having been raised by a convulsion simultaneous with the overthrow of the cities. But it has been recently discovered, that the surface of the Salt Sea is 1300 feet below the level of the Red Sea, so that if the high land between the two were removed, the whole of the valley of the

(1) Gen. xiv. 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits. (2) Gen. xi. 3. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. (3) Ps. cvii. 34. A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

(4) Deut. xxix. 23. Like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.

(5) Gen. xix. 24, 25. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

(6) Isa. xiii. 19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.Jer. xlix. 18. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

Jordan would be inundated by water from the Indian Ocean, as far north as the lake of Tiberias. The simplest explanation, and at the same time that which is most easily reconciled with the Scripture narrative is, that, from the earliest time, a lake of sweet and wholesome river water received the river Jordan ; but that after the cities were destroyed by fire from heaven, the waters of the lake (now become salt and unfit for use,) encroached on the fertile plain lying south of the lake on which the cities were situated, and rendered permanent the sterility which the visitation by fire had originated.

It is called by the Greeks and Romans, "The Asphaltic Lake," from the asphaltum or bitumen which was found scattered on its shores or floating on the surface of its waves. The name of Dead Sea it received, partly because no living creatures are found in it, and partly because the Jordan and other streams are swallowed up in its depths without again flowing forth as living streams. By the Arabs it is called the Sea of Lot, from the circumstance alluded to in Genesis xix. 26. The Dead Sea is about 45 miles long from north to south, and ten or eleven from east to west, and is embedded between cliffs from 1500 to 2500 feet high. Among these there is at the southwestern extremity a great mountain of salt, the base of which passes under the lake. The hard sandy soil near the shore is destitute of vegetation, and is encrusted with salt, which is collected by the Arabs, and forms an article of traffic. water, though clear, is so strongly impregnated with salt, that whatever is dipped in it is no sooner dry than it is found to be covered with a sparkling crust. Its weight when compared to pure water is as three to two, consequently it is very buoyant, and travellers who have bathed in it state that it is almost impossible to sink beneath it. It is not true that iron will float on its surface, or that birds flying across the lake are killed by the vapour which is exhaled: but no fish will live in its waters, nor will any useful plants grow on its shores. That such was also the case of old, the prophet appears to intimate, when he describes its future condition.1 Besides

Its

(1) Ezek. xlvii. 9, 12. It shall come to pass that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be

the bitumen mentioned above, pieces of sulphur and saltpetre are frequently found on the shore, and black shining stones, partially inflammable, are picked up, and made into rosaries and toys. The climate in the neighbourhood is unhealthy in summer; but not more so than might be expected from the situation of the lake. As the Dead Sea receives the waters of the Jordan and of several smaller streams, though no rivers flow from it, its superfluous water must be carried off by the copious evaporation which takes place during the summer months. Such is also the case with the waters of the Mediterranean, where the absorption amounts to 6914 tons daily, for every square mile.

In the spring of the year 1848, a survey of the Dead Sea was made by a party of American sailors, under the command of Captain Lynch. They entered the lake by the Jordan, and coasted it all round, returning to the point from whence they started. Captain Lynch states that the waters of the Dead Sea are without smell, but to the taste are bitter, salt, and disgusting. The boats immediately on their entrance were caught in a gale of wind, and so thick and heavy was the water, that the waves dashed against the sides of the boats like hammers. Birds and insects were found on the shores, and sometimes ducks on the sea; but no living creature was discovered in the sea, although the salt streams which flow into it contain fish. The greatest depth was found to be 188 fathoms, or 1128 feet; the northern part is the deepest, and here the bed was found to be nearly level. Near the shore the bottom is covered by a crust of salt, but in the central parts it consists of mud mixed with cubic crystals of the same substance. The southern part of the lake is so much shallower than the northern, that for a space of ten miles the depth does not exceed three fathoms or eighteen feet, the bed containing no crystals, but the southern shore being covered with a crust of salt. On passing the mountain of Sodom, the party ob

healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.-And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.