655
That lake is 13 geographical miles long by 6 in width ; its surface is G53feet below that of the Mediterranean , and its greatest ascertained depth165 feet, according to the cursory soundings made by the Americanexpedition under Lieutenant Lynch. From the Lake of Tiberias theJordan runs due south in a trough, as strait as an arrow, and about 7miles wide from wall to wall, to plunge into the chasm of the Dead Sea —a distance of about 60 miles—during which it falls 983 feet, or atthe rate of about 1C'4 feet per mile. The immediate bed of the river,eroded by fluviatile action, is so excessively tortuous as, by calculation(Lynch), to triple the length of its course, which throughout is a nearlycontinued cataract.
The Dead Sea is 46 English miles long by 10^ wide, of a narrowoblong form, and its area has been estimated to cover about 250 squaremiles. The depression of its surface below the Mediterranean has beenvariously estimated from 1,446 feet (barometrical, von Wildenbruch)to 1,312 and 1,316 feet by trigonometrical and levelling operations, theformer by Captain Symonds, the latter by Lieutenant Lynch. The lasttwo estimates may practically be considered to be identical, as theheight of the lake varies at different seasons, and Lieutenant Lynch’sdoes not appear to have started from any bench-mark or fixed datum.Captain Symonds’s estimate of 1,312 feet is adopted here. 1 The depthof the lake has been variously described. Messrs. Moore and Bcekeassign a maximum of 2,400 feet; while Lieutenant Lynch, with a partyof sailors accustomed to using the lead, only got a maximum, by sound-ings, of 1,308 feet between Ain Terabeh and Wady Zurka, about 9miles from the mouth of the Jordan. This, added to Captain Symonds’sresult, would give a depression of 2,620 feet below the level of theMediterranean . That this depth was originally very considerablygreater can hardly be doubted, since the Dead Sea , with no outlet, hashad poured into it the silt of the Jordan and of the other streamsthat flow into it, and have flown from all points of the compassduring a long lapse of ages, of which there are no data for arrivingat even an approximate estimate. The southern end of the lake hasbeen filled up by the deposition of inpoured silt. That the chasm isprecipitous is distinctly proved by Lynch’s sections, he having ascer-tained a depth of 900 feet, close to the margin, on the eastern side.The southern extremity is bounded by the Khashra Usdurn, or salt-
1 Up to the time of his fatal illness, the Mediterranean , and it was ascer-Dr. Falconer was engaged in collecting tained that during the early summer theinformation on the physical geography level of the sea falls at least six feetand geology of the ‘Dead Sea .’ The last ' below the level at which it stood on thooccasion on which he ventured out was ! day the levelling was taken. The sound-to attend a meeting of the Council of ; ings in the Dead Sea by Lieut . Vignes ofthe Itoyal Society, for the purpose of; the French Navy gave a maximum depthurging the propriety of voting a sum of i of 1,148 feet, making the depression ofmoney, for finally determining the vexed . the bottom of the Dead Sea 2,446 feetquestion of the relative levels of the 1 below the level of tho Mediterranean .Dead Sea and of the Mediterranean. The soundings in the Mediterranean ,This investigation was subsequently con- : midway between Malta and Candia, byducted by Col. Sir Henry James , and ; Capt. Spratt, R.N., gave a depth of 13,02!)from a Report presented by him to the | feet, or a depression of the bottom liveLoyal Society on May 3, 1866, it appears times greater than that of the bottom ofthat on March 12, 1865, the level of the the Dead Sea. —[Ei>.]