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some knitted, others woven, of amianthus. In the | diamonds that produced others at certain times; Pyrenees, girdles are made of the same substance (why not, if money makes money?) In the lanintermingled with silver thread. These girdles are guage of iconology, the diamond is the symbol of much esteemed by the women, not only on account constancy, of strength, of innocence, and of other of their beauty, but for certain mysterious proper-heroic virtues." ties they were believed to possess. Amianthus has also been employed as incombustible wicks; and it has been suggested that the perpetual lamps of the ancients were formed of this substance, and constantly supplied by a spontaneous oozing of petroleum. It is also asserted that the Greenlanders use

wicks of amianthus. Attempts have been made to manufacture incombustible paper of this mineral; and M. Demidoff, a Russian proprietor of great wealth, even offered to supply all the government offices of the empire with this kind of paper; but up to the present time the attempt has not succeeded."

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This is sufficient to show the stuff of which the work is composed; and such of our readers as desire a little amusement blended with a little instruction cannot do better than send for the volume itself.

From the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

The Narrative of the United States Expedition to
the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. By Lieut.
W. S. LYNCH, U. S. N.—Philadelphia: Lea &
Blanchard.

Indeed, the intrinsic merits of the work claim for it more than ordinary attention and examination. The scene of exploration is hallowed by historic associations, and possesses other and peculiar features of interest. The river Jordan and the Dead Sea-the one made sacred by the presence of Deity incarnate, and the other terrible by the manifestation of divine wrath-must be regarded with deep emotion wherever the records of those wonderful events are read and accredited; and it is quite natural that every intelligent Christian and philanthropist should await with eager curiosity a narrative of personal observation of the present appearance of those interesting localities. Such a one will be glad of the assurance that in Lieut. Lynch's book he will find a succinct, direct, pleasing account of those scenes which, under shelter of our national flag, he successfully explored.

THE publication of this work has been looked for with so much interest, that we expect to gratOn the subject of diamonds we have the follow-ify many readers by giving it an extended notice. ing gossip: This diamond, the Sanci, formerly belonged to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who wore it in his hat at the battle of Nancy, where his army was completely defeated, and where he lost his life, in 1477. It was found on the field of battle by a Swiss soldier, who sold it to a French gentleman of the name of Sanci. The diamond was preserved in the family of this gentleman for nearly a hundred years, until Henry III. commissioned a descendant of that family, who was a captain in the Swiss troops in his service, to raise fresh recruits among the Swiss. Driven from his throne by a league which his subjects had formed against him, the monarch, without money to pay his troops, borrowed the Sanci diamond, in order to pawn it to the Swiss. Sanci charged one of his servants to take it to its destination, but both the man and the diamond disappeared, no one could tell whither. The king reproached Sanci bitterly for having confided an object of such value to a valet. But Sanci, full of confidence in his servant, set out in search, and discovered that the man had been assassinated by robbers, and that the body was buried in a neigh-dred pages, embellished with about thirty engravboring forest. Thither he went, ordered the body to be disinterred and opened, when the diamond was discovered in his stomach; the faithful servant having swallowed it, the more effectually to hide it from the rapacity of the brigands. From that time it has always been called the Sanci diamond. It ultimately came into the possession of an English monarch."

The volume is a handsome octavo of five hun

ings and two outline or sketch maps; one of the
course of the Jordan, and the other of the Dead
Sea. The drawings for all the engravings were
made upon the spot, by two members of the expe-
dition, Lieut. Dale and Passed-Midshipman Au-
lick, the former of whom unfortunately did not
live to see the full fruit and proud result of the
sickness and the exhaustion consequent upon the
He died near Beirut, prostrated by
expedition.
toils of the journey, when the party were passing
from the ruins of the Baalbec to the sea-coast.

Glass is not cut with the point of a glazier's diamond, but with the curved edge formed by the meeting of two contiguous curved facets of the stone. A pointed diamond ring merely scratches the glassit does not cut it; and writing in this way is attended with some risk to the ring, as diamonds, though The expedition, it is generally known, sailed hard, are not difficult to break. The diamond was from New York in the storeship Supply, Lieut. supposed to protect from poison, pestilence, panic- Lynch commanding, in November, 1847; reached fear, hallucination, enchantments, &c. It likewise the Mediterranean in the following month, arrived calmed anger, maintained affection between man at Smyrna in February, and almost immediately and wife, and was thence called the stone of reconciliation. Mr. Jackson might have added that it embarked in an Austrian steamer for Constantinopossesses these latter virtues to this day. "A tal-ple, the slave market and other peculiarities of ismanic virtue was also attributed to it; when, under a favorable aspect, and under the planet Mars, the figure of this divinity, or of Hercules surmounted by a hydra, was engraved upon it, in such case it secured the victory to him who wore it, whatever

might be the number of his enemies. It was even pretended that diamonds engendered other diamonds (this is a pendant for the Peruvian emerald mentioned in a former letter;) and Rueus informs us that a Princess of Luxemburg had some hereditary

which city the author very fully and pleasantly describes. Lieut. Lynch's style is altogether agreeable. It has an imaginative glow and a high poetic tinge, without verboseness or exagthose qualities. Some of the descriptions of geration faults which too commonly accompany scenes and incidents at sea are exceedingly beautiful, and minister to a healthy mental excitement. From Constantinople they passed to the coast of

Syria, and disembarked the expedition at Haifa, | to leeward; threw over some of the fresh water to

not far from St. Jean d'Acre; thence they conveyed their boats overland, having them drawn by camels to Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, whence they again embarked, descending the Jordan to the Dead Sea.

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lighten the Fanny Mason, which labored very much, and I began to fear that both boats would founder.

At 5 40, finding that we were losing every moment, and that with the lapse of each succeeding one the danger increased, kept away for the northern shore, in the hope of being yet able to reach it; our arms, our clothes and skins coated with a greasy salt; and our eyes, lips and nostrils smarting excessively. How different was the scene before the submerging of the plain, which was even as the garden of the Lord!"

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At times it seemed as if the Dread Almighty frowned upon our efforts to navigate a sea, the creation of his wrath. There is a tradition among the Arabs that no one can venture upon this sea and live. Repeatedly the fates of Costigan and Molyneau had been cited to deter us. The first one spent a few days, the last about twenty hours, and rewithout landing upon its shores. One was found turned to the place from whence he had embarked dying upon the shore; the other expired in November last, immediately after his return, of fever contracted upon its waters.

The narrative of their entrance upon this part of the expedition commences at the eighth chapter of the book, and from this point the reader, to speak nautically, may take a fresh departure." Hitherto the scenes through which the expedition's party passed were not strictly new; though incidents occurred with sufficient frequency to give novelty and freshness to the narration. Now, the enterprising travellers approach the main design of the expedition. They begin to meet with wandering Arabs, and have other indications of the perils and toils of the journey. Now, too, the reader begins to find in Lieut. Lynch's journal reference to localities and rivers and scenes mentioned in Sacred Writ-the hills of Gilead, the river Jabok, the land of the Ammonites, the But, although the sea had assumed a threatening spot where Jacob wrestled with the angel-and a aspect, and the fretted mountains, sharp and icinethousand interesting associations and memories rated, loomed terrific on either side, and salt and crowd upon the mind. Finally, the author hav-ashes mingled with its sands, and fœtid sulphurous ing encountered difficulties in the navigation of the Jordan which he did not anticipate, and which were only overcome by the most vigorous and persevering exertions, he reached the borders of the Dead Sea. We shall now let the adventurous traveller speak for himself. Under date of April 18, 1848, after describing the bathing of the pilgrims in the Jordan, he says:

At 3 25, passed by the extreme western point, where the river is 180 yards wide and three feet deep, and entered upon the Dead Sea; the water, a nauseous compound of bitters and salts.

The river, where it enters the sea, is inclined towards the eastern shore, very much as is represented on the map of Messrs. Robinson and Smith, which is the most exact of any we have seen. There is a considerable bay between the river and the mountains of Belka, in Ammon, on the eastern shore of the sea.

A fresh north-west wind was blowing as we rounded the point. We endeavored to steer a little to the north of west, to make a true west course, and threw the patent log overboard to measure the distance; but the wind rose so rapidly that the boats could not keep head to wind, and we were obliged to haul the log in. The sea continued to rise with the increasing wind, which gradually freshened to a gale, and presented an agitated surface of foaming brine; the spray, evaporating as it fell, left incrustations of salt upon our clothes, our hands and faces; and while it conveyed a prickly sensation wherever it touched the skin, was, above all, exceedingly painful to the eyes. The boats, heavily laden, struggled sluggishly at first; but when the wind freshened in its fierceness, from the density of the water it seemed as if their bows were encountering the sledge-hammers of the Titans, instead of the opposing waves of an angry sea.

At 3 50, passed a piece of drift-wood, and soon after saw three swallows and a gull. At 4 55, the wind blew so fiercely that the boats could make no headway, not even the Fanny Skinner, which was nearer to the weather shore, and we drifted rapidly

springs trickled down its ravines, we did not despair. Awestruck, but not terrified; fearing the worst, yet hoping for the best, we prepared to spend a dreary night upon the dreariest waste we had ever seen.

At 5 58, the wind suddenly abated, and with it the sea as rapidly fell; the water, from its ponderous quality, settling as soon as the agitating cause had ceased. Within twenty minutes from the time we bore away from a sea which threatened to engulf us, we were pulling away, at a rapid rate, over a placid sheet of water, that scarcely rippled beneath us; and a rain-cloud, which had enveloped the sterile mountains of the Arabian shore, lifted up, and left their rugged outlines basking in the light of the setting sun. At 6 10, a flock of gulls flew over, while we were passing a small island of mud, a pistol shot distant from the northern shore, and half a mile west of the river's mouth. At 6 20, a light wind sprang up from S. E., and huge clouds drifted over, their western edges gorgeous with light, while the great masses were dark and threatening. The sun went down, leaving beautiful islands of rose-colored clouds over the coast of Judea; but above the yet more sterile mountains of Moab all was gloomy and obscure.

The northern shore is an extensive mud flat, with a sandy plain beyond, and is the very type of desolation; branches and trunks of trees lay scattered in every direction; some charred and blackened as by fire; others white with an incrustation of salt. These were collected at high water mark, designating the line which the water had reached prior to our arrival. On the deep sands of this shore was laid the scene of the combat between the Knight of the Leopard and Ilderim the Saracen. The north-western shore is an unmixed bed of gravel, coming in a gradual slope from the mountains to the sea. The eastern coast is a rugged line of mountains, bare of all vegetation - a continuation of the Hauran range, coming from the north, and extending south beyond the scope of vision, throwing out three marked and seemingly equi-distant promontories from its southeastern extremities.

At 6 25, passed a gravelly point, with many large stones upon it. It is a peninsula, connected with

the main by a low, narrow isthmus. When the | by his countrymen, and will be a lasting memorial latter is overflowed, the peninsula must present the of a great national enterprise skilfully consumappearance of an island, and is doubtless the one mated. to which Stephens, Warburton and Dr. Wilson allude.

We were, for some time, apprehensive of missing the place of rendezvous; for the Sheikh of Huteim, never having been afloat before, and scarce recovered from his fright during the gale, was bewildered in his mind, and perfectly useless as a guide. The moon had not risen; and in the starlight, obscured by the shadow of the mountains, we pulled along the shore in some anxiety. At one moment we saw the gleam of a fire upon the beach, to the southward; and, firing a gun, made for it with all expedition. In a short time it disappeared; and while resting on the oars, waiting for some signal to direct us, there were the flashes and reports of guns and sounds of voices upon the cliffs, followed by other flashes and reports far back upon the shore which we had passed. Divided between apprehensions of an attack upon our friends and a stratagem for ourselves, we were uncertain where to land. Determined, however, to ascertain, we closed in with the shore, and pulled along the beach, sounding as we proceeded.

A little before 8 P. M. we came up with our friends, who had stopped at Ain el Feshka, foun

tain of the stride.

The shouts and signals we had heard had been

from the scouts and caravan, which had been separated from each other, making mutual signals of recognition. They had likewise responded to ours, which, coming from two points some distance apart, for a time disconcerted us. It was a wild scene upon an unknown and desolate course-the mysterious sea, the shadowy mountains, the human voices among the cliffs, the vivid flashes and the loud reports reverberating along the shore.

Unable to land near the fountain, we were compelled to haul the boats upon the beach, about a mile below; and, placing some Arabs to guard them, took the men to the camp, pitched in a cane-brake beside a brackish spring, where, from necessity, we made a frugal supper, and then, wet and weary, threw ourselves upon a bed of dust, beside a fœtid marsh-the dark, fretted mountains behind-the sea, like a huge caldron, before us-its surface shrouded in a lead-colored mist.

From the Boston Post.

A noble volume of 500 beautifully printed pages is this, adorned with several excellent maps and well-drawn and well-executed engravings. Lieut. Lynch has evidently put his whole soul into his book, as in time past he put his whole soul into the " expedition," and finally obtained success, after a long course of delays, difficulties, hardships and dangers. Lieut. Lynch has evidently "done his possible" for his volume; and if one looks to the matter only-to what some people, doubtless, would call the only essential-the reader will be pleasantly satisfied. The volume is interesting and instructive, and its author would seem to have been well fitted for his command, in respect both to officer-like and scholar-like qualities. There is a vast deal of learning scattered through the volume-old legends, historical allusions, and poetical quotations-which, if not picked out of the handy" chambers of the brain, it must have been terribly hard work to gather together. But and only refer to the learning sown upon it, to with the matter of the work we have no quarrel, show that Lieut. Lynch has really "laid himself out," to use a common expression, in dressing up the record of his voyages and travels to the sea of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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But with the style of the composition there is some fault to find, for it is both grandiloquent and bombastic. The first fifty pages contain many funny specimens of what is ironically termed "fine writing ;" and sorry were we to see them thus emanate from one of genuine ability,-large information and abundant knowledge of all parts of his profession. They show bad taste, or, as foreigners are pleased to call it, American taste, in writing, and we regret that such stuff should be seen in what may be called a national work, inasmuch as it is the record of an expedition undertaken by order of government. An insane desire to use long words and to invest the most common occurrences with adjectives and pomposity, seems to be Lieut. Lynch's trouble throughout what may be termed the introduction to the work. After getting fairly started for the Jordan, his "ohs and ahs," and descriptions, are simply trite and verdant. But be

Toward midnight, while the moon was rising above the eastern mountains, and the shadows of the clouds were reflected wild and fantastically upon the surface of the sombre sea; and everything, the mountains, the sea, the clouds, seemed spectre-like and unnatural, the sound of the convent bell of Mar Saba struck gratefully upon the ear; for it was the Christian call to prayer, and told of human wants and human sympathies to the wayfarers on the bor-fore giving a few proofs of the correctness of our ders of the Sea of Death.

assertions, we must copy the following specimens On his return Lieut. Lynch "went up to Jeru- of grammar. On page 49 our author says, “With salem," crossed the country to Baalbec, and em- their feet drawn beneath them, they were squatted, barked at Beirut. The work concludes with an like tailors (those who have them) upon rugs, with account of the death of Lieut. Dale, already re- their baggage piled around them," &c., &c.— ferred to, and a brief mention of the places This is the exact printing in the volume, but what touched at on the homeward passage. Early in the sentence means is matter for dispute. December of 1848 the toil-worn but successful On page 19, the two metallic boats taken by party were greeted with the heart-cheering the expedition are thus described: "The boats sight of their native land," their commander hav-Fanny Mason' and Fanny Skinner,' of nearly ing conducted them safely through novel dangers equal dimensions, were named after two young and and toils. The record he has given of the scenes blooming children, whose hearts are as spotless as through which they passed will be eagerly perused their parentage is pure. Their prayers, like

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guardian spirits, would shield us in the hour of peril; and I trusted that, whether threading the rapids of the Jordan or floating on the wondrous sea of death, the Two Fannies' would not disgrace the gentle and artless beings whose names they proudly bore."

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more than were warranted by its anticipated results for the benefit of science; and, hitherto, the curiosity and zeal which have prompted a few bold spirits to similar researches, have been exercised at a sacrifice out of proportion to their value. Lieut. Lynch engaged in the enterprise with a

The above was well meant, we suppose, but it distinct perception of its perils and cost; but, insounds to us fudge-like.

spired by a genuine enthusiasm for its objects, he "A maddened street, instinct with desperation," devoted himself to its accomplishment with an enas applied to the ocean-" the multitudinous ergy and perseverance that have overcome every waters infringing against the western continent," obstacle, and enabled him to attain a degree of in describing the course of the Gulf Stream-" ac- success of which no previous traveller in the same celerated by the current half a mile an hour"-regions can boast. "the sea exhibiting in magnificent confusion its toppling waves"-" whales, blowing volumes of water from their capacious nostrils," and "a distinct and prohibitory line of foam"-are expressions found among others not quite so tremendous, on pages 19, 20 and 21.

On page 23, Lieut. Lynch describes the departure of his vessel from Gibraltar for Port Mahon, one of the officers having fallen sick with the small-pox :

"The sick man knew, however, that before it could be reached, he must pass the ordeal. His feelings can be better imagined than described. Prostrate with a disease as malignant as it is loathsome; with a body inflamed and swollen, and a mind so racked with fever, that reason, from time to time, fairly tottered on her throne; he must naturally have longed to exchange his hard and narrow berth and the stifling atmosphere of a ship, soon to be tossed about, the sport of the elements, for a softer and more spacious couch, a more airy apartment, and, above all, the quiet and the better attendance of the shore."

cer

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We agree with Lieut. Lynch that the sick offimust naturally have longed," &c., &c. But we also think that the above is one of the clearest examples of bathos, common-place and downright twattle extant.

But it is useless to cite more instances of the defects to which we have alluded. They exist throughout this long work in any quantity, but not in the average of grossness, perhaps, of the above quotations. And yet, as before remarked, the book is really interesting and instructive, and is really and obviously the work of an able, well educated and enlightened man. How such silly defects of style should coëxist with the more essential merits of the text is almost unintelligible; and, indeed, were we upon oath for our opinion at this moment, we should say that one man must have written the twattle, the triteness, the bad grammar and the bad taste, while another furnished the learning and narrated the facts.

From the New York Tribune.

He sailed from New York in November, 1847, arrived at Constantinople in the ensuing February, and, after obtaining the protection of the Sultan for his journeyings through the Turkish dominions in Syria, came to the Sea of Galilee in April. The passage down the Jordan was attended with the greatest peril, and a less determined spirit would have shrunk back in dismay. The progress of the light metallic boats, which had been constructed expressly for the expedition, was frequently retarded by rapids, cataracts and whirlpools in the river; at the most dangerous falls, the channel had to be opened by removing large stones; and it was only by dint of incredible exertions by the whole party, that the difficult voyage was at last accomplished.

At such

Our course down the stream was with varied rapidity. At times we were going at the rate of from three to four knots the hour, and again we would be swept and hurried away, dashing and whirling onward with the furious speed of a torrent. moments there was excitement, for we knew not but that the next turn of the stream would plunge us down some fearful cataract, or dash us on the sharp rocks that might lurk beneath the surface. For the reasons I have before stated, the Fanny Mason always took the lead, and warned the Fanny Skinner when danger was to be shunned or encountered. When the sound of a rapid was distinct and near, the compass and the note-book were abandoned, and, motioning to the Fanny Skinner to check her speed, our oars began to move like the antennæ of which is ever the deepest, part of the current; when some giant insect, to sweep us into the swiftest, it caught us, the boat's crew and our Arab friend Jumach leaped into the angry stream, accoutred as they were, and clinging to her sides, assisted in guiding the graceful Fanny down the perilous descent. In this manner she was whirled on, driving between rocks and shallows with a force that made her bend and quiver like a rush in a running stream; then, shooting her through the foam and the turmoil of the basin below, where, in the seething and effervescing water, she spun and twirled, the men leaped in, and with oars and rudder, she was brought to an eddying cove, whence, by word and gesture, she directed her sister Fanny through the channel.

In this volume, Lieut. Lynch presents a graphic The great depression between the Sea of Galilee and lively description of his adventures, as chief and the Dead Sea is caused by the singularly of the expedition appointed by the United States tortuous course of the river Jordan. In a space government to explore the Dead Sea, and trace the of 60 miles of latitude and 4 or 5 of longitude, it river Jordan to its source. This was a commission traverses the distance of at least 200 miles. Not involving great difficulties and danger; perhaps less than 27 dangerous rapids were encountered

by Lieut. Lynch and his party, besides a great number of less consequence. The sinuous course of the Jordan is not exceeded even by that of the Mississippi.

On approaching the Dead Sea, they perceived nauseous smells, which proceeded from small streams on each side of the Jordan; birds were seen on the wing-pigeons, a heron, bulbul, snipe, and many wild ducks; the river was 70 yards wide; the left bank very low, covered with tamarisk, willow, and cane; the right bank 15 to 18 feet high, red clay, with weeds and shrubs, the mal a insana, spina Christi, and some of the agnus castus, a few tamarisk at the water's edge. When it enters the sea, the Jordan is 180 yards wide and three feet deep, and inclined toward the eastern shore. It is represented with great exactness on the map of Messrs. Robinson and Smith, which, according to Lieut. Lynch, is superior to any others.

The party found great difficulty in making the entrance. A fresh north-west wind was blowing as they rounded the extreme western point; they endeavored to make a true west course; but the wind rose so rapidly that the boats could not keep head to the wind. The sea rose with the breeze, which increased to a gale, and presented a rough surface of foaming brine; the spray evaporated as it fell, and incrusted the clothes, hands and faces with salt, producing a prickly sensation wherever it touched the skin, and causing a severe pain to the eyes. The boats struggled sluggishly at first, but as the wind grew fiercer, it seemed, says Lieut. Lynch, as if their bows were encountering the sledge-hammers of the Titans, instead of the opposing waves of an angry sea.

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sea which threatened to engulf them, the party were gliding at a rapid rate over a placid sheet of water, that scarcely rippled beneath them; and a rain cloud, which had enveloped the sterile mountains of the Arabian shore, lifted up, and left their rugged outlines basking in the light of the setting

sun.

The next day they made an excursion along the base of the mountain, where they gathered specimens of conglomerate and some fresh-water shells in the bed of the stream. The shore was covered with small angular fragments of flint, but there were no round stones or pebbles on it. Two partridges of a beautiful stone color were started up, so much like the rocks that they could only be distinguished when in motion. They heard the notes of a solitary bird in a cane-brake, which they could not identify. This disproves the common opinion, that nothing can live on the shores of the Dead Sea. For though, as Lieut. Lynch observes, "the home and the usual haunt of the partridge may be among the cliffs above, the smaller bird they heard must have his nest in the thicket."

The scene was one of unmingled desolation. The air. tainted with the vapors of the stream, gave a tawny hue even to the foliage of the cane, which is elsewhere of so light a green. Except the cane-brakes, there was no vegetation; barren mountains, fragments of rocks, blackened by sulphur, and an unnatural sea, with low, dead trees on its margin, bore a sad and sombre aspect.

As they approached the southern extremity of the sea, they came in sight of the salt mountain of Usdum; the beach was bordered with innumerable dead locusts; there was also bitumen in occasional lumps, and incrustations of salt and lime. The bitumen presented a bright smooth surface when fractured, and looked like a consolidated fluid. Near a ravine, on an eminence, they discovered the ruins of a building, with square cut stones-the foundation walls alone remaining, and a line of low wall running down to the ravine; near it was a rude canal. There were many remains of terraces. Here Costigan thought that he had found the ruins of Gomorrah. Sounding cautious

At length, finding that we were losing every moment, and that with the lapse of each succeeding one, the danger increased, we kept away for the northern shore, in the hope of being able yet to reach it; our arms, our clothes and skins coated with a greasy salt; and our eyes, lips and nostrils smarting excessively. How different was the scene before the submerging of the plain, which was even as the garden of the Lord!" At times, it seemed as if the Dread Almighty frowned upon our efforts to navigate a sea, the creation of his wrath. There is a tradition among the Arabs that no one can venturely along the coast, they passed the extreme point upon this sea and live. Repeatedly the fates of Costigan and Molyneaux, had been cited to deter us. The first one spent a few days, the last about twenty hours, and returned to the place whence he had embarked, without landing upon its shores. One was found dying upon the shore; the other expired in November last, immediately after his return, of fever contracted upon its waters. But although the sea had assumed a threatening aspect, and the fretted mountains, sharp and incinerated, loomed terrific on either side, and salt and ashes, mingled with its sands, and fetid, sulphurous streams, trickled down its ravines-we did not despair; awestruck, but not terrified-fearing the worst, yet hoping for the best-we prepared to spend a dreary night upon the dreariest waste we had ever seen.

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of Usdum, which is a broad, flat, marshy delta coated with salt and bitumen, and soon after discovered on its eastern side a lofty, round pillar, apparently detached from the general mass, at the head of a deep, narrow and abrupt chasm. Proceeding to the shore to examine this new phenomenon, they found the beach a soft, slimy mud encrusted with salt, and at a short distance from the water, covered with saline fragments and bleaks of bitumen.

The pillar was of solid salt, capped with carbonate of lime, cylindrical in front and pyramidal behind. The upper part was about 40 feet high, resting on an oval pedestal from 40 to 60 feet above the level of the sea. A similar pillar is mentioned by Josephus, by Clement of Rome, and by Irenaeus, who do not hesitate to express the belief of its being the identical one into which Lot's wife was transformed. Lieut.

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