The Dead Sea

Front matter

Google to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

Preface

Of the numerous emanations from the modem press^ works on the East have formed no inconsiderable

^^ proportion; yet while each^ in a greater or less degree, has contributed to the general stock of information, the public interest in the subject still continues to be sustained.

o As the mere personal narrative of a traveller, these volumes would not have been added to the number already given to the world ; but for my belief, that I have seen several very interesting placea and sites under a somewhat new aspect

My ideas on some of these, formed the subjects of papers read by me before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the Royal Geographical Society ; and as they have been honoured with some attention by those learned bodies, I have

▲ 3

VI PREFACE.

been led to reflect more deeply on them^ and the result has been their expansion into the two volumes which, with much deference, I now venture to lay before the public.

As my principal object was to call attention to the extraordinary nature of the Dead Sea, to account for its probable formation, and to show how it may be made the means of communication with our East Indian possessions, I have availed myself of all the information I could gather from other writers, in order to support my own views.

With some of the passages, which I have found to answer my purpose, I have enriched my text ; while I have made copious extracts in an Appendix, for the use of those who may wish to consult them. I have gratefully to acknowledge my obligations to those authors to whose works I have thus resorted.

In order to connect the principal subjects I have treated of, it was necessary to make use of some portions of my journal. In doing this, I have confined myself to such fragments of it as either bear on those subjects, or relate to places not very frequently visited, or that were seen by me under dif-

PREFACE. YIL

ferent phases, or in which were gleanings that had escaped the eye of previous labourers in the field. In making my selections I have endeavoured to avoid the relation of incidents which, though of considerable personal interest at the time, would appear trivial to the general reader.

A 4

Contents

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I. Thb Kassaqb'out

Variable Winda and joHy Faces. — Bobbing for Whales. <— 2<eph7r!i8. — Gibraltar. -^ St. Midiael'a Cave. — Aboriginal Colonists. — Dom Daiiiel. — Zephyms gets bolder.— 'Doing Andalusia. — Evil Communication. — Blue turned up with Red, and Red turned up with Blue. — Dinner-time. — The Skerkid — ^A narrow Escape. — ^The Island that was. — Hugging the Point.— Anchor in Malta Harbour. —Discordant Notes.

Pagel

CHAP. n.

MALTA.

No Quarantine I — Maltese Bumboats. — Recognitions. — Natives, good and bad. — Niz-mangiare Stiurs. — Streets of Valetta. — Friars and Nuns. — The Church of St John. — The Pabce of the Grand-master. #— Tapestry. — Portraits of Grand-masters. — Armoury. — Granaries. — Fortifications. — A Love Story, and a great falling off. — A Hortus Siccus. — Agriculture. — The Soil exotic*^ Church Decorations. —

X CONTENTS OF

A disinterested Guide. — Proves a Tonter. — A reverend Guide. — St. Paul's Grotto. — Its miraculous Powers of Selfrestoration. — His Reverence in a Dilenuna. — The Catacombs.— Their great Extent. — Early Christians. *- Clause in Marriage Settlements.— The Antiquities of Hagar Kheem.

— Dried Capuchins .... page 9

CHAP. in.

GREEK ISLANDS.

The French Packet. — The Mountiuns of Greece at Sunrise. — Hydra. — The Focus of the Greek revolutionary Spirit. — MffjiA. — Origin of Coinage. — The Pirsdus. — The Groves of Academus. — An agreeable Itencontre. — A Moonlight Walk. ^ A noble Cicerone. — His Greek Majesty's Tacht — Embark for a Cruize among the Islands. — The Port of Zea.

— Refuge in a Cottage. — Three Generations. — ^A Zean Maid.

— Porto BufialL — The Eing*s Pennant "brooming." — Marathon. — The Athenian Tumulus. — Persian Arrowheads. — The Cenotaph of Miltiades. — A Greek Shepherd. — Delos.

— Desolation. — Remains of a Theatre. — A solitary Monarch. — Foul Winds and " Pile-driving." — Cape Colonna. — Solitude. — Ancient and modem Autographs. — The Ruins of the Temple. — A fine View. — General Knowledge versus local Experience. — Foul Winds and provoking Calms. — Making the Parthenon. — Herodotus stretching a little. <— GreekLents. — Return to Athens - - - 30

CHAP. IV.

MABMOBICE BAT.

Promenades at Smyrna.— Unhealthy Swamps. — Visit to the Governor. — Promises of Reform. — The Barracks. — Banditti caught in a Trap. — Engaging a Dragoman. — Family Quarrels.— Difiicult Negotiation. — A happy Reconciliation.

THE FIRST VOLUME. XI

— Embark for Rhodes. — Scio beautiful in Appearance, but desolate. — The late Frost — Oranges all destroyed.

— The Government of the Island. — The Harbour. — A Russian Spy. — Pilgrim Passengers. — Samos. — Rhodes. — Our kind Consid. — Visit to the Governor- General. — His Sherbet, Pipes, and Zafs. — The Turkish Admiral Osman Pacha. — Invited to go to Marmorice Harbour. — The Compass in the Admiral*s Iron Steamer. — Intelligence of the Turkish Soldiers. — The Entrance of the Harbour. — Turkish Dinner. — The Cook. — Hellenic Fortress. — The Town picturesque outside, wretched within. — Farmhouse. <—

— Fertile Country, but unhealthy. — Exorbitant Prices.-— An honest Turkish Official. — A Governor of the old School.

— Lions and Tigers said to be in the Mountains. — Singers on Board serenaded the Fair Ones of the Town. — Returned to Rhodes. — The Pachas as Guests at the Consul's.

CHAP. V.

MAKRl.

We embark in the ^'Blackboard.** — Two Captains and one Man. — Murder of Sir L. Jones. — The retired Bandit. — The gory Head. — A second Instalment. — Engage a Mukri.

— He consults his ** Better-half.** — The Aga*s Divan.— Present our Credentials. — Silent Interview, at which neither Party is the wiser. — Nicolo's Wife and Hospitality. — The family Bedroom. — Rock-tombs. — Too late for the Festa.

— Magnificent Scenery. — The Conference at the Aga*s Town Residence. — Grave Speeches, Smoking, and Beardstroking. — The Roads are pronounced to be safe, with a strong Escort. — Discovery of a Conspiracy. — Our Friends prove to be on a diplomatic Mission from the Chief of the Banditti. — Nicolo is terror-stricken, and even Panaghiotti is dismayed. — We consult. — Felt a Penchant for the ** better Part of Valour." — The " Blackboard ** again.

XU CONTENTS OF

— Our Cabin in the Hold, and Beds on the Ballast. —The Ruins of Telmessus. — Ancient Prosperitj. — Some Causes of Decay. — The Theatre, Rock-tombs, and Sarcophagi.— Further Information about the Banditti. — Their Movements directed bj the Chief at his Mountain Villa - Page B5

CHAP. VI.

I.TCIA.

Embark in the "Blackboard" again.— The Harbour of Doniajik. — A deserted Town. — Ruins of Churches and Convents.— Ship-building. — Anticragus. — Exertions of the Captains and their Man. •— The Seven Capee. — Mouth of the Xanthus. — Ruins of Patara.^The gloomy Bay of Ealamaki. — Gypsies and Shepherds. — Antiphellus. — A remarkable Rock-tomb. — Rock-tombs at Point Savedo. — Island of Castelorizo. — The Bandits again. — We cling to the discreet Principle formerly avowed. — A barren Island and large Population. — Romance of their Occupation. — A wholesome Law defeated by its Provisions. — Embark for Rhodes. — Experience of the Boatmen. — An ancient Greek Aqueduct. — Pyramidal Monument — Squalls, and a narrow Escape. — Arrive safely at Rhodes.— Report the State of the Country to the Grovemor. — His Indecision.— A significant Hint ...... 118

CHAP. vn.

The Population chiefly Greek. — The Government is in their own Hands. — Unjust Complaints against the Turks. — Antiquities. — A fine marble Throne. — A good School-house and intelligent Master. — Byzantine Ruins. — Great Mortality.— The Saints arc the principal Practitioners. — A Child under Treatment. — Picturesque Aquedact — A long

THE FIRST VOLUME. XUl

Walk. — Ride to Mount Oljinpus. — Forto Jero. — Hot Baths. — Olive-trees '* burnt** by the Frost. — Malaria and its Causes. — A Storm in the Mountains. — Ajasso. — Shops made of Calico. — The Church of Santa Therapia. — Fious Indignation of an old Woman. — ^Expiatory Tapers. — ^Dinner on Horseflesh. — Excellent Melons. — The Cavassi-Bashi. — The bald Head of Olympus. — Charming Kef. — Fretty Negress. — Embark for Smyrna. — Run over a Boat — The great Turkish Frigate. — Admiral Slade. — Fig-picking and packing ------ Fage 160

CHAP. vm.

RHODES.

We embark for Rhodes. — News about the " Gentlemen ** of Makri. — A Greek Merchant. — A great Disappointment. — A Tour of the Island. — Fanga. — Trianda. — The Dorian City Jalysus. — A simple Breakfast. — Uncultivated Land. — Ancient and medissval Ruins. — A Castle of the Knights. — Embona. — Hospitable and joUy Fapa. —. Ascent of the Mountain. — Extensive View. — Grand Scenery and rugged Roads. — Great Watershed. — Rock-tombs. — Reported Rtdns. — The Dorian City of Camirus. — Shrines. — Fine Forests. — The Dorian City Lindus. — The Acropolis, and the Castle of the Knights. — Remains of a Theatre. — A magnificent Rock'^tomb. — A mischievous Turk. — Promptitude of the Vizier. — Capabilities of the Island. — The ancient Rhodians. — The Colossus. — Its probable Site. — Estimation of its Size. — Rhodes under the Knights. — Its presetit State. ^ Capabilities of Improvement. — The present Inhabitants. — Fanaghiotti is wrecked. — Sequel of his History. — A mysterious Arrival. — We embark for Syria. — Beriit — Dilapidated Harbour - - - 170

XIV CONTENTS OF

CHAP. IX.

THE DEAD SEA.

" (xoing down to Jericho." — ^Necessity a Virtue. — The Sheikh of the Desert. — The Tomb of Lazarus. — Appearance of the Dead Sea. — Jericho. — The Jordan. — Peculiar Features. — The great Depression. — Theories. — Volcanic Traces. — The Proofs of recent Action. — The "doomed Cities of the Plain.** — Popular Belief. — Scriptural Account. — Lot*s Separation from Abram points to the Locality of the Pentapolb. — The Assyrian Invasion of the Rephaim under Chedorlaomer or Nynias. — Wars of Extermination of the Egyptians against the Rapha Tribes. — Condition of the Dead Sea in those Times. — Data for ascertaining it in the Days of Joshua. — Probability that it is now in a State of Equilibrium .... - Page 225

CHAP. X.

ON THE FORMATION OF THE DEAD SEA.

Recapitulation of peculiar Features. — Observations of other Travellers. — Terrace-like Formations seen by Lynch. — Dr. Anderson's Remarks. — Eerak. — Dr. Robinson. — The '* Cities of the Plain.'* — An extraordinary Fissure. — The Bitter Lakes of Suez. — Analogy between them and the Depression of the Wady Arabah. — The Gulf of Akabah. — Its Separation from the Depression, caused by volcanic Agency, or by the Growth of Coral Reefs. — Proofs of sudden Drainage found round the Margin accounted for. — The excessive Saltness of the Dead Sea accounted for - 270

THE FIRST VOLUME. XV

CHAP. XI.

OTHBB DEAD SEAS.

Some Cases enumerated. — Hypothetical Cases. — The Currents of the Red Sea and Me^terranean. — Two Basins in the Mediterranean.— The Adyenture Bank. — Graham's Island. — The Gibraltar Bank. — Hypothetical Extravaganzas. •* Two more Dead Seas possible. — Peculiarities of the Black Sea. — The Great Northern Ocean. — The Drainage of the Black Sea. — The Saltness of the Euzine and of the Caspian.

— A Leaf of Jason's Log-book restored to its original Simplicity. — Desiderata .... Page 290

CHAP. xn.

THE WATERSHED.

The downward Slope of the Wady Arabah recently discovered.

— Burckhardt. — Lrby and Mangles. — The Comte de Bertou*8 Journey. — Unsuccessful from the Loss of his Instruments. — Reasons for thinking him mistaken in his Assumptions and Estimations. — Dr. Schubert's Evidence important. — Seems to prove the Watershed to be of slight Elevation, and to be nearer to Akabah than De Bertou believes. — Dr. Robinson's Evidence tends to the same Notion. — The general Conclusion is that the Watershed has not been determined --...- 319

CHAP. xin.

THE DEAD BE A CANAL.

The Depression. — Mountainous Walls. — The Plain of EsdraSlon. — Watershed of Wady Arabah. — The first Idea.

— A stupendous Cutting. — Letting in the two Seas to fill up the Depression. — Two thousand square Miles, a City,

XVI

CONTENTS OF THE FIBST VOLUME.

&c., to be submerged. — The trans- Jordanic Regions. — Ancient Populations. — Abram and his armed Servants. — Hebrew Architecture. — Compensation to the Sultan. — The pure Jordan for Christian Pilgrims. — Facilities for Mohammedan Pilgrims. — Political Difficulties. — Ancient Canals. — The Leyel of the two Seas. — The comparatiye Merits of the Project for a Canal bj the Dead Sea and that by Sues.

CHAP. XIV.

TUBRS.

Their Decadence. — ^Expected Dissolution. — Recent Energj. — Defenders of Order. — Original Race. — Mixture. — Anomaly of Circassians. — Turkish Propensities for War. — Their Virtues and Vices. — The Prospects of the Empire and of its component Parts. — If the ** Sick Man should die,** the Future of the released Nationalities considered - 362

&0.

CHAPTER L

THE PASSAGE OUT.

Variable Winds and jolly Faces. — Bobbing for Whales. — Zephjrus. — Gibraltar. — St. Michael's Cave. — Aboriginal Colonists. — Dom Daniel. — Zephjrus gets bolder. — Doing Andalusia. — Evil Communication. — Blue turned up with Red, and Red turned up with Blue. — Dinner-time. — The Skerki. — A narrow Escape. — The Island that was. — Hugging the Point. — Anchor in Malta Harbour. — Discordant Notes.

Through the kindness of Captain Henry Smithy C. B., and his officers, my nephew, the Rev. C. Deacon, M.A., and I, had a passage to the Mediterranean in H. M. S. Ganges, a fine 84 gunship, built of teak at Bombay.

We sailed from Plymouth Sound on the 12th November, 1849. For several days we had a tantalising alternation of adverse winds, light winds, ♦caps

VOL. I. B full of wind, baffling winds from every quarter of the compass — but the one desired ; jolly faces blowing upon us from inflated cheeks, all puffing their various objections to our going down channel. And when they had all fairly blown themselves out of breath, they left us in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, at the mercy of a swell broader than the South Downs, rocking to and fro, our tall masts bobbing for whales; in fact, rolling awfully; while the greatest sufferers seemed to be a legion of gouty demons imprisoned in the pigs of ballast in the hold, who vented their piteous laments through every cranny in the timbers and straining planks. Then we wished to see the jolly faces again, with mare's-tails or the huge cumulus for nether extremities. And when the sailors had duly whistled, according to a time-honoured formula, behold one came, the gentlest, the beloved of alL

He wafted us smoothly along the shores of Portugal, Sunny Lusitania, Shades of Diaz and De Gama ! ^

^ The former dtscovered the Cape of Good Hope in a.d. 1487. The latter doubled it on his voyage to India, in the reign of the enterprising Dom Joam, \vhen Portugal was at the zenith of her maritime power.

k

GIBBALTAB. 3

the noble spirit of enterprise which you inspired was but for your day. It has departed for ever from these coasts. The echoes of St. Vincent's Cape and Trafalgar have told in thunders how a more enduring race has seized the trident. Britannia has established pledges in the four comers of the worlds that it shall never be wrested from her hand^ or from that of her sons.

The terrors of the yellow flag^ England being then considered unclean by Spain^ on account of the cholera, prevented our anchoring at Gibraltar. The Ganges was therefore "hove to" for a few hours, with her head off shore ; so, as we could not land, we presume not to know more of this celebrated rock than do our readers.^ We could see, however, that it is a " fine old stone ^ with a yawning cavern halfway up, said to be the most ancient and extensive of submarine tunnels. The traditions of an unknown time say, that it communicated, in that remote day, with the opposite shore of Africa, by passing imder the Strait of Gibraltar. The only presumptive evidence of the truth of this tradition is in the existence of the aboriginal colonists from that continent, whose advent may be supposed

^ The highest point at the 0*Hara Tower is 1408 feet, and 8t. Michael*s Cave 1100 feet, above the horizon.

traceable to the immigration of an adventurous misanthropic ape, by means of it, many dark ages before the arriyal of Hercules. His descendants are the only real representatives of the race in Europe, though the designation has been merited by many bipeds who have no legal claim to it. Other proofs of this must be searched for in the inaccessible archives of the colony at the back of the rock. If, however, such a high road to Dom Daniel ever existed, the communication is now cut off by unfathomable chasms, guarded by mephitic vapours.

Zephyrus accompanied us into the Mediterranean. He had become a very spanking fellow. We flew past Alboran, a little island, on which nothing could stand against the wind; even the scanty herbage was laid on its beam-ends. It lies in the fairway, as if that old arch-mason, to whom most of the vagaries of nature have been attributed, had mischievously intended with it to close the Straits of Gibraltar, but, finding a mistake in the measurement, he dropped it for shame.

Our first sunrise in the blue Mediterranean lighted up for us in gorgeous array the magnificent range of the Alpujarras and the Sierra Nevada, extending from west to east as far as the eye could reach. The peak of. Mulaha9en towers over all others to

CONTUSION. 0

the height of 12,762 feet above the level of the sea. Although so late in the year as the 24th November, little snow could be seen except on the highest range. In the beautiful valleys on the southern slopes, the last refuge of the unfortunate Moors, the temperature corresponded to that of June in our northern clime.

But we had not time to examine or to imagine the beauties which their descendants still sigh for ; Zephyrus impelled us forwards with increasing force. We **did" all Andalusia in an afternoon. We chalked our longitude on a black-board for the information of a passing ship, but were out of sight before the pilot could bring his telescope to bear on it.

Zephyrus, as usual, gathered more strength in the Gulf of Lyons ; or rather he had changed his aspect for one less gracious, " evil communication ^ with the vicious bise, or N. W. wind, had quite corrupted him. The sea ran ** mountains high ; ^ but our gallant ship made little hills of them, taking them at flying leaps, to the great discomfiture of the landsmen of the afterguard and marines, who were pulling long ropes against one another with no discoverable effect. A sudden roll of the ship sent them all into the scuppers on one side; where they lay a confused mass — blue turned up with

B 3 red^ — till the aid of a reactionary roll did too much, and sent them, more confused than before — red turned up with blue, — into the other scuppers. Various and very expressive, in their quaint language, were the admonitions of the old sailors to supply themselves with "sea legs," a very ancient invention, said to be the only one, that will stand in all weathers.

All this was very amusing to lookers-on, and the habitues; but, when dinner-time came, they also thought it a serious matter, when each seemed bent on transferring, with as good aim as he could take under the circumstances, the pea-soup from his own plate to the lap of his vis-it-vis; or when a gentle turkey or a coy pullet began chasing a brawny ham round the deck, while the dismayed £unkies were balancing themselves like posture masters, on their truant " sea-legs," with the dishes in their hands from which these volatiles had fled ; moreover, great was the smash of crockery, of quarter boats, and of some ribs.

With the fate * of Her Majesty's steam vessel Avenger so recent, it was not thought advisable, on the approach of night, to attempt the same dangerous

^ Wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks, with the loss of nearly all the crew.

NARBOW ESCAPE. 7

channel. We had a fan: wind ; a course was there-* fore shaped so as to take the ship through the betterknown northern channel.

A mystery had long hung over this narrow part between Europe and Africa; and till dbpelled by science^ its almost unknown dangers might have furnished as plausible myths as those of Scylla and Charybdis^ to which the neighbouring submarine volcano would have lent additional horrors. Although our course ought to have given us a wide berth, we found, in the morning, that, owing to the great perversity of the current, we were in very dangerous propinquity to the Skerki, or Keith's Bocks. At daylight they were but a little distance from our lee quarter, with a tremendous surf breaking over them. We had a very narrow escape. The Athenian sixty-four gunship was wrecked on these rocks in the beginning of this century.

We sighted the mountainous island of Pantellaria, the penal settlement of the Sicilian govemment, and lost sight of it again in about " forty winks,'' during which it assumed so many forms, that we had rather not be called upon to swear to its identity. Away we flew, on the wings of the wind, aided by the ** goose- wings "of the foresail, at increasing speed, as if fearing some return of the bowel complaint of

B 4 old Etna might send up another island * to bar our progress. It was a nice contrast to get Gozo and Malta between us and Zephyrus cum bise, who had by this time become really too audacious. We ran pleasantly along their rocky shores, and "hugging" the lighthouse point, the Ganges shot skilfully and gallantly into her berth in Malta Harbour (28th November), where the bells of all the churches seemed of one accord to be ringing; but in such discordant notes^ that we could not help wishing that His Holiness the Pope, as a preliminary to the harmony of the Church, would give orders for his bells to be tuned.

^ '* Graham's island was thrown up from a deep sea near the coast of Sicily. On the 28th June, 1831, Captain Swinburne, in passing nearly over the spot, felt several shocks of a sea-quake, proving that the cause was then in operation ; but, on the 19th of the following July, the crater had accumulated to a few feet above the level of the sea, and was in great activity, emitting vast volumes of steam, ashes, and scoriae. From that time it gradually increased in all its dimensions, till, towards the end of August, its circumference was about 3240 feet, and its height 107; then, from October, various changes took place, and it entirely disappeared in December. On the 20th June, 1846, it had sunk down to a depth of 38 fathoms." — Admiral Smyth's Mediterranean, p. 112.