DEAD SEA WEALTH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5030, 22 September 1926, Page 4

DEAD SEA WEALTH.

e THE REMAINS OF OLD PLACES. RICH MINERAL DEPOSITS. A scheme to exploit the valuable mineral products that lie buried in the Dead Sea and in the soil of the Holy Land, is in contemplation. A rich stratum of gypsum has- been discovered in the Jordan Valley ; phosphate of lime in Judea; peat in the marshes of Hulch, and petroleum beds between Ya,rmuk and the Dead Sea. This ancient inland sea—under which, legend says, lie buried the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah —fills a part of the deepest chasm on earth, being approximately 698 ft below sea level. It receives- from the River Jorda.n and other streams that flow into it about 6,000!,000 gallon's, of water a day. Th sea contains 24' per cent, olf salt, and in consequence is so buoyant that a person can float on its surface without exertion of any kind. Fish, because of the amount oft chloride and bromide of 'magne&ia, cannot live in its waters. Ships of any kind are rarely seen, and at one time there was a belief—partly owing to the ancient superstition concerning /Sodom and Gomorrah, and pa;rtly to the fact that there is no bird life in the vicinity—that even the air around the great lake was poisonous.