THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO THE DEAD SEA. [From the Courier de Constantinople.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 388, 21 April 1849, Page 3

THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO THE DEAD SEA. [From the Courier de Constantinople.]

Our readers may remember that in the spring of the year, Captain Lynch, and some of his officers, of the United States brig Supply, proceeded to Constantinople to obtain permission of the Ottoman Government to explore the Lake Tiberias. This was granted, and the recommendations given by the Sultan to the different officers of the places visited obtained for the intrepid officers every kind assistance required. Nobody opposed the scientific research, the Arabs themselves offering their assistance, and frequently decliping any remuneration for aid often of the most valuable kind. " Our little expedition (says Captain Lynch), composed of some fifteen persons, landed- at St. Jean d'Acre, from which place we were desirous of proceeding to the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Tiberias, distant some forty miles, Wfc bad with us two metal boats. —

one of copper, the ' other of iron ; these we landed and put into good condition to sustain the shocks which when drawn by camels from one place to the other they inevitably must enconnter. We were encouraged by the idea of being the first to embark on a similar expedition, except the late Mr. Cardagan, who did not survive the fatigues he underwent, and left no memoranda of his voyage to the Dead Sea. We also thought that all Christendom united in the thought of an expedition on this mysterious lake, and the interest it might present to the future navigator. " No sooner had we landed than our. difficulties commenced, we requiring so many things of which we had not even thought. All being prepared, we placed ourboats on carts constructed on board the Supply, arid we set out for the Lake. On the ioad we had to climb several mountains, and cross formidable ravines. On more than one oc» casion we had to lower our boats by means of ropes down the frightful precipices. But all our difficulties were surmounted by the pa* tience and address which distinguish the tiue sailor ; and on the Bth of April the two boats floated on the picturesque and deep blue waves of the Sea of Galilee, the American flag floating from the top of their small masts. "We found the navigation of the Jordan very difficult and dangerous, on account of the fearfully rapid currents. The idea of the fall of the Jordan between the Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea, may be conceived by its crooked bed, which, in a distance of 60 miles, serpentines 200 miles. In this distance the expedition was plunged into no less than 27 dreadful rapids, not counting several others of a less remarkable declivity. The difference in the level of these two seas is 2000 feet. " For a few hundred yards from its mouth, the water of the Jordan is sweet. The waters of the Dead Sea are without smell, but to the taste they are bitter, salt, and disgusting. "On entering, the boats encountered a gale of wind, and so thick were the waters that the boats appeared to strike against the hammers of the Titans rather than the waves of a raging sea. " The expedition continued its daily ope* rations, making topographical sketches, until its arrival at the southern extremity of the sea, where a very astonishing spectacle await* ed it. " On passing the mountain of Sodom (says Captain Lynch), we observed to the S»E. a large column, in the shape of a tunnel, composed of solid rock salt, and covered by car* bonate of calcium, a mine of crystallization,, Mr. Dale made a sketch of it, and the doctor and I landed to obtain specimens. "The expedition made the tour of the Dead Sea, and returned to the point of its departure ; the boats were in the same condi* tion as when we left New York, and all the crew in good health. " The following facts are not without in* terest : — 11 The bottom of the northern part of the Dead Sea is almost flat (a plain). "The meridional lines at a short distance from the shore vary but little in depth ; , the greatest depth found up to the date of this letter (May 3) was 188 fathoms, or 1128 English feet. Near the shore the bottom is generally a saline incrustation, but the" inter* mediate portion is of soft mud, with several rectaugular crystals — most frequently cubes of pure salt. On cne occasion we obtained only crystals with the lead line. "In tie same proportion that the north part of the Dead Sea is deep, so is the southern part shallow, to the extent that for a quarter of its length the depth was found'to be but 18 feet. Its southern bed presented no crystallizations, but its shores are covered with incrustations of salt, and on landing thY footmarks in an hour's time were covered with, crystallizations. " The shores in face of the peninsula, and its western side, present evident marks of destruction. " Birds and insects are, without doubt, to be found on the shore ; sometimes dncks on the sea, for we saw some, but we could find no living object in this sea. However, the salt sources it receives contain fish belonging to the ocean. I feel certain, says Captain Lynch, that the result of our expedition will confirm to the very letter the history of the H oly Land, as regards the sunken cities* " After the examination of the Dead Sea, the expedition proceeded to determine the height of the mountains, and the lerel of a plain, from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea. "They found tbe summit of the western coast of the Dead Sea more than 1000 feet above its surface, and level with the Mediterraoean. It is a singular fact, that the distance ttom the top to the bottom of the Dead Sea — that is the height of Its shore, tbe elevation of the Mediterranean, and the difference of tbe level between the bottom .of tbes* two seas, and the deptb of the Dead Sea, should thus be an exact multiple of tbe elevation of Jerusalem above it.

"Another fact, not less curious is, that the bottom of the Dead Sea forms two sunken plains— one elevated, the other depressed. The first part, south, is composed of clay or fat mud, covered by an artiEcial bay; the latter, the upper part and more north, of mud, incrustations, and rectangular salt crystallizations, extending to a great depth, and with a narrow ravine defiling in the midst of it, corresponding with the Jordan at one extremity, and Wady Seib at the other. v " The official report of Captain Lynch will shortly be published."