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THE ANCIENT LAND WHERE THE ANZACS RODE
; r-O "- ,
DEAD. SEA.LEGENDS: A CRADLE OF MYTHOLOGY.
Scientific Wonders of i Unique, Mineral Laden Waters.
. The Dend Sea is about 'fifty miles
in length and ten miles In width; it
lies in a very deep fissure' extending
north and .south, and' its surface -is
about 1300 feet' below that of "tne
Mediterranean;" It has therefore no
outlet, and is the receptacle for the
waters of the»whole system to which
it belongs, including those collected
by the. Sea of Galilee, and brought
dowii . then . by the River Jordan. .
.. It certainly— or at least the larger
part of it — ranks geologically among
the oldest lakes on earth. In a broad
sense the regidn is volcanic; on its
shores are evidences of volcanic ac
tion, which must from' the earliest
period have aroused wonder and fear,
"and' stimulated the myth-making ten
dency to account for them. On the
eastern side are impressive mountain
masses, which have been tnroivn up
from old volcanic vents, mineral and
hot springs abound, some of them
spreading sulphurous odors; earth
quakes have been frequent; and from
time to time these have, cast .up
masses of bitumen; concretions of
sulphur and large formations of salt
constantly appear. ,
The water, .which comes from, tne
springs, or oozes through,, the .sa.t
layers upon its -shores,- constantly
brings in various saltg in solution,
and, being rapidly evaporated under
the hot sun and dry wind, there has
been left, in the bed of the lake. a
strong brine heavily charged wdtvthe
usual chlorides and bromides. - This
fluid has become so dense as to ha\e
a -remarkable power of supporing the
human body; it. is of an acrid and
nauseating ' bitterness, and by orrtin-
nry eyes no evidence of life is seen in
it. " ' :
- EXPLANATORY MYTHS.
1 Thus it was'that in the lake itself,
land in its surrounding shores, there
; was enough' to make the generation -
of explanatory myths on a large
scale inevitable. The main northern
.part -of the lake is very" deep, the
plummet having shown an abyss ot
1300 feet, hut the southern- end. is
shallow, and in places marshy.
I ' In nil this there is nothing present-
ing any special difficulty to the
modern ' geologist or geographer, -but
with the early dweller ;in Palestine
the case was very different. The rocky
barren desolntioir of the Dead Sea
region impressed him deeply.;, he
naturally reasoned upon it,, and' this
nioression and reasoning, we "find
/tamped into the pages of his sacred
literature, rendering them all the
more precious as a revelation of the
earlier thought of mankind.
At' a very early period, myths and
legends, -many and' circumstantial,
'grew up to explain, features then so
incomprehensible.'- But the myth-
making and miracle-mongering - by
means ceased in ancient times; they
continued to grow through the medi
aeval and modern period until they
have quietly withered away in the
light of modern scientific investiga
tion, leaving to us the religious and
moral truths they inclose.
The most remarkable of all the
legends of the Dead Sea is the myth
which grew aboqt the salt -pillars of
Usdum, where . Jehovah blasted the
land and transformed Lot's wife into
a pillar of salt. There is certainly
now no theologian with a reputation
to lose who will venture to revive the
idea regarding it, which was sanc
tioned for hundreds, nay, thousands,
of years .by theology, was based on
Scripture, and was held by the uni
versal church until our own century.
The main 'features of the salt re
gion of Usdum is a low range of hills
near the south-west corner of the
Dead Sea, extending in a south
easterly direction for about five miles
and" made up mainly ' of salt rock.
This rock is soft and friable, and,
under the influence of heavy winter
rains, it has been, without doubt, from
a period long before human- history,
as it is now, cut ever into new shapes,
and especially into pillars or columns
which sometimes bear a resemblance
to the human form. -. . .
There were many discrepancies in
the testimony of- travellers regarding
the salt 'pillar, discrepancies which
now can be explained by science, but
Much during this earlier time under
the complete sway of the theological
spirit, only gave new and more glori
ous opportunities for faith. One tra
veller went as .far as to state, We
saw the place between the sea and
Mount. Segor, but could. not see the
statue itself because we were too far
distant to see anything of ' human
size, but we saw it in firm faith, be-
causq we believed' Scripture; . which
speaks of it, and we were filled with
wonder." ,
. If a considerable interval occurred
between the washing of one salt pillar
out of existence and the washing ot
another into existence, the idea arose
that the statue, by virtue of the soul
which still remained in it, had de
parted on some mysterious excurs
ion. Did it happen that_ one statue
was washed out one year in one place
and another stntue another year in
another place, this difficulty was sur
mounted by believing that Lot s wife
still walked 'hbout. Did it ' happen
that a salt column was undermined
by the rains and fell, this was believ
ed to be but another sign of life. Did
n pillar happen to be covered in part
by the sea, this was enough to arouse
the belief that the statue from time
to time descended into the depths of
tho Dead Sea — possibly to satisfy
that old fatal curiosity regarding her
former neighbours, for it was suppos
ed that as a punishment for an offence
by the people of the beautiful valley
of -Siddim, the whole of the valley
with its inhabitants had been sunk
beneath the waters of the. Dead Sea,
and that the people in "the drowned
city still lived. Did some small bldck
of salt happen to be washed out aear
the statue, it was believed . t.iat- a
household dog, also transformed into
salt,' had followed- her ' back,, from
beneath the deep. Did more . '
than one appear at one tunc, tnat
simply made the mystery mo. im-
press bitumen that swims.
These travellers mentioned the "tker ,
phenomena of the" Dead Sea. . The
blocks of bitumen which float upon
/inscribed as rc'cmD-
ling "gold" and the form-of a bull .or
.camel," fiery masses as large as a
horse," "crocodiles," "foul m sses
that swim about like huge oxen.. The
water is referred to as ."hot, even as
though the place stood over hell "re,
"the mouth of hell," the vapor rising
from it being the smoke from Satan s
furnaces; "whoever throws a piece of
iron therein, it floats, and whoever
throws a feather therein, it sinks to
the bottom," "the chimney of h»U.
"In this, Tirus the serpent as found
and from him the Tiriac medic.i.e is
made. He is blind,' and so full of
venom that there is.no remedy for
his bite except cutting off the bitten
part. He can only be taken by strik
ing him and making him angry; then
his venom flies into his head and tnih
We read also that the water of the
sea "changes three times every day,'
has a "foul odor," "spits forth fire ;
"black, sticky water"; 1 birds cannot
live near it," and "the very beautiful
apples" which grow there when pluck
ed "burn and are reduced to ashes,
and smoke as if they were still burn-
inB" RETAINING BELIEFS, ,
After the Reformation there was
an. effort to retain the. belief in these
myths, but a scientific currfent began
to flow gradually buttsurely. ln'IGpO
a canon of St. Denis returned frpm
his travels, and declared that hesaw
no smoke, no clouds, and' no black;
stickv water. As to the statue of .
Lot's wife, he says:— 'Thembdetgg
do not believe so easily - that sno
lasted so long," then, as
his own boldness, he concedes that- tha
sea may be black and sticky .mi the
middle! Another traveller ; nvjbe
same year pours contempt over the
legends of the Dead - Sea . in general,
as to the story that birds - cou'.!',
fly over it,' he says that he saw tjiem
flving there; as .to the pier
of life in the sea, he saw 'apiaH .sjifells
in it; he sajv no traces of ;any
cities, and as to the stories reartjing
the statue of Lot's wife he wrote,—
"We could not- give faith enough -t
those reports to induce us to go. on
such an errand."- ; :
DEAD SEA APPLES. . t
In 1806 a naturalist examined ,tne
mysterious "apples" ana temoiw,
and found that they were a species <
of asciopia and selanum found in
other parts of Palestine and else
where, an4 that the famous ashes and
cinders were merely the seeds ot tne
fruit. This same traveller foundjthe
waters not black and sticky, ' but blue
and transparent; he found', no smoke
rising. from the abyss, but tells us
that sun-light and cloud and: shore
were pleasantly reflected from tho
surface. -As to Lot's wife, he 'found
no salt pillar which had been a care-
less woman, but the Arabs, showed
him boulders, which had once been
wicked men. . .
But even in spite of scientific in-
vestigotion, the old beliefs died jiord,
and it was not until the. very end of
the'nineteenth century. that the myths
perished — myths that had been kept-
alive two thousand years, partly by.
modes of thought natural to theolo
gians, partly by the self-interest of
guides, and partly by the ' love ; of
marvel-mongering among travellers.
— M.L.G. in exchange. .
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