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Show ioo THE DEAD SEA than less, and nearly reaches the quantity contained in a saturated solution. Salt works have been established along the lake, and the finest salt I ever saw is obtained simply by driving off the water by boiling. The yield is enormously large, but can not be as much as is claimed by those engaged in collecting it. They represent that three barrels of water will leave one barrel of salt ; but as I have shown there is only twenty-two per cent, of all the. solid contents combined, it would not produce more than one- fifth its weight or bulk. The water is of a greenish- blue color, and very transparent, and along the shore there is a peculiar odor, caused by the moisture in the air from the evaporating waters, as well as the decay of myriads of little insects. Near the Black Rock is the usual bathing- place, where the beach is sandy and the bottom free from rocks or irregularities. The lake here is very shallow, and it required me to wade a long dis tance before I was floated off my feet in the erect posture. Being tired of wading so far, I undertook to swim, but I soon discovered that I was kicking above the surface, with my head very much inclined to as sume a lower position, and as the air did not offer re sistance sufficient for such locomotion, I had to abandon swimming. I waded on as before, until I accomplished my object that is, until I could wade no further, not because the water covered me, but because I couldn't reach the bot tom with my feet and there I was, bobbing about on the waves, head and neck above them, like an empty bottle. Turning upon my back, I found less difficulty in swimming, and when in that position, I remembered the description of a bath in the Dead Sea by the editor of the Advocate, and remaining perfectly passive, holding my hands up before me, realized that I could have reclined there and read the morn ing paper with comparative ease. I found a disposition to roll over, face downward, but except this no inconvenience resulted. To sink was impossible, that is, if I lay passive on the water. Wherever there was an abrasion of the skin a smarting sensation was produced. I have been amused |
