the expedition, we think that it must be very unsatisfactory to the scientific geographer; for whatever scientific information we find here is only incidental. Captain Lynch informs us (p. 226),

"In order that no feature of the river might be omitted, I noted every turn in the course, the depth, the velocity and temperature of the river, the islands and tributary streams, the nature of its banks, the adjacent scenery, when visible, the trees, flowers, weeds, birds and tracks of wild beasts. As all this would be tedious in perusal, however necessary for the construction of a chart, and an accurate knowledge of the river, I have deemed it best to embody it in an Appendix to the official Report."

This official Report is alluded to in various places, but no word said as to the probability of its publication. Thus the very element which would have given value to the book is left out, for no better reason than that it would have been "tedious in perusal." We hardly think that those persons who have no appetite for scientific information will find enough of other interest in Captain Lynch's book to repay the trouble of reading it. We have, indeed, a great affectation of scientific accuracy. We are informed that at 9. 30 a. m., on a certain day, "tracks of wild animals on shore" were seen-that at 1. 54 they observed a castor bean plant on the shore-with the results of innumerable other chronological observations of the same kind. The length of the Jordan between the two lakes was one of Captain Lynch's most important discoveries; here he only gives it in round numbers at 200 miles. He surveyed the Dead Sea, but if any inquirer wants to discover its exact dimensions, he must measure them for himself on Captain Lynch's map. Why were the soundings of the sea given, but no chemical analysis of the water? But such questions might be asked without number: a more profitable occupation will be to avail ourselves of the information that has been vouchsafed to us.

The expedition, consisting of Captain Lynch, Lieutenant Dale, Midshipman Aulich and eleven others, left New York on Nov. 20, 1847, in the store-ship Supply. Two boats, the Fanny Mason and the Fanny Skinner, "named after two young and blooming children, whose hearts are as spotless as their parentage is pure," they took with them for the purpose of descending the Jordan. We have already sufficiently commented on the course of the expedition, till we find it, April 11, leaving Tiberias to enter on the river. It was Captain Lynch's intention to survey the Sea of Galilee, but as the Jordan was rapidly subsiding from a recent flood, he thought it prudent to begin his descent while the depth of the water rendered the rapids less dangerous. To relieve the two boats already mentioned, he had bought, repaired, and baptized by the name of "Uncle Sam," the only boat on the lake. But the rapids of the river were so dangerous that only the copper boat could bear the shocks, and the Uncle Sam was perforce abandoned on the third day of the voyage. A land party, under the command of Lieut. Dale, started at the same time, and was directed to follow the river's course, keep vigorous watch to prevent the boats being surprised, and in case of danger to communicate with them by signal. It soon became evident that the descent of the river was no easy task. Its course was so crooked, that at the end of a day and a half's hard work the boats were only four miles from the lake in a direct line. Captain Lynch amply verifies in this respect the evidence of Lieut. Molyneux. We hear in

every page, of the river's course "varying to every point of the compass;" being "all round the compass;" describing "a series of frantic curvilinears;" and returning "in a contrary direction to its main course;" curving and twisting "N. S. E. and W., turning in the short space of half an hour to every quarter of the compass.' These meanderings must, however, be understood as taking place within a comparatively narrow strip of land-for the bed of the Jordan lies in a valley within a valley.

"There are evidently," says our author, "two terraces to the Jordan, and through the lowest one the river runs its labyrinthine course. From the stream, above the immediate banks, there is, on each side, a singular terrace of low hills, like truncated cones (of the upper terrace of which I have spoken), which is but the bluff terminus of an extended table land, reaching quite to the base of the mountains of Hauran on the east, and the high hills on the western side. Their peculiarity of form is attributable, perhaps, to the washing of rain through a long series of years. The hill-sides presented the appearance of chalk, without the slightest vestige of vegetation, and were absolutely blinding, from the reverberated sunlight."-P. 200.

Again, the route of the land party is described as follows:

"The route of the caravan was on the bank of the upper terrace, on the west side, every day, except one, when it travelled on the eastern side. That elevated plain was at first covered with fields of grain, but became more barren as they journeyed south. The terrace was strongly marked, particularly in the southern portion, where there was a continuous range of perpendicular cliffs of limestone and conglomerate. This terrace averaged about 500 ft. above the flat of the Jordan, the latter mostly covered with trees and grass. They were each day compelled to descend to the lower plain, to meet the boats."-Pp. 272, 273.

The soil, wherever touched by the water, seems to have been extraordinarily fertile: the course of the Jordan, as well as of its few tributaries, may be traced by the eye to a great distance by the accompanying strip of green; and it is quite possible that the valley, by the aid of artificial irrigation, might have supported the abundant population said once to have covered it.

A greater obstacle than the winding was the shallowness of the river. Twelve ft. is the greatest depth which is any where mentioned; but, independent of the rapids, we often find it not more than 2 and 2 ft. And rapids are both numerous and dangerous. In his official letter from the neighbourhood of Jericho, Captain Lynch mentions having "plunged down twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides a great many of lesser magnitude." Lieut. Molyneux, in his account, which is much less circumstantial than the present (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. XVIII. Pt. ii.), speaks of a great number of weirs running across the upper part of the river, which had been constructed by the Arabs for purposes of irrigation, but says nothing of any rapids. Again, at El Bukah he speaks (p. 111) of "a small waterfall down which we had to ease the boat," where Captain Lynch finds "a desperate looking cascade." Perhaps the flood may have prevented Captain Lynch from seeing the artificial character of these weirs, and converted them for the time into rapids; the fact of a very considerable descent in the bed of the river remains in either case the same. Lieut. Molyneux speaks, again (p. 115), of "many hundreds of places where we might have walked across without wetting our feet, on the large rocks and stones,"

and (p. 118) of "many shallows, and even large falls;" so that the character of the river is in both accounts represented as substantially the same. The following extract gives an idea of the difficulties encountered by our expedition; the rapids mentioned lay in their second day's route.

"8. 10 a. m., started, the boats down the river, the caravan by land. The current at first about 24 knots, but increasing as we descended, until at 8. 20 we came to where the river, for more than three hundred yards, was one foaming rapid, the fishing-weirs and the ruins of another ancient bridge obstructing the passage. There were cultivated fields on both sides. Took every thing out of the boats, sent the men overboard, to swim alongside and guide them, and shot them successively down the first rapid. The water was fortunately very deep to the first fall, where it precipitated itself over a ledge of rocks. The river becoming more shallow, we opened a channel by removing large stones, and as the current was now excessively rapid, we pulled well out into the stream, bows up, let go a grapnel, and eased each boat down in succession. Below us were yet five successive falls, about eighteen feet in all, with rapids between a perfect breakdown in the bed of the river. It was very evident that the boats could not descend them.

"On the right of the river, opposite to the point where the weirs and the ruined bridge blocked up the bed of the stream, was a canal or sluice, evidently made for the purpose of feeding a mill, the ruins of which were visible a short distance below. This canal, at its outlet from the river, was sufficiently broad and deep to admit of the boats entering and proceeding for a short distance, when it became too narrow to allow their further progress.

"Bringing the boats thus far, we again took every thing out of them, and cleared away the stones, bushes and other obstructions between the mill sluice and the river. A breach was then made in the bank of the sluice, and as the water rushed down the shallow artificial channel, with infinite labour our men, cheerfully assisted by a number of Arabs, bore them down the rocky slope and launched them in the bed of the river, but not below all danger, for a sudden descent of six or seven feet was yet to be cleared, and some eighty yards of swift and shallow current to be passed, before reaching an unobstructed channel.

"1 p. m. We accomplished this difficult passage, after severe labour, up to our waists in the water for upwards of four hours."-P. 177.

There is not incident enough in the course of the expedition to induce us to follow its steps minutely down the river. With descriptions of Bedouins, their encampments, their cookery, &c., we are already sufficiently familiar from other works. The expedition was fortunate enough to arrive at Pilgrim's Ford on the very day of the annual bathing there; and we regret that our space does not permit us to extract a lively description of the splashing throng of devotees. It is enough to state that on April 18, after a week's voyage, the travellers reached the Dead Sea, without having experienced any interruption. The chief value of this part of the work is that it gives information enough to account satisfactorily for the great descent of the Jordan between the two lakes. It has been long known that the whole valley of the river is considerably below the level of the Mediterranean. The level of the Lake of Tiberias has been very differently estimated. Schubert gives it at 535 Paris ft., and that of the Dead Sea at about 600, thus making the descent of the Jordan only 65 ft. Bertou, however, gives the depression of the first lake at 756 ft. English, while Lieut. Symonds makes it 328 ft. English. The estimates of the depression of the Dead Sea vary as much. Russegger makes it 1400 ft., but the index of his barometer,

66

as well as that of Schubert's, was insufficient, and part of their calculations is therefore based on conjecture. Bertou gives it at 1332 ft., Messrs. Moore and Beke at about 500 ft., and Lieut. Symonds at 1312-12 ft. All parties seem to agree that no quite decisive result can be arrived at till a series of levellings be carried from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. This has been done by Captain Lynch, who, with his usual want of precision, states the result as a little over 1800 ft." Now, Dr. Robinson, in a paper read before the Geographical Society, Nov. 22, 1847, takes Lieut. Symonds' estimate of a difference in level of 984 ft. between the two lakes, and sets it forth as a great anomaly that within one degree of latitude the Jordan should fall so much. It will hardly be credited that the greatest authority on Biblical geography describes the Jordan as "swift, deep and silent;" as having "few, if any, windings" below Beisan, i. e. for three-fourths of its course; informs us that the Arabs know of no rapids, nor have ever reported any to travellers-though, at the same time, that the existence of such in a certain unexplored tract may be "barely possible." This paper is answered by another in February, 1848, in which Mr. Petermann, a foreign geographer of some eminence who resides in England, admitting in the main the correctness of Dr. Robinson's statement, shews by the example of British rivers, the Dee, the Clyde and the Shannon, that the course of the Jordan presents nothing very anomalous. Curiously enough, the very next paper in the printed Transactions of the Society is Lieut. Molyneux's account of his expedition, describing the Jordan as the most serpentine of rivers; and now we have Captain Lynch's "twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides a great many of lesser magnitude." This is surely enough to prove that much yet remains to be done in Palestine, and that a six weeks' run to the ordinary sacred spots is not enough for the advancement either of geographical science or Biblical illustration.*

The chasm of the Dead Sea is the continuation on a different scale of the valley of the Jordan. It forms at present its natural termination. Some distance to the south of it occurs the water ledge, from which streams flow northward into it, southward into the Red Sea. When this ledge was raised, and whether the Jordan, at any period with which we are acquainted, from history or tradition, ever flowed into the Sinaitic Gulf, are moot points with geologists. Captain Lynch, after a careful examination of the localities, agrees with Dr. Robinson in believing that the north end of the lake has always existed in its present state, and that the south bay, which is very much shallower, and has a muddy bottom, is the site of the submerged cities. The impression which the lakes made on Captain Lynch's mind was one of unmitigated gloom.

"The scene was one of unmixed desolation. The air, tainted with the sulphuretted hydrogen of the stream, gave a tawny hue even to the foliage of the cane, which is elsewhere of so light a green. Except the cane-brakes, clustering along the marshy stream, which disfigured while it sustained them, there was no vegetation whatever; barren mountains, fragments of rocks, blackened by sulphureous deposit, and an unnatural sea, with low, dead trees upon its margin, all within the scope of vision, have a sad and sombre aspect.

* See" Scripture illustrated from recent Discoveries in the Geography of Palestine, by the Author of the People's Dictionary of the Bible."

We had never before beheld such desolate hills, such calcined barrenness." P. 275.

Other travellers, however, as Russegger, consider the aspect of the lake as not unpleasant; and many exaggerated statements have no doubt been made respecting it. There appear to be no noxious exhalations from its surface: it is true that no fish live in its waters, but birds and rabbits are frequently started on the shore; and where, as at Ain Jidy (Engaddi), there is a fountain of fresh water, it is accompanied by luxuriant vegetation. The depth of the chasm, the intense heat produced by the reflection of the sun from its limestone rocks, and the saltness of the waters, amply account for its barrenness.

The southern bay of the sea is perhaps the most remarkable. It is separated from the main body of the lake by a long and broad peninsula, averages only from one to three fathoms in depth, and at the south end is not enclosed by mountains, but gradually shallows into a morass. But we leave Captain Lynch to describe it in his own words, premising that Usdom is a long and very remarkable mountain of rock salt lying to the S.W.

"Soon after, to our astonishment, we saw on the eastern side of Usdom, onethird the distance from its north extreme, a lofty round pillar, standing apparently detached from the general mass, at the head of a deep, narrow and abrupt chasm. We immediately pulled in for the shore, and Dr. Anderson and I went up and examined it. The beach was a soft, slimy mud, incrusted with salt, and a short distance from the water, covered with saline fragments and flakes of bitumen. We found the pillar to be of solid salt, capped with carbonate of lime, cylindrical in front and pyramidal behind. The upper or rounded part is about forty feet high, resting on a kind of oval pedestal, from forty to sixty feet above the level of the sea. It slightly decreases in size upwards, crumbles at the top, and is one entire mass of crystallization. A prop or buttress connects it with the mountain behind, and the whole is covered with debris of a light stone colour. Its peculiar shape is doubtless attributable to the action of the winter rains. The Arabs had told us, in vague terms, that there was to be found a pillar somewhere upon the shores of the sea; but their statements in all other respects had proved so unsatisfactory, that we could place no reliance upon them."-P. 307.

"The southern shore presented a mud flat, which is terminated by the high hills bounding the Ghor to the southward. A very extensive plain or delta, low and marshy towards the sea, but rising gently, and further back covered with luxuriant green, is the outlet of Wady-es-Safieh (clear ravine), bearing south-east by east. Anxious to examine it, we coasted along, just keeping the boat afloat, the in-shore oars stirring up the mud. The shore was full threefourths of a mile distant, the line of demarcation scarce perceptible, from the stillness of the water and the smooth, shining surface of the marsh. On the flat beyond were lines of driftwood, and here and there, in the shallow water, branches of dead trees, which, like those at the peninsula, were coated with saline incrustation. The bottom was so very soft that it yielded to every thing, and at each cast the sounding-lead sank deep into the mud. Thermometer, 95o. Threw the drag over, but it brought up nothing but soft, marshy, lightcoloured mud.

"It was indeed a scene of unmitigated desolation. On one side, rugged and worn, was the salt mountain of Usdom, with its conspicuous pillar, which reminded us at least of the catastrophe of the plain; on the other were the lofty and barren cliffs of Moab, in one of the caves of which the fugitive Lot found shelter. To the S. was an extensive flat, intersected by sluggish drains,