CHAPTER XIII.
THE GHÔR AND THE SALT SEA.
On Sunday morning, 16th December, after fifteen days of toilsome travel since leaving Akabah, we found ourselves standing on the brink of that mysterious depression, in Arabic, called "The Ghôr," or basin in which lies the still more mysterious inland lake, usually called "the Dead Sea," but more appropriately "the Salt Sea." This latter name I prefer to the former; first, on the ground of priority,[1] and second, on account of its expressiveness, owing to the intense salinity of the water. By this name it was known in the days of Abraham, while its more modern name has been founded on the erroneous impression "that nothing can live in the vicinity of its saline and sulphurous waters,"[2] an impression disproved by Maundrell, Chateaubriand, and numerous more recent travellers.
The descent into The Ghôr, by a steep and slippery path, was most striking. In front to the north stretched a great plain, green with vegetation. To the right, in an open space, might be seen several large Bedawin camps, from which the shouts of wild men, the barking of dogs, and the bellowing of camels ascended. In the distance, but obscured by the haze, were the shores of the Salt Sea, a band of blue indicating the position of the waters; and on either hand of our pathway stretched the white terraces of the old sea-bed, indented by several deep channels, particularly those of the Kiver Jeib, on the west, and of the Butachy and Gharandel on the east.
The banks of The Ghôr along the southern margin rise in the form of a great white sloping wall to a height of about 600 feet above the plain, and are formed of horizontal courses of sand and gravel resting on white marl and loam This mural cliff sweeps round in a semi-circular form from side to side of The Ghôr. The upper surface is nearly level (except where
