MR. WILTON.  “A most extraordinary fact relating to this sea is, that its waters are 300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean:  and this reminds me of the Dead Sea, situated in Palestine, which covers from 450 to 500 square miles; for its waters are no less than 1300 feet below the Mediterranean.  We are told by many who have visited this sea, that neither fish nor shells are to be found in it, and that its shores, frightfully barren, are never cheered by the note of any bird.  The inhabitants in its vicinity, however, are not sensible of any noxious quality in its vapor; and the accounts of birds falling down dead in attempting to fly over it are entirely fabulous.  The water is exceedingly nauseous, and the effluvia arising from it unwholesome, but so buoyant, that gentlemen, who have made the attempt from curiosity, have found it impossible to sink.  An Irishman, named Cortigan, some fifteen years ago, conveyed a boat to the waters of the Dead Sea, and, aided by an old Maltese sailor, rowed nearly all round.  He was a week exploring, and imagined he had made great discoveries; but no one knew what they were, for on the eighth day he became seriously ill.  He was carried to the shore by his companion, and expired soon after in the hut of a Bedouin Arab.  We are led to believe that in this place stood the famous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by the wrath of God, and utterly buried beneath this bituminous lake.”

GRANDY.  “We have gone through our toils this evening with no personal inconvenience; but that is owing to our travels being of the mind instead of the body:  for what man journeying through Arabia but has felt the annoyances of heat, the pangs of thirst and unutterable anguish from the horrors of a lingering death?  That we stay-at-home travellers may justly appreciate the blessings of home, I will give you an instance of the sufferings of those who are compelled to wander.

#The Slave Merchant.#

“The caravans which carry goods from Bagdat to Aleppo usually pass by Anah.  They pay tribute to the Arabs, who reckon themselves Lords of the Desert, even to the east of Euphrates.  They have to encounter the dangers of the suffocating winds, the swarms of locusts, and the failure of water, as soon as they depart from the line of the river.  A French traveller[9] tells us he witnessed one of the most appalling scenes of this kind between Anah and Taibu.  The locusts, having devoured everything, perished in countless heaps, poisoning with their dead bodies the ponds which usually afforded water when no springs were near.

[Footnote 9:  Maltebrun.]