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PALESTINE.
99

the Fellahin of Philistia and of Palestine, who cultivate the ground and rear large flocks and herds.


[Authorities and Sources:—Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible." Survey of Western Palestine, Memoir on the Geology. Dr Edward Hull. "The Geology of Palestine." Wilfred H. Hudleston, F.R.S. "Rob-Roy on the Jordan." John Macgregor.]

3. The Dead Sea, Salt Sea, or Sea of Lot.

It is pointed out by Sir George Grove that the name "Dead Sea" never occurs in the Bible, and appears not to have existed until the second century after Christ. It originated in an erroneous opinion, and there can be little doubt that to the name is due in a great measure the mistakes and misrepresentations which were for so long prevalent regarding this lake, and which have not indeed yet wholly ceased to exist. In the Old Testament it is called the Salt Sea, and the Sea of the Plain (Arabah). By the Arabs it is called El Bahr Lut (the Sea of Lot).

The Salt Sea lies in the deepest part of the great Jordan-Arabah depression, and the ground rises to the south of it, as well as in all other directions. It was shown, in fact, by Colonel Kitchener's survey of the Arabah that the bed of the valley, for the most part, is raised above the level of the Gulf of Akabah. From the border of the Dead Sea southward the ground rises but little for 10 miles, but then begins to rise rapidly, so that at a distance of about 40 miles it is as high as the sea level at Akabah; and 29 miles further south it is 660 feet above that level.

The Jordan Valley, as already stated, coincides with a great fault in the strata. This had been recognised by Lartet, Tristram, Wilson, and others; and Professor Hull has traced the continuation of this fracture, at the base of the Edomite mountains along the Arabah Valley. He