fragment or boulder has fallen in and lodged in the cleft of the rock, forming a natural bridge one hundred and five feet above the stream. The whole combination forms a scene inexpressibly wild, majestic, sublime. Here the Litâny, as if startled from its quiet course between Lebanon and AntiLebanon, by some terrible catastrophe dashes wildly up against the mountain, and tears on through the wild chasm several miles, leaping, roaring, writhing, as if in agony to escape from this devouring abyss to rest in the still waters of the Mediterranean.

Precisely what may be the relation of these volcanic indications along the entire line of this vast fissure in the earth, to the theory under consideration, we undertake not to determine, but respectfully submit them to the attentive consideration of the reader. May not the great depression of the Dead Sea indicate the result of volcanic action subsequent to the formation of the great crevasse by which a deeper abyss was formed as a fit receptacle for the waters of this mysterious sea of death? The vast mountain of salt, the bitumen of the sea, the bituminous rocks, the lava, scoriae, brimstone, and saline deposits upon the shores remain impressive memorials of the terrible scene when "the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." "The bottom of the sea," says Lieutenant Lynch, "consists of two submerged plains, an elevated and a depressed one; the last thirteen, the former about one thousand three hundred feet below the surface. Through the northern, the largest and the deepest one, in a line corresponding with the bed of the Jordan, is a ravine, which again seems to correspond with the Wady elJeib, a ravine within a ravine, at the south end of the sea."

Between the Jabbok and this sea, we unexpectedly found a sudden break-down in the bed of the Jordan. If there be a similar break in the watercourses to the south of the sea, accompanied with like volcanic characters, there can scarce be a doubt that the whole Ghôr has sunk from some extraordinary convulsion, preceded most probably by an eruption

of fire and a general conflagration of the bitumen which abounded in the plain. I shall ever regret that we were not authorized to explore the southern Ghôr to the Red Sea." 1

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The lack of information implied in the regret of this distinguished explorer is supplied by Dr. Robinson, whose researches fully sustain the sagacious conjecture of Lieutenant Lynch. A "break-down" south of the Dead Sea is found corresponding remarkably with that on the north, except that the southern break is more marked and decisive. At the distance of eight or ten miles from the sea, a line of high cliffs of chalk and marl runs across the gulf constituting the ascent to the higher plains of the Arabah. These cliffs "form an irregular curve, sweeping across the Ghôr in something like the segment of a circle, the chord of which would be six or seven geographical miles in length, extending obliquely nearly from northwest to southeast." These cliffs vary in height, from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet. The face of them, though very steep, is not perpendicular; and they are much furrowed by the rains, so that the upper part presents a jagged appearance." They are doubtless the Akrabbim, scorpion rocks, which marked the southern boundary of the tribe of Judah. In a geological point of view they are of great interest. Compared with the northern offset described by Lieutenant Lynch, they exhibit “like volcanic characters" and geological features. In the neighborhood of the northern "break-down," chalk formations are found on either side of the Jordan, corresponding to the chalk cliffs of the southern break. We may therefore regard these corresponding offsets as marking the limits of a great convulsion of earthquake and volcano, which may have sunk the sea itself, with the cities of the plain, into that deep and dreadful abyss in which they now lie, at the depth of more than one thousand three hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, and four thousand feet below the city of Jerusalem.

In this connection the discovery of a late English traveller

1 Expedition, pp. 378,379. 2 Researches, Vol. ii., p. 501 (1st edition).

becomes exceedingly pertinent and significant: "At the northern end of Jebel Usdum, the mountain of salt, is the Wady Muhawât which exhibits some very remarkable features. Its sides are cliffs of old limestone, showing here and there traces of post-tertiary marl; but since the marl has been washed out, there has been a second filling in of an extraordinary character, which is only now in a course of denudation. There are exposed on the sides of the wady, and chiefly on the south, large masses of bitumen mingled with gravel. These overlie a thick stratum of sulphur, which again overlies a thicker stratum of sand, so strongly impregnated with sulphur that it yields powerful fumes on being sprinkled over a hot coal. Many blocks of bitumen have been washed down the gorge, and lie scattered over the plain below, along with huge boulders and other traces of tremendous floods. The layer of sulphurous sand is generally evenly distributed on the old limestone base; the sulphur, evenly above it, and the bitumen in variable masses. In every way it differs from the ordinary mode of deposit of these substances as we have seen them elsewhere. Again, the bitumen, unlike that which we pick up on the shore, is strongly impregnated with sulphur, and yields an overpowering sulphurous odor; above all, it is calcined, and bears the marks of having been subjected to extreme heat."

This discovery of our traveller is exceedingly interesting and important; and his remarks upon it will be read with the deepest interest by all students of the Bible: "So far as I can understand this deposit, if there be any physical evidence left of the catastrophe which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, or of similar occurrences, we have it here. The whole appearance points to a shower of hot sulphur, and an irruption of bitumen upon it, which would naturally be calcined and impregnated by its fumes; and this at a geological period quite subsequent to all the diluvial and alluvial action of which we have such abundant evidence. The catastrophe must have been since the formation of the wady, since the deposition of the marl, and while the water was at

its present level; therefore, probably during the historic period." 1

If we may accept the theory here proposed respecting this great crevasse of the Jordan and of the Red Sea, it must stand acknowledged the most extensive and extraordinary on the surface of the earth. What a sublime conception it gives of those stupendous convulsions by which our globe must have been rent and torn in the remote periods of its geological formations.

The writer is not a proficient in the details of geological science. With great diffidence he proposes this theory respecting this great crevasse, awaiting, respecting it, with profound deference, the opinions of the learned, more worthy of public confidence. The crude conception of this vast fissure was suggested several years since, while traversing the desert of Sinai, and alternately the bed and the margin of the chasm itself. Reading and reflection have matured this hypothesis into a settled conviction, to which expression is given in this form to invite the consideration of those who are more competent for such profound, recondite speculations. What then of the theory under consideration? Is it altogether fanciful and unfounded, or may it claim some consideration among the generalizations of science for which that of geology is so remarkable?

1 Tristram, The Land of Israel, pp. 355-357, cited in Kitto's Biblical Cyclopaedia, Vol. iii. p. 797.

ARTICLE IV.

GNOMOLOGICAL VERSES.

BY REV. LEONARD WITHINGTON, D.D., NEWBURYPORT, MASS.

PREFACE.

EXAMPLES of gnomological of poetry have been handed down to us from antiquity. It is not more true that mankind have delighted to record their moral observations in proverbs than it is that they have endeavored to preserve those observations in verse. There is a collection of such yvapai from the Greek poets, called Gnomici, in which vitae praecepta utilissima traduntur, which have a point and a pith to them always interesting. They are to be distinguished from the epigrams, though they often resemble them, the border being somewhat indistinct and varying. Indeed the ancient and modern epigram differs. In modern times it must have wit; it must convey a sarcasm; it must raise a smile; but among the ancients it was only a well-turned sentiment, concisely expressed. One of the most beautiful of the old epigrams is the following; it is what almost every worldling has experienced: "When I was young I was poor; when old I became rich; but in each condition I found disappointment. When the faculties of enjoyment were bright, I had not the means; but when the means came, the faculties were gone." Which may be thus versified:

O life, unfriendly still to human joy,
How do thine arrows every stage annoy!

In youth my passions were by want restrained,
And passion died in age when wealth was gained:
Through joys half finished all our days are run,
And closed in disappointment, as begun.

The following may serve as an example of a modern epigram. A poor man had his Bible stolen from him. The following lines appeared, addressed to the thief: