ck we were on the march, over broken and precipitous
rocky paths, on which the progress was slow and toilsome. Then down
again upon the beach. I am sure that if the Dead Sea were already
covering the ground that it now does, before the time of Chedorlaomer,
the "four kings against five" could not possibly have mustered or
manoeuvred their armies on any side or place between the mountains on
each side of the water. {332} At a quarter past seven the thermometer
stood at 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

There is always a close, heavy heat in this depressed region, inducing
profuse perspiration.

At ten minutes past nine we were at the spot where the great eastern
peninsula projects nearest to us, having in view the two extremities,
north-east and south-west, now named on the maps, the former as Point
Costigan, after the unfortunate explorer of 1835, and the latter, Point
Molyneux, after my friend, the lieutenant of H.M.S. _Spartan_, who was
there in 1847. But at that season of the year we could perceive no
traces of the shallow or ford by which the Arabs occasionally pass over
to it on the way to Kerak.

At half-past nine we were in front of _Sebbeh_, with a view of the ruins
of Masada on its summit, to which, however, we did not climb, but
contented ourselves with recalling to memory the heroic events of the
Jewish defenders, as related by Josephus. Here the sea, retiring towards
our side, forms a semicircular bay, terminating at _'Ain Jidi_,
(Engeddi,) where we arrived at two o'clock. There we were at a
considerable elevation above the shore, which we now abandoned, not only
because all further advance in that direction is impracticable, but
because our route towards Jerusalem lay in a different direction.

We were upon a platform abounding in springs of water and luxuriant
neglected vegetation. The pleasure derived from the sound of gushing
streams can only be appreciated by those who have been in our
circumstances. The contrast is not to be understood merely from words
laid before a reader, between this and the dry wilderness of Edom or the
salt beach of Sodom. One of our camels not only drank his fill, but
rolled himself in the water.

There were some neb'k trees, some trees of the _'osher_, (apple of
Sodom,) and some of the shrub _solanum melongena_, all of which may be
found near Jericho, though not peculiar to that region. Canes and large
weeds almost filled the watercourses, but not a blossom of any
wild-fl