'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎11] (30/258)

TI1E GREAT SALT LAKE.
XI
Dead Sea. Of this 20 per cent is pure chloride of sodium or sea salt : it is said
to throw down in summer muriate of soda, and in winter sulphate of soda or
glauber salts—a circumstance that seems so strange that better evidence than
we possess is requisite before the fact can be accepted as established. They are
so acrid as to be dangerous to animal life, and even so affect and corrugate the
throat when swallowed that a mouthful would be fatal. They are so heavy that
the body floats on them without effort, about a sixth of its mass remaining above
the surface. The lake itself is singularly shallow : its greatest depth is 33 feet,
and in some places a stiff breeze blows the water altogether to one side, and
leaves large expanses of the bottom bare. At no distant period the lake seems
to have been many times its present size, and to have covered the low-lands
around with its waters. It seems still diminishing in size, the balance betwixt
fall and evaporation not having as yet been attained in a climate where little
rain falls, and the atmosphere is intensely dry. Amidst all its stern grandeur the
scene around is one of dreary and oppressive desolation : there is no tree or plant
to relieve the eye, the atmosphere feels hot and suffocating, and the sluggish
waves scarcely ripple before the breeze. Along one side of the lake the surface
of the earth is covered with a sheet of solid salt of the most dazzling whiteness :
this is converted into a muddy marsh by every shower of rain. Various streams
of fresh water flow into the lake from the neighbouring mountains,—-the Jordon,
Bear River, and Weber being all of considerable size,—and the banks of these
before they enter the salt region are covered with the richest vegetation. Hot
springs and salt in masses abound in the neighbourhood of the lake. Around
its margin is a band of soft, foetid, slimy mud, consisting entirely of the
larvae of insects, or other animal matter, emitting smells the most offensive that
can be imagined. All around are evidences of volcanic action, and thick cakes of
mud, six or eight inches in diameter, charged with sulphur, and erupted in a
semi-liquid form from small spiracles beneath are found scattered about. In the
plain, at no great distance from the lake,* is a group of volcanic cones and
apertures covering several acres of ground, with steam and mud issuing from
at least half a dozen of chimneys. The cones are from four to six feet in eleva
tion, terminating in a spiracle or vent, some of which are hardened, and lined
with crystals of sulphur, and other substances. From one of these steam and
water are thrown from ten to fifteen feet into the air—they rush out with a
noise resembling the escape of a steam engine ; the water is hot and cold by
turns, and is strongly impregnated with sal-ammoniac. Some of the
cauldrons are from ten to twenty feet in diameter, filled to within three or four
feet of the top with boiling mud, which occasionally runs over. Besides the
numerous mud cones, there is one of lava, in the midst of a mass of volcanic rocks
within the valley : it is about 50 feet in height, sheets of salt, strongly impreg
nated with sal-ammoniac surrounding its base. In the mountains, not far off,
are wells of petroleum and naphtha.
American Annual of Scientific Discovery for WW, Jameson's Journal, No. 105, P. 180,