Then without further aid it
trickles
in and loads
the boat until you cut off the stream.
the boat until you cut off the stream.
Tacitus
[488] Physically
they are healthy and hardy. Rain is rare; the soil infertile; its
products are of the same kind as ours with the addition of balsam and
palms. The palm is a tall and beautiful tree, the balsam a mere shrub.
When its branches are swollen with sap they open them with a sharp
piece of stone or crockery, for the sap-vessels shrink up at the touch
of iron. The sap is used in medicine. Lebanon, their chief mountain,
stands always deep in its eternal snow, a strange phenomenon in such a
burning climate. Here, too, the river Jordan has its source[489] and
comes pouring down, to find a home in the sea. It flows undiminished
through first one lake, then another, and loses itself in a
third. [490] This last is a lake of immense size, like a sea, though
its water has a foul taste and a most unhealthy smell, which poisons
the surrounding inhabitants. No wind can stir waves in it: no fish or
sea-birds can live there. The sluggish water supports whatever is
thrown on to it, as if its surface were solid, while those who cannot
swim float on it as easily as those who can. Every year at the same
time the lake yields asphalt. As with other arts, it is experience
which shows how to collect it. It is a black liquid which, when
congealed with a sprinkling of vinegar, floats on the surface of the
water. The men who collect it take it in this state into their hands
and haul it on deck.
Then without further aid it trickles in and loads
the boat until you cut off the stream. But this you cannot do with
iron or brass: the current is turned by applying blood or a garment
stained with a woman's menstrual discharge. That is what the old
authorities say, but those who know the district aver that floating
blocks of asphalt are driven landwards by the wind and dragged to
shore by hand. The steam out of the earth and the heat of the sun
dries them, and they are then split up with axes and wedges, like logs
or blocks of stone.
Not far from this lake are the Plains, which they say were once 7
fertile and covered with large and populous cities which were
destroyed by lightning. [491] Traces of the cities are said to remain,
and the ground, which looks scorched, has lost all power of
production. The plants, whether wild or artificially cultivated, are
blighted and sterile and wither into dust and ashes, either when in
leaf or flower, or when they have attained their full growth. Without
denying that at some date famous cities were there burnt up by
lightning, I am yet inclined to think that it is the exhalation from
the lake which infects the soil and poisons the surrounding
atmosphere. Soil and climate being equally deleterious, the crops and
fruits all rot away.
The river Belus also falls into this Jewish sea. Round its mouth is
found a peculiar kind of sand which is mixed with native soda and
smelted into glass. Small though the beach is, its product is
inexhaustible.
The greater part of the population live in scattered villages, but 8
they also have towns. Jerusalem is the Jewish capital, and contained
the temple, which was enormously wealthy. A first line of
fortifications guarded the city, another the palace, and an innermost
line enclosed the temple. [492] None but a Jew was allowed as far as
the doors: none but the priests might cross the threshold.
they are healthy and hardy. Rain is rare; the soil infertile; its
products are of the same kind as ours with the addition of balsam and
palms. The palm is a tall and beautiful tree, the balsam a mere shrub.
When its branches are swollen with sap they open them with a sharp
piece of stone or crockery, for the sap-vessels shrink up at the touch
of iron. The sap is used in medicine. Lebanon, their chief mountain,
stands always deep in its eternal snow, a strange phenomenon in such a
burning climate. Here, too, the river Jordan has its source[489] and
comes pouring down, to find a home in the sea. It flows undiminished
through first one lake, then another, and loses itself in a
third. [490] This last is a lake of immense size, like a sea, though
its water has a foul taste and a most unhealthy smell, which poisons
the surrounding inhabitants. No wind can stir waves in it: no fish or
sea-birds can live there. The sluggish water supports whatever is
thrown on to it, as if its surface were solid, while those who cannot
swim float on it as easily as those who can. Every year at the same
time the lake yields asphalt. As with other arts, it is experience
which shows how to collect it. It is a black liquid which, when
congealed with a sprinkling of vinegar, floats on the surface of the
water. The men who collect it take it in this state into their hands
and haul it on deck.
Then without further aid it trickles in and loads
the boat until you cut off the stream. But this you cannot do with
iron or brass: the current is turned by applying blood or a garment
stained with a woman's menstrual discharge. That is what the old
authorities say, but those who know the district aver that floating
blocks of asphalt are driven landwards by the wind and dragged to
shore by hand. The steam out of the earth and the heat of the sun
dries them, and they are then split up with axes and wedges, like logs
or blocks of stone.
Not far from this lake are the Plains, which they say were once 7
fertile and covered with large and populous cities which were
destroyed by lightning. [491] Traces of the cities are said to remain,
and the ground, which looks scorched, has lost all power of
production. The plants, whether wild or artificially cultivated, are
blighted and sterile and wither into dust and ashes, either when in
leaf or flower, or when they have attained their full growth. Without
denying that at some date famous cities were there burnt up by
lightning, I am yet inclined to think that it is the exhalation from
the lake which infects the soil and poisons the surrounding
atmosphere. Soil and climate being equally deleterious, the crops and
fruits all rot away.
The river Belus also falls into this Jewish sea. Round its mouth is
found a peculiar kind of sand which is mixed with native soda and
smelted into glass. Small though the beach is, its product is
inexhaustible.
The greater part of the population live in scattered villages, but 8
they also have towns. Jerusalem is the Jewish capital, and contained
the temple, which was enormously wealthy. A first line of
fortifications guarded the city, another the palace, and an innermost
line enclosed the temple. [492] None but a Jew was allowed as far as
the doors: none but the priests might cross the threshold.
