on was
transformed into stone, or rather into a salt which has lost its
savour."

Nothing could be more sure than this story to throw light into the
mental and moral process by which the salt pillar myth was originally
created.

In the years 1864 and 1865 came an expedition on a much more imposing
scale: that of the Duc de Luynes. His knowledge of archaeology and his
wealth were freely devoted to working the mine which Lynch had opened,
and, taking with him an iron vessel and several savants, he devoted
himself especially to finding the cities of the Dead Sea, and to
giving less vague accounts of them than those of De Saulcy. But he
was disappointed, and honest enough to confess his disappointment. So
vanished one of the most cherished parts of the legend.

But worse remained behind. In the orthodox duke's company was an acute
geologist, Monsieur Lartet, who in due time made an elaborate report,
which let a flood of light into the whole region.

The Abbe Richard had been rejoicing the orthodox heart of France by
exhibiting some prehistoric flint implements as the knives which Joshua
had made for circumcision. By a truthful statement Monsieur Lartet set
all France laughing at the Abbe, and then turned to the geology of the
Dead Sea basin. While he conceded that man may have seen some volcanic
crisis there, and may have preserved a vivid remembrance of the vapour
then rising, his whole argument showed irresistibly that all the
phenomena of the region are due to natural causes, and that, so far from
a sudden rising of the lake above the valley within historic times, it
has been for ages steadily subsiding.

Since Balaam was called by Balak to curse his enemies, and "blessed them
altogether," there has never been a more unexpected tribute to truth.

Even the salt pillar at Usdum, as depicted in Lynch's book, aided to
undermine the myth among thinking men; for the background of the picture
showed other pillars of salt in process of formation; and the ultimate
result of all these expeditions was to spread an atmosphere in which
myth and legend became more and more attenuated.

To sum up the main points in this work of the nineteenth century:
Seetzen, Robinson, and others had found that a human being could
traverse the lake without being killed by hellish smoke; that the waters
gave forth no odours; that the fruits of the region were not created
full of cinders to match the desolation of the Dead Sea, but were
growths