- tains, to the Lake Asphaltites." Mr. Buckingham may perhaps be considered as
having given the most accurate account, and one which reconciles, in some degree, the different statements above cited, when, speaking of the lake as seen from Tel Hoom, he says, "that its appearance is grand, but that the barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, give a cast of dulness to the picture; this is increased to melancholy, by the dead calm of its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found."
Among the pebbles on the shore, Dr. Clarke found pieces of a porous rock, resembling toad-stone, its cavities filled with zeolite. Native gold is said to have been found here formerly. "We noticed," he says, "an appearance of this kind; but, on account of its trivial nature, neglected to pay proper attention to it. The water was as clear as the purest crystal; sweet, cool, and most refreshing. Swimming to a considerable distance from the shore, we found it so limpid that we could discern the bottom covered with shining pebbles. Among these stones was a beautiful, but very diminutive, kind of shell; a nondescript species of Buccinum, which we have called Buccinum Galilæum. We amused ourselves by diving for specimens; and the very circumstance of discerning such small objects beneath the surface, may prove the high transparency of the water." The situation of the lake, lying as it were in a deep basin between the hills which enclose it on all sides, excepting only the narrow entrance and outlets of the Jordan, at either end, protects its waters from long-continued tempests. Its surface is in general as smooth as that of the Dead Sea; but the same local features render it occasionally subject to whirlwinds, squalls, and sudden gusts from the mountains, of short duration, especially when the strong current formed by the Jordan, is opposed by a wind of this description, from the S. E.; sweeping from the mountains with the force of a hurricane, it may easily be conceived that a boisterous sea must be instantly raised, which the small vessels of the country would be unable to resist. A storm of this description is plainly denoted by the language of the evangelist, in recounting one of our Lord's miracles. "There came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. . . . Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; and they ceased, and there was a calm." (Luke viii. 23, 24.)
The question of Peter's being the oldest son of his father has been
already alluded to, and decided by the most ancient authority,
in favor of the opinion, that he was younger than Andrew. There
surely is nothing unparalleled or remarkable in the fact, that the
younger brother should so transcend the elder in ability and eminence;
since Scripture history furnishes us with similar instances
in Jacob, Judah and Joseph, Moses, David, and many others
throughout the history of the Jews, although that nation generally
regarded the rights of primogeniture with high reverence and
respect.
HIS INTRODUCTION TO JESUS.
The earliest passage in the life of Peter, of which any record can be found, is given in the first chapter of John's Gospel. In this, it appears that Peter and Andrew were at Bethabara, a place on the eastern bank of the Jordan, more than twenty miles south of their home at Bethsaida, and that they had probably left their business for a time, and gone thither, for the sake of hearing and seeing John the Baptist, who was then preaching at that place, and baptizing the penitent in the Jordan. This great forerunner of the Messiah, had already, by his strange habits of life, by his
