An important note, with reference to the destruction of the Cities of the Plain, appears in the statement in Gen. xiv., that the Vale of Siddim had bitumen pits or wells, and that these were so abundant or important as to furnish a place of retreat to, or to impede the flight of, the defeated kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. These bitumen pits have disappeared, unless their remains are represented by the singular pits described by Dr Merrill as occurring near Wady Nimrim. Their existence in the times of Abraham would bespeak a much greater abundance of bituminous matter than that now remaining; and it is possible that the eruption which destroyed the Cities of the Plain may have, to a great extent, exhausted the supply of petroleum. “There is no reason to think” (adds Dr Dawson) “that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was connected with any important change in the limits of the Dead Sea, though it is highly probable that some subsidence of the valley took place, and may have slightly affected its levels relatively to the Jordan and the sea; but it would appear from Deut. xxix. 23, that the eruption was followed by a permanent deterioration of the district by the saline mud with which it was covered.” In the _Theological Monthly_ for May 1890, Rev. James Neil declares that no bitumen pits are to be found anywhere in the neighbourhood of the Jordan. The pits spoken of by Dr Selah Merrill were connected with aqueducts, and used for purposes of irrigation. But the asphalt thrown up from the bottom of the Dead Sea may have been employed to render such pits watertight, and to that extent they would be slime pits. He shows that such pits do exist in the Jordan Valley, extending across it in long lines just north of the supposed site of some of the Cities of the Plain; and it is a very curious fact that the Bedawin, who are unacquainted with their nature and purpose, have a legend connecting them with a great battle. [_Authorities and Sources_:--Smith’s “Dict. of the Bible.” “Tent Work in Palestine.” Major Conder, R.E. “The Land of Moab.” Rev. Canon Tristram, F.R.S. “East of Jordan.” Dr Selah Merrill. “Egypt and Syria.” Sir J. W. Dawson.] 5. “_Lot’s Wife._”