[2] Tradition points to the _Jebel Usdum_ (cp. the name Sodom) at the S.W. end of the Dead Sea. It consists almost entirely of pure crystallized salt with pillars and pinnacles such as might have given rise to the story (see Driver, Genesis, p. 201; and cf. also _Palestine Explor. Fund, Quart. Statements_, 1871, p. 16, 1885, p. 20; Conder, _Syrian Stone-lore_, p. 279 seq.). Jesus cites the story of Lot and his wife to illustrate the sudden coming of the Kingdom of God (Luke xvii. 28-32). The history of the interpretation of the legend by the early and medieval church down to the era of rational and scientific investigation will be found in A. D. White, _Warfare of Science with Theology_, ii. ch. xviii. LOT (Lat. _Oltis_), a river of southern France flowing westward across the central plateau, through the departments of Lozère, Aveyron, Lot and Lot-et-Garonne. Its length is about 300 m., the area of its basin 4444 sq. m. The river rises in the Cévennes on the Mont du Goulet at a height of 4918 ft. about 15 m. E. of Mende, past which it flows. Its upper course lies through gorges between the Causse of Mende and Aubrac Mountains on the north and the tablelands (_causses_) of Sauveterre, Severac and Comtal on the south. Thence its sinuous course crosses the plateau of Quercy and entering a wider fertile plain flows into the Garonne at Aiguillon between Agen and Marmande. Its largest tributary, the Truyère, rises in the Margeride mountains and after a circuitous course joins it on the right at Entraygues (department of Aveyron), its affluence more than doubling the volume of the river. Lower down it receives the Dourdou de Bozouls (or du Nord) on the left and on the right the Célé above Cahors (department of Lot), which is situated on a peninsula skirted by one of the river's many windings. Villeneuve-sur-Lot (department of Lot-et-Garonne) is the only town of any importance between this point and its mouth. The Lot is canalized between Bouquiès, above which there is no navigation, and the Garonne (160 m.).