Of the principal lakes on the northern side of the Alps, the Lake of Geneva, or Lake Leman, is the most beautiful from its situation, the pure azure of the waters, and the sublime mountains that surround it. Its surface, of about 240 square miles, is 1150 feet above the sea, and near Meillerie it is 1012 deep. The lake of Lucerne is 1400 feet above the sea, and the lakes of Brienz 1900 feet. The Italian Lakes are at a lower level; the Lago Maggiore has only 678 feet of absolute altitude; they are larger than most of those on the north of the Alps, and, with the advantage of an Italian climate, sky, and vegetation, they surpass the others in beauty, though the mountains that surround them are less lofty. These great lakes are fed by rivers rising in the glaciers of the higher Alps, and many large rivers issue from them. In this respect they differ from most of the lakes in Lower Italy, some of which are craters of ancient volcanos, or perhaps ancient craters of elevation, where the earth had been swelled up by subterranean vapour without bursting, and had sunk down again into a hollow when the internal pressure was removed. In Syria, the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, sacred memorials to the Christian world, are situate in the deepest cavity on the earth. The surface of the Lake Tiberias is 329 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, surrounded by verdant plains bearing aromatic shrubs; while the heavy bitter waters of the Dead Sea, 1312 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, is a scene of indescribable desolation and solitude, encompassed by desert sands, and bleak, stony, salt hills. Thus, there is a difference of level of 983 feet in little more than 60 miles, which makes the course of the river Jordan very rapid. The water of the Dead Sea is so acrid, from the large proportion of saline matter it contains, that it irritates the skin: it is more buoyant, and has a greater proportion of salt, than any that is known except the small lake of Eltonsk east of the Volga.[123] Though extensive sheets of water exist in many parts of Asia Minor, especially in Bithynia, yet the characteristic feature of the country, and of all the table-land of western Asia and the adjacent steppes, is the number and magnitude of the saline lakes. A region of salt lakes and marshes extends at least 200 miles along the northern foot of the Taurus range, on a very elevated part of the table-land of Anatolia. There are also many detached lakes, some exceedingly saline. Fish cannot live in the Lake of Toozla; it is shallow, and subject to excessive evaporation. Neither can any animal exist in the Lake of Shahee or Urmiah, on the confines of Persia and Armenia, 300 miles in circumference: its water is perfectly clear, and contains a fourth part of its weight of saline matter. These lakes are fed by springs, rain, and melted snow, and, having no emissaries, the surplus water is carried off by evaporation.