west side of the kind of bay which forms the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, the party beheld, to their great astonishment, while beating along the shore, a lofty round pillar, standing, apparently detached from the general mass, the head of a deep, narrow, and abrupt chasm. They landed, and proceeded towards this object over a beach of soft slimy mud, encrusted with salt, and at a short distance from the water, covered with saline fragments and flakes of bitumen. The pillar was found to be of solid salt, capped with carbonate of lime, _cylindrical in front_ and _pyramidal behind_." The italics are the Doctor's. It is not novel to say that history repeats itself; but it is questionable whether among the fashionable inhabitants of the Cities of the Plain in the days of Lot the modern crinolette was a feminine artifice of that Worthless time. According to the Koran, Lot's wife, Waila, was in confederacy with the men of Sodom, and used to give them notice when any strangers came to lodge with him "by a sign of smoke by day and of fire by night." In this regard the pillar at Jenolan may be regarded as a warning, and not as suggestive of anything, except, perhaps, the lesson conveyed by the Apocrypha, in the Book of Wisdom x. 7, where there is a reference to Lot's wife, "Of whose wickedness even to this day the west land that smoketh is a testimony, and plants bearing fruits that never come to ripeness; and the standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul." Is it not a pity that so beautiful a column in the most wonderful caves ever made by Nature should have been associated with so much that is off-colour? True, it is itself a little crooked and irregular, but these characteristics are accounted for by its peculiar formation. It has not been produced in the ordinary way by drippings from one stalactite, but, contrary to rule, owes its origin and development to two small stalactites in the roof. Consequently, its growth has been continually warped. It is, however, a beautiful feature of the Imperial Cave, and may teach many useful lessons to persons of observation and _nous_. [Illustration: THE CRYSTAL CITY.] CHAPTER XXIV. THE CRYSTAL CITIES--THE SHOW-ROOM AND THE GRAND STALACTITES. From "Lot's Wife" to "The Crystal Cities" is about 20 yards north, through a hall from 9 to 15 feet high. On the right-hand side is a concrete wall, which rises about 12 inches from the floor, to protect the "Cities" from dust raised by the tramping of feet. At the end of this concrete wall is a descent of two steps, which brings visitors in full view of the exquisitely beautiful cave, in which there is a group of dazzling Lilliputian cities, whose buildings are of crystallized lime. The streets appear to be thronged with minute figures "---- no bigger than an agate stone On the forefinger of an alderman."