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Show Conquest of Dead Sea Romantic and far out of the ordinary la the fact that Palestine's Pales-tine's Biblical lake, the Dead aea, has today become the site of a thriving major industry, and 80.-000 80.-000 tons of potash are being extracted ex-tracted frem its waters annually despite sporadic minor warfare in Jthe same region. Meet of -the 1 potash produced is being used as fertiliser, but other valuable chemicals, chem-icals, such as bromine and magnesium mag-nesium chloride, are being recovered. recov-ered. For two milea along the shore of the Dead sea and along the banks of Its tributary, the River Jordan, are immense evaporating planta into which the briny waters wa-ters are pumped for the sun to concentrate the chemicals they contain. An account of the reclamation rec-lamation of these chemicals is given in Scientific American. Experts estimate that the Dead aea waters contain more than a billion tons of potash and nearly a billion tons of bromine enough to supply the world's present needs for the next 2000 years. Bro-. Bro-. mine is used in making antiknock anti-knock fluid for gasoline and for many other Industrial purposes. The work is being done by a . British organisation, with the romantic ro-mantic name of Palestine Potash, Limited. Odd are the local conditions. The region is weird and awe-inspiring, with its mountains of rock salt. Its picturesque gorges, its caves, quaint little oases, and hot springs. In the summer months the temperature aeldom drops, even at night, below 100 degrees and in the daytime it sometimes reaches aa high as 160 degrees. Yet it is a healthful re- ' gion. -vThs air . containa oT per cent more oxygen because It lies nearly a quarter mile below ocean level. The Dead sea Itself, really a lake, ia BO miles long, about nine miles wide and reaches IbOO feet in depth. So salty are ita waters that no fish can live in them. The oceans contain about S't per cent of salt, but these waters contain a full 25 per cent. In them it is Impossible for a human body to aink and a swimmer swim-mer floata like a piece of wood. The River Jordan pours into the Dead sea 280,000,000 cubic feet of water each day. The sun aids man in recovering their riches and thus In modern times the Dead sea region has become a place of great industrial activity. |