Asphaltus

"asphaltus;" a work too bulky for ideal architects. ❋ Samuel Johnson (1746)

I have seen cisterns of asphaltus, very well made, which may last a long time. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Several lakes are full of asphaltus, or a bitumen resembling it, as others are strongly impregnated with nitre. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Be this as it may, not one of our travellers has yet thought fit to examine the soil of Sodom, with its asphaltus, its salt, its trees and their fruits, to weigh the water of the lake, to analyze it, to ascertain whether bodies of greater specific gravity than common water float upon its surface, and to give us a faithful account of the natural history of the country. ❋ Unknown (2007)

The real asphaltus is that which was obtained in the vicinity of ❋ Unknown (2007)

It may also be said that the people who colonized these villages prepared the asphaltus, and carried on a useful trade in it. ❋ Unknown (2007)

It would, however, be very natural for some Jews to amuse themselves with cutting a heap of asphaltus into a rude figure, and calling it ❋ Unknown (2007)

All the wells are brackish; you find asphaltus and corrosive salt on first striking a spade into the ground. ❋ Unknown (2007)

This, then, was not a natural petrifaction, operated by asphaltus and salt, but an evident miracle. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Probably the asphaltus or bitumen was occasionally set on fire by the neighbouring people. ❋ 46-120? Plutarch (1839)

a "mole of aggravated soil" cemented with asphaltus, a work too bulky for ideal architects. ❋ Samuel Johnson (1746)

Strabo, who had not seen the Nymphæum, describes it thus after the account of Poseidonius: "In the territory of Apollonia is a place called the Nymphæum; it is a rock which sends forth fire, and at the base of it are springs of warm asphaltus, the asphaltic earth, as it appears, being in a state of combustion: and there is a mine of it near on a hill. ❋ 46-120? Plutarch (1839)

Whatever is cut out, is filled up again in course of time, as the earth which is thrown into the excavations changes into asphaltus, as Poseidonius says. " ❋ 46-120? Plutarch (1839)