Edward Robinson reported oral history that "after the earthquake of 1834, a large quantity of asphaltum was cast upon the shore near the S. W. part of the [Dead] Sea; of which the Jehalin brought about sixty kuntar [~98 pounds] into market." He also reported that "my companion also remembered that in that year, a large amount [of asphaltam] had been purchased by the Frank merchants at Beirut." Robinson further reported asphaltum floating in the Dead Sea after the 1 Jan. 1837 CE Safed Quake, adding that "except in those two years [1834 and 1837], the Sheikh of the Jehalin, a man fifty years old, had never known of bitumen appearing in the sea, nor heard of it from his fathers."