Edward Robinson reported that after the 1 Jan. 1837 CE Safed Quake, a large mass of asphaltum "like an island" or "like a house" was discovered floating on the Dead Sea and was driven ashore on the western side, north of Usdum. The Jehalin and inhabitants of Yutta swam out to the mass and cut it with axes in order to bring it ashore, while others gathered to claim shares. The material was transported by camel-loads, including routes up the pass of 'Ain Jidy, and sold at a rate of four piastres per kuntar or pound. Robinson noted that this event, like the similar appearance following the 1834 earthquake, was understood by local Sheikhs as an earthquake-related phenomenon, and that outside of these events the appearance of floating bitumen in the Dead Sea was unknown to local tradition.