old or sick women. The rest go on foot, carrying their infants on their backs or in their arms; and the men, mounted on the horses, armed with lances, ride round, or bring up the march of the cattle, which loiter behind, browsing o long a time. In this manner the Arabs journey, and find their homes, their hearths, and their country, in every lace."- BURDER.

Ver. 7. And there was a strife between the herd

men of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle.

How often have I been reminded of the strife of the herdmen of the scriptures, by seeing, on a distant plain, a number of shepherds or husbandmen struggling together respecting some of the same causes which promoted strife in the patriarchal age. The fields are not, as in England, enclosed by fences; there is simply a ridge which divides one from another. Hence the cattle belonging to one person find no difficulty in straying into the field of another, and the shepherds themselves have so little principle, that they gladly take advantage of it. Nothing is more common than for a man, when the sun has gone down, thus to injure his neighbour. The time when most disputes take place, is when the paddy, or rice, has been newly cut, as the grass left among the stubble is then long and green. The herdmen at that time become very tenacious, and wo to the ox, if within reach of stick or stone, until he shall get into his own field. Then the men of the other party start up on seeing their cattle beaten, and begin to swear and declare tow often the others have done the same thing. They now approach each other, vociferating the most opprobrious epithets: the hands swiftly move about in every direction; one pretends to take up a stone, or spits on the ground in token of contempt; and then comes the contest -the long hair is soon dishevelled, and the weaker fall beneath their antagonists. Then begins the beating, biting, and scratching, till in their cruel rage they have nearly destroyed some of the party. The next business is with the magistrate: all are clamorous for justice; and great must be his patience, and great his discernment, to find out the truth.

Another common cause of strife is that which took place between the herdmen of Gerar and those of Isaac. Water is at all times very precious in the East, but especially in the dry season; as the tanks are then nearly exhausted, and what remains is scarcely fit for use. At that time recourse must be had to the wells; which are often made at the expense or labour of five, ten, or twenty people. Here, then, is the cause of contention. One man has numerous herds; he gets there first, and almost exhausts the well; the others come, and, seeing what is done, begin the affray. But the most common cause of quarrel is when the owners of the well have to irrigate their lands from the same source. To prevent these contests, they have generally each an appointed time for watering their lands; or, may be, that those who get there first, shall have the privilege: but where there is so little integrity, it is no wonder there should be so much strife.-ROBERTS.

Ver. 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

The Jordan flows from the Lake of Genesareth to the Dead Sea, between two ridges of moderately high mountains, in a valley that may be about twelve miles in breadth. This valley opens at Jericho, and encloses within it the Dead Sea, which is surrounded by a circle of mountains. Before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah there was, however, no lake here; but all this was a valley, which Moses calls the vale of Siddim. It is probable, that even at that time there was a lake under this valley, in which the Jordan discharged itself, which otherwise could have had no vent. This subterraneous lake was covered with a thick coat of earth, on which, besides Sodom and Gomorrah, other cities stood. This being the nature of the ground, it could never be deficient in the requisite moist

ure, and besides it was doubtless watered by canals sup plied from the Jordan. In this view Moses compares it with Egypt, which was watered by innumerable canals led from the Nile, and cultivated like a garden.-Burder. CHAP. 14. ver. 3. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

The lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea, is enclosed on the east and west with exceeding high mountains; on the north it is bounded with the plain of Jericho, on which side it receives the waters of the Jordan; on the south it is open, and extends beyond the reach of the eye. It is said to be twenty-four leagues long, and six or seven broad; and is fringed with a kind of coppice of bushes and reeds. In the midst of this border, not a furlong from the sea, rises a fountain of brackish water, which was pointed out to Maundrell by his Arab conductor; a sure proof that the soil is not equally impregnated with saline particles. The ground, to the distance of half an hour from the sea, is uneven and broken into hillocks, which Mr. Maundrell compares to ruinous lime-kilns; but whether these might be the pits at which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown by the four kings who invaded their country, he could not determine.-PAXTON.

As it has no outlet, Reland, Pococke, and other travellers, have supposed that it must throw off its superfluous waters by some subterraneous channel; but, although it has been calculated that the Jordan daily discharges into it 6,090,000 tons of water, besides what it receives from the Arnon and several smaller streams, it is now known, that the loss by evaporation is adequate to explain the absorption of the waters. Its occasional rise and fall at certain seasons, is doubtless owing to the greater or less volume which the Jordan and the other streams bring down from the mountains.-MODERN TRAVELLER.

The water of the lake is intensely salt, extremely bitter and nauseous, and so heavy, that the most impetuous winds can scarcely ruffle its surface. It is called by common writers the Dead Sea, because it nourishes neither animal nor vegetable life. No verdure is to be seen on its banks, nor fish to be found within its waters; but it is not true that its exhalations are so pestiferous as to kill birds that attempt to fly over it. Mr. Maundrell saw several birds flying about, and skimming the surface of its waters, without any visible harm. The same fact is attested by Volney, who states it as no uncommon thing to see swallows dipping for the water necessary to build their nests. The true cause that deprives it of vegetables and animals, is the extreme saltness of the water, which is vastly stronger than that of the sea. The soil around it, impregnated also with salt, produces no plants; and the air itself, which becomes loaded with saline particles from evaporation, and which receives also the sulphureous and bituminous vapours, cannot be favourable to vegetation: hence the deadly aspect which reigns around this lake. The ground about it, however, is not marshy, and its waters are limpid and incorruptible, as must be the case with a dissolution of salt. Mr. Maundrell questions the truth of the common tradition, which is admitted by Volney in all its extent, that the waters of the Dead Sea are destructive to animal existence, having observed among the pebbles on the shore two or three shells of fish, resembling oyster-shells. [Mr. Madden, however, says, Travels, vol. 2, p. 210, "I found seve ral fresh water shells on the beach, such as I before noticed on the Lake of Tiberias; and also the putrid remains of two small fish, of the size of mullet; which no doubt had been carried down from the Jordan, as well as the shells; for I am well convinced, both from my own observation and from the accounts of the Arabs, that no living creature is to be found in the Dead Sea."] That respectable traveller, willing to make an experiment of its strength, went into it, and found it bore up his body in swimming, with an uncommon force; but the relation of some authors, that men wading in it are buoyed up to the top as soon as the water reaches to the middle, he found upon experiment untrue. Pococke, however, says: "I was much pleased with what I observed of this extraordinary water, and stayed in it near a quarter of an hour. I found I could lay on it in any posture, without motion, and without sinking. It bore me up in such a manner, that, when I struck in swimming, my legs were above the water, and I found it difficult to

recover my feet. I did not care to venture where it was deep, though these effects would probably have been more remarkable farther in. They have a notion that if any one attempted to swim over, it would burn up the body; and they say the same of boats, for there are none on the lake." Van Egmont and Heyman state, that on swimming to some distance from the shore, they found themselves, to their great surprise, lifted up by the water. "When I had swam to some distance, I endeavoured to sink perpendicularly to the bottom, but could not; for the water kept me continually up, and would certainly have thrown me upon my face, had I not put forth all the strength I was master of, to keep myself in a perpendicular posture; so that I walked in the sea as if I had trod on firm ground, without having occasion to make any of the motions necessary in treading fresh water; and when I was swimming, I was obliged to keep my legs the greatest part of the time out of the water. My fellow-traveller was agreeably surprised to find that he could swim here, having never learned. But his case and mine proceeded from the gravity of the water, as this certainly does from the extraordinary quantity of salt in it." -MODERN TRAVELLER.

About six in the morning, says Mr. Madden, I reached he shore, and much against the advice of my excellent guide, I resolved on having a bath. I was desirous of ascertaining the truth of the assertion, that "nothing sinks in the Dead Sea." I swam a considerable distance from the shore; and about four yards from the beach I was Deyond my depth: the water was the coldest I ever felt, and the taste of it most detestable; it was that of a solution of nitre, mixed with an infusion of quassia. Its buoyancy I found to be far greater than that of any sea I ever swam in, not excepting the Euxine, which is extremely salt. I could lie like a log of wood on the surface, without stirring hand or foot, as long as I chose; but with a good deal of exertion I could just dive sufficiently deep to cover all my body, but I was again thrown on the surface, in spite of my endeavours to descend lower. On coming out, the wounds in my feet pained me excessively; the poisonous quality of the waters irritated the abraded skin, and ultimately made an ulcer of every wound, which confined me fifteen days in Jerusalem; and became so troublesome in Alexandria, that my medical attendant was apprehensive of gangrene.-MADDEN.

The question of its specific gravity, indeed, has been set to rest by the chymical analysis of the waters made by Dr. Marcet, and published in the London Philosophical Transactions for 1807. In 1778, Messrs. Lavoisier, Macquer, and Le Sage, had concluded, by experiment, that a hundred pounds of the water contain forty-five pounds six ounces of salt; that is, six pounds four ounces of common marine salt, and thirty-eight pounds two ounces of marine salt with an earthy base. But Dr. Marcet's more accurate analysis has determined the specific gravity to be 1,211, (that of the fresh water being 1000,) a degree of density not to be met with in any other natural water; and it holds in solution the following salts, in the stated proportions to 100 grains of the water :

So that the water of the lake contains about one fourth of its weight of salts, supposed in a state of perfect desiccation; or if they be desiccated at the temperature of 180° on Fahrenheit's scale, they will amount to forty-one per cent. of the water. Its other general properties are, that, 1. As stated by all travellers, it is perfectly transparent. 2. Its taste is extremely bitter, saline, and pungent. 3. Reaget demonstrate in it the presence of the marine and sulphuric acids. 4. It contains no alumine. 5. It is not saturated with common salt. 6. It did not change the colours of the infusions commonly used o ascertain the prevalence of an acid or an alkali, such as litmus, violet, and tumeric.

Mr. Maundrell neither saw nor heard of the apples of Sodom, so frequently mentioned by the ancients; nor did he discover any tree near the lake, from which a fruit of that kind might be expected. It is a production which exsts only in the imagination and song of the poet; and has

perhaps been kept up so long, because it furnished him with a good allusion, or helped him to a beautiful simile. Several travellers, however, claim the honour of having discovered that far-famed apple. Hasselquist says, the apple of Sodom is not the fruit either of a tree or of a shrub, but the production of the solanum melongena of Linnæus. It is found in great abundance round Jericho, in the vales near the Jordan, and in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. Its apples are sometimes full of dust; but this appears only when the fruit is attacked by an insect, which converts the whole of the inside into dust, leaving nothing but the rind entire, without causing it to lose any of its colour. M. Seetzen supposes it is the fruit of a tree which grows on the plain of El Gor, near the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. The tree resembles a fig-tree, and the fruit is like the pomegranate: it struck him, that this fruit, which has no pulp or flesh in the inside, but only a species of cotton resembling silk, and is unknown in the rest of Palestine, might be the celebrated apple of Sodom. Chateaubriand imagines that he has made the interesting discovery. The shrub which bears, in his opinion, the true apple of Sodom, grows two or three leagues from the mouth of the Jordan; it is thorny, and has small taper leaves; its fruit is exactly like the little Egyptian lemon, both in size and colour: before it is ripe, it is filled with a corrosive and saline juice; when dried, it yields a blackish seed, which may be compared to ashes, and which resembles bitter pepper in taste. He gathered half a dozen of these fruits, but has no name for them, either popular or botanical. Next comes Mr. Jolliffe. He found in a thicket of brushwood, about half a mile from the plain of Jericho, a shrub of five or six feet high, on which grew clusters of fruit, about the size of a small apricot, of a bright yellow colour, "which, contrasting with the delicate verdure of the foliage, seemed like the union of gold and emeralds. Possibly, when ripe, they may crumble into dust upon any violent pressure." Those which this gentleman gathered did not crumble, nor ever. retain the slightest mark of indenture from the touch; they would seem to want, therefore, the most essential characteristic of the fruit in question. But they were not ripe. This shrub is probably the same as that described by Chateaubriand. Lastly, Captains Irby and Mangles have no doubt that they have discovered it in the oskar plant, which they noticed on the shores of the Dead Sea, grown to the stature of a tree; its trunk measuring, in many instances, two feet or more in circumference, and the boughs at least fifteen feet high. The filaments enclosed in the fruit, somewhat resemble the down of a thistle, and are used by the natives as a stuffing for their cushions; "they likewise twist them, like thin rope, into matches for their guns, which, they assured us, required no application of sulphur to render them combustible." This is probably the same tree that M. Seetzen refers to. But still, the correspondence to the ancient description is by no means perfect; there being little resemblance between cotton and thistle-down, and ashes or dust. M. Chateaubriand's golden fruit, full of bitter seed, comes the nearest to what is told us of the deceitful apple. If it be any thing more than a fable, it must have been a production peculiar to this part of Palestine, or it would not have excited such general attention. On this account, the oskar and the solanum seem alike unentitled to the distinction; and for the same reason, the pomegranate must altogether be excluded from consideration. The fruit of the solanum melongena, which belongs to the same genus as the common potato, is white, resembling a large egg, and is said to impart an agreeable acid flavour to soups and sauces, for the sake of which it is cultivated in the south of Europe. This could hardly be what Tacitus and Josephus referred to. It is possible, indeed, that what they describe, may have originated, like the oak-galls in this country, in the work of some insect: for these remarkable productions sometimes acquire a considerable size and beauty of colour. Future travellers will be inexcusable if they leave this question undecided. -MODERN TRAVELLER.

The far-famed fruit of the tree of Sodom, "which tempts the eye and turns to ashes on the lips," is nowhere to be found on the western shore; and Burckhardt appears to favour the opinion of its having only an imaginary exist ence: but it does exist in the vicinity of El Ghor. I saw one of the apples at Mar Saba; and, perhaps, the only plant in Egypt producing this fruit I discovered at Koum

Ombos, in Upper Egypt, growing in a corner of the small temple of Isis, facing the Nile; the plant was not quite the height of the Palma Christi, the fruit was the size of the pomegranate; indeed, from the similarity of the fruit and leaves, I consider the Dead Sea apple as a spurious pomegranate. It was, indeed, tempting to the eye, but deceitful to the sense; on opening it, it was quite empty, the surface of the rind having only a light floculent sort of cotton attached to it, which was destroyed by the lightest touch; this was the true Dead Sea apple which I saw in Egypt, and which I also found in Mar Saba; albeit Shaw and Pococke doubt its existence.-MADDEN.

The extreme saltness of this lake, has been ascribed by Volney to mines of fossil salt in the side of the mountains, which extend along the western shore, and from time immemorial have supplied the Arabs in the neighbourhood, and even the city of Jerusalem. He does not attempt to invalidate the credit of the Mosaic narrative; but only insinuates, that these saline depositions were either coeval with the mountains in which they are found, or entered into their original conformation. The extraordinary fruitfulness of the vale of Siddim, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, is asserted by Moses in terms so clear and precise, that the veracity of the sacred writer must be overthrown, before a reasonable doubt can be entertained of the fact. No disproportionate quantity of saline matter, could then have been present, either in the soil or in the surrounding mountains. That it abounded with bitumen, some have inferred from the assertion of Moses, that the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits: where the Hebrew word chemar, which we render slime, others, and particularly the Seventy interpreters, render bitumen. But gophrith, and not chemar, is the word that Moses employs to denote brimstone, in his account of the judgment which overwhelmed the cities of the plain; and by consequence, brimstone is not meant, when chemar is used, but bitumen, a very different substance. Hence the brimstone which now impregnates the soil of the salt sea, and banishes almost every kind of vegetation from its shores, must be regarded, not as an original, but an accidental ingredient, remaining from the destruction of the vale by fire and brimstone from heaven. The same remark applies to the mines of fossil salt, on the surrounding mountains; the saline matter was deposited in the cavities which it now occupies at the same time, else the vale of Siddim, instead of verdant pastures, and abundant harvests, had exhibited the same frightful sterility from the beginning, for which it is so remarkable in modern times. Bitumen, if the Hebrew word chemar denotes that substance, abounds in the richest soils; for in the vale of Shinar, whose soil, by the agreement of all writers, is fertile in the highest degree, the builders of the tower of Babel used it for mortar. The ark of bulrushes in which Moses was embarked on the Nile, was in like manner daubed with bitumen (chemar) and pitch; but the mother of Moses, considering the poverty of her house, cannot be supposed to have procured it from a distance, nor at any great expense: she must therefore have found it in the soil of Egypt, near the Nile, on whose borders she lived. It is therefore reasonable to suppose, that bitumen abounded in Goshen, a region famed for the richness of its pastures. Hence it may be fairly concluded, that the vale of Siddim, before its destruction, in respect of natural fertility, resembled the plain of Shinar, and the land of Egypt along the,Nile. But it is well known, that wherever brimstone and saline matter abound, there sterility and desolation reign. Is it not then reasonable to infer, that the sulphureous and saline matters, discovered in the waters and on the shores of the Asphaltites, are the relics of the divine vengeance executed on the cities of the plain, and not original ingredients in the soil. If we listen to the testimony of the sacred writers, what was reasonable hypothesis rises into absolute certainty. Moses expressly ascribes the brimstone, the salt, and the burning in the overthrow of Sodom, to the immediate vengeance of Heaven; "When they see the plagues of that land, that the whole land is brim tone, and salt, and burning; that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth thereon, (like the over'hrow Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath;) ven all nations shall say, Wherefore has the Lord done hus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great

...

anger?" In this passage, the brimstone, salt, and burning, are mentioned as true and proper effects of the divine wrath; and since this fearful destruction is compared to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, the brimstone and salt into which the vale of Siddim was turned, must also be the true and proper effects of divine anger. This, indeed, Moses asserts in the plainest terms: "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." But since the brimstone and the fire were rained from heaven, so must the salt, with which they are connected in the former quotation and this is the opinion received by the Jewish doctors. The frightful sterility which followed the brimstone, salt, and burning, in the first quotation, is in the same manner represented as an effect of the divine judgment upon the vale of Siddim; "it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth thereon."-PAXTON.

Chateaubriand says: "Several travellers, and, among others, Troilo and d'Arvieux, assert, that they remarked fragments of walls and palaces in the Dead Sea. This statement seems to be confirmed by Maundrell and Father Nau. The ancients speak more positively on this subject. Josephus, employing a poetic expression, says, that he perceived on the banks of the lake, the shades of the overwhelming cities. Strabo gives a circumference of sixty stadia to the ruins of Sodom, which are mentioned also by Tacitus. I know not whether they still exist; but, as the lake rises and falls at certain seasons, it is possible that it may alternately cover and expose the skeletons of the reprobate cities." Mr. Jolliffe mentions the same story. "We have even," he says, " heard it asserted with confidence, that broken columns and other architectural ruins are visible at certain seasons, when the water is much retired below its usual level; but of this statement our informers, when closely pressed, could not adduce any satisfactory confirmation." We are afraid that, notwithstanding the authority of Strabo, we must class this legend with the dreams of imagination; or perhaps its origin may be referred to some such optical delusion as led to the mistake respecting the supposed island. In the travels of Egmont and Heyman, however, there is a statement which may throw some light on the subject. They say: "We also saw here a kind of jutty or prominence, which appears to have been a heap of stones from time to time thrown up by the sea; but it is a current opinion here, that they are part of the ruins of one of the towns which are buried under it." The bare possibility, that any wreck of the guilty cities should be brought to light, is sufficient to excite an intense curiosity to explore this mysterious flood, which, so far as appears from any records, no bark has ever ploughed, no plummet ever sounded. Should permission ever be obtained from the Turks, to launch a vessel on the lake, its navigation, if practicable, would probably lead to some interesting results.-MODERN TRAVELLER.

Ver. 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there: and they that remained fled to the mountain.

People retired to the mountains anciently when defeated in war: they do so still. Dr. Shaw indeed seems to suppose, that there was no greater safety in the hills than in the plains of this country: that there were few or no places of difficult access; and that both of them lay equal. ly exposed to the insults and outrages of an enemy. But in this point this ingenious writer seems to be mistaken; since, as we find that those that remained of the armies of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled to the mountains, in the days of Abraham, Gen. xiv. 10; so d'rvieux tells us, that the rebel peasants of the Holy La, who were defeated while they were in that country by the Arabs, in the plain of Gonin, fled towards the mountains, whither the Arabs could not pursue them at that time So, in like manner, the Archbishop of Tyre tells us, that Baldwin IV. of the croisade kings of Jerusalem, ravaging a place called the valley of Bacar, a country remark ably fruitful, the inhabitants fled to the mountains, whither our troops could not easily follow them. This flying to

hills and mountains for safety, is frequently alluded to in Scripture.-HARMER.

Ver. 14. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

If we should turn our thoughts to the strength of an Arab emir, or the number of men they command, we shall find it is not very great, and that were Abraham now alive, and possessed of the same degree of strength that he had in his time, he would still be considered as a prince among thein, and might, perhaps, even be called a mighty prince, he having three hundred and eighteen servants able to bear arms, Gen. xiv. 14, especially in the Eastern complimental style: for this is much like the strength of those Arab emirs of Palestine d'Arvieux visited. There were, according to him, eighteen emirs or princes that governed the Arabs of Mount Carmel; the grand emir, or chief of these princes, encamped in the middle, the rest round about him, at one or two leagues distance from him, and from each other; each of these emirs had a number of Arabs particularly attached to him, who called themselves his servants, and were properly the troops each emir commanded when they fought; and when all these divisions were united, they made up between four and five thousand fighting men. Had each of these emirs been equal in strength to Abraham, their number of fighting men must have been near six thousand, for three hundred and eighteen, the number of his servants, multiplied by eighteen, the number of those emirs, make five thousand seven hundred and twenty-four; but they were but between four and five thousand, so that they had but about two hundred and fifty each, upon an average. Abraham then was superior

in force to one of these emirs. But though Abraham was a man of power, and did upon occasion make war, yet I hope a remark I before made concerning him will be remembered here, that is, that he was a pacific emir notwithstanding, at least, that he by no means resembled the modern Arabs in their acts of depredation and violence. -HARMER.

Ver. 15. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

The manner in which the Arabs harass the caravans of the East, is described in the same page. Chardin tells os, "that the manner of their making war, and pillaging the caravans, is, to keep by the side of them, or to follow them in the rear, nearer or farther off, according to their forces, which it is very easy to do in Arabia, which is one great plain, and in the night they silently fall upon the camp, and carry off one part of it before the rest are got under arms." He supposes that Abraham fell upon the camp of the four kings, that had carried away Lot, precisely in the same Arab manner, and by that means, with unequal forces, accomplished his design, and rescued Lot. Gen. xiv. 15, he thinks, shows this; and he adds, that it is to be remembered, that the combats of the age of Abraham more resembled a fight among the mob, than the bloody and destructive wars of Europe.-HARMER.

Ver. 17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him.

The conduct of this king, of Abraham, of Lot, of Saul, of the father of the prodigal, and of many others, is beautifully illustrated by the manners of the East, at this day. Not to meet a friend, or an expected guest, would be considered as rude in the extreme. So soon as the host hears of the approach of his visitant, he and his attendants go forth in courtly style; and when they meet him, the host addresses him, "Ah! this is a happy day for me; by your favour I am found in health." He will then, perhaps, put his arm round his waist, or gently tap him on the shoulder, as they proceed towards the house. When at the door, he again makes his bow, and politely ushers him in; and the rest joyfully follow, congratulating each other on the happy mecting -ROBERTS.

Ver. 22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 23. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.

The use of shoes may be traced to the patriarchal age; Abraham protested to the king of Sodom, after his victory over Amraphel and his associates, "I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet." And when the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush, he commanded him to put off his shoes from his feet, for the place on which he stood was holy ground. In imitation of this memorable example, the priests officiated in the temple barefoot; and all the orientals, under the guidance of tradition, put off their shoes when they enter their holy places. The learned Bochart is of opinion, that the Israelites used no shoes in Egypt; but being to take a long journey, through a rough and barren wilderness, God commanded them to eat the passover with shoes on their feet; and those very shoes which they put on at that festival, when they were ready to march, he suffered not to decay during the whole forty years they traversed the desert; and to increase the miracle, Grotius adopts the idle conceit of some Jewish writers, that their clothes enlarged as they grew up to maturity, and their shoes also underwent a similar enlargement. This was not impossible with Jehovah, but it seems to have been quite unnecessary, for the clothes and shoes of those that died, might serve their children when they grew up; and it was suf ficiently wonderful, without such an addition, that their clothes should not decay, nor their shoes wear, nor their feet swell, by travelling over hot and sandy deserts for the long period of forty years. It only remains to be observed, on this part of the subject, that no covering for the foot can exclude the dust in those parched regions; and by consequence, the custom of washing and anointing the feet, which is, perhaps, coeval with the existence of the human race, is not to be ascribed to the use of sandals. Whatever covering for the foot may be used, Chardin declares, it is still necessary to wash and anoint the feet after a journey. It is also the custom everywhere among the Asiatics, to carry a staff in their hand, and a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from their face. The handkerchiefs are wrought with a needle; and to embroider and adorn them, is one of the elegant amusements of the other sex.-PAXTON. To lift up the right hand with the fingers towards heaven is equivalent to an oath. Hence Dr. Boothroyd has rendered the passage, "I swear to Jehovah." To lift up the hand in confirmation of any thing is considered a most sacred way of swearing. In Isaiah lxii. 8. it is written, "The Lord hath sworn by his right hand." It is an interesting fact, that many of the images of the gods of the heathen have the right hand lifted up, which to the understanding of the people, says, "I am God; I am truth; Imyself; I am. Fear not." Does a man make a solemn promise, and should the person to whom it is made express a doubt; he will say, "Lift up your hand;" which means, swear that you will perform it.-ROBERTS.

Ver. 23. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, 1 have made Abram rich.

This may refer to the red thread worn round the neck or the arm, and which binds on the anlet; or the string with which females tie up their hair. The latchet I suppose to mean the thong of the sandal, which goes over the top of the foot, and betwixt the great and little toes. It is proverbial to say, should a man be accused of taking away some valuable article, which belongs to another, "I have not taken away even a piece of the thong of your worn-out sandals."-ROBERTS.

CHAP. 15. ver. 3. And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born ir my house is mine heir

Though the slaves in the oriental regions were treated with more severity than hired servants, their condition was by no means reckoned so degrading as in modern times, among the civilized nations of the west. The slavemaster in the East, when he has no son to inherit his wealth, and even when the fortune he has to bequeath is very considerable, frequently gives his daughter to one of his slaves. The wealthy people of Barbary, when they have no children, purchase young slaves, educate them in their own faith, and sometimes adopt them for their own children. This custom, so strange and unnatural, according to our modes of thinking, may be traced to a very remote antiquity; it seems to have prevailed so early as the days of Abraham, who says of one of his slaves, "One born in mine house is mine heir:" although Lot, his brother's son, resided in his neighbourhood, and he had besides many relations in Mesopotamia. In the courts of eastern monarchs, it is well known, that slaves frequently rise to the highest honours of the state. The greatest men in the Turkish empire are originally slaves, reared and educated in the seraglio. When Maillet was in Egypt, there was a eunuch who had raised three of his slaves to the rank of princes; and he mentions a Bey who exalted five or six of his slaves to the same office with himself. With these facts before us, we have no reason to question the veracity of the inspired writers, who record the extraordinary advancement of Joseph in the house of Pharaoh, and of Daniel, under the monarch of Babylon. These sudden elevations, from the lowest stations in society, from the abject condition of a slave, or the horrors of a dungeon, to the highest and most honourable offices of state, are quite consistent with the established manners and customs of those countries.-PAXTON.

Ver. 17. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

Several eminent critics believe the lamp of fire was an emblem of the Divine presence, and that it ratified the covenant with Abram. It is an interesting fact that the burning lamp or fire is still used in the East in confirmation of a covenant. Should a person in the evening make a solemn promise to perform something for another, and should the fatter doubt his word, the former will say, pointing to the fame of the lamp, "That is the witness.' On occasions of greater importance, when two or more join in a covenant, should the fidelity of any be questioned, they will say, "We invoke the lamp of the Temple" (as a witness.) When an agreement of this kind has been broken, it will be said, "Who would have thought this? for the lamp of the Temple was invoked." That fire was a symbol of the Divine presence, no one acquainted with the sacred scriptures can deny; and in the literature and customs of the East, the same thing is still asserted. In the ancient writings, where the marriages of the gods and demigods are described, it is always said the ceremony was performed in the presence of the god of fire. He was the witness. But it is also a general practice, at the celebration of respectable marriages at this day, to have a fire as a witness of the transaction. It is made of the wood of the Mango-tree, or the Aal or Arasu, or Panne or Palasu. The fire being kindled in the centre of the room, the young couple sit on stools; but when the Brahmin begins to repeat the incantutions, they arise, and the bridegroom puts the little finger of his left hand round the little finger of the right hand of the bride, and they walk round the fire three times from left to right. "Fire is the witness of their covenant; and if they break it, fire will be their destruction." In the Scanda Purana, the father of the virgin who was to be married to the son of the Rishi, said to him, "Call your son, that I may give him to my daughter in the presence of the god of fire, that he may be the witness;" that being done, "Usteyar gave his daughter Verunte in marriage, the fire being the witness."-ROBERTS.

CHAP. 16. ver 2. I prav thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by

her.

The Hebrew has, "Be builded by her." When a wife has been for some time considered steril. should she have

a child, she is said to be making her house new, or rather, she has caused the house to be newly built. When a man marries, "he is making a new house."—ROBERTS.

Ver. 12. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him: and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

The phrase, "a wild man," it is well known, is in the original text, "a wild ass man," that is, a man like a wild ass in temper and manners. The comparison seems to refer, first to Ishmael himself, and to intimate certain leading traits in his character; and then to his offspring in every succeeding age. The troops of onagers, are conducted by a leading stallion, that prefers the most arid deserts of the mountains, keeps watch while his companions repose, and gives the signal at the appearance of an enemy. The Nomades of Asia report of these animals, that the first of a troop which sees a serpent or a beast of prey, makes a certain cry, which brings, in a moment, the whole herd around him, when each of them strives to destroy it instantly. Such were the character and manners of Ishmael. He was the first prince of his family, the founder of a powerful nation, of a rough, wild, and untractable disposition. Nor was this all: ambitious of supreme authority, he loved to place himself at the head of his rising community, to regulate its affairs, and direct its operations; and, like the high-spirited leader of the onagers, he could brook no rival. He discovered his ruling passion, when he was but a stripling in the house of his father. Determined to maintain his prerogatives as the elder son, and provoked to see a younger, and a child of a different mother, preferred before him, he gave vent to his indignation, by deriding his brother, and the feast which was made on his account. Expelled for his imprudence from his father's house, he made choice of the sandy desert for his permanent residence, and required the heads of all the families around him, either to acknowledge his supremacy, and treat him with the highest respect, or be driven from his station and neighbourhood. Wherever he pitched his tent, he expected, according to a custom of great antiquity, all the tents to be turned with their faces towards it, in token of submission; that the band might have their eye always upon their master's lodging, and be in readiness to assist him if he were attacked. In this manner did Ishmael dwell "in the presence,"-" before," (y) or, "over against the faces of all his brethren." But the prediction embraced also the character and circumstances of his descendants. The manners and customs of the Arabians, except in the article of religion, have suffered almost no alteration, during the long period of three thousand years. They have occupied the same country, and followed the same mode of life. from the days of their great ancestor, down to the presen separate them from all the surrounding nations, as rude, and times, and range the wide extent of burning sands which savage, and untractable as the wild ass himself. Claiming the barren plains of Arabia, as the patrimonial domain. assigned by God to the founder of their nation, they consider themselves entitled to seize, and appropriate to their own use, whatever they can find there. Impatient of restraint, and jealous of their liberty, they form no connexion with the neighbouring states; they admit of little or no friendly intercourse, but live in a state of continua hostility with the rest of the world. The tent is their dwelling, and the circular camp their city; the spontane ous produce of the soil, to which they sometimes add a little patch of corn, furnishes them with means of subsist ence, amply sufficient for their moderate desires; and the liberty of ranging at pleasure their interminable wilds. fully compensates in their opinion for the want of all othe accommodations. Mounted on their favourite horses, they scour the waste in search of plunder, with a velocity surpassed only by the wild ass. They levy contributions on every person that happens to fall in their way; and frequently rob their own countrymen, with as little ceremony as they do a stranger or an enemy; their hand is stil. against every man, and every man's hand against them. But they do no always confine their predatory excursions to the desert. When booty is scarce at home, they make incursions into the territories of their neighbours, and having robbed the solitary traveller, or plundered 'he caravan.