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one perhaps, oval-way, like a gate, another triangular, or like N or M, &c.; so that every one knows by them his respective company. They are carried in the front, and set up in the place where the caravan is to pitch, before that comes up, at some distance from one another. They are also carried by day, not lighted but yet, by the figure and number of them, the pilgrims are directed to what company they belong, and without such directions it would be impossible to preserve order."

Here we find the same arrangement as among the Israelites; and as they also travelled by night, their standards were probably of the same sort as those here described, which would serve them alike day or night.

The traveller before alluded to gives us further particulars regarding the Mecca caravan. "Every morning," he says, "they pitch their tents, and rest several

....

hours. When the camels are unloaded, the owners drive them to water, and give them their provender. As soon as our tents were pitched, my business was to make a little fire, and get a pot of coffee." . . . . We "lay down to sleep. Between eleven and twelve we boiled something for dinner, and, having dined, lay down again till about four, when the trumpet was sounded, which gave notice to every one to take down their tents, pack up their things, and load their camels, in order to proceed in their journey."

Thus we see that more than three thousand years have made no alteration in the signal used for decamping. The pilgrims to Mecca, and the Israelites of old, both moved at the sound of the trumpet.

The night is the chief time for performing these journeys, on account of the heat by day. But sometimes the mornings are cold before the sun is up, and likewise in the day there are often refreshing breezes.

God, therefore, most mercifully directed the march of his people according to the season or the temperature of the air; for sometimes he took up the cloud in the morning, and sometimes at night, as best might suit

their comfort; for "He knew whereof they were made, and he remembered that they were but dust.”—PITT'S Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mahommedans; HARMER's Observations, vol. ii., pp. 265, 268, 272, 273.

ARAB STAFFS.

"Several of our Arabs, and others whom we saw, carried in their hands a small stick or staff about three feet long, having a crook at the top, with an oblong head parallel to the staff, and cut in a peculiar form. This is only worth mentioning, as presenting a remarkable instance of the permanency of Oriental customs; for this very stick, precisely in the same form, appears in the hands of figures sculptured on the walls of the Theban temples."-ROBINSON's Researches, vol. i. p. 93.

It was probably with this kind of staff that Moses was armed, when he slew the Egyptian in the desert. (Exodus ii.)

RUNNERS, OR POSTS.

JOB ix, 25.

"My days are swifter than a post."

The common pace of travelling in these countries is very slow. In the country of Job, a camel would travel at little more than two miles an hour; for these animals perpetually nibble everything they find proper for food as they pass along. But those who carried messages in haste, moved very differently, and their haste appeared the greater by contrast. The runners, or posts, as we translate the word, sometimes ride dromedaries-a remarkably swift sort of camel, which outruns the swiftest horses. Even the runners on foot move with great speed in Barbary. With what energy, then, might Job say, "My days are swifter than a post ;" instead of moving slowly, like a caravan, they have disappeared with the

swiftness of a messenger mounted on a dromedary.— HARMER'S Observations, vol. ii. pp. 196, 197.

The Persian messengers travel with a velocity which nothing human can equal. It is thus accomplished :As many days as are required to go from one place to another, so many men and horses are regularly stationed along the road, allowing a man and a horse for each day : neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness, are permitted to obstruct their speed. The first messenger delivers his business to the second, the second to the third, &c.-HERODOTUS, bk. viii., ch. xcviii.

The regularity and swiftness of the Roman posts were admirable. Gibbon writes :-" The advantage of receiving the earliest intelligence, and of conveying their orders with celerity, induced the emperors to establish throughout their extensive dominions the regular institutions of posts. Houses were everywhere erected at the distance only of five or six miles; each of them was constantly provided with forty horses; and, by the help of these relays, it was easy to travel a hundred miles in a day along the Roman roads." In the time of Theodosius, Cesarius, a magistrate of high rank, went post from Antioch to Constantinople. He began his journey at night-was in Cappadocia (one hundred and sixty-five miles from Antioch) the ensuing evening, and arrived at Constantinople the sixth day about noon. The whole distance was seven hundred and twenty-five Roman, or six hundred and sixty-five English miles.

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

CUSTOM OF WOMEN DRAWING WATER- APPARATUS USED AT WELLS-WATERING FLOCKS-STOPPING UP WELLS-DISPUTES AT WELLS-WATER-CARRIERS-OFFERING WATER TO TRA

VELLERS.

CUSTOM OF WOMEN DRAWING WATER.

GENESIS xxi. 14.

"And Abraham...took...a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder."

GENESIS Xxiv. 11. 15—20.

"And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.... And, behold, Rebekah came out...with her pitcher upon her shoulder...and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels."

xxix. 2, 3, 7-10.

"And (Jacob) looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.... And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep. And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she kept them. And... when Jacob saw Rachel...(he) went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock."

CANT. iv. 12.

"A spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

The spring which supplies the celebrated fountains of Solomon is shut up, or secured.

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