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and cultivated mind, is said to be full of points. He is well sharpened."-ROBERTS.

Ver. 8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

I look upon the words in Deut. vi. 8, as not properly a law, but an admonition; because they merely occur in an harangue which Moses addressed to the people. The Orientals make great use of amulets;-a subject on which I cannot here expatiate, but of which I generally treat under Art. 26, of my Hebrew Antiquities. These amulets consist sometimes of jewels and other ornaments, and sometimes of certain sentences, or unintelligible lines, and Abracadabra, written on billets, or embroidered on pieces of linen. Some such things the Israelites, in those days, seem to have worn on their foreheads, and on their hands; and the Mohammedans do so still. For how often do we find on their breasts a passage from the Koran, which is said to make them invulnerable, or rather actually does so; for this I know for certain, that no Turk, wearing any such billet, was ever yet slain or wounded in battle, excepting in the single case (which, indeed, they themselves except) of his death-hour being come, according to the decree of God. It would appear, that with regard to these embroidered phylacteries, the Israelites, in the days of Moses, did not entertain such superstitions ideas, (else would he probably have forbidden them,) but only wore them as ornaments, and for fashion's sake. As Moses, therefore, wished to exhort the Israelites to maintain the remembrance of his laws in every possible way, and, in a particular manner, to impress it on the hearts of their children, he suggested to them a variety of expedients for the purpose; and this among others, that if they chose to wear any embroidered ornament on the hand or forehead, it should not consist of any thing useless, and still less of any superstitious nonsense, but rather of sentences out of the laws, which their children would thus be in the way of learning. If, however, the fashion changed, and embroidery was no more worn, the Israelites were no longer bound to wear embroidered linen, or billets inscribed with sentences from the Mosaic law; and that the Jews, during the time of prayer, still use them under the name of Thefillin, proceeds from a misconception of the statute in question. A further detail on this subject, with the proofs that the words of Moses in this passage are not to be understood as only figurative, I cannot here give: but I give it, as I have said, in my Hebrew Antiquities. To most of the readers of the present work, who may be desirous of having a philosophical glance at the ancient laws of mankind, researches merely antiquarian would not afford much gratification.-MICHAELIS.

every child, such measures would be quite superfiuous; but if we would enter into the ideas of Moses, we must place ourselves in an age, when the book of the law could only come into the hands of a few opulent people.-MI

CHAELIS.

CHAPTER VII

Ver. 20. Moreover, the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

To the people of England this may appear a puerile way of punishing men, but they should recollect that the natives of the East wear scarcely any clothes, having, generally speaking, only a piece of cloth round their loins. They are, therefore, much more exposed than we are to the sting of insects. The sting of the hornet and wasp of those regions is much more poisonous than in Europe, and the insect is larger in size. I have heard of several who died from having a single sting; and not many days ago, as a woman was going to the well "to draw water," a hornet stung her in the cheek, and she died the next day. I have many times seen the hornet attack and kill the tarantula. Under large verandahs the former may be seen flying near the roof, searching in every direction for his foe, and never will he leave them, till he has accomplished his destruction. Sometimes they both fall from the roof together, when the hornet may be seen thrusting his sting most furiously in the tarantula, and it is surprising to see with what dexterity the former eludes the bite of the latter. The people often curse each other by saying, UnsuttarAniverum-Kullive Kuttam, i. e. "May all around thee be stung by the hornet!" (meaning the person and his relations.) The toddy drawers use this imprecation more than other people, because the hornet's nest is generally found in the top of the palmirah or cocoa-nut tree, whence they procure the toddy. When they ascend, their hands and feet being engaged, they cannot defend themselves against their attacks. The god Siva is described as having destroyed many giants by hornets.-ROBERTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

Ver. 7. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills.

The account which has been now given of the soil and productions of Canaan, will enable the reader to perceive with greater clearness, the force and justice of the prom-ise made by Moses to his nation, a little before he died: "The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of

Ver. 9. And thou shalt write them upon the posts valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines, and of thy house, and on thy gates.

The observation made in the beginning of the preceding article is equally applicable to the subject of the present

one.

The words of Moses in Deut. vi. 9, immediately following those just illustrated, are in like manner to be understood, not as a positive injunction, but as an exhortation to inscribe his laws on the door-posts of their houses. In Syria and the adjacent countries, it is usual at this day to place inscriptions above the doors of the houses, not, as the vulgar among us do, in doggerel rhyme, but consisting of passages from the Koran, or from the best poets; and some of them, that are quoted in books of travels, are truly elegant. This must now be a very ancient practice, as it existed in the time of Moses. For when he exhorts the Israelites to take every opportunity in inculcating his laws on their children, we find him suggesting to them this as one means of doing so; "Write them on the doors of your houses, and on the gates of your cities." In these words we have not properly a statute; for if the Israelite did not choose to have an inscription over his door, he had no occasion to make one; but they are merely introduced in an exhortatory discourse to the people, as furnishing an instance of the means which they might take, to impress the laws upon the minds of their posterity in their earliest years. Among us, where, by the aid of printing, books are so abundantly multiplied, and may be put into the hands of

fig-trees, and pomegranates, a land of oil olive, and honey." If to the natural fertility of this highly-favoured country be added, the manner in which it was divided among the tribes of Israel, it will furnish an easy and satisfactory answer to the question which the infidel has often put: "How could so small a country as Canaan maintain so immense a population, as we find in the writings of the Old Testament ?" That rich and fertile region was divided into small inheritances, on which the respective proprietors lived and reared their families. Necessity, not less than a spirit of industry, required that no part of the surface capable of cultivation should be suffered to lie waste. The husbandman carried his improvements up the sides of the steepest and most rugged mountains, to the very top; he converted every patch of earth into a vineyard, or olive plantation; he covered the bare rocks with soil, and thus turned them into fruitful fields; where the steep was too great to admit of an inclined plane, he cut away the face of the precipice, and built walls around the mountain to support the earth, and planted his terraces with the vine and the olive. These circles of excellent soil were seen rising gradually from the bottom to the top of the mountains, where the vine and the olive, shading the intermediate rocks with the liveliest verdure, and bending under the load of their valuable produce, amply rewarded the toils of the cultivator. The remains of those hanging gardens, those terrace plantations, after the lapse of so many centuries, the revolutions of empire, and the long de

cline of industry among the miserable slaves that now occupy that once highly-favoured land, may still be distinctly traced on the hills and mountains of Judea. Every spot of ground was in this manner brought into a state of cultivation; every particle of soil was rendered productive; and by turning a stream of water into every field where it was practicable, and leading the little rills into which they divide it, to every plantation, every tree, and every plant, they secured, for the most part, a constant succession of crops. "Thus much is certain," says Volney, " and it is the advantage of hot over cold countries, that in the former, wherever there is water, vegetation may be perpetually maintained, and made to produce an uninterrupted succession of fruits to flowers, and flowers to fruits. In cold, nay even in temperate climates, on the contrary, nature, benumbed for several months, loses in a steril slumber the third part, or even half the year. The soil which has produced grain, has not time before the decline of summer heat to mature vegetables; a second crop is not to be expected; and the husbandman sees himself condemned to a long and fatal repose. Syria is exempt from these inconveniences; if, therefore, it so happens, that its productions are not such as its natural advantages would lead us to expect, it is less owing to its physical than to its political slate."-PAXTON.

Ver. 8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oilolive, and honey.

If Palestine were now cultivated and inhabited as much as it was formerly, it would not be inferior in fertility and agreeableness to any other country. The situation and nature of the country favour agriculture, and amply reward the farmer. Between the 31st and 32d degrees of north latitude, it is sheltered towards the south by lofty mountains, which separate it from the sandy deserts of Arabia; breezes from the Mediterranean cool it from the west side; the high Mount Lebanon keeps off the north wind, and Mount Hermon the northeast. Mountains which decline into hills, are favourable for the cultivation of the vine and olive, and the breeding of cattle; the plains and valleys are watered by innumerable streams. The fame of the fertility of Palestine, and its former riches in corn, wine, and dates, is even immortalized by ancient coins which are still in existence. But since the land has been several times devastated, greatly depopulated, and come under the Turkish dominion, and the Arab tribes, who rove about it, not only make it insecure for natives and strangers, but also have continual feuds among each other, agriculture has decreased, and the country has acquired its present desert appearance, particularly near the roads; but the traces of its original fertility and beauty are not even now wholly obliterated. As a proof, we may adduce the following passage from D'Arvieux. "We left the road to avoid the Arabs, whom it is always disagreeable to meet with, and reached, by a side path, the summit of a mountain, where we found a beautiful plain. It must be confessed, that if one could live secure in this country, it would be the most agreeable residence in the world, partly on account of the pleasing diversity of mountains and valleys, partly on account of the salubrious air which we breathe there, and which is at all times filled with balsamic odours from the wild flowers of these valleys, and from the aromatic herbs on the hills. Most of the mountains are dry and arid, and more rock than mould adapted for cultivation; but the industry of its old inhabitants had triumphed over the defects of the soil. They had hewn these rocks from the foot to the summit into terraces, carried mould there, as on the coast of Genoa, planted on them the fig, olive, and vine; sowed corn and all kinds of pulse, which, favoured by the usual spring and autumnal rains, by the dew which never fails, by the warmth of the sun and the mild climate, produced the finest fruit, and most excellent corn. Here and there you still see such terraces, which the Arabs, who live in the neighbouring villages, keep up, and cultivate with industry. We then came through a valley about six hundred feet long; and, to judge from the fineness and fresh verdure of the grass, it appeared to be an excellent pasture; at the end of which we found a deeper, longer, broader, and by far more agreeable valley than the former, in which the soil was so rich and fer

tile, and so covered with plants and fruit-trees, that it seemed to be a garden cultivated by art." Remains of the practice of making terraces on the hills for the purpose of cultivation, were also found by Maundrell, as he states in the account of his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem. The produce of Palestine is still considerable, not only serving for the supply of the inhabitants, but also affording an overplus for exportation. Corn and pulse are excellent in their kind, and much corn is annually sent from Jaffa to Constantinople. Though the Mohammedan religion does not favour the cultivation of the vine, there is no want of vineyards in Palestine. Besides the large quantities of grapes and raisins which are daily sent to the markets of Jerusalem and other neighbouring places, Hebron alone, in the first half of the eighteenth century, annually sent three hundred camel loads, that is, nearly three hundred thousand weight of grape-juice or honey of raisins to Egypt. The cotton which is grown on the plains of Ramle and Esdraelon, is superior to the Syrian, and is exported partly raw and partly spun. Numerous herds of oxen and sheep graze on the verdant hills of Galilee, and on the well-watered pastures of the northern valley of the Jordan. Countless swarms of wild bees collect honey in the trees and clefts of the rock; and it is still literally true that Palestine abounds in milk and honey.-ROSENMULLER.

It is, I think, highly probable, that in the time of the most remote antiquity, pomegranate juice was used, in those countries where lemon juice is now used, with their meat, and in their drinks, and that it was not till afterward, that lemons came among them: I know not how else to account for the mention of pomegranates in describing the fruitfulness of the Holy Land, Deut. viii. 7,8; Numb. xx. 5. They would not now, I think, occur in such descriptions: the juice of lemons and oranges have, at present, almost superseded the use of that of pomegranates. Sir John Chardin supposes that this pomegranate wine means, wine made of that fruit; which he informs us is made use of in considerable quantities, in several places of the East, and particularly in Persia: his words are, On fait, en diverses parts de l'Orient, du vin de grenade, nommé roubnar, qu'on transporte par tout. Il y en a sur tout en Perse. My reader must determine for himself, whether pomegranate wine, or wine commonly so called mixed with pomegranate juice, was most probably meant here. The making the first of these was a fact unknown to me, till I saw this manuscript, I confess, though it seems it is made in such large quantities as to be transported.-HARMER.

Hasselquist, in the progress of his journey from Acre to Nazareth, tells us, that he found "great numbers of bees, bred thereabouts, to the great advantage of the inhabitants. They make their bee-hives, with little trouble, of clay, four feet long, and half a foot in diameter, as in Egypt. They lay ten or twelve of them, one on another, on the bare ground, and build over every ten a little roof." Mr. Maundrell, (observing also many bees in the Holy Land,) takes notice," that by their means the most barren places of that country in other respects became useful, perceiving in many places of the great salt-plain near Jericho, a smell of honey and wax, as strong as if he had been in an apiary." Hasselquist also tells us, that he ate olives at Joppa, (upon his first arrival in the Holy Land,) which were said to grow on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem; and that, independent of their oiliness, they were of the best kind he had tasted in the Levant. As olives are frequently eaten in their repasts, the delicacy of this fruit in Judea ought not to be forgotten; the oil that is gotten from these trees much less, because still more often made use of. In the progress of his journey, he found several fine vales abounding with olive-trees. He saw also olive-trees in Galilee, but none farther, he says, than the mountain where it is supposed our Lord preached his sermon.-ROSENMULLER.

Ver. 9. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

Iron is the only mineral which abounds in these mountains, (Lebanon,) and is found in those of Kesraouan, and of the Druzes, in great abundance. Every summer the inhabitants work those mines, which are simply ochreous.

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quantity he dashes the water plentifully with his foot!ROBERTS.

Report says, there was anciently a copper-mine near Aleppo, which Volney thinks must have been long since abandoned he was also informed by the Druzes, that in the declivity of the hill formerly mentioned, a mineral was discovered which produced both lead and silver; but as such a discovery would have proved the ruin of the whole district, by attracting the attention of the Turks, they quick-rills) require to be refreshed, they strike out the plugs that ly destroyed every vestige of it. These statements establish the accuracy of Moses, in the account which he gave his nation of the promised inheritance: "A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou mayest dig brass." A different temperature prevails in different parts of these mountains; hence, the expression of the Arabian poets, That Lebanon bears winter on his head, spring upon his shoulders, and autumn in his bosom, while summer lies sleeping at his feet.-PAXTON.

Ver. 15. Who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought; where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint.

The sacred historian gives here a most accurate and luminous description of an African desert. It is not only descriptive of that desert at the north end of Africa, in which the Israelites sojourned for forty years, but equally so of those at the southern end, on its western side, the greater part of which, for about two thousand miles along the coast, is covered with deep sand. A desert is great when it is extensive; and such a desert may be called terrible, from the anxiety, dread, or fear, which it causes to the persons travelling in it, from what they experience, and from their doubts as to the result. He comes to pools, but he finds that they are like broken cisterns, which, though they once contained water, contain none now; it has sunk into the ground. He observes two rows of trees and bushes at a distance, which raises hope in his mind, expecting there to find a river. He hastens to the spot; but on reaching the banks, he finds the stream is dried up, not a drop of water is visible, for it only runs after rains. He then digs a few feet under the surface in the bed or channel of the river, in hopes of reaching some remnant of its waters, but finds his labour is fruitless; the water has either sunk beyond his reach, or has been exhaled into the heavens. He has no expectation of relief from a shower falling that evening, or week, or month, for it is a land of DROUGHT, as no rain has fallen for the preceding six, twelve, or eighteen months. Would it be surprising to hear the traveller's assistants express themselves thus-" This is indeed a great and terrible wilderness, a land of drought, where no water is!" There were also fiery serpents, and scorpions. It is believed in Africa that the most poisonous serpents were in the most arid parts, and where the heat was greatest. In such parts I uniformly found the scorpions most numerous. The knowledge of this being the case might render the wilderness through which the Israelites travelled, more terrible to them.-AFRICAN LIGHT.

CHAPTER XI.

Ver. 10. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.

To water a large garden requires three men, one of whom stands on a lever near the well, (which has a rope and a bucket attached to it ;) on this he moves backward or forward, as the bucket has to ascend or descend. Another person stands on the ground near the well, to pour the water into a basin. From this a channel, of about eight inches deep and nine broad, runs through the garden; and connected with it are smaller water-courses, which go to the different beds and shrubs. The business of the third person, then, is to convey the water to its destined place, which he does by stopping the mouth of each course (where sufficient water has been directed) with a little earth; so that it flows on to the next course, till the whole be watered.

On those herbs or shrubs which require an extra

The custom of watering with the foot, Dr. Shaw thus explains, from the present practice of the Egyptians: When their various sorts of pulse, safranon, musca, melons, sugar-canes, &c. (all of which are commonly planted in are fixed in the bottoms of the cisterns, [wherein they preserve the water of the Nile,] and then the water gushing out is conducted from one rill to another by the gardener, who is always ready as occasion requires, to stop and divert the torrent, by turning the earth against it with his foot, and opening at the same time, with his mattock, a new trench to receive it. This method of conveying moisture and nourishment to a land rarely or never refreshed with rain, is often alluded to in the holy scriptures; where also it is made the distinguishing quality betwixt Egypt and the land of Canaan, Deut. xi. 10, 11." Mr. Parkhurst is inclined to adopt another interpretation of the expression, watering with the foot. He says, "it seems more probable that Moses alluded to drawing up water with a machine which was worked by the foot. Such a one, Grotius long ago observed, that Philo, who lived in Egypt, has described as used by the peasants of that country in his time; and the ingenious and accurate Niebuhr, has lately given us a representation of a machine which the Egyptians make use of for watering the lands, and probably the same, says he, that Moses speaks of. They call it sakki tdir beridsjel, or an hydraulic machine worked by the feet."-BURDER.

In the gardens in Africa, into which they can lead water for irrigation, they have small trenches between each row of plants, made by a rake or hoe. The water being led into the first trench, runs along it until it reaches the other end, when a slave, WITH HIS FOOT, removes any mould which might have slid into the little trench, that it may have a free unobstructed course; then again clearing a way for it with his foot round the end of the second row of plants, the water freely runs into the next trench; and in this way I have seen a slave lead the little stream from one trench to another, zigzag, over the whole garden; which is much easier done with the foot than by stooping down and doing it with the hands. The first time I witnessed this operation, it cleared up, to my satisfaction, the meaning of the above text.-AFRICAN LIGHT.

Sometimes the drought of summer renders frequent waterings necessary even in Judea. On such occasions, the water is drawn up from the wells by oxen, and carried by the inhabitants in earthen jars, to refrigerate their plantations on the sides of the hills. The necessity to which the Jewish husbandman is occasionally reduced, to water his grounds in this manner, is not inconsistent with the words of Moses, which distinguish the Holy Land from Egypt, by its drinking rain from heaven, while the latter is watered by the foot. The inspired prophet alludes, in that passage, not to gardens of herbs, or other cultivated spots on the steep declivities of the hills and mountains, where, in so warm a climate as that of Canaan, the deficiency of rain must be supplied by art, but to their corn-fields; which, in Egypt, are watered by artificial canals, in the manner just described; in Canaan, by the rain of heaven. The lands of Egypt, it must be granted, are supplied with water by the overflowing of the Nile, and are so saturated with moisture, that they require no more watering for the producing of corn, and several other vegetables; while the gardens require fresh supplies every three or four days. But then it is to be remembered, that immense labour was requisite to conduct the waters of the river to many of their lands; and those works of the ancient kings of Egypt, by which they distributed the streams of the Nile through their whole country, are celebrated by Maillet, as the most magnificent and the most admirable of their undertakings; and those labours which they caused their subjects to undergo, doubtless were designed to prevent much heavier, to which they must otherwise have submitted. The words of Moses, addressed to the people of Israel, probably contained a significancy and force of which we can form but a very imperfect idea, and which has not of late been at all understood. Maillet was assured, that the large canal which filled the cisterns of Alexandria, and is at least fifteen leagues long, was entirely paved, and its sides were lined with brick, which were as perfect as in the days of the Romans. If bricks were used in the construction of

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