cording to their exposition, which every day eats up all the grass on a thousand hills. If it be inquired whether he must not long ago have devoured the grass upon all the hills in the world, they have precluded this supposition, by stating, that he always remains in the same place, and that the pasture which he eats down is immediately reproduced; the growth of each night being equal to the consumption of the preceding day. This enormous animal swallows at one draught, one rabbi says, as much water as the Jordan yields in the course of six months; another affirms, double that quantity and another rabbi asserts, that he drinks of a river which runs out of Eden, and is called Juval.*

LEVIATHAN, according to the rabbies; is the name of a species of fish. They say that two were created at the beginning, male and female, of such stupendous size and strength, that if they had been suffered to multiply, they would soon have destroyed the world; that the Creator therefore immediately rendered the male incapable of propagating his kind, and slew the female, which he laid up in salt for the feast of the Messiah in the latter days. Of the size attributed to this creature, some notion may be acquired from the language of the Talmud. Rabbi Siphra says: Once when 'I was in a ship, we saw a certain fish, which

*Talmud. Cod. Bava Bathra, cap. v. apud Huls, Theol. Jud. P. 230, 231. Bava Bathra, p. 74. c. 2. et Vajikra Rabba, p. 191. c. I. apud Bartoloc. Bib. Rab. tom. i. p. 517, 518. Bava Bathra, Vajikrá Rabba, and Menachem Recanat. on Pentateuch, cit. in Stehelin, vol. i. p. 97-99.

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lifted up his head above the waters, and had 'horns with this inscription on them; I am the 'least of the creatures that are in the sea: and it was three hundred leagues in extent, and was 'swallowed by the Leviathan.' A grave commentator on the Talmud says, that this fish served Leviathan for food for one day.' The Talmud also describes a rabbi to have been terrified by the appearance of a light in the sea, like the brightness of the sun; which, according to another rabbi, proceeded from the eyes of Leviathan.*

BAR JUCHNE is a rabbinical bird, not inferior to Behemoth or Leviathan. Some faint conjectures of its tremendous magnitude may be formed from the following account. One of the most eminent rabbies says, that when she extends her wings, she causes a total eclipse of the sun. The Talmud declares, that one of her eggs once fell out of her nest, and broke down three hundred cedars, and inundated sixty villages:T

The person who can believe the foregoing relations and descriptions, will find no difficulty in crediting the following statement given in the same part of the Talmud. Rabba, grandson of Channa, 'said: I once saw a frog as large as the village of 'Akra in Hagronia. But how large was that village? It contained sixty houses. There came a

* Talmud. Cod. Bava Bathra, cap. v. p. 74. apud Huls. Theol. Jud. p. 230, 231. et apud Bartoloc. Bib. Rab. tom. i. p 510, 511. + R. David Kimchi, in Psalm. 1. apud Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. cap. 1. p. 737.

Talmud. Cod. Bechoroth, cap. ix. p. 57. apud Bartoloc. Bib. Rab. tom. i. p. 520. Huls. Theol. Jud. p. 232, 233.

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huge serpent, which swallowed the frog. But 'after that came a raven, which devoured the serpent together with the frog, as easily as a fox eats up a pear; and then flew off and perched upon the nearest tree.-Rabbi Pappa, the son of Samuel, answered, If I had not seen it myself, 'I should not have believed it.'*

It would seem that some of the rabbies have been unwilling to acknowledge the abject circumstances, to which their nation has been reduced ever since the destruction of the second temple, to be the universal condition of the sons of Jacob. Benjamin, a rabbi of Tudela in Spain, who lived in the twelfth century, and travelled into various countries to visit his brethren, asserted the existence of powerful states in some parts of Asia, consisting respectively of different tribes of Israel, under the dominion of their own princes, and governed by their own laws. Similar accounts have been given, by other rabbinical writers, of national establishments of Jews in Asia, Africa, and America. It cannot be necessary to go into a refutation of these fables: nor is it my design to detail them at length. An extract or two will enable the reader to appreciate the whole.

'In that country,' namely, a country inhabited by Jews, governed by a prince named Solomon of 'the lineage of David, are fifty cities, two hundred villages, and one hundred castles. The capital city, called Thenai, is very strong. They sow ' and reap therein, because it is fifteen miles long

* Bava Bathra, cap. v. p. 73. apud Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. cap. I. p. 797.

and broad and there is the palace of Solomon. It is also very beautiful: there are gardens and 'orchards in it. Tilima is also a large city, in 'which dwell near a hundred thousand Jews.Tilima is three days' journey from Kibar: and 'the people say, they are the tribes of Reuben and 'Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh: who were 'made captives by Salmaneser, king of Assyria. They went thither, and built large and strong 'cities. They wage war with all the kingdoms ' about them; and none can come near them,, 'because of eighteen days' travel in a desert entirely uninhabited. The city of Kibar also is very large, and the Israelites who dwell there are 'computed to be fifty thousand.-The mountains ' of Nisbon lie near the river Gosan: and there 'sojourn in Persia people that come from thence, 'who are Israelites, and who report that on the 'mountains of Nisbon are four tribes of Israel,

Dan, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali.—They are 'not in subjection to the Gentiles; but there is a prince set over them whose name is rabbi Joseph Immarkela, the Levite.' This country is said to be on the borders of India.'*

Another rabbinical geographer places some of these tribes in a different part of the world. Those four tribes, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, have fixed themselves in the ancient 'Chavila;-and they have laid their hands on the necks of their enemies. Every year they wage 'war with seven kingdoms of seven different lan

-* Benjamin. Tudelens. Itinerar. cit. in Stehelin, vol. ii. p. 142–144.

guages, which are beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. -These tribes have gold, silver, and precious stones, sheep and oxen, camels and asses in 'abundance. They sow and reap, and dwell in 'tents; they travel and encamp in various places, 'their encampment extending four days' journey each way: nor do they pitch their tents in any place, except where there are fruits, pastures, ' and vines. The name of their king is Uzziel the son of Malchiel: and their great prince is Nikoli, ' of the children of Oliab. The name of their 'judge is Abdan, the son of Mishael, of the tribe ' of Asher.-The tribe of Issachar dwells in the mountains near the sea, at the extremity of the country of the Medes and Persians.-They are in subjection to no king, but God.-They have a 'judge and prince, whose name is Naashon.They speak Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian.'Near them are the children of Zebulun, who pitch their tents on the mountains of Paran.—— 'Over against them, at the back of the mountains of Paran, is the tribe of Reuben.-The tribe of Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh are in 'the southern mountains.-The tribe of Simeon and half of the tribe of Judah are in the country of the Cuzarim; and their numbers are beyond 'all computation: they receive tribute from twenty 'five kingdoms.'*

The Talmud and several other Jewish writings speak of a river, named Sambation; which, they say, flows during the first six days of every week

* Sepher Eldad Haddani, apud Bartoloc. Bib. Rab. t. i. p. 101-112.