Bolts; hard wood from which fire is procured by friction simply.

Fuel is made of dry leaves, or of spongy pith, which takes fire readily.

Termis, lupines, make the best charcoal for powder to take fire.

Matches, or small inflammable cords, for the purpose of setting fire, to discharge their carbines, as is customary in these countries, instead of striking fire by a flint. The bark of trees is beaten, steeped in water, and twisted into the form of a cord. F. It will be seen on the subject of Samson's burners, or lamps, Judg. xv. that we desired further information respecting their nature, and referred to a plate of Eastern lights, where indeed no further information appears; but the reader will accept it here. The Hebrew lampad is rendered firebrand in our public version; it was hardly burning, blazing wood, properly a firebrand; but, might it be of the nature of these matches used for the purpose of carrying fire from place to place, in which, the fire, as usual in our own artillery matches, by a very slow combustion, burns dead for a time, yet when blown upon by wind, whether of the breath, or otherwise, rekindles its brilliancy, and communicates flame as directed. Let us suppose for a moment, that the brands employed by Samson were these matches, "twisted into the form of a cord," and that these, not the jackalls, were "turned tail to tail." The history would then stand thus:

"And Samson went and took three hundred roving jackalls themselves, and he took long burning cord matches, and turned them tail to tail, the fire being at one end, the other end is the tail, and placed a single cord match between two not burning ends, tails, across. And he set fire to all the cord matches, and sent them into the standing corn of the Philistines, &c. and, the jackalls roaming about, the matches burnt with vigour, and communicated their blaze to all combustibles, wherever they were carried.

That the word tails is capable of this sense, appears demonstratively from Isai. vii. 4. "fear not, for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, Rezin," &c. where the same word is used for tails: but the word for smoking firebrands is not the same as in the history of Samson: a difference deserving notice, for these probably intend burning brands of wood, and so the Lxx render the word. [Were the lamps of Gideon, Judg. vii. these matches?]

The reader will consider the above with proper favour, at least, he will perceive by it that the mi

nutest articles are not to be despised, but may occasionally illustrate Scripture, when more laboured comments struggle in vain with difficulties, which no verbal, or grammatical knowledge can remove. We have not directed every article to passages of Scripture; some have only a general bearing on biblical subjects, others are more specific: but the result of the whole is a conviction that further acquaintance with things, as they are actually extant in the East, at present, will enable us to explain many occurrences and allusions of ancient ages, which we cannot hope to accomplish by any other

mean.

FESTIVE PLANTS.

Plants of fragrancy, or of splendid flowers, are formed into crowns, and are used as ornaments to the head on joyful occasions. We are ignorant of the origin of this custom; unless we discover it in the ancient Floralia.

Heart pea, cardiospermum, halicac.
Thyme, doush.

Dianthera odora.

Inulo, elecampane, odora.

Trefoil, reman.

Ghosn. Salem. Mimosa? Frequent in the mountains of Abu Arisch. The flowers are very red, and make splendid crowns. If this plant shoots numerous flowers the inhabitants expect a rainy or fertile year.

PLANTS USED IN DYEING.

Indigo, much cultivated, because of its blue colour, which is very pleasing to the people. Polygala, its substitute? milk wort. Orobanche, broom rape, dyes black the cords made of the narrow leaved corypha, palm.

Madder, Arab. fua, the dried roots are sold at 21, or 3 imperials per frasele. This is also a rotl, i.e. camel's load, in Arabic haml. [Vide the article ANT.]

Suæda, asal, it yields sal alkali. Vide the article. Mimosa nilotica. The bark of this tree is chosen in preference to others, for the preparation of skins; as it acts more speedily, and advantageously on them, during their maceration.

Haschiset ed dahal. If sheep eat of this plant for any time, their teeth become the colour of gold, and their flesh becomes yellow. The oil of this herb is deep yellow or gold colour. Had the Romans, Virgil for instance, any knowledge of such a property in this plant?

SELECTIONS FROM THE MATERIA MEDICA USED AT CAIRO.

Unguis odoratus; scented nail, the shell covering of a snail. Dofr al afrit, "devil's nail." Is brought from Mocha, by way of Suez. The Arabs

Bechar marjam, brought from Syria and Palestine; rare; fragrant. Is thrown into boxes which contain clothes, as a preservative against moths, &c.

Ghaturschi, from Candia. Is frequently used to stop bleedings: it is therefore used in circumcisions of both sexes.

Mustard seed, two kinds: 1st, Bisr kabar: 2d, Bisr chardel.

Seed, nigella, fennel flower, habb saude. Is brought from Upper Egypt; is used medically, and by bakers is mingled with bread. Pistachia of the terebinth-tree.

Habb el botm, or habb chadra, brought from Greece.

Gum-Arabic, samgh turi, brought from Tor. Mimosa acacia, samgh Arabi, from Negroland, Sennar, and Hedjas.

G. Mimosa nigrum, or G. Arab. nigr. samgh saidi. Brought from Upper Egypt, used in making

ink.

Ladanum, luden. From Candia. In time of pestilence is carried in the hand to be smelled to.

Manna, calabr. from Europe.

Myrrh, mur, from Arabia, but the best from Abyssinia.

The gardens in Arabia are much molested by apes, so that they are obliged to set watchers over them; the apes however do not meddle with the coffee-trees, but with the other fruit trees placed between them.

ANSWERS RECEIVED IN EXPLANATION

Of sundry Hebrew words, as proposed to various persons in Arabia, for that purpose; some by M. Niebuhr, others by M. Forskall, [from Niebuhr's Descript. Arab.]

Arbeh, n, are at Bagdad, and at Maskat, the locusts of passage, which devour all they meet with, and then go further.

Chagab, an, is also a locust known at Maskat.
Ridgeleim, a, are the two hind legs of a locust.
Kirræim, y, the joints of those legs.

The erusibe of the LXX, Joel i. 4, &c. signifies not only a louse, but also a little insect, which gets into sea biscuit, corn, and other grain.

Delu is the Arabic name of a great leather bag, in which the Orientals draw up water from the wells. The water machine which is turned by the feet, is called in Egypt, sakkie tdir beridjel.

El bochor is the generic name of perfumes. More than twenty kinds are reckoned in Arabia, of which not many are produced in the country itself.

Kinnamon, p, oud el bochor, and agadj oudi, are the Hebrew, Arab, and Turkish names of a wood called by the English agal wood, and by the Indians at Bombay, agar; of which there are two distinct kinds; 1st, Oud mawardi, which is the best. 2d, Oud kakulli, the weakest kind.

Ahalim, n, is, according to the opinion of a Jew of Maskat, from whom I had explanations of the Hebrew words, the santal wood.

Copher, the flower of the henna.

Wormwood, Hebrew my loneh. Celsus thinks this is the Arabian schihh. The Arabian schihh is an extremely bitter herb, used in medicine. Camels eat it willingly. Michaelis asks whether the Hebrew loneh may derive from the Arab lan, which he says, signifies malediction; Niebuhr replies it imports an oath.

It appears that there are three ways of emasculating animals in Arabia: 1st, Bruising, or crushing of the testicles: 2dly, Cutting off a part: 3dly, An opening of the parts to take out their contents. A petjuo decah. [Vide Deut. xxiii. 2.7 signifies an eunuch, made so by crushing the parts. Caruth shephecahn, signifies one rendered so by cutting off a portion. Maksi, is applied to the third manner: so that the phrase is Tor maksi, an ox: kabsch maksi, a goat gelded: hussan maksi, a gelding, horse. These last are rare in Arabia ; and in many parts no such are made.

Sif. The Arabs relate of this serpent much the same stories as are told in Europe of the basilisk.

Charchar, Deut. xxviii. 22. denotes a person who breathes with difficulty; an asthmatic.

Lehem, the Hebrew for bread, and the Arabic also, never signifies at Bazra, or Aleppo, land, or country, but all sorts of food; viandes.

In Deut. xxviii. 22. and 1 Kings, viii. 37. we read of two diseases, shidaphun and jerakun. Michaelis inclines to refer them to corn, and not to the human body. Niebuhr replies, that the Arabic word muskure, by which irakun is rendered in Arabic Tr. signifies a disease in corn, which closely resembles that which we call mildew, if it be not really the same disease. It is called at Cairo ain el bint, "girl's eyes." The Syriac word schaubo, by which the cause of this disease, understood to be the east wind, is rendered in Syriac Tr. signifies among the Christians of Mosul, Nineveh, worms in corn. [The reader will see, in EXPOSITORY INDEX, that the LXX also refer to corrupted air, or corrupting air, on this subject; which is fully supported and illustrated by the subjoined information collected by M. Forskall.]

Shediphun, in vegetables. When wheat or barley are about two feet in height, it happens some

times that a sharp cold injures them to such a degree that the ears do not form themselves.

Jerakun is a wind dangerous at the seed time, which blows in the Jewish month Marshevan, October. It renders the ears yellow, and no grain forms itself. This wind blows only here and there; but it spoils every thing where it extends. F.

Iachmur is not known as the name of any animal, in the modern language of Arabia, neither at Djedda, nor around the Persian Gulf, nor at Bazra: but gazelles are found in Egypt, India, Persia, Arabia, and Syria. M. Forskall says it is known in the mountains of Yemen.

Apha is stated to be a serpent, so venomous, that his hissing is fatal. He is said to reside in the mountainous regions of Persia; to live above a hundred years, to change his appearance after a certain number of years, &c. [M. Niebuhr has stopped here; but the reference of what he does say to the cockatrice of Isai. xi. 14. and its residence in Persia, to that of the Assyrian serpent of Virgil, deserves notice.] Vide this article, plates, toward the close of it.

Algomm is a word not known among the Arabs. Gums are called semgk.

Ramuth, Job xxviii. 18; Ezek. xxvii. 16. red coral. In Arabia called murdsjan.

Gabish, Job xxviii. 18. is a green stone.

Adam, Ezek. xxviii. 18. is el hummurie of the Arabs, or the jakout of Ceylon: this jakout is a beautiful red precious stone, which comes from Ceylon.

Semekun is, it is said, a stone of a celestial blue colour.

Pithdah, the emerald. These names of precious stones were given me by a skilful and honest Jew

The

of Maskat. Those of Bagdad and Aleppo of whom I made the same inquiries, seemed not to know these stones, or only to answer at hazard. Arabic language, otherwise so rich in words, appears to be poor in names for precious stones; for many kinds are called jakout, adding the name of the colour to distinguish it; as jakout ahhmar, red jakout; jakout asfar, yellow jakout, &c.

[I would add here Michaelis's rendering of Prov. xvii. 8. where we read, "A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it; whithersoever it turneth itself it prospereth:" he would render "a gift is like a precious stone, and is of a beautiful appearance, if it be viewed on all sides ;" i.e. by the possessor of it. The rudiments of this sense may be now seen in our public version, but the ambiguity of expression obscures it.] Suph, an aquatic plant.

Shurek, a graft.

Gazam, a species of locust.

The disease of Job, says Muri, was the shechin. Bitter herbs, mururim. The Jews in Sana refer the lettuce to this passage, they eat lettuce with the paschal lamb; or if that be wanting, bugloss. In Egypt they likewise eat it with lettuce, lactuca-oleracea. M. Forskall remarks in another place, that moru is centaury, centaurea calcitrapa, of which the young stems are eaten in February and March.

Pekouth, 2 Kings, iv. 39. Colocynth.

Aral, 8, is a clean animal in the mountains of Yemen.

The female is called ioleh, says Muri.
Tjebi, the gazelle, inhabits Yemen.
Kikiun, gourds, flagon, perhaps.

The French engineers discovered, when in possession of Suez, that at a little distance to the north of that place are marshes which extend for above twenty-five miles, and are actually lower than the sea, though they are not overflowed, in consequence of a large bar of sand which has accumulated between them; nothing therefore can be more probable, than that, in times so far back as the departure of the Israelites, the sea itself extended to these marshes; and that since, the same gradual encroachments of sand from the desert, which have formed the Tehama in Lower Arabia, have annihilated the sea in a place where it was so much narrower. The contradictions may be still further removed by the supposition, that Strabo considered himself as justified in describing a place as being on the Gulf, which was actually situated on the canal that united it with the Nile, and which, from being of the greatest consequence in the province, gave its name to it.

Were we, however, inclined to give every weight to the description of Strabo, his evidence would be set aside by the higher authority of Moses, who proves that Goshen was in the way to Canaan; and by the short account of Ptolemy, who declares that Heroopolis was on the confines of Arabia, and that the canal of Trajan ran through it, p. 120. The course of this canal has been traced by the French engineers, from longitude 31° 52′ to 32° 20′ running in nearly an east and west direction, in about 30° 32′ north latitude.

It is therefore within this line only, that we can look for it; and I am inclined to admit the opinion of Mons. Ayme, as well founded, that the ruins he discovered at Aboukechied, indicate the spot where Heroopolis stood, and where, consequently, the children of Israel actually resided, extending themselves over a country that sustained their numerous flocks and herds, to the borders of that part of Egypt where grain was cultivated, but in which they would not be permitted to sojourn, in consequence of their destroying the sacred animals. I cannot, therefore, for a moment believe, that Heliopolis was within their bounds, or that they ever went either to the south or west of it; though it appears, indeed, from the account of the sacred historian, that they were near to this capital of Pharaoh; but Moses is spoken of as having gone out to his brethren, which would seem to imply that they were at some little distance.

Taking, therefore, any part of the country between Aboukechied and Heliopolis, as being the province of Ramesses, whence the children of Israel departed, how improbable does it appear that they should proceed into the low land of Egypt, to the very banks of the holy river, to round. Mokattem, and enter the valley, which, beginning there, extends to the Red Sea; and this at a time when they were thrust out from the land of the Egyptians, who did not believe themselves safe, till they had got rid of them.

In Exod. xiii. 17. it is declared, that "God led them not through the way of the land of the Philis

tines, although that was near;" verse 18. "but about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." Now both these observations are perfectly true, if they set off from the vicinity of Heroopolis, which was actually on the way to Canaan; but would be false, if they began their journey from opposite Memphis, whence it would be much nearer to reach the Red Sea than the land of the Philistines.

By the supposition that the children of Israel resided nearer to the desert, we get rid of the difficulty of their having to march sixty miles in only three stages, which is the distance from the Nile to the Red Sea, and which seems almost impossible, encumbered as they were, with children, cattle, baggage, and kneading troughs, even supposing that their three marches were in a direct line east, which appears to have been by no means the case; for they were directed, after the second day's march, when they quitted Etham on the edge of the wilderness, "to turn," and encamp before Pihaheroth, between Migdol and the sea.

Confiding in the promises of Moses, confirmed as they were by the miracles which he had wrought, it is probable that the Israelites had prepared for their departure, and were all assembled at some one place, waiting impatiently for the result of his last interview with Pharaoh. The spot chosen must have been where they could either move toward Canaan, or the Red Sea; and it must have been at such a distance only from the desert, that they could, although encumbered, reach the confines of it in two marches, and the Red Sea in three.

If the Red Sea terminated then, as it does now, at Suez, it appears to me impossible to fix on any spot that unites these requisite points; but if it extended then over the marshes, surveyed and laid down by Mons. Ayme, the difficulty would be removed, and the vicinity of the modern Balbeis, on the banks of Trajan's canal, would accord with the description of the sacred historian, for it is in the direct road from Heliopolis to Canaan, and not above thirty-five miles from the sea.

As the great weight of my argument depends on the fact, that from the present appearance of the country, there is every reason to believe that the Red Sea did actually extend, in former times, twentyfive miles north of Suez, I think it may be right to observe, that the Savant, from whom I derived my information, is not a person who, being zealous for the cause of religion, might have falsified a little to get rid of a difficulty; but that, on the contrary, he feels it necessary to justify himself from the suspicion of believing in the miracles of Moses, in whose book he declares that the transactions are doubtful, and the philosophy absurd. We may surely admit the evidence of such a witness, when it tends to confirm the authenticity of religious history.

It is evident that Pharaoh could have no expectation of the children of Israel's return, when he had so frequently experienced their refusals to depart with