Verse 5. We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely.'-As to the abundance of fish in Egypt and its common use as an article of food, see the note on Exod. vii. 21. We may here add, that although fish is at all times a common diet in that country, its use becomes particularly conspicuous in the hot season occasioned by the prevalence of the south winds in April and May, when the inhabitants scarcely eat anything but fish with pulse and herbs, the great heat taking away the appetite for all sorts of flesh meat. All the inhabitants of Egypt, without distinction, then give into this custom, which is very ancient. The fish which they eat is either fresh or dried in the sun. It would therefore seem that the Israelites, being now in the midst of the hot season (rather later in Arabia than in Egypt), longed with too great impatience for the fish and refreshing vegetables which they had at such times been accustomed to enjoy. How desirable such food is to those who have been accustomed to it is strikingly instanced, in the fact related by Vitriacus, who says that when Damietta was besieged in 1218, many of the more delicate Egyptians, although they had corn in abundance, pined away and died for want of the garlic, onions, fish, birds, fruits, and herbs, to which they had been accustomed.

'Cucumbers' kishuim. The Arabic and Syriac names of this well known vegetable are from the same root as the Hebrew. Arabia and Egypt afford many varieties of the cucumber, some of which are soft, and are less apt to disagree with the digestive functions than the cucumbers of this country. This is owing, in all probability, to the mellowing effects of the sun's rays, which cannot be brought about by any heating contrivance of human invention. In Egypt and south-western Asia, cucumbers are, when in season, eaten by all classes, to an extent which would scarcely seem credible in this country.

'Melons' D'a abattichim. This is, beyond all doubt, the melon, and probably the Cucurbita citrullus, or water-melon. This is a native of the warmer climes, and grows abundantly in the Levant and in Egypt. The fruit is about the size of the common pumpkin, which it very much resembles in appearance. The interior is a pulp of a blooming red, abounding with a copious irrigation of pellucid juice; and thus it becomes both meat and drink at the same time. A traveller in the East, who recollects the intense gratitude which the gift of a slice of melon inspired, while journeying over the hot and dry plains-or one who remembers the consciousness of wealth and security which he derived from the possession of a melon, while prepared for a day's journey over the same plains-he will readily comprehend the regret with which the Hebrews in the Arabian desert looked back upon the melons of Egypt. The following account of the uses of melons in Egypt is from Hasselquist. The water-melon is cultivated on the banks of the Nile, in the rich clayey earth which subsides during the inundation. This serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and medicine. It is eaten in abundance during the season, even by the richer sort of people; but the common people scarcely eat anything else, and account this the best time of the year, as they are obliged to put up with worse fare at other seasons. This fruit likewise serves them for drink, the juice so refreshing these poor creatures that they have much less occasion for water than if they were to live on more substantial food in this burning climate.'

4. 'Leeks. The original is n chatzir, which the majority of interpreters concur with our version in regarding as the leek in this text. The uncertainty which was felt about it is, however, indicated by the fact that although it occurs several times in Scripture, this is the only place where it is so rendered. It is translated grass in 1 Kings xviii. 5; 2 Kings xix. 26; Job xl. 15; Ps. xxxvii. 2; herb in Job viii. 12; hay in Prov. xxvii. 25; Isa. xv. 6; and court in Isa. xxxiv. 13. The fact is that Hebrew scholars know that the leading idea of the word is grass; but as the eating of grass seemed incredible to them, they were content to suppose that here, where it is applied to what was evidently a common article of food, it must denote some vegetable of grass-like shape, like the leek. This was unfortunate; for, in fact, it appears that the article denoted is a kind of grass so peculiar to Egypt, that the mere mention of it as an article of food is a strong incidental proof of the historical authority of the book, and of the intimate acquaintance with Egypt which its author possessed. That very peculiarity has, however, been the cause of the general error of commentators with reference to it, since they failed to derive the explanation from an accurate knowledge of Egypt. It is to the acuteness of Hengstenberg that we are indebted for the indication we have now to offer. He justly remarks that in this matter 'appeal cannot be made to the ancient translators. For who can give us security that they, supposing that all herbage used for fodder is excluded, and looking around among the products which serve men for food, for one that at least furnishes an external similarity to grass, have not merely guessed at the one they have taken? But we see that the Hebrew word has etymologically the meaning not so much of grass as of fodder, or food for cattle. The first criterion for the correctness of an interpretation would therefore be to find that the product in question is a proper food for beasts, so that man goes, as it were, to the same table with him. And it is only when no such article could be found, that we should be warranted in resorting to the leek, to which this criterion will by no means apply. But among the wonders in the natural history of Egypt it is mentioned by travellers that the common people there eat with special relish a kind of grass similar to clover. The impression which the sight of this makes upon those who have travelled much, very graphically described by Mayr ( Reisz nach Egyptien, p. 226). A great heap of clover was thrown before the beasts, and a smaller heap of clover like fodder was placed before the master of the house and his companions. The quadrupeds and the bipeds ate with equal greediness, and the pile of the latter was all gone before the former had finished theirs. This plant is very similar to clover, except that it has more pointed leaves and whitish blossoms. Enormous quantities are eaten by the inhabitants, and it is not unpalatable. I was afterwards, when hungry, in a situation to lay myself down in the fields where it grows, and graze with pleasure. Delile (Descript, de l'Egypte, xix. 50, sq.) gives a more scientific description of it. The Fenu-Grec (Trigonella fanum Græcum, Linn.) is an annual plant, known in Egypt under the name of Helbeh. It very much resembles clover. The people of the country find the young fresh shoots, before blossoming, a very delicious food.' But the most particular and the best account is by Sonnini (Voyage, i. 379), and an extract from him will shew how the emigrating Egyp

tians (the mixed multitude) and the Israelites, could, among other things, look back longing upon the grass of Egypt. Although this helbeh of the Egyptians is a nourishing food for the numerous beasts who cover the plains of the Delta; although horses, oxen, and buffaloes eat it with equal relish, it appears not to be destined especially for the sustenance of animals, since the barsim furnishes an aliment better even, and more abundant. But that which will appear very extraordinary is, that in this fertile country the Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so largely that it may be properly called the food of man. In the month of November they cry "Green helbeh for sale!" in the streets of the towns. It is tied up in large bunches, which the inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which they eat with incredible greediness, without any kind of seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and dysentery; in fine, a preservative against a great number of maladies. They, in fact, regard it as endowed with so many good qualities, that it is, in their estimation, a true pa

nacea.

Onions.'-betzalim, Sept. тà крóμμva. This is doubtless the common onion (Allium cepa), as proved by the identity of its Arabic name with the Hebrew, and by its early use as an article of food in Egypt. The native country of the onion is uncertain; but it is presumed that it came from India, whence it passed into Egypt. In warm countries, the onion often constitutes a staple article of diet. The sun has the same mellowing effect upon it as upon the cucumber, so that its savour is more bland than when grown in this country, and its use far less likely to affect the stomach with any disagreeable consequences. Most of the people of Western Asia are remarkably fond of onions. The Arabs in particular have even a childish passion for them, and several of their proverbial phrases express this attachment. We have known poor Arabs wait for more than an hour, till the refuse of onions employed in cooking should be thrown away.

Onions are frequently represented in the sculptures of Egypt. According to D'Arvieux, they are in that country sweet and large, and taste better than even those of Smyrna. Hasselquist protests that there are in the world none better. Herodotus shews that they were, anciently, frequently an article of diet among the people, and a common food of those who laboured on the pyramids. In what estimation they are now held we see from Sonnini. This species of vegetable is yet extraordinarily common in this country; it is the aliment of the common people, and almost the very lowest classes. Onions cooked or raw are sold in the streets for almost nothing. These onions have not the tartness of those of Europe; they are sweet, they do not sting the mouth unpleasantly, and they do not extort the tears of those who cut them' (Travels, p. 68). Pliny says that onions and garlic were worshipped by the Egyptians; and Juvenal, in a well known passage of his fifteenth Satire, thus names these garden-born deities:

'It is a sin to violate a leek or onion, or to break them with a bite.

O holy nation, for whom are born in gardens
These deities !'

It has been asked, how this is compatible with the statement of the text, and of various ancient authors, that onions, leeks, and garlic, were abundantly eaten in Egypt. Something must be allowed for the exaggeration of the Romans, by whom the Egyptians were never well understood; and the evidence that these products were used as common food greatly preponderates. There is no evidence from the monuments that onions were sacred, for we see them as common offerings upon the altars: and the truth seems to be, that whatever religious feeling prohibited their use on certain occasions, this was confined to the initiated, who were required to keep themselves more especially pure for the service of the gods.

under ordinary circumstances; but that the word denotes a species of garlic has never been called in question. It is true that Egypt does not now produce this plant; but this is the case with many other plants (including the papyrus) which were formerly abundant in that country, but are now almost if not entirely extinct (Sonnini, p. 68). Ancient authors assure us that garlic was formerly culti vated and abundantly consumed in Egypt. Herodotus (ii. 125) mentions it in connection with the onion, as a principal article of food in that country, especially among the poorer classes. Pliny also speaks of the two in connection (Hist. Nat. xix. 6). Dioscorides describes it among the plants of Egypt; and Rosellini (Monumenti dell' Egitto, M.C. ii. 383) thinks he has discovered a representation of it upon a painting at Beni Hassan. The species considered to have been then cultivated in Egypt is the Allium Ascalonicum, which is the most common in Eastern countries, and obtains its specific name from having been brought into Europe from Ascalon. It is now usually known in the kitchen garden by the name of 'eschalot' or 'shallot :' and is too common to require particular description.

16. Seventy men of the elders of Israel.'-We read of seventy elders in Exodus xxiv. 9, who were with Moses in the mount, and who in the 11th verse are called the nobles of Israel. It is therefore thought by some that the present institution consisted in giving new authorities and powers to a body already existing. It is a great question among commentators, whether this body was merely temporary, or was perpetual and the same which in the New Testament and later Jewish history makes so conspicuous a figure under the name of the Sanhedrim. The Jewish writers are strongly of the latter opinion, which is also admitted by many Christian writers of great eminence. The former opinion is, however, that which is now most commonly entertained, and in which we are strongly disposed to concur. The principal reasons on which this conclusion is founded may thus be stated:-No mention is made of the existence of such a council in all the Old Testament; and this silence seems quite decisive, as, if it existed, it could not have failed to occupy such a position, and to have been so connected with the public affairs of the country, that not to notice it would be much the same as to omit any notice of the senate in a history of Rome. We observe also that circumstances continually occur in which such a council must have acted, and must have been mentioned, if it had been in existence. Besides, the Sanhedrim of later times, which is described as identical with the Mosaical council of seventy, seems to had very different functions and powers. The Sanhedrim was a supreme college of justice and court of appeal. It was a judicial institution: but we can discover nothing judicial in the council established in this chapter. There was no need of judges, of whom the people had already between sixty and seventy thousand, under the plan suggested by Jethro. Nor would a judicial assembly be required by the peculiar circumstances under which the appointment originated. This was a rebellion; which led Moses to feel that he was unable alone to bear the burden of governing the unruly multitude, in consequence of which the Lord directed the appointment of seventy elders, persons of respectability and influence; who might form a senate to share with him the responsibilities and cares of government. This measure would naturally tend to obviate the jealousy with which the people appear at times to have regarded the extensive and sovereign powers which rested in, or were rather administered by, the hands of Moses. The later Sanhedrim would seem to have been quite another thing. It was doubtless intended as an imitation of the Mosaical institution, and the difference may be accounted for by a reference to the period of its establishment, which was apparently in the age of the Maccabees, when the long interval of captivity, in a strange land, had rendered the Jews ignorant of the nature of the original institution, as they indeed were of many other customs of their ancestors.

26. They prophesied in the camp.'-Eldad and Medad were two of the seventy, who were, like the others, to have gone to the tabernacle to receive there a measure of that

divine spirit which rested on Moses. It is generally understood that they declined to attend, from no culpable motive, but from extreme modesty and humility, inducing in them a deep sense of their own unworthiness of the intended distinction. But the divine favour, which is not limited to place, sought them, even in the camp, and marked them out by extraordinary gifts for that distinguished office which, if left to themselves, they would probably have declined.

31. Quails.'-See the note on Exod. xvi. 13. These migratory birds, as well as the way of taking and prepar ing them, must have been well known to the Israelites while in Egypt. At the proper season they resorted to Egypt in such vast flocks, that even the dense population of that country was unable to consume them while fresh, but they salted and dried great quantities for future use. It is still the same in those countries; and modern travellers, on witnessing the incredible numbers of these birds, have expressed their conviction that, as the text describes, such a suitable wind as the Almighty sent, could only have been necessary to supply even the great Hebrew host with a sufficient supply of quails to last for a month.

As it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.'-Various commentators, under the sanction of the Septuagint, of Josephus, and of Jerome, read at about two cubits above the face of the earth.' That is, that they flew so low as to be easily caught, and this is what the birds always do when fatigued with a long aërial voyage. This is also our impression, and not that they fell on the ground and lay there two cubits deep. As we understand, it would seem that the quails were so exhausted, or rather, they were so strictly kept by the Divine power within the limit of a day's journey from the camp, that even when roused, or attempting flight, they could not rise more than three feet from the ground, and were thus easily caught with nets or by the hand. The commentators, who hesitate to admit this view, from the feeling that it would have been difficult for the people to have collected the quantity they did if they had anything more to do than to pick them up, are probably not aware of the almost proverbial facility with which quails are caught. They may be taken with almost any kind of net, or without any net. The method followed by the inhabitants of Rhinocolura, as described by Diodorus, is thus:-They placed long nets, made of split reeds, along the shore for many stadia, in which they caught the quails that were brought up in immense multi

tudes from the sea, and stored them up for future subsistence and sale. Herodotus says that quails, ducks, and some other birds, were salted by the Egyptians, and subsequently eaten without dressing. His testimony as to the salting of birds is confirmed by existing paintings, where some poulterers appear to be preserving them in this manner, and depositing them in jars. They are taken with nets in Egypt, at present, in vast numbers. In the north of Persia and Armenia they are caught with equal ease, even when the birds are not in an exhausted state, or in such vast numbers as we are now considering. The process is curious. The men stick two poles in their girdles, upon which they place either their outer coat, or a pair of trowsers, and these, at a distance, are intended to look like the horus of an animal. They then with a hand-net prowl about the fields, and the quail, seeing a form more like a beast than a man, permits it to approach so near as to allow the hunter to throw his net over it. The rapidity with which the Persians catch quails in this way is astonishing. (See Morier's Second Journey, p. 343.) In support of the view of this matter which appears to us preferable, we may add, that if the birds had lain two cubits deep upon the ground, the far greater part of them must have been dead before they could be collected, and would therefore have been unfit for food, since the Israelites could eat nothing that died of suffocation, or the blood of which had not been poured out.

32. They spread them all abroad... round about the camp.'-This is the first direct indication in Scripture of animal food being prepared so as to be preserved for future occasions. Our earliest information concerning the Egyptians describes them as salting and drying, for future use, great quantities of fish and fowl. A nomade people, as the Hebrews were when they went down to Egypt, never think of any such processes, even at the present day. It is therefore natural to conclude that they had learnt this simple and useful art from the Egyptians. We are disposed to conclude with Calmet (in his note on this place), that the Hebrews salted their quails before they dried them. We have here, then, the earliest indication of processes, the benefits resulting from which have become so diffused and familiar, that it costs an effort of recollection to recognise them as benefits. Yet many centuries have not elapsed since the Emperor Charles V. thought it became him to erect a statue to the man (G. Bukel) who discovered the process of salting and barrelling herrings.

CHAPTER XII.

1 God rebuketh the sedition of Miriam and Aaron. 10 Miriam's leprosy is healed at the prayer of Moses. 14 God commandeth her to be shut out of the host. AND Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the 'Ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had 'married an Ethiopian woman.

2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

3 (Now the man Moses was "very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

4 And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.

5 And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam : and they both came forth.

6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

8 With him will I speak 'mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches : and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.

10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became

leprous, white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.

13 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.

14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be 'shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

Verse 1. Ethiopian woman.'-The wife of Moses was a native of a part of Arabia which was originally occupied by the descendants of Cush the son of Ham, and which therefore, in common with other parts of Arabia and the other countries settled by Cush and his descendants, was called Cush or Ethiopia (see the notes on Gen. xxv. 16, and Exod. ii. 15). Our more restricted application of the name Ethiopia occasions some difficulty, at times, from its being so frequently used to translate the original word 'Cush.' In the present instance it does not even follow that Zipporah was a Cushite by descent, but only by being born in a country called after Cush. There are some, however, who think that the woman in question was not Zipporah, but a new wife, Zipporah being dead. There is not the least ground for this supposition; nor does it remove any difficulty, as no other woman, whom Moses was likely to have an opportunity of espousing, could well be a Cushite in any other sense than the daughter of Jethro was.

3. Now the man Moses was very meek,' etc.)-This parenthetical clause has been eagerly taken hold of by Spinoza and other sceptics, as furnishing an argument that Moses was not the author of these books, since no man, however great his egotism, would thus speak of himself. In reply, it might be allowed that Moses did not write this clause, which was probably, with some other small matters, introduced by Ezra or some other person. It has quite the air of a gloss: the sense is complete without it; and the form of expression, the man Moses,' no where else occurs. We may retain it, however, without any reflection on the humility of Moses, for the word (anav) translated

'meek' may, with equal or greater propriety, be translated 'depressed' or 'afflicted; and that he really was so, and had cause to be so, is manifest in every chapter from the eleventh to the seventeenth. Some commentators, however, admit the current rendering, and contend that this declaration, by one who never hesitated to record his own faults, of the grace which God had given to him, was justified by the occasion, which required him to repel an unjust aspersion upon his character and motives.

14. If her father had but spit in her face,' etc.-The word translated in her face' may equally mean 'before her face,' or 'in her presence.' The force of the expression depends much upon its being understood that expectoration as a natural act, or even as excited by the abundant use of tobacco, scarcely ever takes place in the East; and when it does, is regarded with such strong disgust as to render it a medium for expressing the most intense abhorrence and detestation towards the person upon whom, or in whose presence, the discharge is made, or even towards an absent person to whose conduct it is applied. Indeed, so far is this idea carried, that it is the highest insult to any one, absent or present, for a person to say that he does or would discharge his saliva on his person or on the ground before him. Thus, 'I spit on his beard,' is in Persia an exceedingly strong expression of contempt and aversion, in proverbial use among all classes, from the king to the beggar. It appears from the text that, among the Hebrews, such an act on the part of a parent so disgraced his children as to render them unclean, and oblige them to live apart for seven days.

CHAPTER XIII.

1 The names of the men who were sent to search the land. 17 Their instructions. 21 Their acts. 26 Their relation.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran : all those men were heads of the children of Israel.

4 And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.

5 of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.

9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.

17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain :

18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;

20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron ; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23 'And they came unto the 'brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24 The place was called the brook 'Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes 1 Deut. 1. 24. 2 Or, valley. 3 Or, valley.

25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with 'milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by. the coast of Jordan.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Verses 1-2. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men,' etc.-It has been urged that this does not agree with Deut. i. 22, where the proposal to send men to survey the land is described as emanating from the people themselves. But the explanation is easy:In the one case, Moses relates the authority which he had for sending the spies; but in Deuteronomy, as he is directing his address to the people, he reminds them of their share in the measure. They were responsible for it. They suggested it themselves. God sanctioned the proposal they made. Thus it is true both that the Lord directed Moses to send the spies, and that the people earnestly urged the proposal.' -See Davidson's Sacred Hermeneutics, p. 536.

20. The time of the firstripe grapes.'-This was in August: the first clusters then come to maturity and are gathered; the second clusters in September, and the third and last in October. As the spies departed at the season of the first ripe grapes, and were forty days absent, the

clusters which they gathered at Eshcol, on their return, must have been of the second gathering.

21. So they went up,' etc.-From the description of their route here given, it seems that the spies took a survey of the whole land from south to north; proceeding, apparently, near the course of the Jordan in their way out, and returning through the midst of the country along the borders of the Sidonians and Philistines. No course could be better calculated to make them acquainted with the character and resources of the country.

Wilderness of Zin.'-We have already indicated generally, what we must now more precisely state, that the Desert of Zin must be identified with the low sandy plain or valley which extends from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba. This valley is through its whole extent bounded on the east by the mountains of Seir, which rise abruptly from it, and almost shut it in on that side, being only tra versed by a few narrow wadys, one of which only (that of