the fitua Paradife. Paradife was feated; and that for this reafon, because the CHAP. 1. marks, whereby Mofes defcribes the fituation of the earthly Paradise, are not to be found in any of the faid tion of the places. We are therefore to proceed, and enquire where earthly the faid marks are to be found; and in order thereto it must be confidered, what are the marks themselves, or what in fhort they amount to, which is this, viz. that the Eden, wherein God planted the garden of Paradise, lay on a river or fingle channel, which out of Eden was parted into four heads or rivers, by name Pifon, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Perath or Euphrates. If therefore these four rivers can be found, having fomewhere a fingle channel common to them all, then we may rest affured, that on that fingle channel, or river, lay the country of Eden, wherein was feated the earthly Paradise. 8. Mofes's de fcription of Pifon. We are therefore, in the first place, to find out the true fituation of the four rivers here fpecified by Moses. I shall take then in the fame order they are mentioned the river by Mofes, and fhall therefore begin firft with Pifon; the fituation whereof is thus defcribed by the faid facred hiftorian: The name of the firft (namely, river) is Pifon: that is it which compaffeth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx-stone." 9. washed by Pifon, From hence it is evident, that, in order to find out the river Pifon, we must firft find out the land of Havilah The land of Havilah, here mentioned. And in doing this, we cannot follow faid by Mobetter guides than the facred writers. We read then fes to be of a country called Havilah in two other places of Scrip- the river ture, viz. Gen. xxv. 18. and 1 Sam. xv. 7. In the former where of these two places Mofes informs us, that the Ishmaelites feated. (or pofterity of Ishmael) dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, &c. In the latter we are informed, that Saul fmote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comeft to Shur, that is before Egypt. In both which places by this expreffion, from Havilah unto Shur, is probably meant the whole extent of that part of Arabia, which lies between Egypt to the weft, and a certain channel B 3 PART I. channel or river (which empties itself into the Perfian Gulf) to the east. For that Shur was the western extremity of this part of Arabia, is evident from Exod. xv. 22. where we read, that Mofes brought Ifrael from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. So that Shur was that part of Arabia, which came up to the bottom of the Red Sea or Arabian Gulf, and fo joined on to Egypt. And as it thus clearly appears, that Shur was the western extremity of that part of Arabia we are speaking of; fo it feems no lefs clear, that Havilah was the eastern extremity of the fame; and that not only from the import of the forecited expreffion, but also forafmuch as, in common authors, we find here placed, a people whose name, though fomewhat varied by various authors, yet in all the feveral variations of it retains vifible footsteps of the name of their forefather Havilah, or, as it is written more agreeably to the original Hebrew word, Chavilah. Thus by Eratofthenes are placed in these parts the Chaulothæi, by Feftus Anienus the Chaulofii, by Dionyfius Periegetes the Chablafii, and by Pliny the Chavelai; all retaining in their name moft of the radical d letters of the word Chavilah. So that from hence may fafely be concluded, that this eaftern tract of Arabia, lying near and on the bottom of the Perfian Gulf, was formerly and in the time of Mofes known by the name of Havilah. Hereupon many learned men amongst the modern writers have acknowledged this to be the fituation of Havilah, as Steuchus, Beroaldus, Grotius, Hornius, and Bochartus. t 10. But yet this is not enough for our purpose. Before Gold, and we can be affured, that this is that Havilah which was that good gold, in the washed by the river Pison, we must be affured also, that land of Ha- there is, or at least formerly was therein gold, and that vilah, as feated ac- good gold; as alfo that there is or was therein bdellium cording to and the onyx-ftone. And of these particulars we may our hypo thefis. • What a radical letter is, see in the Preface. be be well affured without great difficulty. For, authors, CHAP. I. both facred and profane, do very much commend the gold of Arabia. Diodorus e writes, that in Arabia was found natural gold, of fo lively a colour, that it was very much like the brightness of the fire; and fo fixed, that it wanted neither fire nor refining to purify it. It will appear hereafter, that Ezekiel had regard to these parts, when he says to the city of Tyre: The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy fairs with the chief of all Spices, and with all precious ftones, and gold. Haran, and Cannech, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Afshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants, &c. Ezek. xxvii. 22, 23. There was a great communication between all thefe nations through the Euphrates and the Perfian Gulf; and we must particularly observe, that the Prophet exprefsly names Eden among the countries or places lying in these eastern parts, and fome of which lay in the neighbourhood of Havilah. So that there being both an Eden and an Havilah fituated in these easterly parts, there are further grounds to conceive, that these were no other than the Eden and Havilah mentioned by Mofes in the description of the fituation of the earthly Paradise. Moreover, Arabia thus abounding with gold, and that very fine gold, no doubt but it very much dealt in it with the neighbouring provinces, fituated along the Euphrates, which was then very populous, if not the most populous country in the world and the province of Havilah, lying between those countries, befides the gold of its own, had, we may reasonably suppose, a great deal also from the neighbouring provinces, by the traffic and intercourse of merchants. And thus much for the gold of Havilah. : 11. The He brew word The facred text informs us, that the fame country was remarkable for (what is called in Hebrew) bedolach, or (as it is ufually rendered) bdellium; which word is very bedolach is variously translated by interpreters. But of all these va- varioufly interpreted. PART I. rious opinions, the most probable, and which most divide the learned, are, that which takes bedolach for an aromatical gum, and that which takes it for pearls. The place of the book of Numbers, (viz. Numb. xi. 7.) which is wont to be quoted in defence of this last opinion, seems to be fo plain and decifive, that no good exception can be made against it. For Mofes, intending to defcribe the manna, fays, that it was like the feed of coriander, and the colour thereof as the colour of bedolach. Now it is evident from another description of the fame manna, which is to be found Exod. xvi. 14. 31. that it was white, (according to the translation of the Seventy Interpreters, and followed, ver. 31. in our common translation,) which is appofite to pearls, as also is the roundness of manna, but in no wise to the bdellium gum. Hence it is, that the Talmudifts, (as Monf, Bochart f has learnedly obferved,) mentioning this description of manna, as it is in the book of Numbers, inftead of faying, that it was of the colour of bdellium, faid, that it was of the colour of pearls. But we need take no part in this difpute: it will be enough for our purpose to fhew, that whether the Hebrew word bedolach be taken for pearls, or for bdellium gum, both are to be found in the land of Havilah, 12. taken for For, as for pearls, it is most certain, that there is no Bedolach, place in the world, that produceth fo fine ones, and in fo pearls, to great a quantity, as the fea about Baharen, an isle in be found in the Perfian Gulf, ten leagues off from Catif; that is to Havilah. fay, the fea that lies next the land of Havilah, We fhall our land of not load this treatife with a vaft number of citations, to fhew how great a quantity of pearls there is in the Perfian Gulf, and how much they are valued both by ancient and modern authors. Nevertheless, (to borrow Bishop Huet's expreffion,) that the reader may not think we defire to be trufted for want of money to pay him, we will name fome few of those whose authority cannot be excepted against. Nearchus, one of Alexander's cap f Hieroz. part ii. lib. v. c. 5. tains, that conducted his fleet from the Indies as far as CHAP. I. the Perfian Gulf, speaks of an island in that Gulf, abounding in pearls of great value. Ifidorus of Charax, who lived a little after, fays the fame thing. Pliny h, having commended the pearls of the Indian feas, adds, that such as are fifhed towards Arabia in the Perfian Gulf, deferve moft to be praised. And in another place he takes notice of the island of Tylos, as being the place of that fishing, which many suppose to be the island of Baharen. Arrian, the author of the Periplus of the Red Sea, fets a greater value upon the pearls of Arabia, than upon those of the Indies. Æliani defcribes exactly enough, how they were fished, and how much they were valued. Origen affirms, that Indian pearls far exceed all others in value, and that amongst all Indian pearls, thofe of the Red Sea are of the greatest value: by which words we may fee, that he made the Perfian Sea a part of that of the Indies; of which more hereafter, when we come to speak of the Red Sea. The Rabbi Benjamin, a Navarrer, who lived five hundred and fifty years ago, being at Catif, informed himself about the fishing of pearls, that is made there every year, and about the manner obferved in making of it, and inferted it in the history of his travels, which he has left us. Teixeira a Portuguese, another traveller, has yet more exactly described this fishing. He fays, the pearls of that sea are finer and weightier than thofe of other places. Add hereto the testimony of the other modern travellers, Balby, Linfcot, Vincent le Blanc, Tavernier, and TheveBefides the fishing of Baharen, this laft writer hath also described that of Carek, another ifle in the same gulf, and nearer the land of Havilah. Many other places of this fea afford pearls ; as doth the whole coast of Arabia from Mafcate to Catif. not. Those that maintain, that bedolach is the bdellium, a |