undoubtedly is, that the Wádí 'Arabah and its continuation, the valley of the Jordan, whatever partial changes they may have undergone in our own Adamic era, together form perhaps the most wonderful crevasse in the whole world-a fissure made by volcanic and basaltic eruptions, long before the race of man appeared on the globe.”—Vol. I. pp. 284-286.

The extraordinary geological formation of the Mount Seir range is very graphically described by Dr. Wilson, and, we believe, for the first time; and his account of the view from the summit of Mount Hor, that "mount on the top of which Aaron died," and which to this day bears amongst all the Arab tribes. the name of Jebel Hárún, bears striking impress of the writer's sympathy with the awful and sublime aspect of nature around him :

"The fundamental stratified rock we found to be the new red or variegated sandstone a circumstance worthy of notice, because, when associated with the existence of the same rock, with horizontal strata, on the heights of Mount Hor, which we afterwards visited in the course of the day, we had unequivocal evidence of the formation extending to the extraordinary depth of about 1500 feet. Through this rock, there burst longitudinal dykes of red granite and porphyry, running nearly parallel with the range of Mount Seir, and so completely silicifying the sandstone in some parts as to give it the appearance of a primitive rock. Above the red sandstone, we have the Jurassic limestone, so abundant in the Holy Land, and highest of all the cretaceous system of which we afterwards found the summits of Mount Seir behind Petra to be composed. Over much of the sandstone below, there lie great quantities of alluvial compact conglomerate, principally of chalk, with pebbles and rounded stones, and also large quantities of loose chalk, which have been washed down by the heavy rains. The red granite and the dark porphyr cutting through the stratified rocks, so diverse in their colour, and the white debris by which they are covered, presented together a scene so peculiar as to give large scope to our wonderment."

"Near the crown of the height, we found a gash in the monntain, with a ledge of rock overhanging it; and in this cut, after passing an ancient archway and gate, we found a regular series of steps which conducted us to the very summit.

After the greatness and peril of the effort which we had been compelled to make, we should, in ordinary circumstances, have been elated with the success which we had experienced; but the wild sublimity, and grandeur, and terror of the new and wonderful scene around and underneath us, overawed our souls. We were seated on the very throne, as it appeared to us, of Desolation itself. Its own metropolis of broken, and shattered, and frowning heights-ruin piled upon ruin, and dark and devouring depth added to depth,-lay on our right hand and on our left. To the rising sun, Mount Seir, the pride and the glory of Edom, and the terror of its adversaries, lay before us-smitten in its length and breadth by the hand of the Almighty stretched out against it-barren and most desolate, with its daughter, the "city of the rock," overthrown and prostrate at its feet. To the west, we had the great and terrible wilderness, with its deserts, and pits, and droughts, spread out before us, without any limit but its own vastness, and pronounced by God himself to be the very "shadow of death." We could not restrict our attention to the awful scene, unparalleled though

it was in our experience, as combinning the terrors of both the Almighty power and avenging justice of God. It was the type and representation to us of that day of the Lord, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Would that we had taken home to ourselves with greater seriousness than we did, the solemn counsel, "Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God."

In Petra Dr. Wilson spent several days, and he has given a full and animated description of that wonderful city. He thinks that Dr. Robinson is mistaken in supposing all the excavations in the rocks to have been either tombs or temples; and from finding many with windows, as well as doors, habitable apartments, cisterns for water in front, and easy access from below, he has no doubt that these at least formed habitations for the living. Very interesting also is his comparison of the excavations of Petra with the cave temples and sculptures of Western India. But Dr. Wilson's well regulated mind was not entirely absorbed by the sublime and astonishing combination of nature and human art in the land of marvels around him; he looked with the feelings of a christian philanthropist upon the wild people of the neighbourhood; and he was rewarded by the very probable identification of the rude Fellahin of Wadí Músá with the ancient children of Edom. This discovery is so interesting, that we must quote his account of it at some length:

"The most interesting of our conferences with the Felláhín of Wádí Músá were those which referred to their own position in the human family. Having been struck with the peculiarity of their countenance and dress, we asked the sheikh and some of his dependents whom we had invited to our tents, if they considered themselves a distinct Arabian tribe, or a portion of any known Arabian community, Their reply was startling :-“ Lá, nahnu aulád Beni-Israyen." 'No; we are the offspring of the Bene-Israel,”and gave occasion to the following conversation, which Mr. Smith and I recorded at the time in their presence:

Travellers." Who excavated the tombs and dwellings of Wádí Músá? Felláhín.-" The Bene-Israel, the Turkmans, and the Nasrání,"-Christians, but applied to foreigners in general, such as the Greeks and Romans. T-" Where are the tombs of the Bene-Israel?

F." The district (balad) of the Bene-Israel is in the corner yonder," pointing to the series of tombs remarkable from their plainness at the northwest corner of the valley.

T.-"Where are the Turkman tombs ?"

F.-" They are near them."

T.

F.

"Where are the tombs of the Nasrání ?”

"These are they," pointing to the large excavations around us.

T "Do you ever find anything in the tombs ?"

F

"Yes; we have found plenty of skulls and bones, but the coffins are almost all empty." In connexion with this remark, one of the Felláhín got up to the top of the rocks and brought from a tomb an ancient urn of plain earthen ware, for which we gave him a few piastres.

T.-" Were all the excavations intended for the accommodation of the dead?"

F.-" No; they were intended for the living also."

T.-"Who were the first inhabitants of Wádí Músá? Tell us all you know about their history."

F" This country was first in the possession of the Jahilí Kaum el-'Abd, of the ignorance of the people of the slave.' After them came the Bene-Israel under Músá. After that the Bene-Israel became Muhammadans, The Felláhín battled with the Wáhabis, when the Sheikh's beard was first beginning to vegetate, when 170 Wáhabís and 20 Fellàhín were killed. None of us can read, and we have no records."

T.—“ How numerous is your body?"

F

"There are 500 of us able to bear arms under Sheikh Suleimán and 500 under Sheikh 'Aubed."

T.-" Do you intermarry with the Arabs?

F. No; we intermarry with the Bene-Israel of the Beit-Shár."
T. "Where do these people reside?"

They live in the Jebel Atlabek and Jebel es-Safáh. named el-Hamd. They come to us in the hot weather." T." What are the names of men current among you? omitting all your titles."

Their Wádí is

Mention them,

F.- -'Aesu, (Esau,) 'Aubed (Obed,) Husein, Risalán, Salím, 'Aid, 'Alí, 'Umar, Músá, (Moses,) Shahín, Sulemán, (Solomon,) Hamad, Dáwúd, (David,) Yúsif, (Joseph,) Mahmud, 'Amar, 'Abd el-Káder, Kásim, Mansur, Salámah, Ibráhím, (Abraham,) Nasr-Allah, Ishak, (Isaac,) Yákub, (Jacob,) Salih, Náúm."

T." Now, mention the names of some of your women."

F.—“ Maryam, Fátimah, Salmah, Hamdah, Nasrah, Reyyá, (Leah ?) Hájar, (Hagar,) Tamúm, Khaukhá, Wardah, Nijám, Salímah, 'Aidah, Rafyah, Maridhah, 'Aidhah, Kanurá, Watfih, Safir, Maridhahá, Satr, Halima, 'Ayeshah, Matshabah, Rifká, (Rebecca,) Jaflá, Harbá, Latífah.”

Simple as was the information which we received from them, it is not without the highest interest. As they consider themselves distinct from the Arabs, and have no intermarriage with them, it is extremely probable that they are the descendants of some of the older races, (commingled with one another it may be,) who anciently inhabited Idumea. Though in their features and personal appearance, and even dress, as in the ringlet of hair above the ear which some of them wear, they certainly resemble the Jews who are settled in the east, particularly those of Yemen and Bombay; and, though they denominate themselves Bene-Israel, they may not belong to the family of Jacob, but of Esau, which, as we learn from Josephus, embraced the Jewish faith. It is worthy of notice that the first name of a man which they mentioned to us as current among them was that of Esau; and that Matshabah, one of their female names, seems, by a bold anagram not unusual in the formation of Arabic words from the Hebrew, to resemble Bashemath, the wife of Esau.* 'Aidah, too, one of the female names, is like that of Adah, another of Esau's wives. Most of the names, including even those which are found in the Old Testament, are common to the Felláhín of Wádí Músá and the Arabs. The number of Old Testament names in proportion to others, however, is greater than I have found in any list so limited as that which we obtained from these people. It is curious to see that between "the Times of Ignorance," of which all the Arabs speak, and the prevalence of Islám, they interpose the advent to the

* Gen. XXXVI. 10.

country of the Bene-Israel; and that they point to the simple excavations of the north-west of Petra, as particularly the work of the Bene-Israel,— or, as I have supposed, the Edomites,-properly distinguishing them from the more artistic excavations which they ascribe to the Nasrání, or Nazarenes, or indefinite, foreigners "Vol. I. pp. 330-333.

The coming up from the wilderness into the promised land has been often described; but never with greater freshness and beauty than in the following extract. Dr. Wilson's temperament is apparently not poetical; yet the feelings of the christian, answering to the call of nature and the hallowed associations of faith, have here found utterance in words that breathe the essence of true poetry. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful passage in the whole compass of English literature; and we present it to our readers as a gem, that will win its way into every heart.

“The thick mists and heavy dews of this morning were decided indications to us that we had escaped from the dreadful drought of the desert and entered on the fertile elevated plains of the south of Judah. The light soil around us, though presenting nothing like the carpet of emerald green, which we see in more northern climes, was both delightful and refreshing to the eye. The grass, which was shooting up in separate stalks, not unlike rye, though comparatively sparc, was intermingled with wild oats and innumerable beautiful aromatic flowers and shrubs, many of which were in their fullest blow. The wild daisy and tulip, and a species of clover,† though not the most striking in themselves, recalled to our remembrance the pastoral fields, so long removed from our view, but which we had so often trodden in mirthful glee "when life's bosom was young." We felt exhilarated to a degree which no one can imagine, who has not been in circumstances similar to our own. The scene to us, after a pilgrimage of forty days in the great and terrible wilderness, the "shadow of death,' was truly as life from the dead. We felt as if the larks which were offering their orisons to the God of nature, were sympathizing with our feelings. And then the Scriptural associations of this charming locality! Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob-the plain men dwelling in tents, but the great patriarchs of the people wonderful from the beginning--and David, the sweet singer of Israel, passed before us, with their flocks and berds, in all their pastoral simplicity and with all their benignant piety. Most interesting was it to us to feast our eyes on the very works of God, which, under the guidance of his Spirit, nursed their pure and elevated devotion. That language, which was the fruit of their own inspiration, we found alone adequate to the expression of our praise. Such lyrics as the hundred and fourth psalm were pregnant with new meaning, and had to us a beauty and freshness such as we had never before perceived or enjoyed.”—Vol. I. pp. 344-345.

Here is another picture, in the broad Dutch style, sketched with a vigorous pencil, and evidently drawn from the life:

Dhahariyah has seen better times than those which it now enjoys, as the disjecta membra of its former buildings, and the remains of a Kasr, a tower or castle, and one or two other erections, sufficiently show. At present it consists of about eighty square and round burrowing places, partly excavated from the ruins, and partly covered with mud and stones, into which

* Tulipa Clusiana.

+ Trefolium Stellatum. Schubert.

as many families are crammed, when their members are together; a pretty large arched khán or caravanserai, in which we found most of the male population lolling and laughing, and smoking and spitting, and swearing and abusing one another, round an immense fire of sticks, charcoal, and dried cow-dung, the only fuel now, as probably in the days of old, in the land of Canaan; a number of pits or magazines, in some of which grain and lumber are deposited, and into others of which the bodies of the dead are thrown, that the trouble of digging graves may be avoided; and of dunghills the accumulation of years, literally as high as the hovels themselves. It resembles many other places which we afterwards saw in different parts of the country, and which are perhaps even sadder indications of the desolation and degradation of the land, than the numerous districts which are left without an inhabitant. The villagers, as distinguished from the Badawin, are denominated Hadhr Arabs. The stout lubbardly men, with their blotched faces, clotted and curly beards, and shaggy apparel-several of them wearing a sheepskin tied over their shoulders-were the very personifications of filth aud laziness. The women, who were unveiled, were tolerably well-clothed, and had much more frankness and kindness about them than their lords and masters."-Vol. I. pp. 351-352.

By way of pendant, we give a specimen of an Arab scolding match. A quarrel, or rather a coolness, had taken place between Dr. Wilson's guides, and another party of Badawin. The climax was brought about by Sheikh Husein.

"Your wives and daughters," he tauntingly said, "are such tender and fastidious objects, that they can neither drive a sheep to the waste, nor recall a wandering camel. They can neither bake, nor boil, nor grind, nor bring water. Instead of serving you, you have to serve them and assist them. They are the sheikhs, and you are the slaves." This impudence met with a corresponding response. "Get down from your camels, and we shall show you that you lie. Our wives are women; but not so are yours, who are so dirty and smell so rank, that a man cannot sit with them in the same tent." Worse than this followed, and had not we peremptorily interfered, the consequences might have been lamentable, as both parties became absolutely frantic with rage."-Vol. I. p. 339.

Dr. Wilson visited the reputed tomb of Abraham at Hebron, but was unable to obtain admission into the interior. The tomb itself is covered by a mosque, which bears evident traces of having been formerly a christian church, built probably by the crusaders. The wall surrounding it is about sixty feet high, and the lowest part has every appearance of great antiquity. It is composed of the large bevelled stones, seen in the wall of the Haram and the tower of Hippicus at Jerusalem, and now generally supposed to be of old Jewish, or Phoenician origin. The tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives, as well as the tomb of Joseph, (although he was buried at Shechem)* are shewn inside the mosque:

* The tomb of Joseph, (says Dr. Wilson, vol. II p. 60) is often coupled in ancient writers with the well of Jacob. It lies about two or three hundred yards to the north of it, across the valley, and we repaired to it after leaving the well. As it at present stands, it is a small solid erection in the form of a wagon roof, over what is sup. posed to be the Patriarch's grave, with a small pillar or altar at each of its extremities,