FUND FOR ALTERATION AND EXTENSION OF THE SOCIETY'S

LIBRARY.

In consequence of the removal of the Offices of the Society to

No. 11, HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY, W.C.,

a special fund has been formed to cover the extra expenses incurred and for the extension of the Society's Library.

The following subscriptions have already been received by the Secretary. Further amounts subscribed will be duly acknowledged in the Proceedings:

HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE SOCIETY

OF

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.

TENTH SESSION 1879-80.

Seventh Meeting, 4th May, 1880.

SAMUEL BIRCH, ESQ., PRESIDENT, D.C.L., LL.D., &c.

IN THE CHAIR.

THE following Presents were announced, and thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors :

From the Society of Antiquaries of London :-Proceedings; Vol. VIII, No. 2, March 20th, 1879, to January 15th, 1880. 8vo. London, 1880.

From the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland-Journal; Vol. IX., No. 3, February, 1880. 8vo.

London.

From the Royal Geographical Society:-Proceedings and Monthly Record of Geography; Vol. II., Nos. 4 & 5. 8vo. London, April and May, 1880.

From the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: The Archæological Journal, Vol. XXXVII., No. 145 8vo. London, 1880.

From the Palestine Exploration Fund:-Quarterly Statement, April, 1880. London, 8vo.

From the American Oriental Society:-Journal, Vol. X. No. 2. New Haven, U.S.A. 8vo. 1880.

From the Victoria Institute :-Journal of the Transactions, Vol. XIII. London. 8vo. 1880.

From the Translator:-The lay of the Himyarites by the Kadhi Neshwân Ibn Sa'id. Translated and edited by Captain W. F. Prideaux. 4to. Sehore, 1879. Twenty-five copies only printed.

The author of this poem appears to have died about A.H., 573, having left behind him several other works. "The poem is a terse epitome of the ancient history of El-yemen; if it does little more than record the names of kings and princes, still these names are rarely to be found elsewhere." The translation has been made from a manuscript copy, written on the sixth of the month, Rabi, ul-Âkhir, A.H., 1086, containing several important variants from texts previously published. A complete list of the various readings which are found in the MSS. in Von Kremer's and Müller's editions, and such proper names are noted as are to be found in the Himyaritic inscriptions. To render the historical portion of the poem intelligible, genealogical tables have been prepared from the commentaries.

From the author, François Lenormant :-Les Origines de l'histoire d'après la Bible et les traditions des peuples orientaux. De la création de l'homme au deluge. Paris, 8vo., 1880.

This work includes a new translation, from the Hebrew, of the chapters I to II of the book of Genesis. This is followed by appendices comprising in a collected form, the fragments referring to cosmogonies of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Phoenicians, a dissertation on the calendars of ancient Semitic nations, and an interlinear translation of the tablets in the British Museum recording the "Chaldean Genesis."

The following is a list of the chapters of the work :

I. La création de l'homme. II. Le premier péché. III. Les Kêroubîm et le glaive tournoyant. IV. Le fratricide et la fondation de la première ville. V. Les Schêthites et les Qaînites. VI. Les dix patriarches antédiluviens. VII. Les enfants de Dieu et les filles des hommes. VIII. Le déluge.

The following has been purchased by the Council for the Library of the Society:

Geschichte Aegyptens von Psammetich I., bis auf Alexander den Grossen, &c. Von Dr. Alfred Wiedemann. Leipzig. 8vo. 1880.

The following were nominated by the Council for election at the next meeting on June 1st:

Rev. E. B. Birks, M. A., Trinity Coll,, Cambridge.
Colonel Bravo, Hyde Park Square, W.

F. W. Hunstock, M.A., Kensington, S.W.

To be added to the list of subscribers :

The University Library, Aberdeen.

The following were elected Members of the Society, having been nominated on April 6th :

George William Bartram, R.E., Tunbridge Wells.

Rev. Jonathan P. Carey, Tiverton, Devon.

Benjamin Arthur Heywood, M.A., Red Lion Square, W.C.
William Chickall Jay, Wimbledon Park.

E. Wollaston N. Knocker, Dover.

Rev. Randolph H. Mc. Laughlin Berens, M.A., Chislehurst,
Kent.

George Samuel, Regent's Park, N.W.

A communication from M. Paul Pierret was then read by the Secretary :

"Libation Vase of Osor-ur, preserved in the Museum of the Louvre (No. 908)."