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care of them, tying up their blossoms with bands formed of the foliage, to prevent their being torn off, and scattered by the wind.

The trunk of the date palm tree served for beams, either entire or split in half: while the gereet, or branches, were, as they are now, used in making wicker baskets, bedsteads, coops, and ceilings of rooms, answering for every purpose for which laths or other thin wood-work might be required.

The Doum Palm.-Instead of one trunk without branches, the doum throws up two trunks, or more properly, branches, at the same time from the soil. From each of these spring two branches, which are also frequently bifurcated more towards the top of the tree. The terminal branches are crowned with bundles of from twenty to thirty palm leaves from six to nine feet in length. The fruit of the doum is most essentially different from that of the date palm. The tree grows in Upper Egypt, but seldom in the lower country. The wood is more solid than that of the date palm, and will even bear to be cut into planks, of which the doors in Upper Egypt are frequently made.

Barley. Of all cultivated grain, barley comes to perfection in the greatest variety of climates, and is consequently found over the greatest extent of the habitable globe. The heat and the drought of tropical climates does not destroy it, and it ripens in the short summers of those which verge on the frigid zone. In Egypt, where the climate is mild, two crops may be reaped in the same year; one in the spring from seed sown in the autumn, and one in the autumn from seed sown in the spring. This explains a passage in Scripture, which speaks of the destruction of this plant in one of the ten plagues, Exod. ix. 31, 32. Commentators are generally agreed that this even happened in March: the first crop of barley was therefore nearly ripe, and the flax ready to gather; but the wheat and the rye sown in spring were not sufficiently advanced in growth to be injured. This is confirmed by the testimony of modern travellers. Dr. Richardson, writing in Egypt in the early part of March, says, "The barley and flax are now advanced; the former is in the ear, and the latter is bolled, and it seems to be about this season of the year that God brought the plague of thunder and hail upon the Egyptians, to punish the guilty Pharaoh, who had hardened his presumptuous heart against the miracles of Omnipotence."

Rye. It is uncertain whether the Hebrew Kusemeth, which occurs Exod. ix. 32, and which is there spoken of as anciently growing in Egypt, signifies rye. Most commentators contend that it was spelt, which the word is usually rendered in other versions. No plant, however, bearing this name grows now in Egypt; and, as the modern state of agriculture in that country affords no data to assist us in our conjectures on the ancient agriculture, it is as likely to have been rye as spelt.

Dr. Shaw supposes that rice is the grain intended by the original, and cites Pliny as affirming that rice, or oryza, was the olyra of the ancients. Hasselquist, however, states that the Egyptians learned the cultivation of rice under the caliphs.

The

Ensete. We are told by Horus Apollo, that the Egyptians, wishing to describe the antiquity of their origin, figured a bundle of papyrus, as an emblem of the food they first subsisted on, when the use of wheat was yet unknown among them. Bruce affirms this to be the ensete, an Ethiopian plant, which was cultivated in Egypt till the general use of wheat superseded it as a diet. stalk of this herbaceous plant, when boiled, has the taste of the best wheaten bread not perfectly baked, and if eaten with milk or butter, is wholesome, nourishing, and easy of digestion. symbol, therefore, by no means proves that the ancient Egyptians ate plants before they discovered corn, but only that ensete was one of the articles they used for food, and which occasionally supplied the place of wheat.

This

Lotus.-The Egyptian lotus, an aquatic plant, and a species of water lily, was also used by the ancient Egyptians for food. Herodotus thus describes it: The water lily grows in the inundated lands of Egypt. The seed of this flower, which resembles that of the poppy, they bake, and make into a kind of bread. They also use the root of this plant, which is round, of an agreeable flavour, and about the size of an apple. This the Egyptians call the lotus." Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, bears similar testimony. It is the nymphæa lotus of Linnæus, and the colocassia of Pliny. It is mentioned by Prosper Alpinus, under the name of culcas. At the present day it is called eddow, and the inundated places of the Nile produce an abundance of it. Its root is also the food of numbers both in the East and West Indies, and in the South Sea Islands.

Holcus Sorghum.-This plant, which in Latin is called Milium, a name which points to a stalk bearing a thousand grains, appears to have been known in the early ages of the world in the countries bordering upon Egypt, and we may safely conclude that it was known in that country also. It is now extensively cultivated there, and three harvests are obtained in one year. In the countries south of Egypt, it is frequently to be met with, from sixteen to twenty feet in height, and wheat being almost unknown there, both man and beast subsist chiefly upon it. In Egypt, it forms part of the diet of the poorer classes. But that which forms the chief food of the Egyptians is, what it has been from the remotest period of time, bread-corn.

Wheat. We learn from the interesting history of Joseph, as well as from the narrative of the ten plagues, that Egypt was famous in those days for this species of grain. Some, indeed, point out that country as the parent of wheat; and, as the earliest mention of it is connected with that country, and it might have extended from thence to the islands of the Mediterranean and to Greece and her colonies, the conjecture is probable.

The matchless wealth of Egypt arose from its corn, which, even in an almost universal famine, enabled it to support neighbouring nations, as it did under Joseph's wise administration. In later ages, it was the vast granary of Rome and Constantinople. A calumny was raised against St. Athanasius, charging him with having threatened to prevent in future the importation of

corn into Constantinople from Alexandria, which greatly incensed the emperor Constantine against him, because he knew that his capital city could not subsist without the corn exported from Egypt thither. The same reason induced the emperors of Rome to take so great a care of Egypt, which they considered as the nursing mother of the world's metropolis.* The same river, however, which enabled Egypt to feed the two most populous cities in the world, sometimes reduced its own inhabitants to the most terrible famine; and it is astonishing that Joseph's wise foresight, which in fruitful years had made provision for seasons of sterility, should not have taught these wise politicians to adopt similar precautions against the contingency of the failure of the Nile. Pliny, in his panegyric upon Trajan, paints with great strength the extremity to which that country was reduced by a famine in the reign of that prince, and the relief he generously afforded to it. "The Egyptians," says he, "who gloried that they needed neither sun nor rain to produce their corn, and who believed they might confidently contest the prize of plenty with the most fruitful countries of the world, were condemned to an unexpected drought and a fatal sterility, from the greatest part of their territories being deserted, and left unwatered by the Nile, whose inundation is the source and standard of their abundance. They then implored that assistance from their prince, which they had been accustomed to expect only from their river. The delay of their relief was no longer than that which employed a courier to bring the melancholy news to Rome; and one would have imagined that this misfortune had befallen them only to display with greater lustre the generosity and goodness of Cesar. It was an ancient and general opinion, that our city could not subsist without provisions drawn from Egypt. This vain and proud nation boasted, that, though conquered, they nevertheless fed their conquerors; that, by means of their river, either abundance or scarcity were entirely at their own disposal. But we now have returned the Nile his own harvests, and given him back the provisions he sent us. Let the Egyptians be, then, convinced by their own experience, that they are not necessary to us, and are only our vassals. Let them know that their ships do not so much bring us the provision we stand in need of, as the tribute which they owe us. And let them never forget that we can do without them, but that they can never do without us. most fruitful province had been ruined, had it not worn the Roman chains! The Egyptians,

This

*If what Diodorus affirms be true, that in his day, Egypt contained thirteen millions of people, and that the population consisted before his time of seventeen millions, the fertility of Egypt must have been prodigious indeed. And the wonder is heightened, when we reflect on the above-mentioned facts, that it exported vast quantities of grain to Rome, and afterwards to Constantinople. Rollin states the exportation to Rome to have been twenty millions of bushels of wheat, which is equal to 2,500,000 quarters. Such a quantity was more than sufficient to have supplied the whole population of Rome, though it should have doubled that of the metropolis of England at the present day. His error arises from mistranslation. The word "modii," which he translates bushels, according to Arbuthnot and Adam, signifies pecks. Hence 625,000 quarters only were exported to Rome annually.

in their sovereign, found a deliverer and a father. Astonished at the sight of their granaries, filled without any labour of their own, they were at a loss to know to whom they owed this foreign and gratuitous plenty. The famine of a people, though at such a distance from us, yet so speedily stopped, served only to let them feel the advantage of living under our empire. The Nile may, in other times, have diffused more plenty in Egypt, but never more glory upon us. May Heaven, content with this proof of the people's patience, and the prince's generosity, restore for ever back to Egypt its ancient fertility."

The reproach of this ancient author to the Egyptians for their vain regard to the inundations of the Nile, points out one of their peculiar characteristics; and which is aptly and beautifully illustrated by the prophet Ezekiel in a passage wherein God speaks to Pharaoh-hophra, or Apries, thus: "Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself," Ezek. xxix. 3. The Almighty perceived an insupportable pride in the heart of this prince, a sense of security, and confidence in the inundations of the Nile, as though the effects of this inundation had been owing to nothing but his own care and labour, or those of his predecessors, and not, as in reality they were, dependent on the gracious influences of Heaven. So prone is man by nature to forget the source from whence all blessings flow.

Besides the plants enumerated above, which grew anciently in Egypt, at the present day the following are successfully cultivated in that country: winter plants, which are sown after the inundation, and reaped in about three or four months after; peas, vetches, lupins, clover, coleseed, lettuce, poppy, and tobacco: summer plants, which are raised by artificial irrigation, by means of water wheels, and other machinery; Indian corn, sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and madder. Rice is sown in the spring, and gathered in October, chiefly near Lake Menzaleh. Fruit trees, which grow mostly in gardens near the principal towns; the mulberry, and Seville orange, which ripens in January; apricots in May; peaches and plums in June; apples, pears, and caroobs at the end of June; grapes at the beginning of July; figs in July; prickly pears at the end of July; pomegranates and lemons in August; citrus medica in September; oranges in October; and sweet lemons and banana in November. Some of these plants may have grown anciently in Egypt, but we know of no data whereon to make such an assertion.

GOLD AND SILVER MINES.

Egypt was proverbial for its riches. See Exod. xii. 35; Ezek. xxxii. 12; Heb. xi. 26. This arose partly from its fertility, and partly from its extensive commerce. But that which chiefly rendered the people rich in gold and silver, for which they were celebrated, was their mines of these precious metals. Their gold mines were in the desert of the upper country. Their position, still known to the Arabs, is about s.E. from Ba

The

hayreh, a village opposite the town of Edfou, in latitude 24° 58', on Apollinopolis Magna, and at a distance of nearly ten days' journey from that place, in the mountains of the Bisharéch. Arab authors place them at Gebal Ollágee, a mountain situated in the land of Begá, which word points out the Bisháree desert, being still used by the tribe as their own name. The gold lies in veins of quartz, in the rocks, bordering an inhospitable valley and its adjacent ravines; but the small quantity they are capable of producing by immense labour, added to the difficulties of procuring water, and other local impediments, would probably render the re-opening of them an unprofitable speculation. In the time of Aboolfidda, indeed, who lived about A.D. 1334, they only just covered their expenses, from which circumstance, they have ever since been abandoned by the Arab caliphs. The toil of extracting the gold in ancient times, according to the account of Agatharchides, was immense; and the loss of life in working the mines, appalling. He thus describes the process: "The kings of Egypt compelled many poor people, together with their wives and children, to labour in the mines, wherein they underwent more suffering than can well be imagined. The hard rocks of the gold mountains being cleft by heating them with burning wood, the workmen then apply their iron implements. The young and active, with iron hammers, break the rock in pieces, and form a number of narrow passages, not running in straight lines, but following the direction of the vein of gold, which is as irregular in its course as the roots of a tree. workmen have lights fastened on their forehead, by the aid of which they cut their way through the rock, always following the white veins of stone. To keep them to their task, an overseer stands by, ready to inflict a blow on the lazy. The material that is thus loosened, is carried out of the galleries by boys, and received at the mouth of the mine by old men and the weaker labourers, who then carry it to the Epopta or inspectors. These are young men, under thirty years of age, strong and vigorous, who pound the broken fragments with a stone pestle, till there is no piece larger than a pea. It is then placed on grinding-stones, or a kind of mill-stone, and women, three on each side, work at it till it is reduced to fine powder. . . The fine powder is then passed on to a set of workmen called Sellangees, who place it on a finely-polished board, not lying in a flat position, but a little sloping. The Sellangee, after pouring some water on the board, rubs it with his hand, at first gently, but afterwards more vigorously, by which process the lighter earthy particles slide off along the slope of the board, and the heavier parts are left behind. He then takes soft sponges, which he presses on the board rather gently, which causes the lighter particles to adhere to the sponge, while the heavy shining grains still keep their place on the board, owing to their weight. From the Sellangees the gold particles are transferred to the roasters, who measure and weigh all that they receive, before putting it into an earthen jar. With the gold particles they mix lead in a certain proportion, lumps of salt, a little tin, and barley bran, and putting a cover on the jar that

fits tight, and smearing it all over, they burn it in a furnace for five days and nights without intermission. On the sixth day, they cool the vessel, and take out the gold, which they fiud somewhat diminished in quantity: all the other substances entirely disappear. These mines were worked under the ancient kings of Egypt, but abandoned during the occupation of the country by the Ethiopians, and afterwards by the Medes and Persians. Even at the present day, (about B.C. 150,) we may find copper chisels or implements in the galleries, (the use of iron not being known at that time,)* and innumerable skeletons of the wretched beings who lost their lives in the passages of the mine. The excavations are of great extent, and reach down to the sea coast."

This process appears to be represented in the paintings of tombs, executed during the reign of Osirtasen, and some of the ancient Pharaohs. We are not informed when they were first discovered, but we may suppose that the mines were worked at the earliest periods of the Egyptian monarchy. The total of their annual produce is said by Hecatæus to have been recorded in a temple founded by a monarch of the 18th dynasty. He also notices an immense sum produced annually from the silver mines of Egypt, which amounted to 3,200 myriads of minæ, each of which was 1 lb. 4 oz. 6 dwt. English weight. In a sculpture of Thebes, also, Osymandas is represented dedicating to the deity the gold and silver he annually received from the mines throughout Egypt, which in silver alone amounted to this enormous sum.

Besides these mines, there were others of copper, lead, iron, and emeralds, all of which were valuable. These mines still exist in the deserts of the Red Sea. The same districts also abound in sulphur, which was most probably made use of by the ancient Egyptians.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF EGYPT.

IN ancient times, Egypt comprehended a great number of cities. Herodotus relates, indeed, that under Amasis, who lived about 570 years B.C., there were 20,000 inhabited cities in that country. Diodorus, however, with more judgment and caution, calculates 18,000 large villages and towns; and states that, under Ptolemy Lagus, they amounted to upwards of 30,000, a number which remained even at the period when he wrote, about 44 years B.C., when the population of Egypt was reduced from seventeen to thirteen millions of inhabitants. According to Theocritus, the number of towns, at an earlier period, was 33,339; he may here, however, include some of the neighbouring provinces belonging to Egypt, as he comprehends Ethiopia, Libya, Syria, Arabia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Caria, and Lycia, within the dominions of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Other authors may also occasionally have extended the

*This author must, therefore, mean copper in the early part of this extract, though he uses a word properly rendered iron.

name of Egypt to its possessions in Libya, Ethiopia, and Syria; since, making every allowance for the flourishing condition of this highly fertile country, the number of towns they mention is too disproportionate for the sole valley of Egypt. Our knowledge of the more ancient cities of Egypt is very limited, and that knowledge for the most part is preserved by existing remains. Among the most remarkable of these cities is

NO, NO-AMMON, DIOSPOLIS, OR THEBES.

Thebes was, indeed, the most ancient capital and renowned city of Egypt. It was probably built by the first settlers, Misraim and his family, whence Egypt is generally styled "the land of Misraim" in the original Scriptures, though usually rendered the land of Egypt. The origin of the city is certainly lost in the remote infancy of human settlements and institutions.

The Egyptian name of the city was No, Ezek. xxx. 14; to which was added Amon, or Amoun, which was, according to Herodotus, a title of Jove among the Egyptians. This would suggest that the city denoted was the chief seat of the worship of Jupiter Ammon. And such was No; for the Septuagint renders it, Ezek. xxx. 15, by Diospolis," The city of Jove," on account of its devotion to the worship of Jupiter. Dr. Hales says, that it has been mistakenly supposed that the term Amon, or Amoun, denotes Ham, the youngest son of Noah, and the father of Misraim; and he adds, that its real signification is "Truth," or " Veracity," whence the Lord is styled El Amunah, "God of truth," Deut. xxxii. 4. Plato says, that "the secret and invisible creative power supreme among the Egyptians was called Ammon;" and Plutarch, that the term signified "hidden." This was also an epithet of the true God: 66 Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?" Judg. xiii. 18; and it accords with the inscription on the temple of Neith, or "Wisdom," at Sais, in Lower Egypt, as recorded by Plutarch :

I AM ALL THAT HATH BEEN, AND IS, AND WILL BE;
AND MY VEIL NO MORTAL YET UNCOVERED.
MY OFFSPRING IS THE SUN.

This may explain the ancient aphorism, "Truth lies hid in a well;" as primarily relating to the incomprehensible nature of the Supreme Being, "the only true God," John xvii. 3, who was styled by the Egyptians Scotos agnoston, meaning "darkness that cannot be pierced," and by the Athenians, Agnostos Theos, "THE UNKNOWN GOD." See Acts xvii. 23. The Grecian name of this city, Thebes, was probably derived from Thebeh, "an ark," like Noah's, the memory of which would naturally be preserved by the first settlers after the deluge in all parts of the earth. Bruce, indeed, observes, that "the figure of the temples in Thebes do not seem to be far removed from the idea given us of the ark."

Thebes was the metropolis of the country of Egypt; far eclipsing the metropolitan cities which arose in Middle and Lower Egypt. It was venerated by the ancient Egyptians as the parent city, the seat of sacred mysteries, and of learning, and the arts. Long after Memphis had become the

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political metropolis of the united kingdom, and from its more advantageous situation for trade had diverted from Thebes the wealth it derived from commerce, it survived in splendour and magnificence. Even at the present day, it has been said, while Zoph, and Zoan, and On, have scarcely left behind a vestige of their existence, the desolate temples of Thebes remain in almost all their pristine glory, and promise to carry down the records of her glory and desolation to the end of time.

The poet Homer, in his immortal verse, speaks of the great wealth of Thebes, and mentions its hundred gates, from each of which issued 200 men with horses and chariots, etc. This poetical allusion has been taken by some for history. Diodorus, however, intimates that the force was not raised in the vicinity of Thebes; and with reference to the hundred gates, he states the conjecture of some persons that the city derived its title of Hecatompylos from the numerous propyla, or gateways of temples and public buildings. The notion of its having gates is strongly objected to by some travellers, inasmuch as not the least indication can be discovered that the city was enclosed by a wall.

Concerning the buildings of the city, we have no detailed description from ancient sources, but only of the public monuments. It is probable, however, that in this and other ancient cities of Egypt, while the temples were erected with such strong materials as would resist very long the power of time, the mass of private dwellings were of a very lowly character, such as mud or brick. When we speak, indeed, of the splendour of ancient cities, we must understand it exclusively of its public buildings and monuments, and not of handsome streets and comfortable habitations, which a modern city exhibits.

But we not only learn from profane history that Thebes was one of the most powerful cities in days of yore; Scripture bears testimony to the same fact. There is a striking passage in Nahum iii. 8-10, wherein there is an implied comparison between No, or Thebes, and Nineveh, with an apparent preference given to the former. The prophet interrogates Nineveh thus: "Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?" And then in the next verse he says, "Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite." How strong and great Thebes was, history and its existing monuments testify; and its population may be inferred from its being called "populous," in comparison with the great city Nineveh, as well as from the accounts of its extent. These accounts differ greatly, but D'Anville, analyzing the various statements, deduces that its circuit was equal to twenty-seven Roman miles, being an extent to which few modern capitals approach, and which London itself does not greatly exceed.

Of the wealth of Thebes, some idea may be formed from the accounts of the spoils obtained by the Persians under Cambyses, and the quantite of precious metal collected after the burning of thy city. This last, according to Diodorus, amounted to upwards of 300 talents, about 26,020 pounds troy, of gold, and 2,300 talents, or 199,518 pounds

of silver; the former worth 1,248,960l., and the latter 598,5441. sterling. This destruction is said to have levelled not only the private houses, but the greater part of its numerous temples.

But this was not the first time that Thebes had suffered from the desolations of war. The prophet Nahum intimates, in the passage referred to, that it was devastated before Nineveh. After drawing the comparison between the two cities, he says, "Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honourable men,* and all her great men were bound in chains." This corresponds to the first blow which the splendour of Thebes received when the Ethiopians invaded Egypt, 769 years B. C. It suffered again, very probably, when Nebuchadnezzar ravaged Egypt, 570 years B.C., after which it was burned by the Persian king. But it even then survived, and was still a city of some note. Eighty-six years B.C. it was, indeed, of such strength and consequence, as to dare to rebel against Ptolemy Lathyrus, and it endured a three years' siege before it was taken and plundered. It was again punished for rebellion by Gallus, in the reign of Augustus; after which the zeal of the early Christians led them to deface and destroy, as much as lay in their power, its remaining monuments, on account of the outrageous forms of idolatry there displayed. But some of its monuments still remain, testifying at once to its ancient grandeur and to the truth of the inspired volume, which foretold its destruction. See Jer. xlvi. and Ezek. xxx. 14-16.

The ruins of Thebes, as described by travellers, testify an extent and magnificence of architectural design almost without a parallel. Karnac and Luxor are situated on the eastern side of Thebes, distant from each other about two miles. Karnac, which is the largest edifice in Egypt, was dedicated to Priapus. The mole is 140 paces in length, and twenty-five in thickness. It leads to a court 110 paces in length, and the same in breadth. Two ranges of six columns conduct to a portico of 136 columns. The two middle ranges of these are eleven feet in diameter, the others are seven feet, the length of this vestibule is seventyeight paces, the breadth twenty-five; this leads into a court where there are four obelisks, and twelve colossal figures. Two other courts conduct to what are supposed to be the apartments of the kings; besides which, there are many extensive buildings connected with the palace by avenues of sphinxes, lions, and rams. Some of these avenues extend towards Luxor. The entrance to Luxor is composed of two obelisks, which at present rise seventy feet above the surface of the ground, and are understood to be about thirty below it; two colossal statues of black granite, each thirty-eight feet high: and two masses of building of an oblong shape, and tapering sides fifty-five feet high, and covered with hieroglyphics. These large masses are so crowded together that from the front of the moles to that of the obelisks the distance is only fourteen paces. On the western side of Thebes,

It was customary with many of the ancient nations to cast lots for the principal captives who were taken in war.

is the site of Memnonium, and the statue of red granite thrown down by Cambyses. The space between Memnonium and Medineet Abou, about a mile and a quarter, is covered with fragments of Colossus. The tomb of Osymandas is supposed by some to have been here. The palace of Mendineet Abou has a covered passage still preserved. This is fifty-five paces long, and sixty-five broad, and it is formed by four rows of columns placed on the four sides of the court. These columns are forty-five feet high, and seven feet in diameter. The tombs of the kings are situated in a narrow valley between the mountains of Libya, about four miles from the river. Strabo says, that there were seventeen tombs remaining in his time; and if we include a grotto near the Memnonium, the same number still remains.

From the nature of the sculptures, and the distribution of the apartments, Karnac, Luxor, and Memnonium, are supposed to have been residences of the kings of Egypt. All other buildings are considered as having been appropriated to religious purposes. Some, however, think, from the nature of the authority exercised by the Egyptian priesthood, that the palace and the temple were commonly united.

ZOAN, OR TANIS.

Zoan is rendered by the Septuagint, Tanin, or Tanis, which was a city of Egypt, situated near the mouth of one of the branches of the Nile, thence called Etium Taniticum. It appears to have been one of the most ancient capitals of Egypt. The sacred historian tells us, indeed, that it was built only seven years after Hebron, the chief residence of the patriarch Abraham and his family, Numb. xiii. 22: and that it was one of the royal cities, we gather from the fact that the plagues of Egypt were inflicted “in the field of Zoan." Psa. lxxviii. 12. Even in the days of Isaiah, it is mentioned as a seat of government. "Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish," Isa. xix. 11. As, however, in verse 13, Noph, or Memphis, is similarly noticed, and as it is certain there were not at that time two kings in such close vicinity, it is supposed that the kings of that period divided their residence between Zoan and Noph, as those of Persia did between Susa and Ecbatana. Bryant and others think that Tanis was too distant from the land of Goshen to have been the scene of the miracles recorded in Exodus, and they look for Zoan at Sais, which Bryant determines to have been situated a little above the point of the Delta, not far from Heliopolis, and therefore bordering close on the land of Goshen. But this is restricting the regions of Goshen within narrower limits than are assigned it by the best authorities whom we have followed in our description of that land; and therefore the Septuagint may be correct.

ON, OR HELIOPOLIS.

On, which is mentioned as early as in the days of Joseph, who married the daughter of the high priest of that city, Gen. xli. 45, is noticed

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