194 THE HOREB OF SCRIPTURE PROBABLY IDENTICAL

"bush"". In the absence of all reasons for a contrary opinion, we are bound, therefore, to assume, that the road which was taken by Moses on his return to Mitzraim, and in which he was thus met by Aaron, was the usual and direct road between the two countries; for on no other would they have had a chance of encountering each other without a special direction from the Almighty as to the course they were, each of them, to take; and that no such direction was given, is inferrible from the words of God unto Moses having been, simply, "Is not “Aaron the Levite thy brother?... behold, he cometh "forth to meet thee." It is consequently in the direction of this high road alone that we have to look for the precise situation of "the mount of "God." Now the dry valley between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and the head of the Gulf of Akaba or Red Sea (which valley there is the strongest ground for believing was once the continuation of the Jordan,) is known by the names of El Ghor and El Araba; and towards the centre of this valley are situate the ruins of the once famed city of Petra, which, after having been for ages concealed, was not long since brought to light by the indefatigable Burckhardt. This city is in the present day a place where many caravan roads meet3; and, from its situation, it would seem that in its neighbourhood must at all times have been the prin

1 Exod. iii. 2.

2 Exod. iv. 14.

3 See Heeren's Historical Researches: Asiatic Nations,' vol. ii.

p. 104.

WITH THE 'ARABA' OF THE PRESENT DAY. 195

cipal thoroughfare between the countries which are situated respectively to the west and to the east of the Dead Sea. We shall probably be not far removed from the truth, therefore, in concluding that in this neighbourhood, being on the high road from Midian into Mitzraim, the site of Horeb should be looked for. It may even be not unreasonable to entertain the idea that the Araba ( harabah) of

the Arabs, and the Horeb (n khoréb) of Scripture, may be identical; and it may consequently be regarded as a coincidence worthy of remark, that in the immediate vicinity of Petra is a mountain which the tradition of the country-and that one of no late period, since it is mentioned by Josephus, Eusebius and Jerom',-points out as being Mount Hor, the burying-place of Aaron, whilst a stream which runs at its base is called, after the Jewish lawgiver, Ain Mousa2. I do not mean to assign any extraordinary value to this coincidence; but as the rock in Horeb, from which Moses miraculously caused the stream to flow, and also Mount Sinai, must unquestionably be sought 1 See Col. Leake's Preface to Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, &c., p. vii.

2 "Ain Mousa is a copious spring, rushing from under a rock " at the eastern extremity of Wady Mousa."-Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 420. Col. Leake suggests (Pref. p. vii.) that Mousa is, "perhaps, an Arabic corruption of Mosera where Aaron died "(Deut. x. 6.);" but if my views respecting the geography of this particular country be correct, the necessity for such a supposition fails, since Mount Tor will have to be placed in a very different part of the Desert of Arabia.

196

'THE WILDERNESS' THE DESERT OF ARABIA. for in this direction, this neighbourhood, if no undue importance be attributed to the tradition I have just alluded to, may deserve the attention of future investigators of this subject, and particularly that of travellers who may visit the country' of which it forms a part.

It is not my intention in this place to enter into the consideration of the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert; it being sufficient, for the present, to have shown that they could not have taken place within the peninsula of Mount Tor; and to record my opinion, that the several stations of the forty years' wanderings can only be looked for in THE Wilderness ( hammidbár)', that is, in the great Desert of Arabia, to the east of the Red Sea or Gulf of Akaba.

1 That the situation of Mount Sinai was in this direction is further evident from the words of the inspired legislator in his prophetic blessing of the children of Israel: "The Lord came from

Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from "mount Paran" (Deut. xxxiii. 2.); in which text, by the reduplication which is so remarkable a feature of Hebrew poetry, the same place, or, more correctly, the same neighbourhood, is alluded to under different names.

"

In determining the position of Mount Sinai, we must not overlook the express statement of Moses, that "there are eleven days' "journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh"barnea" (Deut. i. 2.); from which it may probably result that its true situation will be found to be to the eastward of Petra.

2 Numb. xiv. 25, et seq.

CHAPTER IX.

Descendants of Ham, continued.-Mitzraim :-Situation of his possessions :-His descendants :-The Lubim, Anamim, Lehabim and Naphtuhim, the progenitors of the present race of Arabs. The Ishmaelites a Mitzritish people, notwithstanding their paternal descent from Abraham :— -Consideration of the prophecies respecting Ishmael.-The Ethiopians, or Abyssinians, likewise of Mitzritish extraction.-The Pathrusim the inhabitants of the 'land of Mitzraim' of Scripture, or Mitzraim Proper. The Casluhim, Philistim, and Caphtorim.-The aborigines of the North of Africa descendants of Mitzraim.— General sketch of the origin of the various African nations.— Phut:-The progenitor of the nations in the neighbourhood of the land of Canaan who were extirpated prior to the Exodus of the Israelites.-Canaan :-His possessions and descendants.— Concluding remarks.

ALTHOUGH the African continent unquestionably is that portion of the globe which in the process of time became peculiarly, and indeed almost exclusively, the inheritance of the posterity of Ham; yet as the progress of the several races of mankind from the centre of dispersion, subsequently to the miraculous confusion of tongues, must be considered to have been gradual, and to have taken place, in fact, under the (appointed) influence of simply natural causes', it is evident that none of the sons of Ham, in the first instance, could have settled anywhere within the limits of Africa.

1 See Pages 76, 77.

198 POSSESSIONS AND DESCENDANTS OF MITZRAIM.

The truth of this proposition, so far as it relates to the descendants of Mitzraim in particular, is further established by the results which have been arrived at in the preceding Chapter with respect to the early physical state of the country on and to the westward of the Isthmus of Suez; from which it is manifest that these people, who have been supposed to have settled in Egypt immediately after the dispersion of mankind, could not in reality have passed into that country, until several, and probably many, ages subsequent to that epoch.

This result accords entirely with the system of Geography propounded in the present Work, agreeably to the principles of which' it is requisite that the original possessions of the Mitzrites should be arranged in regular order from east to west, from where they adjoin the territories of the Cushites towards the east, to where they unite with those of the Canaanites towards the west, or rather the north-west; that is to say, over the whole of the north-western portion of the peninsula of Arabia. It is in this order, therefore, that I shall proceed with the consideration of the first settlements of the posterity of Mitzraim, and with the early history of the various races of that people.

1 See Page 78.

? The descendants of Phut, the third-named son of Ham, would thus appear to be omitted; but they are not overlooked, and the reason of their exclusion from any permanent territorial possessions will be explained as I proceed in this Chapter.