VII.-Infanticide in Madagascar. Engraved by J. Redaway; from a Drawing by H. Melville

VIII.-Pass of the great Fish River, South Africa. Engraved by
E. Goodall; from a Drawing by William Purser

IX.-Wrington Church, Somersetshire : the Burial Place of
Mrs. Hannah More. Engraved by J. Carter; from a Drawing

by the Rev. H. Thompson, A. M.

Page

133

159

187

X.-The Sacred Town and Temples of Dwarka.

Engraved by

Robert Wallis; Drawn by William Purser, from a Sketch on

the spot, by Captain Grindlay

205

XI.-Sidon. Engraved by E. Goodall; from a Painting by Cassas, 233

XII.-Shae-Tang Chinese Feast of Lanterns.

Engraved by

R. Sands; from a Painting in the possession of the

Hon. the East India Company

. 263

290

THE BURIAL OF AARON.*

A LEGEN D. FROM THE ARABIC.

WHY shall the children doubt the wisdom of the fathers? Have they not seen, have they not heard? Have not the secrets of the desert been opened to them? Have they not heard the voice of the winds, when they bring the sounds of paradise down to the ears of men? Have they not read the leaves of the palm-trees on the hills, when they are written with the pen of the watching angels? Have they not looked night by night upon the stars, when they mark in fire upon the vault of heaven the fates of nations? Listen, then, sons of the wilderness, to your father. Listen, bold riders of steeds swift as the

The great sandy desert of Shur, which divides Egypt from the land of Canaan, stretches from the Mediterranean to the forks of the Red Sea. On its eastern side, a chain of mountains, now called Jebel Te, extends from the Lake Asphaltitis to the Elanitic, or eastern gulf of the Red Sea. This chain forms the western limit of Arabia Petræa, and its central portion is called in scripture Mount Hor, and Mount Seir, it having been conquered from the Horites by Esau and his descendants, his eldest son being Seir. Mount Hor, to which the Arabs still pay homage, as the burial-place of Aaron, has been visited within these few years by Burckhardt and Laborde, the latter of whom has given the design of the accompanying plate.

In his Memoir he says, -"On leaving the road by which we had arrived, to our right, and ascending to a little plain on the south, we saw a lofty mountain which overlooks all the surrounding hills, and of which tradition has preserved remembrances of extreme antiquity. In

B

wind. Listen, wielders of the lance that never fails, and shooters of the arrow that flies like thought. A hundred years are on my head; my hair is white and thin; I leave my lance and bow to the sons of my sons. My head is bowed down, as of one who sees nothing but the grave. But I once was a warrior. I once rode at the head of horsemen, swift as the clouds of the desert, and fearless as the whirlwind. I shall ride at their head no more. Never again shall I bring home the spoil from the Syrian. Night is around me. I hear the voices of the tomb. My brothers call me to sleep their sleep. But I have seen mighty things. Shall the grave close upon them? Shall not my lips tell their wonders? Shall not the feeble light that still lingers in my soul shine upon my children's children? Then, Beni, Harmah, hear the last words of Chemosh, the son of Arnon, the son of Abarim.

Arad, king of the tribes of our fathers, whose name had reached to the extremities of the desert, was fierce, splendid, and a conqueror. While he ruled

over the wilderness as thou goest from Kadesh to Elath, his was the pleasant land by Jazeer to Ashdod

my researches relative to the route of the Israelites through the wilderness, I have found remarkable coincidences between this mountain and the Mount Hor of the scriptures. The Arabs who are so constant in their traditions, venerate at this day the summit of the mount as the burial-place of the prophet Haroun (Aaron.) Burckhardt adopted the pretext of a vow to sacrifice a goat to this holy man's memory, to attempt the journey from Wady Mousa. But his guide refused to lead him any further than this plain, and he was compelled to perform his ceremony within view of the hill, probably at the point given in the design. An old Arab, who acts as a protector to the sacred spot, lives high up among the rocks, and receives the people of Gaza and the Fellahs of Wady Mousa, who come here sometimes with a religious object, but oftener to cultivate the fragments of garden ground which the terraces of the mountains offer in these regions of sterility." (Laborce's Description.)