came from a country possessed in all its members, high and low, with a rage for turning mountains into books—from a country which is covered with inscriptions of every degree of magnitude, wherever there is a rock to receive the chisel; and this familiarity with the practice might easily suggest to many of them the fitness of employing their abundant leisure in giving the like enduring memorial to the signal events which had marked their pilgrimage. As rendered by Mr. Forster, these records comprise, besides the healing of the waters of Marah, the passage of the Red Sea, with the introduction of Pharaoh twice by name, and two notices of a vain attempt of the Egyptian tyrant to save himself by flight on horseback from the returning waters; together with hieroglyphical representations of himself and his horse. They comprise, further, the miraculous supplies of manna and of flesh, the battle of Rephidim, with the mention of Moses by his office, and of Aaron and others by their names; the same inscription repeated, describing the holding up of Moses' hands by Aaron and Hur, and their supporting him with a stone, illustrated by a drawing apparently of the stone, containing within it the inscription, and over it the figure of Moses with uplifted hands; and lastly, the plague of fiery serpents, with the representation of a serpent in the act of coming down, as if from heaven, upon a prostrate Israelite.

These references to the recorded events of the Exode, compose, however, but a small part of the Sinaite inscriptions as yet in our possession, the great mass of which, Mr. Forster informs us, consists of descriptions of rebellious Israel, under the figures of kicking asses, restive camels, rampant goats, sluggish tortoises, and lizards of the desert.

Among the objections which may be urged against the interpretation thus furnished, one is, that a people not enjoined to this work, but (as this author supposes) doing it spontaneously as a sort of labour of love, would be little likely thus to work to perpetuate the memory of their misdeeds and unbelief under such degrading images. The theory is open to other objections of even more weight than this; but, in the face of all these, the

evidence produced is very strong, if not, as yet, altogether so conclusive as to be implicitly received, that, as we were formerly taught to believe, we have in these inscriptions the autographic memorials of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness.

The following are a few specimens of Mr. Forster's translations of these inscriptions:

'The red geese rise from the sea;

Lusting, the people eat of them.'

'The hard stone the people satiates with water thirsting.'

'Prayeth unto God the prophet [upon] a hard great stone, [his] hands sustaining Aaron, Hur.'

'The people Moses provoketh to anger, kicking like an ass.' [At] the water springs muster the people, raileth against Jehovah crying out.'

'The people at Marah drinketh like a wild ass.'

'The people of the Hebrews biddeth begone Jehovah.'

The traditional country of Job, eastern Bashan and the adjoining plain of Arabia, has more ancient inscribed tablets than perhaps any other province of the same extent in the world. Not only has every town and village numbers of inscriptions, in Latin, Greek, or Palmyrene, on its old houses, but in many places, away out on the desolate plain eastward, rocks and stones are actually covered with inscribed characters. Mr. Cyril Graham, who explored that wild region a few years ago, says: 'Riding along the eastern border of es-Safâh, I suddenly noticed a stone lying on the ground which had some marks on it; I looked at it rather carelessly, but soon after, finding a stone similarly marked, I examined it, and immediately discovered that they were distinct characters. I copied them, and looked about anxiously for more. . . I went more to the east, and then I came upon a place in the desert where every stone was covered with inscriptions. I found subsequently several such places, where every stone within a given space bore the mark of some beast or other figure, with an accompanying inscription. Frequently these spots were not near the remains of any town, although in many cases ruins of houses, and in some instances well-preserved houses of stone, were found near them. Of the inscriptions, I copied a great number, some of which are given in the plates at the end of this memoir. I likewise have copied carefully the figures of camels and other representations, in order to show the style in which they

are done. I should remark that I discovered an ancient road leading directly through el-Hârrah, and which appears to have been the highway between Basrah and Tadmor.'

As to the authors of these inscriptions, and the languages which they represent, he says: 'Who then could the people have been who built these cities? and were the authors of these inscriptions the original settlers, or of another race? I have elsewhere stated, that from the style of the houses and of the towns, I believe them to have been the work of the old Rephaim, who were the founders of the cities of Bashan. But the inscriptions I believe to have been the work of another race, and of a much later period. For some time I was strongly of opinion that they might be of the same class of writing as the well-known Sinaitic inscriptions. . . . But on comparing the two sets of inscriptions, no analogy sufficiently strong could be traced to encourage one in the hope that they might be of the same class.'

...

After a careful scrutiny, he concludes that the language is Himyaritic, a branch of the Semitic, which was spoken in former times by a people of southern Arabia, who had a character of their own, and whose language and writings were still extant in the time of Mohammed. The characters bear a close resemblance to the old Ethiopic, and may have been the original type of the latter.

Mr. Graham's researches are of the greatest interest, alike to the philologist and the geographer. I have thought it well to insert these few extracts here as a supplement to Dr. Kitto's remarks on the Sinaitic inscriptions. The reader may see Mr. Graham's memoirs in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1861; and Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxviii.

Sixth Week Fourth Day.

TRAVELLERS' TOKENS.-JOB XXI. 29.

THE reply to Job this time devolved on Zophar, who, although he had nothing essentially new to advance, rose up to answer the afflicted man in such a manner as plainly showed too much warmth and resentment, notwithstanding that he makes some endeavour to conceal his passion. He goes over the old ground, and reproduces the old arguments, which it is useless to repeat in a summary that must necessarily divest them of the

circumstantial imagery, by which they are varied in the mouths of the different interlocutors. Some readers, indeed, of not very discerning taste, may be apt to weary at these repeated declamations on the transient prosperity and fearful catastrophe of great oppressors. But it will be borne in mind, that these three men have the same ideas of the course of the Lord's providence, and of the case of their unhappy friend, and therefore must needs speak with a certain general uniformity on the subject. Meanwhile, these very iterations have the important effect of carrying on the main design of the poem. They tease and exasperate the good man's spirit, and carry him further into those excesses of complaint and self-justification, which, being subsequently represented to him in a proper light, draw from him the memorable expressions of his conviction and repentance. The subject, however, in this second speech of Zophar, is placed in so many different points of view, and illustrated by emblems and images so entirely his own, that these at least have the attraction of freshness. Upon the whole, there is great poetical merit in his speech. It is a torrent of Oriental eloquence, rushing on with the vehemence of a fiery temper, inflamed by resentment and mistaken zeal.

Job's reply to Zophar is essentially argumentative. The friends had alleged, that destructive calamities were the portion of the wicked only, and that the seeming prosperity with which they were indulged soon passed away. This he denies, by showing that, so far as appeared, their prosperity was as durable as that of the righteous, as proved by instances of irreligious men, who are not only favoured with welfare and affluence, but leave the world by easy deaths, and are borne down to the grave with honour. But although this is reasoning, it is not calm and cool reasoning. It is the reasoning of a man under great emotion of mind, and is mixed up with a sort of indignation at the miserable lot which lays him open to injurious imputations.

The careful reader will notice an interesting and very natural circumstance towards the close of this speech. Job seems to have closed his argument with chap. xxi. 26; but perceiving,

by their interchange of looks, that his friends were not satisfied, he resumes with, 'Behold I know your thoughts;' and goes on to produce a new species of testimony in favour of his conclusions, 'Have ye not asked them that go by the way, and do ye not know their tokens?'

-a

Perhaps not many uncritical readers attach very distinct ideas to these words. Who are those 'that go by the way,' and what are their tokens?' The former were undoubtedly travellers, especially such as came from distant journeys in caravans,mode of travel which is shown, by chap. vi. 19, to have existed in the time of Job, and which first historically appears as an established custom in the time of Jacob, when Joseph was sold for a slave to a travelling company of merchants. Such travellers, in the absence of newspapers, and in the paucity of written knowledge, as well as of epistolary communications between distant parts, were the chief sources of information respecting the circumstances of foreign countries. This is still the case in a very important degree, although other sources of information have, in the lapse of ages, become more open, but yet to a far less extent than one might be apt to suppose. We can well remember the anxiety felt in the East in times of public distress or excitement, to learn the intelligence which the travellers by any newly arrived caravan brought respecting the movements of hostile armies, or the progress of the cholera or plague. They may bring letters, but these are addressed to individuals, and the contents, even if of public importance, transpire but slowly. The travellers themselves are the popular intelligencers; and very soon all that they know, and often a great deal more, is speedily extracted from them by eager inquirers. Those also who are known to have travelled much, become the oracles of their respective circles, and their information is constantly appealed to in discussion, for the settlement of points in dispute. And it frequently happens that one who has returned from a long or unusual journey, is sent for by the king or local governor, to answer such questions as may be put to him respecting what he has seen and heard in foreign parts.