and on the sides. The tents formed the common rendezvous of men, women, children, calves, lambs, and kids. The women were without veils, and seemed to make nothing of our presence. Here we had an opportunity of seeing various processes in the housekeeping of a nomadic life. The women, in some of the tents, were kneading bread, and baking it in thin cakes, on the embers, or on iron plates over the fire. Another female was churning the milk, in a very primitive way, which we often saw afterwards. The churn consists of a common water-skin, that is, the tanned skin of a goat, stripped off whole, and the extremities sewed up. This is partly filled with the milk; and, being then suspended in a slight frame, or between two sticks leaning against the tent or house, it is regularly moved to and fro with a jerk, until the process is completed. In another tent, a woman was kneeling and grinding at the hand-mill: these mills are doubtless those of scriptural times, and are similar to the Scottish quern. As we were looking round upon this scene of busy life, the sun rose gloriously over the wide prospect, and shed his golden light upon a landscape-not rich, indeed, in appearance for all is rocky and sterile to the view; but fertile in pasturage, as was testified by this multitude of flocks. The curling smoke, ascending from various Arab encampments in the distance, added to the picturesque effect of the landscape.'

Olin thus describes an encampment of Arabs, as seen in the Sinaitic peninsula: 'We passed a Bedouin encampment, which consisted of about a dozen tents, arranged in no particular order. They are black, and made of coarse wool or camels' hair-cloth. They are open in front, are very low, and bave a partition running from the front to the rear, for the purpose, I presume, of separating the apartments of the males and the females of the family. Hardly any thing in the shape of furniture was discoverable. An old mat, and an earthen vessel or two, were all that I saw in two or three tents. The camels and flocks are gathered about the tents at night. We saluted the people in the customary way, who did not seem in the least disconcerted by our presence and inquisitive looks.'

The strict honesty of the Bedouins among themselves is proverbial, however little regard they may have to the right of property in others. If an Arab's camel dies on the road, and he cannot remove the burden, he only draws a circle in the sand round about, and leaves it. In this way it will remain safe and untouched for months. When on his way from Sinai to Akabab, Robinson saw a black tent hanging on a tree: his servant said it was there when he passed the year before, and would never be stolen. Theft, he said, was held in abhorrence among the Tawarah; but, the present year, the famine was so great that individuals were sometimes driven to steal

food. He had just returned from Egypt with a camel load of grain for his family, which he had put into one of their magazines, as a place of safety; but it had all been stolen. Burckhardt relates that he was shown in Wady Hamr, a point on the rocks from which one of the Tawarah, a few years before, had cast down his son headlong, bound hand and foot, for an offence of the very same kind.

The notions of justice among the Arabs are, however, very imperfect, if we may judge from those which are entertained by those who belong to the peninsula of Sinai. Among the Amran and Haweitat tribes, if any one steals, the loser takes from the thief an article of equal or greater value, and deposits it with a third party. The thief is then summoned to trial; and, if he refuses, he forfeits the thing thus taken from him. The judges are not always the sheikhs: other persons may exercise this office. If a person slays another, the nearest relation of the deceased is entitled to a certain number of camels, or to the life of one equal to the deceased.

If an Arab discovers his wife or his daughter in illicit intercourse, he turns away and conceals the fact from every one, not even letting the guilty parties know that he has seen them. Months afterwards, he will marry off his daughter; or, after a longer time, perhaps divorce his wife; living with them meantime as if nothing had happened, and assigning some other reason for the measure he adopts. One motive for this concealment is to avoid personal disgrace; and another, to prevent the impossibility of the offenders ever being married.

The Arabs are destitute of book-learning. Robinson made inquiries in the peninsula of Sinai, and other tribes, but could never hear

of one individual that was able to read. Even Sheikh Salih, the head sheikh of all the Tawarah, has not this power. Whenever a letter is addressed to him, or an order from the government, he is obliged to apply to the convent, to have it read. Among the Tawarah, this ignorance seems to be the result of habit and want of opportunity; but among the tribes of the northern deserts it is accounted disreputable for an Arab to learn to read. The Bedouins rejoice in the wild liberty of their deserts, as contrasted with towns and cities; and in like manner take pride in their freedom from the arts and restraints of civilised life.

The religion of these sons of the desert is Mohammedanism, which, however, sits very lightly on them. They bear Mohammed's name, and the few religious ideas which they possess are moulded after his precepts. But theirs is a merely nominal religion, the result of tradition and habit. They seem to manifest little attachment to it in itself, and live in the habitual neglect of most of its external forms. They neglect the prayers customary with other Moslems; and it is said that very

few among them know the proper words and forms. The men generally observe the great fast of Ramadan, though some do not. The females do not keep it. Nor is the duty of pilgrimage more regarded; not more than two or three of all the Tawarah tribe are said to have made the the journey to Mecca. The profaneness of the Bedouins is excessive, and almost incredible :- Their mouth is full of cursing.' The traveller can hardly obtain from them an answer which does not contain an oath.

A good authority has declared that the Bedouins would profess Christianity, if they could get fed by so doing. Their minds are not prepared for the spiritual truths of the gospel. Were a missionary to go among them, speaking their language, and acquainted with their habits, he would be received with kindness; and were he to live as they live, and conform to their manners and customs, he would soon acquire influence. In his intercourse with the Tawarah, Dr. Robinson found them kind, good natured, and accommodating, but great beggars. No very permanent or decided impression, however, can well be hoped for, so long as they retain their wandering, half-savage life; and this mode of life must necessarily continue so long as the desert is their home. But it would be no light matter to wean them from the desert, and thus to overturn habits which have come down to them through nearly forty centuries unchanged.

The tribe denominated Alouins, who hold sway from Acabah towards the north, are little better than savages. They are strangers to the decencies of life. They ask for every thing they see in the possession of those whom they escort - bread, fruit, tobacco, &c.; coming into their tents, and making themselves offensively familiar. 'I was no sooner in my tent to-night,' - - we use the words of Olin,than one of my guides, a disgusting and filthy creature, came and took his seat on the sand, just within the door. I promptly ordered him away. Afterward I made them all a present of tobacco, with which they seemed much pleased. They entered the tent of one gentleman of our party at dinner time, and unceremoniously helped themselves to the dainties of his table.'

Others seem little, if any, removed from savage life, further than the red man of the American wilds. The ensuing picture of an Arab meal is given by Robinson. The place of which he speaks is Beersheba, on the southern boundary of Canaan. Our Arabs quickly slaughtered the goat, and the different portions were speedily in the process of cooking, at different tires. Their repast was probably, in kind, the same with the savoury meat which Isaac loved; and with which, in this very neighbourhood, Jacob enticed from him the blessing intended for his elder brother (Gen. xxvii. 9, seq.). Our Haweity guide

had brought with his family, two or three camels. To them the offals of the kid were abandoned. I looked in on this feast, and found the women boiling the stomach and entrails, which they had merely cleaned with stripping them with the hand, without washing; while the head, unskinned and unopened, was roasting underneath, on the embers of a fire made chiefly of camel's dung.' We subjoin one or two portraits. Sheikh Hussein, who is supreme at Ailab, on the extremity of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, is a man of great wealth; having, it is said, more than three hundred camels, besides herds of sheep, goats, and cattle. His bearing is exceedingly dignified. He rarely condescends to smile. In negociations, however perplexing, he is cool and collected. These qualities give him great influence over untutored men. To Englishmen it is a great drawback from the respect he inspires, to hear him begging for presents, and complaining when none has been brought for him; but this seems to be the fashion, and is attended with no reproach. The governor is a dignified looking man, wearing the costume of the Turks. The sheikh,' to cite Olin, and his party, with a dragoman, who acted as an agent in the business (paying for escort and safe conduct), were seated on a carpet, spread in a tent; and each individual deposited his money in the centre of the circle. The sheikh counted it with great rapidity; and, after devouring the shining masses with his fine black eyes, deposited them in his bosom with an indescribable air of satisfaction.' He walks from tent to tent in no little state, clothed in a long robe of scarlet broad cloth, and a fiery red turban of the largest dimensions, with a long pipe in his mouth, and followed by a secretary, carrying writing materials in his hands. He is evidently an ostentatious man, and has the air of one accustomed to superiority. He has the reputation of being faithful to his engagements, though disposed to use every possible advantage, fair and unfair, in making a bargain.'

The sheikh of Wady Mousa is noted for his exactions on travellers, and has rendered it difficult, and even dangerous, to visit Petra. He is a savage in aspect. His coarse, long beard, half white and half black, has a neglected and tangled appearance; and he is meanly clad in vile, dirty garments.

'We had, on the whole,' says Robinson, been much pleased with Tuweileb, although he had seen his best days, and, for much of the time he was with us, had been quite unwell. He was uniformly kind, patient, accommodating, and faithful; and, until now, had shown himself less a beggar than his companions. He gave us his adieu, by repeatedly kissing each on both cheeks, in addition to the usual kiss of the hand. We

parted with our Tawarah Arabs with regret, and with the kindest feelings. For thirty days they had now been our companions and guides through the desert, and not the slightest difficulty had arisen between us: on the contrary, they had done all in their power to lighten the toils of our journey, and protect us from discomforts by the way. In all our subsequent journeyings we found no guides so faithful and devoted.'

'Our sheikh was in every respect something more than a common Arab. In stature he was more than six feet high-well-built, and finely proportioned; and there was in his movements a native dignity and nobleness which we did not find in other Bedouins. His countenance was intelligent, and had a mild and pensive cast indeed there was a

seriousness and earnestness about him, which could not but give him influence in any situation. He was also more than an ordinary sheikh: he could read and write; and was likewise the khatib or orator of his tribe. In this capacity he was very regular in the performance of the Moslem devotions, and often chanted long prayers aloud. This, indeed, seemed to be his chief character, and he was addressed only as khatib; so that we hardly heard him called by his real name Mohammed. The learning of the tribe is confined to the khatib, no other individual being able to read or write; but, as this is an exception to Arab custom, the Tawarah stand degraded by it in the eyes of their brethren' -(Robinson, ii 178).

We must not conclude this article without a brief reference to a work of high pretensions and of some merit,-'The Historical Geography of Arabia,' by the Rev. C. Foster: London, 1844;- though we cannot admit some of the author's chief positions. The voluines profess to have ascertained as follows the descent of the Arabs from Ishmael; all the chief Ishmaelitish tribes are recovered on the same ground which they occupied in the days of Moses, and which they continue to occupy. The four great patriarchal stocks are discovered, who, according to Moses, together with Ishmael, peopled the peninsula; the families of Cush and Joktan, who preceded, and those of Keturah and Esau, who followed the son of Hagar;' they are recognised in the very localities, and along the very lines, where they are placed by Moses and the prophets.' Farther, Mr. Foster's researches have, in his own opinion, 'issued in the decypherment of an unknown alphabet, and the recovery of a lost language; that alphabet the celebrated Musnad; this language the tongue of Hamyar.' This has

been brought about by his diligent application to decypher inscriptions, which were sent almost in vain to Gesenius and Rödiger in Germany; inscriptions discovered by English surveying expeditious, on the southern coast of Arabia, carved on the stones of ancient buildings, and engraven on the rocks. From the ruins of Nakub el-Hajar, and from the rock of Hisn Ghorab, localities of Hadramaut (which is the extreme southern part of the great peninsula), copies of these inscrip. tions were transcribed. Our author was led, by what is called chance, to find a key to them. Turning, in the course of his studies, to a very rare tract-Historia Imperii v. Joktanidorum,' by Schultens, he opened on a title and monument which proved to be an Arabic version of the ten-line inscription at Hisn Ghorab. The lines are interesting, if only for the lively picture which they afford of Arab life. We can give only three or four:

ADITE INSCRIPTIONS ENGRAVEN ON THE ROCK IN HADRAMAUT: DISCOVERED MAY 6TH, 1834. 'Over us presided kings far removed from baseness, and stern chastisers of reprobate

and wicked men. They noted down for us, according to the doctrine of Heber, good judgments written in a book to be kept. And we believed in the miracle-mystery, in the resurrection-mystery, in the nostrilmystery.'

To these remains Mr. Foster assigns 'a date of 3,500 years (nearly three centuries prior to the Books of Moses), the age of Jacob and Joseph, or within 500 years of the flood.' Their true value, however, he finds in the precious central truths of revealed religion which they record, and which they have handed down from the first ages of the post-diluvian world.' 'In the Adite monument at Hisn Ghorab, stands registered the incontrovertible fact, that the oldest monument in the world contains at once the fullest and the purest declaration of the great central truth of the gospel: -he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection' ('the nostril mystery'): this 'faith was the primitive religion of mankind.' Numerous other inscriptions have been seen or heard of; and 'the future results which promise to arise from the clue obtained through the inscriptions already decyphered, are beyond all calculation.' We must, however, add, that the criticism of the learned world has looked with a frowning aspect on Mr. Foster's alleged

success.

ARAM (H. highland), or Aramaa, the Hebrew name for Syria, or the entire country lying between Phoenicia and Palestine on the west, Arabia on the south, the Tigris on the east, and Mount Taurus on the north, thus including Mesopotamia But the latter had a specific name, that is, Aram Naharaim, or Padan Aram, the plains; alluding to the level country lying between the Euphrates and the Tigris, which the Greeks termed Mesopotamia, that is, the country between the rivers. On this side of the Euphrates there belonged to Aram-I. Aram of Damascus (2 Sam. viii. 6. Isa. vii. 8. Amos i. 5), that is, Syrian Damascus, which was north-east of Palestine. II. Syria-Maachah, (1 Chron. xix. 6), which touched on the territories of the tribe of Reuben, in the vicinity of Bashan (Josh. xiii. 12, 13. Deut. iii. 13) In the time of David, the country had a sovereign of its own (2 Sam. x. 6). III. Geshur in Aram (2 Sam. xv. 8), near Maacha (Deut. iii. 13. Josh. xii. 5), with its own kings in the days of Solomon (2 Sam. iii. 3). IV. Aram Beth-rehob, mentioned in conjunction with Aram Zoba and Maacha,- a district lying at the foot of Antilibanus, near the north Palestinian city of Dan or Laish (Judg. xviii. 28). V. Hul also is mentioned as part of Aram, in Gen. x. 23, as well as Uz. Zobah of Syria (1 Sam. xiv. 47. 2 Sam. viii. 3; x. 6, 8) seems to have lain on the other side the Euphrates originally, but made its way, in the course of time, to and over the river towards the west.

Under Saul and David, Zobah was the most important of the Syrian states, which, however, David vanquished (2 Sam. viii. 3). On the same occasion he conquered Damascus, which, in Solomon's reign, appears in conflict with Israel, but was at last conquered by the Assyrians. Then Aram fell into the hands of the Chaldeans and the Persians, till the death of Alexander, when it came under the Seleucidæ as an independent kingdom, to which Judea was subject.

According to Amos ix. 7, the Aramæans came from Kir, which may have been the country that lies at the foot of the Caucasus mountains, on the river Cyrus, one of the branches that form the Kur or Koura, which empties itself into the Caspian Sea, after having received the Araxes. In Gen. x. 22, Aram is reckoned among the children of Shem, and said to have had for his descendants, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash, who may be considered as the founders of so many cities and dominions. All these spoke the Shemitic tongue, of which the Aramaic or Syriac, and the Chaldee, were dialects. The Aramaic (Syrian) language was, in the time of the Israelitish kings, spoken by Assyrian state officers (2 Kings xviii. 26. Isa. xxxvi. 11); and in the post-exilian period, the Persian government had its edicts to the Western Asiatics translated into the Aramaic (Esra iv. 7). The religion of the ancient Aramæans was a symbolical worship of natural objects (Judg. x. 6. 2 Chron. xxviii. 23).

ARARAT (H. cursing). — The country so called formed a part of Armenia, lying in the middle of it, for which, as being so dis tinguished a portion thereof, it was sometimes employed (2 Kings xix. 37. Isa. xxxvii. 38. Jer. li. 27). The river Araxes ran through it, which, having joined the Kur, fell into the Caspian Sea. In the time of Jeremiah, it was a kingdom. From the earliest period, this part of the world has been famous, in consequence of the mount of the same name on which, according to Gen. viii. 4, the ark rested after the flood, and from which, as a centre, the human race was afresh propagated over the face of the earth: for this reason the mountain is held sacred, in the eyes alike of Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans. According to the general view, Mount Ararat is that part of the chain so called, which is denominated among the Armenians, Massis; among the Persians, Kuhi Nuch (Noah's Mountain); and among the Turks, Aghri. It lies in the vale of Arras, about thirty miles south-west from Erivan, which was long the capital of Armenia. As seen in approaching it from Erivan, Mount Ararat is altogether unique in its appearance, rising like a mighty pyramid from the general range, and gradually tapering till it pierces and peers above the clouds. It rises from a majestic curve in the great range, a sublime corner boundary

of the three empires of Persia, Turkey, and Russia, full worthy to be the bridge between the anti-diluvian and post-diluvian worlds. It has two peaks the higher is about 17,000, the lower is about 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. Between the two is a huge subsidence, not unlike in appearance the low part between the two humps of the dromedary. Seen from the north and the south, the mountain seems to stand insulated from the range of which it forms a part, so small do the neighbouring hills appear in comparison. The restingplace of the ark cannot be determined; but it may have been on the curve which, as we have intimated, lies between the two pikes. This curve is an extinguished volcanic crater, which is certified by the signs that appear all around of volcanic action. On the 6th July, 1840, a violent eruption took place, by which much damage was done to the whole surrounding country. The inhabitants hold that Ararat cannot be ascended; and, when Parrot (Travels,' Berlin, 1834) proved the contrary, they still firmly denied the fact. Since his time, a young Russian has succeeded in getting to the summit. The higher peak is covered with perpetual snow: hence the epithet 'hoary Ararat.' The entire mountain has an impressive sublimity. The Arras runs along its base. The great plain of Erivan and the valley of the Arras, being hemmed in by elevated land, have in summer a great concentration of heat and a mild climate for that region during the whole year. The country extending from Erivan to Nakcheran, a distance of one hundred miles, is beautiful, and the soil extremely fertile. Its fruits are very excellent and plentiful; but the climate is unhealthy. Armenian tradition says, that Noah made Nakcheran (first inn) his first permanent resting-place after the flood; but it is not easy to understand why he should have wandered so far down the valley, and over so fertile and beautiful a country, before he found a home. Near the base of Ararat, at Khorvirab, is the renowned Armenian church, as well as the prison of St. Gregory, the apostle of Armenia: the latter is a narrow cave, about thirty feet deep; it is held in great respect by the natives.

ARCH (L. a bow) is the segment of a circle applied in architecture. Nicholson, in his Architectural Dictionary,' defines the arch to be a part of a building suspended over a given plan, supported only at the extremities, and concave towards the plan. A few years ago, it was thought that the arch was unknown in the earlier periods of civilisation, and that its invention was attributable to the classic nations. The inquiries, however. which have been made in Egypt, show that the arch was known there, six hundred years before Christ, if not at a much earlier period: the diversities of opinion

appear to be in part owing to a want of a recognised definition, and to a consequent dispute about words.

The subject is of importance to the Biblical student, because, if the East in the present day may be taken as a picture of the East in scriptural times, arched buildings were in the latter period by no means uncommon. Even those, however, who maintain that the arch was known to the ancient Israelites, allow that no word meaning an arch is found in the Bible. The only passage in which the word occurs in the English translation is Ezek. xl. 16, where the margin reads' galleries or porches.'

ARCHELAUS (Ĝ. governor of the people), son of Herod, miscalled the Great, and of a Samaritan woman, named Malthace. He was, with his brother Antipas, brought up at Rome. After Herod had put to death several of his sons, he altered his will, which bore in favour of Antipus, and gave his kingdom as an inheritance to Archelaus, on condition that the gift was sanctioned by Augustus. The prince, therefore, paid a visit to Rome, and was well received by the emperor, though complaints were made against him by a hostile party of his countrymen. Accordingly, he received possession of about one half of his father's kingdom, namely Judea, Samaria, and Idumæa, with the cities Jerusalem, Joppa, and Sebaste (Samaria), and an annual income of six hundred talents. The Romans gave him the title of Ethnarch: in Matt. ii. 22, he is spoken of as having royal power, which implies an increase of dignity, that would naturally ensue from the pride alike of Archelaus and his subjects. Having reigned in all ten years, he was at length, in the consulship of M. Æmilius Lepidus (A. D. 7), dethroned, and banished by the Romans to Vienne, in Gaul, as a punishment for his tyranny, especially against the Samaritans, and for his misconduct towards his own relations. Good reason, therefore, the character of Archelaus being considered, had Joseph on his return from Egypt, with the child Jesus, to avoid Herod's dominions, and proceed to Nazareth in Galilee (Matt. ii. 22).

On the banishment of Archelaus, his dominions came under the inmediate sway of the Romans, and were annexed to the province of Syria, but as a separate territory, governed by its own procurator. The procurators had to take care of the rights of Rome over Judea; to collect the tribute; to preserve tranquillity; and, consequently, possessed very great influence. They dwelt at Cæsarea, a splendid city on the shore of the Mediterranean, built by Herod. Here were also the head-quarters of the troops which they had under their command; only that a small Roman garrison was stationed in the citadel Antonia, which lay at the north-west end of the Temple.