3920. [Isai. vi. 13] In antient times, nations were often distinguished according to the particular article on which they lived, hence the Arcadians were called acorn-eaters: and it is generally supposed, that substances of the nut species were among the first means of subsistence to which men applied. It is imagined however, that the acorns, so often mentioned in antient history and tradition, comprehended several other kinds of shell-fruits, as chesnuts, walnuts, &c.

See GOGUET's Origin of Laws, vol. i. p. 77.
Also Sir JOHN SINCLAIR'S Code of
Health, vol. i. p. 386.

3921. The acorn of the quercus suber, or the cork-tree, is as good as the filbert; and, like that nut, sold in the markets of Spain.

3922.

Ibid.

The trunk of the Live Oak is generally from 12 to 18 feet in girt, and rises erect from the earth 10 or 12 feet, sometimes 18 or 20; then divides itself into 3, 4, or 5 great limbs, which continue to grow in nearly a horizontal direction, each limb forming a gentle curve from its base to its extremity. It is evergreen, and the wood almost incorruptible, even in the open air. It bears a prodigious quantity of fruit; the acorn is small, but an agreeable food for almost all animals. The Indians obtain from it a sweet oil, which they use in the cooking of hommony, rice, &c.; and they also roast it in hot embers, eating it as we do chesnuts.

3925. [Isai. vii. 8.] Archbishop USHER (sub A. M. 3327) conceives, that the last and total captivity of Israel, under the name of Ephraim, is here predicted.

3926. There were but eleven years from this prediction to the desolation of the kingdoms of Israel. This made GROTIUS say, that the Transcribers had been mistaken, and writ scheschem sixty, instead of schesch six; and BOCHART observes, that they have committed the same mistake in some other places of Scripture. So that six and five make up the eleven years intervening from the prophecy to its accomplishment. We should consequently read within six, and five years Ephraim shall be broken. (See Essay for a New Translation, part ii. p. 133.) — The propriety of the phrase will appear, when it is considered, that the prophet is foretelling two captivities, one at the end of six years, and the other five years after it in this way Ephraim was literally broken by two successive captivities.

3927. [—— 13 16.] This sign, which had been first offered to Ahaz, but, on his refusal, now to the "house of David"; was evidently designed to comfort the Jews by the assurance, that God intended, at some future time, to raise up a glorious person among them; and that, until this future time, they should continue a people, though their enemies should be ever so numerous or powerful. "The longer that birth was future, the longer was the house of David secure of deliverance from destruction: because that family was by no means to fail, till the birth of IMMANUEL, of a pure virgin, was come to pass."

WHISTON'S Supplement to the literal accomplishment, &c. p. 54.-Gill's Discourse on the Prophecies, p. 97.

The word here translated virgin,

3928. [-- 14.] occurs Gen. xxxiv. 3, 4. Exod. ii. 8. Ps. xviii. 25. Song of Sol. i. 3. vi. 8. Prov. xxx. 19. The Septuagint Greek for it, occurs also, Matt. i. 23, 25. xxv. 1, 7, 11. Luke i. 27. Acts xxi. 9. 1 Cor. vii. 25, 28, 34, 36, 37. 2 Cor. xi. 2. Rev. xiv. 4. And signifies invariably a virgin betrothed for marriage. See Deut. xxii. 23, 24. Bethu lah is the proper Hebrew term for a virgin; Lev. xxi. 13. Almah] From the privacy in which unmarried (yet betrothed) damsels were kept, they came to be called almahs, hidden or concealed. (Univer. Hist. vol. iii. p. 325.) — Does not the word rather denote one hidden, or ceasing to appear in public, on account of pregnancy? See Luke i. 24. Also Prov. xxx. 19.

3929. [▬▬▬ 15.] In the East, particularly among the Arabs, one of their chief breakfasts, says D'ARVIEUX, is

sessed of some eminent qualification, receive a name that serves to perpetuate the fame of their actions or to make their abilities conspicuous. — Thus the great warrior of the Naudowessies was named Ottahtongoomlishcah, that is, the Great Father of Snakes: ottah being in English father, tongoom great, and lishcah a snake. Another chief was called Konahpawjatin, which means a swift runner over the mountains. And when they adopted captain CARVER among them, they named him Shebaygo, which signifies a writer, or a person that is curious in making hieroglyphics, as they saw him often employed in writing. See Gen. i. 19.

3938. [

3.] At Nootka Sound, on the North-west coast of America, the child of a tais or chief, at the end of a month, receives from the grandees assembled a first name, which is changed when it quits the period of infancy; a third name is given to it at the epoch of puberty, and a fourth at that of youth: a new name is also given when it attains to maturity. — Girls, when they become inarriageable, change their name also. This is a period of rejoicing for the whole family. Phil. Mag.

See No. 1763.

3936. [Isai. viii. 1.] Among the American Indians, such as have signalized themselves in war or hunting, or are pos

3944. [Isai. xi. 4.] The blow-gun, still used by the Seneka Indians, is a narrow tube, commonly about six feet in length, made of a cane reed, or of some pithy wood, through which they drive short slender arrows by the force of the breath. The arrows are not much thicker than the lower string of a violin; they are headed generally with little triangular bits of tin; and round the opposite ends, for the length of two inches, a quantity of the down of thistles, or something very like it, is so bound, as to leave the arrows at this part of such a thickuess that they may but barely pass into the tube. The arrows are put in at the end held to the mouth; the down catches the breath; and with a smart puff they will fly to the distance of fifty yards, piercing to the very thistle-down in any animal substance at the distance of ten or fifteen yards.

3946. [Isai. xi. 6.] An elephant will suffer himself, in Asia, to be led about by a little child. St. PIERRE'S Studies of Nature, vol. ii. p. 214.

6-9.]

3947. [The Israelites had such an antipathy to the Gentiles, that the Prophet could not probably mention their future general conversion, with personal security to himself, but under the characteristic designation of the various animals here enumerated. As the French in North America, perceiving the native Indians extremely suspicious when their proper names were mentioned, lest their visitors were either speaking ill of them, or plotting their destruction; found it necessary to give to the different nations of those savages names which did not really belong to them, before they could safely, in their presence, converse with each other respecting them. The only bad consequence is, that English and French geographers, in their plans of the interior parts of America, give different names to the same people, and thereby perplex those who have occasion to refer to both. See No. 190, 192, 44. CARVER's Travels in N. America, p. 17.

3948. In the country of the Mahrattas, the unusual familiarity, common among all the different tribes of animals, which sport before strangers with the most careless indifference, is not a little surprising. The birds of the air, undismayed by our approach, perch on the trees, and swarm among the branches, as if they conceived man to be of a nature equally quiet and inoffensive with themselves; while the monkey and squirrel climb the wall, gambol on the housetop, and leap with confidence and alacrity from one bough to another over our heads. Even the most formidable quadrupeds seem to have lost their natural ferocity in the same harmless dispositions; and hence the apprehensions commonly occasioned by the proximity of such neighbours, no longer disquiet the minds of the natives. Happy effect of those mild and innocent manners, whence have arisen peace and protection to all the inferior animals!

3949.

M. de PAGE's Travels through the World, vol. ii. p. 22.

Pausanias, in his Beotics, says Helicon (a mountain in Beotia) excels all the mountains in Greece in the abundance and virtues of the trees which grow in it he likewise tells us it produces no letiferous herbs or

rools.

COOKE's Hesiod, the Theog. p. 128.

3950. [Isai. xiii. 19— 22.] This is that Babel which was of old, a city of thirty miles in breadth. It is now laid waste. There are yet to be seen the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's Palace; but the sons of men dare not enter in for fear of the serpents and scorpions which now occupy the place.

See BENJAMIN BAR-JONA, in his
Itinerary.

3953. [Isai. xiv. 23.] At Pullingune, a woman was condemned to the besom, and her house confiscated, because contrary to royal prohibition she had sold palm-brandy. See Isai. v. 11. BARTOLOMEO, by Johnston, p. 286.

3951.

JEROME, who flourished in the fourth century, writes, that in his time, Babylon was utterly desolated; its walls only being kept up by the Parthian kings, for the preservation of game. BENJAMIN of Tudela, a learned Jew, who wrote about the middle of the twelfth century, informs us that when he was on the spot where the city of Babylon had stood, he saw only some ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace still remaining, which none dared to visit, for fear of the serpents and scorpions infesting the place. TEXEIRA tells us, in his Travels from India to Italy, that when he sought for Babylon, scarcely a vestige remained of that great and renowned city. RAUWOLF also, a German who visited those parts in 1574, confirms the accounts of the above writers. He represents Elugo, as a small village, standing now where Babylon, the metropolis of Chaldea, formerly stood. The country around, he describes as so dry and barren, that it cannot be tilled; and declares, that he could not have discovered even the situation of that once powerful city, but by certain antiquities still to be seen in the neighbourhood. 1. By the old bridge, thrown over the Euphrates; of which there are some arches still remaining, built of burnt brick, and wonderfully strong. 2. By the hill, on which the castle stood; where the ruins of its fortifications are still visible. And, 3. By the tower of Babylon, appearing yet half a league in diameter, but so ruinous and full of venomous reptiles, that, except in the depth of winter, no person chooses to approach it within half a mile. Among its reptiles there is one, in the Persian tongue called Eglo, bigger than our lizard, and extremely venomous. Isai. xiv 23. Univer. Hist. vol. viii. p. 448.

3954. [Isai. xv. 1.] A fulfilment of these awful predictions respecting Moab, may be seen in PLINY's Natural History, lib. ii. cap. 86. He there mentions a tremendous earthquake, by which twelve cities in Asia Minor (the country of Moab) were swallowed up in one night.

3955. [— 2.] When Peter the Great attempted to civilize the Russians, and introduced the manners and fashions of the more refined parts of Europe, nothing met with more opposition than the cutting off their beards; and many of those who were obliged to comply with this command, testified such great veneration for their beards, as to order them to be buried with them.

BURDER'S Oriental Customs; or Bib.
Research. vol. i. p. 286.

3956. [7. The brook of the willows] The valley of willows; that is, Babylonia. See PRIDEAUX' Connex. part i. b. 2. p. 105. 8vo.

3957. [Isai. xvi. 10.] In the Highlands of Scotland, when cutting down the corn, thirty or forty females join in chorus, keeping time to the sound of the bagpipe, as the Grecian lasses were wont to sing to that of a lyre during vintage in the days of HOMER (Iliad, xviii. 1. 570). Pinkerton's Coll. part x. p. 317.

3952. [Isai. xiv. 5. The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked] From verse 7 of this chapter, it appears that the consequence of this breaking of the staff was peace. And the following extract will prove, that this ceremony of denoting peace is still practised by some people. Not far from New Guinea, several canoes, full of a dark swarthy people, came to Schouten's ship; and being received on board, broke their staves over the heads of the Dutch, in token of peace.

MAVOR'S Voy. vol. ii. p. 201.

3958. [Isai. xvii. 12.]

Quis te tam lente fluentem, Moturum tantas violenti gurgitis iras, Nile, putet? Sed cum lapsus abrupta viarum Excerpere tuos, et præcipitæ cataractæ, Ac nusquam vetitis ullas obsistere cautes Indignaris aquis: spuma tunc astra lacessis;

Cuncta fremunt undis; ac multo murmure montis
Spumeus invictis canescit fluctibus amnis.

LUCAN, lib. x. vol. 315.
Who that beholds thee, Nile, thus gently flow,
With scarce a wrinkle on thy glassy brow,
Can guess thy rage, when rocks resist thy force,
And hurl thee headlong in thy downward course,
When spouting cataracts thy torrent pour,
And nations tremble at the deaf'ning roar?
When thy proud waves with indignation rise,
And dash thy foamy fury to the skies?

ROWE.

Lucius, an Ethiopian of Nubia which lies near these sonorous cataracts, was under two feet in height, weighed seventeen pounds; but his voice was prodigious.

See Frag. to CALMET, vol. ii. p. 171.

3959. [Isai. xviii. 1. Shadowing with wings] Egypt, that is, the fruitful part of it, exclusive of the deserts on each side, is one long vale, through the middle of which runs the Nile, bounded on each side to the east and west by a chain of mountains; seven hundred and fifty miles in length; in breadth, from one to two or three days' journey: even at the widest part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above two hundred and fifty miles broad. LowTH's Isaiah, vol. ii. p.

3960.

147.

Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia] We came to the Nile, says PocoCKE, at the port of the boats which came from Ethiopia, where we saw most of the people black: so that, on the one side, and on the other, the Egyptian and Ethiopian navigation ends at the cataracts. Trav. vol. i. p. 124.

Ibid. p. 40.

The Chronicle of Axum says, that Abyssinia had never been inhabited till 1808 years before Christ, and 200 years after that, which was in 1600, it was laid waste by a flood, the face of the country much changed and deformed, so that it was called at that time Oure Midre, the country laid waste, or as it is here called, a land which the waters or floods had spoiled. Some time after the year 1500 we know, says BRUCE, there happened a flood which occasioned great devastation. Pausanias says, that this flood happened in Ethiopia in the reign of Cecrops; and about 1490 years before Christ, the Israelites entered the land of promise under Caleb and Joshua. This country is liable to a deluge of several months. No country but that of Shangalla, deluged with six months' rains, full of large and deep basins, or watered by large and deep rivers, can maintain the Rhinoceros who lives in wet and marshy places. Trav. vol. v. pp. 82, — 99.

3965.

At Malaga, the great mart of wine and fruit, the north and east approaches are hemmed in by mountains; these present, from the town, a most barren and unpromising prospect, their tops being immensely high. It is in those iron-looking mountains, and among these peeled (i. e. bald) rocks, where there is no appearance of soil or earth, that there grow annually so many thousand tons of exquisite wine, and such astonishing quantities of Moscatal raisins.