Elijah. Silently he appears in the garden of the murdered. Naboth, like a mysterious cloud, dark with awful warnings. His words are few, and therefore the more God-like, and the effect like the crushing peal of thunder after the first bright line of lightning. And he who had sent into every "nation and kingdom" in his vengeance to find the single

reverse cannot be expected when the ancient meaning was settled. Thus Tyre, the Venice of Syria, planted upon the sea of the West in perfect beauty, is warned of the times when its gorgeous sun of luxury shall set for ever. The poetical imagery is beautiful. Speaking of Syria and Damascus, Judah and the land of Israel, their merchants are called "wandering merchants"-the men who travel-intimating "land merchants" rather than merchants of the marine trade. When, however, the great sea, under the title of "the great waters," is spoken of, and the costly and luxurious produce of the West is meant, the term "maerabeh" (merchandise) is used, and this repeatedly; and it may have reference to the places from which the goods were brought, or for which they were particularly intended, namely, from or for the "land of the evening"-the West, and thus having the direction implied in the term. But, while this may possibly be the basis-idea of the term, it is more probably a different word, and not a noun at all, but the plural participle of a verb, and one which signifies to "trade by giving a surety" or pledge in place of payment to those who thus "traded in the merchandise" of foreign lands. To complete the view of this "opposition to the raven," it may be added that one more term found in Neh. iv. 7 (1st verse in the Hebrew) reads the Arabim,-translated Arabians: it evidently signifies a nation, for it is in strictly a list of nations. But this occurs more than one hundred years later than Ezekiel, and, besides, is again a different word, being rather Arb than Oreb. I am aware that the Septuagint translators are on the side of the "raven" interpretation, and translate it by the Greek for raven; but the argument from the Hebrew is sufficient, without the aid of the Septuagint. The idea that there was a town Arabo or Oreb by name, and that the people were called Orebim from that place, has no geographical authority, and was probably first suggested by a Rabbi Juda, as quoted by Bochart (Hierozoicon), vol. ii. p. 806, who shows the improbability of any such origin. In conclusion, there can be no doubt of the intent of the writer to express the idea of ravens just as translated; and we are driven back to this ground by every natural and grammatical impression and construction whatever. And, indeed, to us it would appear more difficult to conceive that an Arab or a merchant was intended by the use of the word, than it would be to account for the Divine preservation of Elijah through the agency of ravens themselves

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handed prophet is at last "found of the prophet himself," and in his terror, Ahab exclaims, "Hast thou found ME, O mine enemy?" With what unflinching majesty of courage Elijah answers, "I HAVE found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD " (1 Kings xxi. 20); and then follows that cataract of terrors poured upon Ahab, both as respects his love for royalty and his affection for Jezebel, until the sinning, humbled monarch himself changes the scene. Next is presented a dark and silent chamber in the palace, where all purple and crimson has been exchanged for sackcloth and sadness, and where lies the former rebel tyrant fasting and in silence. Now leave him in that sad chamber, and look out once more upon that dark cloud: one little ray of light has fringed it with hope and with mercy, and the prophet bears a word of comfort for even the repentant Ahab.

The majesty of all this scene, as the effect of the unbound truth of God in the hands of so feeble an instrument as the prophet, exhibits as much more of the Divinity than other scenes, as power over a demoniacal purpose is more wonderful than power over mere unresisting matter.

It

Passing down the steep descent from the Wady Kelt to the plain, we find a ruined castle situated on our right. has the appearance in itself of former strength, and commands the entrance to this, the main access to Jerusalem. It is very probably the mixed architectural remains of the castle Herod built over Jericho, and which he called after his mother, Cypros. Alterations and addition have evidently been made since his time, and the castle appears to be one to which reference is made in two old records-one, wherein four wandering knights, in 1395, speak of a place in this vicinity as the "Red Tower;" and again, perhaps more definitely, in the year 1483, when a traveller, said to be ascending the cliffs from Jericho, meets with ruins near the heights, which he thinks once formed the tower of Adammim, that is, the ascent of the "Red ones," from the sanguinary contests here between robbers

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CASTLE IN THE RAVINE.

and travellers. To protect the latter, the castle was, as we may suppose, rebuilt either on the ancient foundation, or with perhaps the foundation-stones of the old fortress of Herod the Great. The whole region, from the castle to Bethany, was called the desert of Adammim. The castle seems to have been named, in the year 1483, the castle Rotback, or river of blood, and is very probably the same as the Red Tower spoken of above, and the Kakon of the present Arabs-a name given also to ruins below the castle, and still nearer the plain. This old grey and black ruined castle, what scenes of terror have its turrets and its ruins been witness to since the time of its origin ! The castle was built as a kind of toll-gate where tribute was paid to the authority of Herod the Great, whose fondness of show exhibited itself by erecting palaces and fortresses between this castle and the Jericho of his time, as well as north of the city as far as Fasael. These buildings he named after his friends. Such was the constant uneasiness, the cunning and cruelty, of Herod, that it is more than probable these castles and palaces were erected really with a view to his own advantage in time of rebellion, though called after the names of relatives and friends. From the appearance of the grasses, and the hardness and nature of the stones, as seen when we passed the ruins, this old castle bids fair to remain many years unaltered. There are to be found immediately around the walls, and among ruins near them, rude mosaics. The fragments once composing them are several inches square, and apparently set in a lime cement, such as was used in those of a neater form and size found at Rome, and intended for walks as well as for rude ornamental or reticulated walls.

On descending into the plain, we passed a high, circular mound, ten to fifteen feet high; and two smaller ones were not far off. There are mounds somewhat similar to them in the distance; and those near the mouth of the Wady Kelt are covered, to some extent, with ruins. The guides speak of them as natural tumuli; but their perfect

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form and singularly isolated position would make us quite willing to undertake an excavation. This plain of the Jordan has been associated with more historical interest than we would at first suppose; and something might be elicited from an examination of these mounds which would repay the trouble. The course generally pursued after descending is immediately across the Kelt and to the "Fountain of Elisha," and it was the direction adopted by our guide; but afterward we found that altogether a preferable point of our first visit would have been the modern Jericho the Eriha of the Arabs. This is the point, therefore, after crossing the Wady Kelt at the base of the mountains, toward which we intend to direct our course.

CHAPTER XIX.

BROOK KELT-JERICHO

THE BANKS OF THE JORDAN. 1

FOR the greater part of the year, unless there is unusual drought, the little brook Kelt sends forth its waters into the plain, and directly east to the Jordan. It is an irre gular stream, sometimes increasing to quite a rivulet, being from twenty to thirty feet in breadth. This is its greatest width, which it attains only after recent and heavy rains. It then rapidly decreases to its width in winter of not more than ten to fifteen feet, and an average depth of one and a half, possibly two, feet. In the summer it is usually dry.

And now, having descended upon the plain, and crossed to the north bank of the brook, we gallop freely along the bank to Eriha. The soil is sufficiently hard for our horses' feet, and, notwithstanding the fatigue of a rocky and tedious journey from Jerusalem across the wilderness, all seem, without exception, to enjoy the glorious plain, the verdure and forests of which are quite sufficient to add an unwonted vigour and freshness to the scenery, and to our spirits also.* The modern Jericho is nearly two miles east

*There is a distinction between "wilderness" and "desert." A wilderness in the Scriptures is described by the Hebrew word midhbâr, which has for its basis the idea of pasture, or of land which could be used for pasturing flocks, though rugged and destitute of trees. A desert was a region of devastation utterly unfit to sustain life, and is called yishèmon, having a root signifying to devastate. This is the word described as a dry land" in Ps. lxviii. 6, though

แ

in the seventh verse translated "wilderness." In Ps. lxxviii. 40, both words occur, very properly distinguished; so in Ps. cvi. 14. The country generally above referred to is called wilderness, Josh. xvi. 1.