some apartment of the Temple; and not a different weight from the common shekel. (1Chron. 23. 29.) Neither Josephus, nor Philo, nor Jerome, nor any ancient author, speaks of a distinction between the weights of the Temple, and those in common use. Besides the custom of preserving the standards of weights and measures in temples is not peculiar to the

Egyptian Weights.

Hebrews. The Egyptians, as Clemens Alexandrinus informs us, had an officer in the college of priests, whose business it was to examine all sorts of measures, and to take care of the originals; the Romans had the same custom, (Fannius de Amphoria,) and the Emperor Justinian decreed that standards of weights and measures should be kept in Christian churches.

The custom of weighing by stones, which was early in use among the Hebrews, has been also the same in most countries, and we ourselves still preserve a trace of it in the weight to which the name of "a stone" is still given. Stones are still used in western Asia, although not exclusively; and as no two such weights are of similar appearance, and as all stones are not equally ponderous, even when of the same apparent size, the eye of the customer has no standard of estimate by which it might detect the dishonesty of a trader who uses different weights for different occasions and customers. The Jewish doctors assert that in order to prevent this fraud, their wise men decreed that no weights, balances, or measures, should be made of such as iron, lead, tin, which are liable to rust, to bend, or be easily impaired, but of marble, stone, or glass, which were less liable to be abused. But that these precautions are ineffectual we learn from various travellers: Roberts says, "As in former times, so now, much of the business in the East is transacted by travelling merchants. Hence all kinds of spices and other articles are taken from one village to another by the Moors, who are in those regions what the Jews are in the West. The pedlar comes to your door and vociferates the names of his wares; and so soon as he catches your eye, begins to exhibit his very cheap and valuable articles. Have you agreed as to the price, he then produces the bag of divers weights,' (Deut. 25. 15,) and after fumbling some time in it, he draws forth the weight by which he has to sell, but should he have to purchase anything he will select a heavier weight. The man who is not cheated by this trader and his 'bag of divers weights' must be blessed with more keenness than most of his fellows." Indeed, using false weights is very common in the East, in proportion to its facility and to the difficulty of detection. It is a common circumstance for articles bought in the bazaars, and afterwards weighed at home by true standards, to exhibit a deficiency of fully one-third, and often more, although in the act of purchasing, the seller has affected to be liberal, and to turn the scale deeply in the pur

chaser's favour. But when anything is to be sold, the practised dealer seldom fails to have a weight that is heavier in the same proportion, and which reverses the case. Mohammed was aware of the temptations to dishonesty which such facilities offered, when he declared. that an honest dealer would take rank with martyrs in a future life. The ancient Egyptians, according to Diodorus, cut off the hands of a person who used false weights; and the laws of Mohammedan countries, also, have been very severe upon this crime. Joliffe gives us an account of an act of summary justice for this offence; he says, "A police-officer observing one morning a female, not a native, carrying a large piece of cheese, inquired where she had purchased it; being ignorant of the vender's name, she conducted him to his shop, and the magistrate suspecting the quantity to be deficient in weight, placed it in the scales, and found his suspicion verified; whereupon he straightway ordered his attendants to cut from the most fleshy part of the delinquent's person what would be equivalent to the just measure; the order was instantly executed, and the sufferer bled to death."

In the article BALANCE there is a wood-cut, copied from Egyptian sculpture, to which we refer our readers; it shows the ancient form of the scales used by that people, and is interesting, if only as exhibiting, from its general resemblance to those now in use, the general identity of meaus in countries far remote in place and time, when the same end is to be attained. These instruments are exhibited, with varieties of form, as with us, according to the sort of goods to be weighed in them. The scale-board, for instance, is sometimes flat, and sometimes suspended from the beam by chains. There is no reason to suppose that the weighing instruments among the Jews were very different. They may even have had a balance like our steelyard in principle; for this instrument is known to be of high antiquity, and is still used in the East. A few have been found in the ruins of Pompeii.

A "weight of glory," of which St. Paul speaks (2Cor. 4. 17), is opposed to the lightness of the evils of life. The troubles we endure are really of no more weight than a feather, or of no weight at all, if compared to the weight or intenseness of that glory which shall be hereafter a compensation for them. In addition to this, it is probable the Apostle had in view the double meaning of the Hebrew word chabod, which signifies not only weight but glory. Glory, that is, splendour, is in this world the lightest thing in nature; but in the other world it may be real, at once substantial and radiant. Indeed all translators confess their inability to find terms in our language adequately to express the force of this remarkable passage. The Greek language only affords materials for so powerful an expression. "It is," says Blackwell, "infinitely emphatical, and cannot be expressed by any translation. It signifies that all hyperboles fall short of describing that weighty eternal glory, so solid and lasting, that you may pass from one hyperbole to another, and yet, when you have gained the last, are infinitely below it." A.

WELLS, are receptacles for water from which there is no stream issuing. They belong to those persons who found or dug them first. Sometimes they are owned by a number of shepherds in common, who come to them on appointed days with their flocks, in order previously settled upon, descend a number of steps, which lead to the surface of the water, receive the water into small buckets, and pour it into troughs for the flock. The waters of wells and fountains are called living waters, and are very much esteemed. Hence they are

made a symbol of prosperity, aud God Himself is compared to a fountain of living waters.

Water was very scanty in the deserts, and very necessary to large flocks, it was therefore highly valued and frugally imparted.

Indeed we find that in the patriarchal ages, the discovery of water was reckoned of sufficient importance to be the subject of a formal report to the master of the flock, who distinguished the spot by an appropriate name. A remarkable instance of this kind is recorded by Moses, (Gen. 26. 17-22;) “And Isaac departed thence and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water. And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsman, saying, The water is ours, and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And he digged another well, and strove for that also, and he called the name of it Titnah. And he removed from thence and digged another well, and for that they strove not; and he called the name of it Rehoboth, and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." The cause of these differences seem to have been that a question arose whether wells dug by Abraham's and Isaac's people within the territories of Gerar, belonged to the people who digged them, or to those who enjoyed the territorial right. The real motive of the opposition of the people of Gerar, and their stopping up the wells made by Abraham, seems to have been to discourage the visits of such powerful persons to the territories, for otherwise, the wells would have been suffered to remain on account of their utility to the nation. Stopping up the wells is still an act of hostility in the East. Mr. Roberts says, that it is so in India, where one enemy who hates another, will sometimes send his slaves in the night to fill up the well of the latter, or else to pollute it by throwing in the carcases of unclean animals. The Bedouin tribes in the country traversed by the great pilgrim-caravan which goes annually from Damascus to Mecca, receive presents of money and vestments to prevent them from injuring the wells on the line of march, and which are essential to the very existence of the multitudes who then traverse this desert region.

D'Herbelot records an incident exactly in point, which seems to be quite common among the Arabs. Gianabi, a famous rebel in the tenth century, gathered a number of people together, seized on Bassorah and Caufa; and afterwards insulted the reigning caliph by presenting himself before Bagdad, his capital, after which he retired by little and little, filling up all the pits with sand which had been dug on the road to Mecca for the benefit of the pilgrims. Burckhardt also informs us, that while Soleyman Pacha held the government of Bagdad, an expedition was formed against Derayeh, in the country of the Wahabees. The invading army consisted of four or five thousand Turks, and double that number of Arab auxiliaries. Their march was parallel with the Persian Gulf, through a country abounding at every encampment with abundance of excellent wells. Instead of directing their route at once towards the intended place of attack, though it was only five or six days' journey, they laid siege to the fortress of El Hassa, where the resistance being stronger than was anticipated, and the garrison being reinforced by a powerful Wahabee force under Saoud, the Turks raised the siege and meditated a retreat. Saoud, however, expecting such a

result, took the start of them, and by forced marches encamped at one of the principal wells on their way while the other at some distance from it he rendered useless by emptying into it several camel loads of salt he had brought for the purpose. The men of Bagdad halted at this well, and their bitter disappointment may be more easily imagined than described, when they discovered the water to be as salt as that of the sea. The same cruel expedient was adopted by the Wahabee Arabs in their late war with Mehemet Ali. All the wells in the route of the Egyptian soldiers they polluted them with dead carcases, and thus rendered them useless. It has been stated that during the late war in China, the Chinese poisoned their wells in order to destroy our troops if they attempted to advance. But though wells are sometimes destroyed, it is an expedient only made use of in great emergencies, and the Arabs in particular, know too well the value and importance of wells ever wantonly to do them harm. They think it a great merit in the sight of God to dig a well, and culpable in an equal degree to destroy one. The wells in the deserts are in general the exclusive property either of a whole tribe, or of individuals whose ancestors dug them. The possession of a well is never alienated; perhaps, because the Arabs are firmly persuaded that the owner of a well is sure to prosper in all his undertakings, since the blessings of all who drink his water fall upon him. The stopping of Abraham's wells by the Philistines, the re-opening of them by Isaac, and the restoration of their former names; the commemorative names given to the new wells, and the strifes about them between those who had sunk them and the people of the land, are all circumstances highly characteristic of those countries in which the want of rivers and brooks during summer render the tribes dependent upon the wells for the existence of the flocks and herds which form their wealth. It would seem that the Philistines did not again stop the wells while Isaac was in their country. It is probable that the wells successively sunk by Isaac did not furnish water sufficient for both his own herds and those of Gerar, and thus the question became one of exclusive right. Such questions often lead to bitter and bloody quarrels in the East; and it was, probably, to avoid the last result of an appeal to arms, that Isaac withdrew out of the more settled country towards the Desert, where he might enjoy the use of his wells in peace. In 1814, Capt. Lightfoot saw a band of shepherds armed with muskets, in the act of watering their cattle at a well near Nazareth. They were frequently opposed in their approaches to the water by a neighbouring and unfriendly tribe. "Strife," says Dr. Richardson, "between the different villagers and the different herdsmen here, exists still as it did in the days of Abraham and Lot; the country has often changed masters; but the habits of the natives both in this and other respects have been nearly stationary.”

Having stated the importance of water to the shepherd, we may now subjoin its value to the agriculturist, as exemplified in Persia. Malcolm states that in that country the government duty on agricultural produce is always regulated according to the advantages or disadvantages of the soil with respect to water. Those lands that depend solely on the rain are almost never cultivated; those that are watered from wells, or reservoirs, pay five per cent. on the produce; those that get a supply of water from aqueducts pay fifteen per cent.; and those that have the advantage of a flowing stream, pay twenty per cent. These rates are after deducting the seed, and allowing ten per cent. for the reapers and threshers.

Chardin informs us that in Arabia and other places,

it is usual to close and cover up the wells, lest the sand which is put into motion by the winds there, like the water of a pond, should fill them up and quite choke them. This precaution is also necessary to prevent the water being dried up by evaporation. In this manner the well was covered from which the flocks of Laban were commonly watered, (Gen. 29. 2-10,) and the shepherds, careful not to leave them open at any time, patiently waited till all the flocks were together, before they removed the covering, and then, having drawn a sufficient quantity of water, they replaced the stone immediately. The extreme scarcity of water in these arid regions entirely justifies such rigid care in its management, and accounts for the fierce contentions which so frequently took place between different shepherds respecting the possession of wells. Indeed, in many cases, even after the question of right of possession was decided, shepherds were often detected fraudulently watering their flocks and herds from their neighbour's well. To prevent this, the cover was secured with a lock, which practice continued in use so late as the days of Chardin, who frequently saw such precautions used in different parts of Asia. He tells us, that when even the wells or cisterns were not locked up, some person was so far the proprietor, that "no one dared open them, except in his presence." This was probably why the shepherds of Padanaram declined the invitation of Jacob to water the flocks before they were all assembled; either they had not the key of the lock which secured the stone, or, if they had, they durst not open it, except in the presence of Rachel, to whose father the well belonged. It is not to be supposed that the shepherds waited because their united strength was requisite to roll away the stone, when Jacob was able singly to do so.

Jacob, therefore, is not to be supposed to have broken the standing rule, or to have done anything out of the ordinary course, for the Oriental shepherds are not at all persons likely to submit to the interference or dictation of a stranger. He, however, rendered a kind service to Rachel, as the business of watering cattle at a well is very tiresome and laborious. The pastoral poetry of classical antiquity, which has been imitated more or less in all nations, has rendered us familiar with the idea of females of birth and attraction acting as shepherdesses long after the practice itself had been

discontinued, and the employment sunk into contempt. When nations originally pastoral settled in towns, and adopted the refinements of life, the care of the sheep ceased to be a principal consideration, and gradually devolved upon servants or slaves. The respectability of the employment in these patriarchal ages is not evinced by our finding the daughter of so considerable a person as Laban engaged in tending the flocks, for, in the East, all drudgery devolves upon the females; but by our finding the sons of such persons similarly engaged in pastoral duties, which in Homer also appears to have been considered a fitting employment for the sons of kings and powerful chiefs. We are not aware that at present, in the East, the actual care of a flock or herd is considered a dignified employment. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, mentions that in the Brahmin villages of the Concan, women of the first distinction draw the water from wells and tend the cattle in pasture, like Rebecca and Rachel. But, in this instance, it cannot be because such employments have any dignity in them, but that the women are obliged to perform every servile office. So, among the Bedouin Arabs and other nomade nations, the immediate care of the flocks devolves either upon the women or the servants, but most generally the latter, as the women have enough to occupy them in their multifarious domestic duties. However, among some tribes, it is the exclusive business of the young unmarried women to drive the cattle to pasture. "Among the Sinai Arabs," says Burckhardt, " a boy would feel himself insulted were any one to say to him, Go and drive your father's sheep to pasture.' These words, in his opinion, would signify, You are no better than a girl." These young women set out before sunrise, three or four together, carrying some water and victuals with them; and they do not return until late in the evening. Throughout the day they continue exposed to the sun, watching the sheep with great care, for they are sure of being severely beaten by their father, should any be lost. These poor girls are in general civil to persons who pass by, and ready enough to share with them their food and milk. They are fully able to protect their flocks against any ordinary depredation or danger, for their way of life makes them as hardy and vigorous as men.

Twice in the day the flocks were led to the wells-at

noon, and when the sun was going down. This was an operation of much labour, and occupied a considerable space of time. Some of these wells are furnished with troughs and flights of steps down to the water, and other contrivances to facilitate the labour of watering the cattle. (In modern times, Mr. Park found a trough near the well from which the Moors watered their cattle in the sandy deserts of Sahara.) It is evident the well to which Rebecca went to draw water, near the city of Nahor, had some contrivance of this kind, for it is written, "Rebecca hasted and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels." (Gen. 24. 20.) A trough was also placed by the Arabian well from which the daughters of Jethro watered his flocks, (Exod. 4. 16,) and, if we may judge from circumstances, was a usual contrivance in every part of the East. "Without such contrivances," says Paxton, "it would be impossible in many places to water the cattle at all, for, as in those arid climes there is seldom such abundance of water as we can easily procure in the flowing river or the pond, and the scanty store of the precious fluid that is collected in the well or the tank is rapidly diminished by the influence of the heat, as well as by daily consumption, necessity requires that it be drawn out of the deep and narrow reservoir and poured into a basin or trough, where it may be within reach of the youngest of the flock. The depth to which, from the causes now mentioned, the water is often reduced, has given rise to the natural expedient, in order to facilitate the task of the women, of furnishing many of the wells in the East with a flight of steps, by which a descent is effected to the water's edge,- a peculiarity of structure which will serve to explain that part of the sacred narrative describing the movements of Rebecca where it is said, 'She came down unto the well and filled the pitcher, and came up.' That pitcher was probably a large two-handled earthen jar, like what is still universally used in Palestine; and the reader cannot fail to notice that she carried it not suspended in her hand, but aloft on her shoulder, a mode of carrying burdens which is to this day the favourite practice of the women; and travellers have often expressed their admiration of the dexterity with which the Arab maidens trip along with their beautiful long-necked vases nicely balanced without assistance on their heads, or supported, as many of them do, by the left hand on the shoulder."

The following anecdote, though not belonging to Palestine or any of the scenes of sacred history, may be subjoined, as affording a pleasing illustration of manners exactly similar to patriarchal:-" Greatly resembling the pasioral manners of the Mesopotamian damsels in the patriarchal days, the young women of Guzerat daily draw water from the public wells, and sometimes carry two or three earthen jars placed over each other upon the head, which requiring perfect steadiness, gives them an erect and stately air. An English lady in India, whose great delight was to illustrate the sacred volume by comparison with the modern manners and customs of the Hindoos, reading the interesting interview between Abraham's servant and Rebecca, at the gate of Nahor, to an intelligent native, when she came to that passage where the virgin went down to the well with her pitcher upon her shoulder, her attentive friend exclaimed, Madam, that woman was of high caste!' This he implied from the circumstance of carrying the pitcher upon her shoulder, and not on her head. Some of the highest Brahmins do the same."

On reascending from the well, Rebecca discovered no surprise to find a stranger standing at its entrance; and

to his urgent demand for a supply of water for himself and camels, which it must have cost her so many laborious descents to provide for her own numerous charge, she responded with a courteous readiness which conveys the most favourable impression of her character and manners. Such interviews are neither rare nor unexpected; for, as the native shepherdesses are always certain to be found watering their cattle at midday and at sunset, the wells naturally became convenient halting-places to which travellers direct their steps at those periods of the day, as well to supply themselves with the refreshing beverage, as to gain all requisite information about the place and people. An application for a draught of water is the usual commencement of a conversation, and scenes like this incident in Rebecca's bistory are still so frequently to be met with as to afford the clearest proof that the pastoral manners of Eastern shepherdesses retain the same beautiful and warm-hearted. simplicity by which they were distinguished in the days of Abraham. The two following anecdotes are given in illustration of this:-" We met on this road," says Niebuhr (the road from Orfa to Bir), "with several wells, at which we stopped while the young women of the neighbouring villages, or of the tribes of the Curds and Turcomans who were wandering in these parts, came to water their flocks. They were not veiled, like those in the towns. As soon as we accosted them and alighted from our horses, they brought us water to drink, and likewise watered our horses. Similar civilities had indeed been shown to me in other parts, but here it appeared particularly remarkable, because Rebecca, who was certainly brought up in this neighbourhood, showed herself equally obliging to strangers. Perhaps I have even drank at the same well from which she drew water.”

"About five in the evening, the latter end of December," says Mr. Rae Wilson, "upon entering the town of Nazareth, we saw two women filling their pitchers with water at the fountain, and about twelve others waiting for the same purpose, whom we desired to pour some water into a trough which stood hard by, that our horses might drink. We had scarcely made the request before they instantly complied, and filled the trough, and the others waited with the greatest patience. Upon returning thanks, one of them with very great modesty replied, "We consider kindness and hospitality to strangers as an essential part of our duty.'"

In repairing then at the time of drawing water to the well at the gate of Nahor, which he knew was at no great distance from the residence of Bethuel, in throwing himself upon the civilities of the young shepherdess for a draught of water, and on that simple act of hospitality founding his claim to her attention and interest in the inquiries he made about the neighbouring sheik, Eliezer acted on a thorough knowledge of the habits of the country. No other mode of inquiry he might have adopted could, in a thinly-peopled and pastoral region like that through which he was travelling, have procured him so direct and accurate intelligence of the names and condition of the principal inhabitants, or have led so speedily to the accomplishment of the important errand for which he had been despatched to the Mesopotamian branch of his master's family, as by making for the well, and mingling in simple dialogue with the parties of native shepherdesses who frequented it as their usual watering-place. One young maiden only appeared there, a circumstance which renders it probable that her father, Bethuel, was the great pastoral chief of the neighbourhood who possessed the exclusive right to the well. In many other places, where the population is more numerous, or the water

scarce, a number of shepherds and shepherdesses collect from different quarters, with their respective flocks, to the same fountain, and while among shepherds of peaceable manners, who are on habits of amicable intercourse, those meetings are hailed with joy, as the most pleasant in their solitary day, are the time for retailing gossip, the signals for the outbreak of all sorts of merriment, and are often enlivened with the song and the dance, with others who are of a contentious disposition, or where there is any jealousy or animosity among the rival tribes, they become scenes of bitter strife and rude competition, in which unmanly advantage is always taken of their gentler companions of the other

sex.

Della Vallé, and many other travellers who passed through the dreariest parts of the desert, tell us that they always forgot their toil and privations when they reached the wells, and mingled in the company of the lively shepherdesses who repaired thither with their flocks, and that the little kind offices which they rendered in helping these nymphs of the mountains to water them were more than repaid by the pleasures of their society and generous hospitality, which were offered in return with the liveliest gratitude; for, in the present day, as of old, the female keepers of the flock are often subjected to the rudest treatment from their male companions, who, pressing forward, exclude them from the benefit of the well; so that the bold and generous stranger who happens to be resting there, and chooses to take the part of the fair daughters of the desert, renders them an important service, which they never fail to acknowledge by offering to the traveller all the attentions in their power. It was by his courteous civility in hastening to remove the ponderous stone that covered the well of Haran,—the reader of the Bible will remember, that Jacob introduced himself to the notice, and won the heart of his fair Mesopotamian cousin; and it was by the seasonable interposition of Moses, as champion of the seven daughters of Jethro, who would otherwise have suffered in his presence, as they usually did, from the rude violence of their male companions, that the illustrious fugitive ingratiated himself into the esteem of the simple-hearted Arabian shepherdesses, and received a pressing welcome into the tent of the sheik their father.

Both Jacob and Moses being poor and ill-equipped fugitives had it not in their power to bestow any other mark of their regard than the simple though important service of their hands. But in the more ancient story of Rebecca, we find Abraham's confidential slave and messenger lavishing on her, as she stood at the well, a profusion of costly trinkets. Nor, however strange it may seem to us, the idea of decorating a young female, who was occupied in the humble task of carrying pitchers of water to provide for the flocks she had charge of, with ornaments of gold and silver, is this description at least in variance with the habits of the time and place.

Even in the present day the Arab and Syrian shepherdesses often appear at the well under a load of ornamental finery; nor can this appear wonderful, the Oriental female having universally a strong passion for gaudiness of dress, and covering the face and arms with a variety of rings and trinkets; it is natural that the young women of the pastoral countries, with whom the wells are the only places of public resort where they ever mingle with the world, should be eager to deck themselves with all the valuables they can command. We are told that Eliezer gave Rebecca "two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold," that is, about four ounces and a half, which seems an extraor

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But they are

dinary weight for a pair of bracelets. worn as heavy, or indeed much heavier in the East, resembling, as Chardin remarks, rather manacles than bracelets. They are sometimes flat in shape, but more usually round or semi-circular, taking a cubical form at the section where they open to admit the hand. They have no fastenings, but open and compress by their own elasticity alone; they are, in fact, enormous rings, which are often seen not less than an inch in diameter; but their weight, although great, is not commensurate to their size, as they are usually hollow. The weight which a woman carries on her arms, however, is not to be estimated by that of a single pair of bracelets; for no woman who can possibly get more is contented with one pair. It is not unusual to see five or six bracelets on the same arm, covering it from the wrist nearly to the elbow. These, and their other ornaments, form the sole wealth of the bulk of the women, and they are anxious, on all occasions, to accumulate, and loath to part from them; hence on a comparatively poor woman, living and dressing meanly, it is not uncommon to see a considerable quantity of precious metal in the ornaments of her head-dress, arms, and ankles; whatever other ornaments she possesses are not treasured up to be produced on grand occasions, but are worn daily as parts of her ordinary costume. Thus she puts all her bracelets on her arms at once, all her anklets on her legs, and all her earrings in her ears. The use of ornaments on all occasions seems to explain why Eliezer placed the nosering at once on the nose of Rebecca, and the bracelets on her arms, instead of giving them to her as things to be treasured up. "In the neighbourhood of Bethlehem," says Wilde, “ we saw a band of young girls going to a well, with their pitchers on their shoulders, who appeared among the most beautiful of their sex we met in the East. They had slight and elegant figures, a native grace of mien and air, added to which the tasteful drapery of their light simple attire, the dark tresses that fell in wild luxuriance over their necks and shoulders, braided with small gold coins, while a zone of the same brilliant material adorned their high expanded foreheads; the music of their silver anklets, their long pendent earrings, and the bracelets that covered their arms in great numbets, cast an inexpressible charm round those lovely Arab maidens."

The scarcity of water, and the great labour and expense of digging away so much earth in order to reach it, render a well extremely valuable. As the water is often sold at a very high price, a number of good wells yield a large revenue to the proprietor. Pitts was obliged to purchase water at sixpence a gallon; a fact which illustrates the force of the offer made by Moses to Edom, "If I and my cattle drink of thy water, then will I pay for it." (Numb. 21. 19.)

It is properly mentioned as a very aggravating circumstance in the overthrow of Jerusalem, that the ruthless conqueror forced the Jews to purchase with money the water of their own wells, and the wood of their own trees: "We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us." (Lam. 5. 4.) Even a cup of cold water cannot always be obtained in Syria without paying a certain price. It is partly on this account Our Lord promises that "whosoever shall give to drink unto one of those little ones a cup of cold water, in the name of a disciple, should in no wise lose his reward." (Matt. 10. 42.)

There are many wells and cisterns in Judea, the first of which are supplied with water by springs, the latter by rain. The Eastern wells have often no implements for drawing water except what persons bring with them, so that travellers in those dry countries are often obliged