Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/641

Rh out this view there is great divergence of opinion; thus Renan will have it that the epistle was written from Ephesus in the year 65, while Harnack (Patr. Ap., Lp. Ixxxii.) thinks he finds traces of two distinct persecutions (4), and dates the book from the time of Domitian. The early currency of the epistle at Rome is urged in favour of the Roman address, but the ignorance of the Roman Church as to the author’s name seems to go rather in the opposite direction. Ch. xiii. 24 gives us no help, for they of Italy (of dard rhs Tradias) may in the epistolary style be Italians either at homeor abroad. It is most natural to infer from x. 32 scq., compared with xii. 4, that the church spoken of had not yet produced martyrs, but had suffered only by bonds and the loss of goods. This would exclude Rome, but perhaps the inference is not quite stringent. Returning from this survey we bring little with us that can throw light on the authorship of the epistle. We can only say that the writer was a man of the first intellectual mark and of Alexandrian culture, whose home and work lay mainly among Jewish Christians, but who was at the same time associated with the Pauline circle. Of the names offered to us in other New Testament writings, Barnabas and Apollos seem the most likely, and Barnabas will claim the preference if we are entitled to give any weight to tradition. Either name would go well with the Alexan- drian address. Apollos was an Alexandrian Jew. Barna- bas was of Cyprus, always closely connected with Egypt; and the tradition which connects his relative and associate Mark with the Church of Alexandria is as old as the 2d century.

1em  HEBRIDES,, or, is a name sometimes applied collectively to all the islands on the west coast of Scotland, but seldom including Bute, Arran, and the other islands situated in the Firth of Clyde. The group is usually divided into the Outer Hebrides, or Long Island, and the Inner Hebrides. The former division embraces the Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist, Ben- becula, Barra, and a number of small islands, the whole length of this group from Barra-Head to the Butt of Lewis being about 130 miles. The Inner Hebrides include Islay, Skye, Mull, Jura, Coll, Colonsay, Rum, Eigg, Tiree, Lismore, and Ulva. The number of inhabited islands is over 100, and the population is nearly 100,000. The principal islands are noticed under separate headings. The outer range consists almost exclusively of gneiss rocks, with poor soil and large proportions of peat and moor. The inner range is composed chiefly of trap and slate. The scenery of the islands may be generally described as par- taking of the wild and sublime. Large masses of mountains of all forms tower up in the interior; and the coasts, indented by arms of the sea, are rugged and varied in out- line. Spots of great beauty—green pastoral glens, sheltered bays and lakes—are interspersed with the wildest scenes. The climate, though mild, is humid and unsuitable for corn crops. Only a very small portion of the surface is arable, the greater part being mountains, and the valleys inter- secting them narrow and frequently covered with peat moss. Much of the land has, however, been converted into sheep walks, and the moors and desolate tracts are often let at high rents tosportsmen, The development of the prosperity of the islands has been greatly aided by the construction of excellent roads, and by the establishment of various lines of steamers in connexion with Glasgow, thus rendering the fine and in some respects unique scenery fully and easily accessible to tourists. One of the principal sources of wealth is that of the fisheries, Stornoway in the island of Lewis being the headquarters of that industry on the western coast.

1em 