Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/276

236 letter, on a clay tablet. The letter is written from the Governor of Lachish to the Egyptian Pharaoh, and the writer, Ziraradi, or Zimridi, is mentioned in the Tell el Amarna Tablets as Governor of Lachish. We also learn from the same authority that Zimridi was murdered by servants of the Pharaoh. The letter in the original cuneiform, with its transliteration and translation, will be found in the volume. In a word, the complete story of this Biblical City is here presented. It is the first time that one of the Tells of Palestine has been excavated, and therefore the first time that any of them has yielded up its secrets in illustration of the Biblical narrative. It is a history which is attractive from its subject, and made doubly attractive by the light, easy, and lucid manner in which Mr. Bliss presents it to the readers.

Price to subscribers to the Fund, 3s. 6d.; non-subscribers, 6s.

Mr. George Armstrong's Raised Map of Palestine is attracting much attention, and it is difficult to supply promptly all the orders that come in for it.

This raised map is constructed on the same scale as those of the Old and New Testament maps already issued by the Society. These were reduced from the scale of the large map (1 inch to the mile) to of an inch to the mile, or the fraction of  levels, as calculated by the engineers who triangulated the country, of whom Mr. Armstrong was one from the commencement to the end, are followed exactly. No other correct raised map of the country is possible, because the Survey of Palestine is copyright and belongs to the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Without raising the question of piracy, however, no other trustworthy raised map is at all likely to be attempted, because the knowledge of the country requisite can only be possessed by one who has stepped over every foot of it, and because the labour which Mr. Armstrong has given to the work—extending over many years—will scarcely be expended by any other person, now or in the future. This labour will be partly understood when it is explained that the map was prepared by the super-position of small pieces of cardboard, many thousands in number, cut so as to represent the line of the country, and laid one above the other. The work occupied all Mr. Armstrong's leisure time for seven years. In its unfinished state the map presents the appearance of a completely terraced country. It embraces the whole of Western Palestine, from Baalbeck in the north, to Kâdesh Barnea in the south, and shows nearly all that is known on the East of Jordan.

The natural features of the country stand out prominently, and show at a glance the relative proportions of the mountains, heights, valleys, plains, &c.

Names are given to the coast towns and a few of the inland ones; other towns are numbered to correspond with a reference list of names.

With this map before him the teacher or the student is enabled to follow the Bible narrative exactly; he can trace the route of armies; he can reconstruct the roads; he can understand the growth and the decay of cities, their safety or their dangers, from their geographical positions. It is a magnificientmagnificent [sic] addition to the many works which this Society has given to the world. It illustrates the practical usefulness of the Society, while it adds one more to its achievements in the cause of illustration and explanation of the Bible Lands