Page:The Popular Educator Volume 1.djvu/17

 who acquired some knowledge of its surface, and of the countries it then contained. It is admitted that the tenth chapter of Genesis contains a view of the known divisions of the earth at an early period, and that it agrees in some striking particulars with the records of profane history! It is also acknowledged that Ezekiel visited Tyre, as Herodotus did Babylon, with the eye of an intelligent observer; and it is considered probable that he held intercourse with the best-informed men in that great school of commerce and navigation. The geographical boundaries to which he alludes are considered as placed at the farthest limits of their knowledge—viz., Tarshish, Ophir, the Isles, Sheba and Dedan, the River, Gog and Magog, and the North.

Tarshish is deemed, with very great probability, to have been the name used in Scripture for Africa. It appears to have belonged originally to a great African city, called Carthage in later times, and well known from its rivalry to Rome; it was afterwards extended to the whole continent of which that city might be considered the metropolis; but especially to that division of it, now known by the name of Northern Africa, exclusive of Egypt and the countries adjacent to the Arabian Gulf. This division was called by the Romans Africa Propria, that is, Africa Proper, and included Carthage; and Jerome calls a voyage to Tarshish an "African voyage." This also solves a difficulty which has been found in the Scriptural accounts of two different voyages to Tarshish; the one up the Mediterranean Sea, from the Strait of Gibraltar, bringing iron, silver, lead, and tin, the produce of Spain and Britain (Ezek. xxvii. 12); and the other, up the Red Sea, or Arabian Gulf, from the Strait of Bab-el-mandeb, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks, the produce of Central Africa (1 Kings x. 22).

Ophir, as being connected with Tarshish and Sheba in the voyages of Solomon's ships for gold and other produce, is rightly considered as a part of Africa, which indeed appears highly probable from the similarity of the name. The eastern coast is the quarter to which all the indications seem evidently to point. In the voyage to Tarshish by the Red Sea, the name of Ophir is also mentioned, and in one case the latter is substituted for the former (2 Chron. ix. 10). But we have seen that Tarshish is a name for one part of Africa; now, Ophir is a name for another part of the same continent. As gold is the produce of Ophir, we must look to that part where it is to be found. This, for the sake of consistency in the history of the voyage, can only be Sofala, where abundance of gold is said to exist, and whence it could easily be brought in ships through the Red Sea to Sheba in Arabia; from the Strait of Bab-el-mandeb it could either be carried overland through this country to Jerusalem, or it could be transported up the gulf to the place now called Suez, whence it could readily be brought into the palace of Solomon the king.

The Isles, the isles of the Gentiles, the isles of the sea, the isles of Chittim and of Elishah, all point out the islands which abound in the Mediterranean, which is called "the sea" and "the great sea" in Scripture. These are acknowledged to be Sicily and the other islands belonging to Italy and Spain; the islands of Greece, a country almost wholly insular and peninsular; and the islands of Cyprus and Crete (Candia), with various other smaller islands scattered through the Archipelago, and lying on the west of Asia Minor.

Arabia Felix, or Arabia the Happy, is considered to be the country anciently called Sheba or Sabæa. Its trade was in gold and incense; and it was carried on by caravans which came from the coast, where they had been imported from Ophir. The "companies of Sheba" are mentioned in Job—a fact which shows the antiquity of its commerce­; and the "multitude of its camels" are spoken of in Isaiah—another fact which sows its value and long continuance. The commerce of Dedan rivalled that of Sheba. It came up the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Ormuz. The imports were ivory and ebony, and "precious clothes" for chariots. These were the commodities of India, and they were carried across the desert of Arabia, or Arabia Deserta, into Petra, the capital of Arabia Petræa, or Arabia the Stony, which consisted chiefly of the ancient country of Idumea, or Edom. The inhabitants of Dedan were only the merchants who brought the produce of India to the capital of Edom, as a depôt for the supply of the countries lying to the north and the west of it, and "the travelling companies of Dedanim" might consist of native Hindoo or Asiatic traders, whose home was on the deep.

The River meant the great river, the river Euphrates. On its banks stood the mighty capitals of Assyria and Babylon, and there flourished the most renowned empires of antiquity. Here also was supposed to have been the seat of Paradise, or the garden of Eden. Thus saith the poet:

"Seek not for Paradise, with curious eye, In Asiatic climes, where Tigris' wave, Mixed with Euphrates in tumultuous joy, Doth the broad plains of Babylonia lave. 'Tis gone with all its charms, and, like a dream, Like Babylon itself, is swept away; Bestow one tear upon the mournful theme, But let it not thy gentle heart dismay. For know, wherever love and virtue guide, They lead us to a state of heavenly peace; Where bliss, unknown to guilt and shame, preside, And pleasures unalloyed each hour increase."

Along the countries situated between the Euphrates and the Tigris, and on both sides of these rivers, Ezekiel mentions a number of cities, as Haran, Canneh, Eden, Asshur, etc., from which great caravans proceeded to Tyre with cloths and other valuable commodities. These appear to have been brought overland across the countries of Asia, and probably by interior caravans from Hindostan and the borders of China, the native country of silk.

The North, and Gog and Magog, described by Ezekiel, have been considered as denoting the Scythian hordes of warriors who invaded the south, and carried away "silver and gold and a great spoil." But the passages in which the North is mentioned are, with more reason, supposed to refer to the high table-lands in the interior and the north of Asia Minor, Phrygia, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Paphlagonia. The imports from these regions were "vessels of brass and persons of men." These countries are famous for their produce in copper, iron, and steel to this day; and their trade in slaves for the supply of harems is equally notorious. Horses and mules are also mentioned as brought from the same quarter; and this trade also has been found a branch of the traffic carried on in the upland tracts of Paphlagonia. Thus, we have given a succinct view of the ancient geography recognised in the Scriptures.

LESSONS IN ENGLISH.—I.

INTRODUCTION.

commencing a series of lessons in English, it appears desirable to let the readers of the know what they may expect. Briefly, then, we intend to exhibit the facts of the language and the productions of the language. The acts of the language, if systematically presented, will involve its laws; and on the other hand, the productions of the language, historically treated, will comprise its literature. In this way, the facts and the productions proposed for our consideration will obviously lead the careful student to a knowledge of the language. Nor without a study of both the facts and the productions can any such knowledge be acquired. A knowledge of any language implies a familiarity with its literature, and a familiarity with the facts or laws of its construction. It is not possible to have one without the other, any more than it is to know the principles of Grecian art without having studied its masterpieces. Apart from the literature of a language, we cannot know its grammar; apart from the grammar of a language, we cannot know its literature. The literature of a language is the organic life, whose laws grammar has to learn and expound. The grammar of a language is merely a systematic exposition of the laws observed in the composition of its literature. Hence it is that an acquaintance with the literature of a language should precede the study of its grammar. Indeed, the productions of a language are earlier than its grammar. Men pronounced sentences, delivered speeches, composed and sang poems, long before they had any idea of the rules of which grammar is made up. The thought was first; then came the utterance, and out of many utterances at last grew the science of grammar. Grammar has no other function than to deduce and set forth the laws of a language, which have been already observed by some great writer or great writers. The criticism which in Greece gave birth to grammar was long posterior to Homer.

The knowledge of the grammar of a language, then, does not involve a knowledge of the language itself. Still less are the