πληρης άλμυρίδος· εντος δε τε τειχες ολίγον εςιν ύδωρ εν φρεασι, και τετο διεφθαρμενον, και παίζελως τη γεύσει πικρον. This defert, which began at Pelufium and the Nile, reached in the way to Palestine as far as Gaza, which was fituated on the edge of it — άurn esiv egnμos, fays 2 the Apoftle. And Arrian 3 obferves of the fame place; εσχατη δε ῴκειτο, ως επ' Αιγυπτε εκ Φοινίκης ιοντι, επι τη

αρχη της ερημε.

But Lakemacher is not contented with curforily fpeaking of this part of the world. He goes fo far as to defcribe it; telling us what it was, and what it was not; as if he had been witness of it's goodness, and had traversed it at his leasure. 4Ille tractus-ab ipfâ naturâ ad pecora alenda videbatur factus. Neque enim tot rivis, uti Delta, incifus erat abruptufque; fed campis continuis lateque patentibus liberè evagandi palandique gregibus faciebat copiam. Quocirca illo potiffimum delectatos fuifle paftores non eft magnopere mirandum. It was a rich open country: in short, a perfect Arcadia. To this minute and whimsical description of a region that the author was totally unacquainted with, let me fubjoin an account of the true nature of these parts; and, as far as I can judge, of the very spot that has been above treated of, with fome occurrences that happened there; as they are defcribed by a modern traveller. 5 Baumgarten, a German nobleman, fet out with a Caravan from Cairo to go to Syria, December the 6th in the year 1507. He travelled five days; when he came towards the part of Arabia that lay between Damiata and Syria. "On the twelfth

day about fun-rifing we came to a defolate and decayed cottage; where we stopped about two hours; and then went on in "our fandy journey towards the fea. Not far from this cottage "we faw above ten thousand carcafes of fheep, goats, affes, and "other creatures lying on the ground, rotten and half confum"ed:

2 Acts. 8. v. 26.

3 Exped. Alex. Lib. 2.

4 Vol. 2. p. 320.

5 Churchill's collection of travels. Vol. 1. p. 457.

"ed: the noifom fmell of which was fo unfufferable, that we "were obliged to make all the haste we could to get out of the "reach of it. The occafion of their lying there was thus. Admirald, one of the Sultan's chief ministers, having been fent in"to Judæa to raise a poll-tax, and finding it hard to get in the money, had driven had driven away the poor people's cattle, with a defign to carry them to Cairo, and present them to the Sultan. "But, as he was travelling through that defert, where there " was neither water nor pasture, he lost them all.-After we "had got out of the reach of that stink, we came to a certain bay." Sandys, the father of English travellers, went the same rout, and gives a fimilar account of it. 7" On the east it [Egypt] is confined with the Arabian deferts-We were to begin the worst of the journey. On the 10th of March we entered "the main deferts:-a barren and defolate country, bearing nei"ther grass nor trees; fave only here and there a few palms:no water that is sweet; all being a mere wilderness of sand.” This

6 Baumgarten was at Cairo in the time of Tongobardin, the last of the Mamaluke kings, A.D. 1507. He was admitted to that prince's presence; and faw him with his thirty five wives, in the midft of the higheft luxury and gratification, maintaining that no life could be compared with his for true and fubftantial happiness. A few years afterwards he was defeated by Selim the Turk, and hanged before his palace. The fame perfon traverfed this defert another way, in his journey to mount Sinai; and fhews that it was of the fame nature every where. "Alcanicatwo miles from Cairo; and ftands in a fandy defert. - On the eighth "we entered the deferts.-On the ninth we marched through a dreadful "fandy defert, where nothing that was green appeared; not fo much "as briars or thorns." We have the like account in Monconyfii Iter ad montem Sine. 13. April. Ad hofpitium vel diverforium. 14. Per defertum ftatim a diverforio incipiens. In like manner Neitfcheizt, Iter ad Montem Sine. 25 Junii. Cabiro mane iter inceptum- inde ad Suez merum fabulum. In fhort, the whole fpace from lower Egypt to Palestine and to the Red Sea was at all times a defert, taken in every direction. "Toute "l'Egypt eft environnée de deferts et fablons." Davity,p. 273. Leo Africanus fpeaks to the fame effect: and all ancient writers agree that Arabia and the defert of Arabia commenced from the river of Pelufium, the extreme branch of the Nile eastward.

7 Sandys's Travels.

This is the spot that Lakemacher terms terra pascuosa, pecoribufque alendis cum primis idonea: here he supposes a numerous people to have refided two centuries, where a Caravan could not subsist for a day. Sure this is overlooking the plaineft evidence, and running counter to the most approved authorities. Yet the learned profeffor Joh. Math. Hafius fubfcribes to this opinion; and, proceeding upon the fame grounds, adds to the extravagancies largely. He gives it as a reason for placing the Ifraelites in this particular fituation, because they were in the vicinity of those very places about mount Cafius, which are represented by Plutarch and other writers as uninhabitable. I have been pretty diffuse in my confutation of Lakemacher's notions; as at the fame time I obviate the opinion of all those who are of the fame way of thinking; there being many of that class. Even the learned bishop Cumberland was of this opinion. 9 "It is probable that the "country which Mofes calls Gofben began hereabouts, [near ‹ Pelufium] and ran fouthward between the Nile on it's west "fide and the Red Sea on part of it's east :—the fittest place to "maintain their cattle."

Mr. Sale has exhibited in his writings much oriental reading; and the world is certainly indebted to him on that head. Yet he has been too much led by fancy: and he very often determines a point peremptorily, that he has not fufficiently confidered. He has a note upon this fubject, which I will transcribe at large. "It is a wonder how the Septuagint "came to place the land of Goshen in Arabia, at least, some copies have it Goshen in Arabia, fince that was farther off "from Egypt than the land of Canaan. St. Jerom thinks

"that

8 Johan. Math. Hafii Mathem. Profell. Witemberg. Regni Davidici et Solomonis defcriptio. Norimberg. 1739. In Cap. 12. part. 2. p.175. among other reafons given, these are principal: Conditio regionis ; fertilis enim est ob viciniam Nili, inque introitu Egypti. In vicinia funt Migdol, Baalze. phon, Lacus Sirbonis. Alia etiam non fine fructu videri poffunt apud Lakemacherum, non fine laude citandum, in obfervationibus fuis philologicis. 9 In Sanchoniath. p. 363 & 365.

2

"that it was the fame as Thebais in Ethiopia or bordering to "it but that was too long a journey for Jacob, neither "would Joseph have been near enough to have seen and fupplied his wants: whereas he gives it as a reafon to his bre"thren, in the former chapter, for his chufing this land, "that they might be near him. But this Goshen was fitu"ate between the Red Sea and the Nile, upon the borders "of Canaan, not far from On or Hierapolis, where his chief "habitation was. It was a fruitful spot of ground, and fit "for cattle; and therefore Jofephus tells us that Pharaoh kept his own there. It was feparate from Egypt, and there"fore fitteft for Jacob and his family; which would be out " of all danger of interfering with the Egyptians."6 What an inconfiftent jumble is here! This writer wonders that the Seventy fhould place Gofben in Arabia; and therefore, to mend the matter, he places it in the confines of Canaan: whereby he shews, that he neither knew the true fituation of Egypt, nor the extent of Arabia, nor the limits of the land he speaks of. He did not know that all to the east of the Nile was called Arabia. 7 Ἡ δε μεταξυ τε Νειλε και το Αραβιε κολπο Αραβία μεν εςι. 8 Ultra Pelufiacum Arabia eft, ad Rubrum mare pertinens: and 9 Agabıα συνάπτεσα προς μεν την δυσιν Αιγυπτῳ. He did not know that the city Heliopolis, which he alludes to and calls Hierapolis, was in Arabia: which city he places not far from the borders of Canaan; between which places, however, there was a mighty interval. For Canaan, as it was bounded at the time we are speaking of, had between it and Egypt part of Philiftim or Palaftina propria. Next in order to the Philistines were the Amalekites; who stretched across almost from one fea to the other, and were a very powerful nation. Between them and the

6 Univerfal History. Vol. 1. p. 457. Note A.

7 Strab. Vol. 2. pag. 1155.

8 Plin. Nat. Hift. Lib. 5. Cap. 11.

9 Steph. Byzant.

I

According to Jofephus the Amalekites reached from Pelufium to the Red Sea. Antiq. Jud. Lib. 6. Cap. 8.

L

the city Heliopolis was the defert above mentioned, from the commencement of which to Heliopolis could not be less than 150 miles. This space is by the writer overlooked, and the country annihilated: fo that the confines of Canaan are brought within the verge of upper Egypt. After having determined the fituation of this Gofben between the Red Sea and the Nile upon the borders of Canaan, not far from Hierapolis, where it feems Jofeph lived, he concludes; "it was a fruitful "fpot, and separate from Egypt; and therefore fittest for Jacob." In this wide field it is difficult to know the part he alludes to But in respect to the fpot, wherever it was, being fruitful, it is a groundless supposition. I have shewn from many authorities, that it was a barren wild: and as to the land of GoShen being separate from Egypt, it is quite contradictory to the Mofaic account. The facred historian affures us that it was part of the land of Egypt. 3 The Ifraelites were to eat by Pharaoh's appointment the fat of the land: the good of all the land of Egypt was their's. 4" The land of Egypt is before thee;" faid the prince of the country; " in the best of the land make thy "father and brethren to dwell.-And Jofeph placed his father " and his brethren, and gave them a poffeffion in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as "Pharaoh had commanded.— And Ifrael dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Gofben." This fure is very explicit and plain. But what evidence is sufficient against the perversenefs of human wit, that will fo very induftriously deviate from the truth? which would persuade us, that "the best of "the land of Egypt" was not the beft, nor in Egypt; and that the Ifraelites were placed in a desert.

The

There were two cities named Heliopolis; of which I fhall have a great deal to say hereafter. One was in lower Egypt; and very ancient, being the On of Mofes and the Prophets: the other of later date, and called properly Onium. It was fituated at some distance from the former, and in Arabia. This is a circumftance, that has escaped the notice not only of all the moderns, but of most of the ancients.

Gen. 45. v. 18, 20.

4 Gen. 47. v. 6, 11. 27.