andrine Chronicle speaks to the same purpose: Εγεννήθη δε και αλλος εκ της φυλης το Χαμ, Χες ονοματι, ὁ Αιθίοψ, όσις εγεννησε τον Νεμβρωδ γιγαντα. The Cuseans then, however they may be sometimes styled Ethiopians, were no other than Arabians. And hence it was that the Cusean provinces in Egypt were thus interpreted. It is now very plain why Phaccusa or Cushan, together with the nome of Heliopolis, (of which it seems to have been a portion) were called Arabian even from the Arabians, or, as they were originally styled, the Cuseans, who possessed them; and at their departure bequeathed their name to them. The Greeks therefore expressed themselves ill, when they first distinguished these nomes; which they should not have styled Νομοι της Αραβίας, but των Agaßur not Arabian nomes, but nomes of the Ara

"Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle "and bend the bow." Cush is not here Arabia or the Arabian; but, as it is rendered, the Ethiopian. The Ethiopians were of the same family as the Arabians; and, like them, came from Babylonia; of which there are many traces. The first province of Ethiopia from Egypt is the land of Sennaer at this day. In short, the Cuscans were twofold, both called Ethiopians;

Οι μεν δυσσομενο Ὑπερίονος, οι δ' ανιοντος.

The eastern were more generally termed Arabians. Of both these nations Herodotus gives a very distinct and satisfactory account, lib. 7. cap. 70. Hyde is therefore wrong, cap. 2. pag. 28: Ex ·dictis constat quòd Cush semper in S. Bibliis sit Arabia.

bians which would have been a truer interpreta→ tion of Tabir Cushan; as they were not denominated from their situation, but from the nation that. once possessed them.

These strangers therefore who settled in Egypt were no other than the Cuseans; and have been styled Arabian shepherds: for all the primitive Arabians were nomades or shepherds. This people becoming lords of the country, undoubtedly chose where seemed most eligible; and their profession would lead them to the best of the land for pasturage in which respect Goshen had not its equal. For it was part of the πεδίον Αιγυπτε, the rich champain of Egypt so that this circumstance among others would induce one to suppose that they settled here. This is confirmed by the worship which they established in these parts; the cities they built, and the name that they bequeathed to the province. In the Mosaic account, the land of Goshen is repeatedly said to be in the land of Egypt, "in the "best of the land:" and yet the Seventy call it Γεσσεμ της Αραβίας : which could arise from no other reason but its being the land of Cushan, which was interpreted Arabian: for in 69 Arabia it was not

69 Many have thought, that the place given to the children of Israel for their abode in Egypt was at Heliopolis, or in the vicinity of it which was the situation of the Cusean nome, called by Ptolemy Phaccusa. But they were at a loss to determine where

:

situated. In our translation we call the place, where I suppose them to settle, Goshen; which may perhaps sound somewhat remote from what I suppose it to represent. The original is a, and may fairly be rendered Gushan: which amounts only to a different dialect; and, like Coptis, Kuptis, AlyʊTтos, Αίγυπτος, Ægyptus, relates to one and the same place. This is plain from Bar Bahlul, the Syriac Lexicographer; who always expresses Goshen by two, Cushan; and interprets it Cushatha, or the land of the Cuseans. Oriental evidence must in this case be esteemed of consequence; and is a confirmation of what I maintain.

According to the above determination, the place where the children of Israel resided in Egypt was in the principal Arabian nome; at the extreme and highest part of lower Egypt, called Cushan. This agrees well with what is said of Joseph; that he 70 "made ready his chariot, and went UP to meet "Israel his father, to Goshen :" which term of going up must have its weight; and cannot be made

either Heliopolis itself was, or its environs, which they continually misplaced. Zonaras, speaking of Pharaoh's admitting Jacob and his family into Egypt, says, that he placed them at Heliopolis: Και μαθών ποιμένας είναι τες μετ' αυτε, συνεχώρησεν αυτοις την εν Ηλιε wodɛi xavoinnow. vol. 1. cap. 11. According to the later division of the country, it might not improperly be esteemed to have been part of the Heliopolitan nome.

70 Gen. 46. v. 29.

to agree with any other situation, that has been attributed to this land. And it is a circumstance not to be overlooked: for the sacred writer speaks always with meaning and precision. That the residence of Pharaoh, and the chief scene of all the wonderful transactions was in lower Egypt, may be inferred from many passages in Scripture. This part of the country, being very broad at its basis, and by degrees tapering towards a point, was supposed by "Strabo to be like the Greek letter inverted. Scylax Caryandensis thought it resembled an ax or hatchet : 7 Εςι δε ή Αιγυπτος τοιαδε την ιδεαν όμοια πελε But the natives esteemed it to be more like the section of a pear on which account it was styled by them, and by the Hebrews, Rab and Raab; and by the Arabians Rib and Airib, Tellus piriformis : and this very part of the country, that now reaches from overagainst Cairo downwards towards Rosetta, is called "3 Erib at this day. The sacred writers, in speaking of the wonderful occurrences which their forefathers had been witnesses to in these parts, refer

73

71 Vol. 2. pag. 1133.

72 Geogr. Vet. vol. 1. pag. 43.

73 Leo Africanus calls it Errif. Ab Alcairo Rosetum oram vacant Errifiam: ab Alcairo ad Bugia confinia Sahid-Tota Egyptus cum sit fertilissima, Sahidica tamen provincia reliquas partes, omnis generis leguminum, animalium, pullorum, linique copiâ antecellit: Errifia fructibus et orizâ. lib. 8. This is the medion Aiyuwty of Herodotus.

them sometimes to the land of Ham in general: but at other times they are more determinate; and speak of them as particularly transacted in Raab or lower Egypt. 24"I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon." 75" Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain: Thou hast scattered "thine enemies with thy strong arm." And Isaiah still more expressly; 76" Awake, awake, put on "strength, O arm of the Lord ;-Art thou not it "that hath cut 77 Rahab, and 78 wounded the Dra

66

66

gon ?" i. e. Pharaoh, who is often alluded to under that name. This may be learned from a similar passage in Ezekiel: 79" Speak, and say, Thus saith "the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pha"raoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in "the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river

74 Psalm 87. v. 10. 75 Psalm 89. v. 10. 76 Chap. 51. v. 9.

77 Among the Punic remains at Malta is a hill, which is still called Gibel al Rahab, for the same reason that the country of lower Egypt was so named; being of a conical or triangular figure, like the cowl of a monk's hood. Gibel al Rahab sic dictus ratione et occasione figuræ, quæ ad instar cucullati cuicunque mare de subter transeunti apparere videtur. Abela Malta. pag. 49. cap. 68. edit. Lat.

78 In the Vulgate, Numquid non Tu-vulnerasti Draconem? "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the "heads of the dragons in the waters." Psalm 74. v. 13.