You may fay perhaps, that it looks a little old, to make Canaan Melchifedee, when Mofes tells us, that Noab awaked from his wine, and fayed, curfed be Canaan. But to this it may be answered, that there is a mif take, in the tranfcriber of the copy, and that fince Ham is spoken of as being guilty of the offence, and fpecifyed by name, in this manner, Ham, the father of Canaan, faw his father's nakedness, therefore in the original it must have followed, and Noub awaked from his wine, and knew what his younger fon had done unto him. And he faid, curfed be (Ham, the father of) Canaan; a fervant of fervants fhall he be to his brethren, This makes fenfe of the paffage, and it appears to be no more than a prophecy; not a curfe, out of revenge, but a revelation made by God to Noah in his fleep, of what was to happen to the whole pofterity of Ham, on account of their future iniquitys, and particularly to the Canaanites, when the measure of their wickedness was filled. Jurieu, likewife, in his hiftory of the doctrines of the church, treating of this fubject, says, the prophetic curse of Noah was not to take effect but upon the generation living in Jofhua's time; and it was mentioned by Mofes to encourage the Ifraelites in their wars, and let them fee for certain, that by the infallible

pro

prophecy of God, they muft conquer the Canaanites, and be put in poffeffion of their land. Canaan therefore, the fon of Ham, might have been an angel of a man, notwithstanding this revealed woe to an impious : generation, when it had fo far loft all fhame and modesty as to worship the Phallus (a), Baal-peor, the naked, fhameless God.

The judicious Dr. Leland of Dublin, has a good obfervation upon this fubject, in his reflections on lord Bolingbroke's letters. Mofes, to raise the fpirits of the Ifraelites, who were entring on a war with the Canaanites, fets down this prophecy, and takes notice only of what the prophecy faid concerning Canaan. Nor is the malediction pronounc ed upon Canaan declared to be on account of what Ham had done. This was not the cause of the curfe. Nor did Noah pronounce it in a passion or drunken fit, as lord Bolingbroke reprefents it. But God was pleafed to enlighten Noab with fome view of the fates of his pofterity, and upon the occafion of Ham's behavior, the patriarch pronounced the prediction of that punishment which an execrable wickedness would bring upon the Canaanites in a course of ages. The iniquity of the Canaanites was the true and proper ground of the punish

ment,

(a) The Phallus was an image of the human parts of generation.

ment. The wickednefs of this people God perfectly forefaw, and determined, on the account of it, to inflict exemplary punishment. This punishment or curfe Noah was enabled to foretel, and Mofes recorded that part of the prophecy which related to Canaan; as well to encourage the Ifraelites in their wars, as to make them more diftinctly obferve the hand of providence, when they faw the prophecy accomplished.

This is the fubftance of the doctor's reafoning. To me it appears very juft: and, upon the whole, I think the words, Curfed be Canaan, or curfed be Ham, the father of Canaan, as the bishop fays it was in the original, (and fays it with reason) cannot be any objection against our fuppofing Canaan to have been Melchifedec:

We have now done with the Green Ifland, and from thence proceed to Scalpa, where are many curious things which I promifed 7 fome account of. you Scalpa is an amazing frightful rock to the An account North-Eaft of the Green Island, at the of Scalpa diftance of half a league.

and its in

It is an oval habitants. figure, fharp at both ends, but in its longeft diameter above a mile and a half. It is covered feveral feet with earth and a fine fod, which furnishes the neceffarys of life. Eggs and wild-fowl are likewise to be had in great abundance, and fish in plenty. There are two eafy hills in the middle

of

of it which give fine water; and in a valley between thefe rifing grounds, what inhabitants are there do live. The cliffs all round this place hang dreadfully from the summit over the fea, and appear a moft terrible pending deftruction to all who come near Thoufands of fmall rocks do likewife environ the little realm, and the water is ever breaking over them in a frightful way. There is no bay, or creek of entrance, in the circumference of the ifle; but the ocean, or the hand of nature at firft, has made a narrow arched paffage quite through one end of the rock, fo as to fee the day from fide to fide. The paffage is about a quarter of a mile long, and the wind for ever rushes through it in ftrong gufts. The fea does likewise pour in with force; and as it drives along in rapid eddies, makes shocking noises in the hollows of the fide cliffs. It is a horrible scene, and yet through this arch you must go, if ever you intend to vifit this place. In the middle of this tumbling, howling road, there lies on the right-hand a small black bay, and in that fome natural steps of rock by the furface of the water, on which you afcend a fwarthy pass to the land above. This is the only entrance into this island.

To make this adventurous voyage, the Nevogue is the fafeft machine, that is, a boat of wattles covered with the green hide of a bull,

Our voyage

to Scalpa.

bull, or a horfe or cow-hide, as before defcribed. Into this I went with one man, and had a lady likewife with me, which will feem to many very ftrange. This was Mrs. Schomberg. She had been used to the Nevogue, when fhe made a vifit once to a relation in the Weft of Ireland, who lives on Mall-bay, and in this mot dreadful of bays had been often out in the horse-hide fkiff.

But as to our voyage; having got all things ready, and among the reft fome biscuit, and fome bottles of wine and water, in cafe of accidents, we paddled out at nine o'clock in a charming morning, and ftood away for the Ifland we wanted to vifit. Our hide machine was an excellent one, and rowed at a great rate. We foon reached the fhoals and breakers which environ Scalpa, and in fafety fkimmed over them all. We entred the arched pass that is under the shortest diameter of the island very dextroufly, and expected foon to be in the black bay, where the landing place is; but a rifen wind was fo ftrong, and the flood fo very rapid under this vaft amazing arch, that we were hurryed on with a swiftness that furprized us, and had it not in our power to gain the port. Through the whole ftreight we drove like an arrow from a bow, and came out the other fide of the ifle, among a thoufand rocks, that were funken

I