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168. We see clearly, then, that the Brahmins, issuing from a country where this language (the Sanscrit) was in use, and where these (sacred) books had been committed to writing, brought them along with them to India. A people among whom we find a rich and copious language confined to a few individuals; a language in which are deposited the treasures of philosophy and science; a stranger to this language is not the author of the riches it contains: they have preserved them, but they also received them.

The Brahmins, in whose hands that antient philosophy was deposited, communicated it to us, and laid the foundation of all the knowledge we possess.

Ibid. vol. i. pp. 101, 102, 103.

169. [Gen. v. 1.] At the foot of Mount Caucasus, the supposed birth-place of Adam, the present inhabitants, termed Mamelukes or military slaves, by the Crusaders in the thirteenth century, are distinguished (like Jesus Christ, the Son of Man) by the flaxen color of their hair. Introduced into Egypt in 1227, they formed in the year 1230 a body of the handsomest and best soldiers in Asia, to the number of at least twelve thousand, who in 1250 deposed, and eventually slew, the last Turkman prince; substituting one of their own chiefs, with the title of Sultan. If their establishment in that country was thus a singular event, their continuation there is no less extraordinary. "During the five hundred and fifty years that there have been Mamelukes in Egypt, not one of them has left a subsisting issue; there does not exist one single family of them in the second ration; all their children perish in the first or second descent. Almost the same thing happens to the Turks; and it is observed that they can only secure the continuance of their families, by marrying women who are natives, which the Mamelukes have always disdained. Let the naturalist explain why men, well formed, and married to healthy women, are unable to naturalize on the banks of the Nile, a race born at the foot of Mount Caucasus! and let it be remembered, at the same time, that the plants of Europe in that country, are equally unable to continue their species!"

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Sir W. JONES, vol. iv. p. 528.) It was situated on the united stream of the Tigris and Euphrates; Ezek. xxvii. 23.

172. [Gen. ii. 8.] Ptolemy describes an Addan or Eden, probably the same as that of Moses, as lying on the borders of the Euphrates. Cartwright informs us that, about twelve miles above Mausel, there is an island in the Tigris, still called Eden. See the Preacher's Trav. pp. 91, 95.

173. [Gen. ii. 14.] This river, now called Tigris, which skirts the western borders of Assyria, RAUWOLF assures us was, in his time, by the inhabitants still called Hiddekel. See his Travels, part ii. chap. 9.

174. [Gen. ii. 10.] According to THEVENOT (Trav. part ii. chap. 9.) there is a river called Shat-al-Arab (the river of the Arabs) which, five leagues below Bassora, passing out of Eden, divides into four heads or different branches, constituting the four rivers of Paradise that empty themselves ultimately into the Persian Gulph, about eighteen leagues below where the Shat throws out its two upper branches, the Euphrates and Hiddekel. The lower western branch of the Shat encompassing Havilah, is the Pison; and the eastern branch, encompassing the country of Cush, or Khuzestan as the Persians now call it, is the Gihon of Moses. This view of Eden and the rivers of Paradise, first pointed out by Calvin, and followed by Stephanus, Morinus, Bochart, Huet and others, appears to be sanctioned by the following Scriptures. Ezekiel (xxvii. 23) says, Haran and be Calueh, or Calyo, which is supposed to be Ctesiphon, or Canneh, and Eden were thy merchants. Now if Canneh Medain, the seat of the Parthian race of the Persian kings; then Eden must have been south of that city, as the places seem to be mentioned in their due order from north to south. The same order is also observable in Isai. xxxvii. 12, and in 2 Kings xix. 12, where mention is made of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar. See Univer. Hist. vol. i. p. 113,

point where the Tigris and the Euphrates join, and the other 175. [Gen ii. 15.] The earthly paradise lay between the point where they separate, in order to discharge themselves, one eastward the other westward, into the Persian Gulph, over against the isle of pearls. The gold of Arabia, the pearls of Katif, the names of the rivers, those of the nations that have inhabited their banks since that time, and many other characteristics mentioned by Moses, fix our mental views, and assist us in thus finding again that River which ran through the seat of bliss, and help us to discover the four channels, which running from thence went by four different names.

Nat. Delin. vol. vi. p. 52.

THE TREE OF LIFE, AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

176. [Gen. ii. 9.] And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Antients had sacred groves, which they made use of for temples; and some one tree in the centre of each such grove was usually had in more eminent and special veneration, being made the penetrale or more sacred place, which doubtless they intended as the anti-symbol of the tree of life and of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden of Eden.

HOLWELL'S Orientals, vol. i. p. 16.-See also Isai. lxvi. 17.

177. [Gen. iii. 8.] The Banian, or Indian fig-tree, is continually increasing in dimensions; as every branch from the main body throws out its own roots, at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground; which by a gradual descent, reach its surface; where striking in, they increase to a large trunk, and become a parent tree, throwing out new branches from the top. These in time suspend

their roots, and, receiving nourishment from the earth, swell into trunks, and shoot forth other branches; thus continuing in a state of progression so long as the first parent of them all supplies her sustenance.*

Such is the banian tree, the pride of Hindostan, which MILTON has thus discriminately introduced into his Paradise Lost:

Then both together went

Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose
The fig-tree. Not that tree for fruit renown'd,
But such, and at this day to Indians known
In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms,
Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother tree; a pillar'd shade
High over-arched, and echoing walks between.

178. [Gen, ii. 8.] The Egyptians represent the year by a palm-tree, and the month by one of its branches; because it is the nature of this tree to produce a branch every month. (HORAPOLLO, as quoted by Volncy.)-In the midst of the street of the city, and on each side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev. xxii. 2.

This tree from thus dipping its branches into the ground, and rising thence into new stems, became the emblem of our resurrection to a future life, and is found as such engraven or painted (though indeed as a common palm) on the large tiles, which close the mouths of the graves in the CataCombs near Rome.

Wonders of Nature and Art, vol. ii p. 50.

179. [Gen. ii. 9.] During fine weather in Karamania on the south coast of Asia-Minor (and in that climate three fourths of the year are fine), the men live under the shade of a tree. A mountain stream, near which they always chuse this umbrageous abode, serves for their ablutions and their beverage; and the rich clusters of grapes, which hang from every branch of the tree, invite them to the ready repast.

The vines are not cultivated in this part of Asia in the same manner as in the wine countries, where each plant is every year pruned down to the bare stalk: they are here trained up to some tall tree, frequently a palm, or an apricot; the tendrils reach the loftiest as well as the lowest branches, and the tree thus seems to be loaded with a double crop of fruit. Nothing can present a more delightful appearance than the intimately blended greens and the two species of fruit, luxuriantly mingled. How alluring to the parched and weary traveller in these sun-burned regions! and in none perhaps will he meet with a more hearty welcome. See Micah iv. 4. Gen. xviii. S.

BEAUFORT'S Karamania.—Monthly Mag. vol. xliii. p. 579.

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181. The centre of the garden (where stood distinctly the Tree of Life, and the tree of good and evil) supplied the place of a temple, in which there were probably divisions (of holy, and most Holy, for God and man), as afterwards in the Tabernacle and Temple: the Heathens had such distinctions in their gardens; and the Jews on their mountains or high places, had such trees.-The fruit of the Tree of Lives, the meat and the juice, was the (first) sacrament. (HUTCHINSON'S Use of Reason recovered, p. 45.) The fruit of the secondary tree, the tree of knowledge, the vine, as to its flesh and blood, was appointed, we shall find, to be used sacramentally, under proper restrictions, by Noah and his Church, after the flood. See Gen. ix. 3, 4.

182. Arabia and the neighbouring regions were inhabited by the first (civilized) generations of men. There it pleased the CREATOR first to reveal himself to his creatures; and there the SON OF GOD assumed the human nature. In Arabia, the faculties of the human mind attain to as high a degree of strength and vigor, even at this day, as in any other country in the world; and the symmetry and beauty of the human person in Arabia are not surpassed by any other portion of the human race.

F

See Christian Researches, p. 189.

183. [Exod. iii. 2.] HE, whom alone the mind can perceive, whose essence eludes the external organs, who has no visible parts, who exists from eternity, even HE, the soul of all beings, whom no being can comprehend, SHONE forth in PERSON.

See Laws of Menu.-Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. iii. p. 66.

184. [Gen. iii. 24.] On the west side of Eden, opposite the morning sun, was the FIRST SCHECHINAH manifested in the figure of a Man, encompassed with an Irradiation of fire: and here some suppose the Cherubim remained visible till the flood. HUTCHINSON's Introduc. to Moses' sine Principio, p. cclxxxi, to cclxxxiv.

185. [Gen. ii. 16.] After Idolatry had commenced, different trees were made sacred to the different Men and Women, who had discovered their peculiar uses. Ibid. p. cxxxiii-cxxxv, cxliii.

186. [Gen. ii. 9.] The Mahometans contend that the tree of knowledge is the vine (and therefore abstain from wine). See Moracc. in Alcor. p. 22.

187. [Gen. ii. 9, 17.] Dr. Lightfoot also, as well as the Jewish Rabbins, believed the tree of knowledge to have been the vine. (See Dr. A. CLARKE's Note on Num. vi. 3.)Hence wine is called in the East, the Mother of Sins.

Sir W. JONES' Works, vol. vi. p. 119.

188. [Gen. iii. 8.] Having passed in the night through a town called Chah Chakor, in Persia, we encamped for the day, says PIETRO DELLE VALLE, under the shade of the luli dagheli; a tree whose branches hanging to the ground take root and produce a new tree, and this so repeatedly as to form a forest of arches, sufficient in some instances to shelter an immense number of people. Its leaves are thick, oval, somewhat resembling those of the quince, but much thicker and larger. Its fruit is very small, of a grayish scarlet color, but when quite ripe inclining to black the wood of it is extremely light. (See Pinkerton's Coll. vol. ix. p. 123.)—This tree probably, forms the grove so often mentioned in Sacred Writ as a place of resort for idol worship.

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THE TEMPTER.

190. [Gen. iii. 1.] Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field. Among the first names which distinguished mankind, were those taken from creatures. The ox, the stag, the elk, the dog, &c., appear to be truly antient designations of persons, and afterwards of the families of those persons, as they descended in process of time.-Among similar names that of serpent appears to have been adopted; and this not in a single district only, but as well in the remote wilds of America, as on the shores of the Indies, the Caspian, or the Red Sea.

See Frag. to CALMET, vol. ii. p. 206.

191. As each nation of American Indians has some particular symbol by which it is distinguished from others, so each tribe in every nation has a badge from which it is denominated as that of the Eagle, the Panther, the Tyger, the Buffalo, &c. Thus one band of the Naudowessies is represented by a Snake, another by a Tortoise, a third by a Squirrel, a fourth by a Wolf, and a fifth by a Buffalo. Every band also has a chief who is termed the Great Chief, to direct their military operations; and a secondary chief for the management of their civil affairs, whose assent is necessary in all conveyances and treaties, to which he affixes the mark of the tribe or nation.

CARVER'S Trav. in N. America, pp. 164-5.

192. [Isai. xi. 6.] The lambs, says M. BAILLY, were a quiet race of people. Antient Hist. of Asia, vol. i. p. 225.

worn.

193. [Gen. iii. 2.] The skins of beasts, originally, gave names to the different nations or castes by whom they were Thus in some parts even of Germany, the natives were called Recno; which is derived as CLUVERIUS thinks, from the rein-deer of whose skins they made their garments. In others, they were called Mastruga; that is, monsters, or brutes in human shape. TACITUS adds, that in those days the only distinction between men of quality and the vulgar consisted in the richness and fineness of those furs. See Germ. Antiq. p. 110. Isidor. Orig. l. xix. c. 23. Tacit. Germ. c. 17.

194. [Gen. i. 28.] Thus distinguished and denominated by dress, in the army of Xerxes, the bodies of the Persian and Median warriors, as also of those who came from the island of the Red Sea, were covered with tunics of different colors, having sleeves, and adorned with plates of steel, in imitation of the scales of fishes.-The Ethiopians were clad in skins of panthers and lions.-On their heads the Asiatic Ethiopians wore the skins of horses' heads, on which the manes and ears were left; the manes served as the plumes,

and the ears remained stiff and erect: instead of shields they held out before them the skins of cranes.-The Thracians wore on their heads skins of foxes: they had also buskins made of the skins of fawns.-The Thracians of Asia used short bucklers made of hides: they had also helmets of brass, on the summit of which were the ears and horns of an ox, made also of brass, together with a crest.-The Colchians had small bucklers made of the hard hides of oxen.— The people of Cicilia also had a small buckler made of the untanned hide of an ox.-And the Lycians had from their shoulders the skin of a goat suspended, whilst on their heads they wore a cap with a plume of feathers.

195.

See HERODOTUS, Polymnia. n. 61-92.

Accordingly in North America, at the Indian town Attasse the pillars and walls of the houses of the square are decorated with various paintings and sculptures, supposed to be hieroglyphic, and as a historic legendary of political and, sacerdotal affairs: they are however extremely picturesque or caricature, as men in variety of attitudes, some ludicrous enough, others having the head of some kind of animal, as of a duck, turkey, bear, fox, wolf, buck, &c.; and again those kinds of creatures are represented as having the human head. The pillars supporting the front or piazza of the council-house of the square, are ingeniously formed in the likeness of vast speckled serpents ascending upwards; the Ottasses, or natives of Attasse, being of the snake family or tribe.

See BARTRAM's Trav. p. 482.

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199.

To trace the modern dress back to the simplicity of the first skins, and leaves, and feathers, that were worn by mankind in the primitive ages, if it were possible, would be almost endless; the fashion has been often changed, while the materials remained the same: the materials have been different as they were gradually produced by successive arts, that converted a raw hide into leather, the wool of the sheep into cloth, the web of the worm into silk, and flax and cotton into lineu of various kinds. One garment also has been added to another, and ornaments have

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203.

See Univer. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 502. Note.

In North America, the Six Nations, as well as the Hurons, subdivided every village into three families, those of the Wolf, the Bear, and the Tortoise. Each had its antients, its chiefs, and its warriors. The whole of these united, composed one of the estates of the republic, which consisted of several villages regulated after the same manner, and which, in times of war or of danger, arranged themselves under One Chief.-The dignity of Chief was perpetual and hereditary in his cabin or family. When the line became extinct, or, to use the native expression, the tree was fallen, another was immediately resorted to. The successor was chosen by the MATRON who held the greatest rank amongst the tribes or villages, and who usually selected a person, not only distinguished by figure and bodily strength, but who was capable also, by his good qualities, of supporting the state of elevation in which he was to be placed. HERIOTT'S Canada, p. 549.-See also respecting such Matron or King's Mother," Judg. v. 7. 2 Sam. xx. 19. 1 Kings ii. 19. 2 Kings xxiv. 15.

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204. [Gen. i. 28.] Mankind, in their weakness, have always attached a degree of distinction to whatever inspired terror; it would be difficult otherwise to account for the adoption of the figures of the birds of prey throughout Europe for the arms of our nobility.

Whoever chooses to analyze the mischievous instinct of

beasts of prey will find there all the shades and expressions of hatred; a cowardly appetite for the flesh of the dead in the vulture; silent cunning in the fox; treachery in the spider; horrific cries in the ospray; thirst of blood in the pole-cat; ferocity in the tyger; cruelty in the wolf; and the fury of despotism in the lion. In the serpent, in the shark, in the sea-polypus with long arms which are provided with suckers, and in other tribes, we should find animals that grow pale at the sight of every living being; who insinuate themselves for the purpose of stinging; who crawl that they may bite; who flatter that they may tear, and hold out embraces that they may stifle; in fact, creatures full of concealed rage, and murderous, in the shape of affection, to a degree which there is a difficulty in pourtraying in the language of man, although there exist but too many examples of similar actions on the part of his species.

Certain it is that man combines in himself the passions of all these animals, and that which predominates, whether from Nature or habit, becomes displayed in his physiognomy by something like the features of the animal of which it is characteristic.

In a mixed assembly, a physiognomist may imagine that he traces the features of the most artful or cruel animals. Animals differ from man in this respect, in as much as each species may be said to possess only one kind of expression. It is by the portion of our nature which resembles the lower part of the creation that we are led into contentious and wars; -it is by the celestial portion of our soul that we are brought back to peace. See Luke xiii. 22.

St. PIERRE's Harmonies of Nature, vol. . pp. 429, 430, 452, 466.

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208. [Gen. iii. 14.] The Fakeers, or Yogees, of the Senassee tribe, are a sort of mendicant philosophers, who travel all over Hindostan, and live on the charity of the other castes of Hindoos. They are generally entirely naked, most of them robust handsome men: they admit proselytes from the other tribes, especially youth of bright parts, and take great pains to instruct them in their mysteries. These Gymnosophists often unite in large armed bodies, and perform pilgrimages to the sacred rivers and celebrated temples; but they are more like an army marching through a province, than an assembly of saints in procession to a temple; and often lay the countries through which they pass under contribution.

209.

FORBES' Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 68.

In Hindostan, there are at this day a sort of religious devotees called Fakeers, who wear nothing about them but what is merely sufficient to cover their nakedness; and, like mendicant friars, make a profession of begging for their subsistence. They commonly abide in the out-skirts of towns; where making little fires in the day, they sleep at night in the warm ashes, with which also they besmear their bodies. They occasionally take intoxicating drugs, which cause them to talk wildly this draws the common people around them, who easily mistake such jargon for prophecy.

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See TERRY, Voy. Ind. sect. xvi. p. 427.

210. [Gen. iii. 7.] Indian Gymnosophists, or naked philosophers, in the time of Appollonius, resided on a certain mountain not far from the Nile. To such men, the warmth of the climate would make clothing superfluous. But, as they led a merely contemplative life, from that circumstance especially, they were called by the Greeks, Gymnosophists.

See, respecting them, Phoc. in Vit. Apoll. Tian, cod. cclii. L. Vives Comment. in lib. xiv.-S. Aug. de Civitate Dei, p. 1734. edit. Paris.-Euseb. in Chron. p. 72. edit. Scalig.—And Philostrat. in Vita Apoll. lib. iii. cap. 6. & lib. iv. cap. 6.— Also Bartolomeo, p. 316.

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