A REVIEW OF TRAVELS TO THE EAST: FROM "ROSENMULLER'S ALTERTHUM KUNDE." Translated by Rev. James W. Alexander. EXTRACTS. Extracted from the "Handbuch der Biblischen Alterthumskunde, von Ernst Friedr. Karl Rosenmüller, der Theologie Doctor, und der morgenländ. Literatur ordentl. Professor zu Leipzig. Erster Band. Erster Theil. Einleitung. 7. pp. 59—106. Among the sources of information to which the student of Biblical Antiquities has resort, an important place must be given to the accounts of such travellers as have visited those countries which are the theatre of important events mentioned in the Bible. It is evident at first sight that we must borrow first and chiefly from travellers, the knowledge of all that nature has bestowed upon a country, as its Seas, Rivers, Mountains, Valleys and Plains; its climate, weather, natural phenomena, peculiarities of the seasons and the times of sowing and harvest dependant on these, as also other facts. relative to husbandry. As all these things have suffered little or no change, we may use with sufficient confidence the accounts of recent observers, for the elucidation of ancient writings. The importance of travels in the East arises from this fact among others, that the manners, customs, and economy of these countries have undergone less change than those of the West. This is especially true of such usages and customs as have their foundation in the climate and the physical condition of those regions. The clothing of the Orientals, the arrangements of their dwellings, their mode of agriculture, their baths and unguents, their despotic government, their domestic economy and their polygamy, are at this moment what they were 2000 years ago, since these are grounded upon their climate and consequent temperament. The deserts of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt are at this day, as in the days of Abraham, traversed by wandering herdsmen who live under tents as in ancient times, and whose manners have been so little altered in the lapse of some thousand years, that he who visits their deserts and tents is strikingly reminded of the usages of the patriarchs as they are depicted in the first book of Moses. To this ambulatory life they are condemned by the nature of the wilderness, and in this wandering are founded their social institutions, and a great part of their domestic habits and usages, which will remain unaltered as long as their existence shall endure. Many valuable accounts of travels have been published by men of credibility and judicious observation, especially since the seventeenth century; and we would not pass unnoticed the older books of travels, as their authors stood nearer to scriptural times, by several centuries, than ourselves, and particularly as they were better able than later travellers to find in existence ancient monuments, which from time to time in the progress of so many centuries, are either ruined, or entirely swept away. Among these old books of travels, we reckon the relations of the Crusaders. The Crusades, which began about the end of the 11th century, caused more Europeans to visit Palestine than ever before sought that country, and led numbers who engaged in these campaigns to give accounts of their adventures, and the places where they occurred. These writers had in most cases not only travelled in the East, but sometimes remained there many years in the enjoyment of distinguished honours. A very full account of travels as late as 1780 is to be found in J. G. Meusel's Biblioth. Histor. Vol. I. P. II. pp. 54 & 72. Vol. II. P. I. pp. 22. 207 & 243. Vol. I. P. II. p. 319. & Vol. III. P. I. p. 88. to which may be added the Appendix as far as the year 1801 in Vol. X. P. II.—Ample notices of travels in the countries which compose the Turkish Empire, extending as far as 1789, with good remarks, were published by Chrph. Wilh. Lüdeke (Preacher to the Evangelical congregation at Smyrna from 1759 to 1768) in his Description of the Turkish Empire. P. I. p. 389, &c. P. II. p. 92, &c. P. III. p. 67, &c. Remarks upon the ancient and modern writers of travels, especially with reference to their value for the natural history of the East, are contained in the Prefaces to the first five parts of Samuel Oedmann's miscellaneous collections of natural history, for the elucidation of the Sacred Scriptures, from the Swedish, Rostock, 1786-1795. Consult also Bellermann's Manual for Biblical Literature, P. II. p. 73. Second edition, Erfurt. The "Collection of remarkable travels in the East, in translations and extracts, with maps and engravings, and with useful introductions and indexes," contains accounts of travels important in reference to Biblical Archaeology: it was published by H. E. G. Paulus in 7 vols. 8vo. Jena, 1792-1803. We ought also to mention the "Collection portative de Voyages traduits de différentes langues orientales et Européennes, par L. Langlèz," in five small volumes, Paris, 1797-1805, with an atlas and plates. We shall now proceed to give a review of the most important accounts of travels in the East, especially of |