CURIOUS MINARET.-SUAEB.

3

encampment of reed huts and tents, some composed of goats' hair, and some of cotton cloth. A little beyond this, at the village of Dair, stands a minaret, which, according to many Mohammedan writers, has some claims to antiquity I am informed that the natives all concur in attributing its existence to the Genii, which circumstance renders it an object of much veneration among them. Barren women suppose that a visit to the sacred spot will render them prolific; which, no doubt, tends to increase the number of its votaries. *

At eight o'clock the next morning we crossed the mouth of the Kerkha, or Howizah river, at Suaeb; a station so called from a small collection of huts, situated about a mile up the stream, which is here fifty yards broad, and extremely tortuous. One hour more brought

* See Appendix, note A.

+ It is absolutely necessary here to remark, that Kinneir has made the mouth of this river twenty miles below Koorna, whereas it is barely three.-Vide Kinneir's "Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire," p. 92.

us to Koorna, the Apamea of the ancients, from Apama, the wife of Seleucus Nicator, in whose honour he founded the town.* It stands on the most southern extremity of Mesopotamia, at the conflux of two of the finest rivers in the East, the Euphrates and Tigris; and though now an insignificant place, the existing extensive ruins attest its former importance.+

Continuing along the banks of the Tigris, in a direction north, ten degrees west, (the

* Seleucus Nicator founded thirty-five cities in greater and lesser Asia; sixteen of which he named Antioch, from Antiochus, his father; nine Seleucia, from his own name; six Laodicea, from Laodice, his mother; three Apamea, from Apama, his first wife, (of which this city was the chief;( and one Stratonicea, from Stratonice, his last wife. According to Dean Prideaux, he was a great protector of the Jews, and the first that gave them settlements in those provinces of Asia, which lie on this side of the river Euphrates. As they had been faithful and serviceable to him in his wars, and in many other respects, he granted them great privileges in all the cities which he built. Vide Prideaux's "Connection of the Old and New Testament."

+ See Appendix, B.

GARDEN OF EDEN.

5

Euphrates branching off due W.S.W. by compass,) we almost immediately had on either bank the untrodden Desert. * This is conjectured to have been the site of the Garden of Eden; consequently there appeared, as the prophet Joel says, chap. ii. ver. 3, "The land of Eden before us, and behind us a desolate wilderness." The absence, alas! of all cultivation, the noisy rippling of the rapid stream, the sterile, arid, and wild character of the whole scene, formed a contrast to the rich and delightful accounts delineated in Scripture. †

In the afternoon we reached Zetchiah. My Arab guards were afraid to proceed without the

*

The natives, in travelling over these pathless deserts, are compelled to explore their way by the stars, in the same manner as Diodorus Siculus (lib. 1, p. 156, edit. Rhodoman,) expressly states that travellers in the southern part of Arabia directed their course by the bears, ἀπὸ τῶν "Αρκτῶν.

+ It should seem that Paradise lay on the confluent stream of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, but principally on the eastern bank, which divided into two branches above the garden, and two more below it. From the description of these rivers by ancient historians and geographers, Major

permission of the chief, or head of the village. After waiting a few minutes, three wild-looking fellows came to us from the opposite bank, each armed with a brace of pistols, sabre, and a dagger in the girdle. I produced a letter from the Montefik Sheikh, to whom they profess allegiance; but, without noticing it, they said, if I did not instantly pay the customary tax, they would prevent my proceeding on my journey.

After allowing the guards to tire themselves with wrangling, without any effect, I paid the goomruck, or tribute. They then asked if I had any dates, coffee, tobacco, and powder, adding,

Rennell infers, that in ancient times they preserved distinct courses to the sea, until the reign of Alexander; although at no great distance of time afterwards they became united, and joined the sea in a collective stream. The Cyrus and Araxes also kept distinct courses in ancient times. This, however, does not invalidate a primæval junction of these rivers, before the Deluge, which certainly produced a prodigious alteration in the face of the primitive globe. Besides, the changes in the beds of other great rivers, such as the Nile, the Ganges, and Barampooter, even in modern times are known to be very great.-Dr. Ha les's "New Analysis of Chronology."