and of cuftoms, which continued in Abram's pofterity, in the line of Jacob, and prevented them from ningling with other nations, or adopting their manners, muft have been the teafon why this appellation was given to the defcendants in continuance, which, in ftri&tnefs, was applicable to the first comers only. But let it be obferved, that though this term was very early used of the nation, it was not applied to the language brought by Abram and his family from Ur of the Chaldees, a language which they foon loft, acquiring in its ftead that of the Canaanites, among ft whom they lived. Abram's tongue was, doubtlefs, Chaldee, that of the country whence he came. But we learn from the facred Hiftorian, that Jacob his grandfon (though he could not fail to underfland that language, having lived fo long with Laban) spoke at home a different tongue. Laban called the Heap which they had raifed Jegar-fahadutha; but Jacob called it Galeed. Both names fignify the fame thing, the heap of teftimony, the former being Chaldee, the latter what is now always called Hebrew, but then the language of Canaan.

I have obferved already, that the language of the Old Tef tament which we now always call Hebrew, is never fo called in Scripture, neither in the Old Teftament nor in the New. This is a strong prefumption that it was not anciently fo named by any body, and that if any language had been in the Old Teftament named Hebrew, it would have been the Chaldee, agreeably to the etymology of the word Hebrew, the language of thofe who lived beyond the Euphrates. The language of the Ifraelites is commonly called in the Old Teftament, the Jews language, and in one place the language. of Canaan. That in after-times the ancient Jewish tongue, which was offen named the holy language, was alfo called He. brew, is not denied. Jofephus, in particular, names it fo, in relating the meflage of Rabfhakch from the king of Affyria to King Hezekiah above referred to, as he ufes the word 'Eps," in Hebrew, where the facred hiflorian had faid Jehudith, and the Seventy Judaior, in the Jews language. But this is long poflerior to the finifhing of the canon of the Old Teflament; for Jofephus did not write till after the deHruction of Jerufalem, towards the end of the first Chrif tian century. In the prologue to the Book of Ecclefiafticus, the term Eps is likewife ufed, but it is not certain in what acceptation. By the account given there, that book was tranflated into Greek in the time of Ptolemy Evergetes king of Egypt, by Jefus, who was the fon of Sirach, and the grandfon of Jefus the author. As the original, therefore, muft have been written long after the captivity, it is more probable that it was compofed in the dialect spoken

in Palestine at the time, than that it was written in a dead language, understood only by the learned, and confequently that the word occurs in that prologue in the fame acceptation wherein it is always ufed in the New Teftament. It has, in my judgment, been proved beyond contradiction by the learned, particularly Bochart, Walton, and Le Clerc, that the language of the Old Teftament is no other than the native tongue of the Canaanites, which in Greek writers is called Phenician, and did not materially differ from the dia lect of the Tyrians, Sidonians, and Carthaginians. Canaan is rendered by the Seventy Don Phenicia. A Canaanitifh woman doon, a Phenician woman, and the land of Canaan, is called ἡ χώρα των Φοινίκων the country of the Phenicians. And even in the New Teftament we have a plain proof that the names were ufed promifcuously, inafmuch as the perfon who is called by one Evangelift a woman of Canaan, is denominated by another Evangelift a Syrophenician.

.Aramith ארמית

At the fame time it ought to be remarked, that the language of Chaldea, which, before the captivity, feems never to have been denominated Hebrew, was always by the Jews diftinguifhed by fome other name. The most common was that which in the English tranflation, after the Septuagint andhe Vulgate, is rendered Syrian, but is in the original It is fo called in fome of the places above quoted, and in like manner by Ezra, (iv. 7.) The Oriental name Aram, though commonly rendered Syria, does not exactly correfpond, in meaning to this word, at leaft in the ufe made of it in latter times. The boundary of Syria on the Eaft, when the name came to be used in a more confined manner, was the river Euphrates; whereas Aram comprehended large tracts of country beyond the river, as Mefopotamia, Chaldea, Affyria. Syria was included, but it made only a part. Now the Jewish language was fo different from this, that it is manifeft the common people anciently in Judea underfood nothing of Aramic or Chaldee. For a proof of this we need recur only to fome of the places above referred to. Further, it is of the fame people the Chaldeans, that the Prophet fpeaks in this prediction: Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O houfe of Ifrael, faith the Lord; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whofe language thou knoweft not, neither underftandeth what they jay, Jer. v. 15.

But it may be faid, fince the name Aram included the country commonly called Syria, and was equally applicable to it as to any other part, and fince the word Aramith was employed to denote the language of the whole; the Syrian and the Chaldean must have been one and fame language.

L 2

That

That they were fo originally, I am fully convinced. In procefs of time, however, from the different fates to which the eaftern parts and the weftern of that once great empire were fubjected, there gradually fprang up a confiderable dif, ference between them, infomuch that in latter times they may not unfitly be denominated different languages, though fill they have more affinity to each other than any other two of the Oriental tongues. The fame language is called alfo very properly, the tongue of the Chaldeans, Dan. i. 4. Now as the Jews, when they returned from captivity, brought a dialect of this language with them into their own country, it fuited their national pride to adopt fuch a general name as Hebrew, which, though it may fignify, when explained from etymology, the Language Spoken beyond the River, would be ge nerally underflood to denote the language of the people called Hebrews, a name by which their nation had been diftinguifhed from the beginning. This appellation, therefore, must appear more eligible to them, than any name which would ferve more directly to remind themfelves and others, that they had lived fo long in fubjection to another people; a difagreeable effect, which could not fail to refult from their calling the language they had adopted Chaldee, Babylonian, or even the language of Aram. Befides, to have called it fo, would have contounded it with a language confiderably different,

[To be continued.]

An Account of the Earthquakes in Calabria, Sicily, and other parts of Italy, in 1783. Communicated to the Royal Society, by Sir William Hamilton. *

Naples, May 23, 1783. AM happy now to have it in my power to give you fome little idea of the infinite damage done, and of the various Phenomena exhibited, by the carthquakes (which began the 5th of February laft, and continue to be fenfibly, though lefs violently, felt to this day) in the two Calabrias, at Meffina, and in the parts of Sicily neareft to the continent. From the most authentic reports and accounts received at the office of his Sicilian Majefty's fecretary of ftate, we gathered

The Earthquakes in Italy were, perhaps, the most terrible and deftruc tive of any that have happened fince the Creation of the World. Four hundred towns, and about four or five times as many villages, were de ftroyed in this dreadful calamity. The number of lives loff, are estima ted at between forty and fifty thoufand. Sir William Hamilton was at that time the English Ambaffador to the King of the Two Sicilies: the account which he gives of this tremendous event, is the most accurate and authentic.

in general, that the part of Calabria which has been the most affected by this heavy calamity is that which is comprehended between the 38th and 39th degrees; that the greateft force of the earthquakes feemed to have exerted itself from the foot of these mountains, the Appennines called the Monte Dejo, Monte Sacro, and Monte Caulone, extending weftward to the Tyrrhene Sea; that the towns, villages, and farm-houses, nearest these mountains, fituated either on the hills, or on the plain, were totally ruined by the first shock of the 5th of February about noon, and that the greatest mortality was there; that in proportion as the towns and villages were at a greater diftance from this centre, the damage they received was lefs confiderable; but that even those more diftant towns had been greatly damaged by the fubfequent shocks of the earthquake, and efpecially by thofe of the 7th, the 16th, and 28th, of February, and that of the 1ft of March: that from the first shock, on the 5th of February, the earth continued to be in a continual tremor, more or lefs; and that the fhocks were more fenfibly felt at times in fome parts of the afflicted provinces than in others; that the motion of the earth had been various, and, according to the Italian de nomination, vorticofo, orizontale, and ofcillatorio, either whirl. ing like a vortex, horizontal, or by pulfations, or beating from the bottom upwards; that this variety of motion had increas ed the apprehenfions of the unfortunate inhabitants of those parts, who expected every moment that the earth would open under their feet, and fwallow them up; that the rains had been continual and violent, often accompanied with light ning, and irregular and furious gufts of wind: that from all thefe caufes the face of the earth of that part of Calabria, comprehended, as above-mentioned, between the 38th and 89th degrees, was entirely altered, particularly on the weftward fide of the mountains above-named; that many openings and cracks had been made in thofe parts; that fome hills had been lowered, and others quite levelled; that in the plains deep chafms had been made, by which many roads were rendered impaffable; that huge mountains had been Iplit afunder, and parts of them driven to a confiderable difiance; that deep vallies had been filled up, by the moun tains which formed thofe vallies having been detached by the violence of the earthquakes, and joined together; that the courfe of fome rivers had been altered, that many fprings of water had appeared in places that were perfectly dry before; and that, in other parts, fprings that had been conftant had totally difappeared; that near Laureana, in Calabria Ultra, a fingular phenomenon had been produced, that the furface of two whole tenements, with large olive and mulberry

niberry trees thereon, fituated in a valley perfectly level, had been detached by the earthquake, and transplanted, the trees ftill remaining in their places, to the diftance of about a mile from their firft fituation; and that from the spot on which they formerly ftood, hot water had fprung up to a confiderable height, mixed with fand of a ferrugineous nature; that near this place alfo fome countrymen and fhepberds had been fwallowed up, with their teams of oxen, and flocks of goats and fheep: in fhort, that beginning from the city of Amantea, fituated on the coaft of the Tyrrhene Sea, in Calabria Citra, and going along the weftward coaft to Cape Spartivento, in Calabria Ultra, and then up the eastern coast as far as the Cape d'Alice, (a part of Calabria Citra on the Jonian Sea) there is not a town or village, either on the coast or land, but what is either totally deftroyed, or has suffered more or lefs, amounting in all to near four hundred what are called here pacfes. (A village containing less than an hundred inhabitants is not counted as a paefe.).

The greatest mortality fell upon thofe towns and countries. fituated in the plain, on the western fide of the mountains Dejo, Sacro, and Caulone. At Cafal Nuovo, the Princefs Gerace, and upwards of 4000 of the inhabitants, loft their lives; at Bagnara, the number of dead amounts to 3017; Radicina and Palma count their lofs at about 3000 each; Terra Nuova about 1400; and Seminari ftill more. The fum total of the mortality in both Calabrias, and in Sicily, by the earthquakes alone, according to the returns in the Secretary of State's office, at Naples, is 33,367; but I have good reafon to believe, that, including ftrangers, the number of lives loft muft have been confiderably greater; 40,000 at leaft may be allowed, and, I believe, without exaggeration.

From the fame office intelligence we likewife heard, that the inhabitants of Scilla, on the firft fhock of the earthquake, on the 5th of February, had efcaped from their houfes on the rock, and following the example of their prince, taken fhelter on the fea fhore; but that in the night-time the fame fhock which had raised and agitated the fea fo violently, and does fo much damage on the point of the Faro of Meffina, had acted with fill greater violence there, for that the wave (which was reprefented to have been boiling hot, and that many people had been fcalded by its rifing to a great height) went furiously three miles in land, and swept off in its return 2473 of the inhabitants of Scilla, with the prince at their head, who were at that time either on the Scilla ftrand, or in boats near the shore.

All accounts agreed, that of the number of fhocks which have been felt fince the beginning of this formidable earth.

quake,