reason for doing it, for they had no flax themselves, and were unacquainted with the art of weaving: but were we to compare a piece of Holland linen with the linen in which the mummies were laid, and which is of the oldest and best manufacture of Egypt, we shall find that the fine linen of Egypt is very coarse in comparison with what is now made. The Egyptian linen was fine, and sought after by kings and princes, when Egypt was the only country that cultivated flax and knew how to use it."

Hasselquist had great reason to suppose the linen in which the mummies were wrapped the finest at that time in Egypt; for those who were so embalmed were persons of great distinction, and about whom no expense was spared. The celebrity then, of the Egyptian linen, was owing to the great imperfection of works of this kind in those early ages; no other in those times being equally good; for, that linen cloth was made in ancient times in other countries, contrary to the opinion of Hasselquist, seems sufficiently evident from the story of Rahab, Josh. ii. 6, and the eulogium of a noble Jewish matron, Prov. xxxi. 13, 24.

After all, there is no adjective in the original answering to the word "fine;" there is only a noun substantive wW SHESH, which has been supposed to involve in it that idea. But if it was so coarse, why is it represented as such a piece of magnificence, Ezek. xxviii. 7, for the ships of Tyre to have their sails of the linen of Egypt? Certainly, because, though coarse in our eyes, it was thought to be very valuable when used even for clothing; and if matting was then used for sails, sails of linen must have been thought extremely magnificent 56.

Mr. Harmer 57 has made some ingenious remarks upon the different kinds of linen manufactured in Egypt, which I shall here introduce with some alterations, additions, and notes.

"As the linen of Egypt was anciently very much celebrated, so there is reason to think that there were various sorts of linen cloth in the days of antiquity; for, little copious as the Hebrew language is, there are no fewer than four different words, at least, which have been rendered "linen," or "fine linen" by our translators 58. This would hardly have been had they not had different kinds.

56 The sails represented in the Prænestine pavement seem to have been of matting, and consequently were the sails of that time in Egypt famous for its pomp. Sails of matting are still used by the Arabs in their vessels on the Red Sea, as we are assured by Niebuhr in his description of that country, p. 188. It appears by Lord Anson's voyage, that the same usage obtains in some East-India vessels, B. iii. c. 5. Probably, then, it was the common practice in the first ages, which has not yet been deviated from in these countries. Mat sails are in use to the present day among the Chinese.

57 Obs. V. iv. p. 95, 4th edit.

To these may be

58 These are 1 BAD, 1 BUTZ, AWD PISHET, and ww SHESH. added 1 SADIN, translated "fine linen" [hence the name "satin”]. Prov. xxxi. 24; and "sheets," Jud. xiv. 12, 13; and ON ETHUN, fine linen." Prov. vii. 16. The latter word may mean "beautifully wrought;" and the sindon was un

"Our translators have been unfortunate in this article in supposing that one of the words might signify silk, and forgetting cloth made of cotton.

"When Joseph was arrayed in Egypt as viceroy of that country, they represent him as clothed in vestures of 'fine linen,' Gen. xli. 42, but being dubious of the meaning of the word there, they render it silk' in the margin. This was very unhappy for they not only translate the word ww SHESH 'linen' in a multitude of other places 59, but, certainly, whatever the word signifies, it cannot mean silk, which was not used, we have reason to think, in those parts of the world till long after the time of Joseph 60. They have gone farther, for they have made the word silk,' the textual translation of the Hebrew term SHESH, in Prov. xxxi. 22, which verse describes the happy effects of female Jewish industry. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is pink and purple 61. They suppose then that the Jewish women, of not the highest rank in the time of Solomon, were clothed with vestments made of a material so precious in former times we are told, as to be sold for its weight in gold; for which reason it is said, that the emperor Aurelian refused his empress a garment of it, though she importunately desired one. Aurelian, a prince who reigned over all Syria and Egypt, the countries we are speaking about, and the rest of the doubtedly a vesture. It is retained in the Greek of Matth. xxvii. 29; Mark xiv. 51, 52; xv. 46; and Luke xxiii. 53. And as in the three last cited texts, the sindon is mentioned as a sepulchral covering, so Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 86, speaking of the Egyptian manner of preserving dead bodies, says, Aboavles tov vexgov, καλειλίσσεσι σαν αυτε το σωμα ΣΙΝΔΟΝΟΣ βυσσινης τελαμωσι λαλαλε μημενοισι. Αfter having washed the dead man, they enclose his whole body in a wrapper of fine linen with thongs of leather. As to Mark, xiv. 51, 52, Pococke supposes that divdov mentioned in that place means a kind of sheet or wrapper, such as many of the inhabitants of Egypt and Palestine still wear as their only clothing in the daytime, and consequently the word may there denote a person's ordinary day-dress. Comp. Exod. xxii. 27. Herodotus, however, speaks of oiyday as a usual nightdress of the Egyptians in his time. Ην μεν εν ιμάλιω ελιξάμενος ενδη, η ΣΙΝΔΟΝΙ. See Wetstein on Mark.

"Puer eja surse calceos et linteam da sindonem." AUSONIUS.

The origin of the word is to be sought in the Egyptian language; see Scholtz Exposit. vocab. Coptic. in Script. Hebr. et Græcis, in Repertorio Eichorniano, T. xiii. p. 14. Braunius de Vest. Sacerd. Hebr. i. 7, 103. p. 113. Munthe in Obs. c. Diod. Sicul. p. 93. Forster de Bvsso Antiq. s. 18, p. 85. Pollux, Onom. vii. 172, ΣΙΝΔΩΝ εσιν Αιγυπτία μεν, περιβόλαιον δ' αν είη, το νυν δικροσσον καλέμενον. So that it appears that it was an Egyptian garment, or inner dress-a kind of shirt. D. Kimchi says, 66 Sindon est vestis nocturna, quam induunt super carnem, facta ex lino." Consult also Schroeder de Vest. Mul. Hebr. p. 341. Casaubon. Exercit. Antibarb. xvi. 65, p. 524. Chiflet de linteis sepulchralibus Christi. c. 5, and Fischer in Prolus iii. de vitiis Lexicorum N. T. p. 74.

59 Exod. xxv. 4; xxvi. 1, 31, 36; xxvii. 9, 16, 18; xxviii. 5, 6, 8, 15, 40; xxxv. 6, 23, 25; xxxvi. 8, 35, 37; xxxviii. 9, 16, 18, 23; xxxix. 2, 3, 5, 8. 27, 28, 29; Prov. xxxi. 22; Ezek. xvi. 10, 13; and xxvii. 7.

60 Boothroyd on Gen. xli. 42, quotes Forster as proving that the original means muslin; which Pliny describes, and declares that the priests preferred it for their robes on account of its fineness and whiteness.

Roman empire, and who lived almost one thousand three hundred years later than Solomon, and nearer these times in which silk is become so common. This seems very strange!

6

"If they have introduced silk improperly, as hesitating sometimes about the meaning of a word, rendered in common linen,' that they should not have thought of cloth made of cotton, which grows in great quantities in Egypt and Syria now, and makes one considerable branch of commerce, is to be wondered at 62 ?

"It is very possible, however, that the growing of cotton in Sy ria is not of the highest antiquity: yet it has been planted there, we may believe, many ages; and, before they began to cultivate it, they might be and doubtless were acquainted with manufactures of cotton brought from places farther to the East 63. Calicoes and muslins are still brought from thence to Syria; and, as according to the very ingenious editor of the Ruins of Palmyra, the East India trade was as ancient at least as the days of Solomon 65, and Palmyra built on account of that commerce, some of those fine cotton manufactures were probably brought by the caravans then, and is what is meant by the Hebrew word There are seven places 66, I think, in which the word BUTZ occurs in the Old Testament. The first mention that is made of it is in David's wearing a robe of BUTZ when he removed the ark from the house of Obed Edom to Zion, 1 Chron. xv. 27. Two other places refer to the ornaments of Solomon's temple; a fourth to the dress of the Levites; a fifth describes it as of the merchandises Syria carried to Tyre; and the two other relate to the court of Ahazuerus, king of Persia. How natural to understand all these places of East India manufactures, muslins, or fine calicoes!

.BUTZ בוץ

"Solomon's making the dress of the Levites the same with what his father David wore on a high solemnity, and with what was worn by the greatest men in the most superb courts of the East, agrees with the other accounts given of him, particularly his making silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as those trees that in the vale are remarkable for abundance. 1 Kings, x. 27."

Mr. Parkhurst explains the butz of the byssus; the same as what we call "cotton," which is well known to be the produce of Egypt, Syria, and the neighbouring countries, and is the soft

62 See Norden in respect to Egypt, V. i. p. 110; and Le Bruyn, as to Syria, tom. ii. p. 150.

63 Silk as well as cotton is produced in large quantities in Syria, and makes a very principal part of the riches of that country. [Voyage de Syrie, par De La Roque, p. 8.]

64 Rauwolf, p. 84. They are brought in the like manner from the East Indies to Egypt. Norden, V. i. p. 70. Maillet, let. 13, p. 194.

65 P. 18.

66 It occurs in eight places, viz. 1 Chron. iv. 21; xv. 27; 2 Chron. ii. 13; iii, 14; v. 12; Esth. i. 6; viii. 15; Ezek. xxvii. 16.

downy substance formed in the pods of the shrub called " gossypium 67." The cloth made of it being of a finer texture and more delicate softness than that manufactured from flax, was used for the robes of the rich and noble. We trace the Hebrew word in the vestments of Burros, Luke, xvi. 9, and Rev. xviii. 12.

Occ. 1 Sam. xxiv. 14, and xxvi. 20.

The LXX, and another Greek version in the Hexapla, render it uλλov, and the Vulgate pulex. It seems, says Mr. Parkhurst, an evident derivative from y free, and wy to leap, bound, or skip; on account of its agility in leaping or skipping.

The flea is a little wingless insect, equally contemptible and troublesome. It is thus described by an Arabian author: "A black, nimble, extenuated, hunch-backed animal, which, being sensible when any one looks on it, jumps incessantly, now on one side, now on the other, till it gets out of sight 68. "

David likens himself to this insect; importing, that while it would cost Saul much pains to catch him, he would obtain but very little advantage from it.

FLY. The kinds of flies are exceedingly numerous; some with two, and some with four wings. They abound in warm and moist regions; as in Egypt, Chaldea, Palestine, and in the middle regions of Africa; and, during the rainy seasons, are very troublesome.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, or in the ancient versions, are seven kinds of insects, which Bochart classes among 66 muscæ, or flies.

The 1st. is any OREB, which occurs Exod. viii. 20; xxiv. 20; xxv. 27; xxix. 31; Psal. lxxviii. 45; and cv. 31, which those interpreters, who, by residing on the spot, have had the best means of identifying, have rendered "the dogfly," nuvoμvia; and it is supposed to be the same which in Abyssinia is called the zimb.

(2.) 1 ZEBUB, 2 Kings, i. 2, 3, 6, 16; Eccles. x. i.; and Isai. vii. 18. Whether this denotes absolutely a distinct species of fly, or swarms of all sorts, may be difficult to determine.

67 "Superior pars Ægypti in Arabiam vergens, gignit fruticem quem aliqui gossipion vocant, plures xylon, et ideo lina, inde facta rylina. Parvus est, similemque barbatæ nucis, defert fructum cujus ex interiore bombyce lanugo netur. Nec ulla sunt eis candore molitiave præferenda. Vestes inde sacerdotibus Ægypti gratissimæ.' Plin. N. H. lib. xix. c. 1. "In Palæstina nascens in folliculis." Mercer. It is very accurately described in Pollux Onomast. vii. c. 17, sect. 75; by Philostr. vit. Apollon. ii. c. 20. Compare also Salmasius, Exercit. Plin. p. 701. Reland, Diss. Miscel. p. 1, 212, and J. R. Forster, De Bysso antiquorum, 8vo. Lond. 1776. Cotton seems to have derived its name from a fruit, in Crete, called by Pliny, 1. xv. c. 11, " Mala cotonea," or Cydonea." It is distinguished by other names, as bombyx, gossipium, and xylon; and the cloth made of it, byssus. "Ferunt cotonei mali amplitudine cucurbitas, quæ maturitate ruptæ ostendunt lunuginis pilas, ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt." Plin. 1. 12. c. 10.

66

68 Alkazuinus, quoted by Bochart, Hieroz. part. ii. 1. iv. c. 19, Vol. iii. p. 475.

(3.) 777 DEBURRAH, Jud. xiv. 18; and Psal. cxviii. 12; rendered "bee."

(4.) TSIRA; Greek σ. Exod. xxiii. 28; Josh. xxiv. 12; and Deut. vii. 20; "Hornet."

(5.) '70 SARABIM; Greek 015005. Ezek. ii. 6; and Hosea, οιςρος. iv. 16.

(6.) (7.) civ. 31.

BAK; Greek KONOV. Matth. xxiii. 24, the "gnat."
CINNIM; Greek σиVITES. Exod. viii. 16; and Psal.

"Lice."

These will be found explained, under the several names by which they are translated, in the alphabetic order of this work; and I shall confine myself in this article to the two first and the fifth.

M. SONNINI 69, speaking of Egypt, says, "of insects there the most troublesome are the flies. Both man and beast are cruelly tormented with them. No idea can be formed of their obstinate rapacity when they wish to fix upon some part of the body. It is in vain to drive them away; they return again in the selfsame moment; and their perseverance wearies out the most patient spirit. They like to fasten themselves in preference on the corners of the eye, and on the edge of the eyelid; tender parts, towards which a gentle moisture attracts them."

I. The y OREB, with which Jehovah humbled the pride and defeated the obstinacy of Pharaoh, Exod. viii. 20, and Psal. xxviii. 45, has been variously rendered. In our version it is translated " 66 swarms of flies," and in the margin, a mixture of noisome beasts." This last is borrowed from Josephus, and the Babylonian Targum; and indeed almost all the ancient versions lean that way. Aquila and Jerom understood it of a mixture of various kinds of flies. The Arabic version reads "6 a mixture of wild beasts, venomous insects, and reptiles;" Rabbi Selomo, "all kinds of venomous animals, as serpents and scorpions;" Eben Ezra," all the wild beasts mingled in association, as lions, bears, and leopards;" Purver, "a mixture of noisome creatures;" Delgado, "a mixture of vermin;" Bate, "a raven;" and Dr. Geddes, "a swarm of beetles 70.' "I mention these marvellous renderings," says the author of Scripture Illustrated, "to show the absolute necessity of well understanding the NATURAL HISTORY of the country; since that alone can direct our inquiries, and since all these opposed renderings cannot possibly be well founded. Moreover they appear to be contrary to verse 31, which seems to imply the withdrawing of a single kind." That it was one particular insect, and not a mixture of dif

69 Trav. V. iii. p. 199.

70 The "Blatta Egyptiaca" of LINNEUS. This rendering is supported by Oedmann, Michaelis, Orient. Bibl. Nov. p. v. p. 38, and Rosenmuller, in loc. This is a very voracious insect, that not only bites animals, but devours tender herbs and fruits.