by the Ifraelites; for if they had been, after the publication of the law, Mofes would not have permitted them to engrave images, fo immediately after he had received the fecond commandment; if they went this way, and not along the coat, they had then no characters, that we know of, unless fome of them were killed in hieroglyphics, and thefe have no connexion with them. It will be difficult to guess what these in fcriptions are; and, I fear, if ever it is difcovered, they will be fcarce worth the pains. If conjecture be permitted, I will give my very weak thoughts. They cannot have been written by If. raelities, or Mahometans, for the above reafon; and if by Mahome. tans, they would have fome refemblance to fome fort of Cuphic characters, which were the cha. racters used in the Arabic language, before the introduction of the prefent Arabic letters. The firft MSS. of the alcoran were in Cuphic; there is a very fine one an Cairo, which I could not purchafe, for it is in the principal mofque; and the Iman would not fteal it for me, under four hundred fequins, 200l. These have not the leaft refemblance to them. Saracen characters are very unlike; betides, I should place them higher than the Hegira. I think it then not unprobable that they were written in the firft ages of christianity, and perhaps the very firft; when I fuppofe, pilgrim ages from Jerufalem to Mount Si. nai were fashionable, confequent. ly frequent and numerous, by the new Chriftian Jews,, who believed in Chrift; therefore, I fhould be lieve them Hebrew characters, ufed vulgarly by the Jews about the time of Chrift. I fhewed them when at Jerufalem to the rab bins; they were of the fame opi nion, and thought, which is frequent, was Dow; and to that which is just before with a small crofs y, by chang ing the fin into fin, and adding je, it might be an Arabic word a crofs, and might be explained, the crofs borne or carried by Jefus. The Hebrew would be Jefus brought fafety, or falvation. But, Sir, more able than me will judge better. Thefe are all conjectures; and it feems much easier to fay what thefe infcriptions are not, than what they are. They can fearce be of St. Helen's time; for they would have fome analogy with Greek characters, and they have none. Perhaps fome gentlemen will think them ancient Egyptian, written by the colony which they fuppofe went to inhabit China. That is a matter I won't meddle with; but, amongst many others, it will be liable to one great objection, which is, that fuch colony, if ever there was one, probably went the ftraight road, from the head of one golf to the head of the other, from Hierapolis to Eloth, the way the Mecca pil grims now go. This place would have been far out of their way, being at leaft fixty miles to the fouthward of the pilgrims road, unless they were supposed to have had had tranfports at Dzahab, or Sharme. I, for the first reafon given, did not think them written by the Ifraelites, and could not conceive that they were of any great confequence. I only took Here thefe few as a fpecimen. are, on other parts of this rock, fome Greek, and Arabic, as well as fome Saracen inferiptions, and an Hebrew one, which is, D. The Saracens and Arabic, only fay," fuch an one was here at fuch a time;" the fame fay the Greek ones, except one, which fays, as I remember, for I have it not with me, "The evil genius of the army wrote this," which can only prove, that fome body of Greeks was worfted here, after the characters were written, and that they attributed their defeat to fome magic power in thefe characters: as we are now fruitful in conjecture, perhaps fome gentlemen will bring Xenophon here. The characters feem to be of the very fame kind with thofe ftained on different parts of Mount Sinai, Meribah, &c. which my learned and accurate friend the bishop of Offory has given. The third day from this place, travelling weftward, we encamped at Sarondou, as the journal calls it; but it is Korondel, where are the bitter waters, Marah. I tried if the branches of any of the trees had any effect on the waters; but found none: fo the effect mentioned in fcripture muft have been miraculous. These waters at the fpring are fomewhat bitter and brackish, but as every foot they run over the fand is covered with bituminous falts, grown up by the exceffive heat of the fun, they acquire much faltnefs and bitterness, and very elites entered the fea at Badeah, and no where elfe. Befides, all the rest of the coaft from Suez, and below Badeah, is fteep rocks, so there must have been another miracle for them to defcend: the current too fets from this place where we encamped, toward the oppofite shore into the pool Birque Pharaone, Pool of Pharaoh, where, the tradition is, his hoft was drowned; a current, formed, I fuppofe, by the falling and ruthing of one watery wall on the other, and driving it down; a current, perhaps, by God permitted to remain ever fince, in memoriam rei; the diftance to the bitter waters is about thirty miles., I ommitted to mention in its place, that, between this and Korondel, we were not fo lucky as the author of the journal, who met with a charming rivulet of sweet water; we met with none, good or bad. The Ain Moufa, which the Ifraelites would have met with, if they had passed at Suez, and the coaft from hence fouthward, about a mile to Tor, being all rock, and fteep too, induce me to believe, that they entered the fea at Ba-. deah, and afcended from it here, and not at any other place. But I am too fenfible of my own inability to decide, and leave that to better judges than I am, I only throw out what occurs to me, from the infpection of the country, an inspection as accurate as I, am capable of. If any thing I have faid can in the leat fupport that revelation, to which I dare declare myself a friend, even in this enlightened age, I fhall be very happy; or if this trip of mine can be of any use whatever, as I had great pleafure in it, I may truly fay with Horace Omne tulit punctum, &c. ,ומסוף The denomination of I believe, only regards the Hierapolitic branch, as the marine productions, Madrepores, &c. which form admirable forests in the bottom of it, are not in the Eianitic branch, or the gulph; I mean the broad part below Cape Mahomet. No more than that western branch was known to the Ifraelites at the time of their paffage, if it was to the Egyptians: but the name defcended to the whole, as their knowledge of it. The Red Sea feems to regard the broad part alone; for though there are not the above-mentioned fea productions, yet there is fo great a quantity of the tube coral (not found in the western branch of the Hie. rapolitic golf) and fuch rocks, as one may fay of them, that the Gedda fhips fasten themselves to them inftead of cafting anchor. It is of a deep red, fo that pos fibly, the firft navigators entering at the ftreight of Babel Mandel, from the red they faw, called it the Red Sea, and that name de. fcended to the whole with their navigation. This fea is tempef tuous and full of fhoals; there is no harbour on the Arabian coaft. after Tor, except one, I mean be. tween Suez and Gidda or Mecca, which is a day and a half from Gidda. Gidda is its port; and there is only one on the other coaft, Coffire; but it is a very bad one; however, fhips fometimes go thither, and caravans cross the country to Morfhout. The ships are, as the bishop of Offory has defcribed them; the helm is on the outfide, as I fuppofe with his lordship, that of St. Paul was. They P. S. I am a very bad draughtf. man; but I affure you the fketches contained in plate III. are rather better than the originals. They are about fix inches long, the marble is whitish, in fome places reddish, of a flesh colour; they are engraved with a pointed inftrument, for one fees in the bot. tom of them round marks of the point of the inftrument. I have met with much bafalto, but not one piece of that foft ftone of which is the butt at Turin, nor any of the characters upon it, except fome are found amongst thefe, I have neither feen any head, buft, or ftatue, in the character of that. The fecond rock ftruck by Mo. fes, is, I think, 43 feet long, 16 broad, 13 high; it has two cracks, oblique ones; in them are fome mouths, like thofe of Meribah: it is of a hard ftone, not granite or marble. I have the exact dimenfions and I elevation of the fecond ftone, as well as of Meribah. Some account of the ruins of Poeftum, or Peffidonia, an ancient city of Magna Græcia, in the kingdom of Naples, which have been lately difcovered. Extracted from a work newly published, that con. tains a defcription and views of the remaining antiquities, the infcriptions that have been dif covered in or near that city, together with its ancient and modern history, &c. How OW aftonishing foever it may feem, that fuch very confiderable remains of ancient magnificence fhould have continued totally undifcovered during fo many centuries, it is neverthelefs moft certain, that the author of this book is the first traveller who has given us any account of the ruins of Poeftum. If indeed this city, like Herculaneum, had been buried under ground by an earthquake or the eruption of a volcano, its concealment would not be at all miraculous. This mira. cle, however, is to be accounted for from its remote fituation, in a part of Italy entirely unfrequented by travellers. The manner in which it was difcovered is related by our author in the following words; In the year 1755, an apprentice to a painter at Naples, who was on a vifit to his friends at Capaccio, by accident took a walk to the mountains which furLound the territory of Poeftum. The only habitation he perceived was the cottage of a farmer, who cultivated the best part of the ground, ground, and referved the reft for pafture, The ruins of the ancient city made a part of this view, and particularly ftruck the eyes of the young painter; who, approaching nearer, faw, with aftonishment, walls, towers, gates, and temples. Upon his return to Capaccio, he confulted the neighbouring people about the origin of thefe monuments of antiquity. He could only learn, that this part of the country had been uncultivated and abandoned during their memory; that about ten years before, the farmer, whofe habitation he had noticed, eftablished himself there; and that having dug in many places, and fearched among the ruins that lay round him, he had found treafures fufficient to enable him to purchafe the whole. At the painter's return to Naples, he informed his mafter of these particulars, whofe curiofity was fo greatly excited by the defcription, that he took a journey to the place, and made drawings of the principal views. These were fhewn to the king of Naples, who ordered the ruins to be cleared, and Poelum arofe from the obfcurity in which it had remained for upwards of feven hundred years, as little known to the neighbouring inhabitants as to travellers.' Our learned author, who has certainly been upon the fpot, gives the tollowing defcription of Poeftum, in its prefent ftate. It is, fays he, of an oblong figure, about two miles and a half in circumference. It has four gates which are oppofire to each other. On the key-ftone of the arch of the north gate, on the outfide, is the figure of Neptune in baffo relievo, and within a hippocampus. The walls which ftill remain are com pofed of very large cubical ftones, and are extremely thick, in fome parts eighteen feet. That the walls have remained unto this time, is owing to the very exact manner in which the ftones are fitted to one another fa circumftance obferved univerfally in the mafonry of the ancients); and perhaps in fome measure to a ftalactical concretion which has grown over them. On the walls here and there are placed towers of different heights, thofe near the gates being much highter and larger than the others, and are evidently of modern workmanfhip. He obferves that, from its fituation among marshes, bituminous and fulphurous fprings, Poeftum must have been unwhole. fome; a circumftance mentioned by Strabo, morbofam eam facit flu vius in paludes diffufus. In fuch a fituation the water must have been bad. Hence the inhabitants were obliged to convey that neceffary of life from purer fprings by means of aqueducts, of which many vel. tiges ftill remain. The principal monuments of antiquity are a theatre, an am. phitheatre, and three temples. The theatre and amphitheatre are much ruined. The first temple is hexaftylos, and amphiproftylos. At one end the pilaftres and two columns which divided the cella from the pronaos are ftill remaining. Within the cella are two rows of fmaller columns, with an architrave, which fupport the fecond order. This temple he takes to be of that kind called by Vitruvius Hyphethros, and fupports his opinion by a quotation from |