HISTORY.

SECTION III.

Egypt was denominated the land of Ham, after Ham himself, some of whose descendants settled that country. The names of Canaan's sons also are particularly worthy of note. "Canaan begat Sidon his first-born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite," &c. All these are names borne by different nations of Canaan. And so of the other names. Gog, the king of Magog, is called the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Now Magog, Meshech, and Tubal were sons of Japheth. Lucian says that the city of Hierapolis, which is the present Aleppo, was anciently called by another name; and Pliny tells us what that name was: "The Syrians," says he, "called it Magog." Tarshish, Kittim, and Elishah were likewise sons of Japheth; and we hear of places called Tarshish and Kittim, and of the isles of Elishah. The Persians were denominated Elamites after Elam, a son of Shem. Assyria derives its name from Asshur, another son of Shem, who founded Nineveh, the capital of that empire.

Mankind having been scattered abroad by the confusion of tongues, settled in various regions of the earth. The descendants of each of the sons of Noah, notwithstanding the confusion of language, preserved their genealogies, and kept separate in accordance with them. The descendants of Japheth appear to have settled various countries, as follows: Gomer, Tubal, Togarmah, Magog, and Meshech, settled in and near the north parts of Syria; Ashkanez near Armenia; Tarshish in Cilicia. Kittim was the father of the Macedonians. Elishah appears to have settled the Cyelades, and Javan Greece. Madai was evidently the father of the Medes; Tiras of the Thracians. Riphath settled near the borders of Paphlagonia, and Dodanim is thought to have planted Rhodes. The descendants of Shem settled various parts of the interior of Asia. Elam settled Persia. Arphaxad resided at Ur of the Chaldees. Jocktan, the great grandson of These examples suffice. We perceive by them that Arphaxad, had thirteen sons, who with their families the very countries of the East are so many testimonies • occupied the country from Mesha to Sephar, a mount to the reality of the history of the early period of the of the east. One branch of the family of Arphaxad world which we are now considering. The names of continued at Ur for several generations. Lud is sup- the immediate descendants of Noah are inscribed on posed to have been the father of the Lydians, and the broad tablet of states and empires-on the wide Aram settled in some part of Syria. Asshur, one of wastes of the East, and the adamantine crags of the the sons of Shem, built Nineveh, and the city Reho- eternal hills. Nor till those states and empires both, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Ca- shall cease to be remembered; till history shall no lah. This city of Resen, we are informed, was a great longer recount her story; till time itself shall be no city. As to the posterity of Ham, they settled Pales-more; will those names be erased. The records of tine and Egypt. They appear likewise to have re- those times need no monument of marble, no parchtained possession the portion of Chaldea which was ment scroll, to preserve their remembrance; for Shiinhabited before the Confusion and Dispersion. But nar's Plain and Babel's Ruins, the land of Canaan and to be more particular. The children of Cush, the first the land of Ham, still have locality and a name; Euson of Ham, spread in process of time into several phrates rolls her waters still, and Ararat rears on high parts of Arabia, over the borders of the land of Moab, its venerable summit :-all speaking in language more into Arabia Felix, up to Midian and Egypt; all of impressive than pen can inscribe or than tongue can which countries collectively are sometimes called the utter, that the account handed down to us of the oriland of Cush. Mizraim, the second son of Ham, peo- gin of nations is authentic. pled Egypt with a part of his descendants, and was king of that country. Ludim and Lehabim, two of Mizraim's sons, peopled Lybia. Casluhim, another of his sons, established himself at Cashiotis, in the entrance of Egypt from Palestine. Philistim, one of Casluhim's sons, planted the country of the Philistines, between the border of Canaan and the Mediterranean. Phut, the third son of Ham, probably settled somewhere in Arabia, near to Cush, as he is mentioned in conjunction with the latter by the prophet Jeremiah. The sons of Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, peopled the land of Canaan. Sidon settled in Phoenicia, one of whose chief towns was called by his name. Arvad was neighbour to Sidon. Heth lived near Gerar, towards Egypt. Speaking of the Canaanites collectively, Moses says: 66 The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim, even unto Lasha."

We have at length traced our history down to the period when we can no longer view mankind as one great community, but when we must consider each nation by itself. And in thus tracing history from the beginning, we have in our progress descended to the origin of nations, instead of ascending to that point. We have found, in the regular train of grave historical detail, whence sprang the various nations of antiquity; the Chinese, the Chateans, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Canaanites, and the Egyptians, together with all the tribes of earth which figured in ancient story. We stand at last at the disparting of that great stream which has hitherto flowed on unbroken, but which now divides into numerous rivulets, each one destined in its turn to become a mighty torrent, rolling on in its course for a season, to be finally disembogued in the oblivious ocean of time. These rivulets, these torrents, we will follow in their various meanderings, and note their rugged banks and flowery meads, their broad expansions and their thundering cataracts. We flatter ourselves that in our various expeditions, scenes of the most thrilling interest will be continually opening before us. Nor will they be the illusive scenes of some fairy land. Our readers may be well assured that we are now in possession of the substance, and

M

It is observable, that the names of the individuals composing the more immediate descendants of Noah, are the names borne by the nations they founded, or the countries they settled. For example, Palestine was denominated the land of Canaan, after Canaan the son of Ham, whose posterity settled that land. VOL. II.-3

not grasping at the shadow, of ancient days. And we take occasion here to remark, that it is to the Bible itself that we are more indebted for the history of the world thus far, than to all other writings combined. Moses is the only individual who has handed down for the benefit of all succeeding ages any thing deserving the name of universal history, from the period of the world's creation to that of the division of the earth among mankind, and the settlement of the nations. To Moses alone is it owing, that the history of the first two thousand years of our world-a period amounting to more than one third of the whole time that the earth has existed-is not involved in impenetrable obscurity. Other writers there were, but none who even pretended to give a universal history. Sanchoniathon, Berosus, Manetho, and others wrote; but they merely undertook, each one, to give an account of his own countrymen. And even their accounts are so beclouded in fable, that were it not that the bright beams of Mosaic history break through the cloud, and exhibit a clearer view, we should be at a loss indeed to know what to understand in relation to them.

collected by Fulvius Ursinus, and published in the words of the kings and decemviri who made them, are a specimen of the very great alteration which time introduced into the Latin tongue. Nay, the pillar in the capital, erected in honour of Drusillus, about one hundred and fifty years before Cicero, shows, that even so small a space of time as a century and a half caused great variations. After the Roman tongue attained the height of its purity, it quickly declined again, and became corrupted; partly from the number of servants kept at Rome, who could not be supposed to speak accurately and with judgment; and partly from the great concourse of strangers, who came from the remote provinces, so that the purity of it was in a great degree worn off and gone, before the barbarisms of the Goths quite extinguished it.

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"And what thus happened in the learned languages is equally observable in all other languages of the world: time and age vary every tongue on earth. Our English, the German, French, or any other, differs so much in three or four hundred years, that we find it difficult to understand the language of our forefathers; and our posterity will think ours as obsolete as we do the speech of those who lived ages ago. And all these alterations of the tongues may, I think, be sufficiently accounted for by some or other of the causes before assigned; but none of them shows how or by what means the confusion at Babel could be occasioned. Our builders had travelled from their ancestors many hundred miles, from Ararat to Shinar; the climates may differ, and suppose we should imagine the country to affect the pronunciation of the children born in it, yet still it will be hard to say that this should cause confusion; for since they were all born in or near the same place, they would be all equally affected, and speak all alike. Besides, a difference of pronunciation causes difficulties only where persons come to converse after living a distance from one another. An imperfection in our children's speech, bred up under our wing, would be observed from its beginning, grow familiar to us as they grew up, and the confusion occasioned by it would be very little. And as to any commerce with other nations, they had none; they were neither conquered nor mingled with foreigners; so that they could not learn any strange words this way. And though there have been many changes of language from the variation of men's tempers, these we find have been frequent since this first confusion; but how or why they should arise at this time is the question. Language was fixed and stable, uniformly the same for almost two thousand years together; it was now some way or other unfixed, and has been so ever since. Some considerable writers seem to acknowledge themselves puzzled at this extraordinary accident. The confusion of tongues could not come from men, says St. Ambrose; for why should they incline to do mischief to themselves, or how could they invent so many languages as are in the world? It could not be occasioned by angels, good or bad, say Origen, and the Rabbins, and other writers; for they have not power enough to do it. The express words of Moses, Go to, let us go down and confound their language; and again, the Lord did confound the language of the earth, says Bishop Walton, imply a deliberate purpose of God himself to cause this confusion, and an actual execution of it. And the way in which it was performed, says the learned Bochart, immediately, and without delay, proves it the immediate work of God, who alone can instantly effect the greatest purposes and designs. Several of the Rabbins have inquired more curiously into the affair; but we fear the account they have given of it is poor and trifling. Buxtorf has collected all their opinions; but they seem to have put him out of humour with the subject, and to occasion him to conclude in the words of Mercerus, "There is no reason to inquire too curious into this matter; it was effected instantly, in a way and manner of which we

1

LITERATURE.

LANGUAGE.

Attempts have been made to account for the variety of languages in the world on natural principles. Difference of climate, intercourse with different nations, and the fondness of men for variety and change, are the principal causes assigned by those who take this ground.

Now it must be admitted, that difference of climate will cause some change in language in respect to pronunciation. It will abound in aspirates, labials, dentals, or other particular sounds, according to climate. Intercourse with different nations, also, introduces variety into language; but at the same time it tends rather to assimilate the languages of different nations to one another, than to widen the difference. With regard to a love of novelty and change, this is no doubt a cause of some alteration, especially when we consider the various circumstances which combine to render new words necessary.

"These are the general reasons of the mutability of language; and it is apparently true, that some or other of these have, ever since the confusion of Babel, kept the languages of the world in a continual variation. The Jews mixing with the Babylonians, when they were carried into captivity, quickly altered and corrupted their language, by introducing many Syracisms and Chaldaisms into it. And afterwards, when they became subject to the Greeks and Romans, their language became not only altered, but as it were lost, as any one will allow, who considers how vastly the Hebrew differs from the rabbinical diction, and the language of the Talmuds. The Greek tongue in time suffered the same fate; and part of it may be ascribed to the Turks overrunning their country, and part of it to the translation of the Roman empire to Constantinople. But some part of the change came from themselves; for, as Breerwood has observed, they had changed many of their ancient words long before the Turks broke in upon them; of which he gives several instances out of the books of Cedrenus, Nicetas, and other Greek writers.

"The numerous changes which the Latin tongue has undergone, may all be accounted for by the same reasons. They had in a series of years so diversified their language, that the Salian verses composed by Numa were scarcely understood by the priests in Quintilian's time; and there were but few antiquaries within about three hundred and fifty years who could read and give the sense of the articles of the treaty between Rome and Carthage, made a little after the expulsion of the kings. The laws of the twelve tables,

can give no account; we know many things were | fifth, Melpomene, from the excellence of her song and done; but how they were done, we cannot say. It is the melody she makes when she sings. She is supa matter of faith." posed to have presided over tragedy, and to have invented sonnets. The sixth, Terpsichore, has her name from the pleasure she takes in dancing, because she delights in balls. Some call her Citharistria.— The seventh, Euterpe, or Euterpia, from the sweetness of her singing. Some call her Tibicina, because, according to them, she presides over the pipes; and some say logic was invented by her.-The eighth, Polyphymnia, or Polymnia, or Polymenia, from her excellent memory: and therefore the invention of writing history is attributed to her, which requires a good memory: it was owing to her that the songsters add to the verses that they sing hands and fingers, which speak more than the tongue; an expressive silence; a language without words; in short, gesture and action. The ninth, Urania, was so called either because she sings of divine things, or because, through her assistance, men are praised to the skies; or because, by the sciences, they become conversant in the contemplation of celestial things.

MYTHOLOGY.

الاله

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THE MUSES.

"The Muses are nine virgins, crowned with palms; their dress is decent and becoming. They sit together in the shade of a laurel arbor. Some of them play on the harp, some upon the cithern, some upon the pipe, some upon the cymbal, and some harmoniously sing and play at once.

"They are the mistresses of all the sciences, the presidents of the musicians and poets, and the governors of the feasts and solemnities of the gods. They are the daughters of Jupiter and the nymph Mnemosyne, and were born on the mountain Pierius. Some affirm that they had other parents, and ancient writers say, that they lived before Jupiter, and were the daughters of Cœlum. They are called the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, (which in Greek signifies "memory,") because all students and scholars ought not only to have great ingenuity, but ready memories.

The first, Calliope, was so called from the sweetness of her voice; she presides over rhetoric, and is esteemed the most excellent of all the nine.-The second, Clio, is so named from glory. For she is the historical Muse, and takes her name from the excellence of the things she records. The third, Erato, has her name from love, because she sings of amours, or because learned men are beloved and praised by others. She is also called Soltatrix; for she first invented the art of dancing, over which she presided. She was also the inventress of poetry.-The fourth, Thalia, from her gaiety, briskness, and pleasantry. Some ascribe to her the invention of comedy, others of geometry.-The

"The Muses are the favourite goddesses of the poets. The ancients used often to begin their verses by invoking the muse, that is, by a short address or prayer to one of the muses, entreating her to inspire the poet-to give him some portion of celestial intelligence, that his poetry be worthy of the favour of the goddess, and of the esteem of mankind.

"They are represented as nine beautiful virgins, sometimes dancing in a ring around Apollo, sometimes playing on various musical instruments, or engaged in scientific pursuits. They are called Muses, from a Greek word signifying to meditate, to inquire.

"The Muses had favourite haunts in Greece,-the vale of Tempe in Thessaly, Mount Parnassus in Phocis, Pieria in Thrace, the country Aonia, and Mount Helicon in Boeotia. Their fountains were Hippocrene and Castalia, at the foot of Parnassus. Their horse had wings, and was called Pegasus-when Pegasus struck the earth forcibly with his foot, the fountain Hippocrene sprung out.

The Muses are frequently represented surrounding Apollo on Mount Parnassus or Helicon; while Pegasus, with extended wings, springs forward into the air.

THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. (Continued from page 398 of Vol. I.)

From the London Saturday Magazine. CAPTAIN FRANKLIN'S FIRST JOURNEY. When Captain Parry was despatched on his first attempt to explore the Polar Sea, with a view to the discovery of a passage into the Pacific Ocean, it was considered not only that the expedition might be assisted in that object, but also, that material advantage might be rendered to geographical science, by the advance of a party over land to the shores of the Polar Sea, following the route by which Hearne had reached it in 1772. Accordingly, on the recommendation of the Lords of the Admiralty, Lieutenant (now Sir John) Franklin was appointed by Earl Bathurst, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, to the command of a party for this service, consisting of Doctor John Richardson, a naval surgeon, well skilled in natural history; Messrs. Hood and Back, two admiralty midshipmen; and two English seamen named Hepburn and Wilks.

*

This party left Gravesend on the 23d of May, 1819, in the Hudson's Bay Company's ship, Prince of Wales; and on the 30th of August reached York Factory, the principal depot of the Hudson's Bay Company. Here they received every possible assistance from the servants of the Company, who used the utmost endeavours to forward their progress, and readily

THE FAMILY MAGAZINE.

de said wrebus bauer bomu od min

On the arrival of spring, Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood rejoined their companions at Fort Chepewyan; and active preparations were now made for the advance of the expedition. A party of Indians were procured, to serve as guides and hunters, until they reached the mouth of the Coppermine River, and undertook to join them at a subsequent stage, where they were also to be met by a Mr. Wentzel, a clerk of the North West Company, who offered himself as a medium of communication with those people, among whom he had lived long and familiarly. Sixteen Canadian voyagers were also engaged to accompany them throughout the whole journey; and with these our five countrymen set out, on the 18th of July, for Fort Providence, which Here they were joined by they reached on the 29th. Mr. Wentzel and the Indians, and, on the 2d of August, finally departed, hoping to reach the mouth of the Coppermine before the season should expire. A variety of impediments, however, so obstructed them, that they were far distant from that point, when they found it necessary to form their winter establishment. The spot selected for this purpose, was reached on the

21

19th, and a house was there built, which was after-
wards named Fort Enterprise. In the mean while, an
excursion was made by the officers to the head of the
Coppermine River, at Point Lake, about sixty miles to
the northward, in order to satisfy themselves of its
size and position.o time as no saltons unif
The winter was passed sin dullo monotony; the
officers employed themselves in writing out their jour-
nals, constructing the charts, and other similar occu-
pations; and the men were chiefly engaged in seeking
firewood. The provisions, however, of the party, were
greatly reduced, and their ammunition nearly expended,
even at this early period. To procure a further supply,
and hasten the transport of the stores expected from
Cumberland House, Mr. Back proceeded to Fort Che-
pewyan, and returned after an absence of nearly five
months, during which he had travelled 1104 miles in
snow-shoes, with no other covering in the woods on
the wintry nights than a blanket and deer-skin. A
part of this extraordinary journey lay across the Great
Slave Lake; and the mode of travelling practised there
is represented in the engraving below.

ON THE GREAT SLAVE LAKE. FROM FRANKLIN'S NARRATIVE.

WINTER TRAVELLING
During his absence, a large party of the Copper In-
dians arrived at Fort Enterprise, and the impression
which their kindness and attention produced was
Captain Franklin relates an amusing in-
favourable.
cident, which strongly marks their simplicity. An old
guide had a daughter, who was considered by her tribe
to be a great beauty, insomuch that, although under
sixteen years of age, she had already belonged suc-
Mr. Hood drew an accu-
cessively to two husbands.
rate portrait of her, much to the annoyance of her
mother, who was afraid, she said, that her daughter's
likeness would induce the great chief who resided in
This portrait of
England to send for the original.
Green Stockings, (as the young lady was called from
her dress,) with that of her father, forms one of the
plates which illustrate Captain Franklin's narrative.

It was not until the 14th of June, 1821, that the ex-
pedition was able to leave Fort Enterprise. Almost a
year had now elapsed since they had quitted Fort

1801 9900 wond How vidT...becue Providence, and by this time their provisions were greatly reduced. As they proceeded down the Coppermine, however, the grassy plains on its banks afforded oxen were also found in large herds, followed, as them an abundant supply of game. Deer and muskThe stratagem which they usual, by great numbers of bears and wolves. These last are gregarious animals, and so sagacious as rarely to be caught in any trap. practise against the poor deer is as curious as it is successful, on plains bounded by precipitous cliffs."Whilst the deer," says Dr. Richardson, " are quietly grazing, the wolves assemble in great numbers, and, forming a crescent, creep slowly towards the herd, so as not to alarm them much at first; but when they pecting creatures, and cut off their retreat across the perceive that they have fairly hemmed in the unsusplain, they move more quickly, and with hideous yells terrify their prey, and urge them to flight by the only open way, which is that towards the precipice, appear