The American expedition, viewing its mouth from the sea, went on shore to examine it, and spent a night in the dark and lonely recess. The river has formed a delta of soil around the entrance, through which it flows to the sea. Within the chasm it is about eighty-four feet broad, so that it occupies almost

the whole width, leaving only a narrow bank; it is, however, fordable, being only four feet deep at the utmost, in the beginning of May. The walls of the ravine are formed of red, brown, and yellow sand

WILD BEASTS.-GAZELLE.

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stone; those on the south side being mingled red and yellow, but those on the north a soft rich red; they are worn by the winter rains into the most fantastic forms, not unlike Egyptian architecture, as will be seen by the engraving, which, by the courtesy of its liberal publisher, we are permitted to copy from the narrative of the expedition, entitled, " The Jordan and the Dead Sea." Captain Lynch found it difficult to believe that some were not the work of art. He walked and waded some distance up the gorge, and found it uniform in width, gradually bending to the south-east, so as to limit the view at any time to 150 or 200 yards. Though the sides appear perpendicular there must be some passage or track down the cliffs, for the travellers observed the footsteps of camels, and marks of an Arab encampment. A gun which they fired reverberated finely against the sides, like repeated and long-continued peals of loud thunder, startling the birds from their nestling places. They observed the tracks of many wild beasts, and among them those of a large feline animal, which Captain Lynch calls the tiger, but which was probably the leopard, as the tiger is not found in Western Asia. They saw also the footsteps of many gazelles, and the body of a dead one. *

This beautiful animal (Antilope Arabica) is highly characteristic of Palestine, where it is found in almost all parts of the country, but chiefly in wild, barren and rocky wastes. Its colour is a yellowish brown, its form is graceful, its motions elegant and sprightly, and its large languishing dark eye, so soft and swimming, is the very symbol of beauty. It is

*Jordan and Dead Sea, p. 368.

the "Roe" of the Scriptures, which so often affords images of activity and grace. Excessively wild and

timid, the gazelles associate in large herds, in which one acts the part of a sentinel to warn his fellows of

approaching danger; when they dart away, bounding over the rocks, and leaping from crag to crag with the fleetness of the wind. When taken young, they readily become familiar, and their beauty and playfulness render them favourites with the Oriental ladies. Thus Moore, with his usual truth to nature, makes Lalla Rookh say :

"I never nursed a dear gazelle

To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well,
And love me,-it was sure to die."

NUMBERS XXI.

IT was at the Arnon that Israel began to possess their land. For though the country east of the Jordan had not been originally promised to them, yet as the kings of this region chose to assault the (to them unoffending) strangers, the conquest of their lands was the result. The people were forbidden to make war upon Moab, but as the Amorites had some time before dispossessed the Moabites of that portion of their territory which lay north of the Arnon, this region was not now included in the prohibition. The Amorites met Israel at Jahaz, It was the first

a few miles north of the Arnon.

time that the latter had seen war, those who had formerly engaged Amalek being now all passed away; yet, strong in the strength of Jehovah, they discomfited their adversaries, and slew Sihon the Amoritish king, and possessed his country extending from the Arnon to the Jabbok.

Hence this first conquest became a sort of type of the whole, and was commemorated in a poetical composition, called "The Book of the Wars of Jehovah," the subject of which was "What He did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon.”

It was to a city in the border of Arnon that Balak came to meet Balaam, when he had induced the Syrian prophet to visit him for the purpose of cursing Israel. But their gracious Lord turned the curse into a blessing.

Possibly, this city was Aroer, which was situated on the north side of the river. Burckhardt found its ruins on the edge of the precipice that overlooks the Arnon, and the ancient name is still preserved, with scarcely any modification, Araayr. But, like Rabbah, this city consisted of two parts, one on the bank, the other in the bed, of the stream: for we find repeated mention of "the city that is in the midst of the river," in conjunction with "Aroer that is on the bank of the river Arnon."* It is an extremely interesting fact, that in the great paintings of the Egyptian wars, which have been recently brought to light, there is an event recorded which seems to apply to this city. It is the representation of the war which took place in the fifth year of Rameses Mei-amoun, between the Egyptians and the Shetha, a people whom Mr. Osburn has in a very convincing manner identified with the Moabites, called "children of Sheth" by Balaam in Numb. xxiv. 17. The period of the scene seems to have been the year 1473 B.C. of our common Biblical

* Josh. xiii. 9, 16. (See also 2 Sam. xxiv. 5.)