Assyrian Discoveries.

further passage , they turn inland ancl double it . Thence only one road , Wady Taiyebeh , Avhich , Avith their baggage , the Israelites coidd have taken towards Sinai , AA'ith two halting-places by the AA'ay . Here Mr . Holland has traced Eephidim , and beyond the pass the old circular huts of an extinct race , the Ainalekitos , Avith then * hearthstones ancl remains of bones and charred wood . In the open space Ave find every condition required for the delivery of the laAv from Sinaiancl also for the details of the battle of Eephidim .

, Eastward from Sinai , again , at a distance of three days' journey , Professor Palmer discovered a piece of ground covered for many acres AA'ith the stone circles Avhich mark the site of camps , but of a different shape from any UOAV in use . The hearthstones were still there and pieces of charcoal beneath the surface . Stretching to a great distance round the camps AA'ere numbers of grave inounds , said by the Arabs to be the remains of a A'ast pilgrim caravanAA'hich pitched here ages agoand Avas afterwards lost in the

, , desert of the Tib . No doubt remained on the mind of the explorers that they were actually on the site of Kibroth Hattaavah , ancl that their fingers , as they turned the stoneheaps , AA'ere grimed Avith the dust of them ¦ that lusted . Exactly a day ' s journey further on they discovered the wells ancl romantic oasis of Ain Hudherah , the Arabic equivalent for Hazeroth . If beyond this each halting-place prior to the thirty-eighth year of the wanderings has not been traced and identified it is simply because from the

nature of the case it is most unlikely that names , probably given at the time by the travellers themselves to featureless camping grounds , should have been preserved . But the latter part of the wanderings has been traced Avith the same accuracy as the earlier . The discovery by Mr . Holland , only this year , of a labyrinth of valleys , slopes , roads , and hilly country in the north of the desert of Tih , in the region just south of Ain Gades , recognized as Kadesh Barnea , solves the difficulties connected Avith the protracted sojourn of a vast host for many years in this region . Proceeding from the Avatershed of Jebel el Tih northward through Jebel Mugrah , Mr . Holland found AA'hat seems to have afforded the road knoAvn as " the AA'ay of the spies , " a wide region full of traces of ancient

habitations and cultivation . West of this region he has traced an easy , direct , ancl Avell-AA'atered route to Egypt , AA'ith Avells and ancient ruins , and numbers of flint flakes , and arroAv-heads , proving that it AA'as a road much used in very early times , while large tracts of lands are still cultivated . The pass of Akkrabim , the mountain of the Amorites , Zephath , ancl Horinnh—none of these are noAv mere traditional names , but actual recognized sites , where the march of Israel can be most distinctl y traced . I need not

further trace the later history of Numbers ancl Deuteronomy , the minute details of all the moA'ements of Israel round Edoin , through Moab , and to the plains of Shittim , or the hi gh places of Balak and Balaam , as on a former occasion I have been permitted to bring the explorations of myself and others before the notice of the Congress . Thus , entering into Palestine itself , with the Book of Joshua in our hands , Ave scarcely need a further guide . The officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund have laid CIOAATI in that

ordnance map , AA'hich in a feAV AA'eeks Avill be in your hands , 2 , 770 names , AA'here previousl y only 450 AA'ere laid CIOAAII . Of all the long catalogues of Joshua , there is scarce a village , hoAvever insignificant , which does not retain for its desolate heap or its modern hovels the Arabic equivalent for the name Avritten CIOAVU b y Joshua 3 , 300 years ago . But it is uot merely the continuance by an ' occult Providence' of the names in the rery places where they ought by the record to be ; it is the little touches AA'hich often startle

by the AA'ay in which they carry conviction of the time ancl p lace of the sacred penman . Thus Avhen we read that Abraham ' s second encampment' was on a mountain east of Bethel , ancl that he pitched his tent , having Bethel on the Avest ancl Hai on the east , and then he budded an altar , ' ancl Avhen between the site of Bethel and the desolate heap , the ' Tell' of Ai , we obseiwe a valley , and in its centre a lofty hill AA'ith uutlecip herable ruins on its summitwhence ancl AA'hence alone view of the Jordan valley

, a and the head of the Dead Sea is obtained , AA- ' 6 know exactly where Abraham stood ancl where the writer placed him . Thus is proof and illustration rapidly accumulating , and one definite result is certainly this , that hostile criticism must for the future be subjective and not objective . If there be a corroborated ancl illustrated history in the world , Ave have it here . The solvent of unbelief cannot dissolve the sculptured stones and burnt