shall be an habitation for dragons." Volney says the Arabs avoid these ruins, on account of the enormous scorpions with which they swarm.

The exact and literal fulfilment of the following prediction is very remarkable, and worthy of special notice Isaiah says concerning Edom, "None shall pass through it, for ever and ever ;" and Ezekiel says, "I will cut off from Mount Seir him that passeth out, and him that returneth."* Edom, or Idumea, at the time these predictions were uttered, formed the emporium of the commerce of the East; and long after that time, Roman roads were made through that country, from Jerusalem to Akaba, and from Akaba to Moab. The Idumeans were both an opulent and a powerful people; and they flourished hundreds of years after this prophecy was given. At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem the Idumeans were nearly as numerous as the Jews. Yet now it is utterly desolate. Another prediction declares that "every one that goeth by shall be astonished ;" intimating, in connection with this, that travellers should pass by, but not pass through it. Volney says, "This country has not been visited by any traveller; but from the reports of the Arabs, there are, within three days' journey, upwards of thirty ruined towns, absolutely deserted." Burckhardt entered the territories of the Edomites on the northeast; but soon after found himself without protection, in the midst of a desert, where no traveller had ever before been seen; and it was then, he says, the first time that he had ever felt fear,

* Isa. xxxiv, 10. Ezek. xxxv, 7.

during his travels in the desert, and his route there was the most dangerous he had ever travelled. Mr. Joliffe, another traveller, speaking of this country, says it is 66 one of the wildest and most dangerous divisions of Arabia, and that any research in that quarter was impracticable. Cavaliere Fredani attempted to pass through Edom; but after spending five weeks in fruitless attempts, was compelled to abandon the enterprize. Sir Frederick Henniker made the attempt, having with great difficulty prevailed on guides to accompany him; but they deceived him, and led him towards the Mediterranean coast, through the desert, to Gaza. Irby and Mangles attempted to approach Idumea, in the direction nearest to Judea, and apparently most accessible. The Turkish authorities, at Constantinople, Damascus, Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Hebron, all refused to afford them any protection. But they provided themselves with horses, arms, and Arab dresses, being eleven in number, including servants and guides. An Arab tribe agreed to protect them to Kerek, but no money would induce them to conduct them to any place within the territory of Edom. Having afterwards obtained the protection of an intrepid Arab chief, with his followers, and having advanced to the borders of Edom, their further progress was suddenly opposed, in the most threatening and determined manner. And in the whole course of their travels, which extended to about three thousand miles, in Thrace, Asia Minor, Cyprus, the desert, Egypt, and in Syria, they found nowhere such a barrier to their progress, except in a previous abortive attempt to reach Petra from another quarter; and though they

were never better prepared for encountering it, they never elsewhere experienced so formidable an opposition. The Sheikh of Wada Mousa, and his people, swore that they would not suffer them to go forward, and that they should neither drink of their water, nor pass into their territory. The Arab chief, who had espoused their cause, swore "by the faith of a true Mussulman," that they should drink of the water of Wada Mousa, and go whithersoever he pleased to carry them. Several days were passed in entreaties, artifices, and mutual menaces, which were all equally unavailing. The determination and perseverance of the one party of Arabs was equalled by the resistance and obstinacy of the other. Both were constantly acquiring an accession of strength, and actively preparing for combat. The travellers offered to abandon their object, rather than proceed to extremities. They were told that they were fortunate in the protection of the chief who accompanied them, or they never would have returned. The hostile Arabs, who defied them and their protectors to approach, having abandoned their camps, and concentrated their forces, and possessed themselves of passes and heights, sent messengers with a renewal of oaths and protestations against entering their territory, declaring that they should be shot like so many dogs; but the chief who accompanied the travellers was resolute, and threatened war, if they were not permitted to proceed. They were at last allowed to proceed; but only a brief space was allowed them for inspecting the ruins, and they could plainly distinguish the opposing party of Arabs, in great numbers, watching them from the

heights. Their protector was then dismayed,-he was never at ease, and constantly urged them to depart. Nothing could obtain an extension of the time allotted them, and they returned, leaving much unexplored, and even unable, by any means or possibility, to penetrate a little farther, in order to visit a large temple, which they could distinctly discern. Through Idumea they did not pass. Thus Volney, Burckhardt, Joliffe, Henniker, and Irby and Mangles, not only give their personal testimony to the truth of the fact, which fulfils the prediction, but also adduce a variety of circumstances, which all conspire to prove that Idumea is so beset on every side with danger to the traveller, that none pass through it. Even the Arabs of the neighboring regions, whose home is the desert, and whose occupation is wandering, are afraid to enter it, or to conduct any one within its borders. Seetzen did indeed pass through Idumea, and Burckhardt traversed a considerable part of it. But the former met his death not long after the completion of his journey, and the latter never recovered from the hardships and privations which he suffered there, and, some time after, died in consequence, at Cairo ; thus verifying that part of prophecy, which says, "I will cut off from Mount Seir him that passeth out and him that returneth."

"Edom shall be a desolation. From generation to generation it shall lie waste, &c. Judea, Ammon, and Moab exhibit so abundantly the remains and the means of an exuberant fertility, that the wonder arises in the reflective mind, how the barbarity of man could have so effectually counteracted for so many gener

tions" the prodigality of nature.

But such is Edom's

desolation, that the first sentiment of astonishment on the contemplation of it is, how a wide-extended region, now diversified by the strongest features of desert wildness, could ever have been adorned with cities, or tenanted for ages by a powerful and opulent people. Its present aspect would belie its ancient history, were not that history corroborated by "the many vestiges of former cultivation," by the remains of walls and paved roads, and by the ruins of cities still existing in this ruined country.

"The total cessation of its commerce,-the artificial irrigation of its valleys wholly neglected,—the destruction of all the cities, and the continued spoliation of the country by the Arabs while aught remained that they could destroy, the permanent exposure, for ages, of the soil, unsheltered by its ancient groves, and unprotected by any covering from the scorching rays of the sun,-the unobstructed encroachments of the desert, and of the drifted sands from the borders of the Red Sea, the consequent absorption of the water of the springs and streamlets during summer, are causes which have all combined their baneful operation in rendering Edom most desolate, the desolation of desolations. Volney's account is sufficiently descriptive of the desolation which now reigns over Idumea; and the information which Seetzen derived at Jerusalem respecting it, is of similar import. He was told, that "at the distance of two days' journey and a half from Hebron he would find considerable ruins of the ancient city of Abde, and that for all the rest of the journey he would see no place of habitation; he would meet