other enemies against them. In the reign of David they were indeed subdued and greatly oppressed, and many of them were dispersed throughout the neighbouring countries, particularly Phoenicia and Egypt. But during the decline of the kingdom of Judah, and for many years previous to its extinction, they encroached upon the territories of the Jews, and extended their dominion over the south-western part of Judea. Though no excellence whatever be now attached to its name, which exists only in past history, Idumea, including perhaps Judea, as Reland has shown, was then not without the praise of the first of Roman poets." Lucan celebrates its riches, and Virgil thus refers to it :—

Primus Idumæas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas.

"But Idumea, as a kingdom, can lay claim to a higher renown than either the abundance of its flocks, or the excellence of its palm-trees. The celebrated city of Petra, (so named by the Greeks, and so worthy of its name, on account both of its rocky situation and vicinity,) was situated within the patrimonial territory of the Edomites. There is distinct and positive evidence that it was a city of Edom, and the metropolis of the Nabatheans, whom Strabo expressly identifies with the Idumeans-possessors of the same country, and subject to the same laws. 'Petra,' to use the words of Dr. Vincent, by whom the state of its ancient commerce was described before its ruins were discovered, 'is the capital of Edom or Seir, the Idumea or Arabia Petræa of the Greeks, the Nabatea, considered both by geographers, historians, and poets, as the source of all the precious commodities of the east.' 'The caravans, in all ages, from Minea, in the interior of Arabia, and from Gerrha on the Gulf of Persia, from Hadramaut on the ocean, and some even from Sabea or Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and from Petra the trade seems again to have

branched out in every direction, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, and a variety of subordinate routes that all terminated on the Mediterranean. There is every proof that is requisite, to show that the Tyrians and Sidonians were the first merchants who introduced the produce of India to all the nations which encircled the Mediterranean; so there is the strongest evidence to prove that the Tyrians obtained all their commodities from Arabia. But if Arabia was the centre of this commerce, Petra was the point to which all the Arabians tended from the three sides of their vast peninsula.' 'The name of this capital, in all the various languages in which it occurs, implies a rock, and as such it is described in the Scriptures, in Strabo, and Al-Edrissi.'

But we need not follow the history further. Edom has become a desolation, and it seems scarcely conceivable that it shall ever be restored as the habitations of men. "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, 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 may have all combined their baneful operation in rendering Edom most desolate, the desolation of desolations."

Were it not for the evidence of its imperishable ruins, it would seem inconceivable that the arid and stony desert had ever been capable of cultivation, or the site of human dwellings, and yet here were the fields and the vineyards of Edom, while yet the descendants of Jacob were wanderers in the desert, and here still was the centre

of Asiatic commerce, when the kingdom of Judah was at an end, and the chosen race were dispersed as wanderers and outcasts among every people and nation under heaven.

CHAPTER IX.

CAVE TEMPLES OF ELEPHANTA, ADJUNTA, AND ELLORA

See! where those caverns yawn on Carli's steep;
Do spirits call, awaked from ages' sleep,
That yon lone Hindoo creeps with stealthy tread,
Hies down the hill, nor dares to turn his head?
So old those grots, so silent and so drear,
E'en Brahmin's view them with a solemn fear.

MICHELL.

ASIA has many other ruins besides those referred to in previous chapters, for there were all the world's first kingdom's founded, and for many ages it formed, along with the adjacent regions of the African continent, the chief centre of population, and the sole seat of empire and civilization. One other singular class of architectural remains, however, will suffice to illustrate the relics of ancient skill and grandeur on the Asiatic continent.

The cave temples of Elephanta, Ellora, Adjunta, and other ruined shrines scattered throughout India, form a most interesting branch of monumental remains connected with one of the early races of the human family. Certain general resemblances have been traced among all the relics of Eastern art and ancient mythology, which add new confirmations to the scriptural history of the Asiatic origin of the human race. Still an undue weight has frequently been attached to this, as though it pointed to

some intimate intercourse or great similarity in faith and manners among widely-separated races.

Much must be allowed in such investigations for the uniform influence of climate and other local circum stances, and this is peculiarly observable in the apparent correspondence which has been supposed to be traceable between the ancient mythology of India and Egypt. This has frequently been referred to as conclusive evidence of an intimate connection between the religions of these two countries, and one interesting incident excited special attention. During the war with the French in Egypt, some sepoys of our Indian army, who crossed from the Red Sea to the Nile, were attracted, on their visit to the temple of Dendera, by the sculptured representation of the cow of Athor, and were observed to prostrate themselves before it. This has been referred to, both by French and English writers as triumphantly proving the kindred character and common source of the two creeds; but the argument will not stand investigation. Had the Indian sepoys been arrested by some arbitrary and unintelligible symbols of Egyptian hieroglyphics, which possessed to them a sacred meaning, importance might justly be attached to their proceedings; but the selection of the cow by two agricultural nations as a sacred symbol, may admit of very easy explanation without supposing them to have had any previous intercourse, and a critical investigation into the minute details of Egyptian and Indian mythology, shows that the creeds of the African and Asiatic kingdoms resemble each other only in very general features, such as will be found to be common to nearly all the earlier forms of heathen mythology. On this subject it has been remarked by a recent writer, in comparing the ruined temples of the two countries, that their dates appear on closer investigation so widely different, that all idea of a conimon source of design must be completely abandoned; and we must

rather fall back upon the more consistent explanation of any apparent uniformity, in the corresponding results of human invention and design, when operating under similar circumstances. "Mr. James Fergusson, the most recent investigator of the antiquities of Hindoostan, after personally examining the architectural remains of Egypt and India, denies that they have any essential features in common; and all the latest inquiries into the subject of Indian antiquities seem to lead to the conclusion, that the ideas which have been so generally received of the immutability of the Hindus, and the primeval antiquity of their remains, have been based on theories unsupported by evidence. Already the colossal elephant which gave name to Elephanta has progressed so rapidly to decay, as to excite just doubts of its great antiquity at the time of its discovery; and if the general diffusion of the religion of Buddah in India is correctly fixed at a period little more than 150 years B. C., it is obvious that the remains of temples dedicated to that religion must no longer be classed along with those of Egypt. Mr. Fergusson assigns them a far more recent date than even this might imply. He has carefully studied them, and made drawings of their various details; and in his 'Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindoostan,' he advances the opinion that the most ancient of the cave temples are not many centuries old. India, however, has undoubtedly formed an early seat of civilization, traces of which are apparent both in the faith and the manners of the more ancient races that still occupy the country, though these are much too slight to justify many of the arguments that have been deduced from them. Impressed, indeed, as all European thinkers are, with the influence of religious opinions which have been slowly developing their powers during many centuries, they are too ready to take for granted the same slow development in judging of Eastern creeds. Recent investigations