I30 ISRAEL 



read this collection of Hebrew books as the 

 secular histor}^ of an able but unhoty people. 



The collection of stories known as Genesis 

 consisted mainly of heroic ballads, cast in the 

 form of verse which can be easily and accu- 

 ratel}' remembered. These ballads were re- 

 cited until at the time of the Bab3donian 

 Captivity in the fourth century b.c. the people 

 learned to write and set down their annals in 

 the form of manuscript. We may find the 

 stories lacking in the salt of humour ; we may 

 doubt that singers and scribes were apt to 

 improve on the original words, piling a deal of 

 exaggeration on the naked facts ; but at the 

 very worst these legends of old Israel are 

 terse, clear, consistent and gloriously true to 

 human hfe and character. I had read the 

 story of Jacob the Sneak, and Joseph the Prig, 

 of gallant Esau, and gentle Ishmael in camps 

 of live Red Indians, before I reahsed that 

 Genesis is true to primitive life as a whole, and 

 that, after forty centuries, the legend still 

 glows and burns in its immortal truth, beauty, 

 and power. 



The story deals with wealthy Arabian stock- 

 men. They and their neighbours bred she 

 camels for milking, rode camels and asses, and 

 used both for pack animals. They seem to 



