266 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 102. 



Fontevraud for rescuing these monuments from 

 the jTradual demolition which seemed to threaten 

 them, were such as are likely to Insure their ulti- 

 mate preservation. What those steps were, or 

 what Is the present state of these Interesting me- 

 morials, I have not been able to learn ; but, Inas- 

 much as It appears that the tombs they covered 

 have been destroyed ; that In the fury of revolu- 

 tionary violence the remains of the royal dead 

 were scattered to the winds ; and that the abbey 

 church of Fontevraud Itself fell into a state of 

 ruin. If not of desecration ; It will probably be 

 agreed that the removal of these monuments to 

 Westminster Abbey Is unobjectionable, and that 

 their deposit among the effigies of our eai-ly sove- 

 reigns In that glorious edifice would be appro- 

 priate, and is much to be desired. Being strongly 

 Impressed with that opinion, I trouble you with 

 this note, which, if you should deem it worthy of 

 insertion, may elicit some Information, and perhaps 

 lead to an application for leave to remove these 

 monuments, and place them In Westminster Abbey. 

 The present time seems fiivourable for such an 

 eifort ; and if the object In view should have the 

 sanction of Queen Victoria, the interference of 

 Her Majesty would probably prevail. 



W. Sidney Gibson. 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS — MOCATTEB MOUNTAINS. 



The principle of decyphering propounded for 

 the Nineveh inscriptions (Vol. iv., p. 220.) is avail- 

 able equally, and with better prospect of speedy 

 solution, in the case of those of Mocatteb. A very 

 Interesting narrative Is given of these in Laborde's 

 Mount Sinai and Petra (p. 248.). The site of them 

 Is seventy miles direct distance south-east from 

 Suez, an(l they extend on the roclc three miles and 

 moi-e In length, at a height of ten or twelve feet, 

 and in the line of route to Sinai, which is distant 

 fifty miles south-east from Mocatteb. They also 

 lie not only In the usual caravan route, but almost 

 In a direct line drawn from Ethiopia to the cities 

 of Nineveh and Babylon. Nimrod is represented 

 as an Ethiopian (Gen. x. 8.), " Ciish begat Nimrod" 

 = " Nimrod was an Ethiopian by descent." The 

 whole of this Invaluable monument of the most 

 aiKjient geography, the tenth of Genesis, must be 

 read with reference to nations, and not Individuals. 



Both the valley and the mountains are named 

 from these " Inscriptions " = Mocatteb in Arabic ; 

 that fact alone Indicates considerable antiquity, 

 especially in a country like Arabia, where the 

 fashion of changing any usage, especially that of 

 names of places, has never prevailed. The vicinity 

 of these inscriptions to that portion of the world 

 wherein the Mosaic law had its origin, and pro- 

 bably, as a necessary consequence, the invention of 



an alphabet also ; and likewise the great question 

 of ancient Intercourse between Egypt, Ethiopia, 

 Assyria (Chaldea), and India, have rendered the 

 Interpretation of the Mocatteb inscriptions a 

 problem of paramount Interest, Insomuch that 

 Bishop Clayton offered a considerable sum of 

 money for a copy of them. In the Royal Society s 

 Transactions, vol. li. part vl. 1832, are specimens of 

 187 of these, whereof nine are Greek and one Latin. 

 Some of them are doubtless of the sixth century. 

 Coutelle and lioziere {Antiquities, vol. v. p. 57.) 

 copied seventy-five of them, and Pococke and 

 Montague give a few specimens. Seetzen, Burk- 

 hardt, and Henneker saw them ; and Niebuhr may 

 be said to have been sent out expressly on their 

 account, but the result was nil. Cosmus, Mont- 

 faucon, Neitzchitz, Monconys, Koischa, and others, 

 mention them, and they have been seen by a 

 caravan of persons familiar with Arabic, Greek, 

 Hebrew, Syrlac, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, Turkish, 

 English, Illyrlan, Gei'man, and Bohemian, to all of 

 whom they were equally Inexplicable. Since tlie 

 discovery of Daguerre, we are placed in a position 

 to obtain a ve.^ facsimile of the whole of these 

 Inscriptions, at a small expense of time or money. 

 Any person familiar with the use of the daguerro- 

 type (the loss learned the better) could now 

 speedily furnish what the good Bishop so fer- 

 vently longed after, were he only provided with 

 the small sum of a few hundred pounds to take 

 him thither and bring back his invaluable trea- 

 sures. Although the Mocatteb are graven with an 

 Iron pen in the rock (Job xix. 24.), they are not 

 everlasting, for the rains have had some effect in 

 obliterating them, being cut, not on granite, as 

 was formerly thought, but on red sandstone. It is 

 worth remark, that although Moses was learned in 

 all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he rejected en- 

 tirely the hieroglyphic system of writing, and that 

 no mention or allusion is made to the art of writing 

 till 1491 B. c, in Ex. xvil. 14.*, just prior to the 



* " Jehovah said to Moses, Write tliis as a memo- 

 randum on a roll, and let it be read to Josliiia, tli;it 1 

 intend to obliterate entirely the memory of Amalck 

 liere below. And Moses built an altar and called it 

 Jehorah Nissi (Jehovah is my banner). The reason be 

 assigned for the name was that a hand (power) opposed 

 to the throne of Jab was (tlic cause of) Jehovah's per- 

 petual warfare against Anialek." Tliis is the sense of 

 the Hebrew as it stands, in the current language of our 

 day, and not a copy of the words merely, — an error, it is 

 conceived, into which most of the translators, from the 

 Seventy downwards, have often fallen. If a conjectural 

 criticism might be offered, let 3, crif, be inserted for 3, 

 nun, and instead of Jehovah Nissi (banner), read Je- 

 hovah Cissi, "Jehovah is my throne;" then the reason 

 assigned by Moses for the name becomes intelligible, 

 which it certainly is not in the existing text, un- 

 doubtedly very ancient, being confirmed by the Sa- 

 maritan. 



