50 Notices respecting Ne-,i: Booh. 



Bruce, whose reputation as an authority has, contrary to 

 that of some travellers, increased with the increasing know- 

 ledge obtained of the countries which he visited, contributed 

 considerably to the stock of information concerning the Natu- 

 ral History of the Bible. Preparatory to his great expedi- 

 tion, he studied the Oriental languages, at Algiers, with great 

 zeal and diligence ; and from a knowledge of the original lan- 

 guages of the Scriptures, he claims an advantage over pre- 

 vious travellers in the East, who were either not at all, or but 

 very superficially acquainted with those languages. He made 

 it a rule also, in describing plants and animals which he saw, 

 to prefer those mentioned in Scripture, particularly where 

 doubts had arisen among translators and commentators. To 

 these authorities on the subject of plants. Dr. Harris adds 

 Dioscorides and Pliny, among the ancients ; and Alpinus, 

 Rauvvolf, Shaw, Russell, Forskal, and others, among the mo- 

 derns. 



The author's leading authority concerning the Animals 

 mentioned in Scripture is Bochart, a learned orientalist of the 

 seventeenth century. His Hierozoicon, which, as its name 

 imports, relates to the animals spoken of in the sacred writ- 

 ings, was printed at London in I6ti3. Great accessions have 

 been made to this department of knowledge since that period, 

 giving certainty to what was doubtful, and correcting what 

 was erroneous ; yet it seems, for the most jiart, that the opi- 

 nions of this indefatigable scholar are confirmed by the testi- 

 mony of the most learned and intelligent travellers since the 

 period in which he wrote. Dr. Harris, though one might ap- 

 prehend from his preface that he had relied too unhesita- 

 tingly on Bochart, is not wanting in the examination of sub- 

 sequent authorities*, and giving them their due weight in com- 

 ing to his own decisions. 



Another 

 • We may cite as an instance the following passage from the article 

 Ln.Y, )\:;iu;(p.. 2.^7): " Mr. Salt, in his Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 419, says, 

 ' At a few miles from Adowa, we discovered a new and heautifnl species 

 of Amaryllis, which bore from ten to twelve sjjikes of bloom on each stem, 

 as large as those of the Belladonna, springing from one common receptacle. 

 The general colour of the corolla was white, and every petal was marked 

 with a single streak of bright purple down the middle. The flower was 

 sweet-scented, and its smell, though much more powerful, resembled that 

 of the lily of the valley. This superb plant excited the admiration of the 

 whole party ; and it brought immediately to my recollection the beautiful 

 comparison used on a particular occasion, by our Saviour, I say unto you 

 that Solomon in all his glorj- was not arrayed like one of these.' And Sir 

 J. E. Smith (Considerations respecting Cambridge), observes, ' It is natural 

 to presume the divine teacher, according to his usual custom, called the at- 

 tention of his hearers to some object at hand; and as the fields of the 

 Levant are overrun with the Amnryllii lutca, whose golden liliaceous 



flowers 



