36 Mr. Beke on the former Extent of the Persian Gulf, 



the Euphrates are induced to erect their habitations in " im- 

 practicable spots," where they are constantly liable to be 

 washed away, should we not find the inhabitants of Mesopo- 

 tamia generally settled on the banks of the two rivers instead of 

 being dispersed over the interior, and ought we not likewise to 

 see the people of Arabia flocking to the shores of the Euphra- 

 tes, and employed in " following their villages afloat to arrest 

 the materials of their dwellings," instead of remaining in their 

 unwatered deserts? As to the mere erection of cities in plains, 

 by the sides of rivers, and even in marshy situations, this is 

 no peculiarity whatever of hot climates, but is equally preva- 

 lent even in the coldest. When opportunities occur, settle- 

 ments are, in all countries, usually made on the banks of ri- 

 vers; but then they are not in the first instance founded from 

 choice in impracticable spots, but are placed on the higher 

 grounds, where they can enjoy all the benefits of the supply 

 of water without being liable to the tides and ordinary floods; 

 it being afterwards only, as population increases, that the 

 buildings are extended over the lower lands, from which the 

 waters have been banked out. 



Mr. Carter asserts, however, that " the earliest settlements 

 on record were, in fact, fixed in such places ;" and he in- 

 stances the cities of Egypt, those of the vale of Siddim, and 

 also Nineveh in particular; which last city, he says, was built 

 " in the lowlands of the Tigris, a valley eight or ten miles 

 broad, and where the floods were so great that of old it 

 was like a pool of water," referring to Nahum, ii. 8. as an 

 authority for the fact. I regret to be obliged to observe 

 that he has altogether mistaken the meaning of this text. 

 In our authorized version (which alone he would seem 

 to have consulted,) it is unquestionably said, " But Nineveh 

 is of old like a pool of water;" but by this expression 

 our venerable translators evidently intended, not a natural, 

 but an artificial pool, as in 2 Kings, xx. 20. Neh. iii. 15. 

 Eccl. ii. 6. and many other places, where the same expression 

 occurs : and this, in fact, — or a fish-pond in particular, as in 

 Cant. vii. 4. — is the real meaning of the word HD"!!!!*, which 

 is used by the prophet with reference to the immense popu- 

 lation of Nineveh : — " that great city, wherein were more than 

 six score thousand persons that could not discern between 

 their right hand and their left handf." The comparison of 



• The Arabic^ ^ has the same signification. In its primitive meaning 



it is, a reservoir of water at which the camels /lr?tec/ CinUji badach, to 



drink : literally, therefore, a kneeling- ■place. 

 t Jonah iv. 11. 



