as connected with the Hieroglyphics of Egypt. 173 



them to stand their ground, though not always, against this 

 winged assassin ; for when once attacked by this fly, their 

 body, head and legs break out into large bosses, which swell, 

 break and putrify, to their certain destruction. 



" It seems that Providence has confined the habitation of 

 this terrible insect to one species of soil, a black fat earth, 

 such as is found in the marshy parts of the Nile ; and this 

 fortunate circumstance enables the natives, with their cattle, to 

 leave the country, and hasten down to the sands of Atbara, 

 and there to remain while the rains last, this cruel enemy 

 never daring to pursue them further." This is no partial emi- 

 gration, but a general one of the whole country; nor is there 

 any alternative, though a hostile band were in the way, capa- 

 ble of despoiling them of half their substance. 



From this description it seems evident that this terrible in- 

 sect, this Zi?nb of Bruce, must have been the fly which formed 

 the fourth plague that God sent upon the Egyptians, and 

 which, in the language of Scripture, would " put a division 

 between them and the Israelites," and sever the land of Go- 

 shen, " where these latter dwelt, from the land of Egypt." 

 For this land, the possession of the Israelites, was a land of 

 pasture, neither tilled nor sown, because not overflown by the 

 Nile : but the land inundated by that river was the black earth 

 of the valley of Egypt; and as by nature the Zimb never leaves 

 this black earth, it followed that no fly could be seen in the 

 sand or pasture of the land of Goshen, because this kind of 

 soil had ever been the refuge of all cattle emigrating from the 

 black earth round the Nile to the lower region of Atbara. 

 The prophet Isaiah, in fact, (vii. 18, 19,) has given an account 

 of this insect, and the manner of its operation : " The Lord 

 shall hist for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers 

 of Egypt.. ..and they shall come, and shall rest all of them in 

 the desolate valleys :" which, if my interpretation be correct, 

 cannot mean anything else than the fly shall cut off from the 

 cattle their usual retreat, by taking possession of those places 

 which are the refuge of the cattle ; and perhaps this fly, or 

 some species related to it, was the prototype of the Philistine 

 idol, the god of Ekron, worshiped in the form of a fly under 

 the Dame of Baal-zebub, which literally means ' the fly of 

 Baal', and was no doubt the corruption of Thubab, the Arabic 

 name of a fly. 



Upon these considerations it seems reasonable to sup- 

 pose that the figure of the insect at the top of the cartouche 

 inclosing the mystic titles of the Pharaohs is not that of a 

 bee, but of the Zimb of Bruce ; and if so, it cannot be the sym- 



