245 



the rock which Moses smote with his rod, and from 

 which flowed springs of pure water.* 



"Here/* says Dr. Shaw, ''we still see that extra- 

 ordinary antiquity, the rock of Meribah, which hath 

 continued down to this day, without the least injury, 

 from time or accidents. ? 'f 



Returning into Africa, we find upon the mountain? 

 of Ethiopia and Abyssinia, the habitations of Cush, 

 the grandson of Noah, and his descendants, chiselled 

 out of the solid rocks, in the sides of the mountains, 

 still entire and unaltered by time ;f and corresponding 

 with the habitations of the ancient shepherds, cut in 

 the rocks upon the mountains of Palestine. 



As another instance of the durability of rocks, we 

 find, on examining the quarries, from which the an- 

 cient Egyptians obtained the immense masses of gra- 

 nite and marble, for the building of cities and temples, 

 the marks of the holes that were drilled in the rocks, 

 and into which, wedges or bolts of wood or iron were 

 driven, as at this day, for the purpose of breaking up 

 the mass ; and as fresh as when first exposed to the 

 light of day. 



" All those of the neighbouring rocks," says M. 

 Denou, ." whose surfaces are level, have been wrought 

 in the same manner ; and the traces of the ancient 



' Kxodus, 17, 6. t Shaw's Travels, page 352. 



| See Bruce's Travels, vol. II, page 12, and Salt's Description 

 of Abyssinia, in Lord Valentia's Travels, vol. Ill, page 250. 

 6 See Clarke's Travels, vol. II. 



