30 HORMCJZD EASSAM, ESQ., ON BIBLICAL LANDS, THEIR 



merely bring them forward as I shall refer to secular his- 

 torians such as flerodotus, Xenophoii, Josephus, and others. 



Of all the nationalities mentioned in the Bible, and 

 by classical historians, only the Jews, the Samaritans, 

 the Chaldeans, and the Coords (the Carduchi of Xeno- 

 phon) have retained their ancient names. Of the former, 

 there is a remnant in AVestern India on the borders of 

 Beloochistan and Scinde, who style themselves " Bani 

 Israel," i.e., children of Israel, but whether they belong really 

 to the captivity of the ten tribes or that of Judah, it is 

 difficult to tell. Most probably, however, they are of the 

 latter, because, on the destruction of the Babylonian Mon- 

 archy, a great number of them must have emigrated east- 

 ward as they Avere not far from Beloochistan, whereas the 

 ten tribes were dispersed amongst the clans of Northern 

 Assyria and ]\Iedia, about a thousand miles from the Persian 

 Gulf. The Afghans also assert that they are descended 

 from " Bani Israel," and by their tradition claim lineage to 

 the tribe of Benjaniin. Formerly the Israelites who are 

 said to have emigrated to India, were a large community, 

 but on account of their adhering to the tenets of their faith 

 they were driven into the Herat Mountains, whence they 

 spread into the Cabool Valley along the right bank of the 

 Indus. Subsequently they fell into idolatiy, and on the 

 spread of Mohammedanism in that country they, like other 

 Gentile tribes, embraced the religion of their fierce con- 

 querors. The well-known traveller, Dr. Jos. AVolfi', met in 

 his travels some Israelites who told him that they belonged 

 to the tribes of the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of 

 Manasseh. He found them in Balkh and Bokhara in 

 Central Asia, and they informed him that " many of the 

 Napthali tribe wander on the Oral Mountains, and that the 

 Kafir Seecahpoosh on the Hindoo Koosh or the Caucasus 

 are their brethren." 



There is also a Jewish community in Abyssinia called 

 " Falasha," who assert that their forefathers had settled in 

 Ethiopia or Cush in the reign of " ]\Iaqueda," the Queen of 

 Sheba (who visited King Solomon during his glorious 

 sovereignty). Of this queen (said to have been one of his 

 wives) was born, according to Abyssinian tradition, IMenelik, 

 who ruled over Ethiopia and Arabia.* The history of the 

 Falashas according to that related by the late Rev. H. A. 



* 1 Kings X, 13. 



