ON THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 115 
The Fathers of the Church knew Orfa by the name of Urhoi, 
which they identified with Ur of the Chaldees, and there is a 
ruin of a church there dedicated to St. James of Urhoi. In 
all what are called Syriac manuscripts the place is designated 
by that name, and even the Arabs know it by no other ap- 
pellation than Ur-Riha. Whether this name is derived from 
Ur or Awraha, which the peasant Chaldeans pronounce for 
Abraham, is not certain.* 
As for the position of Orfa, it is one of the most picturesque 
towns in Mesopotamia, and had it been under any other 
government but that of the apathetic Turk, it would have vied 
in beauty and wealth with the most flourishing cities in the 
world. Being situated on an eminence with copious rivulets 
running in all directions and commanding extensive fertile 
plains, stretching far and wide, its produce of corn and fruit 
might prove a source of incalculable riches. Its annual 
export of cereals to Europe even now, when scarcely one- 
fifteenth part of the land is under tillage, is very great. 
Nearly ten miles of the soil in front of the town is studded 
with public and private gardens, and in the town itself there 
are a number of the houses of the well-to-do inhabitants 
decked with arbours and orchards. 
I believe that Padan-Aram was also the native country of 
both Job and Balaam, as I shall try to show briefly. They 
might have been of mixed nationalities, but of Aramean 
origin, like the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Ish- 
maelites; also the sons of Abraham by Keturah, whom their 
father sent away to the east country.t Most probably Job 
lived long after Abraham and might have been descended 
from Nahor and Mileah, as we read that she bore unto him 
Uz, Buz, and Kemuel the father of Aram.t Uz most probably 
was the founder of the district bearing that name, from 
where Job was said to have come. Doubtless Balaam had 
faith in the true God, as Abraham, Nahor,§ and even 
Laban,|| though the latter, like the former, through his love 
of worldly gain, forfeited the divine favour. As for fixing 
an exact limit to the habitations of the different ancient 
nationalities it would be utterly useless to do so, because in 
those days, especially amongst small and unimportant tribes, 
* All the Chaldeans pronounce the «> beth in their Alphabet like na o 
waw unless it occurs in the beginning of a word like ;> bar (son). For 
instance, they pronounce Awa for Abba (father), Awd for Abd (servant), 
and Kthawa for Ktabba (a book). 
mecen, =xv, OF 9) fee 20 2Is | § xxx 5d; , || xxxi, 49. 
