150 REPORT— 1870. 



to the time when the " Burden of Moab " was pronounced (Isaiah, xv., xvi.), 

 B.C. 726. 



2. In military prowess the Moabites under Mesha, whose country was not quite 

 as large as the Coimty of Huntingdon, were superior to the Jews. This is evident 

 from the fact that the king of Israel was afraid to undertake the expedition against 

 Moab alone, that he solicited and obtained the aid of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 

 and of the king of Edom, that even these three allied armies, led by their re- 

 spective sovereigns in person, dared not to confront the Moabite army in a straight- 

 forward invasion, and that they were ultimately completely diiven out of the 

 country. It is this victory which Mesha celebrates on the stone. 



3. The ritual of the Moabites must have closely approximated that of the Jews ; 

 for the vessels of Jehovah were at once transferred from the sanctuary of the Jewish 

 service to the temple of the Moabite deity (lines 17, 18). For other identical prac- 

 tices comp. line 17 with Numb. xxxi. 17, 18, 35, 40. 



4. The Moabites were, moreover, superior to the Jews of that time in their 

 architectural skill. Immediately after Mesha gained the victories over the three 

 allied kings, he erected buildings which, as far as historical records ai-e concerned, 

 have no parallel in the Jewish annals. This is evident from the building of 

 Korcha, with its parks, fortifications, towers, palaces, prisons, waterworks (lines 

 21b to 26 a), the construction of the stupendous road across the Amon (line 26), 

 and many other structures erected in the single reign of Mesha. 



5. Its geographical importance cannot be overrated. It not only specifies thir- 

 teen out of the twenty names of the places in Moab mentioned in the Bible, — viz. 

 the Amon (river), Aroer, Ataroth, Baal-meon, Beth Baal-meon, Beth Diblathaim, 

 Bezer, Dibon, Iloronaim, Jahaz, Medeba, Nebo, Kirjathaim, — but gives fom- new 

 names of places, viz. Beth-Bamoth, Bikoran, Korcha, and Siran. 



6. The language of the Moabites is almost identical with that of the Hebrews ; 

 indeed it has preserved forms and phrases which have gi-adually been eliminated from 

 the Hebrew. Any one who can ti-anslate the Hebrew Pentateuch will be able to 

 imderstand the inscription on the Moabite stone. The characters are the so-called 

 PhcEiiician or Cadmean, and exhibit the primary som'ce from which the original 

 forms of the Greek alphabet are derived. 



Anthropoloriical Note on Carved Stones recently discovered in Nithdale, Scot- 

 land. By T. B. GRiEESONi F.A.S.L. 

 Among the finest specimens of ancient stone crosses that have been met with in 

 the south of Scotland was one that had been found in Nithdale within the last 

 twelve months ; it was covered with carving, representing animals and other 

 objects. Drawings were exhibited, and some of the ornamentation was very ela- 

 borate and beautiful. The stone cross, which is far from being perfect, when found 

 was doomed to destruction ; but it was fortunately rescued, and is now preserved 

 at T. B. Grierson's Museum, Thornhill. 



TJie Discovery of a Kitchen-midden at Bahjcotton in County Corlc. 

 By Professor Harkness, F.R.S. 



The author, after alluding to several kitchen-middens which have been dis- 

 covered on the coasts of Ireland, described one which had recently been met with 

 on the shore at Ballycotton in the County Cork. Here great quantities of the 

 shells of Fiirpura lapillus occur, and in the soil beneath those shells, bones of ox, 

 goat, and pig are found, the long bones of which have been broken for the marrow 

 contained in them. 



The sea has for several years been making great inroads on the coast at Bally- 

 cotton ; and small knolls of peat, which rest upon the boulder-clay, are seen on 

 the shore between high- and low-water marks. Near the base of these peat knolls 

 bones of ox, goat, and pig are to be met with ; and the long bones here have also 

 been broken for the marrow. Associated %vith these are the bones of birds, which 

 belong to the crane, not now indigenous to Ireland, and the wild swan. 



_ A gi-eat thickness of peat formerly occupied a portion of the district which mar- 

 gins Ballycotton Bay on the west. This has, however, been in a great measure 



