THE EASTERN ORIGIN OP THE CELTS. 279 



Zimri and Etlian. In Kings, however, Ethan is spoken of as the 

 son of Zerah or Ezra ; Zimri is ignored ; and Mahol is made the 

 father of the wise triad. There can he no doabt that these are the 

 same j>ersons. My conclusion, the grounds of which will appear in 

 the sequel, is that Zimri, the first mentioned among the sons of 

 Zerah, -Was the father of Mahol or Mahalah ; that Heman, Chalcol 

 and Darda were his grandsons ; and that Zimri accordingly was the 

 husband of Hammoleketh. But who was Zimri himself? For many 

 reasons I have been led to regard him as the same person with Zimran, 

 the eldest son of Abraham by Keturah.' Why he is called the son 

 of Zerah I cannot with absolute certainty say, but think it probable 

 that his mother Keturah, after the death of Abraham, married Zerah 

 an Ethiopian.^" The above may seem a meret issue of hypotheses. 

 I grant it, and do not ask belief in the alleged facts on a simple ipse 

 dixit or plausible statement of theory. My own convictions did not 

 arise from any such arbitrary intex'pretation of scripture passac'es, 

 nor did I upon these frame any theory whatever. The evidence 

 which constitutes the remainder of this paper, and which is intended 

 not to trace the family of Zimran but the origin of the Cymri, will 

 I think, show that the foregoing necessary statement has at least 

 strong probability on its side. Another connection of the family of 

 Zimran may be mentioned here. His mother was Keturah, and his 

 brothers, Jokshan, with a son Dedan and grandsons Asshurim, 

 Letushim, Leummim ; Medan ; Midian, with his sons Ephah, Epher, 

 Hanoch, Abidah and Eldaah ; Ishbak ; and Shuah." As for Keturah 

 I am inclined to believe that she was a sister or near relative of the 

 Amorites, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, with whom Abraham was con- 

 federate.^'^ I have some light upon the story of Zerah, his son Ethan 

 and grandson Azariah, but to set it forth here would involve unneces- 

 sary complications. 



I purpose restricting myself in the main to the family of Ham- 

 moleketh, the sister of Gilead, uniting with hei-, as it seems to me I 

 must, a certain Zimri or Zimran. As part of this family I covint 

 Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol or Mahalah. For 



■ 9 Gen. XXV. 2. 



1" Zerah or Tirhacha long remained an Ethiopian name, 2 Chron. xiv. 9. I do not by any 

 means suppose that Zerah was a Cushite. He was a son of Achumai or Kames, the Horite' 

 King of Egypt, and the ancestor of the Zorathites or Caphtorim. 



11 Gen. XXV. 1-4. 



13 Gen. xiv. 13. Tliis connection is antecedently very probable, and the association of the 

 names of Eshcol and Mamre, at least, with those of Keturah and her sons tends to conflrm it. 



