279 



ters, is an evidence that these MSS. cannot be later than that 

 period ; this mark will be found in regular use wherever these 

 letters occur throughout the MSS. The two volumes (for 

 they are volumes in the original sense of that word), now ex- 

 hibited to the Academy, each contain one of the fifty-four 

 sections, into which the Jews divide the Law for weekly read- 

 ing, namely the 13th, or m»IP nbsl, containing Exod. i. to 

 vi. 1, inclusive; and the 23rd, called "HlpS nbs, containing 

 Exod. xxxviii. 21, to xl. 38, inclusive. 



In the account which the Jesuit missionary, Father Go- 

 zani, has given of the Synagogue of K'ae-fung-foo, in 1704, 

 published in the Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, he states that 

 there were in the sanctuary thirteen recesses, each containing 

 a Pentateuch roll, one for Moses, and one for each of the twelve 

 tribes of Israel, as the Jews informed him. One of these 

 rolls, he tells us, which was the most ancient and authentic of 

 them, having suffered damage from the overflow of the river 

 Hoain-ho (yellow river), on which the town stands, the Jews 

 had caused the other twelve copies to be made, as security 

 against a similar accident. He tells us further, that in ano- 

 ther part of the synagogue was a great number of ancient 

 boxes or coffers, each containing a section of the Pentateuch, 

 and other books of the Scripture ; his words are : — " Un de ces 

 livres fut heureusement sauve de la grande inondation du fleuve 

 Hoam-ho qui submergea la ville de Cai-fom-fou, capitale de 

 cette Province. Comme les lettres de ce livre ont ete mouil- 

 lees, et qu'elles sont presque a demi effacees, ces Juifs ont en 

 soin d'en faire douze copies, quils gardent soigneusement dans 

 les douze tabernacles, dont je viens de parler. Ou voit encore 

 en deux autres endroits de cette synagogue plusieurs anciens 

 coffres, du ils conservent avec soin un grand nombre de petits 

 livres, dans lesquels ils ont divise le Pentateuque de Mo'ise, 

 qu'ils appellent Takim, et les autre livres de leur Loy."* 



* Lettres Eilif. et Cur. torn, vii., p. 7. 



