LETTERS. 443 
ber of the rowers : an infurredtion amongft the 
foldiers, which threatens the fubverfion of the go- 
vernment, nor is famine wanting to complete their 
miferies. Thefe are fufficient reafons to deter 
a traveller from going thither ; byt as foon as 
I am informed, that the Almighty has withdrawn 
the rod, which he has extended over that city, I 
purpofe vifiting it, and feeing what natural curio- 
fities this famous place, which is fituated between 
two feas, affords •, and afterwards, pleafe God, I 
fhall think of returning home. 
Inclosed, I have the honour to tranfmit you 
a deferiprion of the little Arabian Quail, which I 
found near Jordan. I imagine, this bird to be 
new, and not before delcribed. If the Wri- 
ters on the feripture can prove, that Selaw was a 
bird, they may be allured, that it was no other 
than this ; but I have reafon to believe, that the 
food in queftion of the Ifraelites, was neither bird 
nor fifh, but rather infe&s, and moll probably lo- 
cufts. 
It is not in the leaf!: probable, that Selaw was 
the flying fifh •, how fhould the flying fifh, that 
fcarce lifts itfelf a few yards above the furface of 
the fea, and that only at fun-fet, come up into Ara- 
bia Petrasa, and in fuch numbers, as to fupply the 
whole camp of the Ifraelites ? If I fhould even per- 
fuade mylelf, that the Mediteranean, at that time, 
came up to the walls of Jericho, which is now 
three days journey diftant, yet I could not give 
credit to it. 
St. John’s locufts, thofe fo often difputed lo- 
cufts, come now at length in queftion. I have 
the honour to fend a colledtion of all the obferva- 
tions I could get relating to this affair, which I have 
B b 2 digefted 
