376 
the two mountains is three miles, and its breadth 200 to 300 
yards. But people in a dense crowd can stand each in 
18 inches square. They often do in London streets; not, 
indeed, comfortably, but endurably. Allowing such a close 
crowd, 600,000 men could stand in 500 yards length of the 
valley, the width being 300 yards. For here would be 150,000 
square yards, and four men to a square yard = 600,000. More 
than this is surely not required by the text. To suppose that 
every woman, and every infant, were present, merely to prove 
the story false, is to treat the Book of God as we would treat 
no other book ; the words of Josh. viii. 35, legitimately mean 
no more than that there were women and children and 
strangers in the crowd, as is always the case in such crowds. 
73. But, in the recent accurate survey of Palestine by means 
of the Exploring Fund, Lieut. Anderson finds and (“ Becov. 
of Jerus.” 464) describes and maps, in the side of Ebal, “ a 
break in the regular slope of the hill, and a small, but steep, 
valley coming up from the vale below almost to the summit, 
forming a vast natural amphitheatre, in height equal to the 
mountain. Immediately opposite to this the steep slope of 
Mount Gerizim is similarly broken by a valley, forming a 
second natural amphitheatre of equal beauty and grandeur. 
In these two lateral valleys,” continues the describer, “ were 
assembled the twelve tribes of Israel under Joshua, six tribes 
on Gerizim, and six on Ebal. The Levites and the ark were 
in the strip of the vale, and the blessings and cursings were 
read before the whole congregation.” Thus writes one, appa- 
rently without a misgiving of its truth, who was not only 
familiar with the scene, but was technically and officially sur- 
veying it. This oval amphitheatre is a mile and a half long at 
the summit, and a half or three quarters of a mile broad. 
(See the map.) It is 1,200 feet deep. 
74. Now, what number of persons could crowd into this 
area, ready-made and provided for them ? Taking, as above, 
the square cubit of 18 inches as our unit of measure, the area 
is 5,280 x 1,760 = 9,292,800 square cubits ; to this, if we add 
a fourth more for the depth, we get upwards of eleven and 
a half millions of square cubits, or standing-room for an equal 
number of human beings. 
75. I must close. At the outset I had prescribed to myself 
to adduce evidence that the numerical enunciations of the Old 
Testament are sound and trustworthy : — that they are, not 
only not systematically falsified, not exaggerated by wholesale, 
but, not even corrupted by unintentional infirmity, save in 
comparatively few examples, easily identified, and without much 
difficulty corrected. The theses I have essayed to maintain 
