The hand-mills here referred to, are common throughout the East. The stones are placed horizontally; and the upper one is turned by one or two persons, usually women. It is thought in Judges, ix. 53, (And a certain woman cast a piece of a mill-stone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his scull,) the woman threw, not a broken piece of a mill-stone, but the upper stone. A spare stone might be laying about. One 16 inches diameter, and 6 inches thick, serves for a convenient weight for pressing damped paper, in the Mission PrintingOffice, Colombo; and I remember meeting a Cingalese at Point-de-Galle, with a new pair of millstones on his head,

Exodus, xiii. 18. And the children of Israel went up harnessed [margin, by five in a rank] out of the land of Egypt. Compare Joshua, i. 14. and iv. 12. and Judges, vii. 11.

In these passages, the word 'won has puzzled commentators. A caravan had five officers. Instead of five in a rank put in the margin, if we accept the idea of embodied under the FIVE; that is the officers established by the ordinary usages of encampment, of military service, and of caravans as conducted by five chiefs, then every place where the word occurs, agrees to the sense suggested. The Israelites went out officered, certainly not armed. See Taylor's Calmet.

Numbers, v. 2. Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead.-Numbers, xix. 11. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

Touching a corpse, or preparing it for interment, defiles a Cingalese as well as a Hindoo, who bathes and changes his clothes before he has intercourse with people.

Numbers, x. 31. And he said, leave us not, I pray thee; foras. much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes.

Guides in these deserts are indispensable. They are men of consideration connected with the tribes, and whose protection is often necessary.

Numbers, xviii. 19. It is a covenant of salt, for ever before the Lord unto thee, and thy seed with thee.

The Arabs in forming Covenants, eat bread and salt together. Eating a man's salt, is a phrase used to denote maintenance in general, as we speak of a man getting his bread, in Ezra, iv. 14. Now, because we have maintenance from the king's palace, [Chaldee, we are salted with the salt of the palace, margin,] and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king:-possibly some received nothing but salt. I remember when different parts of the maritime provinces of Ceylon were laid under water, hundreds of the natives were supplied with salt from the Government store-house at Matura. With salt, they say, they can always subsist, though destitute of every thing besides but roots and fruit with which to mix it.-A Malabar preacher, addressing the household of a Missionary before family worship, remarked on "Ye are the salt of the earth;" that, as salt is the same on the tables of persons of all ranks, Christians should every where display the spirit of Christ.

Numbers, xxv. 8. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. See onwards to the end of this chapter.

The Arabs have a sensitive perception of injury, and are deadly in revenge. Our Lord, Matt. v. 39, cautions against resisting trifles, by inculcating for

bearance and forgiveness. The Cities of Refuge were wisely appointed, that time might be allowed for the offended to cool.

Deuteronomy, xi. 10. Thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs. 2 Kings, xix. 24. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. Proverbs, xxi. 1. The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

"Rivers of water;"-rather "water-course." After all the ingenuity bestowed on these and similar passages, to prove some machinery is alluded tosuch as that of the Chinese cultivators in irrigating their grounds, I believe they refer to some such usage as that of the Cingalese and Hindoos, who reduce the muddy surface of a paddy field to one consistency, by working about the little pools of water left by flooding, simply with the foot, just before scattering the seed.

Deuteronomy, xxii. 8. When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. Compare Jeremiah, xlviii. 38. Zephaniah, i. 5. Matt. x. 27. Luke, xii. 3. Acts, x. 9.

The roofs of the houses were flat, and doubtless highly convenient for retirement, or for sleeping. They continue to be constructed in the same way in many parts of the East. For making proclamation to the populace, as seems intimated, Matt. x. 27, no situation could better serve the purpose.

Deuteronomy, xxiii. 20. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to, in the land whither thou goest to possess it. The Hebrew words for usury, denote increase

n', and biting, 7w. The latter has been generally supposed to relate to compound interest. The peasants in Syria mortgage the whole or part of their future crop to procure the means of tillage. The Cingalese are sadly racked in this way by the Moors in particular, who claim in return for the seed, I am told, half the crop. In Syria, where the most moderate interest is 12 per cent., and the usual rate is 20;-sometimes it rises to 30; and in Ceylon, where interest is 10 per cent. at the lowest, compound interest is destructive as the bite of a serpent.

Joshua, ix. 13. And these bottles of wine which we filled were new, and behold, they be rent. See also Matthew, ix. 17. Job, xxxii. 19. Psalm, cxix. 83.

These passages denote nothing like glass bottles, but skins prepared to answer the same purpose. They were of various sizes, according to the animals from which the skins were taken. Water is frequently conveyed by buffaloes in Ceylon; and two bags of this description form a load.

Judges, iii. 19. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

Eglon seems to have observed the established usage. Bruce observes, that on saying he had a confidential message, the room was instantly cleared ; and even the secretary rose to depart.

Judges, v. 30. To Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework ...... on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil.

Denoting the upper garment or mantle of a gentleman, such as Christ laid aside, John xiii. 4; and

it should seem, his robe worn under. Hence it has been observed, that his appearance was respectable; and perfectly free from that austerity by which Jewish and other Pharisees rendered themselves singular. Peter pulled off his upper garment, John xxi. 7. (Campbell.) So 1 Sam. xix. 24, and Job. xxii. 6, denote not nudity, but being undressed. In 2 Sam. vi. 20, David is to be understood as having divested himself of every thing royal. Isaiah, liii. 1. -Revealed-denotes uncovered, stripped, fit for

action.

Judges, ix. 13. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?—John, x. 34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods?

The exposition of Jotham's parable adopted by King Charles's cook, is confessedly ingenious and evangelical-that wine forming part of the Jewish drink-offerings, and being typical of the blood of the Redeemer, might be said to cheer God, inasmuch, as he was well-pleased with the Christian atonement; but I should think the opinion in a note on the story I remember reading many years ago, is more likely to have been Jotham's meaning. He was addressing the idolatrous Shechemites: and by

he may be supposed to (אלהים ואנשים) God and man

mean, high and low, rich and poor.

Judges, xvi. 19. And she made him sleep upon her knees.

Mention is made of a favourite court lady, in whose lap the Emperor of Morocco constantly laid down his head and slept, when intoxicated.