been; and yet it is used in the winnowing of wheat by John the Baptist, when speaking of Christ. Indeed, it is not probable that the dressing of grain in large quantities could ever have been carried on in that way: the natural mode was to catch the wind when they could, since machines to procure a constant artificial blast were not then invented, nor are they even known in these countries at the present day. Perhaps it may be said that the shovel and the fan are both mentioned in Is. xxx. 24: but it may be stated in reply, that Lowth, in his New Translation, makes them "the van and the sieve:" the one for driving it across the wind, and the other for separating it from any earthly particles. Homer mentions the van in Odyss. xi. 127. xxiii. 275, as carried on the shoulder.

6. Laying it up in granaries.-When the straw was separated, it was carefully laid up to be given to cattle, either by itself, or mixed with barley and beans: for it was too valuable to be trodden down for the dunghill," as our version hath it in Isaiah xxv. 10. And as for the corn, when it was properly cleansed, it was not put up in sacks, as with us; but, after lying for some days to dry, they either put it into earthen jars (called barrels in 1 Kings xvii. 12,) to preserve it from the worms and other insects, as they do in Egypt and Palestine at this day," or laid it up in the fields," in mattamores, as Dr. Shaw calls them, which are heaps of grain laid on the surface of the ground, and covered with earth. Sir Robert Wilson thus describes them : "The magazines of corn in Egypt are formed on the outside of the city walls, otherwise they would be too extended for the inhabitants to defend. The property of each village is deposited in one place, every indivi

Harm. Ob. vol. i. p. 277, &c.

Jer. xli. 8.

dual owner heaping up his own rick, and keeping it distinct from his neighbours, by preserving a path round."-But besides these repositories in the fields, they have others under ground, to preserve grain in the wettest seasons.-These are very common in the East, as Harmer has shown from various authors; and Dr. Russell says, that " about Aleppo in Syria, their granaries are, even at this day, subterraneous grottos, the entry to which is by a small hole or opening, like a well, often in the highway; and, as they are commonly left open, when empty, they make it not a little dangerous riding in the night." The original word for " garners," in Joel i. 17, means these subterraneous repositories; but those in the field were above ground. An eye-witness informed me, that in India they make up the rice heaps in this way, plastering them within and without with cow-dung, to prevent insects from hurting the grain. And when they are thus finished, they are sealed, both to secure private property and to prevent defrauding the government. Accordingly we are told, that "the doors of Joseph's granary in Old Cairo are kept carefully sealed; but its inspectors do not make use of wax on the occasion, but put their seal upon an handful of clay, with which they cover the lock of the door." It would appear that this custom of sealing with clay was very ancient; for Job xxxviii. 14, when speaking of the world as obedient to the plastic hand of its Maker, says, "it is turned as clay to the seal:" and indeed the dryness of the eastern summer made it a sufficient security for a considerable length of time.

7th. Grinding into meal.—The grain was commonly reduced to meal by the handmill, which consisted of a

a Ch. xi, ob. 68. Clarke's edit.

Harm. Ob, vol. ii. p. 457, where see more.

Aleppo, p. 18.

lower millstone, the upper side of which was concave, and an upper millstone, whose lower surface was convex; so that the concave surface of the one was made to correspond with the convex surface of the other. The hole for receiving the corn was in the centre of the upper millstone, and in the operation of grinding, the lower was fixed, and the upper made to move round upon it with considerable velocity by means of a handle. Grinding corn among the Greeks and Romans was the work of slaves, and commonly of females. It was accounted a mean employment, and was therefore inflicted upon male slaves as a punishment."

Sir John Chardin has also remarked, "that female slaves are generally employed in the East at the handmills at the present day; that this work is extremely laborious; and that it is esteemed the lowest employment in the house." Hence Job xxxi. 10, says in his own vindication, "If I have acted dishonestly, let the wife of my bosom grind to another."

As the operation of grinding was commonly performed in the morning at daybreak, the sound of the females at the handmills was heard all over the city, and often awaked their more indolent masters. And the Scriptures mention the want of this noise as a mark of desolation in Jer. xxv. 10. Rev. xviii. 22. Even to this day the same practice is continued; for Dr. Shaw, when speaking of the Moors in Barbary, tells us, that they

f

In Niebuhr's Voy. en Arabie, tom. i. p. 122, pl. 17, fig. A, may be seen a representation of one of these handmills as still used in Egypt.

Homer, Odyss. vii. 104. xx. 105-115. Exod. xi. 5. Matt. xxiv. 40. Lowth's note on Is. xlvii. 2.

• Molendum in pistrino; vapulandum; habendæ compedes.

"grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable millstones for that purpose, the uppermost whereof is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron that is placed in the rim." When this stone is large, or expedition required, a second person is called in to assist; and as it is usual for the women alone to be concerned in this employment, who seat themselves over against each other with the millstones between them, we may see not only the propriety of the expression, Exod. xi. 5, of sitting behind the mill, but the force of another, Matt. xxiv. 41, that "two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

The above manner of preparing corn shows us also the humanity of that law in Deut. xxiv. 6, “No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone in pledge, for he taketh a man's life in pledge." He could not grind his daily bread without it. I have not met with any writer on Jewish antiquities who speaks of a mill driven by asses, and yet there is something in Matt. xviii. 6, which seems to favour it; for our Saviour says, that "whosoever shall offend one of these little ones, which believe in him, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." The original words for millstone are uvλos ovixos, which must either mean a millstone turned by asses, or a millstone carried by them. The reader will judge which ought to be preferred. We read in Catullus, who died A.A.C. 40, of a one-ass mill (molæ asinariæ unæ ;) so that they might have been introduced into Judea before our Saviour's time. Mills driven by water were not invented till a little before the time of Augustus, and windmills long after that."

a Lowth's note on Is. xlvii. 2.

SECT. VI.

State of Pasturage in Judea.

Pasture unappropriated till after the division of Canaan ; exceedingly parched in summer; low grounds irrigated ; abundance of grass in winter; scarcity of grass and water in summer: springs much valued; covered with stone to prevent evaporation and dust; reservoirs; horses and camels kept on hard food, except at the covering season. Pasture burnt to improve the gras,

but forbidden at certain seasons. Wealth of the East consists much in cattle; instances of this; folding; care to improve the breed; their attention during the yeaning season: sheepshearing, when performed; a season of joy; flocks watched during the night; fed in upland districts in spring; beside streams in summer; browse in the vineyards in autumn; go at large in winter. Sheep when at liberty have a daily range.

It appears from Scripture that in the times of the patriarchs the lands devoted to pasturage were unappropriated, the owners of the sheep conveying them in succession from place to place as their necessities required, in the same manner as is mentioned by Horace," and as the Arabs do at the present day. But when Judea was divided among the tribes, it is probable that pasturage, like agriculture, would become private property. Hence Josephus tells us of some robbers on the borders of Judea who retained their pastures which they had hired, without paying their rent. It should ever be remembered, however, that during the Jewish summer the grass is uncommonly withered; those places only being verdant which are situated in the neighbourhood of springs or rivulets: hence Sir John Chardin tells us that "in every place where there is water there is always grass, for water makes every thing grow in the East." And the Psalmist, who, from his pastoral character, was well acquainted with the flocks of Judea, speaks of the green pastures and the still waters, or waters of distributions,

a Carm. lib. iii, ode xxiv. 12. VOL. II.

b Antiq. xvi. 9.

3 M

Harm. Ob. vol. i. p. 54.