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A Map of part of Lower Egypt, with the towns mentioned by the prophet, showing the tongue of the Red Sea as now cut off by the sands, and called the Bitter Lake, and showing the spot where the Israelites under Moses crossed the sea, now a dry passage between the two waters.

1. Migdol, or Magdolon.

2. Tahpenes, or Daphnæ.

3. On, Onion, or Vicus Judeorum.

4. Rameses, Bethshemish, or Heliopolis.

5. Pibeseth, or Bubastis.

6. Noph, or Memphis.

7. Zoan, or Tanis.

8. Hahiroth, or Heroöpolis.

Of these the first three, together with Shur and Hahiroth, were probably the five in which the language of Canaan was spoken (chap. xix. 18). On, or Onion, called Aven, or vanity, in Ezek. xxx. 17, by the addition of a letter, seems to have been that called by Isaiah the City of Destruction. By these reproachful names the two prophets meant, perhaps, to blame the altar which was erected to Jehovah, in rivalry to that in Jerusalem, and in opposition to the command in the Mosaic law that in Jerusalem alone should there be an altar.

When the writers of the Septuagint-the Alexandrian translation of the Bible-say that On meant Heliopolis, and change the words of Isa. xix. 18, from the City of Destruction into the City of Righteousness, we are inclined to distrust their truthfulness, and to think they wished to screen their city Onion and their altar from the reproach of the prophets.

ISAIAH, XIII. 21.

"But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there : and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there."

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The figure of an imaginary being called a Satyr, half man and half goat.-From a statue in Rome.

The ancients, at one time, probably believed that there really were such beings; but the representations of them vary. Sometimes they are men, with little more of the goat than a tail. They were supposed to be peculiarly endowed with sensual propensities, and to accompany the god Bacchus in his drunken processions. This satyr carries a basket of grapes on his head, to show his love of wine.

ISAIAH, XIX. 3.

"And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards."

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Egyptian priests and priestesses.- From a Roman bas-relief in Bartoli's Admiranda.

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The first is the serpent-charmer, called in the Hebrew "whisperer," from their custom of speaking to the serpent in an under-tone. She carries the serpent coiled round her left arm.

The second the scribe, who carries a book-roll, from which he is reading aloud. He has feathers in his cap, from which he is also named a pterophorus.

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The third is the prophet, or fortune-teller. ries a large jar, or speaking bottle. He is a ventriloquist, and he pretends that the bottle, which is supposed to contain a familiar spirit, answers the questions of those that consult it as to the future, while in reality he speaks without moving his lips.

The fourth is the singer, or musician. She carries the systrum, or tinkling rod, mentioned in Note on 2 Sam. vi. 5.

Of these priests the serpent-charmer and the owner of the familiar spirit are mentioned in our text, and called in the Hebrew the "whisperer," and the "speaking bottle." These speaking bottles are more particularly mentioned in 1 Sam. xxviii., when Saul very properly wishes to drive their owners out of the land as impostors, but afterwards goes to Endor to consult one himself.

ISAIAH, XIX. 15.

"Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch [more literally, palm-branch] or rush, may do."

The prophet contrasts the lofty palm-tree with the humble rush in the ditches. They are two of the important productions in Egypt, the first for its beauty, the second for its usefulness. The palm-tree of Lower Egypt is the Phoenix dactylifera of the botanists, and is the same as the palm of Palestine. It has an unbranching

stem, and is thus distinguished from the Doum palm of Upper Egypt, of which the stem is forked again and

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