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him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.

11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

12 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm

trees.

14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man "lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab and Eglon was a very fat man.

18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.

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.

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took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:

22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and 'the dirt came out.

23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he "covereth his feet in his summer chamber.

25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.

27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.

| 28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.

29 And they slew of Moab at that time. about ten thousand men, all "lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest

fourscore years.

31 ¶ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also

21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and delivered Israel.

4 Heb. Aram.

5 Or, the son of Jemini.

9 Or, it came out at the fundament.

Heb, shut of his right hand. 7 Or, graven images. 10 Or, doeth his casement.

11 Heb. fat.

8 Heb. a parlour of cooling.

Verse 8. Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia.'— This king must have been something of a great conqueror, as we cannot but suppose that he had subdued the other uations west of the Euphrates before he reached the Hebrews.

- 'Served.'-This servitude, as applied to the state of subjection to which the Hebrews were oftentimes reduced, must be understood with some variation of meaning according to circumstances; but generally it signifies the obligation to pay tribute and make presents to the conqueror. That they were obliged to render personal or military service does not appear from the Scriptures; but that they were sometimes subject to the most severe and cruel treatment will be seen in the sequel. It is very probable that their subjection to this distant king was more

favourable than that to the immediately neighbouring nations and even to nations dwelling in the same land with themselves, to which they were afterwards reduced.

12. Eglon the king of Moab.'-The Moabites, by a long peace, would seem to have recovered the strength which they had lost in their wars with the Amorites. Probably they, and their kindred tribes the Amorites, used, as the pretence for their aggressions, the reasons which we find in Judg. xi. 13-15; namely, that they were entitled to the country which formerly belonged to them, but which had been taken from them by the Amorites, and which the Hebrews, having recovered from the latter, retained as their own possession. As to the Amalekites, the deep and rooted enmity between them and the Hebrews, sufficiently ac

counts for the aid which Eglon received from them in his undertaking.

13. The city of palm-trees.'—That is, Jericho. Eglon would seem, in virtue of his new conquests, to have established the royal residence on the west of the river, at Jericho. As this was in the tribe of Benjamin, that tribe doubtless felt more strongly than those more remote, the severity of the Moabitish oppression. Hence we are not surprised to find the next deliverer belonging to that tribe.

15. Lefthanded.'-The Septuagint and Vulgate versions sanction the opinion entertained by many that Ehud was an ambidexter, one who could use both hands alike. The original indeed seems to sanction the other opinion that Ehud was really left-handed, that is, that he had a better use of his left hand than of his right. It is i727BN 'bound in his right hand:' which seems to imply a deficiency of power in his right hand, compensated by unusual power in the left; and this is the explanation of Josephus. One thing is certain, that the tribe of the Benjamites was remarkable for men who enjoyed a singular facility in the use of their left hand, whatever might be the condition of their right. Thus in ch. xx. 16, we read of 700 left-handed Benjamites, every one of whom could sling a stone at a hair's breadth, and not miss. The expression for 'lefthanded' is exactly the same there, as that which here characterises the left-handedness of Ehud; and that this singular endowment or acquirement was not mere left-handedness, we seem to learn from 1 Chron. xii. 2, where the sacred historian, speaking of the men of that tribe who resorted to David at Ziklag, says: They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow.' Notwithstanding, therefore, the rather strong inference from the Hebrew word rendered 'left-handed,' it is highly probable that the 'left-handed' Ehud, and the 700 'left-handed' Benjamites were ambidexterous, like the men of the same tribe in the above-cited text. We may, nevertheless, suppose that some of the Benjamites were particularly skilled in the left hand, to the neglect of the right, and that others were trained to use both hands with equal effect. It is curious to find this tribe, in particular, distinguished in this manner. Benjamin' means 'son of the right hand,' and one might also suspect that some fancy in connection with their name, had led the tribe to give particular attention to cultivating the power of their hands. The reason why the left-handedness of Ehud is here noticed is evidently to account for his being able to good purpose to carry on his right thigh, under his garment, the weapon usually worn on the left. No one would suspect that he had any weapon, unless they saw it girded upon his left thigh; and very probably he disposed his dress so as to expose his left side more than the other, which would at the same time preclude the suspicion that he had arms, and enable him the more effectually to conceal the weapon he actually carried. 18. When he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.'-This present was perhaps the annual tribute, or at least an occasional offering, such as it is usual in the East for tributaries and subordinate governors to send their lord. Such offerings the pride of Oriental despotism determines to be tribute, even when they are strictly presents from a foreign and independent power. The English ambassadors to Persia and China had great trouble to make it distinctly understood, that the presents of which they were the bearers, were not to be regarded in the light of tribute, but as tokens of consideration from a friendly power. This point was, with much difficulty and debate, gained in Persia; but it was never unequivocally conceded in China, where our ambassadors were invariably regarded as the bearers of tribute. Israel then being in subjection to Eglon, their 'present' was doubtless a customary tribute. It seems to have been introduced with great state, being carried by several persons. It is quite Oriental, to make the utmost parade of such offerings. The king, to magnify his power, and the offerer, to enhance the apparent value of his gift, concur in this desire for a parade-a great number of men, horses, and camels, being employed to convey what a very

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few, if not one, might carry with ease. The principle of this matter seems to us to be well illustrated by the existing practice in Persia. At the great annual festival of Nurooz, at the vernal equinox, the king sits in state and receives with great solemnity the presents which are at that season sent to him from all parts of his empire. The tributary and dependent chiefs and princes who acknowledge him as paramount lord, then send their tributes and dues in the form of presents; the governors of provinces thus also send their annual offerings; and even the ministers of state, and all those invested with high office, are expected to contribute their present on the occasion. And all this, although in the first instance it has the appearance of a voluntary offering, is in fact a rigidly exacted tribute, which no one can in safety hope to evade. Oriental ostentation prefers to receive in this form, and with this state and parade, what might be conveniently and certainly obtained in another form. Two-fifths if not one half of the revenue of Persia, is received in this manner and on this occasion. These offerings usually consist of the best specimens of the produce and manufactures of the countries from which they come. Even money is often offered, and is sure to be favourably received. Mr. Morier's account of the affair is an instructive illustration of the many passages of Scripture which allude to the custom :-The first ceremony was the introduction of the presents from different provinces. That from Prince Hossein Ali Mirza, governor of Shiraz, came first. The master of the ceremonies walked up, having with him the conductor of the present' (this was Ehud's office on the present occasion), and an attendant who, when the name and titles of the donor had been proclaimed, read aloud from a paper a list of the articles. The present from Prince Hossein Ali Mirza consisted of a very long train of trays placed on men's heads, on which were shawls, stuffs of all sorts, pearls, etc.; then many trays filled with sugar, and sweetmeats; after that many mules laden with fruits, etc. The next present was from Mohammed Ali Khan, Prince of Hamadan, the eldest born of the king's sons. His present accorded with the character which is assigned him; it consisted of pistols and spears, a string of one hundred camels, and as many mules. After this came the present from the Prince of Yezd, another of the king's sons, which consisted of shawls and silken stuffs, the manufacture of his own town. Then followed that of the Prince of Mesched: and last of all, and most valuable, was that from Hajee Mohamed Hossein Khan, Ameen-edDoulah' (prime minister). It consisted of fifty mules, each covered with a fine Cashmere shawl, and each carrying a load of one thousand tomauns.' A tomaun is a gold coin worth about twelve shillings; and one or two camels would have carried the whole, which fifty were employed to carry for the purpose of parade.

19. The quarries that were by Gilgal.'-It does not appear what sort of quarries there might be at Gilgal in the plain of Jericho. The word unquestionably means graven images in other places (see Deut. vii. 25; Jer. viii. 19; li. 52); and is so understood by the Septuagint and Vulgate in the present text. The idols might have been erected at Gilgal by Eglon, and the sight of them there would inspire Ehud with new ardour to execute his purpose.

21. Thrust it into his belly.'-The Scripture, as in some parallel cases, mentions this as a historical fact, without either commendatory or reprehensive remark; and we have certainly no right to infer the approbation which is not expressed. No doubt Ehud's deed was a murder; and the only excuse for it is to be found in its public object, and in the fact that the notions of the East have always been and are far more lax on this point than are those which Christian civilization has produced among the nations of Europe. No one can read a few pages of Oriental history without being aware of this: and it is by Oriental notions rather than by our own, that such acts as those of Ehud must, to a certain extent, be judged. Indeed there is a certain state of uncivilization existing somewhere in all ages, in which such an act is not regarded as a crime. At the time this act was performed all nations seem to have been in that degree uncivilized; for no one who has ac

quainted himself with the sentiments which then and long after prevailed, will apprehend that there anywhere existed a public opinion in any quarter by which the act of Ehud would have been condemned. We need not greatly wonder at this if we recollect that two centuries have scarcely passed since a pamphlet by Colonel Titus (Killing no Murder), written for the purpose of recommending and vindicating such assassinations (with special reference to Oliver Cromwell), acquired great celebrity, and was received with much approbation by not a few high born aud educated persons in this country. Not so much as forty years ago there were those who could judge that the feeling in which the publication originated, and the sentiment to which it appealed, would still find a response in this country; for the pamphlet was then republished under the avowed impression that its arguments were applicable to the encouragement and justification of any attempt which might be made upon the life of Napoleon Buonaparte.

24. He covereth his feet in his summer chamber.'-It is customary for people in the East to take a nap in the afternoon during the heat of the day; and the servants of Eglon appear to have supposed that their lord had locked himself up in the summer parlour to enjoy his customary sleep. The summer parlour' seems to have been one of those detached or otherwise pleasantly situated apartments which are still usually found in the gardens and mansions of the East, and to which the master retires to enjoy a freer air and more open prospects than any other part of his dwelling commands, and whither he usually withdraws to enjoy his siesta during the heat of the day. It is strictly a private apartment, into which no one enters without a very special invitation; and accordingly it is here described as an apartment which the king had for himself alone.' As such apartments frequently communicate by a private stair with the porch, so that any one can go from it to the street without the necessity of passing into or through the

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interior parts of the mansion, it will be seen that there was nothing to impede the egress of Ehud unless the porters of the outer gate had seen any cause for suspicion.

28. Took the fords of Jordan.'-This must have been to prevent the Moabites, who remained in their own country east of the Dead Sea, from passing over the Jordan, to assist their countrymen who had established themselves on the west of that river, as well as to prevent the escape of the latter. The river Jordan has several fordable places, which are of course more numerous in summer than in winter or spring, when the stream is swollen with rains or melted snows. It is now seldom forded except on horseback; and the few places otherwise fordable were, as we see, well known to the ancient inhabitants, who on this and other occasions guarded them, to prevent the passage across the river. The points where the river may, in different parts of the year, be forded, are still well known to the inhabitants of the land, although the communication across the river is now very infrequent.

31. Shamgar-From the manner in which Shamgar is mentioned here, it does not appear whether he took any part in the administration of affairs; but from the notice which is taken of the days of Shamgar,' in ch. v. 6, it is probable that he did. Dr. Hales thinks that the time of his administration is included in the eighty years, and that his government on the west was in part contemporary with

that of Ehud on the east of the Jordan. But in the absence of other positive information, it may be safe to prefer the statement of Josephus, who says that Shamgar succeeded Ehud, but died in the first year of his administration.

Slew....six hundred men with an ox goad.'-We are to suppose that the Philistines made an attempt to subdue the southern tribes, but were repulsed with the loss of six hundred men by Shamgar, who was probably a husbandman, and other men, who fought the invaders with the ox-goads which they were employing in their labour. It is not necessary to suppose this the single-handed exploit of Shamgar; but as, even so, the deed was not equal to some afterwards performed by Samson, this point must be allowed to remain uncertain. The ox-goads, which are

Ox-GOAD.

still used in Syria, are well calculated for offensive weapons on occasion, as will be seen by the following description from Buckingham. On the journey from Soor (Tyre) to Acre he observed the people ploughing the ground for corn:- Oxen were yoked in pairs for this purpose, and the plough was small and of simple construction, so that it seemed necessary for two to follow each other in the same furrow, as they invariably did. The husbandman

holding the plough with one hand, by a handle like that of a walking crutch, bore in the other a goad of seven or eight feet in length, armed with a sharp point of iron at one end, and at the other with a plate of the same metal shaped like a caulking-chisel. One attendant only was necessary for each plough, as he who guided it with one hand spurred the oxen with the point of the goad, and cleaned the earth from the ploughshare by its spaded heel with the

CHAPTER IV.

4 Deborah and Barak deliver Israel from Jabin and Sisera. 21 Jael killeth Sisera.

AND the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.

2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

7 And I will draw unto thee to the 'river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.

go

8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 ¶ And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of "Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites,

other.' (Palestine, i. 91.) Maundrell, who gives nearly the same description, says, 'May we not conjecture that it was with such a goad as one of these that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter related of him? I am confident that whoever should see one of these instruments would judge it to be a weapon not less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword for such execution.'

[Verses 1 and 2, APPENDIX, No. 24.]

and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.

13 And Sisera 'gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

15 And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.

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19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand,

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and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into

9 Heb. going went

her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

23 ¶ So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

and was hard,

Verse 2. Jabin king of Canaan.'-The northern Canaanites had, in the course of time, recovered from the effects of that great overthrow which they sustained in the time of Joshua. A new Jabin, reigning like his predecessor in Hazor, by the lake Merom, rose into great power. His general, Sisera, was an able and successful warrior; and his powerful military force contained not fewer than 900 of those iron-armed chariots of war which the Israelites regarded with so much dread. With such a force he was enabled, for the punishment of their sins, to reduce the northern tribes to subjection, and hold them tributary. Considering the character of the power which now prevailed over them, there is reason to conclude that this was the severest of all the oppressions to which Israel had hitherto been subject. The song of Deborah in the next chapter conveys some intimations of their miserable condition. The villages and open homesteads, which were continually liable to be pillaged, and the inhabitants insulted and wronged by the Canaanites, were deserted throughout the land, and the people found it necessary to congregate in the walled towns. Travelling was unsafe; in consequence of which the highways were deserted, and those who were obliged to go from one place to another, found it necessary to journey in bye-roads and unfrequented paths. At the places to which it was necessary to resort for water, they were waylaid and robbed, wounded or slain and, to crown all, they were disarmed; among 40,000 in Israel, a shield or spear was not to be found. The details of this picture are exactly such as are offered by the condition of any oppressed or subjugated population, at this day, in the East. The government itself may be content with its tribute; but it will be obliged to wink at, because unable to prevent, the far greater grievances, the exactions, robberies, insults, woundings, deaths, to which the people are subjected by the inferior officers of government, by bands of licentious soldiers, and by an adverse and triumphant populace,-all of whom look upon them as their prey and spoil, as things made only to be trampled on. Such oppression the Israelites endured for twenty years. They then remembered that, to them, trouble was the punishment of sin; and that there was One able and willing to deliver them, if they would but turn themselves unto Him. They did turn, and their deliverance was certain from that hour. Pictorial History of Palestine, ii. 378.

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10. Ten thousand men at his feet.-Patrick and others think that this means that the soldiers were all footmen. This is very probable; but it does not necessarily follow from the expression, which is merely an Oriental mode of reference to the persons who are subject to the control of a particular person. It may be taken from the action of a slave being prostrate at the feet of his master, denoting submission or obedience. We continually meet with the expression in Oriental books. Mr. Roberts says that when the Hindoos speak of the British king, they often allude to the millions that are at his feet.' The governors, generals, or judges in the Fast are said to have the people of such countries, armies, or districts at their feet. Nay, it is common for masters, and people of small possessions, to speak of their domestics as being at their feet.'

11. Pitched his tent.'-This is an interesting indication

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that this family retained in a settled country like Palestine the habits of a pastoral people. At the present time, a very large proportion of the existing population of Persia consists of pastoral tribes of foreign (Tartar) origin, who pitch their tents and feed their flocks in the pasture lands and (except by themselves) unappropriated plains of that extensive region.

12. Mount Tabor.'-This mountain was on the confines of Zebulun and Naphtali, and stands out in the north-east corner of the plain of Esdraelon. Its name appears among the Greek and Roman writers in the shape of Itabyrion and Atabyrion, and it is now known by the name of Jebel Tur. The only other places of Scripture where its name occurs are Josh. xix. 22; Judg. viii. 18; Ps. lxxxix. 12; Jer. xlvi. 18; Hos. v. 1. Mount Tabor stands out alone and eminent above the plain, with all its fine proportions from base to summit displayed at one view. It lies about five miles south of Nazareth, and has been generally regarded as the mountain on which our Lord was transfigured; but this is very uncertain, and its name does not occur in the New Testament. The height of the mountain has been very differently estimated. Some of the old travellers reckoned it to be four miles high! Others, more moderate, were content with two miles, or even with one mile; and it has since been, by later accounts, reduced in its altitude. According to the barometrical measurements of Schubert, the height of the summit above the level of the sea is 1905 feet, and 1432 feet above the level of the plain at its base. At the top is an oval plain, of about a quarter of a mile in its greatest length, covered with a bed of fertile soil on the west, and having at its eastern end a mass of ruins, seemingly the vestiges of churches, grottoes, strong walls and fortifications, all decidedly of some antiquity, and a few appearing to be the works of a very remote age. Three of the grottoes are, absurdly enough, pointed out by the local guides as the remains of the three tabernacles which Peter proposed to erect for Jesus, Moses, and Elias. No particular history is assigned to any other of the remains, which seem, however, to have been mostly extensive religious buildings. The whole appears to have been once enclosed within a strong wall, a large portion of which still remains entire on the south side, having its firm foundations on the solid rocks; and this appears to be the most ancient part. Perhaps we might attribute to these a very high antiquity; for the mountain seems to have been from the earliest times employed as a military post, for which it is admirably adapted. From the summit of this mountain there is one of the most extensive and interesting prospects which the country affords. To the south is discovered a series of valleys and mountains, extending as far as Jerusalem, fifty miles distant; to the east, the valley of the Jordan, with the lake of Tiberias, appear as beneath the feet, the lake itself seeming as if enclosed in the crater of a volcano; to the north are the plains of Galilee, backed by mountains, beyond which is visible, to the north-east, the high snow-capped range of Jebel-eth-Thelj, or the Snowy Mountain, which is one of the designations of Jebel-esh-Sheikh-the Mount Hermon of Scripture. To the west, the horizon line of the Mediterranean is visible over the range of land near the coast, and portions of its

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