xxiv



INTRODUCTION.



divides again into two channels about five leagues
These channels empty themselves in the Persian 4
Thus, the Shat-al-Arab must, consequently, be ti
going out of Eden, which river, considered accori
the disposition of its channel, and not according
cowrse of its stream. divides into four heads or d



              - -- ----,-_-,-
branches, which make I
Moses; two below, viz.,
which serve for the Pisoi



viz.,. the
called Dij
Hiddekel
branch of
part of Ar
Havilah;



Euphrates and
lat by the Arabs
of Moses. By
the Shat will I
abia, bordering
and the eastern



A.        a1A .  1  .



below.
Gulf.-
ie river
ding tp
r to the
liffierent



Lhe four rivers mentioned by
the two branches of the Shat,
a and Gihon; and two above,
Tigris; the latter whereof is
, and is now allowed to be the
this disposition, the western
be the Pison, and the adjoining
on the Persian Gulf, will be the
branch will be the Gihon, en-



compassing the country of Cush or Chuzest
called by the Persians.
  We see not, therefore, why this last opinion
co-Incide with the ace -unt of Moses, who tells
"; river went out of Eden to water the garden,
thence it was parted, and became into four



an,



as it is



should not
us, that a
and from
heads."-



ivoses cannot be misunderstood nere, tor he expre
says, that in Eden there was but one river, and t
having gone o   it was pwted and be'aI e four stre~
or openings, twpo upwards and two downwards. If
suppose the Shat-al-Arair to be the common centre,
looking towards Babylon, we may see the Tigris
Euphrates coming into it, and by looking down towE
the Persian Gulf, we may see the Pison and Gihon r



sSly
hat,
aKns
we
by
and
ards
un-



ning out of it.
  Whatever objection may be made against this hypothe-
sis, none appears to be more consistent with the descrip-.
tion of Moses. By this supposition, Eden is reasonably
placed in the great channel formed by the united streams
of the Tigris and Euphrates; besides, the fertility of the
neighbouring country, Mesopotamia and Chaldea, should,
in a great measure, tend to confirm this belief. We are
assured by several modern travellers, that there is not a



a *u



II
I