has made very comprehensive and lengthy studies, and has written a considerable amount upon it. I am bound to say, however, that there is considerable difference of opinion. Professor Sayce agrees, in the main, with a great many of Professor Jensen's statements. On the other hand, Professor Hommel, some of whose attempts at decipherment I was reading a few days ago, differs from Professor Jensen considerably, and the question naturally arises, which of the two is right? That being so, I do not see how one can pronounce an opinion as to the family to which the language belongs, and for that reason I would, myself, rather not say anything about it.

I am at the disadvantage of not having (I may as well frankly say so) studied the Hittite language at all. I find the study of Assyrian, with Akkadan and its dialects and possible linguistic connections, quite enough, with archæology and other things, to fill up all my time.

[The meeting then adjourned.]

R

ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.*

THE PRESIDENT, SIR GEORGE G. STOKES, BART., IN THE

CHAIR.

The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed.

The following election was announced :

:

ASSOCIATE:--Dr. Chr. Mudd, of Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria.

The PRESIDENT.-I will now call on Sir Charles Wilson to have the goodness to deliver the Address, which he has most kindly promised us, on "Moab and Edom."

RECENT INVESTIGATIONS IN MOAB AND EDOM. By Major-General Sir CHARLES W. WILSON, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S.

SIR GABRIEL STOKES, LADIES LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,-Many years ago, when I was surveying Jerusalem, I used to sit on the Mount of Olives and look with longing eyes on the richly tinted mountains of Moab. The colouring, as those of you who have visited Jerusalem will remember, is most brilliant, and in the light of the setting sun the mountains have the appearance of a veritable fairyland. The only picture I have seen which does justice to the colouring is the "Scape-goat" of Helman Hunt, which has occasionally been exhibited in London.

Last spring, by great good fortune, I was able to make a short tour in the country I had so longed to visit in the early sixties. At that time travelling was difficult, and the few travellers who had visited Moab had only been able to accomplish their object by the expenditure of large sums of money. Afterwards Canon Tristram and others travelled in Moab; but the Canon, as many of you may remember, had a rough experience on one occasion, when he was held prisoner at Kerak for a considerable time. Since the occupation of Moab and Edom by the Turks, travelling

*Monday, February 5th, 1900.

has been comparatively easy, and I had no difficulty in moving about the country, except when the Turks were so anxious for my safety that they insisted upon sending a couple of soldiers with me.

Edom and Moab, so closely connected with the history of Israel, are interesting from the complete agreement of their physical features, as in the case of Palestine, with the slight topographical notices contained in the Bible. From the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley there is a steep ascent to a high-lying plateau. This plateau, which, on the north, has an elevation of 2,640 feet above the sea, rises gradually southward until it attains above Petra an altitude of 5,300 feet, or a height of something like 6,500 feet above the surface of the Dead Sea. Eastward it falls away with an easy slope until it loses itself in the Syrian desert, which extends to the Euphrates. The plateau, and the remarkable valleys that intersect it, are the result of the physical processes which caused the formation of the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea; and this fracture of the earth's crust gives much of its peculiar character to the scenery. As regards the geological formation, a section in the vicinity of Petra gives at the bottom red sandstone and conglomerates, and then, in ascending order, carboniferous limestone with fossils, the variegated Nubian sandstone in which the tombs and temples of Petra are cut; and limestone, with thick beds of flint, which corresponds to our chalk. It is this cretaceous limestone which forms the surface of the plateau and gives to Moab and Edom many of the characteristics of our Sussex downs and Yorkshire wolds. The limestone, dipping towards the east, passes here and there under sheets of basaltic lava due to comparatively recent volcanic action.

A peculiar feature of the country is the number of deeply cut ravines that intersect it from east to west. These ravines are not wholly formed by the action of running water, but are connected with the fracture and subsidence of the earth's crust to which the great rift owes its origin. They are really cracks at right angles to the line of the Jordan-Arabah fault. This great line of fracture is continued down the Red Sea and is apparently found in the great rift of Central Africa. The recent investigations of Captain Lyons in Egypt have shown that the Nile valley is also due to a fracture probably of the same age.

The natural features of the country are well distinguished

in the Bible. In the first place there are the downs of the plateau, which are called "the plain country" or Mishor. The downs form an almost ideal pastoral country, and Moab, as we know, was celebrated for its large flocks of sheep and goats. The basalt tracts, which I have mentioned, are exceedingly rich and productive. Nearly everything can be grown grown in them, and they are called the Sadeh Moab, that is, the "Field," or cultivated districts of Moab. Beyond the downs is the desert, which during the rainy season, and for a short time afterwards, is covered with sufficient desert vegetation to give food for camels and the flocks and herds of the Bedawin. This is the Midbar or wilderness of the Bible. These three districts are common to Moab and Edom; but the whole country is now little cultivated. No better land for the growth of wheat and barley could be found than that in some of the districts, and since the Turkish occupation small areas have been brought under cultivation and have given rich returns. Wherever there is water, as at Kerak, Tufileh, Elji and M'aán, the olive, fig, pomegranate, and vine thrive well.

The kingdom of Moab at one period extended northward to Mount Gilead and included that part of the Jordan valley which lies opposite Jericho and is called Arboth Moab or the "plains of Moab." The Moabites were driven south of the Arnon by the Amorites, and that river was their boundary when the Israelites entered Palestine. The divisions of the country are clearly marked by its physical features. The northern boundary of Moab is the Wády Mojib, or Arnon, a very deep valley, almost a cañon, which it is difficult to cross. The descent from the north is a very rough one of about 1,860 feet, and the ascent on the south side is about 2,040 feet. Formerly it took a day to cross this ravine; but since the Turks have made a mule-track it can be crossed in from four to five hours with comparative ease. The southern boundary is the Wády el-Hesi, which in its eastern portion has a fine stream that is probably the Brook Zered of the Bible. This ravine, which is more deeply cut than, but not so difficult to cross as, the Arnon, separated Moab from Edom. South of Wády el-Hesi is the district of Jebeil, which corresponds to Gebal, a place mentioned only once in the Bible (Psalm lxxxiii, 7). This district is separated from Edom proper by a remarkable break in the hills above the Arabah which I have ventured to call the "Shobek Gap." Edom proper is separated from Midian

by an equally well marked valley-the Wády el-Ithm. The general direction of the roads is controlled by the physical features, and it is comparatively easy to trace, up to a certain point, the route which the Israelites must have followed. There is only one road from Western Palestine to Edom north of the Dead Sea, and that follows the line of the old Roman road to Medeba. But south of the Dead Sea there are several roads. One leads directly to Kerak and Moab; another runs up Wády Músá, and passes by Petra, to Edom; and a third, ascending to the plateau by Wády el-Ithm, continues northward along or near the eastern boundary of Edom. Now, adopting the view that the Israelites endeavoured to travel by the easiest natural route, it seems probable that they came, in the first place, to the mouth of the Wády Músá with the view of passing through Edom to the Holy Land. The Edomites, however, refused the necessary permission, and the Israelites then marched southward, along the Arabah and up Wády elIthm, so as to avoid Edomite territory. One of their camps -it is difficult to say which-must have been near the desert town of M'aán, where there is, and must always have been, an abundant supply of water. The Israelites then journeyed northward, along the line of the present Haj road, by which the pilgrim caravans journey from Damascus to Mecca. The Israelites were practically confined to this route; for if they had diverged to the east they would have got into the Syrian desert, and if they had kept more to the west they would have become involved in a complicated system of ravines, and have encountered great difficulties. By keeping to the Haj road they avoided the ravines, or crossed them at the easiest points, and were able to turn westward over the plateau by a very easy road to Dibon (Dhibán). The lines marked out by nature for the construction of roads, and for the passage of large bodies of men, explain many points connected with the history of the country. They also throw light on the wars between the Israelites and the Moabites, upon the expeditions of the Crusaders, and upon the raids of that prince of freebooters, Renaud de Chatillon. One of the most important roads, especially during the Roman period, when it was made a great highway by Hadrian, was that which connected Damascus with the Gulf of 'Akabah and Arabia. The Israelites, in their campaigns, used the roads south of the Dead Sea. On one occasion they passed through the wilderness of