a print of the Teima
stone, with its Aramaic inscription, considered to belong to
the fourth or fifth century B.C., and on p. 285 will be
found Doughty's interesting sketch of Kheibar.]

[Footnote 147: It is clear that, when speaking of the
population of some of these places, the whole oasis or
district is intended, and not a particular town.]

[Footnote 148: In reading through the foregoing account of
the Jews in Arabia, it is quite clear that Benjamin never
visited the country, nor did he pretend to have done so. In
the words of Mr. C.E. Beazley (The Dawn of Modern
Geography, p. 252), "It is no longer, for the most part, a
record of personal travel; it is rather an attempt to
supplement the first part 'of things seen' by a second 'of
things heard.'" But Beazley is wrong when he characterizes
as "wild" the account of the Jews of Southern Arabia "who
were Rechabites." Does Benjamin say so? There is no such
reading in the MS. of the British Museum. The student, it is
thought, will by this time have come to the conclusion that
it is the oldest and most trustworthy of our available
authorities. The whole misconception has arisen from the
fact that the unreliable MS. E and all the printed editions
have transposed the letters of [Hebrew:] and made [Hebrew:]
of it. Rapoport, in the article already referred to, seems
to suspect the faulty reading: to justify it, he connects
the men of Kheibar with the Rechabites and the sons of Heber
the Kenite, basing his argument upon Jer. xxxv, Judges i.
16, I Sam. xxvii. 10, and I Chron. ii. 55.

Neither Zunz nor Asher makes any comments upon this chapter
of the itinerary. Graetz gives an abstract of Benjamin's
account; he, as well as all other writers, is unable to
identify Tilmas, but is of opinion that Tanai must be Sanaa,
the capital of Yemen, which, however, is twenty-five days'
journey beyond Kheibar. It is well known that Yemen has,
since Bible times, harboured a Jewish population,
who--notwithstanding all oppression, intensified under
Turkish rule--inhabit many of its towns and villages to the
present day. It is comparatively accessible, owing to its
proximity to the sea. We must cherish the hope that Great
Britain, now that it claims the Hinterland of Aden, will
extend its prot