ot in a direct line,
but from pasture to pasture, as the modern Arabs do, and
spreading themselves out over the adjacent region. When Moses
besought his father-in-law not to leave him, but to go with him
that he might be to the people instead of eyes (Numb. 10:31), we
may well suppose that he had in view Hobab's knowledge of the
places where water and pasturage were to be found. (3.) There is
decisive evidence that this region was once better watered than
it is now, and more fruitful. The planks of acacia-wood, the
shittim-wood, which were employed in the construction of the
tabernacle, were a cubit and a half in width; that is, in
English measure, something more than two and a half feet. No
acacia-trees of this size are now found in that region. The
cutting away of the primitive forests seems to have been
followed, as elsewhere, by a decrease in the amount of rain.
But, however this may be, we know that, for some reason, this
part of Arabia was once more fertile and populous. In its
northeastern part are extensive ruins of former habitations, and
enclosed fields. The same is true of the region around Beersheba
and south of it. Here Robinson found ruins of former cities, as
Eboda and Elusa. Of the latter place he says: "Once, as we
judged upon the spot, this must have been a city of not less
than twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants. Now, it is a
perfect field of ruins, a scene of unutterable desolation;
across which the passing stranger can with difficulty find his
way." Vol. 1, p. 197. And of Eboda, farther south: "The large
church marks a numerous Christian population." "But the desert
has resumed its rights; the intrusive hand of cultivation has
been driven back; the race that dwelt here have perished; and
their works now look abroad in loneliness and silence over the
mighty waste." Vol. 1, p. 194. Ritter, the most accomplished of
modern geographers, affirms that from the present number of the
thin and negligent population, we can draw no certain conclusion
respecting the former condition of the country. Erdkunde, vol.
14, p. 927.

Of the numerous objections urged by Colenso against the
Pentateuch, and the book of Exodus in particular, many are
imaginary, and vanish upon the fair interpretation of the
passages in question. Others, again, rest on false assumptions