Page 94.—_Ostracine._] It was distant, according to the Itinerary, sixty-six miles from Pelusium. Cell. Geogr. Afr. ii. 28. The lake Sirbonis was parallel to the sea, a space of not more than fifty stadia lying between them, where the interval was the broadest. It was connected with the sea by a narrow channel, called Ἔκρηγμα, (Strabo, lib. xvi. 760.) now choked up. Sandys, p. 107. Ostracine was so remarkably destitute of water, that to ask water from an inhabitant of Ostracine was a proverb for a vain request. Rel. Pal. p. 60. The ancient route passed between the lake Sirbonis and the sea; the modern keeps on the southern side of the lake; hence the exact position of Ostracine has not been ascertained. Page 95.—_The river of Egypt._] This appears to have been between Rhinocolura and Pelusium; whence the Septuagint (Isa. xxvii. 12.) renders ἕως Ρινοκορόυρων. Our author follows D’Anville, who says that the entrance of a ravine into the Sirbonian pool, receiving the waters of many torrents from the Arabian desert, is the _Torrens Egypti_ of the Scriptures. Shaw, Travels, p. 181, contends that it was the Nile. The name of El-Arish (celebrated in the history of the late war) appears to be Arabic and modern. El-Arish and Casium (Katieh) are the only places between Raphia and the eastern branch of the Nile which produce any vegetation useful for man. The rest is moving sand or a desert strongly impregnated with salt. Pref. to Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria, p. viii. note. The deserts of Asia, however, are much less dreary and destitute of vegetable life than those of Africa. See Irby and Mangles’ account of their journey from Egypt to Palestine, Travels, p. 169. Page 99.—_The Nethinim._] These, so called from the Hebrew נתן (_to give_) were the menial servants of the sanctuary, who fetched the water and hewed the wood for the service of the temple. In the history of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, (ix. 23.) the Gibeonites are said to be made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God; but the name of Nethinim is never given to them; and Ezra (viii. 20.) says that David and the princes had appointed the Nethinim for the service of the Levites. It is probable that when the service of God was renewed, and its rites performed with more order and magnificence under David, the Gibeonites, who had become mingled with the body of the people, were found insufficient, and the Nethinim were appointed; perhaps from among the captives made in the wars of David.