Page 181.—_Gaza._] From Raphia to Gaza was a distance of twenty-two miles. Gaza had been taken, after a siege of two months, by Alexander, (B. C. 332) the inhabitants reduced to slavery, and the city repeopled by a colony from the adjacent country. Arr. ii. 27. Strabo (xvi. p. 522) speaks of it as entirely abandoned; but it is evident from the history of the Maccabees (1 Macc. xi. 61. xiii. 43.) that it was still a place of strength. In Strabo’s own time indeed it was as he describes it, having been totally destroyed (B. C. 96) by Alexander Zerbina. Reland, p. 787. St. Croix, 285. Page 184.—_Dagon._] See 1 Sam. v. 4. the last clause of which should be rendered, “only the _fish-part_ was left.” Dagon was the same divinity with Atargatis, Derceto, the Syrian Venus. See Selden de Dis Syris Synt. 3. c. 3. Page 188.—_The stream of Besor._] 1 Sam. xxx. 10. Sephela, signifying in Hebrew hollow or level ground, was applied as a proper name to the level country along the shore from Gaza to Joppa, in which Eleutheropolis stood. It was bordered on the east by the hills of Judah. The easier road by the plain of Sephela has been so generally preferred by travellers, that, with the exception of Baumgarten, I hardly remember one who has gone by Hebron to Jerusalem. They commonly go to the north, as far as Jaffa, before they turn off. Page 190.—_Latter rains._] The early and latter rains are frequently spoken of in Scripture. After the dry months of summer it begins to rain in Palestine in October. These are the _early_ rains (יורה). Again a considerable quantity falls in the month of March and the beginning of April; this is the מלקרש or latter rain. Buhle’s Calend. Œcon. Palestinæ. Without the former the grain would not spring, without the latter it would not swell and ripen. Page 191.—_The sweet water of the Nile._] It was as celebrated in ancient as in modern times. “Hic quum apud Ægyptum milites vinum peterent respondit _Nilum habetis et vinum quæritis_? Si quidem tanta illius fluminis dulcedo, ut accolæ vina non quærant.” Spartianus Pesc. Niger. Hist. Aug. i. 663. with Casaubon’s note. Βυβλίνων ὀρῶν ἄπο Ἴησι σέπτον Νεῖλος εὔποτον ῥέος. Æsch. Prom. v. 837. Athenæus (ii. 67.) mentions that it used to be sent to the kings of Persia for their drinking, though their own “Choaspes’ amber stream” was so highly prized; and (ii. 45.) that Ptolemy Philadelphus, whose daughter was married to Antiochus, king of Syria, used to send her the water of the Nile. Of the estimation in which the modern Egyptians hold it, see Harmer, vol. ii. chap. ix. “It is a common saying among the Turks, that if Mahommed had drunk of it, he would have begged of God not to have died that he might always have done it.” According to Dr. Clarke (v. 283.) it is remarkably pure, and better adapted for chymical purposes than any other.