the inhabitants are not sensible of any noxious qualities in its exhalations; while the accounts formerly believed, that the winged tribes in attempting to fly over it fell down dead, are now generally regarded as fabulous. Tradition supports the narrative of Sacred Scripture so far as to teach that the channel of the Dead Sea was once a fertile valley, partly resting on a mass of subterranean water, and partly composed of a stratum of bitumen; and that a fire from heaven kindling these combustible materials, the rich soil sunk into the abyss beneath, and Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed in the tremendous conflagration. This brief outline of the geographical limits and physical characters of the Holy Land may prove sufficient as an introduction to its ancient history. Details much more ample are to be found in numerous works, whose authors, fascinated by the interesting recollections which almost every object in Palestine is fitted to suggest, have endeavoured to transfer to the minds of their readers the profound impressions which they themselves experienced from a personal review of ancient scenes and monuments. But we purposely refrain at present from the minute description to which the subject so naturally invites us, because, in a subsequent part of our undertaking, we shall be unavoidably led into a train of local particularities, while setting forth the actual condition of the country and of its venerable remains. Meantime, we supply, in the following table, the means of comparing the division or distribution of Canaan among the Twelve Tribes, with that which was afterward adopted by the Romans. Ancient Canaanitish Israelitish Roman Division. Division. Division. Sidonians, Tribe of Asher (in Libanus) ] Unknown, [Naphtali (north-west of the ]Upper Galilee. [ Lake of Genesareth) ] Perizzites, Zebulun (west of that lake) ] The same, [Issachar (Valley of Esdraelon,]Lower Galilee. [ Mount Tabor) ] Hivites, [Half-tribe of Manasseh (Dora ] [ and Cesarea) ]Samaria. The same, Ephraim (Shechem, Samaria) ] Jebusites, Benjamin (Jericho, Jerusalem) ] Amorites, Hittites, Judah (Hebron, Judea proper) ] Philistines, [Simeon (south-west of Judah) ]Judea. [Dan (Joppa) ] Moabites, Reuben (Peraea, Heshbon) ] Ammonites, Gilead, Gad (Decapolis, Ammonites) ] Kingdom of Bashan, [Half-tribe of Manasseh, ]Peraea. [ Gaulonitis, Batanea ]