"My theory is this. Firstly, there is no dependence to be placed on the Masoretic points, especially when affixed to names of places. Secondly, we have no certain knowledge of the language used by the Midianites in those ancient times. Their territory extended northwards towards Palestine, and from their very intimate relations with the Israelites, as friends and as enemies, both nations appear to have understood each other perfectly. May not their language, then, have been a dialect of the Aramean?[EN#82] If so, the <Hebrew> (Yithro) of the Bible might have been <Hebrew> (Yithrab, Yathrib, etc.). Instances of the apocopated <Hebrew> (b) are common in the Chaldean or Syro-Chaldaic at the present day; e.g. <Arabic> (Yáheb Alaha) is pronounced Yáu-Alaha; <Arabic> (Yashuá'-yaheb) becomes Yashuá-yau, etc., the final Beth <Arabic> (b) or the <Arabic> (heb) being converted into a <Arabic> (w). Hence why may not <Hebrew> (Yithro) have been originally <Hebrew> (Yithrab or Yathrib)? Of course, this is only a conjecture of mine." Mr. E. Stanley Poole (loc. cit.) says that the Arabs dispute whether the name "Medyen" be foreign or Arabic; and whether "Medyen" spoke Arabic. He considers the absurd enumeration of the alphabetical kings (El-Mas'údi, quoted above) to be curious, as possibly containing some vague reference to the language of Midian. When these kings are said contemporaneously to have ruled over Meccah, Western Nejd, Yemen, "Medyen," Egypt, etc., it is extremely improbable that Midian ever penetrated into Yemen, notwithstanding the hints of Arab authors to the contrary. Yákút el-Hamawi (born A.H. 574 or 575 = A.D. 1178-79, and died A.H. 626 = A.D. 1228), in the Mu'jam el-Buldán (cited in the Journ. of the Deutsch. Morgen. Gesellschaft), declares that a South Arabic dialect is of Midian, and El-Mas'údi (apud Schultens, pp. 158-159) inserts a Midianite king among the rulers of Yemen. The latter, however, is more probable than the former; it may be an accidental and individual, not a material occurrence. The following list of ruins, some cities, others towns, were all, with two exceptions (Nos. 2 and 18), visited or explored by the second Khedivial Expedition. The Mashghal, ateliers or subsidiary workshops, were in cases learned only by hearsay:-- 1. Old 'Akabah (Aylah) Mashghal, up Valley el-Yitm. 3. 2. El-Hakl (pronounced "Hagul"), the <Greek> of Ptolemy: it was seen from the sea, and notes were taken of its ruins and furnaces. 3. Nakhil Tayyib Ism, in mountain of the same name: its ruined dam (?) and buildings were surveyed by Lieutenant Amir. 4. Makná. Twice visited. 5. Magháir Shu'ayb. Two ateliers inspected, and one heard of on the Jebel el-Lauz: total, 3. 6. 'Aynúnah. In Jebel Zahd (ruins and furnaces). 1. 7. Sharmá. An atelier on the Jebel Fás, and another on the Jebel Harb, both high up: total, 2. 8. Tiryam. An atelier in the Wady Urnub. 1.