Thus it is enough to grant that the Book of the Covenant is the sole relic of the earliest Hebrew legislation and that the rest may be regarded as later development. In that case, however, it is incumbent on those who hold the theory of this development as an evolution on native soil to show intelligibly what influenced the particular form which that development took. Our comparison may suggest that if this supposed later law be really not of the Exodus period also, and not a product of the same mind which modified Babylonian law into the Book of the Covenant, yet its likeness to Babylonian law excludes the idea of a free uninfluenced development. We may hold further that early or late Babylonian influence is still there. And we must account for its persistent influence. On the supposition of its being later than the Book of the Covenant we may be inclined to hold that it was adopted, not directly from Babylonia, but from the relics of pre-Israelite Babylonian influence on Canaanite law. It may be asked at once—what do we know of Canaanite law? Confessedly very little; but so far little attempt has been made to inquire into the subject. Scholars have been too ready to endorse the judgement of the old Jewish writers who denounced all Canaanite usages. As yet no documents of Canaanite production have been found, unless we include those of near neighbours like the Phoenicians, Moabites, and Northern Syrians. We may deduce something from the Old Testament, but that is a hostile source. A certain amount of information may be collected from the Tell-el-Amarna tablets, which supply evidence for times before the Israelites entered Canaan. Much of the law or custom witnessed to by later times may really be very old. Some scholars of late have argued with great force that the First Dynasty of Babylon were not only Amorites but came into Babylonia from Canaan. There were Amorites left in Canaan when the Israelites settled there. If these were of the same stock, much that in the Code of Hammurabi marks change from the old settled Babylonian Semitic law may be due to a Canaanite source. The subject of the Amorite characteristics, apart from their peculiar proper names, has as yet received next to no attention. The researches of Macalister on Palestinian soil will be awaited with great interest, as he appears to have recognized such distinct characters about his Amorite finds as to enable him to identify them as such without hesitation. He will, it is to be hoped, soon tell us something of their civilization. Gradually, no doubt, we shall be able to tell what was the exact character of each of the peoples in Canaan; and in the end the Code of Hammurabi may prove to be the best witness we have to the Canaanite law.