whose empire they have always been connected*, assert the very same; 3. that a considerable district under their dominion is to this day called Hazaret, a word nearly resembling Arsareth, which (according to the apocryphal Esdras, whoever he might be, and at whatever period he might live †) was the name of the country into which the ten tribes retired; 4. and that their language has a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic.

Though I would not implicitly depend upon popular tradition, yet neither would I entirely reject it. In the present case however it is so remarkably supported, that we can scarcely refrain from giving it some degree of credit. The best Persian historians sanction the popular belief of the Afghans and, what has always been allowed to be one of the strongest proofs of national descent and relationship, their language manifestly resembles the Chaldaic. In mentioning Arsareth as the country to which the ten tribes retired, the apocryphal Esdras probably alluded to a tradition respecting the fate of their brethren at that time familiar to the Jews: and we find, that a large part

+

"the Afghans; a tribe, at different times subject to and always connected with the kingdoms of Persia and Hindustan.' Mr. Vansittart's letter to Sir William Jones. The reader will find the different opinions respecting the author of the second book of Esdras detailed in Dr. Gray's Key to the Old Testament.

of

of the country of the Afghans, who believe them selves to be of Hebrew origin, and whose belief is at once corroborated by the best historians of Persia and by the circumstance of their language being a branch of the Chaldaic, is even to this day called Hazaret. The reader has now the evidence before him, and must judge for himself, whether the claim of the Afghans is to be allowed or rejected. But, whatever be its fate, the prophecies respecting the distinct restoration of Israel remain unaffected, and will surely be accomplished.

Before I entirely quit this part of my subject, I shall notice a coincidence, which is at least curious, if it deserve no better epithet. St. John tells us, that the sixth vial of God's wrath will be poured upon the river Euphrates, the waters of which will in consequence of it be dried up, in order that a way may be prepared for the kings who are from the rising of the sun. Mr. Mede supposes, and (arguing from the analogy of language used in the Apocalypse) I think, incontrovertibly, that the the exhaustion of the Euphrates means the subversion of the Ottoman empire: and he farther conjectures, that the kings, for whom this event is to prepare a way, are the Jews. Had he said the Israelites*, he would perhaps have expressed himself with greater accuracy: for, if the passage do at all allude to the restoration of the house of

* Mr. Mede does at first indeed say Israelites, but he ever after speaks only of Jews. See Comment. Apce, in loc.

Jacob, it relates more probably to that of the ten tribes, than to that of Judah. But why should either the Israelites or the Jews be styled kings? Such a title accords very ill with the present condition of the Jews, and still worse with that of the Israelites, if they be so entirely lost and swallowed up, as some have imagined. Mr. Mede does not attempt to solve this difficulty *. If however it should eventually prove that the Afghans are really the remains of the ten tribes, and if St. John speak of the restoration of those ten tribes under the name of kings from the east, we shall immediately perceive the singularly exact propriety with which he styles them kings. The whole race of the Afghans, as we have seen from the preceding account of them, denominate themselves even to the present day, in their Chaldaic dialect, Melic, or with the plural termination Melchim, in English, kings. They consider themselves as a royal nation; and, according to their own tradition, claim their title of Melic from a grant of Mohammed whose religion they profess. If then they be of Hebrew extraction, the drying up of the mystic Euphrates, or the subversion of the Ottoman empire, would undoubtedly prepare a way for

*Mr. Brightman, who like Mr. Mede, supposes that the Jews are intended by the kings from the East, thinks that they are styled kings, partly mystically as all Christians are so styled, and partly because the whole East (he conceives) will bę subject to them, Apoc. Apoc. in loc.

them

them both naturally and morally. A power would be removed, whose dominions now stretch between Persia and Palestine; and one great branch of that false religion, by which the Afghans are at present deluded, would be broken off. According to Mr. Vansittart, the sects of the Afghans are very nu merous; and they appear to be a nation formidable at once for its population, and for its bravery. "Their character may be collected from history. "They have distinguished themselves by their

courage, both singly and unitedly, as principals "and auxiliaries. They have conquered for their own princes and for foreigners, and have always "been considered the main strength of the army "in which they have served.'

(2.) Besides these Mohammedan Israelites, if indeed the Afghans be Israelites, it appears, that there are in Hindostan many others of the same ancient stock of Jacob. "There is reason to believe," says Mr. Buchanan, "that scriptural "records, older than the apostolical, exist on the "coast of Malabar. At Cochin there is a colony "of Jews, who retain the tradition that they ar"rived in India soon after the Babylonian cap

tivity. There are in that province two classes of 46 Jews, the white and the black Jews. The black "Jews are those, who are supposed to have arrived at that early period. The white Jews emigrated "from Europe in later ages. What seems to countenance the tradition of the black Jews is, that

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"they have copies of those books of the Old Testament which were written previously to the captivity, but none of those whose dates are subsequent to that event-The latest information re

specting them is contained in a letter lately re"ceived from a learned missionary in the south of "the peninsula, who had resided for some time in "the vicinity of Cochin. He states, that he had "constantly been informed that the Jews at Cochin "had those books only of the Old Testament "which were written before the Babylonian cap"tivity; and that thence it is generally believed by the Christians of the Decan, that they had come to India soon after that event. He adds, "that the M. S. was on a material resembling paper, in the form of a roll; and that the character had a strong resemblance to Hebrew, if not Hebrew *"

66.

(3.) But, although there may be some fragments of the ten tribes in Hindostan, it seems most natural to suppose, as Basnage remarks, that the greatest part of them subsists in "the places where Salmanasar carried them, and that there we ought to look for them f."

Search accordingly has

Memoirs of an eccles. establishment for British India. p. 117, 118. See also Mr. Bryant's treatise on the authenticity of the Scriptures. p. 273.

Hist. of the Jews, B. vii. C. 33. p. 476. cited by Mr. Bicheno.

been