from going out by the rain; and that it continued unsettled weather until the 19th of November, when he left that city but that it would have been deemed very good weather in Britain, as the rain did not fall in large quantities, or without interruption, through the day. Dr. Shaw is, therefore, not correct in saying, that the first rains in Judea usually fall about the beginning of November, O. S. meaning the 12th of November, N. S.; but he was no eye-witness, as he himself acknowledges, and must, therefore, yield to the evidence which Harmer produces. It is, indeed, probable, that they begin to fall still earlier in Judea; for Mr. Harmer's eye-witness found the peasants ploughing up their stubbles for wheat, as he went between Joppa and Jerusalem, and also through the vale of Esdraelon: Now, according to Dr. Shaw, the Arabs do not begin to break up the ground to sow wheat and beans till after the falling of the first rains. Nay, Rauwolff says, that on the 13th September, O. S., in the year 1575, equal to the 25th September, N. S., he found the hemerocallis near Joppa, which Dr. Russell describes as a plant that never appears till after the first fall of the autumnal rains. And the author of the History of the Revolt of Ali Bey, told Mr. Harmer, that when he was at Joppa, they began to fall about the 7th of September, O. S., equal to the 19th, N. S., or about the equinox. From consulting Dr. Russell's Aleppo, p. 14. 66. 155, it appears that the first rains fall at Aleppo about the same time that they fall in Judea; for, according to him, they usually begin between the 15th and 25th September, O. S., or the 27th September and 7th October, N. S.; but they are rather very heavy showers than continued rains, which cool and freshen the air; and about twenty or thirty

1

days after, or the 17th and 27th of October, are the second rains; between which the weather is temperate, serene, and extremely delightful; but after that it becomes variable. We are not to confound these second rains, however, with the latter rains of scripture, which do not fall till some months after, and will be noticed by and by. Dr. Shaw confirms Dr. Russell's account of these former rains; for he says, that after the two or three first days of rain, which is commonly very heavy, there is usually a week, a fortnight, or more, of good weather, in which interval they begin to plough and sow. From the above accounts, then, of the former rains, it appears, that after the autumnal equinox, sometimes a few days sooner or later, according to circumstances, the first fruits of these rains descend in heavy showers for two or three days; that the weather then clears up for twenty or thirty days; after which the real former rains begin so that they really fall in the month Marchesvan, as the Jewish account formerly given stated, or in the last fortnight of October, and the first fortnight of November. But we are not to suppose that they ceased then; for they continue during the winter months in Judea, as the snow does in Britain. The meaning, therefore, is, that they were most severe during that time, to drench the parched earth with rain, and that they continued to water it occasionally afterwards. The following description of a Jewish dearth of this indispensable element of water, will show the justice of the foregoing remarks." "The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof (or the people that met at the gates as the places of public resort) languish; they are black unto the ground (with thirst,) and the cry of Je

a Jer. xiv. 1-6.

rusalem has gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters (or running streams:) they came to the pits (reservoirs, or tanks, which used to be filled by the rain,) and found no water: they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the ploughmen were ashamed; they covered their heads. Yea, the hinds also calved in the field, and forsook their offspring; because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places; they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass." From these verses it appears that the delay of the former rains was accounted a serious evil both by man and beast. How exceedingly appropriate then is the Jewish appellation for rain, when they call it emphatically "the river of God!" No sooner did it appear than all was in motion, and the words of Isaiah were completely verified: Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." In considering, however, the former rain now, and the latter rain in spring, which we shall describe by and by, we are not to suppose that they are confined to Judea; for while the great south-west monsoon, as it is called, deluges the east, from Africa to the Malay peninsula, during the summer months, or from the beginning of June to September, according to circumstances, there is a rain that falls in winter, and extends over all the countries west of the Indus, as far as the Hellespont, which assumes the form of rain or snow, according to the temperature of the place, and is of much greater importance to husbandry than the summer monsoon. Now, it is this winter rain which affects Judea; and the

former and latter rains are those beginnings and endings of it, which, being heavier than the rains in the intervening months, were not only more noticed, but really more beneficial to the crops, from the particular seasons at which they fell. This extended view of the subject enables us to account for the knowledge which Job had of these rains, although residing in Arabia. He lay in the line of them, and therefore, in describing the deference which was paid to his opinion in the days of his prosperity, he said, "They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain."

b

But we are now come to the second division of the Jewish year, or herep, literally meaning the stripping season, but translated, in Gen. viii. 22, the winter. This comprehended half Chisleu, all Thebeth, and half Shebat, or from the beginning of December till the end of January. Harmer, by a long deduction of particulars, has shown that the seasons at Aleppo are nearly the same as those in Judea; and, accordingly, I may observe, that the winter at Aleppo is nearly of the same duration as that in Judea, for it begins the 12th December, and lasts forty days, ending the 20th January, and is called the Murbania. In the Holy Land the lightning and thunder are almost always in winter. During the winter, also, although the rains are not so frequent as in Europe, yet, after they begin to fall, they pour down for three or four days and nights together as vehemently as if they would drown the country, being indeed necessary to vegetation, and hence commended, Amos iv. 7, 8. The wind that usually brings rain in winter is the northeast. And the easterly winds generally prevail during

с

* See a good account of both these rainy seasons in Elphinstone's account of the Kingdom of Cabul, Book i. chap. v.

Chap. xxix. 23.

Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. i. p. 1097, 1098.

the winter months till February, when they change to the west, and continue there till May; after which seldom any more rain falls till autumn, when the winds become north-easterly again. No description of an eastern winter can be given in fewer words, or in more appropriate language, than that in Eccl. xii. 2, where Solomon describes the winter of life in eastern imagery. "The sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain." The joys of life assume a less interesting appearance than they once did, and the infirmities of age follow each other in quick succession, like the clouds of an eastern winter, which, instead of dispersing as in Britain to produce good weather, return to discharge new torrents. Indeed, the months of November, December, January, and February, are, in Syria, the most boisterous months in the year. And Niebuhr tells us, that "the Arabs call the rainy season, which, at Moskat, and the eastern mountains of Arabia, lasts from the 21st November till the 18th February, by the name of scitte," almost the very word which is used for "winter" in Cant. ii. 11. Harmer mentions also great rains at Christmas, and says that frosty weather is then common, but never severe or lasting. Yet, although these months be boisterous when compared with the rest of the year, they are far from being intemperate when compared with more northerly latitudes. The trees indeed begin to shed their leaves before the middle of November, and hence the reason of this division of the year being called herep, or "the stripping season." But during the whole of the winter at Aleppo, or from the 12th December till the 20th January, the weather

b