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THE NEGRO'S ORIGIN.

coupled together. See Isai. xx. 3, 4, 5; xliii. 3; Nah. iii. 9; Ps. lxviii. 31, etc.

(d.) Isai. (xviii. 2,) describes the Cushim as sending ambassadors in "vessels of bulrushes." Bulrushes[1] are purely an African or Nilotic production.

(e.) The country Cush was encompassed by the river Gihon. "And the name of the second river is Gihon, the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia or Cush." Gen. ii. 13. Does not the Nile encompass Ethiopia? The decisive question is, Is the Nile that Gihon to which Moses referred?

In defending the proposition, The Nile is the Gihon; it should be borne in mind that such questions as the following are not to be heeded: If we thus affirm, will we not run counter to the opinions of a vast number of biblical critics? or, If we thus affirm, will we not spoil the refined conjectures of many over curious divines? or, If we thus affirm, will it not be impossible to find even the vicinity of


  1. Herodotus says, in regard to the manner of building ships on the Nile, "They do not use timber artificially carved, but bind the planks together with the bark of the byblus (or bulrush) made into ropes." ******
    "They have immense numbers of these vessels, and some of them of the burden of many thousand talents." Euterpe, xcvi.