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A. D. No.

1487 17. Job. v Megilloth, Daniel, Esdras, Nehemias, et Paralipomena, cum Commentario R. Sal. Jar

chi

1487 18. Proverbia cum Commentario R. I. Filii Salomo

Fol. Neapoli.

1487

nis

Fol. Neapoli.

1487

1488 19. BIBLIA HEBRAICA integra cum Punctis Fol. Soncini.

1488

1488 20. Pentateuchus cum Commentario R. A. Aben Ezræ

Fol. min. Neapoli.

1488

nidis

1489 21. Pentateuchus cum Commentario R. M. NachmaFol. Ulyssipon.

1489

1490 22. Pentateuchus cum Commentario R. Mosis Nachmanidis

Fol. min. Neapoli.

1490

1490 23. Pentateuchus, sine Punctis, cum Targum Onkelosi et Commentario R. Sal. Jarchi

Iscor.

1490

1490 24. Pentateuchus cum V. Megilloth et Haphtaroth,

sine Punctis 4to. Iscor.

1490

1490 25. Psalterium, Job, et Proverbia Fol. min. Neapoli.

1490

1491 26. Pentateuchus cum Targum Onkelosi et Commentario Rab. Sal. Jarchi Fol. min. Ulyssipon.

1491

1491 27. Pentateuchus cum V. Megilloth, et Haphtaroth.

4to. Brixæ.

1491

1492 28. Proverbia cum Targum et Commentariis Fol.

Leiriæ.

1492

1492 29. Isaias ac Jeremias, cum Commentario R. Dav.

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By a careful inspection of this list, it will be seen how rapid must have been the progress of printing, to have produced such early examples of Typography, as the announcement of the books in this list plainly declares. The searchers into the history of printing are generally too little acquainted with the mysteries of the typographic art, duly to appreciate the notices of these monuments of skill and ingenuity; the admiration is not so much that Hebrew printing was practised so early as A. D. 1475, but that Hebrew printing had by this time so far obtained, that indeed it had attained to an eminent degree of perfection, as the list

shows "cum Punctis." It is particularly desirable to trace Hebrew printing to a source still further back than 1475. We have still to look for editions without points and commentaries, I mean editions of the plain text, such as those of the psalms sine Punctis marked No. 4. and 5.

The period when the first Printers in Italy introduced the Roman letter, and when the Classic authors first made their appearance in that letter and character, in which they are to this day seen and admired, was the period when printing found a new epoch in the page of history. The printing with the Roman types first commenced at ROME about the year 1467, when the old Gothic letter began gradually to go out of use. years from this date, the foundries of Italy had established printing in the chiefest cities, Bononia, Milan, Mantua, Naples, Venice, Padua, and Verona. Calabria, a province in the kingdom of Naples, produced the earliest impression of the Hebrew Pentateuch at present known.

In ten

In 1488, the same year, when the first Hebrew edition of the whole Bible was printed, a fine edition of HOMER was printed at Florence, so that in the language of Mr. Maittaire, printing seems to have attained its acme of perfection after having exhibited most beautiful specimens of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. By this time, printing had spread in the chief cities in Germany, France, Switzerland, and the Low Countries. Next to the famous cities of Harlaem and Mentz, were Strasburg, Augsburgh, Nuremburgh, Cologn, Spires, Ratisbonne, Rutlingen, and Ulm. In France; at Paris, Louvaine, Boulogne, Lyons, Geneva, Antwerp, Basil, and other places. From the year 1467 which I consider an epoch in the history of printing, to 1488, when it attained to a maturity, it had established itself in forty-six cities of Europe. England shared in these glories of the press, and Oxford, St. Albans, and London, produce examples of it in the years 1478, 1479, 1481, and 1485. in which Oxford carries the honor of the first press; but this I must reserve for a future communication on the progress of printing in England.

Y.

113

AFRICAN FRAGMENTS.

BY JAMES GREY JACKSON.

No. III.-[Continued from No. XLVIII. p. 250.]

"Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." St. John v. 8. THE bed, in Eastern countries, is generally the outer garment, not a mattress: the Arabs, or descendants of Ishmael the son of Abraham, use their Hayk, Daira, Silham or cloak as a bed: any garment spread out, is a bed in the Oriental acceptation of the word.

"Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him." 2 Kings ix. 13.

This custom of sitting on their garments has been practised from time immemorial by the Oriental nations, and is at this day a prevailing custom. When the Arab travels, if rain falls he strips himself, rolls his clothes up in a ball and sits on them, till the rain ceases; he then dresses himself again, and proceeds on his journey in dry garments: in long journies, through desert countries, where no shelter is to be had, the wisdom of such economy as this must be evident to every one.

"I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee." Gen. xviii. 5. and Judges xiii. 15.

This custom is constantly practised among the Arabs to this day; also among the Shellubs, inhabitants of the Atlas mountains south of the city of Marocco. Travelling from Santa Cruz to Mogodor, with my Moorish friend, L'Hage Seyd bu Zurwal, we came to a castellated habitation belonging to a friend of my conductor; he invited us to rest and refresh ourselves; we consented, and the goat-herd was sent to take a young kid for us; which was killed, and roasted immediately, before the vital heat was out of it; this custom of cooking animal food immediately after the extinction of the vital principle, prevails throughout the country, in the plains, as well as among the mountains. Accordingly we found the kid remarkably tender and delicate; we experienced a hospitable and kind reception, and remained with our host two or three hours, discussing and comparing the manners and customs of our respective countries.

"Butter and honey shall he eat." Isaiah vii. 15.

"Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth." Gen. xviii. 6. "Rest yourselves under the tree." Gen. xviii. 4. VOL. XXVII. CI. JI. NO. LIII.

H

A bowl of honey covered with thin slices of butter, is a food generally presented to travellers in Muhamedan Africa. I have often rested under the shade of a date-tree to partake of this food, which is accompanied with bread without leaven, which they knead and bake on hot stones, in a few minutes, whilst the traveller is waiting. These cakes are the size and shape of a pancake or a crumpet; and it has often occurred to me, when eating this food of travellers, that they are similar to what were baked by Sarah, Abraham's wife, for travellers whom the Patriarch entertained. If I recollect right, for it is many years since I was in that country, these cakes are called by the Arabs Lib Teff.

"Though thou rentest thy face (thine eyes it is in the Hebrew) with painting." Jerem. iv. 30.

"Paintedst thy eyes, and decked thyself with ornaments." Ezekiel xxiii. 40.

"And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezabel heard of it, and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window." 2 Kings ix. 30.'

This custom of painting the eyes and eye-brows is practised to this day by all Muhamedan women, particularly by those of the Arabs: these ladies, to complete their toilette, tinge their eye

2

brows and eye-lashes with Alkahl, i. e, the powder of ↓ lead ore: this is done by means of a small bodkin of rose-wood, about the thickness of a crow's quill; this they wet with the tongue, and dip in the powder; they then draw it gently through the eye-lids, shutting the eye. This operation gives a languishing softness to the eye, and improves the sight.

"And mix the Kahl's jetty dye,

To give that long, dark languish to the eye,

Which makes the maids, whom kings are proud to cull
From fair Circassia's vales, so beautiful."

Vide Lallah Rookh.

It is not painted in the original Hebrew, but adjusted her eyes with the powder of lead ore.'

2 There are many mines of this mineral in West Barbary and in Tafilelt; that produced by the Tafilelt mines is the best, is sold at double the price of the other, and is called El Kahl Félelly. Also the custom of dying the fingers with a decoction of the herb Henna, has been from time immemorial an indispensable part of the toilette of the Oriental ladies, and of those of Muhamedan Africa. An Arabian or Moorish (Lellah) lady, is not (m'haffore) completely attired, until she has performed these two operations.

"Then these men were bound in their hosen." Daniel iii. 21.

The English reader might understand this word to mean hose or stockings, but the Chaldeans did not wear stockings: the explanation of this term is not given in our translation of the bible, though hats are explained as turbans immediately after: the word probably means belts or sashes; Hazem signifies a belt or girdle in the Arabic, which being a cognate language with the Hebrew may signify the same in that language.

"That the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, might drink therein." Dan. v. 2.

A concubine in the East, is very different from a concubine in the West. The concubine of the East in the king's palaces is constant to one man; she is domesticated, she remains in the house and does not forsake it, to live with any other individual; her manners and customs are the same with those of a married woman, and she is not accounted a disgrace to society. The only difference therefore is in the marriage ceremony, the moral conduct being in each irreproachable.

“Clothed in sackcloth.” Lamentations ii. 10.

It is remarkable, that the customs of remote ages have not altered, but are still practised by the descendants of Ishmael. The common dress among the lower order of society in Northern Africa is sackcloth.

"None shall appear empty before the Lord, every man shall give as he is able." Deut. xvi. 16.

The custom in Oriental countries is here represented. In Marocco, one of the rules of the court or place of audience, called El M'ushoar, is, that none shall appear empty before the Cid, (a name given to the Emperor,) on days of ceremony, without testifying his obedience by a present; no one enters the imperial presence khawie, as the term is, i. e. empty-handed. Vide Shabeeny's Account of Timbuctoo, page 87.

"He shall break also the image of Beth Shemish, that is in the land of Egypt." Jeremiah xliii. 13.

The image alluded to, was probably that of Jupiter Ammon, which was erected in the Temple of the Sun at the Oasis of Hammon. It is ascertained that the sovereignty of Egypt extended formerly much farther to the westward than it does now.

at the Oasis, i, e, a بيت شمش and a عين شمش There is an

fountain of the Sun, and a temple of the Sun.

Judging from the gradual encroachments made on Egypt by the sand, from the south and west, it may be presumed, that in no very remote age this Oasis was separated from Egypt by a

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