it has been well settled by long custom. Should a tank have to water MANY villages, then each will have a SLUICE to itself. The disputes are referred to the Tahsildar, or head of a division, and ultimately to the collector." Q. "How are they filled with water? and what is the general length of the canals?" A. "They are filled either by natural nullahs that flow into them, or by small artificial nullahs, carried to a distance of three or four miles, so as to conduct the rain-water into them, or by canals from the rivers; in which last case the canals water a great quantity of land directly before they reach the tank. The largest agricultural! canal I have seen is fifty-four miles in length." Q." Where are those you mentioned in the vicinity of mountains? and how are they constructed?" A. "As there are numerous ranges of hills in the peninsula, a great many tanks are formed by UNITING two HILLS, and thereby STOPPING up the stream that ISSUED from BETWEEN them. The principal one of this sort that I have seen is the Vearyasa-Samuteram*, in the S.W. corner of the district of Cuddapah. The stream dammed up is about thirty yards broad. One end of the MOUND rests on a steep ROCKY hill, the other on a gradual ROCKY SLOPE. There are several very large tanks of this description in the district of Cuddapah; the largest is at Cummum, north of Cuddapah. There are also some still larger in Mysore: that called, by Hyder Ally, Moottee-Talao, not far from Mysore, I have heard is the deepest tank in India." Q. "What is the annual expenditure of the tanks to government?" A. "The annual expenditure of REPAIRING and IMPROVING works of irrigation in this presidency (Madras) is nine or ten lacs, or £100,000." Q. "What revenue does the government derive from them?" A. "Probably about two crore of rupees, or two millions of money; but I have not been able to obtain an official return. The largest revenue from any SINGLE work with which I am acquainted, is 90,000 rupees, or

* Literally, the sea.

£9,000!" Q "What sum would be sufficient to construct the largest tank you have seen?" A. "About three lacs, or £30,000." Q. "How are engineer officers stationed in reference to these works?" A. "There are three divisions in that part of the presidency in which ARTIFICIAL works of irrigation are situated. In each is a civil engineer (as he is called) and an assistant; all of whom are officers of the corps of engineers. These divisions are the northern, centre, and southern, forming the eastern half of the peninsula; the western division, situated between the western Ghauts and the sea, contains no works of this sort."

But the ARTIFICIAL LAKES of Ceylon, also, are works of astonishing magnitude; and many marvellous legends are repeated respecting the kings and giants who carried them into effect. "The monarch Theakkam, in forming a large MOUND, found that every morning a great part of it was thrown down. His mind was extremely perplexed; and one night he had a dream, in which it was revealed to him that a child must be sacrificed before he could accomplish his object. He mentioned the circumstance to his wife, but she refused to consent: he then told the affair to his sister, who said, 'Why should the people be ruined?' and she gave her son to be buried alive in the mound, from which time it never failed!"

The importance the natives attach to these works may be seen in all their literature, both ancient and modern. In a book of fate which I translated, and which has been printed by the Royal Asiatic Society, the question, "Is it good to make the mound or embankment?" occurs in eight different places; and, "Is it good to make the tunnel? is it good to make the channels?" the same number of times.

The artificial lake of Minere (in Ceylon) is from FIFTEEN to TWENTY MILES in circumference*, and the MOUND at the top is SIXTY feet broad. The MOUND of the lake of Kandelle is TWENTY feet high, and the TUNNEL at the base nearly two

* I generally follow Dr. Davy.

HUNDRED feet through. It extends, in a straight line, from a ROCKY hillock at one extremity, to a high ledge at the other, and is a mile and one third long. "The celebrated giant's tank would hold, if in good repair, water sufficient to supply all the surrounding fields to an immense extent."* Peedeeval tank is, I believe, the largest in Ceylon.

But the

With these facts before us, gathered from men of different ages, countries, and professions, we are prepared to contemplate the eloquent Job, and the dignified subject of his enquiries. Arabia Petræa is believed to have been the residence of that holy man; and Petra, the Joktheel+ of the Scriptures, was its capital. Saba (where was situated the artificial lake alluded to by Mahomet Sale, Sir William Jones, Bishop Lowth, Prideaux, and others, the mound of which gave way, and which carried off the inhabitants by night) was in Yamen, or Yemen, in Arabia Felix, and was built by Abd-Shems, third in descent from Joktan, who was the son of Eber. ‡ Sir William Jones, in his Discourse on the Arabs, says, it is "certain that the people of Yemen very soon fell into the common but fatal error of ADORING THE SUN and the firmament; for even the third from Yoktan (or Joktan), who was consequently as old as Nahor, took the surname Abdu-Shams (as above) or the servant of the sun."

The compilers of the Universal History, and Calmet, also, inform us, "The Sabei were possessed of a very considerable territory in the Southern and best part of the Peninsula. Saba, its CAPITAL, according to the ancient geographers, stood upon a hill at no very considerable distance from the Red Sea, being a large, opulent, and strong city;" and Dr. Adam, in his Ancient and Modern Geography, says, "that amongst the different states of Arabia, the Sabei were the most distinguished."

By the assistance of these historical facts, we have a more certain knowledge of the SABEANS, who destroyed the servants

* See Bertolacci. Jos. xv. 38. 2 Kings xiv. 7.

Gen. x. 25.

of Job with the edge of the sword; of the object of their worship, and of his solemn declaration, "If I BEHELD THE SUN when it shined, or my MOUTH hath KISSED my hands; of his powerful description of a flood, where he MIGHT have been uttering a PROPHECY against his proud and cruel neighbours of Saba: for he says, in the latter part of the twenty-seventh chapter, apparently in reference to those who, according to Sale and others, built their houses upon the mound of the lake of Saba, " He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh:" and again, describing their destruction by the breaking of the embankment; "The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered; he openeth his eyes, and he is not. Terrors take hold on him as WATERS; a TEMPEST stealeth him away in the NIGHT. The East wind carrieth him away, and he departeth; and as a storm hurleth him out of his place." "The floods shall clap their hands at him." Connecting these descriptions with the CIRCUMSTANCES of Job, to the natural allusion of his mind to a desolating flood, to his almost certain knowledge of the wonderful lake of his neighbours of Saba, and the Moris of Egypt; to the men of Saba, who killed his servants, and carried off his property; we are led to roam at no GREAT distance from the scenes where that eloquent and holy man sat down among the ashes, and where the Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning.

But these wonderful artificial lakes and reservoirs assist us also to understand the localities of Petræa or Joktheel, Kirjath Sepher and Edom, on the rock, the valley, the upper springs and the nether springs; of the "land of brooks, of water, of fountains, and DEPTHS* ! that spring out of valleys and hills." (Deut. viii. 7.); of the figure, "The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me as the BREACH of waters," (2 Sam. v. 20.); of the king of Assyria, who with his hosts

Dr. Adam Clarke supposes depths to allude to reservoirs filled by the rains!

"stood by the conduit of the UPPER pool," (2 Kings xviii. 17.); of Hezekiah, who "made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city," (2 Kings xx. 20.); of Job xxx. where he says, "They came upon me as a wide BREAKING in of waters, in the desolation, they ROLLED themselves upon me;" of Him "who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder" (Job xxxviii. 25.); of the Psalmist, where he says, "Thou didst cleave the FOUNTAINS! and the flood; thou driedst up mighty rivers," (Psalm lxxiv. 15.); "Thou carriest them away as with a FLOOD, they are as ASLEEP! in the morning they are like grass which groweth up," (Psalm xcv. 4.); “In His hands are the DEEP places of the earth, the STRENGTH of the HILLS is his also," (Psalm xc. 5.); and "Let the floods clap their hands, and let the HILLS be joyful together," (Psalm xcviii. 8.).

4.

"The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men."

The mighty flood which man had dammed up, by joining together MOUNTAINS and HILLS, and thus forming an immense basin, had broken down by its weight the gigantic MOUND; had rolled "away from men," and gone into the desert places. The waters of the lake are now "forgotten of the foot, they are dried up;" for the feet of men in walking there think of them no more.

5.-"As for the earth, out of it cometh bread; and under it is turned up as it were fire."

By the agency of the water collected by man in his noble works, the earth gave its bread, and furnished also some combustible matter for its preparation.

6.-"The stones of it are the place of sapphires." The STONES which form and bind together the MOUNDS and hills are taken from the exact places where sapphires are