employed for this purpose. But the information respecting this journey leaves us satisfied that the camel had already come to be engaged in those services of transport and of travel for which it is to this day used. To these it is well adapted by a physical constitution which gives it extraordinary power in resisting thirst, which enables it to endure much fatigue with little sustenance, and which renders the scant herbage of the desert its choicest food; and by the possession of a foot specially adapted, in the wise providence of God, for traversing the sandy wastes and arid tracts which, but for its aid, would be impassable. The journey which Abraham's servant took was not, however, through a sandy desert; but over a region which for the most part, where not green, consists of hard gravelly ground, for which, even better than for soft sand, the foot of the camel is adapted. This journey is one which is usually performed on horseback, and would in this instance probably have been so, had the horse been at this time brought into use for such common purposes.

Having been led to mention the camel thus particularly, we may notice, that with all the frequent reference to the animal in Scripture, and with all the existing evidence of its great usefulness, there is not a word in its commendation throughout the sacred volume, which is not sparing in the praise of many other animals seemingly less useful. There is a reason for this. If the matter be looked at, it is seen that all the most glowing eulogiums on the camel come from those who know it least, and who transfer, unconsciously perhaps, the impression created by its great usefulness to its temper and character. But it is only in the descriptions of western travellers that the camel bears the same character of a

'Patient, honest, guileless animal,' which the poet ascribes to the ox. But, alas! the camel, although it may be reasonably honest, is anything but patient or guileless. On the contrary, of all the animals which have been domesticated for higher purposes than to serve mankind merely as food, the camel is, past all doubt, the most churlish, irascible, revengeful, and self-willed. We have heard of strong attach

ments between man and all other domestic animals, but never between a man and his camel. Of all the creatures promoted to be man's companion in travel and in rest, no one so unlov

ing and unloved as the camel exists. Its very countenance, which the inexperienced call patient, is the very impersonation of malice and ill-nature-even when its eyes are not kindled up into active spite, and when its mouth does not quiver with burning rage. Even among themselves quarrels are frequent;

and he who has been summoned by their sharp and bitter cries to witness a camel-fight, will not easily forget the scene.

It is by the sheer force of important services that the camel has won his way into man's esteem, in spite of the evil qualities of his nature.

Ninth Week Sixth Day.

A MARRIAGE. - -GENESIS XXIV.

THE visit of Abraham's servant to Padan-aram is interesting and important, not only in its incidents, but from introducing us to an acquaintance with the stationary branch of Abraham's family, and with a phase of life and manners somewhat different from that which the Hebrew patriarch led. This family does not dwell in tents, but has a fixed abode in a town of some importance. Yet all its habits are essentially pastoral; some of the flocks and herds being kept near home, but the greater part being sent out, under the care of shepherds, to distant pastures, according to the exigencies of the season. It is nearly the condition of existence to which Lot came, when he had settled himself in the town of Sodom; and has much resemblance to the form of life exhibited in the book of Job. Whatever other arguments there may be against the early date usually ascribed to that book, the one derived from the fact that Job had a fixed abode has therefore no weight, seeing that others, contemporaries and relatives of Abraham, dwelt in towns without abandoning the pastoral life.

The family, it should be remembered, is that of Nahor, the brother of Abraham and Haran. Nahor had eight sons by his wife Milcah, the daughter of his deceased brother Haran. One of these sons was Bethuel, who had a son called Laban and a daughter named Rebekah. Thus, through the late period of life at which Abraham became the father of Isaac, the branch of the family in Haran has gained one generation in advance of the emigrated branch. Indeed, as Nahor was considerably the elder brother of Abraham, it seems likely that his son Bethuel was not much younger than Abraham himself; for at this time he appears to have been a very old man, who, although named as living, leaves everything to the direction and management of his son.

The family has clearly become among the first, if not the very

first, in the town of Haran; and Abraham's servant could doubtless have proceeded to the house at once to declare his errand, if he had so pleased. But having arrived at the place, he first sought an interval for deliberation and for prayer. His camels needed water; and having come to the well outside the town, he made them kneel down, in their posture of rest. The well was probably secured; but if not, and if he had the power, it would have been a great offence to the people of the place to take the water before they came to draw it for their own use, and without their permission. Observing the evening shades begin to fall, he knew that some would soon be there to draw water. So he sat down meanwhile to consider how he might best execute the commission with which he had been entrusted. He concluded to leave the direction of the matter in the hands of God. He prayed, therefore, that among the many damsels of the place who would shortly come for water, the one who should respond in the mode he indicated to his application for drink, should be the lady intended for his master's son. It is remarkable that he did not fix the sign upon the one who should first offer her services, but upon the one who should first willingly grant the service asked of her. In this he proceeds warily, conceiving, it would seem, that the maid. shows no maidenly spirit who, unasked, tenders so slight a service as a drink of water at the well to an apparently wealthy stranger; and deeming, perhaps, that attentions so paid might be an excuse for curiosity, and an evidence rather of officious forwardness than of an obliging disposition. In so plain a matter as that which lay before him, it may be doubted whether this man was altogether right in thus appointing a sign to God; nor should we be wise to follow the example. There are peculiar circumstances in this case, however, which might well make a servant shrink from the responsibility of proceeding entirely upon his own judgment in choosing a wife for his master's son; and God, for Abraham's sake, accepted the sign, and made it indicate the right person-the very same, so far as appears, who would have been obtained had he gone straight to Bethuel's house.

If such a mission were at all possible under our own system of manners, it would certainly not be among the girls gathered round the village pump that the messenger would expect to find a match in all respects suitable for the son of his wealthy and well-born master. But in that age, when, as now in the same countries, the young females of the most honourable families discharged the commonest domestic offices, and took peculiar pleasure in the fetching of water from the well outside the town, from its enabling them to meet their companions, the servant knew that the young females whom he might shortly expect to see at that place must include the very class from which his choice was to be made.

He had scarcely formed his resolution and uttered his prayer, when a very beautiful young damsel was seen advancing to the well, with her pitcher on her shoulder. The women now usually carry their water vessels on their heads, in western as well as in eastern Asia; but in India it is the privilege of females of high caste to carry their vessels on the shoulders; and if this should have been the case in the times which now engage our attention, the fact would be curious and interesting. As is frequently the case in the East, when the water does not lie deep in the well, there was here no apparatus for drawing up the water; but some steps led down to it, and those who came thither went down and filled their vessels. As the damsel he had noted came up with her full pitcher on her shoulder, the servant of Abraham ran to meet her, and said, 'Let me sip,1 I pray thee, a little water out of thy pitcher.' But she said promptly and kindly, Drink [not sip], my lord;' and she hasted to let down her pitcher upon her hand, that he might quench his thirst. Had she stopped there, she had not become one of those who did build the house of Israel.' But he had no sooner finished, than, of her free and open-hearted bounty, she added, 'I will draw for thy camels also, until they have done drinking;' and without awaiting the man's answer, she proceeded to execute her intention. Now it is easy to offer that which costs us nothing. But this truly well-bred lady 1 Sip, and not 'drink,' is the meaning of the original word.