HAVILAH (bav'i-lah), (Heb. 711;1t7, khav-ee law', circular).
1. A district in Arabia Felix, deriving its name from the second son of Cush (Gen. x :7), or, ac cording to others, from the second son of Jok tan (Gen. x :29; comp. xxv :18). There can be no doubt, however, of the existence of a double Havilah ; one founded by the descendant of Ham, and the other by that of Shen:. Niebuhr (Beschr. von Arab., pp. 27o, 28o) actually found in Yemen two districts called Chaultin or Hauldn, one be tween Saana and Mecca, and the other a few leagues southeast from Saana ; which latter Bfisching (Erdbeschr. v. i. 6o1) considers to be the Havilah founded by the son of Cush, as men tioned Gen. x:7 (Michaelis, Spica. i, 189, sq.; ii, 202). From Gen. xxv :18, it would appear that the land of Havilah formed the eastern boundary of the Israelites. and so likewise from Sam. xv :7, where it seems, moreover, to have been a possession belonging to the Amalekites.
2. A land rich in gold, bdellium, and shoham. mentioned in Gen. in the geographical ae scription of Paradise. Some identify this with the preceding; but others take it to be Chwala on the Caspian Sea, from whence that sea itself is said to have derived the Russian name of Chwalinskoy more (Sea of Chwala) ; and others suppose it a general name for India (T. Hicros). E. M.
"A district of Khaulan (Haulan) is mentioned in the inscriptions of South Arabia ; this is either Khaulan in Tiharnah, between Mecca and Saana, or another Khaulan southeast of Saana. Nie buhr further found a Huwailah on the Persian Gulf. The name, in fact, was widely spread in Arabia, and Yakut states that Hawil was the name of a dialect spoken by the people of Mehri in the east of Hadramaut. The Mehri is the modern representative of the language of the Sa. bzean inscriptions." (A. H. Sayce, Hastings' Bib.
Diet.)