From these sources we learn that in the land of Moab, which lay to the east and south-east of and which bordered on the east, north-east, and partly on the south of the Dead Sea, the soil is rather more diversified than that of Ammon ; and, where the desert and plains of salt have not encroached upon its borders, of equal fertility. There are manifest and abundant signs of its ancient importance. ' The whole of the plains are covered with the sites of towns on every eminence or spot convenient for the construction of one; and as the land is capable of rich cultivation, there can be no doubt that the country, now so deserted, once presented a continued picture of plenty and fertility' (Irby and Mangles, p. 378). The form of fields is still visible, and there are remains of Roman highways which are in some places com pletely paved, `and on which there are milestones of the times of Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus, with the numbers of the miles legible upon them. Wherever any spot is cultivated the corn is luxuriant ; and the frequency, and almost, in many instances, the close vicinity of the sites of ancient towns, prove that the population of the country was formerly proportioned to its fertility' (Irby and Mangles, pp. 377, 456, 460). It
was in its state of highest prosperity that the pro phets foretold that the cities of Moab should be come desolate, without any to dwell in them; and accordingly we find, that although the sites, ruins, and names of many ancient cities of Moab can be traced, not one of them exists at the present day as tenanted by man. The argument for the in spiration of the sacred records deducible from this, among other facts of the same kind, is produced with considerable force by Dr. Keith in his work on Prophecy. Gesenius, Comment. on Isa. xv. xvi., Introduct. translated by W. S. Tyler, with Notes by Moses Stuart, in Biblical &pos. for 1836, vol. vii. pp. 107-124; Keith's Evidence from Pro phecy, pp. 153-165 ; and Land of Israel, 279-295; Pictorial Bible, Notes to Deut. ii. 2; Is. xvi., xvii.; Jer. xlviii. See also the travels and other works cited in this article.—J. K.