nert's Geog, of the Greeki and Romams, z, 199. is still a place called Mercuoi conadenitij ooith tf ^ island and near Mount Berkal, where Heere there nuy have been a settlement of the pai called by the same name. The opizdon of J«K|ii that Merod was identical with Seba accords weE «« the statement in Gen. x, 7, that Seba wm tbe dte son of Cushj whose name (KUD) is not to be < ed with either of the Shebas (K2:S), who xn ■» tioned as descendants of Skem (Gen. x, 28 ; xxt, I. Now this country of African Seba is dasscd w^a Arabian Sheba as a rich but &r-dlstant land (:& Ixxii, 10). In Isa. xliii, 8, God says to Israel,** Ibi- given Egypt for thy ransom ; Cosh and Stim is sy stead ;" and in Isa. xlv, 14, " The wealth of £gypi.c the merchandise of CuiBh and of the Sebalm, nea i stature, shall pass over to thee, and shall be t&i^' Charles Taylor, the ingenious but fanciful edits a Cabnetf had the singular notion that by the express **men of stature" in that passage is meant msm ti thort measure, or dwarfs ; and hence he identifiai tU Ethiopians with the pygmies of antiquity (JPragsea to Cabnetf occxxii). Bat the Hebrew phr^ ph^ denotes ** tallness of stature** (comp. 1 Chran.xi,SK and the Ethiopians are described by Herodotss u i gigantic stature (avSpfc /icyioroc, iU, 114; /ir}ir% dt^ptovntv, iii, 20) ; and Solinus affirms that tber ve? twelve feet in height {PobfkitL cap. xxx). In cc& mon with the other Cushite tribes of Africa the siii was black, to which there is an obvious allnsioB is Js. xiii, 28 : "Can the Cushite change his skin?" 6r» finds Seba in Azab, a sea-port on the east coast diS rica, near the entrance to the Red Sea, and in th? \t is followed by Heeren, while others think of a |ki called Subah, about lat. 15° N., where are eooie c-f th- most remarkable ruins of Nubian grandenr ; but Uci opinions are merely oonjecturaL See Seba.
Among other tribes of Africa said to have beea ^ alliance with Egypt, the prophet £zekid (xxi.f' mentions along with Ethiopia the name of CM, vhk^ Michaelis connects with Kobi^ a trading tovn ^ scribed by Ptolemy as on the west coast of tbe 1^ Sea. But in the Arabic translation made frsB tie Septuagint, instead of ChA we find ** the pec^ ^ NvbiOf" a name easily interchanged for the otba.s- in some Heb. MSS. actually read there. Tbeic ux still two districts adjoining Merofi on the soetli-ve^ called CtdKL and Nuba, which are said to aboaid ii gold. The SvJduimj who, along with the CiKhites A£i Lubim or Libyans, formed part of the host of Si^bi^ (2 Chron. xii, 8), are in the Sept. de^gnaixd as Tpj^ lodytes, i. e. cave-dwellers, and were no doabt the pe:- ple known to the Greeks by the same name as in^b- iting the mountain caverns on the west coast of tk Red Sea (Diod. Sic iii, 82; Strabo^ xvH, p. 788). IVr were noted for swiftness of foot and expeitneis in tb use of the sling, and hence were emploiyed, as Heik^Iff' rus informs us (jEtkiopicc^ viii, id), as light tzwpe- Pliny makes mention of a town of Sucke in that nom (Hist, Nat, vi, 29, 84), and there is still on the siis€ coast a place called Suakim, described by Bor^bxri in his Travelt in Nubia, If, however, the tens ^ kiim be of Hebrew derivation, it would spedallj ^ note those who lived in booths, i. e. tabenMclet mi^ of the bought of trees ; and it deserves remark that tbe Shangallas who inhabit that oonntry stUl dwell dumi the good season in arbors fitted up for tents, rqiaiiSf in winter to their rocky caves. See Chub.
In the age of Herodotus, the ooimtries known to ts as Nubia and Sennaar were occupied by two difiere^ races, one of whom he includes under the genenl a^ pellation of Ethiopians, the other an immlgratofv An* bian race leading, for the most part, a nomadk ^ This distinction has omtinned down to the present ^r. Among the original inhabitants the first place is doe to the Nubians, who are well-fbrmed, strong, and ■»-
CUSH
615
CUSH
lar, and 'with nothing whateyer of the negro physi- •nomy. They go anned with spear, sword, and a ield of tlie skin of the hippopotamus. South of ongola is Hie countrj of the Scheygias, whose war- [>r8 are hoTBemen, also armed with a doable-pointed tear, a ffword, and a large shield (comp. Jer. zlyi, 9, le ^^ CtLsbites who handle the shield''). They were >mpletelj' independent till subdued by Mehemet All, icha of Cgypt. It is in their country that the py- unidal monuments which adorned the ancient Mero3 re first met with, and even its name has been pre- erved in that of their chief place, Meraw6, though the nginai Mero6 must be sought farther south. Next omes the territory of the Berbers, strictly so called, rho, thongh speaking Arabic, evidenily belong to the ^nbian race. Above these regions, beyond the Ta^ ^zz6, and along the Nile, the great mass of the in- labitants, though sometimes with a miztore of other blood, may be regarded as of Arab origin. But be- tween the valley of the Nile and the Red Sea there is still, as of old, a variety of scattered aboriginal tribes, among whom the Arabic is much less common ; they are, donbtless, partly the descendants of the above- mentioned Snkkiim, or Troglodytes, and of the Ich- thyopbagi, or fish-eaters. Some of them spread them- selves over the plains of the Astaboras, or Tacasz6, being compelled to remove their encampments, some- times by the inundations of the river, at other times by the attacks of the dreaded stmi, or gad-fly, de- scribed by Bruce, and which he supposes to be the ^^-fly which is in the utmost part of the rivers of Egypt'* (Isa. vii, 18). Another remarkable Ethiopic race in ancient times was the Macrcbkuu^ so called from their supposed longevity. They were represent- ed by the ambassadors of Cambyses as a very tall race, who elected the highest in stature as king : gold was so abundant that they bound their prisoners with golden fetters — circumstances which again remind us of Isaiah's description of Ethiopia and Saba in ch. xlv, 14. (See Ludolf, Hitt, uEihiopica, F. ad M. 1681 ; with his Cmnmentarie* thereon, ib. 1691 ; and his Bodiem, ffabesa. stcttuSj ib. 1693). See Afbioa.