FIERY SERPENTS. 249

who, having killed his friend, was immediately bitten by a
serpent and died.

With regard to the “fiery serpents” mentioned in Num-
bers xxi., it is much disputed whether the word seraphim, or
ery, is given them from their brilliant appearance, or from
the agony caused by their bites; the Septuagint translated
the phrase “deadly serpent,” and the Arabic version of the
Pentateuch has “serpents of burning bites,” both of which
favour the latter opinion. In Deuteronomy viii. the country
through which the Israelites passed is described as “ the
great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and
scorpions and drought, where there was no water.” Burck-
hardt mentions the extraordinary number of serpents found
in the same region to this day, but unfortunately does not
name the species. He says, “ Ayd told me that serpents
were very common in these parts, that the fishermen were
much afraid of them, and extinguished their fires in the
evening before they went to sleep, because the light was
known to attract them.” As serpents, then, are so numerous
on this side, they are probably not deficient towards the head
of the gulf on the opposite shore, where it appears the
Israelites passed when they journeyed from Mount Hor by
the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom,