66 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

that all the nations of Canaan were to be cut off. We
are not told how they found that out, but it is very
likely that some of the people of the land were present at
the reading of the law on Mount Ebal. There they
would hear that there was to be no mercy shown to
them—no quarter given—and no covenant to be made
with them. So the inhabitants of Gibeon would clearly
see that their only plan for gaining peace was to pre-
tend that they were not Canaanites. They went very
artfully to work. They pretended to be ambassadors
from a foreign state; and to make it appear that they
had travelled a long way, they took old sacks on their
asses, and the wine bottles they had with them were
old and torn, and mended ; the shoes they had on were
old and patched ; all their clothes were old; and their
bread was dry and mouldy.

Johnnie. What is the meaning, grandfather, of their
wine bottles being torn ?

Grandfather. Their bottles were not made of glass
as ours are, but of leather. The same sort of bottles
are still used by the Arabs; they are more convenient
for those who lead a wandering life than any other kind
of bottle ; milk or water, or any kind of liquor, keeps
more fresh in them. Tread a description of them lately,
which I shall read to you; it describes them better than
Ican. “ These leathern bottles are made of goat skins.
When the animal is killed they cut off its feet and its
head, and they draw it in this manner out of the skin,
without opening its belly. They afterwards sew up the