ries which they
compass? The troubles of the earlier commentators will warn us, that we
need not be too ready to force names, and to identify one river, and
then, _because_ we have fixed that, make the country which the text
requires follow it!

It is, however, in this matter that Professor Delitzsch's work is so
satisfactory. He has pointed out, that there is historical evidence (and
also that the local traces are not wanting in the present day) to prove
that, just below Babylon, we _can_ find two prominently important
channels or branches of the Euphrates, which will at least supply the
place of Pison and Gihon. As to the first, it is known that in historic
times a great channel called by the Greeks Pallakopas (navigable for
ships) used to carry off the surplus water of the Euphrates when swollen
in the summer season by the melting snows of the Armenian mountains. It
branched off from the main river at a point somewhat north of Babylon,
and flowed into the Persian gulf. There is, indeed, no _direct_ evidence
to show that this branch bore a name resembling Pison. _Palgu_ is the
Assyrian whence the Greek Pallakopas was derived. It is remarkable,
however, that the word Pison closely resembles the cuneiform term
"pisana," or "pisanu," which is used for a water-reservoir, a canal or a
channel; and as this "Pallakopas" was _the_ channel _par excellence_, it
may very possibly have been called "pisana" or Pison, the (great)
channel. The identification of the channel called "Pallakopas" will be
found mentioned in Colonel Chesney's work, "An Expedition to the
Tigris." The name, however, of this channel is not the only means we
have of identifying it. The Scripture says that the Pison compasses the
land of _Havilah_. Now let us remember, that the Scripture tells of two
Havilahs: (1) The second son of Cush[1] and brother of Nimrod, and (2)
one of the great great grandsons of Shem (Gen. x. 29). One we may call
the Cushite Havilah, the other the Joktanite Havilah. The dwelling-place
of the brother of Nimrod is not mentioned, but it is stated that the
Joktanite Havilah dwelt in "Mesha." The tenth of Genesis is an important
chapter, as showing how the descendants of Noah branched out and spread
over the countries all round the Euphrates; some going north to Assyria
(Nineveh), others to the east and west, and others south, to Arabia and
Egypt. Now it so happens that the whole country west of the great
Pallakopas channel, was called by