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Between the Tih wilderness and Judea, is the Negeb or “South Country” of Scripture, now a deserted and barren wilderness, but shown by Professor E. H. Palmer to be full of the most interesting traces of former inhabitants and cultivation. In the Scripture narrative of the wanderings we read about Kadesh Barnea, where Miriam died, and whence the spies went up to Eshkol and obtained the grapes. The identification of Kadesh Barnea had long been difficult and disputed, until it was discovered, in the year 1840, by Dr Rowlands to be ’Ain Gadis (or Qades) in Jebel Magráh, on the south-west frontier of the Negeb. The name Gadis is identical in meaning and etymology with the Kadesh of the Bible, while the word ’Ain means a fountain; so that Kadesh Barnea can scarcely be said to have changed its name. The place is a picturesque oasis, and from under a ragged spur of solid rock, regarded by Rowlands as “the cliff” smitten by Moses, there issues an abundant stream. Professor Palmer, visiting the district some thirty years after, failed to find this great spring, but it was discovered again by Rev. F. W. Holland in 1878, and by Dr Clay Trumbull of America in 1881; and Dr Trumbull’s book on Kadesh Barnea is now the fullest source of information.

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