the eldest son of Ham, from whom seems to have been derived the name of the land of Cush, which is commonly rendered by the Septuagint and by the Vulgate *Ethiopia*.

The locality of the land of Cush is a question upon which eminent authorities have been divided; for while Bochart maintained that it was exclusively in Arabia, Gesenius held with no less pertinacity that it is to be sought for nowhere but in Africa. Others again, such as Michaelis and Rosenmüller have supposed that the name Cush was applied to tracts of country both in Arabia and Africa—a circumstance which would easily be accounted for on the very probable supposition, that the descendants of the primitive Cushite tribes, who had settled in the former country, emigrated across the Red Sea to the latter region of the earth, carrying with them the name of Cush, their remote progenitor.

The existence of an African Cush cannot reasonably be questioned, though the term is employed in Scripture with great latitude, sometimes denoting an extensive but undefined country (Ethiopia), and at other times one particular kingdom (Meroë). It is expressly described by Ezekiel as lying to the south of Egypt beyond Syene. Hence we find Mizraim and Cush (i.e. Egypt and Ethiopia) often classed together by the prophets. The inhabitants are elsewhere spoken of in connection with the Lubim and Sukkium, supposed to be the Libyans and Ethiopic Troglodytes, and certainly nations of Africa, for they belonged to the vast army with which Shishak king of Egypt "came out" of that country against Rehoboam king of Judah. In these, and, indeed, in most other passages where "Cush" occurs, Arabia is not to be thought of; the Ethiopia of Africa is beyond all doubt exclusively intended. Though there is a great lack of evidence to show that the name of Cush was ever applied to any part of Arabia, there seems no reason to doubt that a portion of the Cushite race did early settle there. In the fifth century of our era the Himyarites, in the south of Arabia, were styled by Syrian writers Cusharians and Ethiopians; and Niebuhr found in Yemen a tribe called Beni Chusai. The Book of Job speaks of the topaz of Cush, and there was a Topaz Island in the Red Sea.

Some again have sought for another Cush in more northerly regions of Asia, as in the Persian province of Chusistan or Susiana, in Cuthah, a district of Babylonia, &c.; and as Nimrod, the youngest son of Cush, spread his conquests in that direction, it is no doubt possible that his father's name might be preserved in the designation of some part of the territory or people. The data, however, are very unsatisfactory.