Learning yesterday that a caravan had arrived from Ezion-geber (by the Edomites called Ekkaba), which lies near the head of the orient arm of the Red or Arabian Sea, and not far from which are the borders of peninsular Midian, I crossed the Nile to the suburbs of the City of the Sun, where the caravan had found quarters in the quadrangle of the Serail.
Having found the governor of the company of merchants, I made myself known to him as a foreign prince, travelling for knowledge, and sight of men and scenes. He courteously received me, and I asked him many questions about his country, his journey, and the articles he brought, until he was at his ease with me, when I inquired if he had ever been in Midian. He answered that he himself was a Midianite, and that twenty days before he had left Midian to join the caravan, part of which belonged to Jethro, prince and priest of that country. Upon hearing this name, dear father, I was struck by its similarity to that mentioned in the last letter of Aaron the Hebrew, as being that of the king of the country who had invited Moses, while prince, to visit him.
"Dost thou know this Prince Jethro?" I asked.
"I have sat at his feet—his hand has often rested upon my head when I was a lad," he answered.
"You call him a priest," I said; "what is his religion?"
"That of our progenitor, Abram the Chaldean."
"The Hebrews sprung from Abram," I replied.
"Yes, by Sara, his first wife. The Midianites are the sons of Midian, a son of Abram by Keturah, the wife he took after Sara died. The cities of Epher, Ephah, and Hanoch, in Midian, were founded by princes who were this same Abram's grandsons, and sons of Midian."
"Do you worship the God of Abram—or Abraham, as the Hebrews call their ancestor?" I asked.
"Hast thou ever heard, O prince," he said, with feeling, "that we were idolaters, or fire-worshippers, or that we pray to bulls, and beasts, and creeping things, as these Egyptians do? We worship one God—the Lord of Heaven—the Almighty Creator, who revealed Himself to our father Abram."