if.r. 'y. 3C I 1 m.-. ^4^-' FISH 1 F THE LAKK OF GAI.II.F.F. ST. PETEK S FISH. i3ij=^9.itl)s of Uililc Bnotiilcticir. XI. SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. II. THE ANIMALS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. BY HENRY CHICHESTER HART, B.A. (T.C.D.), F.L.S. With Many Illustrations. THE RI ^'OJh TR/" " SOCIETY, 56 Pater- u Cs St. I'm i s hukchyaku, f s .s ;•! 0;cfot5 HORACE ilART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 33 PREFACE. In the following work the writer has availed himself of whatever knowledge he could obtain from previous authors. In addition to these sources, he has had the advantage of a lengthened tour in pursuit of Natural History in the Holy Land and its confines. The familiarity with most branches of the subjects here dealt with which arises from such exploration is most ad- vantageous, if not necessary for the work. Owing to the researches carried on by the Palestine Exploration Fund, considerable accuracy has been arrived at in our estimate of Palestine Natural History. By its assistance, Canon Tristram worked out his valuable series of investigations, which have supplied us with a fund of information. And it was under the auspices of this Society that the expedition of which I formed a part brought a successful journey to a close, an account of which will be found in its publications by the leader of the party, Dr. Hull, P'.R.S.^ Other works have been consulted — Bil?/e Atiimals, by the Rev. J. G. Wood ; Smith's Dictionary of the Bible ; articles in the Transactions of the Biblical ArcJiaological ' See Mount Seir, Sinai, and Western Palestine, by Edvvaril Hull. A portion of the results of this expedition connected with the Natural History are still unpublished. Sec also, On the />otany of Sinai and South Palestine, Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 1S85, by the incsent authcr. 894787 6 PREFACE. Society, by the Rev. Wm. Houghton ; The Natural History of the Bible by Thaddeus Mason, may be especially mentioned. These relate especially to the subject in hand, and the last mentioned volume will be found of much value as a survey of previous knowledge, although written before much accurate information had been gathered on the spot by competent observers. With regard to the present work, it will be felt by all that any fresh light, however slight, which can be thrown by modern scientific study upon obscurities in Holy Writ is of the first importance ; and as the obscurities, so far as they come within the scope of the present volume, arise from our own ignorance, it behoves all labourers in this sacred field of investigation to toil with undiminished assiduity until these obscurities be removed. In many cases, error arises from seeking for too much accuracy. Generic names, or terms used to convey a general idea — say of a hawk, a gull, or a lizard — should not be limited in too specific a manner. This applies especially to those passages where the sense is metaphoric. Where a special animal is un- doubtedly intended, as in the case of its being forbidden for food, we desire an accurate interpretation ; and when we consider how little was known of the natural products of Palestine at the time the Bible was rendered to us from the Hebrew, it is not marvellous that some of the interpretations do not bear the test of recent research. On the other hand, every fresh observation lends a new force or adds an additional beauty to one PREFACE. 7 or more passages ; and at the same time that it explains a difficulty of the text, it increases in us a reverence and a faith for the inspired character of the Sacred Volume. The writer's method has been to take in alphabetical order every animal mentioned in the Bible, and to deal with each so as to draw especial attention to the characteristics alluded to in the various references. Where the translation seems to be doubtful, either from the nature of the context, or from the fact that the same word has elsewhere received a different rendering in the Scriptures, or because the animal quoted does not now and probably did not inhabit Palestine — in these cases what appeared to be the most probable of the various suggestions offered by different commentators has been given, leaving the reader to judge for himself in accord- ance with the weight of evidence. It will at once be seen that in several instances the suggested emendations are unmistakably correct, while in others they are of so purely hypothetical a nature as to be hardly worthy of consideration. And where a general term is used, it is wise to pause well before endeavouring to twist it into a particular signification in order to meet our present knowledge of Natural History in the Holy Land. CONTENTS. r PAGE PAGE Adder . n Dove . . . . 74 Ant I.^ Dragon • 79 Ape i8 Asp 19 Eacjle . . . . . 82 Ass 20 Eggs. See Cock'. Elephant . CJO Badger 25 Bat 27 Fallow Deer ■ 92 Bear . 28 Ferret • 93 Beast. See Behemoth, Cait LE. Fishes . . . . 94 Bee • 32 Flea . . , . 99 Beetle . 34 Fly . . . . . ICO Behemoth . 35 Fowl . . . . . 102 Birds. See F UWL. Fowl, Domestic. See Cock. Bittern 40 Fox . . . . . 107 Boar, Wild . 42 Frog . . . . . 109 Bull, Wild. See Pvgarg. GiER Eagle . II I Camel . . 46 Glede . . . . • 113 Cankerworm . See Locust. Gnat . ■ 114 Caterpillar. See Locust, Goat . • 115 Worm. Goat, Wilu . 118 Cattle .^i Grasshopper. See Lo CU.ST. Chameleon . 56 Chamois 59 Hare . 120 Cock. Hen 60 Hart. Hind 121 Cockatrice f'3 Hawk . . 122 Coney . 64 Heron. . 124 Coral . 66 Hornet . 126 Cormorant . 67 Horse . 127 Crane . 69 Horseleech • 133 Cuckoo 71 Hyena • 134 Deer. Sec F M.l.OW Dkkr. Dog 72 IiiEX. See Goai . W 11. ). lO CONTENTS. Jackal. Kite . See Fox. Lapwing LEOrARU Leviathan . Lice ... Lion Lizard. Locust . Mole . Moth . Mouse . Mule . Night Hawk Onyx. See Snail. OSPREY Ossifrage. See Eagi Ostrich Owl . Partridge . Peacock Pelican Pigeon. See Dove. Purple. See Snail. Pygarg or Addax E. 141 H3 T44 149 151 154 156 157 159 161 162 163 168 171 174 176 179 Quail . Raven . Roe, Roebuck Satyr . Scorpion Sea Monster. See Whale Serpent Sheep . Snail . Sparrow Spider . Stork . Swallow Swan . Swine. See Boar, Wild. Tortoise Turtle-dove. Unicorn Vulture Weasel Whale. Wolf . i Worm . See Dove. A List of the Passages of Scripture Referred to General Index PACK 181 I S3 1 86 188 188 190 193 198 202 203 205 208 211 212 213 217 219 220 221 223 233 237 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Fish of" the Lake of Galilee St. Peter's Fish . IIoRNEu Asp .... Syrian Ants . Eastern Asses Bats The Behemoth The Bittern . The Wild Boar Wild Ox. The Coney The Cormorant The Crane The Dove The Eagle The Flea The Fox The Edible Froc; The Hero.n . The Hornet . Horseleech . Hoopoe, Lapwing The Lion The Locus'I' . The Ostrich . PAGE Frontispiece. Frontispiece. 13 16 22 29 36 41 43 55 64 68 70 75 86 99 108 no 124 127 '34 •38 '51 164 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The rARTRIUGE The Peacock . Pelican . PvGAK(; OR Addax The Raven Syrian Sheep The Sparrow The Gecko or Spider The Swallow The Vulture OF 1 roverbs XXX. 28. PAGE 172 180 202 204 209 218 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Adder (Heb. 3^:^'^y nks/iu/,). The Adder is spoken of five times in the Bible, and the word is used as the translation of no less than four distinct Hebrew words. In Gen. xlix. 17 the Adder is spoken of as hiding in the way and biting the horse's iinuN'i:!) Asi'. heels so that the rider is overthrown. The Hebrew term f^'^"'^^ sJiephiphon in this passage (elsewhere rendered ' cockatrice ') is probably the same word as the modern 14 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Arabic i_Ii. sJiipJion or Cl^ sippJion, the name for the Horned Sand Snake or Cerastes Haselqiiistii. It is the habit of this extremely venomous viper to lurk in the ruts of wheels or the depression of a footprint by the roadside, and to bite the legs of unwary passers-by, or of horses or cattle. Horses, aware of its nature, are said to be in terror of the Cerastes, and cannot be induced to proceed, once they have detected the con- cealed reptile, for its bite is most deadly. It derives its name of ' horned ' from the presence of two protuber- ances, one over each eye. It is of a grayish tint, about a foot long, and very active. The asp of Cleopatra, ' the pretty worm of Nilus,' has been identified with this animal, which is to be seen figured on ancient Egyptian monuments. Cerastes Haselquistii is found in Egypt, Arabia, and the surrounding desert countries extending northwards to Southern Judaea, and eastwards to Persia. The habits of ambush and craft which it uses in securing its prey are selected as characteristic of the methods by which the children of the tribe of Dan would deal with their foes. Vipers are viviparous, and inhabit the Old World and Australia, but are found in greatest variety in Africa. To these are nearly allied the American rattlesnakes, with which they make up one section of the poisonous snakes, called the Viperine — the other section being the poisonous Colubrine snakes. Viperine snakes are distinguished by the triangular-shaped head, and the tail suddenly contracted and short in com- parison with the length of the body. Some of them seem to be aware of their deadly venom, as they strike their prey and leave it, returning to swallow it after it has died. There are five or six species found in Palestine. In two passages in the Psalms ' adder ' is the trans- ANT. 15 lation of the Hebrew (03 pctJicn, with ' asp ' appended in the margin. Elsewhere when pctJicn occurs it is trans- lated ' asp.' See AsP. In another passage in the Psalms, ' Adder's poison is under their lips ' (Ps. cxl. 3), the word is the rendering of the Hebrew aksJnib, which has been derived from a verb signifying to ' bend back on itself,' and may refer to any of the poisonous serpents, as they all have the habit of bending back before striking. In Proverbs xxiii. 32, the word 'adder' is the render- ing of the Hebrew V'^^V tsiphoni, which is given as ' cockatrice ' in the other places where it occurs. See Cockatrice. Reptiles of the snake and lizard sorts are very numer- ous in Palestine. The dry, hot summers, with little or no winter, and the sandy nature of many districts, are admirably adapted to their modes of life. Ant (Heb. ^bop ncmaJah ; Turkish and Arabic Jv ncml). The Ant is mentioned twice in the Old Testament, both times in the Book of Proverbs (vi. 6 and xxx. 25). Ants are characterised as being exceeding wise, and in both passages are commended for their diligence in preparing their food in the summer, thus by their fore- sight providing for their winter sustenance. Such is at least the obvious implication contained in the text. This habit was, and is still, contradicted by some writers, from their knowledge of the ways of European ants, which are dormant in the winter, and therefore stand in no need of food. Shakespeare mentions {Lear, ii. 4. 67) that 'there's no labouring i' the winter' for the ant; which has been interpreted to show that he was thus early aware of their hybernation ; but it might mean i6 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. also tliat the insect was provided for, and liad no further toil for existence. It is amply ascertained, however, that in the East and other warm countries where hybernation is im- possible, ants do store up granaries from the harvest for winter use. In India, Central America, Brazil, and elsewhere, as well as in the hotter parts of the Mediterranean region, this has been shown to be a part of their life-history, thus verifying the accuracy and S'.KIAN ANTS. beauty of the example held up to sluggards. A most instructive and conclusive illustration of the familiarity of Eastern people in ancient times with this instinct is given by Canon Tristram from a com- pilation of Jewish agricultural legislation dating back to the time of our Saviour. In this, the * Mishna,' there were actually laws regulating the rights of possession between owners and gleaners to these stores set aside by ants and discovered in the growing crop. Ants of different sorts are exceedingly abundant in all ANT. 17 parts of Palestine, and in the desert regions fron:i the Dead Sea to Sinai they are the reverse of dormant in winter. In the Ghor at the south end of tlic Dead Sea a very interesting species of Polyrhachis [P. seiniJiigcr) was gathered by me in its Httle globular nest affixed to a tamarisk twig. Most of the Palestine ants, however, probably belong to the genus F'ormica, and make ground nests. The intelligence of ants, and their marvellous sagacity in maintaining their highly complex social economy, and their care of their young, have been the subject of perhaps more painstaking observation than any other study in zoology. From Huber in the past to Sir John Lubbock in the present time, fresh instances of their marvellous instincts and industry have been con- tinually brought to light. One of the most wonderful observations is in relation to the frugality alluded to in the Book of Proverbs. It is stated that these harvesting ants bite off the radicle at the end of the seed to prevent its germinating, but not until it has sprouted sufficiently to develope the saccharine matter, and further that they convey all their stores occasionally to the surface, in order, apparently, to assist the process of malting. Ants belong to the family Formicidac, in the Aculeate section of Hymcnopterous insects, which also includes wasps and bees. Generally speaking, they differ from the rest of the section by their subterranean dwellings, and also by the development amongst them of a race of neuters, who do the greatest part of the work. The females are wingless, except in the breeding season, and larger than the males, which have always four wings. Upwards of 1000 species of ant are described from various parts of the earth, and no doubt more remain to be discovered. l8 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Ape (Heb. D'?ip kophini). The Ape is mentioned twice only in the Bible, and the two passages (i Kings x. ^a ; % Chron. ix. 21) are parallel descriptions of the commodities which were brought once in three years to King Solomon from Tharshish. These were 'gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks.' In the early travels collected by Purchas (1613, 3625), the term ape is applied to the various quadrumanous animals. In modern language the term is used generally of those which approach mankind in structure, and which may be spoken of as monkeys without tails or cheek-pouches. In the passages referred to in the Bible, the term kophim in the Hebrew, as well as the terms translated 'ivory' and ' peacock,' are identical with the Tamil words in use to this day to signify these objects in Ceylon and in some parts of Southern India. [See PEACOCK, ELEPHANT.] It is therefore safe to conclude that Tharshish, which is otherwise unidentified, was the old name for Ceylon, or some part of it, or of the adjacent continent, and that it was thither that the early Phenician traders guided the king's ships to obtain his treasures. It is no doubt possible it may have been an intermediate trading place which drew its supplies from India. Hence the apes mentioned in the sacred text were in all probability natives of Ceylon, and as the anthropoid apes (^Simiidae) are unknown there, there is no doubt the term was used, as in other early writers, for some species of long-tailed monkey, of which several are found in India, chiefly of the genus Scmnopitheais. Animals of this class have been at all times favourites in captivity. More than one kind of monkey, natives of the countries around and south of the Red Sea, have APE. ASP. 19 been found figured upon Egyptian monuments. Their mummies have also been discovered, and there is no doubt that they were held in some degree sacred in ancient Egypt, as they arc to this day amongst the Hindoos. The Gelada {G. RitppcUii), a dog-headed baboon, is found figured on Egyptian monuments as sacred to Thoth, the lord of letters. This animal is a native of Arabia and Abyssinia. Houghton identifies two monkeys depicted on Assyrian monuments, the Wanderoo {Ma- cacus silcnus) and the Hoonuman [Scmnopithecns cntellus), both of them Indian species. The latter is the one held in veneration in India, and may well have been the Biblical ape. It is worth mentioning that ' Wanderoo' is a Cingaleese name, and is certainly mis- applied to M. silcnus, which is not native in Ceylon. Asp (Heb. jn^ pethen). The Hebrew word which is translated Asp is found six times in the Scriptures. In these passages the allusions are to its poisonous venom (Deut. xxxii. '>,'}, ; Job XX. 14-16), to the holes it resides in (Isaiah xi. 8), and to its being one which serpent-charmers practised their skill upon (Psalm Iviii. 4, 5). Further, it is spoken of as the deaf adder, which probably signifies that some- times one of the animals in question was refractory. The Asp or Aspic of the ancients was no doubt the Egyptian Cobra, or Naja {Naja haj'c). It dwells or con- ceals itself in hr)lcs in walls, outhouses, ruins, cellars, or under logs of wood. Its poison is most deadly, and ])roduces rapid paralysis of the nerves. The Cobra of India, a nearly allied .species, is a favourite amongst the snake-catchers to the present day, and the art of serpent- 20 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. charming as practised there is probably the same as the ancient method. The process appears to be simple, requiring the notes of some high-pitched instrument to draw the serpent from its hole, a certain degree of dexterity in catching it by its tail and swinging it into a basket, and coolness and courage in subsequently handling it. The fangs are usually extracted, but they quickly grow again, and cobras are often exhibited in full possession of them. Cobras are very graceful in their movements, poising themselves almost upon their tails and swinging to and fro from side to side, with the skin of the neck distended over the raised anterior ribs into a sort of hood, without which movement they never attack. In this attitude the aspic is sculptured on many of the ancient Egyptian monuments, being evidently held in veneration, and regarded as an emblem of the goddess of protection to the fields of Egypt and the world at large. Amongst the Hindoos it is also held in awe, being regarded as the type of destruction and the incarnation of evil, and therefore to be propitiated. The Hooded Cobra reaches a length of several feet. Fortunately it is rare in Palestine, but is known in the southern sandy wastes, whence it extends to Egypt and the Sahara. Amongst the Bedouins all creatures of the snake tribe are regarded as venomous, with hardly an exception. But none are armed with so fatal a poison as the cobra, and of the numerous snakes to be found from Jerusalem to Wady Arabah, probably not more than four or five are poisonous. [See ADDER.] Ass (Heb."iil2q cha7?wr, lins' aion, ">^y ayir, ^1^ pen, "liiy arod). The Ass is mentioned upwards of fifty times in the Bible, and from its having been selected as the animal ASS. 21 on which it pleased our Saviour to enter Jerusalem, it carries with it in some respects a higher degree of interest than any other. References to the ass may be grouped under five heads, according to the Hebrew names for the different sorts in the original. These are (i) Chamor, which is the ordinary name for the domestic ass, whether male or female, but more properly the male ; (2) Aton, also a domestic ass, but rendered always a she-ass ; (3) Ayir, a colt or young ass ; (4) Pere, wild ass, and (5) Arod, another term for wild ass, (i) Speaking of the ass, as met with at present in Eastern countries, one must dismiss the idea of the ordinary spiritless and degraded animal familiar to us in this country. Its degeneration here is no doubt partly if not mainly due to the climate, for the ass is a native of warm countries, and does not thrive in northern latitudes. But the ass is greatly stunted also in India, and it can hardly lay the blame solely at the doors of the coldness of the temperature there. No doubt its domestication amongst the poorer classes in this country, and its consequent life of hardship and insufficient food, have operated largely in the decay of the breed. In Eastern countries, as Egypt and Syria, the ass is a far more valuable animal, well cared for and fed, and considerably larger in size than in this country. It is capable of a good day's journey at a moderate pace — cither an easy canter -or a less agreeable trot — with a man on its back, and it has a spirited demeanour and wide -awake manner which render it a pleasant quad- ruped to deal with. The breed is carefully selected, and a well-bred Syrian ass will fetch forty pounds. Their average height is perhaps two to three hands above that in this country. The Palestine asses arc 22 ANIMALS OF Tlir: HII'.LE. the finest in the world. Their colour and markings are much the same everywhere, and no animal has changed so slightly under domestication as the ass. In Spain, where much care is taken in their breeding, the EASTERN ASSES. ass has been very carefully selected, and a stallion ass at Cordova has been sold for ,_^'200, according to Mr. Darwin. A white variety, though more delicate, is valued for its beauty in many parts of the East, and has been ASS. 23 always in much demand amongst the wealthy. Bagdad and Damascus boast of their white asses, Deborah and Barak address the mighty ones in Israel as, 'ye that ride on white asses' (Judges v. 10). Amongst the Jews the most honourable persons rode on asses, and it was also used for all purposes of agri- culture and of carrying burdens. Abraham went on his ass from Beersheba to Mount Moriah (Gen. xxii. 3). Several of the judges and their families are spoken of as mounted on asses as a mark of distinction (Judges X. 4 ; xii. 14). Asses were accounted valuable possessions, and herds of them are enumerated amongst the flocks of the patriarchs (Gen. xii. 16; xxiv. 35; xxx. 43). Women are also several times mentioned as being mounted on asses, as Achsah, the daughter of Caleb (Judges i. 14), and Abigail went out on her ass to see David (1 Sam. XXV. 20). The ass was not used for food except in cases of famine. It was rendered unclean by the Mosaic law. (2) She-asses are specially mentioned on several occasions. Balaam rode on a she-ass from Chaldrea to Moab (Numb. xxii. 31) ; the wealthy Shunammite saddled a she-ass on her errand to Elisha (2 Kings iv. 24) ; Saul sought the she-asses of Kish (i Sam. ix. 3) ; and those were she-asses over which Jehdeiah the Meronothite was in charge for King David (i Chron. xxvii. 30). She-asses were probably more valuable than males ; among the herds of Job, after sheep, camels, and oxen, a thousand she-asses are mentioned. (3) Young ass. The name for a young ass occurs several times in the Old Testament. Sometimes, as in Judges X. 4 ; .xii. [4, ass colts are used for riding upon, 24 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. and in Isaiah xxx. 6, young asses are spoken of as carry- ing- burdens, and again (ver. 24) as tilling the ground. The wildness of the colt of the wild ass is proverbial in Job xi. 12. Our Saviour made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem upon a colt the foal of an ass, and the animal selected was not typical of meekness, but honourable and suitable in dignity to bear the King of Israel. Horses were more generally used for war pur- poses, and the ass may be regarded as emblematic of peace upon this occasion. The dam was also taken, to render the colt tractable. (4 and 5) Wild ass. The word arod for wild ass occurs twice, in Job xxxix. 5, and Daniel v. 21. We read in Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar dwelt with the wild ass. In Job the two names are used apparently synonymously, though it is possible two different species of wild ass are meant. The usual term pcrc occurs often, and in several places animated and accurate accounts of the habits of the onager or wild ass are given. In the chapter of Job already quoted a vivid description is set down, and one which is entirely in accordance with the observa- tions of recent travellers. Elsewhere in the same book we are told they inhabit the desert (xxiv. 5), and in Isaiah that they sought shelter and made dens amongst ruins in the desert (xxxii. 14). Jeremiah also speaks of the ' wild ass used to the wilderness,' and in their fleet- ness they snuffed up the ^vind like dragons (Jer. ii. 24 ; xiv. 6). The wild ass is not now met with in Palestine, nor yet in the Sinaitic Peninsula ; but in former times, to judge from the frequency and familiarity of the allusions to it, it can hardly have been rare. As we go eastwards we BADGER. 25 meet with the wild ass of Assyria ; Eqitus hcudppus of St. Hilaire. ' They are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself (Hos. viii. 9). The onager [Eqinis onager) is closely allied to this variety, occurring in Persia and Western India. Also the Equ?cs ta'niopns of Abyssinia and North Africa, differing only slightly from the onager, and the parent of the domestic ass, must have been known to the ancients ; and it has been sug- gested that this latter was the arod. In all probability the Assyrian ass had a wider range westwards, and was ihe pe7'e, or common wild ass. The wild ass of Abyssinia differs from the other species in having stripes on the hind legs. Another species is the wild ass of Thibet ; it is larger than the rest. The Assyrian ass is possessed of extraordinary fleet- ness, and can outstrip all but the very swiftest of horses. They roam, as well as the other wild asses, over wide areas of desert, moving north and south according to the season, for better feeding-grounds. In colour they are nearly similar to the ordinary domestic animal. Badger (Heb. tJ'nJ? /achash). Badger is several times used in Scripture as the translation of the Hebrew word tacJiasJi. It is used always in connection with the term ri^'y oroth, sig- nifying skins, and is spoken of as being the material employed in covering the tabernacle and the vessels used in connection with it in the wilderness. ' They shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a cover- ing of badgers' skins ' (Exodus xxv. 5 ; xxvi. 14, &c. ; Numbers iv). In Ezekiel xvi. JO, it is employed for making sandals for Jewish women : ' I clothed thee with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin,' 26 ANIMALS OF THE BIP.LE. The sifrnification of this term tachasJi has given rise to much controversy into which this is not the proper phice to enter. It may be stated, however, that none of the versions acknowledge an animal of any kind to be intended except the Chaldee, which supposes the badcer to be referred to ; and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed of a violet eolo7tr ; the Syriac, a::!ire ; the Arabic, black ; and so on ^. One of the arguments further urged against the ' badger ' amongst some of the authorities is that the animal does not occur in Palestine. But this is an incorrect statement, since Canon Tristram finds that a badger, apparently identical with our own species, is common in Palestine, although perhaps hardly reaching to Sinai. Being nocturnal in their habits, badgers are not readily observed. Nevertheless, the trouble of procuring them, their un- suitability in size, and their undoubted scarceness in Sinai, where they were really required, render it im- possible that this could have been the animal meant. The present Arabic term ^j^ inc/iash, or (j*>i.:» dnchas/i, is a general name for the dolphin ; and other large sea animals, such as seals, cetaceans, porpoises, appear to be included under it. [See Whale.] The skins of some of these animals are used for such purposes as making sandals to the present day in the Sinaitic district. The Dugong {Halicore) is so employed, but it is coarse and unpliable in texture, and seems scarcely suitable for ladies' slippers or for wrapping up costly ^ Dr. A. Clarke, quoted by Dr. Harris in his Natural History of the Bible (i824\ This exhaustive and learned work of Dr. Harris appears to have afforded much unacknowledged information to subsequent writers. Modern researches have no doubt corrected many of his views, but as a storehouse of antiquarian lore on the subject the book is most valuable, r.AT. 27 utensils. In all probability some species of the marine mammalia, possibly the monk seal, but more likely the dugong or the porpoise, was capable of being prepared for such purposes, and wherever these animals occur some one or other is usually made use of by the in- habitants. This appears to be the view taken by the compilers of the Revised Version, who have altered the text to ' sealskin.' I would prefer to read dugong, unless we are to suppose that sealskins were an imported article. Bat (Hcb. ^^m atalleph). The Bat is spoken of as one of the fowls that may not be eaten in Deut. xiv. t8, and Lev. xi. 19. Being winged, it was no doubt included amongst fowls, although a mammal. The subsequent verse of Leviticus classes it amongst ' fowls that creep, going upon all four,' The Bat is alluded to in company with moles, as in- habiting holes and cavities about ruins, where ' a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold . . . to the moles, and to the bats ; to go into the clefts of the rock and into the tops of the ragged rock' (Isa. ii. 20, 21). Bats, it is well known, resort to caves, ruins, and deserted buildings for shelter by day, being nocturnal in their habits. In tin's country, where we have several species they hybernate during the winter, owing to the coldness of the climate, and in North and Central Palestine they do the same, but in the sub-tropical district of the Ghor they are active during the winter, but by no means common. Seventeen species have been enumerated from Pales- tine, and no doubt more will be discovered. Several of 28 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. these are sorts found in England, as, for instance, the common Long-eared Bat [Plecotns mtrittis), which is fre- quently to be seen about the Sea of Galilee. One or two others, the Serotine and the Greater Horse-shoe, are also found in both countries ; but the majority of the Palestine bats are more southern and eastern in their range. The extraordinary power possessed by bats of threading their way through the darkest caverns has been the subject of numerous experiments, and it has been de- monstrated that it is by an extreme sensibility to touch that they guide themselves. This exceptional develop- ment of the sense of touch resides chiefly in the mem- branous expanse of wings, but also in the enlarged ears and peculiar leaf-like nasal appendages found in some groups of the order. A very large number of bats have been described from various parts of the world. The great majority of them feed upon insects, but some are frugivorous, and a few live, in part at any rate, upon the blood of other animals. Bats have been regarded as birds from the earliest times down to the middle of the seventeenth century, or in some cases, as that of Plato, as neither bird nor beast. Ray, the eminent zoologist, was the first (1683) who placed them in their proper position amongst the mammals, of which they form a distinct order according to modern naturalists. The bats of Palestine belong chiefly to the genera Vespcrtilio, Rhinolophus, Plecoius, Rhinopoma and TapJiozotis. Bear (Heb. 3''n dob). From the frequent mention of the Bear in Scripture, and its occurrence in Central Palestine being apparently BEAR. 31 nothing unusual, we learn that it must have been, like several other larger wild animals, common where it is now very rare or hardly known. At present we must visit the more secluded wooded fortresses of Hermon and Lebanon, especially the former, before we meet with the Syrian bear in its native haunts. David (1 Sam. xvii. 34) tells us that he had to defend his flocks against the bear as well as the lion, and further in % Kings ii. 24 it is narrated that ' there came forth two she-bears out of a wood and tare forty and two of them,' when the children of Bethel mocked at Elisha in the way between Jericho and Bethel. There is now no timber in Judzea, and thus we learn the immediate cause of the extirpa- tion of these animals, in the gradual destruction of the shelter necessary to their existence. East of the Jordan the bear is stated to exist still in several districts. A characteristic of the Bear used as a simile several times in the Scriptures is its ferocity when deprived of its young. ' Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly' (Prov. xvii. 12}. And again, ' They be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps ' (2 Sam. xvii. 8). And, ' I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps ' (Hos. xiii. 8). The Syrian Bear ( Ursus Syriacus) is a distinct species from the Brown Bear of Europe, than which it is slightly shorter in the limb and of a paler colour, being of a yellowish brown or dirty yellow hue, which varies somewhat with age, sex, and season. Its claws also arc smaller than those of the European Bear, and, like it, it subsists on vegetable diet, except when pressed by necessity to seek animal food. It is said to extend to Northern Persia, and a slightly different paler variety 32 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. {U. isabclliuHs) is found in the Himalayas. A very fine specimen of the Syrian Bear was recently to be seen in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park. Beast. See Behemoth, Cattle. Bee (Heb. nnu^ dcborah). Bees are mentioned directly only four times in Scripture, but honey is spoken of as an abundant and favourite article of food amongst the people of Palestine. In two of the passages where bees are mentioned they are spoken of as the natural enemies of mankind ; ' the Amorites chased you as bees in Seir ' (Deut. i. 44), and 'they compassed me about like bees' (Ps. cxviii. 12). In Judges xiv. 8, when Samson ' rent the young lion ' and returned after a time, he found ' there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase.' There is nothing impossible in this occurrence. In the extreme dry heat of summer in this climate, a very short time would suffice to dry up a carcase so completely that the cavity of the body might serve for such a purpose. In a passage of Isaiah, the prophet tells us that ' The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria ' (vii. 18), speaking of them as scourges to overrun the land. The word 'hiss' is equivalent here to 'signal' or ' call,' as Jiiss or Jiist is the manner of arresting a person's attention in the East, just as holla or Jd with us. In the majority of allusions the Bee is viewed as a dangerous annoyance, and nowhere is it referred to as a parallel emblem of industry and instinct with the ant, as we are accustomed to regard it. Bees are very numerous in Palestine. The warm BEE. 33 climate and the profusion and variety of wild flowers, of which a large number are sweetly scented or aromatic, render it well fitted to be ' a land flowing with honey.' Their nests are commodiously placed in the crevices of the limestone which prevails in Judaea, and which lends itself naturally for such a use. The genera Bombiis (Humble Bee), Nomia. Andj-eiia, Osmia (Mason Bee), McgacJiile (Leaf-cutters), Anthophora are all largely represented. Wild honey is abundant, and in some places bees swarm on the cliffs in such numbers that no one can be found hardy enough to pilfer the nests. From the earliest times the honey-bee was kept in hives and honey was produced in captivity. The Hive-bee of Palestine appears to be a variety of the Hive-bee of this country, and probably the same as the Italian or Ligurian bee of Southern Europe. The southern form [Apis ligtistica) varies in being more brightly coloured and having yellow transverse bands on the abdomen. There is another banded variety in Africa, and they are perhaps all derived from the ordinary Hive-bee [Apis inellifica)^ wherever it may have originated. The Hive-bee has been known through all history, and though sometimes found in warm climates apparently wild, it is perhaps only where it has escaped from cultivation. Wild honey is, and no doubt always was, largely used and always to be had ; and from the total lack of refer- ence to apiculture in the Bible it seems not unreasonable to conjecture that it formed in ancient times the major portion of the supply. In some passages where the word ti'?'^ debash, which is translated ' honey,' occurs, the term is believed to refer to a decoction of the juice of the grape still known amongst the Arabs as ,j«-.o dibs. C 34 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. The method of keeping domesticated bees in Galilee is thus described by Canon Tristram : ' The hives are very simple, consisting of large tubes of sun-dried mud, about eight inches in diameter and four feet long, closed with mud at each end, having only an aperture in the centre, large enough for two or three bees to pass at a time. These tubes are laid in rows horizontally, and piled in a pyramid . . . When the hives are full, the clay is removed from the ends of the pipes, and the honey extracted with an iron hook.' Bees form the family Apiariae of the Aculeate section of Hymenopterous insects. They are divided into two great groups, in one of which (the typical bees) the tongue is long and slender, and in the other, short and broad. Like the ants, three adult forms are found in their colonies, males, females, and workers, or un- developed females. Of the architecture of bees and the marvellous instinct that prompts it, the distribution of labour in forming the cells and preparing for the deposition of eggs therein, the care of the young, the ' clustering,' ' swarming' and ' nuptial flight,' and many other interesting details, there is no space here to treat. The subject is one to which a book the size of the present volume might be easily devoted^. Beetle (Heb. 72Tn chargol). The Beetle is enumerated in Lev. xi. 22 as one of the ' flying creeping things that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth.' In company with the locust and the bald locust it was one of the beasts allowed for food. The word translated ' See The Hotuy Bee, published by the Religious Tract Society. BEETLE. BEHEMOTH. g^ beetle does not occur elsewhere in the Bible, and it is evident that it is wrongly translated so, since the beetle would not come under the description of a leaping insect. The Revised Version has altered the text to * cricket,' an insect which belongs to the same division of the OrtJioptcra, as the locust and grasshopper, called the Snltaiorial Orthoptera. Gryllidae, or Crickets, are abundant in Palestine, both in number and variety. The emendation is therefore one that may be accepted, so far as zoological propriety goes. Behemoth (Heb. J^iCf?3 behemoth). This word is translated in several passages in the Bible either as 'domestic cattle' or 'any large quadruped,' as in Gen. vi. 7, Ex. ix. 25, Lev. xi. 2, i Kings iv. ■^0,. In other places it denotes horses, mules or other ' beasts of burden,' as in 1 Kings xviii. 5, Neh. ii. 13. But in the Book of Job the word is left untranslated, since it is evidently descriptive of a particular animal ; and there can be no question that the vigorous portrait supplied us in Job xl. 15-24 is that of the River-horse or Hippo- potamus. Amongst the early critics a dispute was waged as to the relative claims of the elephant and the hippopotamus for the title of Behemoth. One commentator writes, ' It is most probable that the behemoth is at present a genus altogether extinct, like the mastodonton or mammoth.' Another suggested the wild buffalo. Recent writers, however, all agree that the hippopotamus agrees entirely with all the details given, and that no other animal could have been intended. ' Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee ; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his C 2 36 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar : the sinews of his stones [ thighs, R. V.] are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass ; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God : He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him, [hath furnished him with his sword or tooth, R.V.] Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth THE BEHEMOTH. under the shady trees in the covert of the reed and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow ; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not : he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes : his nose pierceth through snares.' The writings of African travellers, and the examples to be seen in the Zoological Gardens, have familiarized BEHEMOTH. 37 everyone with the Hippopotamus. There are two closely allied species, both of which are found only in Africa. The Hippopotamus, along with the pigs and peccaries, form a group in zoological classification, the non-ruminant Artiodactyls, or even-toed animals which do not chew the cud, amongst the order Ungjtlata, or hoofed quadrupeds. The skeleton of the hippopotamus is very like that of the hog. In spite of their enormous size they are, like the elephant and rhinoceros, capable of moving very swiftly on the land. They are nocturnal in their habits, and rarely leave the rivers or lakes which the}- inhabit except at night, when they sometimes commit great depredations upon crops. The stomach is capable of holding about six bushels, and their favourite food is young herbage, grass, and especially green corn. They can emain a long time under the water before requiring a breath, and they are provided with muscles by which the ears and nostrils are closed while they are immersed. The Hippopotamus was in great demand amongst the Romans for exhibition at their games and in the circus. It was obtained from Egypt. Milton speaks of Behe- moth ambiguously, perhaps as the elephant : ' Scarce from his mould Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness : fleeced the nocks, and bleating, rose As plants : ambiguous between sea and land The river horse and scaly crocodile.' In modern times these animals have been kept in confinement in this country from the year 1850, when the first seen alive in Europe since the time of the Roman exhibitions was brought to Europe from the Upper Nile. Amongst the ancients many fabulous descriptions are given of the hippopotamus. Aristotle speaks of it as 38 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. having a mane like a horse and a bifurcated hoof. PHny follows Aristotle, but adds that it is covered with hairs. Coming down to a more recent period, we have Topsell's description of the Sea-horse in his History of Four-footed Beasts, first printed, 1607. 'The Sea-horse is a most ugly and filthy beast, so called because in his voyce and mane he resemblcth a horse, but in his head an ox or a calf, in the residue of his body a swine. It liveth for the most part in Nilus ; yet it is of a doubtful life, for it brings forth and breedeth upon the land, and by the proportion of its legs it seemeth rather to be made for going than swimming ; for in the night- time it eateth both hay and fruits, foraging into corn- fields and devouring whatever coineth in the way.'' Several other Hebrew words are translated ' beasts ' besides behemoth, which is generally so rendered. i^Vf befrls used collectively of all kinds of domestic cattle, like the Latin pccns, e.g. 'If a man shall put in his beast [cattle] and shall feed in another man's field' (Exod. xxii. 5, Numb. XX. 4, 8, 11, and Ps. Ixxviii. 48). Sometimes beir signifies beasts of burden, as in Gen. xlv. 17, ' This do ye, lade your beasts and go.' i^'D cJiayyaJi is used to denote any living thing. Generally it is used to imply wild beast, sometimes more emphasized by the addition of the word n"ii^n hassddeh, ' of the field,' as in Hos. xiii. 8, ' The wild beasts shall tear them,' and in Exod. xxiii. II, ' And what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat.' So also in Deut. vii. 22, Jer. xii. 9, and elsewhere. In other passages the word TT ziz, ' moving things,' literally, is translated ' wild beasts ' in Ps. 1. 1 1 and Ixxx. 13. In other places 0'"^' iyyim denotes a particular wild beast, e.g. ' The wild beasts of the islands ' in Isa. xiii. 22 and xxxiv. 14, and in Jer. 1. 39. The BEHEMOTH. 39 meaning of lyywi is ' howlers,' and, according to Canon Tristram, this is undoubtedly the jackal. One of the Arabic names ((_^jT zuazvt) of the jackal is ' the sons of howling;' and there can be no question to anyone who has ever sojourned in Palestine what animal is meant by the ' howler.' It is often mentioned in Scripture under the name of ^V^^ shiial, which is, however, always trans- lated ' fox.' In two of the passages mentioned above, where tyyim occurs, the ' wild beast of the island ' is contrasted with C'V tsiyytm, translated ' wild beast of the desert.' This latter also occurs in Isa. xiii. 21, 'But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; ' and it is' probable that the term also stood for some special animal, possibly the h}'ena, which is common in all parts of Palestine, and resorts to old tombs, ruins, and desolate places. [See JACKAL, Hyena.] In the Revised Version the translation 'jackal' has been adopted for the word fyyim in the two passages in Isaiah ; and it appears to be an incon- sistency to render it 'wolves' in Jer. 1. 39. Either the old reading, ' wild beasts of the islands,' should remain unaltered, or else the change should have been harmoniously effected. The wolf is often mentioned under its Hebrew name 3S| zecb in the Bible, and never alluded to as a ' howling animal,' which is the literal interpretation of the word lyyhn. The high-pitched howl of the jackal is a thing that no one who has tented out in Palestine can ever forget. At the Ghor es Saffieh, at the south end of the Dead Sea, it was more continuous and less propitious for sleep, than elsewhere. A small breed of Bantam fowl crowed there very loudly, and it appeared to me that both animals pitched their screams in about the same key. The donkey of the Ghor brays 40 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. too in an unusually shrill manner. Perhaps the excessive pressure of the atmosphere there (32!- inches) may in some way offer an explanation of this phenomenon. Birds. See Fowl. Bittern (Heb. isip kippod). The word translated ' bittern ' bears so close a resem- blance to the Arabic jiH kimfood, signifying ' hedgehog ' or •' porcupine,' that it has been asserted that the latter should be the rendering ; but this the context seems to render impossible ; ' I will also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water ' (Isa. xiv. 33). Neither the hedgehog, nor the porcupine frequents pools of water. Nor would either of these animals be associated naturally with the cormorant (or pelican) : ' But the cormorant [pelican] and the bittern shall possess it ; the owl also and raven shall dwell in it' (Isa. xxxiv. 11). In this latter passage the change would be less open to ob- jection, but seems undesirable unless the philological argument demands it. The Revisers have adopted the change in their version in both places, as also in ' the cormorant [pelican] and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their voice shall sing in the windows ' (Zeph. ii. 14), which appears in the R. V., 'the pelican and porcupine shall lodge in the chapiters ; their voice shall sing in the windows.' Both porcupine and hedge- hog are common enough in Palestine ; but, in spite of the similarity of the Hebrew and Arabic words, neither of them can be suitably introduced in place of the bittern. Neither of them sing, or climb up columns to build, or frequent pools of water. Canon Tristram decides on retaining the bittern, in his Natural History of the Bible, BITTERN. 41 but, in his Fauna and Flora of Palestine, he says that kippod is erroneously translated ' bittern,' and should be rendered ' hedgehog.' There are two species of Bittern, the Little [BotaJirus ininntiis) and the Great {B. stellaris), in Palestine and Egypt. The Little Bittern is of rather rare occurrence in Egypt, but the larger species is plentiful. Both these species occur occasionally in the BITTERN. British Islands, the Little Bittern chiefly as a summer visitor, the Common Bittern as a winter one. The latter was in former times abundant, before the spread of cultivation and the drainage of marshes, especially of the fen districts. It is a skulking species, scarcely coming abroad in the daytime, unless disturbed, from its hiding- place in rushes, tall sedges, &c., and feeding at night. It is an especially shy bird, and typical of loneliness and desolation. During the night, at its feeding-grounds, it makes a loud booming noise, which earned for it formerly the name of Butter Bump, and was said to be as loud as ^2 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. the roar of a bull, and to be produced by the bird burying its beak either in a hollow reed or in the mud ; but this has been shown to be incorrect, though still widely believed. The bittern was formerly in some request for the table, and esteemed better eating than the heron. It was a favourite quarry in the days of falconry. Boar, Wild (Heb. "T'TH chazir; Arab, pjjui. chanzir). ■ Both the above terms are also applied to domesticated swine. The Wild Boar is mentioned in a single passage only, where the Psalmist complains that the Lord of hosts ' hast brought a vine out of Egypt . . . and planted it. . , . The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it' (Ps. Ixxx). In the marginal reading of Ps. Ixviii. 30, the ' beasts of the reeds ' in all probability refers to the wild boar. The wild boar is still common in many parts of Pales- tine, wherever there is sufficient cover. It is found in the woods of Mount Tabor and along the coverts by the Jordan from Gennesaret to the Dead Sea, It is espe- cially common in the cane-brakes of the Ghor es Saffieh at the south end of the Dead Sea ; but so wary is the animal that, although frequently heard crashing through the reeds, we rarely obtained a sight of it. On one occa- sion, when crossing the plains of Judaea, a sow and her litter were disturbed in a shallow wady, where they were feeding on a bulb which they especially delight in, that of the wild tulip {Tulipa Gesneriana). The illustration of the Psalmist is peculiarly apt. No animal could create so much destruction in the same space of time in a vineyard as a wild boar ; and on account of its ravages in crops, as well as because of the abhorrence with which all Easterns regard it, it is ii 1 ; .>! .llin!.,!., '1 11' 1 .j'l 1 !, 1 i 1 j! BOAR. 45 destroyed by all available methods. The result of this perpetual warfare is that they are excessively hard to dislodge from their lairs, and as long as any cover re- mains they are safe from extermination. The Wild Boar has a wide geographical range,inhabiting Europe, North Africa, and Asia to Hindostan, excepting the colder regions. Each of these countries, however, affords a peculiar race. It feeds almost entirely on vegetable matter, but when pressed by hunger is om- nivorous. It formerly inhabited Great Britain, and has been exterminated from Ireland only about two centuries. In India the chase of the wild pig affords the most exciting sport to be had. The domestic pig is now believed to be derived from two of the wild races, the Indian and the European. There is no animal spoken of with such abhorrence in the Bible as the hog. It is forbidden as unclean by the Mosaic law (Lev. xi. 7 ; Deut. xiv. 8). And in several passages the eating of swine's flesh is alluded to as the very acme of abomination (Isa. Ixv. 4; Ixvi. 3, 17). The most orthodox Jews of old would not even name the animal, but referred to it as ' the abomination.' Again, if a comparison is to be made, the swine is quoted some- times as the proverbial incarnation of uncleanliness : ' as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without discretion ' (Prov. xi. 22) ; and compare also Matt. vii. 6 and 2 Pet. ii. 22 in the New Testament. Nevertheless, in later times we find that swine were kept in herds in Palestine, We observe this in the case of the parable of the prodigal son, and also when our Lord caused the evil spirits to enter into the swine be- longing to the Gergasenes. These no doubt were kept for trade with the heathen population of Palestine. At 46 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. the present time the pig is never met with, or exceed- ingly rarely in the Holy Land. None came under our notice during a somewhat extended tour, and Canon Tristram speaks of having seen a single one by the coast at Caiffa. Swine were forbidden for food on the technical ground that they were not ruminants, although cloven- footed ; but it is not unlikely that their use may have been found to promote the dreaded leprosy, since it is stated that in hot countries those who eat this flesh are liable to affections of the skin. In the two instances noted above of the keeping of swine in the time of our Lord by the Jews, it is to be observed, that in one case the swine are entirely destroyed — no doubt as a punishment — and in the other they are introduced as a means of inflicting the utmost possible degradation, that of herding swine, upon the prodigal son. Bull, Wild. See Pygarg. Camel (Heb. ?^2 gamal). Gamal (Arabic J^». gemel) is the common Hebrew name for this most valuable of all animals in the desert regions of the East. The word includes every creature of the kind, whatever the species, sex, age, or breed ; and the name of the animal is retained with little alteration in modern languages. Another word "i^^ heker, or its feminine nn^? bikrah, occurs twice, and is translated ' dromedary' (Isa. Ix. 6, Jer. ii. 23). Camels were used for a variety of purposes. They served for riding, as when in i Sam. xxx. 1 7 David smote the Amalekites which had spoiled Ziklag, 'and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, CAMEL. 47 which rode upon camels and fled.' And in Esth. viii. 14, ' the posts that rode upon mules and camels.' In this latter passage the word has given rise to some dispute. It is (D'^J^nK^nx achashtcranhri) rendered ' swift steeds' in the Revised Version. Camels were employed as beasts of burden generally, the purpose for which they are most valuable and best adapted. The load is placed either on a saddle or pavilion affixed to or round the hump, or depends on either side of the animal in panniers or creels. The enormous masses of gear, furniture, agricultural utensils or produce, or other impedimenta, that can be piled upon the back of a camel is most astonishing to a new-comer in such places as Jaffa, Beyrout or Smyrna. Small camels are loaded up to See lbs., large ones to half a ton. With this load they will travel thirty to thirty-five miles a day at a uniform pace of about three miles an hour. Those which are used for riding at speed are lighter built and bred for the purpose. They are usually called dromedaries (though this name properly belongs to all Arabian camels), and will travel from sixty to ninety or even a hundred miles in a day. The pace is about eight miles an hour. Camels were also used for draught. 'A chariot of camels' is mentioned in Isa. xxi. 7. Probably they were also used for agricultural purposes. I have seen them yoked to the plough or bush-harrow both in Southern Juda,^a and in the Ghor es Saffich, at the south end of the Dead Sea. But the valuable qualities in the camel are its powers of weight-carrying and of subsisting without food or drink for comparatively long periods without injury. Camels have been known to travel as many as ten days without water. The Arabian camel is furnished with a series of water-cells lining the first stomach, which arc capable 4H ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. of carrying as much as a gallon and a half of water as a reserve. The ' bunch' or hump on the back is composed of fatty cells, and is a reserve of food — fat and plump when the animal is well fed and lightly worked, shrivelling to nothing after hard work and bad feeding. In the Arabian camel, the only one met with in Palestine or south of it, the hump is single. In the Bactrian camel, which is found east and north of Arabia, it is double. The Arabian camel, or ' Ship of the Desert,' is found from North-west Africa to India. Camel's flesh was forbidden for food ; ' because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean to you ' (Deut. xiv. 7, Lev. xi. 4). It is eaten now, when better cannot be had, in most parts of the East, but the meat is said to be very coarse and dry. The camel's colt is, however, esteemed by the Arabs as a great luxury. The milk is much more used, and though strong, is ex- cellent. Camel's milk was no doubt used by the Jews. We read in Gen. xxxii. i^, that Jacob ' took a present for Esau his brother . . . thirty milch camels with their colts.' Camel's hair is in use for the manufacture of various materials by the Arabs, such as saddle-bags, both for donkeys and camels. The Ghawarneh Arabs at the Dead Sea used tents made of this material. These saddle-bags are usually red, black and white, and fringed with long pendent tassels, which sweep the ground almost, and are supposed to heighten the dignity of the sheikh perched above. Other decorative trappings of shells or silver laid on bright-coloured bits of cloth are stitched on to the halter or suspended from the neck. This custom has lasted since the time of Gideon. See Judg. vii. 21, 26. The substance to which the hair is woven is coarse and unyielding, and would furnish CAMEL. 49 neither warmth nor comfort as raiment. John the Baptist we are told, ' was clothed with camel's hair ' (Mark i. 6), and again, ' the same John had his raiment of camel's hair' (Matt. iii. 4). This substance is made by the Arab women. The skin of the camel is valuable for many purposes. Of it are made tents, shields, harness, saddles, trunks, &c. Camels were always, as they are now, the carriers for traders and caravans in the Eastern countries. We read in Gen. xxxvii. that Joseph was sold to ' a company of Ishmaelites from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.' The wealthier among the patriarchs owned large herds of camels. Job possessed six thousand. The sons of Reuben took from the Hagarites when ' they were delivered into their hands, of their camels fifty thousand ' (1 Chron. v. 21). At this day the Beni Sakker Arabs who inhabit the country of the Hagarites of old, the western Belka, are said to possess 100,000 camels ; while the sheikh of the Anazeh, the purest of the Bedouin tribes, who inhabit the country west from Damascus to Palmyra and on to the Eu- phrates and the plateau of Ncjd, can muster a force of 10,000 horsemen and 90,000 camel-riders. It is commonly supposed that the camel is fitted only to traverse tolerably level or even ground. This is not by any means the case. The camels of Sinai can pick their way with extraordinary sure-footedness amongst boulders and in rocky places which would puzzle many a mountain pony. They move with extreme caution, and seldom or never make a mistake. The ascent of Mount Hor is in some places a remarkable test of a camel's skill in climbing. Watery or muddy ground is the one obstacle which they will not face, and In D 5o ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. presence of which they are completely helpless. The broad, elastic, cushion-shaped foot, so admirably fitted as a pad for stony or smooth dry ground, becomes most dangerous in anything of the nature of sliminess. Camels are so well known, that description is un- necessary. The head is usually carried nearly on the level with the hump, but when raised is almost nine feet from the ground, and they are thus often enabled to browse upon the very tops of the stunted acacias and tamarisks in the desert. The camel is an intensely stupid animal, and is only docile because it has no originality. It never becomes attached to its rider, and in that respect is only half domesticated. It is entirely devoid of sympathy, and the attempt to guide it into any sort of understanding with its master, such as a dog or a horse instinctively at once acquires, is at all times a failure, and resented with screams and bites. The odour of the animal is rank, and its annoying habit of swerving from its track with a jerking bite at every morsel of green food, renders its jolting pace, which most people find very disagree- able, still more so. It may be called a patient animal, but the patience becomes at times a most extraordinarily immovable obstinacy, and there are well-authenticated instances of its having cherished a revengeful spite against a driver who has corrected it till its opportunity arrived months later, and woe to the arm or leg which receives the bite of a camel ! The camel rests kneeling upon its chest, elbows, knees, and hocks, and upon these there are indurated callous pads of thickened skin. It is when in this position that the animal is loaded, and the rider gets upon the padded wooden frame with an upright support in front which CAMEL. 51 is called the saddle. The camel is not bitted, but guided by a string attached to a noose fitted tightly round the nose. Guidance is, in fact, of very little use, as the animal is exceedingly difficult to direct in any way except that which it proposes to follow ; either some obvious well- known track, or else the line of the caravan. Camels have been used by man as far back as the earliest records take us, nor is there any evidence as to their original home, or the period or people by whom they were first domesticated. The animal, however, never appears upon the early Egyptian monuments ; and this, coupled with other testimony, proves 'the remarkable fact in the history of cultivation, that the camel was first introduced into Africa as late as the third century of the Christian era, although that animal seems ex- pressly made for the Libyan desert ^' The camels with the llamas form together a group called the Tylopoda, or callous-footed, which differ from the other ruminants in having the feet protected by a hardened skin instead of by hoofs, as well as in some other particulars. Cankerworm (Heb. VT'.. yelek). See Locust. Caterpillar (Heb. P''i?n chasil). See Locust, Worm. Cattle. Under this heading may be considered horned cattle of whatever age or sex. There are several Hebrew words in use to express the different sorts. BehcmotJi. has been already dealt with ; it is usually translated ' beasts,' and includes other domestic quadrupeds. We ' Wanderings of Plants and Alii niah. By Victor llchn. London, 1885. D a 52 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. have also iS^ s/zor, an ox, whether cow or bull, of any age. ''^^ tor (Lat. taiirzis), which is the Chaldee form of shor, occurs only in the later books, Ezra vi. 9, 17, vii. 17; and Dan. iv. 25) 3^, 'i'^- ^''T?^' abbuini implies strength, and is occasionally translated ' bulls ' (Ps. xxii. 12, 1. 13, Iviii. 30; Isa. xxxiv. 7; Jer. 1. 11). 'Many bulls have compassed me : strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round,' &c. "ii^3 bakar, herds of cattle or oxen full grown, irrespective of age or sex. This term is almost invariably equivalent to the word ' herd,' and is derived from a root meaning ' to plough.' "iQ par^ a young bull, generally spoken of a bullock for sacrifice, as the female n"i3 parah is of the heifer or young cow for the same purpose. ?}yi. egel, np:j; eglah^ a male or female calf, properly of the first year ; it is used of a trained heifer (Hos. x. 11), of a milch cow (Isa. vii. 21, 22), of a heifer used at the plough (Judg. xiv. 18), and of a three-year old (Gen. xv. 9). In consequence of its great use in all farming opera- tions the ox was the most important animal in the domestic economy of the ancient Israelites. Oxen per- formed all those agricultural duties which horses do with us. They were used for ploughing, ' Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together' (Deut. xxii. 10) ; and ' Elisha, the son of Shaphat, was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him ' (i Kings xix. 19). Also they were used for treading out corn : ' Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadethout the corn' (Deut. XXV. 4) ; ' Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn' (Hos. x. 11); also for draught purposes, usually yoked in pairs, ' And they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered wagons and twelve oxen ; a wagon for two of the princes, CATTLE. 53 and for each one an ox ' (Numb. vii. 3, and see i Sam. vi. 7, &c.) ; the flesh was eaten, ' These are the beasts which ye shall eat : the ox, the sheep, and the goat ' (Deut. xiv. 4, and see i Kings i. 9, &c.) ; as beasts of bur- den, ' They brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, and meat, meal,' &c. (1 Chron. xii. 40). They were used for sacrifices, and milk and butter were derived from them. Abraham and the wealthier patriarchs offered them (Gen. xv. 9). They had very considerable herds of cattle, of which a large portion were required for sacrifice or for occasions of public hospitality, or special feasts, or to entertain a friend. For this latter purpose a calf was usually killed (Gen. xviii. 7, Luke xv. 30). We are told that ' Solomon offered a sacrifice of two and twenty thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep ' (i Kings viii. 6;^) at the dedication of the temple, while at its cleansing ' the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep ' (2 Chron. xxix. 33). Oxen were, in consequence of their high importance, protected by a strict code of laws. ' Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadcth out the corn ' (Deut. XXV. 4) ; 'On the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest' (Exod. xxiii. 12). Cattle, in the large herds in which they were kept by the patriarchs, roamed in a semi-domesticated condition over great areas of land. Thus they often became wild and fierce, the more especially as they were in those times exposed to the attacks of many wild beasts, the lion and llic bear, the wolf and the leopard, and thus acquired ferocity in self-defence. Across the Jordan, the wild bulls of Bashan (Ps. xxii. 12) were compared for their savageness by the 54 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Psalmist to his enemies. Nevertheless, although they were thus allowed to roam wherever they could feed — in the open country, with sufficient tending to guide them, no doubt, from scarcer to more plentiful pasture — a certain selection were fattened for the table and stall-fed by the rich. Fat oxen are distinguished from oxen out of the pastures in i Kings iv. 33, where Solomon's provision for the day was ten of the former and twenty of the latter. Again, in Prov. xv. 17, stalled cattle are spoken of ; ' Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.' ' Calves of the stall ' are spoken of in Amos vi. 4, Mai. iv. 2. The oxen of the present day in Palestine appear to be a deteriorated breed. They exist in far smaller numbers, and are no longer cared for as they used to be. East of the Jordan they are more abundant. The land in other parts is more barren, and the inhabitants poorer and less careful of their pastoral welfare. Stalled cattle may be said to be unknown, and the insufficient quantity of pasture in the winter is unassisted by a supply of fodder. A few beasts may be seen roaming in search of food in such wildernesses as that from the Dead Sea to Beersheba, and from Beersheba to Gaza, at a season when withered weeds, many yards apart, and perhaps already bared of leaves by snails, are well- nigh their only nourishment. We have a means of judging of the quality of the cattle in Biblical times. The Egyptian monuments give drawings of several breeds of cattle, and the animals represented were evidently large and handsome. These may perhaps be taken as a sample of the ancient oxen of Palestine, when the state of the country permitted their attentive CATTLE. 55 culture. At present good cattle may be found in Eg}-pt, but in Central Palestine beef is almost unknown, and what is to be had is of the poorest quality. The breed is small and shaggy, not unlike Highland cattle. They are little used for agricultural purposes. At the south end of the Dead Sea, however, the cultivating Arabs there use them almost exclusively. Larger and finer cattle are found in Northern Palestine, which seem more nearly akin to those found at present in Egypt and represented on the ancient monuments. In the Jordan Valley there is an animal of the ox kind, Bos dudaius, the Indian buffalo, which is a different species from the common ox (Bos taitrtis). It is also ^6 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. much used in Egypt, but requires marshy or muddy soil, where it can wallow during the heat of the sun. In some places it is utilized for ploughing in Palestine, where the conditions permit, as in the upper parts of the Jordan. It is probably of more recent introduction from Persia than would allow of its mention in Biblical times. It is a most ungainly beast to look at, and al- ways of a dark colour. This buffalo is a native of India in its wild state, but has been introduced and made use of in all parts of Asia and Northern Africa where the climate is warm enough. It has been stated that they are in use at the Dead Sea (Ghor es Saffieh), but I cannot with certainty recall having seen them there during a sojourn of a fortnight. The mud which forms the swamps they would otherwise revel in is probably of too salt a nature to suit them. Chameleon (Heb. nb koach). This word occurs only in Lev. xi. 30, where amongst unclean things are included 'the ferret and the chameleon and the lizard and the snail and the mole.' These are pronounced to be unclean ' among the creeping things that creep upon the earth.' There appears to be no reason why the Hebrew word koach should be translated ' chameleon.' The root signifies ' strength,' which would hardly be applicable. Bochart refers the term to a powerful species of lizard, the largest of its class, called the queen lizard or the monitor. The Arabic name of this lizard {X^^\ alwarl) implies strength and courage. There are two species of Monito7'idae to which this term is applied, the Psammosatcrus scincus and the Monitor nilotictis, both of which have been found in the regions round the Dead CHAMELEON. 57 Sea and south of it. They are the largest of the lizard family, and both of them attain a length of five feet or even more. The characteristics of the true chameleon amongst medieval writers were well known and are frequently alluded to ; viz. that of its power of changing colour, and its being supposed capable of living upon air. The latter has given rise to the supposition that the word n^lJ'jri tinsJiemeth, translated ' mole ' in the passage quoted above, should be rendered ' chameleon,' since this Hebrew word is from the root Dtrj neshem, to breathe, and the etymological interpretation corresponds with the vulgar one, popular since the time of Pliny, who states that this animal ' neither eats nor drinks, but stands with his mouth always open, and the air serves him for nutriment ' [Nat. Hist. lib. viii. c. '^2>)- Sir John Mandeville (1356) speaks of the ' camles, that is a lytille best as a goot, that is wylde, and he lyvethe by the eyr, and eteth nought ne drynkethe nought at no tyme. And he chaungethe colour often tyme,' &c. [Travels, p. 289, ed. Halliwell, 1839). Shakespeare also says 'of the chameleon's dish : I eat the air' [Hamlet, iii. 2. 98). There appears to be no appropriateness in rendering this term ' mole,' which is indeed the translation of another word, with the primary signification of burrowing, occurring in Isa. ii. 20. [See MOLE.] Chameleons form the sub-order Verinilingtics of the Saurian or Lizard order of the class Reptiles. There are many species. They are found in Southern Europe, Africa, Asia Minor, Hindostan and Ceylon. Madagascar contains no less than twenty-one species. The common chameleon has a wide range from South Spain through Africa and Asia Minor to India and Ceylon. Its colour 58 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. is greener in India than in Africa, where a brown-yellow tint is the prevailing shade. It is very frequent in Palestine, but not easily detected, so motionlessly does it remain on the branch of the tree to which it has assimilated its colour. In habits it is exceedingly slu"-crish but on the arrival of an insect, its extraordinary worm-shaped, lobe-ended tongue protrudes itself with unerring aim and to a surprising length. The end of it is fleshy and cup-shaped, and exudes a viscid substance, which renders the captured insect's escape impossible. The animal stands high on its legs ; the whole length being about six or seven inches. Its body is flattened and ridged with teeth ; its head is conical and angular and very scaly, while its eyes look in opposite directions with a strange glare through a narrow slit in the skin by which they are covered. The eyes roll about slowly in a disconnected way ; and these peculiarities render the chameleon a very odd-looking creature. It has the power of suspending itself by its tail at the end of branches of trees, poised in position for catching flies. The change in colouring is a complicated process, and governed by two kinds of nerves, which are in con- nection with a number of minute corpuscles of colouring matter at different depths in the animal's skin. Also there is a colouring matter of yellow in the skin and a layer which is either blue or yellow as the light is absorbed or transmitted. Irritation causes the nerves to act (in connection with the brain) upon the colouring matter, apparently, and it seems that different luminous rays of light falling upon the corpuscles are themselves able to act upon them, and cause the nerves to change the depths of their position in the skin, thus producing different effects. CHAMOIS. 59 The context in the passage quoted leads us to be pretty certain that some kind of lizard is intended to be mentioned by the word tinshemeth ; and Bochart has argued at length that it should be, as above stated, the chameleon. Some of the most important old versions of the Bible believe that the 'snail' and 'ferret' of the context should both apply to animals of the lizard kind. [See SNAIL, FERRET. With reference to another translation of the word tinshemeth, see SWAN.] Chamois (Heb. "'^T zemcr). This term is found in Deut. xiv. 5, where the chamois is included along with ' the hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox,' as being clean and animals to be eaten. The chamois is not a native of Bible lands, nor is there any reason to suppose it ever was. Some other animal must therefore be intended. The camelopard or giraffe is the suggestion of some of the old versions ; but this animal is a native of Central Africa. This suggestion appears to have arisen from the Arabic word^j zamara, which has been derived from a root signifying to crop branches, to browse. The Arabic rjamar, however, implies a leaping animal; and with this slight foundation to go upon modern commentators have proposed the kebsch [Ammotragus TragelapJms), a mountain sheep which is said to inhabit Arabia Petraea and to be depicted on Egyptian monuments. It is also stated to occur near Cairo on the Mokattam rocks ; but this is more likely to be the aoudad of North Africa — if indeed any such animal occurs in the limited and rather frequented space indicated. Mountain sheep are good to eat, and also satisfy the sense of leaping, which limits the 6o ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. field wherein to seek for the meaning of zemer. Other words are applied to the other leaping animals, gazelles, antelopes, and ibex, which are also good to eat. But I am somewhat sceptical about the kebsch. Repeated enquiries amongst the Sinai Arabs and those of Petra and Mount Hor and elsewhere in Arabia Petraea failed to elicit a word of information about the kebsch or any sort of wild sheep. Unfrequented places were traversed, and all the well-known Palestine wild beasts were met with in some form or other, but I could find no trace of such an animal, nor of any large antelope, in the animal craft of any of the Bedawin. It is possible that the suggested interpretation is correct, and that the sup- posed animal mentioned has become extinct or very rare in comparison with its former occurrence. The solution is full of uncertainty, but no better has been offered. Cock. Hen. There is no direct mention of domestic poultry in the Old Testament, nor do we know at what period they were first introduced into Palestine. There is no representation of the cock on Egyptian monuments, nor is there any mention of cock or hen in the poems of the earliest Greek period of Homer and Hesiod. The native country of the domestic cock is supposed to be India, and the Bankiva fowl of Java, as well as the larger native breed of Malacca, are believed to be the parent species. There are two or three other well-marked varieties of the wild or jungle fowl in India, all of which will breed with the barn-door poultry. The migration of domestic fowl to Western Asia and Europe was of a later period than would be expected, and probably took COCK. HEN. 6l place with the Medo- Persian conquerors. As the Persians spread their dominions the cock, the ' Persian bird,' went with them. The first Greek mention of the cock appears to be in Theognis, in the latter half of the sixth century B.C., and their diffusion further west was probably not slow. Caesar found fowls among the Britons in the middle of the first century B.C. In the New Testament there are familiar allusions to the crowing of the cock, showing that the bird was com- mon at the time of the coming of our Lord. One of the most beautiful similes in the Bible is that of Luke xiii. 34, ' O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not ! ' Cock-crowing is mentioned as a known period of the night in Mark xiii. ^q, ' at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning.' This cock-crowing is probably what should really be called the second cock- crowing, and represents about an hour before dawn. The first was at midnight, but being less attended to is not spoken of as :t/ie cock-crowing. Hence in Mark xiv. 30, ' in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice ; ' while in Matt. xxvi. 34 a seeming discrepancy, ' this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny Me thrice,' is explained by the less accurate Apostle not mentioning the unnoticed crowing. The regular crowing habits of Eastern cocks have been noticed by several travellers. Canon Tristram says that during his first week at Beyrout he ' was regularly awakened three times every night by the sudden crow- ing of the cocks on the roof of the hotel.' The two o'clock, or thereabouts, cock-crow appeared to be very 62 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. regular amongst the Ghawarneh villages in the Ghor, where a considerable number of Bantam fowls were kept. Our supply of fresh eggs from these birds was more regular and better than we elsewhere met with. Domestic fowl are usually frequent in Palestine, but it by no means follows that the eggs obtained will be fresh. In I Kings iv. 23 we are told that Solomon's provision for one day included fatted fowl. This is perhaps the only direct mention of domestic poultry. The word used is Clii'in barbtirim, which, according to some writers, means ' poultry fatted in the pen.' But the term is not elsewhere met with, and commentators disagree as to whether it refers to such domestic poultry as are at present in use, or to some other species kept in con- finement as a delicacy. Nehemiah (v. 18) also tells us that fowls were prepared for his daily use ; but the Hebrew term is a different one, and bears no specific interpretation. As an argument in favour of early domestication of fowls, reference has been made to passages wherein eggs are spoken of as articles of food. In Job vi. 6 the word niD^n chalamuth is translated ' the white of an ^gg ; ' ' Is there any taste in the white of an Q.g% ? ' but the term is probably used merely to convey the idea of insipidity. In Luke xi. 12 we have an undoubted instance of eggs being spoken of as in use for food : ' If he shall ask an ^ZZy will he offer him a scorpion ? ' At this period it is certain that poultry were widely domesticated in Palestine, and probably eggs then, as now, were an indispensable delicacy where they could be obtained. At entertainments in the East eggs are often served up •with fish and honey, COCKATRICE. 63 Cockatrice (Heb. "'•?iy?V tsiphoni). The Hebrew word tsipJioni occurs five times in the Bible, and is translated cockatrice each time, though once (Prov. xxiii. 32) this rendering is marginal, that of the text being 'adder' (see ADDER), It is spoken of as 'stinging' (Prov. tit supra), as having a den (Isa. xi, 8), as being the offspring of a serpent (Isa. xiv. 29), the eggs thereof are deadly poison and produce vipers (Isa. lix. 5) (see, however, Serpent), and they were incapable of being charmed, and of the most deadly nature. The Hebrew word signifies ' to hiss ' in its root, but this being a character of all serpents is of no value as a means of identification. The original Hebrew word has received a variety of renderings, as aspic, regnliis, hydra, viper, and cerastes ; and later the Algerine adder and the great yellozv viper. These interpretations appear to be all little other than mere conjecture, except the earlier ones, which were founded on ignorance of the natures of living things. All we can safely predicate of the tsipJioni is that it was some very poisonous species of snake, distinct probably from those intended by the words rendered Adder and Asp, which see. Amongst early English writers the Cockatrice was merely fabulous, a basilisk with a dragon's tail armed with a sting. The basilisk had the head and body of a cock with the tail of a serpent, and his description may be found in early works on heraldry. Like the basilisk, the cockatrice had the power of destroying by its glance. ' This will so fright them both that they will kill one another by the look, like cockatrices ' (Shakes. Tivelfth Night, iii. 4. z 1 4). These characteristics 64 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. caused the name to be synonymous with many others which represented an evil woman, and the animal itself to be regarded as an emblem of sin. Coney (Heb. |3^ shaphan). The Coney was forbidden as food to the Israelites, 'because he cheweth the cud but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean ' (Lev. ii. 5, Deut. xiv. 7). Two other THE CONEY. references occur to the coney : ' the rocks are a refuge for the conies' (Ps. civ. 18), and 'they are exceeding wise . . . the conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks ' (Prov. xxx. 34, 26). The word coney (Lat. ainiculus, a rabbit), a common CONEY. 6^ name formerly for the rabbit, was an erroneous transla- tion, since no rabbit occurs in Palestine or Sinai. Two or three kinds of hare may be met with, but no true rabbit. The Hebrew word signifies ' the hider.' The animal intended is no doubt the Hyrax Syriacus, which is said to be known in South Arabia by the name ihofitn, of a similar signification with sJiaphan. A good figure may be seen as the frontispiece of Tristram's Fauna and Flora of Palestine. The Hyrax is a very peculiar little animal, and with one or two closely allied species forms the only genus in the order Hyracoidea, which stands between the elephant and the horse group, according to modern classification. The Syrian Hyrax is not uncommon, especially in Sinai, and a colony exists at the summit of Jebel Musa. There and elsewhere I obtained momentary glimpses of the animal before it disappeared amongst the stones. Its habits are identical with those of the Bible coney, so far as mentioned. It has been called the rock- badger, and the same species is stated to be found in Lebanon, throughout Arabia Pctrita, and by the coasts of the Red Sea to Arabia and Ethiopia. It is about the size of a rabbit, of a reddish colour, very crafty, and living in small colonies. It has a habit of sitting on a ledge of a rock and working its jaws in mastication, as if it really did chew the cud, so that a careless ob- server would readily mistake it for a ruminating animal. It delights in the tops of aromatic shrubs for food, and it finds plants of this description most abundant in the hot dry wastes of Sinai. It is generally to be found, like the rabbit, feeding in the early morning or at sunset, and a sentry is said to be posted to give warning by a short scjucaking bark, though this latter statement E 66 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. has been questioned. Generally speaking they scuttle away before one can obtain a glimpse of them. The position of this animal in zoological classifi- cation is much disputed. That given above is Professor Huxley's, but it is hardly decided upon amongst natural- ists. Its teeth and feet closely resemble in structure those of the hippopotamus. Four species of Hyrax are known. The range of the Bible Hyrax is given above. Another, the Cape Hyrax, is found at the Cape and East Coast of Africa, south from Abyssinia. Two other species are described from West Africa. Coral (Heb. niDNT ramolh). Coral is the somewhat doubtful rendering of the Hebrew word ramoth in Job xxviii. i8, Ezek. xxvii. i6. The word is derived from a root signifying ' to raise up,' sometimes 'to have lofty branches' (Isa. ii, 3, x. o,'^). Hence the term is not altogether unsuitable, since coral branches and lifts itself up in the water. The value of coral is thus alluded to in Job, ' No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls ; for the price of wisdom is above rubies : ' and in Ezekiel, ' Syria was thy merchant : they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, . . . and coral, and agate.' Pliny tells us that coral was highly valued amongst the ancients, both because it protected the wearer from danger, and on account of its beauty (lib. xxxii. c. 2). Its substance was a sore puzzle to early naturalists. The growth of coral is now well understood, and there are few more beautiful theories of explanation in the life-history of aninials than that well-known one of CORAL. CORMORANT. 67 Darwin, which is apparently incontrovertible, with regard to the manner of growth of coral reefs. Coral is the name commonly given to the stony skeletons of polypes of numerous species, giving differ- ent forms and shapes to the mass. Red coral is found in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific about Cape Negro. It is dragged off from the roots by those engaged in the tr^ide by a strong heavily weighted net being hauled over the bottom where there is supposed to be coral, six or seven boats being engaged in each haul. The little polypes or zoophytes which form this substance are of the same nature as the sea anemones which adorn our rocks at low tide. Corals belong to the AntJiozoa, the second class of the group Zoopliyta. The white stony coral and sea anemones form the Zoantharia in this class, and the red coral and tube coral and others form a second order, the Alcyonaria. Cormorant (Heb. 'H^^ shalak). The Cormorant, as the translation of the above term, is mentioned in two places in the Old Testament. It is included amongst the unclean birds in Lev. xi. 17 and Dcut. xiv. 17, 'Ye shall have in abomination the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl.' In two other l^laces (Isa. xxxiv. 11, Zcph. ii. 14) in our version the word ' cormorant ' occurs as the translation of the Hebrew word nxj^ kaath, which undoubtedly means the ' pelican,' and which is elsewhere so translated. [Sec Pklican.] The term shalak implies a plunging bird. The cormorant does not plunge into the water from above, as the gannct does so splendidly ; but the gannet 1:: 2 68 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. does not occur, or only in the greatest rarity, along the east coast of the Mediterranean. Some of the tern family plunge in true gannet fashion. The little tern especially I have often watched immersing himself from a height of so to 30 feet like an arrow into the water. Southwards from Gaza I observed these birds for some time performing this graceful evolution. Several other kinds of tern are frequent along the east of the Mediterranean and up the Nile waters and lagoons. THE CORMORANT. With terns, gulls would easily be included, and though there are numerous gulls on the coast of Palestine and on the Sea of Galilee, and some species that roam far and wide, as they do in this country, after the plough or in search of terrestrial mollusca, yet gulls are nowhere mentioned in the Bible translation. Gulls and terns would both naturally be pronounced unclean on account of their living upon fish. CRANE. 69 Crane (Heb. D^D s?(s). In Isa. xxxviii. 14 occurs the passage, ' Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter ;' and in Jer. viii. 7, the same birds are mentioned, ' the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming.' The word ' crane ' is in both passages the translation of sus, and ' swallow ' of "^"^^V agnr. According to most of the ancient versions sus is rendered ' swallow,' and it appears probable that the two words have been trans- posed, agnr therefore meaning ' crane.' But the trans- position has not altered the meaning. In confirmation of the above, Canon Tristram finds that sis is the Arabian for swift, a bird closely resembling the swallow. [See Swallow.] The migration of the crane {Gj-ns communis) is alluded to by the prophet Jeremiah. It spends its winters in Northern Africa and eastwards in warm temperate climates to China. In Southern Palestine it is a winter resident, remaining on into the spring, but it is not known to nest there. It passes north, to breed at the beginning of April, and returns in September. A large flock assembled in the evening at Tel el Milh, near Beersheba, to roost, and their loud, clanging, trumpet-like note was heard during several nights while camping in that country in January. They were exceedingly wary, and would permit of no approach. The melodious, mysterious note of the crane is very unaptly rendered 'chatter,' or assimilated with that of the swallow. The cranes {Gruidae) and the bustards {Oiidae) are classed together in the order Alectoridcs. Formerly the cranes were classed with herons, but it is now admitted there is no real affinity to the Ardcidae 70 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. or herons. In several parts of the British Islands (es- pecially Ireland) the name 'crane' is erroneously applied to the heron. The crane was formerly a frequent winter visitor to England, and used to remain to breed in the fens. It is now of exceedingly scarce occurrence, and — CA? THE CRANE. only visits us occasionally when the winter is of more than ordinary severity on the Continent, and the birds are driven to the milder western climate of our islands. Rare stragglers also occur on the spring and autumn migrations, CUCKOO. 7T The crane is the largest bird now to be met with in Palestine. Its whole length is fully four feet. It possesses a peculiarly convoluted trachea or windpipe, and corresponding modifications of the breastbone and merry-thought, which are different from those of any other bird, and most interesting to anatomists. Cranes were in former times flown at, as the proper quarry of gyr-falcons in this country. They were an indispensable appendage at civic banquets. Lord Mayors' feasts, and other public entertainments, and a fine of 20 pence an egg was imposed as a penalty for robbing their nests as late as the middle of the sixteenth century. Cuckoo (Heb. ^np' slmcliaph). ' Cuckoo ' is the translation of the word shachaph amongst the birds forbidden for food in Lev. xi. 16, Deut. xiv. 15. In the Jewish Bible also the word is rendered ' cuckoo,' but doubtfully. The Arabic name for the cuckoo is almost the same as our own, ^y^ ivahtk. We have, however, no clue as to the bird signified, the derivation of the word being from a root signifying ' slender,' ' lean.' The parasitic habits of the cuckoo are well known. These are perhaps the more remarkable, when we observe how utterly different arc the eggs of our common cuckoo from those of its host. Two eggs could hardly be more unlike than that of the hedge sparrow and the cuckoo, yet the hedge sparrow is one of the young cuckoo's favourite foster-nurses. Shakespeare has 'Tlic hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so loiiij That it had its head bit off by its j'oiing.' In most cases when the course of Nature's laws arc 72 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. interrupted by some unexpected exception, the discre- pancies are externally smoothed away. Our own cuckoo {Ciiailus canor7is) is a common summer visitant also in Palestine. It has a very wide range, through all Europe and Asia to the Arctic Circle in summer, and as far as South Africa, India, and the Moluccas in winter. Another species, the Great-spotted Cuckoo, which has been taken a couple of times in England, is also a common summer visitor to Palestine. It is a lars-e bird, and makes use of the nests of the hooded crow, and probably the Syrian jay, to deposit its eggs in. The habit of parasitism is the same as that of our own - species. It returns to Palestine at the besfinnine of March, about a month earlier than the common cuckoo. Its range is not so wide eastwards as the latter species. Deer. See Fallow Deer. Dog (Heb. % kelch; Arab, ^.b kcll). The Dog is commonly mentioned in the Pible. Amongst the Jews dogs were declared unclean, and regarded with contempt. 'Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?' (i Sam. xvii. 43); 'Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing ? ' (2 Kings viii. 13); 'A living dog is better than a dead lion' (Eccles. ix. 4). Nowhere in Scripture is the dog men- tioned with anything except disparagement or contempt. Nevertheless, dogs were domesticated and tolerated around houses, but only inasmuch as they were con- sidered useful as scavengers. They were not made companions of, and probably the very purpose to which DOG. 73 they were devoted — that of devourhig offal— would render them impossible as pets. At this day, every town, from the greatest to the least, in Palestine swarms with lazy filthy curs, which usually hardly move out of one's way in the daytime, but howl hideously throughout the night. Often, especially in South Palestine, these animals bear a close resemblance to the jackal, and it is a well-known fact that the two races (yCanis faniiliaris, Caiiis mirciis) often inter-breed. Pennant considers that the jackal is the original stock of the old-world dogs. Amongst the Jews, and indeed amongst all Orientals, the terms ' dog ' or ' son of a dog,' or ' dead dog,' were terms of abuse and reproach, or of self-abasement when spoken of oneself Nowhere are his moral or in- tellectual qualities held up in praise. Even though made of use as a protection for flocks in keeping off wild beasts, yet the duty is cited as one of degradation, ' whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock ' (Job xxx. i). Xo doubt the life the dog leads in the East tended always to make him mean-spirited and greedy. The Biblical character of the dog appears to have pervaded P^nglish writers subsequently to the Reformation. Shakespeare has hardly a good word for the dog (and he has many a bad one), and the same may be said of most of his contemporaries, although dogs in this country were trained to many purposes in the chase. The dog of Palestine villages is not unlike an ill-bred colley or shepherd's dog of this country. In India the same race is called the Pariah dog. The Persian greyhound is occasionally to be seen in the possession of Arab sheikhs, who keep it for 74 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. hunting- tlic gazelle. It is of a similar breed to our greyhound, but stronger built and more shaggy. In the New Testament our Saviour denotes men of odious reputation and cruel, evil temper by the term ' dog.' He designates those abandoned to foul ways of living and wallowing in moral filth by the word ' swine.' Houghton gives us a most valuable account of the sorts of dog known to the ancient Assyrians. Amongst that warlike people dogs appear to have reached a high degree of excellence in several distinct breeds. It is only in temperate climates that dogs preserve their good qualities ; their ardour and sagacity decay in hotter regions, and indeed it is only in Europe that the high character of the dog obtains, or is worthy of universal belief. The ancient Egyptians, however, re- garded the dog as sacred. Anubis was worshipped in the form of a dog. Dove (Heb. n^Vjw;,?//). The Dove, or Pigeon, for the same Hebrew word receives either translation, is very frequently mentioned in the Bible. Properly speaking, the ' dove ' refers to the domesticated variety, while the wild species are included under the nJime ' pigeon,' but the words are used interchangeably. The dove is first mentioned in Gen. viii. 8-12, when Noah sent out the dove three times from the ark. On its second flight it returned with an olive-leaf, and hence since that time the olive has been regarded as the emblem of peace and prosperity. The next time we read of it is when the Lord vouchsafed a sign to Abram that DOVE. ir^ his seed sliould inherit Canaan, and demanded a sacrifice which inchided ' a turtle-dove and a young pigeon.' The dove was declared a pure bird by the law of Moses. Subsequently the dove or pigeon, sometimes the turtle- dove specifically, is commonly ordained as a sacrifice upon various occasions. No other bird was permissible as an offering (Lev. i. 14), consequently no other bird Till-; DOVE. is so commonly mentioned in the Bible, whether Old or New Testament. In Lev. .\ii tlic offering for a woman for her purification was 'a lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering .... and if she shall not be able [marg. her hand find not sufficiency of] to bring 76 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons. The one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering.' Thus it is that the Virgin Mary, being poor, offered according to this law ' a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons ' (Luke ii. 24). For the cleansing of the leper, if he be poor, it was enjoined that he offer ' two turtle-doves or two young pigeons, such as he was able to get .... for a burnt-offering' (Lev. xiv. 32). The same offering is required of the Nazarite for his purification (Numb. vi. 10). It will be hence apparent that there was a considerable demand for doves, and as it was difficult for those who had long journeys to come to carry the birds with them, the priests permitted the sale of doves in the courts of the temple itself, an evasion of the spirit of the sacrifice, and a desecration of that holy place which our Saviour would not tolerate, and He therefore twice expelled these traders with scourges. The dove was held as the symbol of pureness and innocence. In Matt. iii. 16 we read that when Jesus was baptized. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him, no other living thing being so fit an emblem of Christ's lovingkindness. The same Apostle tells us that Christ charged His disciples, ' Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves' (x. 16). This gentleness of disposition renders the dove a defenceless creature, unable to take care of itself, and easily becoming a victim to persecution. Hence we find the Church or spouse in the Canticles compared to a dove (ii. 14), and Hosea likens the Israelites to a '.silly dove without heart' (vii. ii), which shall ' tremble as a dove out of the land of Assyria ' (xi. II). DOVE. 77 Other characteristics of the dove are alkided to or dwelt upon in the Bible. In Ps. Iv. 6 its swiftness of flight is recalled : ' Oh that I had the wings of a dove ; ' and in Ps. Ixviii. 13, the beauty of its feathers is spoken of; ' the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.' Again in Canticles its amativeness is referred to (i. 15, v. 2). In Jer. xlviii. 28 the habits of the dove in its nidification are alluded to, ' like the dove that makcth her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth.' The mournful, plaintive cry of the pigeon is often spoken of, ' like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning' (Ezek. vii, 16) ; ' I did mourn as a dove' (Isa. xxxviii. 14) ; 'and mourn sore like doves' (Isa. lix. 11). Wild pigeons are very numerous in Palestine. The wadies or dry valleys with rocky precipitous sides, which abound around the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, are especially favourable for their shelter and habits. Enormous numbers of rock pigeons breed here in perfect security, and the order Colunibidae is well represented, there being 4 species of pigeon and 3 of turtle-dove. In winter the wooded places round the south end of the Dead Sea are thronged with two species of turtle- dove, the palm turtle and the collared turtle [Turtiiv Scncgalcnsis and T. risoruis). Other species, as our wood pigeon and rock pigeon {Cohnnba paluinbus and C.livla), are extremely abundant in the summer. The wood pigeon especially is taken in large numbers by the villagers in Palestine during its spring and autumn migrations, when it occurs in myriads. The turtle-dove (Hcb. lin tor) has been already men- tioned several times. Its regular migration is spoken of in Jer. viii. 7, ' The turtle and the crane and the swallow observe tlic time (jf their coming.' And in Cant. ii. 1 1, t2, 7o ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. ' For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.' The species referred to here is the common turtle- dove {Tw'titr comimmis). The other two Palestine turtle- doves are residents in the valley of the Jordan, but the common turtle leaves in winter and returns in amazing numbers early in April. Like the pigeon, the turtle-dove was a symbol of purity, from its habit of pairing for life, and was ordained as an appropriate sacrifice. The turtle here spoken of as a migrant is the same that visits this country also in the summer. Probably the palm turtle and the collared turtle helped to supply the birds requisite for sacrificial purposes. It may be presumed that 'young pigeons' were permitted, because it was possible to catch them from their nests amongst the rocks at almost any time of the year. Pigeons are kept in a domesticated state in great quantities in Palestine and many other Eastern countries. The dung is valued highly as a manure in Persia, and the dovecotes are erected at a distance from the houses. In Egypt dovecotes are common. All over Syria the richer sort own dovecotes, which stand apart and consist of mud and bricks with earthen pots inserted, each of which forms the home of a pair of pigeons. The poorer people rear them in their houses and have holes in the walls for them. ' Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?' in Isa. Ix. 8, appears to refer to this practice of keeping domesticated pigeons. The dove was held sacred in Syria in the earliest times. It reached Syria from Babylon. It was the bird of Astarte of Ascalon, the goddess of Nature. Semiramis, whose favourite town, after Babylon, was Ascalon, her DRAGON. 79 birthplace, was brought up by doves and named from the bird. Subsequently, among the Greeks, it was one of the birds of Venus, but not of so early a period as her sparrows. The temple of the Paphian goddess in C}'prus abounded with them. Xenophon found the Syrians worshipping fishes and pigeons. Although the dove is mentioned by Homer, it is not as a domesticated species, but as the emblem of swiftness and of timidity. The woods and rocky places of Greece abounded with these birds, as did Palestine. But it is not till the end of the fifth century B.C. that these birds are spoken of by the Greeks as domesticated, and it was probably from Syria that the domestic pigeon reached the Greeks. It is first mentioned in Sophocles, early in the fifth century B.C. There is no very ancient mention of the pigeon as a domesticated bird in the Bible, the first being that of Isaiah, given above, about seven centuries B.C. From Greece they spread to Italy, and thence all over Europe. It is, however, probable that the Israelites kept pigeons in a semi-domesticated state from the earliest times, since ivild animals were never sacrificed, although there is no unmistakable mention of their doing so. Dragon (Heb. i^il tan, XW^ lannin). The two words which arc translated ' dragon,' though similar, have probably different meanings. The word tan is used in the plural always. It refers to some creature inhabiting the deserts. ' I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to ostriches ' (Job xxx. 29). ' The wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant places' (Isa. xiii. 22). ' Desolate and a den of dragons' (Jcr. x. 22). ' Dragons 8o ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. of the wilderness' (Mai. i. 3). ' I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls' [ostriches] (Mic. i. 8). ' They snuffed up the wind like dragons' (Jer. xiv. 6). And Jerusalem and the cities of Judah are foretold that they will be made a 'den of dragons ' (Jer. ix. 11, x. 2%). The above uses of the word render it probable that the jackal is the animal meant by the word /a/L But we thus unfortunately get the word 'jackal' repeated in Isa. xiii. 22, where r)/j/im ought most probably so to be rendered (see BehExMOTh). To avoid this repetition, the Revisers translate fjyhu here ' wolves,' though else- where 'jackals.' It is likely enough that the two words lyyim and /an were really synonyms, so common and familiar an animal as the jackal in the East having no doubt a variety of names. And as we have no synonyms to render the passage accurately, the Revisers' method is the less open to objection. The wailing, mournful howl and the frequenting of ruins in desert places can only belong to the jackal. The Syriac version renders tau by a word which Bishop Pococke states means a 'jackal.' He also refers to an Arabic version in favour of this opinion. The word tannin is used apparently of a great monster, sometimes of the land, sometimes aquatic. It appears to be equivalent to 'leviathan' or 'crocodile' in several passages, and in others stands for monstrous serpents of any sort. In Gen. i. 21, the word is translated whales in the A. V. and altered to sea-monsters in the R. V. In Ex, vii. 9 Aaron's rod is turned into a serpent {tannin). In Deut. xxx. '^'^, ' their wine is the poison of dragons,' shows that the serpent was a deadly one ; while in Ps. xci. 13, 'Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample DRAGON. 8 1 under feet,' the Hebrew word appears from the context to refer to a deadly land serpent. The word is altered to serpent in the R. V. In Ezek. xxix. 3, ' Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said. My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself And I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales,' the word must signify the ' crocodile.' No other animal could be spoken of as typical of the Nile and as clad with scales. In Isa. li. 9 and Jer. li. 34 the word 'dragon' is also used to translate tauniii, where crocodile is probably the creature intended. In the first of these passages, 'Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon?' the term stands as a metaphor for the power of Egypt, and in the second, ' He hath swallowed me up like a dragon,' spoken of Nebuchadnezzar, has led to the supposition that the crocodile formerly inhabited the Euphrates or Tigris. [See Leviathan.] In the New Testament, the word dragon is found only in the Revelation and applied metaphorically to Satan. It is used symbolically as an emblem of malignity, and without any zoological meaning or reference to any existing creature. The frequent and varied use of the word dragon in the Bible has no doubt tended to perpetuate the lingering belief of the ignorant in the existence of some such animal. Zoologically the term is now limited to a harmless genus of small lizards, provided with fan-like expansions, which enable them to hover in the air after a spring. The serpent which compassed the fall of man ; the Python, or serpent-worship of craft and violence, slain by Apollo, or F 83 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Wisdom, amongst the Greeks ; St. George destroying the Principle of Evil ; the dragon-worship of China, Egypt, and elsewhere in the East, all combined to root firmly amongst mankind the belief in a terrible reptile or reptiles which were at war with mankind. Knights of chivalry went forth to war against it in medieval times. Travellers filled pages with fanciful and absurd delineations. Naturalists (Gesner and Al- drovandus) gave representations of a dragon with seven heads, bird-like feet, gaping mouths and long bodies. Sometimes, as in India, these myths trod on the heels of facts ; for dragons' teeth, which have there been sold as medicine, were actually teeth of gigantic saurian fossils. Some maintain that these were the real source of the dragon-legend handed down to us from primeval and contemporaneous man. The dragon of chivalry had the feet of a Hon, the tail of a serpent, and an enormous throat belching forth flames. Artificial dragons, compounded of parts of various animals pieced together and distorted, were exhibited at puppet shows and fairs not many generations ago. The heraldic dragon has usually the head of a wolf, the body of a serpent, four eagles' feet, wings like a bat, a forked tongue, and a bifid tail. Eagle (Heb. IK^J 7iesher; Arab.^.««J in'sr). The term nesJier is invariably translated ' eagle ' in the Bible. In some of the passages where it occurs it is obvious that the 'eagle' of the Bible translators may be more specifically rendered ' vulture,' or ' griffon vul- ture.' In Mic. i. 1 6, ' Make thee bald and poll thee for the children of thy delight ; enlarge thy baldness EAGLE. 83 as the eagle,' can only refer to the vulture, which is devoid of true feathers on the head and neck. Again, in Jer. xlix. 16, and in Job xxxix. 37-30, the eagle is referred to as holding the highest elevations of cliffs for its nesting-place, and this is especially a character- istic of the griffon vulture. The prophet Jeremiah refers in particular to the mountain gorges of Edom, and we met with several pairs of these magnificent birds on the crests of the wadies leading from Petra to the Wady Arabah and along the Arabah itself. Here too other large rapacious birds, as the golden eagle and the lammergeicr vulture, were observed, and to all of these the Arabs of the present day apply the term nis7\ It is most likely the Hebrew term ncsJicr was equally widely used in many cases. The powers of sight of the vultures of the larger sort are well known, and did not escape the notice of the Hebrew writers. Thus in Job xxxix. 29, a passage already referred to, we read, ' her eyes behold it [the prey] afar off.' This is one of the almost incompre- hensible powers of the vulture, which has long been a puzzle to naturalists, and till recently it was customary to attribute it cither chiefly or altogether to the presence of great keenness in the sense of smell rather than of sight. Rut repeated experiments and observations ren- der it most probable that their method is due to sight alone. A number of vultures may be imagined to be scattered at suitable distances apart in the desert, high up in the air, and each wheeling around and quartering and scanning the area that falls within its ken. Each vulture is also probably carefully kept in view by its neighbours, and as soon as one discovers a prey, and swiftly stoops, to be beforehand with it, the others, F 2 ^. The closest approach to anything of a descriptive nature is in the division of fishes into those that are clean and unclean. ' These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters ; whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye cat. . . . Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you ' (Lev. xi. 9-12). The only fishes forbidden by this distinction were the sheat-fish [Sihiridae], a group common in Eastern fresh w^aters ; the skates {Raiadae), the lampreys [Pctromyzidac] and the sharks {Squalidac). Eels {Murcnidac) and all sorts of water reptiles were also hence considered unclean. On the other hand, of the fishes in the Sea of Galilee, the Chromidae were clean and allowed for food. These are the most abundant and characteristic fishes in the lake. They are allied to the wrasses. There are eight species now known from FISHES. 95 these waters, and some of these, notably C. Tibcriadis, are amazingly abundant. The fresh-water fishes of Egypt belong chiefly to the bream [Sparidac), perch [Pcrcidac), and carp {Cyprinidac) tribes, as well as ChroDiidac. The Hebrews appear to have been utterly indifferent to specific characters amongst fish. This is the more strange, when we recollect that Jerusalem was supplied with a fish market (2 Chron. xxxi. 14, Neh. iii. 3, xii. 39, Zcpli. i. 10), and that there are numerous references to the catching of fish in the Old Testament. At all times too the Jews attached great importance to the fishery of the Sea of Galilee. Jerusalem, however, appears to have derived its supplies from the Mediterranean (Ezek. xlvii. 10). The Israelites must, moreover, have become familiar with fishing and all its branches when in Egypt (Numb. xi. 4, 5), where the Nile and all its affluents, and the lakes and canals abound in fish, perhaps more than any waters in the world. In the New Testament this silence is still more remarkable. We should have expected that St. Peter and others of the apostles who lived by fishing would have somewhere referred to the sorts they were in the habit of earning a livelihood by, or that in the miraculous draught some reference would have been made to the eatable and uneatable sorts by name. The Greeks have handed down to us upwards of 400 names for fishes, but not one has been transmitted by the Hebrews. Still we cannot but suppose that when Solomon ' spake also of fishes ' he distinguished amongst the great numbers of sorts familiar to him both from the Mediterranean and the inland waters. In the Mediterranean on the Syrian coasts mullets in particular abound. The tunny g6 ANIMALS OF THE r.IP.LE. (yThynnus thynmis) is one of the most important fishes, furnishing food to the maritime people, and being a chief source of their wealth. It reaches a length of six or seven feet, but is on the average about four feet, and is very good eating. The coryphelie [C. hippuris) is also an excellent fish to eat, and celebrated for the beautiful colours that pass over its body as it dies. It was customary amongst Roman epicures to keep these fishes alive till the beginning of a banquet, so that the guests might not merely witness their magnificent colours, but also feel secure that they were perfectly fresh. With regard to the fishes of Palestine the most interest- inp; feature to the naturalist is to be found in those of the Jordan system. Nearly half the total number (36) of these fishes are peculiar to the Jordan, and they be- long to genera that are chiefly Ethiopian in type or South African. An analysis of the Jordan fishes more than any other zoological group points to the affinity of the Jordan and Dead Sea basin in its natural products with regions much farther south. Of course no living fish is actually found in the Dead Sea. There are many references to various methods of fishing in the Bible. Of these the most usual was the net, although in many cases ' this word refers to the catching of wild animals on shore, and not in the water. There are ten words used in the Old Testament to signify nets of different sorts, and it is now impossible to determine upon their exact signification in each case. Several of these are quite general, and merely mean that the article spoken of is a net. Others appear to refer to the manner in which they were used, either by lying in wait or by seizing. The casting net and the drazv or drag net, corresponding to our 'scan,' were the most usual. FISHES. 97 The former fs referred to in Hab. i. 15, Ezek. xxvi. 5, 14, xlvii. 10. The latter, which was probably most used in the Sea of Galilee, from the abundance of boats there, is alluded to in Isa. xix. 8 and Hab. i. 15. In the last passage, ' They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag,' we have a reference to catching fish with the hook and line, as well as with nets. See also Isa. xix. 8, ' they that cast angle into the brooks.' In the New Testament the hook and line are referred to, ' cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up' (Matt. xvii. 27). Hooks were always used with bait, and arc still, the refinement of fly-fishing being unnecessary and unknown. On the coasts of Sinai, at Akaba in the Red Sea, we had a day's fishing with some Arab natives in Egyptian fashion. In the first instance the fisherman obtained his bait by catching some small fry with a circular casting net on the shore. Subsequently we fished with long lines out in the gulf, the lines being sunk by attaching a heavy stone in a slip knot, which was jerked out when a certain depth was reached. At different depths different fishes are usually obtained, and the line, if it sank at all unloaded, would be deprived of its bait long before it reached the requisite forty fathoms. A fish called hcdjib by the Arabs was excellent eating. It is known at Suez by the name of jar. The bait-fry were known as akadi and saJiadan. A shark [zitani) was hooked, and a gorgeous vermilion-coloured, scaleless, or ' unclean ' fish, called bossiah, was cooked, but found bad to eat. Another fish, n^vncd gamar, a species of dog-fish, was very I^lentiful, and a large species, which lashed about at the surface {sarmd), swimming very swiftly. This last was probably not a fish at all, but a species of porpoise. 98 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Another method of catching fish spoken of is by- spearing them. In Job xli. 7 we read, 'Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with, fish-spears ? ' in allusion to this practice, which is still used in the smaller northern rivers of the Lebanon. There is one fish perhaps particularized in Ezek. xxix. 4, ' I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales.' This may be taken to refer to the sucking- fish, or remora [Ec/wicis remora). It has a sucking disk on the upper part of the skull, and is common in nearly all tropical or warm seas. It is a small species, and is sometimes taken in the British seas. To this fish was attributed by writers of the Middle Ages the most extraordinary power of stopping vessels to which it adhered. It was not the strength possessed by this little creature, as one old writer puts it, but the power it had of ' impressing ' upon a large ship at sail the ' quality of immovability,' which rendered it unable to proceed and helpless in the hands of the sailors. In Matt. xii. 40 Jonah's fish is called a whale. In Jonah it is simply called a great fish. The word Kr\TO's in the New Testament means any sea-monster, and not necessarily that which we call a whale. As the whole episode is, however, to be regarded as supernatural, and the creature may have been due to divine intervention, it is unnecessary here to speculate upon it. Among the Philistines, Dagon, i.e. the fish, was the national deity or fish-god. This worship was adopted by the Jews, and temples erected to him. The deity was given the body of a fish, and the face and hands of a man. His chief temples were at Gaza and Ashdod, on the coast south from Jerusalem, Sidon was also FLEA. 99 a goddess of a fishy nature amongst the Phenicians. To this worship, we find a reference, as well as to serpent- worship, in Deut. iv. i8, 'the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground,' and ' the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth.' In Siam at the present day fish-worship exactly similar to that of Dagon is carried on. Flea (Heb. ^V^^ parosh). The Flea is twice mentioned in the Bible, in both cases in the First Book of Samuel (xxiv. 14, xxvi. 20), where THE FLF..-\ (highly iiiagni/ied). David reproaches Saul the king of Israel with pursuing him, although an object as unworthy of his notice as a flea would be. ' After whom is the king of Israel come out ? after whom dost thou pursue ? after a dead dog, after a flea.' ' For the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.' No doubt David also insinuates that he would be difficult to catch. Fleas belong to the aphanipterous or wingless order of insects which undergo a metamorphosis, The G2 TOO ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. common flea {Pidex irritajis) is well known from its preying upon man. The flea of the dog [Pulex canis) and cat [P. fclis) are distinct species, but will avail themselves of human blood. Many other animals, as the squirrel, hedgehog, mouse, rat, have their peculiar fleas, as have also pigeons and the common fowl. The flea of the badger is the largest British species. Of the human flea, it is stated the largest specimens used to be found in the old reading room of the British Museum. The abundance of fleas in the Holy Land is some- times a very serious annoyance to travellers. They congregate especially about the camping-grounds of Bedouins, and it is prudent to give such localities a wide berth when pitching tents. In the Syrian khans and inns they are sometimes very prevalent, and equally hated by Moslem and Christian. Fly. The word ' fly ' or its plural is the translation of two Hebrew words in the Old Testament. The first of these, 2"!^ cirob^ is the term used to designate the swarms of flies sent as a plague upon Pharaoh (Exod. viii. 21, 31), and again, when referring to this visitation in Ps. Ixxviii. 45 and cv. 31. In the first of these passages, the marginal interpreta- tion is ' a mixture of noisome beasts,' which is borrowed from Josephus and the Babylonian Targum. It is, nevertheless, most probable a single species was intended. As the plague is represented as filling the houses of the Egyptians, it is likely that the house-flies [Muscidae) are intended. In the warm climate of Egypt these insects are an annoyance that can hardly be overstated. The manner in which they assemble in dense clouds at FLY. lOI such a sun-trap as Akaba, for instance, is almost in- conceivable, and the irritation they produce is heightened by the knowledge that they are capable of carrying an infectious sort of ophthalmia, which is a prevalent dis- order amongst the Bedouins, from person to person. Owing to the softness of the skin in the warm climate, the house-fly of Egypt is soon able to effect a pene- tration in tender parts, such as the corner of the eyes, and the vulnerable point speedily becomes a throbbing mass of these abominable insects, who arc thus enabled to suck the blood and produce festering sores. The other term translated by the word fly is 3^3T zebiib. It occurs in Ecclcs. x. i, 'Dead flies cause the ointment 'of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour ;' and here the term is probably gencrically used for the swarms of flies, which speedily cause corruption and pollution in anything capable of being attacked by them in the East. The ointments spoken of are perfumed unguents and cosmetics, so largely used in these countries. The second passage where zcbiib occurs is in Isa. vii. 1 8, ' the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the utter- most part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.' [See under BEE.] This word zebub has been identified with the modern Arabic i_>L>j (]ebab, which is a name given to a species of gad-fly. A species of Tabanus, or ' breeze fly,' is stated to be common in the valleys of the Jordan and the Nile, and is very injurious to animals. To this genus our ' horse-flies ' or ' clegs ' belong, which arc armed with an arrangement of lancets enabling them to make a clean incision for the j^urpose of blood-sucking. Against this pest the Phenicians invoked the aid of I02 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. their deity Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, the lord of the fly. No doubt the term was given, as our ' gad-fly ' is, and as dcbab appears to be in Palestine, to any large blood-sucking fly. The largest of our species is Tabamis bovinus, which is fortunately not common, but was more than usually so, owing to the hot summer, in 1887. It is almost an inch in leneth. Fowl, Domestic See Cock. Fowl. There are several words so translated in the Bible, both in the Hebrew and Greek portions of the text, fiiy opk is the commonest Hebrew term, and this is used collectively for all kinds of birds, as flying things. In the New Testament the word so translated is also of general signification, including birds of all sorts. Another word which is frequently rendered ' fowl ' is "lisy tsippor. Sometimes it is translated by the synonym ' bird,' and in two passages it is rendered ' sparrow.' [See Sparrow.] Birds are first mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis as being created on the fifth day. Viewed specifically there are but a small number of sorts distinguished in the Bible, and these are chiefly to be found either in the catalogues of birds forbidden as food in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, or else they are introduced as poetical illustrations in the Prophets and in the Psalms. Amone IT the Jews and other Eastern races, birds were regarded as of very slight importance, and of the great variety of species occurring in Palestine there was little or no recognition until quite recently. It is now ascertained that there are at least three hundred and fifty species FOWL. 103 of birds to be obtained in that country, viewing it (somewhat widely) as extending from Lebanon to the neighbourhood of Petra. This area is somewhere about six thousand square miles, and not more than a fifth part of the size of Ireland, which cannot boast of more than two hundred and sixty species. Moreover it is not merely the variety of species that renders Palestine rich in birds, but the extraordinary multitude of individuals. Whether it be the flights of sparrows in the grain, the myriad clouds of swallows along the Juda^an plains around Gaza and Ascalon, the swarms of bulbuls filling the air with melody in the Ghor es Saffieh," the dense packs of pigeons either passing during migration or resident around the Dead Sea, or the unusual variety of raptorial birds, some of which are always in view on the wing — always the visitor is impressed with the fact that this class is abundantly represented. Again, the country is not merely interesting to the lover of birds because they are numerous in individuals and varied in species, but because many rare and unex- pected sorts occur. Owing to the sub-tropical climate and peculiar conditions found in the lower parts of the Jordan valley around Jericho and in the basin of the Dead Sea, several species find a home there which would otherwise not exist so far north. Besides these there are some fifteen species, chiefly found in the same district, which are believed to be peculiar to Palestine, and have not been found as yet elsewhere. In all probability the majority of these will yet be discovered in Arabia. According to the Mosaic law, birds were of two divi- sions, clean and unclean. The former included all except fish and flesh feeders which were regarded as 104 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. unclean. Such a distinction of eatable and uneatable birds would agree faii'ly well with modern ideas in most civilized countries. One of the most interesting portions of the study of birds is that of their migratory habits. We find these alluded to in several passages. The times of the arrival of the stork, turtle, crane and swallow are referred to in Jer. viii. 7, and in Cant. ii. 11, 13 the time of the singing of birds and the voice of the turtle are descriptive of spring. The great majority of birds, probably in species, cer- tainly in individuals, found in Palestine belong to the order Passeres, and in few countries in the world is there a larger variety of that order to be found. Amongst these are included the singing birds. We find, for example, that most of the singing birds of Great Britain occur in Palestine, and many others. Nevertheless there are but three allusions to the singing of birds in the Bible. One of them is referred to above from the Sone of Solomon. In Eccles. xii. 4 the 'voice of the bird' is spoken of, and in Ps. civ. 12 the fowls of the heaven are said to have their habitation among the branches by the rivers. In the last passage we are at once reminded of the Palestine bulbul, which abounds along the banks of the Jordan and other streams running into the Dead Sea. It is a sweet singer, and an easily tamed bird, and makes a delightful pet, though by no means a hardy one. Pet birds are greatly in request in the East. In Job xli. 5, ' Wilt thou play with him as with a bird ? ' is probably a thought suggested by pet birds. The nesting of birds is referred to in Ps. Ixxxiv. 3, where the sparrow and swallow are spoken of as finding a place to breed in safety in the temple buildings ; and this security is still and always has been afforded by FOWL. 105 Easterns to birds which, as it were, claim sanctuary by resorting there to build. It is said that in Athens a man was sentenced to death for harming the birds building in the temple of ^sculapius. And the Moslems are as careful to protect those which resort to the mosques. Other references to the nesting of birds occur, as where the Mosaic law forbids the taking of the dam with any nest which has to be removed ; and in Prov. xxvii. 8, where the passage ' As a bird that wan- dereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place,' has been taken to refer to the habit which many species have of forsaking their nest when dis- covered and disturbed. Again in Deut. xxxii. 11, 12, there is a beautiful metaphor taken from the nurture of eaglets from their nest by their parents. [See EAGLE.] Birds of the unforbidden sort were much in use for food amongst the Hebrews, and such is still the case. Great is the destruction wrought amongst the smaller species by gunners in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. In early days these were captured by various sorts of nets and snares, to which we have various references. These seem to be similar to those at present in use where gunpowder is not as yet within reach of the natives. In Ecclus. xi. 30 there occurs an allusion to the capture of birds by the use of decoy birds, a method of fowling still in use : ' Like as a partridge taken and kept in a cage, so is the heart of the proud ; and like as a spy watcheth he for thy fall.' Another method of fowling is said to be practised at present in Palestine, with short sticks, which are thrown at the partridges or bustards to be procured, and they arc thus skilfully disabled and caught. A similar method is in vogue in some countries to cripple and catch rabbits where they arc numerous. Io6 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. the throw-Sticks employed being about eighteen inches long and an inch or more in diameter. Possibly this sort of sport is alluded to in i Sam. xxvi. 20, where Saul is said to come out ' as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.' The Sinaitic Bedouins of the present day are clever enough in striking the desert partridge with a stone, when certainly it would be difficult to procure suitable throw-sticks. Of snares, nets and traps, there were probably many sorts. Seven Hebrew words are so translated. Job speaks of four ways of trapping in one passage : ' He is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. The gin shall take him by the heel . . . and a trap is laid for him in the way' (xviii. 8, 9, 10). And there are numerous similar uses of these expressions. The usual term used in the Authorized Version is ' snare.' ' Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth ?' &c. (Amos iii. 5). In two passages in the Bible the word ' cage ' occurs, as it does also in the one above quoted from Eccle- siasticus. In Jer. v. 27 we read, ' As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit.' The allusion here is to the basket-cage containing birds used as decoys, not to a pet collection. Or it may mean, as in the margin, a 'coop' containing a number of living birds to be sold for food. Again, in Revelation, ' a cage of every unclean bird ' signifies properly a ' prison,' and it is unlikely that ' cage ' in the modern sense can be in- tended. There is no indication to be found in the Bible, that the art of falconry was practised by the Jews, though there is every reason to believe it is of the remotest anti- quity amongst Eastern people. Neither can we find FOX. T07 an}-thing to lead us to believe that dogs were used in the chase, although Egyptians and Assyrians employed these animals in this capacity from the earliest times into which we have any clear insight. Fox (Heb. bm shual). The word sJiual, although always translated ' fox ' in the Authorized Version, undoubtedly included the 'jackal ' [Cants aureus) amongst the Hebrews, and should so be rendered in most of the passages where it occurs, as may be seen by the context. There are two varieties of fox found in Palestine. In the southern and central parts the Egyptian fox ( Vulpcs Nilotica) is the common species. It is very like our own fox, but a little smaller, and resembles it exactly in habits. In the northern parts of the country, another \'ariet}', the tawny fox ( Vulpes flavescens), is met with. It also closely resembles our fox, but it is larger and of a lighter colour, with a finer fur. In Ezek. xiii. 4 the false prophets are likened in their cunning to this animal ; ' O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert.' And the deceitful Herod in Luke xiii. 32 is so described ; 'Go ye, and tell that fox.' And, again, where the burrowing habit is referred to in Matt. viii. 20, 'Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His ncad,' it is probable that the ' fox ' is referred to. In another passage in the Old Testament ' foxes ' are men- tioned as destroying the grapes. But both fox and jackal have this predilection in the East, and both animals may in fact be regarded as omnivorous. It is stated that packs of jackals often commit great destruc- tion amongst the vineyards, and the fondness of foxes io8 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. for grapes is proverbial. This is the more characteristic in Palestine, since animal food or carrion is scarce. In Ps. Ixiii. lo no doubt the jackal is intended ; .-75- ..tj^ii^lH ^._ . . ,,.,. FOX. ' they shall fall by the sword ; they shall be a portion for foxes.' Foxes are not properly to be regarded as feeding upon carrion. Jackals, on the contrary, prefer it, FROG. 109 and resort to graves and cemeteries for that especial purpose. Hence in Lam. v. 18, 'jackals' are also most likely intended. Jackals never hunt alone, but assemble in packs of twenty to fifty or more, as a rule. In this habit they differ entirely from the fox, which is under no circum- stances gregarious. From this fact it is most probable that 'jackals' were the animals turned loose in pairs by Samson (Judg. xv. 4) amongst the standing corn of the Philistines, with firebrands tied to their tails. It would be absolutely impossible that any such stratagem should succeed with foxes, who would inevitably pull in opposite directions, no matter how long a line might be given to the brand drawn by each couple. But jackals, accus- tomed to hunt in droves, might go straight across through fields and crops. Moreover the difficulty of procuring three hundred foxes would be very great, since the animals were very much fewer in number, and would require to be captured singly. An experiment to see how jackals actually would behave under such treatment would be very interesting, if it could be conducted with- out cruelty. In the Authorized Version the word 'jackal' does not occur. It will be seen, however, that it is probable the animal was intended in many passages. Further instances will be found in the article BEHEMOTH, where I have endeavoured to show that iyyim, translated ' wild beasts of the islands,' should be rendered 'jackal.' Frog (Ilcb. y^"^S^' isephardea). Frogs are mentioned in the Bible in connection with the second of the Egyptian plagues (Exod. viii.), and again in Ps. Ixxviii. 45, cv. 30. In Rev. xvi. 13 unclean no ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. spirits are spoken of as being in the likeness of frogs which came out of the mouth of the dragon. There is only one species of true frog in Egypt at present. This is the edible frog [Rana esadenta), which abounds on the Continent and is also an inhabitant THE EDIBLE FROG. of some parts of Southern England. Other species of the tailless amphibians found in Palestine and the regions adjoining are the green toad {Bufo viridis), and less commonly the African toad {Bufo rcgtdm'is). The beautiful little tree frog {Hyla arbored) is common GIER EAGLE. Ill in Sinai and Palestine. It is well known in Southern Europe. The edible frog fills the air at night with its deafening croaking in those places where there is sufficient marshy- ground, as at the Dead Sea or at Tel el Milh, near Beersheba. The numbers which congregate together are most astonishing, and if after a few hours' hopeless wakefulness one leaves the tent in despair, it is probable that the first marshy pool examined will appear almost to break up and vanish, as the frogs which filled it en masse move away in detachments. But they do not cease croaking because they are disturbed. They will surround the intruder, and croak apparent defiance on all sides and their persistent monotony is worse than either jackals, cicadas, or dogs. Toads are not mentioned in the Bible, and there can be no question as to Rana cscidenta being the animal meant in the passages referred to. GiER Eagle (Heb. Onn rachani). The Gier Eagle, with the swan, cormorant and pelican, is one of the birds forbidden for food in Lev. xi. i8, Deut. xiv. i"]. Many birds have been suggested, from various lines of reasoning, as the species which is intended here. There seems, however, to be no reason to doubt that the racJiam of Scripture is identical with the modern racJiam of the Egyptians, the Egyptian vulture {NeopJiroji percnoptcms). The word rachain also signifies ' love,' and upon the desire to harmonize this idea with that of the ornithological interpretation some curious lines of argument have been grounded. The Egyptian vulture has been described by Bruce 112 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. under the name of rachamah, by which it is known to the Moors and Egyptians. The Arabic name is acJi-bobba. The Egyptian vulture is a most repulsive bird upon close inspection, in consequence of its habits of feeding on offal and carrion. On the wing, however, it is a handsome species, with a bold contrast of colours in the pure white and dark brown of its plumage. It is a much smaller species than the griffon, being about the size of a raven, and, like that species in northern climates, it is of the utmost value as a scavenger. In this capacity it is protected by stringent laws, and in consequence it is a common bird and quite fearless — almost domesticated — in its habits. In most villages and in the suburbs of larger Egyptian towns a few pairs are always to be seen, and when travelling through any district, whether desert or cultivated, a pair or two are almost invariably in view. These birds — Pharaoh's hens or chickens, as they are usually called — live in pairs, and never congregate in flocks, except over offal, but remain paired for life ; and it may be that the word which signifies love became their name from this habit. In Palestine they are migratory, and travel south to Africa for the winter, but in spring and summer they abound. They do not breed in colonies like the griffon, but make solitary nests low down in cliffs. The beak, feet and claws are feeble, and at once distinguish it from the larger raptorial birds. The bill is hardly curved and very different from the strong weapon of the eagle and griffon vulture. When it cannot obtain carrion or excrementary matter it will prey upon rats, mice, small lizards or snakes and even insects. Rotten fish or other garbage on the GLEDE. 113 sea-shore also suit it admirabl}^, and it has been given the credit of being the foulest feeder that lives. The total range of this bird is from the Pyrenees to the Cape of Good Hope in a north and south direction. Eastwards they extend to India, and a specimen or two has been obtained in England. Glede (Heb. nvS") niah). The Glede is enumerated amongst the unclean birds in Deut. xiv. 13, and distinguished from the kite. In the parallel passage in Leviticus the word does not appear, and on this account the reading has been questioned. The word is derived from a root signifying keenness of sight, and this is an argument in favour of its being a bird of the hawk tribe, amongst which it is enumerated. There is nothing else to help us in identifying it, as it does not occur in any other passage in the Bible. In the north of England 'glede' is applied to the buzzard, elsewhere it is synonymous with kite. We may perhaps hence assume, with Canon Tristram, that the buzzard is the bird intended amongst the birds of prey, if indeed it is to be distinguished from the kite, and is not merely an error of repetition. There are two buzzards in the Holy Land, the common buzzard [Buteo vulgaris), and the long-legged buzzard {Biiteo ferox). The former is not uncommon in the British Islands, and is plentiful along the coast of Palestine. It is a large and graceful bird, but without the swiftness of flight of the falcons, to which it is closely allied. In ancient times it was regarded as a very inferior hawk, being unfit for the purposes of falconry on account of its sluggish flight. It docs not, H 114 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. like the peregrine or merlin, chase its prey or strike at it on flight, but rather watches for it from a position of vantage, and pounces at it unexpectedly from its post. It is probable that raaJi might be taken generally to signify the larger species of hawk, with the buzzards, these being not elsewhere enumerated specially. Of falcons there are three large species, Falco saccr, the saker falcon ; Falco la7iarins, the lanner ; and Falco pcregriniis, the peregrine. Of these the lanner is much the commonest in Palestine. Gnat (Gk. kwvq)-^). The Gnat is mentioned only in the proverbial ex- pression in Matt, xxiii. 34, where our Saviour says, ' Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.' The Revised Version accepts the reading of Dr. Adam Clarke and other commentators, 'strain o?(^ the gnat,' the idea being that in hot countries small insects, mosquitoes, and others often got into the wine bottles and glasses, which would then require to be carefully strained. But this minuteness of detail, which detracts from the generality of the sense in which the metaphor is used, appears rather to vitiate the simple directness of the proverb. The obvious signification is generally the best. The idea is that of making an effort or straining at the act of swallowing small things but none whatever over the more weighty and im portant considerations. It is needless to endeavour to determine any par- ticular insect by this term. It is used to express the smallest familiar living thing in contrast with the largest. Insects such as we should call 'gnats' are very abundant in Palestine, especially in damp places, and t>-^> GNAT. GOAT. Il5 it is not improbable that the commonest of these, the mosquito, may have been suggested to the minds of the hearers. Gnats or mosquitoes [Ciilicidae) are but too well known, from their blood-sucking propensities. Our common English gnat is but a trifling annoyance com- pared with the formidable pests of warm climates. Many species of Qdcx of varying degrees of virulence have been described from different parts of the world. Nine are found in Great Britain. None of these, however, arc such plagues as the near allies of the ^rnats, the midges. The order of insects to which these flies belong is termed Diptera. They are insects with a perfect metamorphosis and a mouth modified for sucking. Goat (Heb. Vi. ez). The most common term for this important animal in the Hebrew was ez, which is used either of a he-goat or a she-goat. Several other words are used which are translated 'goat.' With the exception of ^V) yacl, ' the climber,' which is the ibex or wild goat, and ipJ< akko, also translated 'wild goat,' the other terms almost always refer to the he-goat. These are "i''SV tsapheer, ' an he-goat,' Dan. viii. and Ezra vi. 17, viii. 35 ; "i"'i'V' saeei', a 'hairy goat,' but sometimes translated 'devils,' as in Lev. xvii. 21, 2 Chron. xi. 15, and 'satyrs,' as in Isa. xiii. 21, xxxiv. 14; it also denotes a kid in the Pentateuch ; l^J^y atud is the common word for the he-goat, the leader of the flock, it occurs only in the plural D''"i^ny atudun, and means metaphorically the ' princes,' and literally the ' best-prepared ; ' '^^^ iayis/i, which signifies the ' striker' or ' butter,' is translated 'he-goat' in Prov. xxx. 29, 31, and elsewhere. H 2 Il6 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Goats and sheep are included in the Bovidae, or hollow- horned ruminants. Between goats {Capita) and sheep {Ovis) there are many intermediate species, so that it is almost impossible to draw an exact line separating the one from the other. Broadly speaking, goats are bearded, and sheep are not, while in the former the horns are usually flattened from side to side, rough or annulated in front, and arched backwards. In sheep the horns are more cylindrical, with a lateral bend and a downward curl, and often twisted in corkscrew fashion. The domestic goat is believed to be descended from the ibex. [See Ibex.] It is found now in almost every part of the world. It was one of the clean beasts which was permitted as a sacrifice and for food to the Israelites. It was the animal selected on the day of solemn expiation to be set at liberty, as Asazel, or the scape-goat. The kid {gedi) was considered a delicacy (Gen. xxxviii. i6, Judg. xv. i, Luke xv. 29), and is still the constant dish at any feast or in the exercise of hospitality amongst the Arabs. Amongst the patriarchs large herds of goats denoted their wealth. Nabal pos- sessed a thousand goats (i Sam. xxv. 2), and they are still abundant and herded and tended as they were of old. The same shepherd who looks after the sheep also herds the goats, and they mingle in their pursuit of food. At night, or when being driven, they keep apart in separate droves. Usually, however, they are found in different localities, a hilly country being better adapted for the goat than the sheep. Syrian goats are usually black. A different short-eared breed is found in the north. At the Dead Sea and elsewhere a very long pendent-eared breed with very small horns is common. GOAT. 117 The uses of the goat are manifold. Besides being itself valuable for food, its milk is esteemed an important article. Cheese and butter are formed from it, and in villages amongst the mountains goats are the sole producers of these substances. The skin of the goat is used for making the bottles that are in use everywhere for holding wine or water. Stone jars are used for keeping these liquids in store, but when on the move the goatskins are the inevitable accompaniment of every Arab caravan or travelling party. These skin bottles are the entire skin tied up at the apertures and at the openings whence the legs and carcase were removed. They remind one of the pigskin floats used by fishermen in several parts of Britain. They can be patched and mended to any extent when worn. Many references to these bottles occur in Scripture : ' Wine bottles, old and rent and bound up' (Josh. ix. 4) ; ' I am become like a bottle in the smoke' (Ps. cxix. 83), referring to the dried up and cracked appearance these skins obtain if allowed to become parched. The hair of the goat was also of use. A pillow of goats' hair is spoken of in i Sam. xix. 13, and goats' hair was spun by ' all the women whose heart stirred them in wisdom,' to form curtains and coverings for the taber- nacle. Goats' hair of various kinds is of much use for clothing. Mohair, Angora, and Cashmere goats are the best sorts, but whether either of these breeds were cul- tivated formerly in Palestine we arc not aware. The mohair goat is said to be found sparingly at the present time in Northern Syria. It is probable that when all the parts of that sacred structure were of the costliest nature, the hair of the common goat would have been Il8 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. hardly regarded as suitable. Goats' hair of this com- moner description is at present manufactured into coarse cloth and used for many purposes in Palestine. The most marked varieties of the domesticated goat in Palestine are the Syrian goat [Capra mambricd) and the Angora goat (C angorensis), but the latter is seldom met with in Palestine Proper. Goats have done much to exterminate shrubby vege- tation in Southern Syria, and thus helped to keep the regions in a desert condition. No animals are more destructive to growing young timber than goats ; and as they inhabit almost all parts of the world, either native or naturalized, and will endure all sorts of weather, their depredations upon the arboreal vegetation have been often widespread and injurious. Thus at St. Helena goats were introduced in 1513. In 1700 it was seen that the forests were fast disappearing, and with them many valuable trees, including the ebony. Ul- timately a highly interesting and peculiar flora has been exterminated, almost entirely by the goats. Goat, Wild (Heb. TT^yad, 'the climber '). The Ibex, or wild goat, is found in the mountain regions of Europe and Western Asia. There are several varieties, most of them closely resembling each other. That of the Alps is the best known, and is very similar to the Beden {Capra Sinaitica) or ibex of Southern Palestine and Arabia Petraea. The Arabian variety is lighter in colour than its European congener and the horns are of a slightly different shape. Another variety, that of the Assyrian monuments, the paseng [Capra aegagrus), is by some believed to be the parent of the domesticated goat. The wild goat is spoken of in GOAT, WILD. 119 I Sam. xxiv. 2 ; Saul ' went to seek David upon the rocks of the wild goats,' in the wilderness of Engedi. And in Job xxxix. i, 'Knowest thou when the wild goats bring forth?' and in Ps. civ. iS, 'The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats.' Engedi {Ain yidd)/), or the Fountain of the Goats, is named after these animals, and they are still sometimes to be seen there. Canon Tristram obtained specimens from the natives in that neighbourhood. When clam- bering up the steep slopes in 1884 above Wady Tufileh, at the south-western end of the Ghor es Safieh, the plain at the southern end of the Dead Sea, ibexes were disturbed by me about two hundred yards off. One or two also w^ere seen on Mount Hor„ They go in small herds, and appear to be less rare than is generally reported by those who travel through the country and keep to the ordinary routes. They are very shy, and dwell in the less accessible fastnesses amongst the mountains, but the Bedouin hunters are always ready to obtain specimens for about five to ten shillings. The flesh is said to be excellent eating, and it was no doubt this venison that Isaac sent his son to procure for him with quiver and bow (Gen. xxvii). The flesh of the gazelle, the only common species of deer, is on the other hand dry and inferior meat. Another Hebrew word, ip^* akko, as has been already stated, is translated 'wild goat' in Deut. xiv. 5, where it is amongst the animals permitted to be eaten. Whether this is a correct translation, and if so whether any particular species of wild goat is intended, we have at present no means of ascertaining. Gr;vsshopi'er. See T.ocust. 120 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Hare (Heb. nnps' arneheth). The Hare is included amongst the unclean animals in the Mosaic law ; ' because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you ' (Lev. xi. 6, Deut, xiv. 7). The hare, like the coney, was no doubt supposed to chew the cud, from its habit of con- stantly moving its jaws about, a habit which is perhaps acquired to keep the incisor teeth down to the requisite length, in order to prevent their overlapping as they occasionally do. The hare has neither the teeth nor the stomach which are characteristic of ruminants, and enable them to return the partially digested food to the mouth and masticate it afresh. There can however be no doubt the hare is intended, since ^\ arneb is the present Arabic name for this animal, which is common in the Holy Land ; and the above explanation is the best which has been offered of the difficulty afforded by the text. There are several varieties of hare in Palestine, if we include the Sinaitic confines. The ordinary species of the central districts, known as arneb, \?, Lepns syriacus, which is very like our English hare, only a little smaller, and peculiar to Syria. There are also the Egyptian and Sinaitic varieties, which may be obtained in the southern districts. The former is the usual species found in South Judaea, and of a lighter colour than the last. The hare of Sinai is considerably smaller than either of the above, and its legs and ears are longer in proportion. It is an extraordinarily active and swift little creature, but stupid, and allowing itself to be shot by those most clumsy gunners, the Bedouins. This hare is occasionally seen in the Arabah towards the Dead Sea from Sinai. HARE. HART. HIND. 121 Hares belong to the rodent group of mammals. The flesh is now highly prized as it was also by the Romans in former times, though forbidden to Jews and Mahometans. The rabbit, which is a species of the hare tribe, is not found in Palestine. Hart (Heb. bli< ayyal). Hind (Heb. ^)\^ ayyalah). The Hart is given among the animals permitted for food in Deut. xii. 15, xiv. 5, xv. 22. In Solomon's provision for one day are included ' harts ' and ' roebucks ' (i Kings iv. 23), showing that they were in regular use as food for those who could obtain them. Harts are spoken of in Lam. i. 6, ' her princes become like harts without pasture,' and in Ps. xlii. 1 we find the familiar and beautiful simile of the Psalmist, ' As the hart panteth after the water brooks,' to express his zeal in serving the living God. There can be no doubt, from the above quotations, that some animal, which was at any rate tolerably well known, is meant by ayyal. Moreover, there are several places in Palestine whose names are derived from this word, signifying deer. ' Ajalon,' signifying deer-pasture, occurs as the name of two different cities (Josh. xxi. 24, Judg. xii. 12). Mount Ajlun in Gilcad is from the same root. The Hind is even oftcner mentioned than the Hart, chiefly as a poetical image. The ' loving hind ' is spoken of in Prov. v. 19, and their fleetness and agility are referred to in Gen. xlix. 21,'Naphtali is a hind let loose,' and in 2 Sam. xxii. 34, ' He maketh my feet like hinds' feet,' and again in Isa. xxxv. 6, 'Then shall the lame man leap as an hart' Also in Solomon's Song ii. 8, 9, 'The voice of my beloved! beliold, he cometh 122 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart.' A characteristic of deer is their careful and jealous supervision of their young. Another is that their extreme timidity sometimes causes the hinds to cast their young upon receiving a sudden alarm ; but their practice is to withdraw to hiding-places in order to give birth to their fawn. Thus Job [xxxix. i] refers to this secrecy; 'Canst thou mark where the hinds do calve ? ' and the grand image, ' The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve' (Ps. xxix. 9), derives fresh force from the knowledge of their habits. And their extreme love for their young adds vivid strength to the allegorical prophecy of Jeremiah (xiv. 5), ' the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.' The hunger which could force an animal so tender as the hind to desert its young, and the desolation which could be so absolute that one with such powers of movement could find no grass, must have been indeed extreme. What particular species of Cervus was common at the time of the Biblical writings we cannot now determine. Some sort of deer was certainly meant by the word ayyal. Possibly it was the fallow deer [Cervtis dam a), which is still rarely met with on the northern confines of Palestine, but this identification is only based upon conjecture. It is not unlikely, however, that the fallow deer was formerly common in the wooded parts of Palestine. [See Fallow Deer.] Hawk (Heb. H nels). The Hawk is mentioned as an abomination among fowls, and not to be eaten, in Lev. xi. 16, and again in HAWK. 1 23 Deut. xiv. 15. In each of these passages the name is used in a generic signification, with the words ' after his kind ' appended, showing that the sacred writer recognized the large variety of the hawk tribe (Falconidae). In Job xxxix. 26 there is another reference, ' Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south ? ' This is generally understood to refer to the migratory instincts of most of the hawks found in Palestine, several of which are summer visitors, and therefore fly south to a warmer climate in North Africa at the approach of winter. Not a few are, however, winter visitors, and fly north at the approach of summer, as, for example, the red kite {3Iilvits ictimis). But it was the movements of the summer species that were most familiar and suitable for illustration. The black kite [Miknis migrans) is an abundant summer migrant all over Palestine, and crowds especially about villages. The hobby [Falco subbnteo), the lesser kestrel [Falco cenchris), the red-legged hobby {Falco vcspcrtinus), and the Levant sparrow-hawk [Acci- fiitcr hrevipes) are all summer visitants to Palestine, and fly south at the close of summer. Several other diurnal birds of prey of the family Falconidae are found in the Holy Land. These are buzzards and harriers, large hawks which would fall more naturally perhaps under the word nsi raaJi, translated kite. [Sec Kite, Glede.] It has been suggested that flying south may refer to the power possessed by birds of this group of flying into the sun's eye, a power believed by the ancients peculiar to the eagles and hawks ; but we prefer the former sense, and the full force of the passage would 124 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. be, ' Doth the hawk know, through thy wisdom, her period for migrating, and stretching her wings to the south ? ' It is by the guidance and providence of God that her instinct leads her to migrate, and not through man's wisdom and direction. Heron (Heb. ^'^^^. anap/ia/i). The Hebrew word translated Heron is amongst the unclean birds enumerated in Lev. xi. 19, Deut. xiv. 18, ' and the stork, the heron after her kind, and the THE HERON. lapwing and the bat.' From the appended words ' after her kind,' the term was evidently used in a generic sense. The etymological sense of the word anapJiah is ' snuffing' or 'breathing short from anger,' from the root anaph. There appears to be no other clue to the signifi- cation, and it is difficult to determine this to be either heron or any other species. As a consequence seven or eight species have been proposed, none of them being better than merely conjectural. HERON. 125 Under the order Herodioiics are included herons, bitterns, and egrets [Ardcidac], storks {Ciconiidae), spoonbills, and ibises [Platalcidae], and flamingos {PJiooiicoptcridae). There are thirteen or fourteen species of these birds to be found in the marshes of Palestine, several of them in large numbers. The buff- backed heron [Ardea bubalais) is the commonest resident kind. The little bittern {Ardetta miimtd) is also plentiful and the marshes of the Jordan, the Lake of Galilee, and those along the coast are tenanted by one or other of these birds or their congeners. Herons live upon fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals. Being flesh-feeders, they would come under the division of unclean birds. [See FowL.] Our common heron is not rare in the Holy Land, and all the group have a very wide range, extending throughout the world excepting the Polar regions. In this country herons breed in trees, although when these are absent I have found them making their nests in Kerry in Ireland in sea cliffs ; and for the same reason in Palestine they breed among reeds, papyrus, and tall aquatic plants. Although herons would now be regarded as uneatable in most civilized countries, and perhaps were also, as we have seen, forbidden amongst the Israelites, this has not always been the case. In the time of the Plantagenets herons were regarded as a great delicacy in England, and stood at the head of the game in all great feasts and state banquets. In the time of theTudors also it is said that as many as a thousand egrets were served up at a single entertainment during the reign of Henry the Fourth, and these birds appear to have fetched the highest price of all water fowl. The egret, formerly common in the English fens, is a very beautiful bird. 126 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. pure white, and larger than the heron, with long train feathers. Hornet (Heb. nyn^ tsirali). The Hornet is mentioned three times in the Old Testament. All the ancient versions agree in the transla- tion of the Hebrew word tsiraJi. In each passage this insect is mentioned as a weapon in the hands of the Lord with which to punish the Canaan ites and drive them from their habitations ; ' I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee' (Exod. xxiii. 28), and a similar mention occurs in Deut. vii. 20, and Josh. xxiv. 12. Hornets are abundant in Palestine, and no doubt the}/ were so in former times. In Josh. xv. 3 is mentioned a city of Judah named Zoreah, or ' place of hornets,' and whether the threat be regarded in a literal sense, or used as a forcible image, its appropriateness is apparent. There are historical instances of hornets having rendered certain districts uninhabitable, and by their abundance and the frequency of their attacks, of their having driven people from their homes, ^lian (lib. xi. c. 28) informs us that the Phaselites, a people dwelling about the mountains of Solyma, were driven from their country by wasps. Nevertheless it is probable that the insect is used as a metaphorical illustration. In Josh. xxiv. 12, ' I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites ; but not with thy sword nor with thy bow,' reads more like an Eastern imagfe than an account of an event. In Deut. i. 44, and elsewhere, the ' bees in Seir' are accredited with similar powers. The writers of the Talmud took the literal view, and enforced it by statements of how one HORNET. HORSE. 127 could sting a man, and four could sting a horse to death, but the sting should be in the eye. The hornet belongs to the same genus ( Vespa) as the wasp, and forms the group next the bees in the Actdeata, or stinging hymenoptera. The commonest species met with in Palestine and the warmer parts of Southern Europe is V. Orientalis, which is distinct from the British species, V. crabro. The Oriental hornet does not appear to be irritable, but permits of specimens being procured THE HORNET. without difficulty. They are fond of flitting about wells and gardens, and sometimes fight with one another with great determination. They have a very wicked appear- ance, and a peculiarly long-bodied species obtained in Sinai looks most alarming. It is probably only when their nests arc disturbed that they are really dangerous. Nearly fifty species of wasp and hornet have been obtained from Sinai and the adjoining parts 01 Egypt and Arabia. Horse. Several Hebrew words are translated 'hor.se' in the I3iblc. The terms usually used arc D".D -sits and t^"^f 128 ANIMALS OF THE HIULK. parash, of which the former were chariot horses, and the latter cavalry horses and of a lighter build for riding. Parash also signifies horseman, and in some cases the correct sense is lost sight of in the Authorised Version, as in Ezek. xxvii. 14, 'They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and Jiorsemen and mules,' where the rendering should be 'driving-horses and riding- horses;' and in Joel ii. 4, ' The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses ; and as horsemen, so shall they run,' where parasJi should be translated ' riding- horses.' So in Gen. 1. 9, Exod. xiv. 9, 17, Hab. i. 8, Ezek. XX vi. 10, where 'horsemen' occurs, the translation should be horses or riding-horses. In Isa. xxi. 7, ' He saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen,' the original is parash. In i Kings iv. 26, ' Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen,' should be, ' twelve thousand cavalry horses.' Another term for ' horse ' is 5^'^T! rekesh, to describe a swift horse, and one used as the royal post in Esth. viii. 10, 14. In this passage, as also in i Kings iv. 28, the word is rendered 'dromedary.' In Mic. i. 13 it is translated ' swift beast,' in view of rapid travelling, '^^l ramviak in Esth. viii. 10 is used for a mare, and does not occur elsewhere. npiD stisah, in Cant. i. 9, is translated a ' company of horses ' as a collective term, but it may be better translated ' mare.' The horse is never spoken of in the Bible except with regard to his usefulness in war. Out of many instances only one can be interpreted in any other sense. This exception occurs in Isa. xxviii. 28, ' Bread corn is bruised ; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor breaking it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen ' (horses). But even here there is no HORSE. 129 reason to .suppose that the horse was employed except as a means of tramphng out the grain in an entirely unskilled fashion. In Gen. xlvii. 17 we meet the first mention of the horse in Scripture, where Joseph exchanged bread with the Egyptians in the first year of the famine for horses and flocks and cattle. Amongst the Israelites horses appear to have been rare in early times. There are none mentioned as belonging to the patriarchs, and their first acquaintance with the animal would appear to be through the Egyptians. Subsequently, after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, an order was expressly issued by Jehovah to their ruler Moses concerning the future king, ' he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses ; forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.' Owing to this edict these animals were not cultivated. The Land of Promise was too hilly and rocky to be much benefited by their services, and the occupations of the people being agricultural they neglected to breed animals whose uses were mainly warlike. In the time of the Judges the Canaanites had war chariots and horses, but the Israelites had not. In Saul's reign the Israelites of several tribes made war with the Hagarites and other Arabian peoples, and took much plunder of cattle, of camels, sheep, asses and men ; but no mention is made of horses ; and it appears that the breeding of horses was not then known in Arabia, whose inhabitants confined themselves to the use of the camel. David appears to have commenced the use of war horses on a small scale. His enemies opposed him with strong forces of cavalry, and he found himself unable 1 130 xVN DIALS OF THE BIBLE. Otherwise to cope with their chariots on the plains of Palestine. Usually the Israelites had confined their conquests to the upper regions of the country, where horses were unsuitable. But David, after he defeated Hadadezer, and captured a thousand chariots and their horses, with seven hundred cavalry, selected for himself enough for one hundred chariots, and then houghed the rest (2 Sam. viii. 4), thus showing that he had no intention of ' multiplying horses.' Solomon was the first who regularly established a considerable cavalry force, and imported them largely from Egyptian sources (i Kings X. 36, 2 Chron. ix. 28). He had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand cavalry. These were procured from Egypt and Syria, and their value is stated at an hundred and fifty shekels of gold. The use of the chariot is early mentioned. Pharaoh made ready his chariot to pursue the Israelites (Exod. xiv. 6). So long as the warfare was conducted in the mountainous regions the Israelites had nothing to fear. But their successful invasions were reversed when they met the Canaanites in conflict on the maritime plain.s. With his nine hundred chariots of iron Jabin oppressed the children of Israel mightily for twenty years (Judg. iv. 3). It is probable that the Israelites themselves after- wards employed these scythe chariots ; but they are always to be regarded as a nation of infantry. In I Kings XX. 23 we read that the servants of the king of Syria reported of the Israelites, ' their gods are gods of the hills ; therefore they are stronger than we ; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.' On the other hand, the Egyptians were essentially a nation of cavalry, and the later kings HORSE. 131 of Israel rcHcd much on the help of Egypt for chariots and horses. The Egyptian breed of horses was very excellent, and, judging from the delineations on their monuments, in all respects the same as the Arabian, which was probably directly derived from Egypt. The Assyrians were also famous for their horsemen and chariots, and against them the Israelites required Egyptian aid. The Assyrian horses to this clay are a splendid breed, and, judging from the sculptures of Nineveh, they were equally fine in early times. The horses of the Chaldeans are stated by the prophet Habakkuk to be ' swifter than the leopards and fiercer than the evening wolves' (Hab. i. 8). Layard gives the Mesopotamian breed of horses of the present day the highest praise. So also does Palgrave those of Central Arabia, but, strange as it may appear, horses must be regarded as of recent introduction into Arabia compared with other adjoining countries. A native of Central Asia, and a natural companion of the Turkoman and Mongolian, the horse seems to have migrated on the one hand to Northern India on the east, and on the other perhaps to Central Europe in a semi-cultivated state in early times. From Mesopotamia he appears to have spread to Syria and Egypt, and it was hardly before the dawn of the Middle Ages that the horse was introduced into Arabia. There is little or no mention in the Bible of the specific qualities of the horse or delineations of its parts, nor is there any division of breeds nor recognition of especial value attached to any particular race or animal. The splendid poetical description of the war-horse in Job (xxxix. 19-25) conjures up the picture of war by means of one of its most typical and majestic accompaniments, I 2 132 ANniALS OF THE BIBLE. and thereby produces a thrilling equestrian image, but it is not written so much by a lover of a horse as by a warrior. With reference to their equipment, the bit and bridle are frequently mentioned (Ps. xxxii. 9, 2 Kings xix. 28, Prov. xxvi. 3). This ' bridle ' was placed over the nose of the animal (Isa. xxx. 28). Probably ' bit' or ' curb ' would be a better rendering in most passages where it occurs. In Ezek. xxvii. 20 we have ' precious clothes for chariots ' mentioned, and the Assyrians at this period are known by their sculptures to have decorated their horses with bells round their necks and tassels to their bridles. In Zech. xiv. 20 we read that ' there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord.' The shoeing of horses is of comparatively recent origin, and is not mentioned by classical writers. Ac- cordingly the hardness of the hoof in ancient times was of the utmost importance. Where Roman emperors used shoes of leather or iron for their horses, the foot was encased and the shoe tied on. The practice of nailing on the shoe is modern. Amos (vi. 12) says, as of an impossibility, 'Shall horses run upon the rock?' And in Isa. V. 28, ' their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint,' is given as an excellent quality. Again in Judg. V. 22, the allusion to the ' horse-hoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones,' is a contemptuous reference to the inferiority of the enemy in this respect. Of the horse, as of the dog, there is an almost com- plete lack of detailed description in the Scriptural accounts. We do not anywhere find their amiable or noble qualities spoken of as rendering them individually companionable or lovcablc to man. In the Holy Land, HORSELEECH. I33 wlien riding was resorted to, the camel, the mule, or the ass was the animal made use of. Saddles were not resorted to till a later period. At the present time throughout Syria and down to the borders of the desert, as well as in Arabia Petra^a, a small and excellent breed of the horse is everywhere in use. Roads are of rare occurrence, the only two worthy of the name in Palestine being a bad one from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and an excellent one from Beyrout across Lebanon and Hermon to Damascus. But no matter what the nature of the country, whether up the moun- tains or down the dry w^ater-courses, nothing comes amiss to the Syrian horse, and there is probably nowhere in the world a more sure-footed beast of burden to be found. Add to this that they are docile and spirited, willing to the last extremity, and apparently delighting in their own security and power of motion, and it will be inferred that in one respect at least Palestine has been a gainer since Biblical times. Horseleech (Heb. i^\^'^^V. aliikah). In Prov. XXX. 15 we find the only mention of the Horseleech, ' The horseleech hath two daughters, cry- ing. Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not. It is enough.' The Arabic name for the leech is iilc alak, which is no doubt identical with the Hebrew alukah. The word is derived from a root which means ' to adhere,' and the name is applied specially to the leech of the Nile. In the passage quoted the horseleech is adduced as a type of insatiable appetite. Amongst all peoples the greed of these worms for blood has been proverbial. In Palestine the horseleech [Haonopis sai/gitisnga). T34 ANIMALS OF TTIF BIBLE. the medicinal leech [Hinido mcdicinalis), and several others of the leech family are common, the two specified being very abundant. Leeches form the subclass Himidinea of the class Annelida, or ringed worms. The horseleech is not a true leech, and the term is used with some latitude, species of two different genera associated with true leeches being so named. The present species is very common HORSELEECH. in Egypt, and the soldiers of Napoleon are said to have suffered much from it in his campaign, their horses and cattle being also attacked. The body is four inches long, widening backwards, the mouth is large, protruding above, and there are ten eyes. In colour it is green and black above, and yellowish-green on the belly. It lives in lakes and ponds. True leeches are commoner in the tropics, living amongst damp vegetation, and apparently especially fond of European blood. Ibex. See Goat, Wild. Jackal. See Fox. Hyena. The Hyena is not actually mentioned anywhere in the Bible, but the term pi3V tsabna in Jer. xii. 9, trans- HYENA. 135 lated 'speckled bird,' probably refers to the hyena. The word signifies, according to its etymological sense, 'streaked,' and the Scptuagint translates it hyena. It may be mentioned also that the Arabic name of the hyena is dJiabba, and it also means ' striped ' or ' spotted.' The word occurs in one other instance as a proper name, Zeboim (i Sam. xiii. i(S), which signifies 'the valley of hyenas.' I should mention that Houghton is of opinion that the tyyiin of Isaiah xiii. 2], is the Hyena. [See Fox.] The hyena is not rare in Palestine, though in early da}-s it was probably far commoner. Although a useful scavenger, and in parts of Africa, for instance, a ne cessary one, it is usually regarded with the utmost abhorrence, on account of its predilection for human corpses, in search of which it will rifle poorly defended graves and devour the bodies. Hence in Palestine the inhabitants trap it and slay it by all means in their power. The hyena is not feared as a dangerous animal, for although very powerful it will rarely unless wounded or brought to bay attack man, or indeed any healthy animal. Dead, sickly, or maimed creatures are the prey which it hunts out for itself, and in devouring these it effects a completer clearance than jackal or vulture, by means of its powerful jaws, which enable it to chew up and swallow the very largest bones it meets with. In spite of its strength, however, the hyena is undoubtedly an utter coward. The hyena is seldom seen, being nocturnal in its liabits and very shy. In tlic valley of the Arabah I disturbed a large strii)cd one, and had several shots with a revolver at it as it shambled away with its 136 ANnrALS OF THE lUP-LE. extraordinary ungainly gait. Their tracks were com- monly seen. In size the hyena is somewhat larger than a shepherd dog and has a dog-like appearance. Its skin is marked with black vertical bands arranged like barrel-hoops. Hyenas occupy in some respects a place intermediate between dogs and cats. The skull is cat-like, while the claws not being retractile resemble those of the dog. The hyena family consists of the single genus hyena, which contains three species, H. striata, H. crocata, and H. brunnca. The latter two inhabit Africa south of the Sahara. The first is the Palestine species, which is spread through Northern Africa and Asia, through Asia Minor, Persia and India to the foot of the Himalayas. Kite (Hcb. '"I'X ayyah). The ' kite after his kind ' is accounted unclean in Lev. xi. 14 and Deut. xiv. 13. The words 'after his kind ' lead us to believe the term is used generically. In Job xxviii. 7, the same word is translated 'vulture ' in the Authorized Version. The passage in Job, ' There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen,' implies that the ayyah is peculiarly keen-sighted, and this is eminently true of the kite, which seems to ascend to a higher position in the heavens from which to search for its prey than any other hawk. In its flight it sweeps around in wide circles, ' screwing ' its way upwards till it becomes a mere speck. There are two common species of kite in Palestine, the kite or red kite [Milvns ictiims), and the black kite (Milviis migrans), and two rarer sorts, the Egyptian and the black-winged kites, The first-mentioned species is KITE. LAnVING. 1 37 said to be the keenest-sighted of all the birds of prey. It is especially common in winter in Palestine, only a few pairs, however, remaining to breed in summer. It was formerly very common in England, but it is now almost extinct, and has become rare all through Europe and North-western Africa. It is not known farther east than Asia Minor. The kite feeds on mice, reptiles and the smaller birds. It is also very expert in catching fish, darting into the water for them from a great height, like the osprey. Its wings arc very long, and the forked tail is conspic- uous when the bird flies near. This is the true glcde of England, and the name is identical with the word glide or glider, alluding to its flight. Canon Tristram, the best authority on Palestine ornithology, tells us that ' in winter it is gregarious on the coast and in Southern Judaea, and is very abundant in the wilderness to the west of the Dead Sea, and in the whole desert and plateaux round Beersheba, hanging about the neighbour- hood of the Bedouin camps and their cattle.' The manner in which the kite ' governs the curve ' it sails in by its rudder-like tail has been long observed. Dr. Barton in his poem on the Creation (p. 66), trans- lated by Sylvester, has ' The ravening kite, whose train doth well supply A rudder's place ; ' and Drayton, in ' The Owl,' has the same idea : ' The kite his train him guidinj^ in the air Prescribes the helm, instructing how to steer.' Lapwing (lieb. n3''3n dnkiphath). This bird is enumerated in the ' unclean ' list in Lev. xi. 19 and Dcut. xiv. j8, which were forbidden by the law of Moses to be eaten by the Israelites, i3« ANIMALS OF THE PJRLE. In all probability the bird intended is the hoopoe iUpupa epops), a beautiful bird well known in the south of Europe, but leading a very unclean life. The Septuagint renders it e 77 otto, and the Vulgate Jipiipa, both meaning undoubtedly Jioopoe. For the Hebrew term there have been various derivations, and Bochart gives several meanings, as the common hen, the cock of the ivoods, and the hoopoe. The Egyptian name of this bird is knkuphah, and the Syrian kiknphah, both of which are no doubt formed in imitation of the cry of the bird ; and the Hebrew one being nearly identical, we may consider the hoopoe is undoubtedly intended, and that the Hebrew word is derived by onomatopoeia. In Arabic the name of the hoopoe is JindJuid, also from its cry. The hoopoe feeds on insects in dunghills and in watery places, wherever it finds them, resorting alike to desert valleys or marshy spots by the towns. From its predilection, however, for dunghills, which it probes with a long slender beak, it is regarded as a very filthy bird. LEOPARD. 139 It has a tall crest, its plumage is boldly barred with white, and its movements are rather quaint and grotesque than dignified. It is about the size of a thrush. The hoopoe is very common in Egypt, where it is found throughout the winter. In Palestine it is a summer visitant. It is found throughout Asia, and from Central Europe to Central Africa. It occasionally occurs in the British Islands. In consequence of its odd manner of strutting and bowing, and of elevating and depressing its crest, its strange cry and affected fashion of walking, its boldly marked appearance, and above all its familiarity with man, the hoopoe has attracted to itself much popular superstition. The Arabs call it the 'doctor,' according to Canon Tristram, believing it to possess marvellous medicinal qualities, and they use its head in all charms and incantations. Amongst the Egyptians it was delineated to represent gratitude, because it is the only dumb animal which repays the early kindness of its parents in their old age by trimming their wangs and bringing them food when they are acquiring new plumage. Many other legends have been collected about the hoopoe, which is undoubtedly rightly sub- stituted for the lapwing by the editors of the Revised Version. Leopard (Uch.'^l^^^ namcr ; Arab. ^_»j ;//w/-). The Leopard is mentioned in Scripture in seven passages in the Old Testament and one in the New. The Hebrew word namcr signifies 'spotted.' In two of the passages (Dan. vii. 6, Rev. xiii. 2) the animal is mentioned merely allegorically, as seen in a vision. In Jcr. xiii. 23, we have a reference to the spotted skin. 14° ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. which has become proverbial, ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?' Its swiftness is referred to by Habakkuk, who compares the onslaught of the Chaldean cavalry to it, 'Their horses also are swifter than leopards ' (Hab. i. 5). Its habit of lying in wait for its prey is referred to by Hosea, ' I will be unto them as a lion, as a leopard by the way will I observe them,' where he alludes to the Israelites as a flock of sheep ; and Jeremiah refers to the same habit (v. 5, 6). Isaiah makes reference to the leopard's preference for goat flesh, ' the leopard shall lie down with the kid,' the sense being that the kid will receive no injury from his most fearful enemy. In the same passage the wolf is associated with the lamb and the calf with the lion, these being respectively their usual preys. Several places in Palestine are called after the leopard. Such are ' Nimrah ' (Numb, xxxii. 3, ^6) ; ' Nimrim ' (Isa. XV. 6, Jer. xlviii. 34), and 'the mountains of the leopard ' (Cant. iv. 8). ' Nemeirah ' is also a place near the Dead Sea. This latter is probably identical with the ' waters of Nimrim ' of Isaiah. The leopard [Felis pardiis) of Palestine is now very rare. Canon Tristram saw a fine pair which had been killed on Mount Carmel, and four leopard skins were shown him in a village in Gilead. It is occasionally still found near the Dead Sea, and lurks in the adjoining mountains. In Sinai we several times found its tracks, and on one occasion discovered traces of a recent conflict with some large animal which had evidently been made the prey of a leopard. In the Wady Arabah especially, which is rarely travelled, its footprints were found where watering-places occurred ; notably on the east side about fifteen miles from Akabah. The Bedouins have a OTeat LEVIATHAN. I4I horror of the ////;//- in Sinai, as its favourite food is their goats, which are almost their sole possession. The leopard extends over all Africa and Southern Asia to the Malay Archipelago. In Northern Palestine another large cat, the cheetah or hunting leopard {Fclis jiibatd), is found, but it is very scarce except east of the Jordan. It is more slender and graceful than the leopard, and it is marked with black spots instead of rings, as in the leopard. The Syrian cheetah may be included in the word namcr of Holy Writ. It is tamed by the inhabitants in some places, and employed in hunting the gazelle. Both these leopards were no doubt formerly tolerably common. The leopard, or panther, obtained its name through an ancient super- stition. It was thought to be not the same animal as the panther or pard, but to be a hybrid between it and the lioness, and hence it was called the lion-pard or leopardus. On the same principle the giraffe was called the camelopard, as combining the height and something of the shape of the camel with the spots of the leopard. Leviathan (Heb. IH'^I.? kvialliaif). This word occurs five times in the l^iblc. Once also it occurs in the marginal reading of Job iii. S, for 'mourning,' In Ps. civ. 25, 26, 'this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships : there is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein.' Here the word must refer to some large cetacean or sea-monster, since the ' great and wide sea ' is un- doubtedly the Mediterranean. Several of these, as the grampus and rorqual, are not uncommon there. 142 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. In the remaining passages (Ps. Ixxiv. J4, Isa. xxvii. ], Job iii. 8, xH. 1) the leviathan is undoubtedly the crocodile. The whole of Job xli. is given up to its description, and the poetical grandeur of this chapter is enhanced by the faithfulness of the picture. The crocodile is also referred to in several other places in the Bible, under the name dragon (Heb. ri6 tannhi)^ as I have endeavoured to show in the article under that heading. There are many closely allied saurian reptiles, such as the ganoids, alligators, and other crocodiles found in the warmer parts of the world. At present the crocodile of Egypt is not found lower down the Nile than Upper Egypt, but it was formerly much more abundant. It still exists, no doubt in limited numbers, in the Zerka or Crocodile river, which rises near Samaria and flows through the Plain of Sharon. Canon Tristram obtained a specimen from this river, and it was captured there in the last century, according to Pococke the traveller. The Arabs are well aware of its existence in this river, and maintain that it steals their kids. Canon Tristram says, ' When I look at my crocodile's head, brought home by myself, and read the long disquisitions written in various languages as to the possibility of the crocodile inhabiting Palestine, I feel that an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory.' The crocodile preys chiefly on fish, which it pursues with lightning-like rapidity, but it feeds occasionally on any animal it can seize. It is a most rapacious and dreaded animal. It is frequently above twenty feet long, and the armour with which it is clad is strong enough in most parts to turn a rifle bullet. The eyes have a membrane, the ' nictitating membrane,' such as is LICE. 143 found in birds. The gape of the mouth is enormous. The tail is long, laterally compressed, and very powerful, serving as a weapon of attack as well as a means of propulsion through the water. The legs are short, but very strong. The crocodile was regarded as sacred by the Egyptians, as it was also one of their most dreaded objects. There is a legend on the banks of the Zerka, mentioned above, that a colony of Egyptians once settled there, and brought to that river some of the young crocodiles which they worshipped, and that it is by this means the crocodile is found in Palestine. It is not likely that the veneration of the Egyptians, founded on fear, would lead them thus to endeavour to domesticate it. The Egyptians say that one blow of its tail will break all the legs of a horse or an ox. When an animal is in the water the crocodile seizes it by diving and snapping it from below, but if it is on a bank or a little out of reach, it will endeavour to knock it into the water with its tail. Lice (Heb. D''33 ki/mi/ii). This word occurs only with reference to the third great plague of Egypt (Exod. viii. 16-18, Ps. cv. 31). Much has been written to endeavour to prove that the ' gnat ' should here be meant, but there appears to be no sufficient reason to depart from the rendering of the text, which is supported by the Rabbinical writers as well as Josephus and Bochart. Moreover gnats rise from watery places, and not out of the dust of the earth, as the loathsome insects in question may perhaps be said to do. These vermin arc intolerably abundant amongst the Arabs in Sinai and 144 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Palestine. It is wise for a traveller never to allow either muleteer or camel-driver, on any pretence, to use his saddle or camel-bags. The habits of the Bedouins are dirty in the extreme. Sir Samuel Baker suggests 'ticks,' a species of which, he states, sometimes infests dry desert places, so that the ground is alive with them. These insects attach themselves to human beings or other animals, and become an intolerable plague, being very difficult to remove. There is, however, no authority to support his suggestion, which would deprive the infliction of a portion of its severity in one respect. The Egyptians are by no means so indifferent to vermin as the Arabs, and especially their priests were regarded as incapable of such pollution, and unfit to perform their ministrations unless scrupulously clean. Every third day, Herodotus tells us, they shaved their heads and persons, lest they should harbour any lice, and so be unfit to administer their rites. Hence such a visitation may be regarded as something worse than a loathsome plag-ue. It interfered directly with the performance of their ceremonial worship. Lion. The Lion is mentioned about 130 times in Scripture, more frequently than any other beast, excepting do- mesticated animals. There are several terms used in the Hebrew. The commonest is ''"]^5 aryeJi, which denotes the full-grown animal, with no regard to sex (Gen. xlix. 9, Judg. xiv. 5, 8, &c.). i''?3 kep/iir, 'a young lion,' sometimes in Proverbs simply 'lion' (Judg. xiv. 5, Job iv. 10, Ezek. xix. 2, &c.). ^<''?7 ^^^^h or ^^'^'p lebiyya, an ' old lion,' properly a ' lioness,' connected with the Coptic LION. 145 labai, which has the same meaning (Gen. xHx. 9, Numb, xxiii. 24, Job iv. 11, &c.). ^y_ laisli, a poetic name of the Hon (Job iv. it, Prov. xxx. 30, Isa. xxx. 6, &c.) This latter word has given names to some places, as ' Laish,' the old name of Northern Dan ; Beth-lebaoth, 'the house of lionesses' (Josh. xv. 32, xix. 6), and Arieh (2 Kings xv. 25). The lion is no longer an inhabitant of Palestine. Within the historical period its range has become much THi! HON. circumscribed. Till a comparatively recent period, down to the times of Herodotus and Xenophon, the lion was well known in Syria and in Greece and in many parts of Asia Minor, as well as in Itgypt, from which it has also disappeared. In Asia generally, except in some countries between India and Persia and parts of Arabia, it is now scarce. In Africa alone the lion is undis- turbed over a vast area. No doubt much of this western extirpation of the lion 146 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. was effected during the Greek and more especially the Roman dominions. A great demand for these animals for the arena had to be met, and the gradual spread of civilization in aftertimes narrowed still further their limits. In Mesopotamia they still abound, ac- cording to Layard, and at all times in that country they afforded sport to the kings of Nineveh. Sculpture and history both point to their love for the chase of the lion. Semiramis and Ninus gloried in it, as they did in warfare and victory over their enemies. In the Holy Land the lion must have been formerly common, judging from the familiarity and frequency with which it is mentioned, as well as from actual reference to its places of abode, both in the names of places and in various passages : ' He shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan' (Jer. xlix. 19), the meaning being that in time of floods his lair would be uninhabitable ; and again, ' A voice of the roaring of young lions ; for the pride of Jordan (the cane-brake) is spoiled ' (Zech. xi. 3). Amongst the occurrences of lions in the Bible, one of the first is that of Samson, when he went down to Timnath with his father and mother, ' and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand.' Later, we have David's encounter, when keeping his father's sheep, and a lion took a lamb from the flock, and ' he caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him' (1 Sam. xvii. 34-36). In 2 Sam. xxiii. 20 we have the record of another lion-slayer, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, one of David's mighty men, who had slain 'two lion-like men of Moab ; he went down LION. 147 also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.' This was a valorous feat, to descend into the pitfall where the lion was captured and to slay him single-handed. Usually the captured animals were despatched with spears. Pitfalls, as means of capturing lions, are mentioned elsewhere, as in Ezekicl, ' He was taken in their pit . . . and the nation spread a net over him.' Spikes were driven into the bottom of these pits. The net alludes to another method of taking the lion, by driving him from his dwelling-place into a wall of net, which is placed partly around it ; such a means of hunting the lion is still employed in India. Sometimes the net and pit were combined, when it was desired to catch the animal alive. Allusions to both these methods are numerous (Job xix. 6, Ezek. xix. &c.) During the period of Babylonish captivity, lions appear to have multiplied in Palestine. Those who were sent by the king of Assyria to re-people the deserted cities complained to their monarch that the ravages of this animal had increased to a fearful extent. Lions are stated to have lingered in Palestine till about the time of the Crusades. They are mentioned by a historian of the twelfth century as occurring at Samaria. Their bones have been found in the gravel of the Jordan. With the extermination of the forests of Western Palestine the lions also disappeared. A lion's courage in attacking man, like that of other wild beasts, varies with its hunger. Old lions which have become feeble and deficient in teeth will come to villages for food, and will steal goats, horses, and at length human beings. Thus they acquire a love for human flesh, but the ' man-caters ' appear K 3 I43 "isn cJiepJior-perotli, ' In that day a man shall cast MOLE. 155 his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats ' (Isa. ii. 20). Here the signification is probably general, and refers broadly to the multitudes of burrow- ing and gnawing animals found in all parts of Palestine, and especially among ruins. Mice, rats, hamsters, sand- rats, gcrbilles, jerboas, dormice, squirrels, and voles all occur, and in the southern regions bordering on the desert some of these are amazingly numerous. There is no true mole in S}'ria. There is, however, an animal that takes its place in popular language and is called the mole, but it is only similar in its habit of burrowing in subterranean chambers and rarely showing itself at the surface. It is more correctly called the mole-rat [Spalax typhlus), and it belongs to the Rodents, whereas the true mole {Talpa cnropaca) belongs to the Insectivora. The mole-rat lives chiefly on bulbs and roots, and burrows close to the surface wherever it can find them. On the plains of Juda;a, from the Dead Sea to Gaza and about Beersheba, we found it very abundant. It is no easy matter to obtain a specimen, but by watch- ing for a few minutes the freshly disturbed surface heaps as the animal works beneath one can soon detect a movement. A shot fired then straight into the earth a little in front of the last moved soil stuns or kills the animal underneath by the concussion, and it may be at once dug out, probably still lixing. By this means several were procured. The mole-rat is stated to frequent ruins and gardens, but those that we observed were chiefly in the open country. It is about nine inches long, yellowish brown tinged with slatcy grey in colour, without any apparent ears, and J 56 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. hardly any eyes. It has large projecting powerful incisor teeth, which give its face a strange and danger- ous expression. The mole-rat is found in South-eastern Europe generally, and ranges eastwards to the Caucasus. It is particularly abundant in the countries round the Crimea. There are about ten known species in the mole-rat family, eight of which are confined exclusively to Africa. Moth (Heb. ^^ as//). Almost every mention of the Moth in Scripture has reference to its destructiveness, and there is therefore no doubt that the Tineidac^ or clothes moths, are referred to. In the Book of Job the insect is quoted as of ex- treme fragility and easily crushed : ' Behold, He put no trust in His servants, and His angels He charged with folly : how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth ! ' (iv. 1 8, 1 9). Perhaps the simile is rather to the well-known cases of these insects, as in Jobxxvii. 18, ' He buildeth his house as a moth.' Other lepidop- tcrous larvjE also roll up fragile cases of leaves. The destruction of clothing caused by these insects is several times mentioned. ' Behold, the Lord God will help me ; who is he that shall condemn me ? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment ; the moth shall eat them up' (Isa. 1. 9). In the New Testament there are several allusions to the moth. ' Your riches are corrupted, and your gar- ments are moth-eaten ' (J as. v. 2). This metaphor is forcible enough amongst ourselves, but it is probable it was even more so amongst the wealthy in the East, MOTH. MOUSE. i;57 where clothinc^ was regarded as of more importance, and laid by and treasured in larger stores than in this country. And the substances of expensive robes were in early days more valuable than at present. Gifts of clothing are frequently referred to in the Bible, and are still prevalent amongst Orientals. There is no mention of any other lepidopterous insect in the Bible. Even the references to silk in the Old Testament are dubious, the only unmistakeable one occurring in Rev. xviii. ii, 12, where it is included amongst the wealth of the typical Babylon ; ' The merchandize of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk.' Nevertheless it is most probable that the Hebrews were acquainted with silk at least as early as the times of commercial enterprise and prosperity under Solomon. Silk is still largely cultivated in Lebanon, and an excellent crop is annually produced. It is chiefly amongst the Druses that this industry is carried on. This is not, however, the place for dwelling upon the history or manufacture of silk. [See WORM.] Mouse (Hel). "I33y akbar). The Mouse is mentioned in three distinct passages in Scripture. In the first of these it is forbidden as food amongst the creeping things that creep upon the earth, ' the weasel and the mouse and the tortoise after his kind.' In I Sam. vi. mice and emerods were sent as a plague upon the Philistines, to warn them -to send back the ark to the Israelites ; ' Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to Him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines : I5^ ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land.' Again in Isa. Ixvi. 17, the eating of the mouse is referred to with horror, ' eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse.' There is no lack of mice in Palestine. Our own mouse and rat have been in- troduced and are common. When tenting near the Dead Sea, a sort of mouse {Mvs bactriamis) was exceedingly plentiful and familiar ; as often as traps were set by night or day individuals were obtained. This animal is there very destructive to the grain of the cultivating Ghawarneh Arabs, who till the land extensively. Another species of house-mouse (^Mtis alcxandriinis) is found in the towns along the southern coast. Although the word ' mouse ' is perhaps used generically in Leviticus,it probably refers to the field-mouse(6>r7'/f^/<3: arvalis) in the visitation that marred the land of the Philistines. This field-mouse, or vole, is very common everywhere in cultivated ground, and were it not kept within limits by the multitudes of birds of prey which feed on it, it would speedily ravage the land. Most of the other small rodents, which are so very numerous from the Dead Sea southwards, are strictly desert species, and not available as interpretations of the passage in Samuel. The jerboas are not found in Palestine except in the desert districts, nor are the several species of sand-rat. The hamster is about the size of a brown rat, and in many parts of Eastern Europe is exceedingly injurious to the agriculturist, not merely consuming vast quantities of grain, but carrying off in their cheek-pouches what they cannot devour, and storing it for winter use. A species of hamster MULE. 159 {Cricctits miritus) is common in the cultivated parts of Palestine. The Hebrew word under consideration is, however, rather to be taken as referring to the smaller rodents. There is another beautiful little group of small mice, which is confined in Palestine to the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. These are the porcupine mice, of three species, which are also desert animals and occur throughout Sinai. In that region the base of every tamarisk bush or clump of camel grass, the banks of the water-courses, and the sandy plains themselves, are con- tinually riddled with holes In the valley of the Arabah this is a most astonishing feature. From the little holes of sand-wasps and the larger species of ant, the hiding- places of lizards, and the warrens of the countless hosts of jerboas, desert-mice, and sand-rats, there is no cessation ; and the marvel is not merely how do they all live, but how do they all keep themselves hidden ? For it is but seldom one obtains a glimpse of the species. Traps and small pitfalls, with quiet sojournings, are the only ways to become acquainted with these animals, of which no doubt several sorts are still unknown to science. Mule. In the Authorized Version of the Bible the word ' mule ' stands for the following Hebrew words : ^')^, percd, ^'^^^. pirdah, the masculine and feminine common names for the mule. Of these the first occurs very often, the latter only in 1 Kings i. 33,38,44. tJ'3'^ rckcsh, in Esth. viii. 14, should be Dromedary, which see. D'?.": yemim is found only in Gen. xxxvi. 34, where it is rendered ' mules ;' ' This was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibcon l6o ANIMALS OF THE ]',I15LE. his father.' This is no doubt a mistranslation, since at that period horses were unknown in the Land of Promise. The Vulgate translates the word Aquae Calidac, 'hot springs,' which is probably correct. The discovery of 'hot springs' would be a fact worth recording. This reading is accepted by the Revised Version. The editors of the Jewish Bible leave it untranslated, not being satisfied with any rendering. Mules are not mentioned in the Bible till the time of David, after the introduction of horses. After this they are commonly spoken of, and soon became the ordinary riding animal of persons of rank. In i Sam. xiii. 39, the word pcrcd first occurs, ' And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.' And in 1 Kings i. '>,% David orders that Solomon his son shall be brought down to Gihon upon the king's own mule, when he was anointed by Zadok and proclaimed as king. Thus the mule was the animal of state. Solomon probably imported his mules from Egypt, since there is an express injunction against the breeding of mules contained in Lev. xix. 19, and it is therefore unlikely that they were bred in Palestine. On their return from Babylon the Israelites brought with them 345 mules (Ezra ii. 66\ In Isaiah's time (Ixvi. 20) we read that mules were commonly employed for riding by persons of high position, and they are spoken of as part of Ahab's royal stud (i Kings xviii. 5). The Phenicians obtained their mules from Togarmah (Armenia), (Ezek. xxvii. 14,) at the fairs of Tyre. Mules were also used occasionally as beasts of burden. A ' mule's burden of earth' is spoken of in 2 Kings v. 17. NIGHT HAWK. l6l Mules are much used in Syria, and being hardier and longer-lived than horses, command sometimes a higher price. Owing to their sure-footedness they are invalu- able as beasts of burden in rough, hilly districts. They are never used by the Bedouins, but chiefly by the mercantile classes in the towns as riding animals. The Bedouins and the soldiers in Syria ride upon horses, as do also those that visit the country for travel. Mules are nowhere mentioned in the New Testament. Mules appear to have been first bred in Armenia and Paphlagonia. They are frequently mentioned by Homer. Night Hawk (Heb. DOnJi tachmas). The Night Hawk occurs only in the list of birds for- bidden for food in Lev. xi. 16 and Deut. xiv. 15. The word tachmas is derived from a root signifying ' to tear or scratch the face.' From the context it may have been a bird of prey, and it is probable that a kind of owl was meant. The older versions give this meaning to the term, while the Jewish writers leave it indefinitely as some kind of rapacious bird. It is quite hopeless even to conjecture which species of owl, if it be an owl, was intended. There are five common sorts of owl in Palestine. [Sec OWL.] ' Night hawk ' is a synonym in many parts of England for the night-jar or goat-sucker {^Caprimidgus europaeus), and was probably the bird that was intended by the Authorized Version. It is a summer migrant to Palestine, but by no means abundant, and certainly not likely to be spoken for or against as an article of food, since it is rarely seen and very difficult to obtain, on account of its nocturnal habits. l63 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. The goat-sucker is, it is hardly necessary to observe, no true hawk, but belongs to the family Caprinmlgidae of the passerine birds. Their habits are all nocturnal, and their beaks are usually very wide-gaped, and armed with strong bristle-like processes, enabling them to capture and retain, by means of a glutinous saliva, night- flying moths and insects of large size. Most of them are rather crepuscular than nocturnal in their habits, living either alone or in pairs. They have usually singular voices, and that of our own species has given rise to many superstitions. Its sound is loud and some- what like the reeling noise of a spinning wheel. A Jamaica bird of this family is known there as the night hawk, and the American whip-poor-will is also a goat-sucker. Like our own species, the latter bird was formerly re- garded with superstitious dread as an omen of death or misfortune where its notes were heard. Tachmas has been also identified with Strix jia7nmea, the white owl, barn owl, or screech owl of England, by some writers. It is not very common in Palestine, but its note is frequently heard, and it is well known to the natives. Onyx. See Snail. OspREY (Heb. n*3tV azniyyaK). The Osprcy occurs only in the list of forbidden birds in Lev. xi. 13, and in the parallel passage in Deut. xiv. 12. The Hebrew word so translated is azniyyaJi. It is probably a collective term for the lesser eagles, and would no doubt include the osprey [Pandion haliactiis). This is not a common species in Palestine, and is chiefly found in the north. Elsewhere it is almost cosmopo- OSPREV. OSTRICH. 1 63 litan in its range, and is met with in the British Islands, chiefly in the lake district of England. The osprey feeds upon fish, and especially resorts to the shores of the Bay of Acre and the streams flowing into it, and it has been observed in the marshes of Huleh under Hermon. The osprey has a wonderful skill in flight, enabling it to poise itself steadily and accurately in one place, even in a breeze of wind. Formerly it was supposed that in this position it so petrified the fish with terror, or some other influence, that they were unable to escape ; and further, on account of the difficulty of conceiving how a bird could hold a slippery fish, the osprey was believed to have one leg armed with a claw and spread open, while the other foot was webbed and fit for swimming. Another eagle, very much the size and appearance of the osprey, may be included under this term. This is the short-toed eagle {Circaetus galliais), which is the most abundant eagle in Palestine. [See Eagle.] OssiFRAGE. See Eagle. Ostrich. The Hebrew word ^'^TJ}; ^? hath-Jiayyanah or ^\T- yaanah, which means ' vociferation ' or ' the daughter of vociferation ' (according to some, ' greediness '), is the usual word for ostrich in the Bible. This word is so translated in Lam. iv. 3, ' The daughter of my people is become cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.' Else- where the word is rendered erroneously ' owl.' Under this mistaken translation ' owl,' the ostrich is included amongst unclean birds in Lev. xi. 16, Deut. xiv, 15 ; and L 2 t64 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. it is also found in Job xxx. 29, ' I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls ;' in Isa. xxxiv. 13, ' An habitation of dragons and a court for owls,' and in a similar context in xliii. 20. In each of these passages THE OSTRICH. the correct reading 'ostriches' is given in the margin. The ostrich, the true bird of the desert, is undoubtedly the proper interpretation. So also in Mic. i. 8, Jer. 1. 39, Isa. xiii. 21, 'owls' should be rendered 'ostriches.' OSTRICH. 165 Another word \P^ ranan, which is rendered peacock in Job xxxix. 13, should also be translated ' ostrich' ; in the same verse the word '"^^i^ notsa/i, which is rendered ' ostrich,' is the Hebrew for ' feathers.' Peacocks were not known in Palestine or Syria till the time of Solomon [see Peacock], whereas the ostrich was no doubt a familiar bird to the patriarch Job. There is another Hebrew word in use for the ' peacock.' The cry of the ostrich, which is probably referred to in its Hebrew name, is described as being a loud mourn- ful kind of bellowing roar, very like that of the lion, and also uttered at night. The habits of the ostrich find several illustrations at the hand of Job in the chapter already quoted from. The difficult passage at the commencement is thus rendered by the Revised Version: ' The wing of the ostrich rejoiceth ; but are her pinions and feathers kindly [or as the stork's] ? which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers : her labour is in vain without fear ; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath He imparted to her understanding. What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.' In the Lamentations of Jeremiah also the cruelty of tlie ostrich to its young is referred to, ' P^ven the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones : the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness' (iv. 3). In the above passage from Job the speed of the ostrich, the beauty of its plumes, and its reputed habit of leaving its eggs to be hatched in the sand by the sun, 1 66 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. are all referred to. Its stupidity is perhaps more fancied than real, but there is reason for the Arab proverb, ' as stupid as an ostrich,' amongst those who observe the variety of indigestible and useless things which they swallow ^ The childish and amusing story of its hiding its head in the sand, in the belief that it is then invis- ible, is somewhat severely strictured by Canon Tristram as an 'undeserved calumny.' It is not likely that such a fiction was ever seriously credited. The mature male ostrich has a brilliantly contrasted plumage of black and white. The valuable plumes of the wings and tail are of the purest white. These latter are in as much demand amongst the Arabs for their own wants in the decoration of tents and spears of the sheikhs, as they are for the markets west- wards. The great outlets from Syria for these plumes are Smyrna and Aleppo, where the bazaars always con- tain a good supply. The speed of the ostrich has been estimated by Liv- ingstone at twenty-six miles an hour, but for a short space it can probably go even faster. Its stride reaches twenty- two to twenty-eight feet, according to Canon Tristram. It was always, and still is amongst the Orientals, the belief that ostriches left their eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun. The ostrich is a polygamous bird, each cock associating with three or four hens, for whom they fight vigorously, and all of which lay their eggs in one large nest scooped out in the sand. The male takes his turn at sitting on them as well as the females. One com- mentator gravely states that the ostrich was too large and heavy to sit on her eggs, ' she therefore hides them ^ An ostrich died in the Zoological Gardens from swallowing gh^. worth of copper money. OSTRICH. 'I67 in the sand, watches them, and hatches them as it were with her eye.' ]\Iany more eggs than those in the nest are dropped in the neighbourhood, and no doubt thus arose the popular behef. These extra eggs are, according to Layard, broken by the parents when the young are hatched, and serve for their first meals. Ostriches have been long regarded as of much value, owing to their beautiful plumes, but it is only recently that the domestication of ostriches in ' ostrich farms ' has developed this product into an industry of first- class importance. In South Africa and Australia many thousand pounds' worth of feathers are thus annually raised, and not the least benefit of this trade arises from the fact that it is unnecessary to kill the birds to obtain the plumes. Ostriches formerly extended to India and Central Asia, but do not now inhabit those countries. They have been known from time immemorial in Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia, and the feather ornaments appear in the oldest sculptures of those countries. They are rapidly diminishing in Western Asia, but are still frequently, if not annually, obtained near Damascus. Canon Tristram obtained a specimen in the Belka, on tlic south-eastern confines of Palestine, which had wandered from Arabia, and was shot by an Arab sheikh. In Egypt and Nubia the ostrich seldom occurs, rarely north of 17° latitude. In the beginning of this century Buckhardt saw many between Cairo and Suez, but they appear to have abandoned the Libyan Desert. They are found throughout Africa from Algeria to Cape Colony, wherever there is country open enough, and they have not been exterminated. 1 68 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Ostrich feathers were used by the Greeks as early as B.C. 425 for decorating helmets, and the noble Roman ladies are said to have kept tame ostriches for riding. The Egyptian queen Arsinoe had a statue, on which she was represented riding an ostrich. Ostriches may be seen driven in harness in the Jardin des Plantes attached to a light car. The bird is guided by a hooked stick applied to his neck. The pace, it must be con- fessed, is nothing remarkable in the way of speed. The ostrich [Striithio camehis) belongs to an order of birds {Sttnithionidae) now mainly extinct, which forms a separate division of the whole class. They are characterized by the absence of a keel to the sternum. Owl. Several Hebrew words are rendered ' owl.' We have already shown that the word ' owl,' as the translation of bath-hayyanah, in eight passages in the Bible, should be ' ostrich.' [See OSTRICH.] The Hebrew word ^^T- yansJiupJi is translated 'great owl 'in Lev. xi. 17 and Deut. xiv. 16, amongst the list of unclean birds. In Isa. xxxiv. 11, where the prophet is describing" the desolation of Edom, this word is translated owl ; ' The owl also and the raven shall dwell in it : and he shall stretch out upon it the line of con- fusion and the stones of emptiness.' The name seems to be derived from a Hebrew word signifying ' twilight,' so that it is probable a nocturnal bird is meant ; and the translation ' owl,' as being a lover of ruins and nocturnal in its habits, is generally accepted as correct. The ibis, the reading of the Septuagint and Vulgate, is quite unacceptable, since it is a bird of reeds, marshes, and OWL. 169 swamps, and out of the question with regard to the rock- hewn Pctra, the ancient capital of Edom. The great owl of Palestine is the Egyptian eagle owl (Bilbo ascalapJiiis). It is the commonest species except the 'boomey' or little owl. It is very abundant about ruins in Egypt, and is also common at Petra. It occurs in ruins throughout Palestine, and has a loud prolonged hooting cry, very suitable in its dreary sound to the desolate places it inhabits. Where there are no ruins, as in the wilderness of Southern Judrea about Bir es Seba, it resorts to burrows for a nesting- place. It is a large bird, nearly two feet long, with the head decorated with long ear-tufts or horns. The Egyptian eagle owl is almost confined to Egypt and Palestine. The Hebrew word Di3 kos is the name of an unclean bird (Lev. xi. 17, Deut. xiv. 16), and it occurs again in Ps. cii. 6, ' I am like an owl in the desert ' (Heb. or 'ruined places'). In the list of unclean birds it is translated ' little owl' Most of the old versions agree that kos should be so translated. The little owl of Palestine {AtJicnc glanx) is one of the birds most universally met with in Palestine. It is known by the name boomeh amongst the Arabs, and is a great favourite with them, being regarded as a lucky species and one friendly to man. It is also called the ' mother of ruins,' and neither ruin nor tomb of pretension will easily be found without one. Around the villages and in the olive gardens it is always to be met with, and as regularly as the sun sets its musical melancholy note is almost sure to be heard, no matter where the traveller pitches his tent. As it cries it bows and sways itself in a most grotesquely weird fashion, and as it is quite 170 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. tame, it admits of a close study of its amusing ways. This is the bird selected by the Greeks of ancient Athens as the emblem of wisdom and the symbol of their city. It is represented on their coins, and derives its name ' Athene ' in this way. It is closely allied to the little owl of Europe {AtJienc noctud)^ but is smaller and of a paler colour. It has not been found north of the Mediterranean, and only in Syria, North Africa, Persia, and Afghanistan. Another Hebrew word ^i^i? kippo:: occurs only once, in Isa. xxxiv. 15, where it is translated 'great owl,' but this bird has already been identified with the yansJtupJi. It is probable that an owl is meant, and Canon Tristram suggests the Scops owl {Scops giu), fancying its note to be represented by the name kippo::. It is the maroof of the Arabs, and is very abundant as a summer visitor to Palestine. Like the rest of the family, it frequents ruins and olive groves. It is a very small species, about seven inches long. The identification of these owls is the merest conjecture, and in this particular case there has been nothing approaching to consent amongst the commentators. Kippoz has been translated ' hedgehog,' ' darting serpent,' ' thrush,' ' arrow-snake,' as well as ' great owl,' by various Hebraists. Yet one more term remains to be considered. Trr> HHtJi occurs only in Isa. xxxiv. 14, where it is rendered ' screech owl' ' The screech owl [marginal reading, ' night monster '] also shall rest there, and find for her- self a place of rest.' According to the Rabbins, lilith was a beautiful nocturnal spectral woman that fed upon children, — a sort of Jewish Lamia. If, however, we come to the conclusion that a real animal is intended, the PARTRIDGE. T71 screech owl of Palestine {Smyrnitim alucd) may well be supposed to be the lilith. Sinyrnium aliico is the well- known tawny or hooting owl of England, which is not uncommon in Egypt and Palestine. It is a large species, seventeen inches in length, and the most strictly noc- turnal of all the owls. It is found throughout Europe, North Africa, Syria, and Asia Minor. The owl which is properly termed the screech owl is the white owl {^Strix flammed), and not the tawny owl. [See Night Hawk.] On this account it would perhaps have been simpler to affix the interpretation of lilitJi (screech owl) to Strix flamviea, and of tachmas (night hawk), if it be an owl, to Smyniiiini aluco. But I have followed Canon Tristram, in order to avoid increasing confusion. Canon Tristram applies the term ' screech owl ' to the tawn}/ owl. Partridge (Heb. ^ sain/ii). The plural noun, as has been already mentioned [see Goat], is translated 'satyrs' in two passages, and 'devils ' in two other passages in the Bible. Elsewhere it is rendered goat. Its primary sense is 'hairy.' It seems most probable that some half goat-like demons were really intended, the idea of which was derived from the goat-gods of Egypt, half man and half goat. These mythical animals abound in Arabian and Syrian folk- lore, but have no place in a volume on natural history. The word satyr is as correct a translation as could have been applied. Scorpion (Heb. Q''?1i?y akrahbivi). Scorpions belong to the same class [Arac/uiida) as do the spiders, from which they are at once distinguished by the segmented abdomen. They are the largest and most dreaded members of the class, and they are almost confined to the warmer parts of the earth. A few species are found in Southern Europe, but these are compara- tively harmless. The genus Androctomis ('man-killer') has a European representative three inches in length, which is the largest found there, and occurs in the Mediterranean regions. But there are others in this genus double that size in Africa, where Androctomis is chiefly represented. In scorpions the tail is terminated by a curved spur, or sting, beneath which are two poison-glands, whose SATYR. SCORPION. 189 contents are set free at the stroke of the sting. They hide in dark, cool places, under stones or in ruins during the day, and come out at night in search of their prey. They can run with rapidity. During the cold weather they lie dormant. Their food is chiefly large insects, grubs and spiders, which they seize with their pincer jaws, and at once sting to death with the poison tail, which is elevated over the back of the body as far for- ward as the head. The sting of the scorpion is very painful, and many remedies are applied in different parts of Africa. One of the strangest is that narrated by Farini from the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. The natives of one tribe there assert that the sting becomes ineffectual when one is stung often enough, and that thus many of them are scorpion-proof Their remedy for one sting is another. Farini watched a native, who was stung on the foot. He immediately got another scorpion, and placed it beside the first bite, and made it sting him. In a short time he was free from pain. These natives are afraid of no poisonous snake, provided they have with them the means of resorting to a similar method of treatment, i.e. the dried and deadly poison of another, which they rub into the wound. If there is any truth in these statements, they should by all means have the widest circulation. Most sufferers will probably, however, content themselves with the sting of a single scorpion. Scorpions are very abundant about the Dead Sea, and from that southwards in the Arabah and through the Sinaitic peninsula, ' wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought' (Deut. viii. 15). On account of their love for ruins, which afford them cool hiding-places by day, they arc associated with desolation in Ezek. ii. 6. In i])c New Testament their poisonous nature is 190 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. several times alluded to : ' tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails,' and ' as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man' (Rev. ix. 10, 5). And see also Luke x. 19. In I Kings xii. 11 and 3 Chron. x. 14 we read, 'My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions ;' this is said to refer to a kind of whip used in punishing slaves, which was armed with a hooked metal knob and called a ' scorpion.' The Hebrew word akrabbim (scorpion) has given its name to a place mentioned in Josh. xv. 3, as the south- ern boundary of Judah, Maaleh Akrabbim, literally The Scorpion's Pass. Serpent (Heb. ^^\ nachash). We have already dealt with several of the Hebrew words which denote serpents of some kind or other. [See Adder, Asp, Cockatrice, Dragon.] There remain still to be considered the two words nachash, which is the generic name of any serpent, and '"iyf^!< cpheh, which is always rendered ' viper.' The serpent {nachash) is first mentioned in Gen. iii. 1, 13, where he is said to be more subtle than all the beasts of the field. In the New Testament the wisdom of the serpent (o^t?) is alluded to by our Lord in Matt. x. 16, ' Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.' The venomous properties of the serpent tribe are mentioned in Ps. Iviii. 4, 'Their poison is like the poison of a serpent ;' and in Prov. xxiii. 32, ' At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder ;' and Deut. xxxii. 24, ' I will also send the poison of serpents upon them.' The poison appears in some passages to have been held SERPENT. 191 to reside in their tongues, ' They have sharpened their tongues Hke a serpent' (Ps. cxl. 3, and see also Job xx. 16). But elsewhere the danger is attributed to the bite, as it should be, as in Prov. xxiii. 32, quoted above, and in Numb. xxi. 9, and elsewhere. Reference to the habits of serpents of lying hidden is made in several places. This habit is that which renders them so especially dangerous. In Eccl£s..ji^ hiding in hedges is spoken of, ' Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him ;' and in Amos, holes in the wall are men- tioned, ' If a man . . . went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him ' (v. 19). In Deut. viii. 15 the dwelling-place of serpents is found to be in the desert, where they chiefly abound. The term ' fiery,' used in this passage and in other places, has reference probably to the burning sensation caused by their painful bite. Serpents have a peculiar mode of progression by which the lateral bendings of the spine cause them to glide onwards, and the free movements of the ribs backwards and forwards are a means by which they lever themselves alone the ground ; this kind of locomotion is unlike that of any other animal, and will always appear surprising to the intelligent beholder. It was one of the things which was too wonderful for the writer of Proverbs, one of the three things which he knew not, ' The way of a serpent upon a rock' (xxx. 19). These movements are better displayed and look more abnormal on rough surfaces than on smooth ground. In Isa. lix. 5, ' They hatch cockatrice eggs ' shows that the fact of serpents being oviparous was well known. The word nachash would be better rendered here as elsewhere ' serpent,' not ' cockatrice.' 192 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. The taming and charming of serpents is alluded to in Ps. Iviii. 5, Eccles. x. ii, and Jer. viii. 17. [See AsP.] Of serpents upwards of thirty species have been found in Palestine, and of these several are highly poisonous, but the majority are quite innocuous. The peninsula of Sinai and the Wady Arabah, especially the latter, abound in snakes. Of poisonous species there are the cobra {Haja haje), which is rare ; two true vipers ( Vipera Euphratica and V. amnodyies), neither of which are common ; Daboia xanthiiia, Cerastes Hasselqiiistii and Echis m'enicola also belong to the viper family, and are poisonous. Several of these have been already dealt with in previous articles. The viper [epheJi) is mentioned three times in the Old Testament, and the word epheJi is always so translated. See Job xx. 16, Isa. xxx. 6, lix. 5. In the New Testament ' viper' is the translation of the Greek word extS^'a, which was used for any poisonous serpent in that language. See Matt. iii. 7, xiii. 34, xxiii. o^'3^ ; Luke iii. 7 ; Acts xxviii. 3. In the Sahara the Arabs name a species of poisonous snakes el ephah. The 'Icffah' has been described by Dr. Shaw, and Canon Tristram identifies it with the poisonous Echis arenicola, or sand viper, a small snake about a foot long, common in the sandy regions of North Africa, Arabia, and Syria. Shaw says, ' it is the most malignant of the tribe, and rarely above a foot long.' It is not so dreaded an animal, however, as the cobra or cerastes. The viper that fastened on St. Paul's hand was prob- ably the Mediterranean species ( Vipera aspis), which is found in most of the Mediterranean islands. It is not now found in Malta in consequence of timber having been cleared away, and given place to cultivation. SHEEP. 193 Sea Monster. See Whale. Sheep. The Sheep is perhaps the most important of all the animals in the Scriptures. It formed the chief portion of the wealth of the patriarchs, and it is not merely as an article of food that its value is to be estimated. The clothing of those days was almost entirely made of wool ; cotton, silk and flax being hardly known or quite out of CLT.i^-^ M SYRIAN SHEEP. reach until a later period. The number of flocks was the chief measure of property. Tillage was, compara- tively speaking, but little resorted to in Palestine, and there was only very local or in most places no possession in land. Hence sheep were of primary value ; and from its nature the country was, and is still, better adapted to the rearing and feeding of sheep than other domestic animals. The sheep is the first animal specified by name in the N 194 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. sacred writings. Abel, himself a shepherd, offered the firstlings of his flock to the Lord (Gen. iv. 4). Abraham was very rich in sheep, and Job at one time had 14,000 among-st his herds. In 1 Kings iii. 4 we read of a Moabitish shepherd-king who gave a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams ; and this country is still inhabited by owners of vast herds of sheep, the Beni Sakkr sheikhs. Solomon celebrated the dedication of the temple by the sacrifice of 120,000 sheep. For several reasons the sheep was ordained for a large proportion of the Jewish sacrifices. The lamb was a type of innocence and purity, and the flesh was valuable as food. The male lamb was the usual selec- tion, and in some cases either it or the kid was necessary. The ram alone could be sacrificed in the trespass offering. Although sheep and lambs were of great value as food, it is not to be supposed that the Jewish lower classes were able to avail themselves of such diet any more than the peasants of other nations. But amongst the wealthy sheep and lambs were largely consumed. Thus in i Kings i. 19 we read how Adonijah slew 'oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and called all the sons of the king and the captain of the host and Abiathar the priest ;' and in Ps. xliv. 1 1 occurs the phrase ' like sheep appointed for meat.' At Solomon's table a hundred sheep were consumed each day (i Kings iv. 23). It was, however, chiefly for banquets, feasts, and the fare of princes, that sheep were killed, or else for sacrificial purposes. They were also sometimes paid as tribute, as in the instance above quoted with regard to the king of Moab. SHEEP. 195 Sheep's wool as clothing is often mentioned, as in the laws and tokens for discerning the leprosy in Lev. xiii. 47, and again in the sumptuary laws in Deut. xxii. 11. And in Prov. xxxi the virtuous woman is depicted as one who ' seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands,' while Job calls a curse upon himself if the poor ' had not been warmed with the fleece of his sheep,' when making a protestation to the Lord of his integrity. Sheepshearing is alluded to many times in Scripture. Thus we read how ' Jehu met the brethren of Ahaziah at the shearing house,' and how ' he slew them at the pit of the shearing house' (2 Kings x. 12,14); ^i^cl in Gen. xxxviii. 12, 'Judah went up unto his sheep shearers;' and in numerous other passages this practice is referred to, as might be expected. In Job XXX. I we read, ' whose fathers I v/ould have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock ; ' and it does not appear that these animals bore the same honoured position as the sheep dogs of the present day. The reference is a contemptuous one, and the dogs alluded to had no further charge than that of barking, to frighten away and give notice of the approach of jackals, wolves, and other beasts of prey at night. The shep- herd's work in driving his sheep to and from the pasture appears to have been entirely performed by himself, and is carried on in precisely the same manner in Palestine to the present day. [See GOAT.] The shepherd pre- cedes his flock, and they follow him, even coming to his call separately by name when he requires them to do so. Amongst other purposes which the sheep's carcase was put to, was that of supplying the trumpet or musical instrument blown by the priests, which was made from N 2 ig6 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. their horns (Josh. iv. 4). Horns were used besides as vessels : ' Fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite ' (i Sam. xvi. i). The untanned skins were probably, as they are still, made into coats by the shepherds. The ' leathern girdle ' of John the Baptist was most likely of this nature. In Hebrews also we read how the fathers of old were persecuted, and ' wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins ' (xi. 37) ; the latter skin, however, is the most prominently adopted as leather in the Scriptures. The tabernacle, we are told, was lined with red ram skins (Exod. xxvi. 14). Shepherds in the East lead a lonely and romantic life. They wander with their flocks far from human habita- tions, in order to bring them to pasture, and also because it is necessary for them to watch over them by night, to protect them from wild beasts. In a rude circle of stones, a temporary hut, or a cave, they form some place for repose upon a bed of rushes, and with their dogs they ' abide in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night' The sheep are usually on these occasions driven into a fold, which is merely a space enclosed with a loose stone wall. Sometimes, where possible, a cave is selected. A doorway is formed in the boundary wall where one exists. In John x. 1-6 we read much about the shepherd with his sheep, all of which is exemplified by the manner of tending their flocks amongst the Arabs of Palestine at the present day. ' When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.' The sheep will pursue their master and surround him sooner than let him escape from them, such is their trust in him, their natural protector from SHEEP. 197 the dreaded wolf. Hartley, in his Researches in the Holy Land, tells us how a shepherd called his sheep by name, and they ran to him with signs of pleasure, except some few that had not yet learned their names and were regarded as ' wild.' It is necessary that they should be taught, as the wanderers would stray into unfenced fields of corn, and get into trouble in this way, or else get lost. In Southern France, and no doubt in other Mediter- ranean countries, sheep follow their shepherd to the sound of a sort of pipe, and they not only know their names and answer them, but when one has been guilty of a fault, such as a trespass into the unfenced crops, he will obey the shepherd's summons, although aware that a blow on the side of the head awaits him as correction. Amongst other necessities for their careful tending of Eastern flocks which falls on the shepherd is that of supplying them with water. Hence the wells, such as that at Beersheba, are great resorts and centres for pasture. Noontide is the usual hour for watering the sheep, when the shepherd leads them forth ; ' The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : He leadeth mc beside the still waters ' (Ps. xxiii. i, 2). And in the narrative of Gen. xxix. the pivot of the incident is the rolling away of the stone from the well for Rachel to water her sheep, the stone being placed as a protection against dust and sand. Later on Moses performed the same office for the daughters of Jethro,and poured the water into the troughs for the sheep. And to this day the well is the common meeting-place in the East, where a little social inter- course and courtship can be daily exchanged. The sheep of Palestine are of two breeds, the common sheep {Ovis aries) and the broad-tailed sheep {Ovis igS ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. laticmidata). The latter is principally remarkable for its enormous, heavy, laterally developed tail, which reaches sometimes a weight of from ten to twenty pounds. This breed is found in Tartary, Arabia, Persia, Barbary, and Syria, and it was known both to Herodotus and Aristotle. It is the same as that which is found figured on the ancient Assyrian monuments. The body is white, head and neck dark, and the tip of the tail horny. The tail is very fat, and regarded as a delicacy for cooking purposes by the Arabs. The fat tail was a part of the peace-offering as ordained for the Hebrews (Lev. iii. 9). The Hebrew terms for sheep are : i^^^* isoii, a flock of sheep ; '"i^ seh, a single sheep or goat ; T'^ ayil, a ram ; ^3") rakal, a ewe ; ^9? kebes, fern. ^^"^^ kebesah, a young sheep of over a year ; '1^9 taleh, a sucking lamb ; "'S kar, a lamb in the pasture. It is the opinion of most naturalists that the domestic breeds of sheep are derived from several distinct species. The head-quarters of the genus is in Asia. Snail (Heb. ^^^3C^ shablut). Two words are translated ' snail ' in the Bible. One of these, t^on choinet, has been already dealt with. [See Lizard.] The other term, shabltd, occurs only in the passage, 'As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away ' (Ps. Iviii. 8). This metaphor is obviously derived from the slimy track left by the snail as it crawls along, which gives it the appearance of melting and depositing its substance in its wake. Snails are very abundant both in Individuals and species in Palestine. So conspicuous a feature are they SNAIL. 199 everywhere, often whitening the desert with theirbleached shells, as they do in parts of Judi deeb. The wolf is mentioned in the Bible as a type of ferocity and voracious greediness, and almost always in connection with its ravages amongst the flocks. Its habit of attacking its prey at eventide is often referred to ; but although the animal is mentioned thirteen times in the Bible, and was certainly very abundant, we have nowhere an actual individual introduction of a wolf in any of the Scriptures, nor any allusion to an occurrence in which a wolf takes part, as we have of most of the other large animals. The wolf is always spoken of in a metaphorical sense, and used as a type to illustrate cruelty or some such quality. Like a sheep-hunting dog, the w^olf delights in slaughter, and will kill sheep till he is tired before his bloodthirstiness is appeased and he satisfies his hunger. Mutton is their natural food. With reference to its hours of foraging we read, ' a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them ' (Jer, v. 6), ' their horses are fiercer than evening wolves ' (Hab. i. 8), ' Her princes are lions, her judges are evening wolves' (Zcph. iii. 3). These passages also refer to its fierceness, as do also others in Gen. xlix. 27, Ezek. xxii. 27 ; and its 222 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. devastations amongst the lambs are singled out for illustration by the prophet Isaiah, and also by our Lord in the New Testament, ' the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep' (John x. 12), 'I send you forth as lambs among wolves ' (Luke x. 3). The wolf {Canis hiptis) is probably not uncommon in Palestine, but its extreme stealth and nocturnal habits render it seldom seen. There is so little cover of a nature to suit it that it can hardly now multiply to any considerable extent, and it is less likely to escape being harassed in Palestine than in forested countries, where it is still harder to observe. The only occasion upon which I met with wolves was near the summit of Lebanon, by the Damascus road, where a couple were regaling themselves upon a dead camel in heavy snow. They were fearless enough, and hardly took the trouble to retire at our approach. Their tracks were often shown to me, but they are frequently confounded with those of the hyena. The wolf, on account of its superior craftiness and greater strength, is much more dreaded by the shepherd than the jackal. Although they do not appear to hunt in packs in Syria, as they do in other places, they never- theless are most destructive from their cunning in eluding the vigilance of both shepherd and dogs by night and seizing the sheep by stealth. The wolf, strange to relate, was worshipped by the Egyptians, who named a city after it (Lycopolis). By all other nations the wolf was detested. It was probably the same principle of dread veneration which induced the Egyptians to hold the crocodile sacred that made them view the wolf in the same light. There are several well-marked races or varieties of the WORM. 223 wolf, and in one or other of these it is found all over the northern hemisphere, except where, as in Britain, it has been exterminated. They vary chiefly in their colour, and are to be regarded as races due to climate and other geographical causes. Wolves are, as we have seen, particularly addicted to mutton, but it is a well-authenticated fact that they delight in eating their brother dog, and still worse, they do not hesitate to devour their own fallen comrades. When driven by hunger they arc most dangerous to man, and it is strange to read now of the terrorism occasionally caused by wolves in the woody mountainous regions of France, when we reflect how long we have been free from them in this country. In the time of Athelstan (A.D. 925) a retreat was built at Flixton, in Yorkshire, as a refuge to save travellers from becoming a prey to hunting wolves. They were last heard of in these islands as late as 171 o in Ireland, when a presentment for killing them was made in Cork. Worm. Under the term ' worm' a variety of living things were included in former days, and the word ' worm' in the Bible must not be taken in the limited sense in which it is now applied to the Annelides, and especially to the genus Lumbricns, or ' earth-worm.' In Isa. li. 8, the worm and moth are spoken of as destroying garments, and no doubt the caterpillar of the clothes moth is intended. The Hebrew term here used is DD sas, which does not occur again. [See MoTli.] In several passages the word ' worm' denotes generally any grub or maggot which feeds on putrefying matter. In this case the animal is usually the larval or imperfect 324 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. stage of some species of insect. Thus in Exod. xvi. the worms that the manna bred were of this nature, and two distinct words '"i^l rinimah and '^i??i^ toleaJi are employed in the Hebrew original. The words appear to be used interchangeably. The former is used in the same sense in Job xvii. 14, ' I have said to the worm, Thou art my mother,' and ' The worm shall feed sweetly on him ' (xxiv. 20), and also in xxi. 26 and vii. 5. Both words are used again in an interchangeable manner in Isa. xiv. II, 'The worm {rinimaJi) is spread under thee, and the worms {toloini) cover thee,' and the context shows that they signify the larvae or grubs which feed on dead bodies. Caterpillars which feed on vegetable matter are also spoken of under the term ' worms ' [toleah), ' Thou shalt plant vineyards, but thou shalt not gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them' (Deut. xxviii. 29), and the ' worm ' that God prepared to smite Jonah's gourd is also toleah. The term toleah is used several times in an opprobrious sense, as our word 'worm' is, to signify any- thing vile and mean. Thus in Ps. xxii, 6, ' I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people ; ' and in Job xxv, 6, ' How much less man, that is a worm [riminah] ? and the son of man, which is a worm {toleah) ? ' and again in Isa. xli. 14, ' Thou worm Jacob.' The worm is the symbol also of eternal gnawing pain, as in Isa. Ixvi. 24, ' Their worm shall not die.' ' Worms' in Micah vii. 17 refers rather to serpents or some ' creeping things ; ' ' They shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth : ' or it may here refer to some species of Lumbriciis or earth-worm. The elder naturalists included under Vermes or worms such widely different forms as corals, shell-fish, zoophytes, WORM. 225 sea anemones, and tunicates. And the word worm is still loosely used in its old signification in such com- pounds as ' worm-eaten,' ' wire-worm,' and ' blind-worm.' A very abundant class of so-called 'worms' in Palestine are the millipedes and centipedes, and of these one or two species of Scolopendra are especially common. No doubt the genus Lmnbriais is also represented, but we have little information on this head. A Classified List, including all the animals dealt WITH in the preceding PAGES, ARRANGED IN THEIR scientific ORDER. In the appended classification of the animal kingdom, those groups of living things which are in no way alluded to in the Bible are omitted. — Nevertheless, the reader will find included all those which are referred to in this work in illustration or explanation of doubtful passages. VERTEBRATA. CLASS.— MAMMALIA. ORDER. — QUADRUMANA. APES AND MONKEYS. Catarrhiiies. Old World Monkeys. Anthropomorpha. Man-shaped. Cynomorpha. Dog-shaped. Semnopithecus. Sacred Apes or Monkeys. ORDER. — Chiroptera, or Wing-handed Mammals. The Bats. Frugivora. Fruit-ealing Bats. Insectivora. Insect-eating Bats. Vespertilio — Rhinolophus — Plecotus — Rhinopoma — Taphozous. ORDER. — Insectivora. Insect-eating Mammals. ICrinaceidae. Erinaceus. Hedgehog. Talpidae. Talpa. Mole. ORDER. — Carnivora. Flesh-eating Mammals. l-"elidae. Cats. Lion — Leopard— Cheetah, or Hunting Leojjard. Hyaenidae. Hyaenas. Viverridae. The Civet family. Ilerpestidae (the Ichneumons). P 2 228 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Canidae. Dogs. Dog — Wolf— Jackal — Fox. Ursidae. Bears. Mustclidae. Weasel family. Weasel — Polecat — Ferret — Badger. ORDER. — PiNNiPEDiA. Marine Carnivora. Phocidae. Earless Seals. Cetacea. Whales — Dolphins — Porpoises. Sirenia. Halicore or Dugong. ORDER. — Proboscidea. Elephants. ORDER. — Hyracoidea. Conies. ORDER. — Ungulata. Hoofed Quadrupeds. Perissodactyla. Odd-toed Ungulates. Equidae. Horses. Asinidae. Asses — Onagers. Artiodactyla. Even-toed Ungulates. Snidae. Hogs. Hippopotami. ('Behemoth'.) Ruminantia. Horned Ruminants. Bovidae or Hollow-horned Ruminants. Oves. Sheep and Goats. Gazelles. Antelopes — Addax • — Oryx — Bubalus — Oxen — Buffalo Bovidae. Cerfoidae or Antlered Ruminants. Fallow-deer — Roe. Tylopoda. Camels. ORDER.— RODENTIA. Simplicidentata. Simple-toothed Rodents. Miomorpha. Mouse-like Rodents. Muridae. Rats — Mice — Hamsters— Gerbilles — Voles. Spalacidae. Mole-rats. Dipodidae. Jerboas. Histricidae. Porcupines. Duplicidentata. Double-toothed Rodents. Leporidae. Hares — Rabbits. CLASSIFIED LIST. 239 CLASS.— AVES. BIRDS. DIVISION I. Carinatae. Carinate Birds. ORDER.— AcciPiTRES. Birds of Prey. Sulj-order. — Falcones. Falcons. Vulturidae. Vultures. Falconidae. Hawks. Biiteoninae. Buzzards. Aquilinae. Eagles. Falconinae. Falcous. Accipitrinae. Long-legged Hawks. Sub-order. — Pandions. Ospreys. Sub-order. — Striges. Owls and Barn-Owls. ORDER. — Picariae. Picarian Birds. Cuculidae. Cuckoos. Cypselidae. Swifts. Caprimulgidae. Goatsuckers. ORDER.— Passeriformes. Perching Birds. Corvidae. Crows. Brachypodinae. Bulbuls. Hirundinidae. Swallows. ORDER. — CoLUMBAE. Pigeons. ORDER.— Gallinae. Game Birds. Pteroclidae. Sand-grouse. Tctraonidac. Grouse — Partridges — Quails. Pavoninae. Peacocks. ORDER. — Grallae. Wading Birds. Rallidae. Rails. Otidae Bustards. Gruidae. Cranes. ORDER.— Hekodiones. Herons. Platalcidae. Ibises. Ardeidae. Herons — Bitterns — Egrets. Charadriadae. I'lovers (Lapwing). Ciconiidac. Storks. Phoenicoptcridae. Flamingos. 230 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. ORDER. — Anseres. Ducks— Geese — Swans. Cygnidae. Swans. ORDER.— Pelecanidae. Pelicans and Cormorants. ORDER.— Gaviae. Sea Birds. Laridae. Gulls and Terns. DIVISION II. Struthious Birds. ORDER. — Struthionidae. Ostriches. CLASS.— REPTIIilA. REPTILES. ORDER. — Chelonia. Tortoises and Turtles. ORDER. — Crocodilxa. Crocodiles and Alligators. ORDER. — Sauria or Lacertidae. Lacertidae. Lizards. Monitoridae. Water-lizards. Agamidae. Dhabbs. Geckotidae. Geckos. Chamaeleonidae. Chamaeleons. Scincoidae. Skinks or Sand-lizards. ORDER.— Ophidia. The Snakes. Sub-order. — Thanatophidia. The Poisonous Colubrine Snakes. Elapidae. Terrestrial Poisonous Colubrine Snakes. Naja. The Cobras. Sub-order. — Solenoglyphia. The Viperine Snakes. Viperinae. Viper — Adder — Homed Cerastes. Sub-order. — Colubriformes. Harmless Snakes. Psammophidae. Desert Snakes. Colubride?. Common Snakes. Pythonidae. Rock Snakes. Erycidae. Sand Snakes. CLASS.— AMPHIBIA . ORDER.— Anoura. Tailless Batrachians. Ranidae. Frogs. Bufonidae. Toads. CLASSIFIED LIST. 331 CLASS.— PISCES. FISHES. ORDER.— Selachoidei. Sharks— Dogfishes. ORDER.— Rajdei. Skate— Rays. ORDER.— Pharyngognathi. Chromidae. ORDER.— ACANTHOPTERYGII. Percidae. Perches. Sparidae. Sea-Breams Cythina. John Dory. Coryphaenina. Coryphaene- Scombrina. Mackerels — Tunnies— Remora. ORDER.— Physostomi. Siluridae. Sheatfish. Cyprinodontidae. Carps — Goldfish — Gudgeon, &c. Muraenidae. Eels. ORDER. — Marsipobranchii. Petromyzontidae. Lampreys. INVERTEBRATA. CLASS.— MOLLUSC A. ORDER.— Gasteropoda. Strombidae. Wingshells. Buccinidae. Whelks. Scalariadae. \\enlle-traps. Melaniadae. Melania — Melanopsis. lanthinidae. Violet Snails. ORDER.— Pulmonifera. Helicidae. Snails. Limacidae. Slugs. ORDER.— Conchifera. Unionidae. Fresh-water Mussels. CLASS. -IWrSECTA. ORDER.— COLEOPTERA. Beetles. ORDER.— Hymeroptera. Aculcata, or Stinging Hymenoptera. Apiariae. Bees. Bombus — Anthophora — Osmie — Megachile, &c. 232 ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. Vespidiae. Wasps — Hornets Formicidae. Ants. ORDER. — Lepidoptera. Butterflies and Moths. ORDER.— DiPTERA. Culicidae. Gnats or Mosquitoes. Muscidae. House-flies. ORDER — Aphaniptera. Fleas. ORDER.— Rhynchota. Heteroptera. Bugs. Pediculina. Lice. ORDER. — Orthoptera. Gryllidae. Crickets. Locustidae. Locusts. Acridiidae. Grasshoppers and True Locusts. Blattidae. Cockroaches. CLASS.— MYRIAOPODA. ORDER. — Chilopoda. Centipedes. ORDER.— Chilognatha. Millepedes. CLASS.— ARACHNID A. Family Scorpionidae. Scorpions. ORDER.— Araneida. Spiders. CLASS.— VERMES. WORMS. LIST OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. GENESIS. I. 21 . iii. I, 13 iv. 4 . vi. 7 . viii. 7 viii. 8-12 ix. 2 . xii. 16 XV p . xviii. 7 xxii. 3 XX iv. 35 xxix. XXX. 43 xxxii. 15 xxxvi. 24 xxxvii. xxxviii. 12 xxxviii. 16 xlv. 17 xlvii. 17 xlix. 9 xlix. 17 xlix. 21 xlix. 27 1.9 . EM vii. 9 . viii. viii. 16, 18 viii. 21, 31 ix. 25 xiv. 6 xiv. 9, 17 xvi. xvi. 13 XX. 4 . xxii. 5 xxiii. II xxiii. 12 xxiii. 28 xxv. 5 xxvi. 14 XXX. 34 80 igo 194 35 184 74 94 23 52, S3 53 33 23 197 23 48 159 49 105 116 39 129 144. 145 13 121 221 128 ODUS. 80 109 143 100 35 130 128 223 181 94 38 39 53 126 25 25, 196 200 LEVITICUS. I. 14 II. 5 iii. 9 xL 2 xi. 4 75 64 198 35 48 xi. 6 . xi. 7 . XI. 9-12 xi. 12 . xi. 13 . xi. 14 . xi. 15 • xi. 16 . xi. 17 . xi. 18 . xi. 19 . xi. 22 . xi. 29 . xi. 30 . xii xiii. 47 xiv. 22 ,xvii. 21 xix. 19 . 120 • 45 • 94 . 62 88, 162 136, 217 . 183 71, 122, 161, 163 67, 168, 169 in, 176, 211 27, 124, 137, 206 35,153 . 219 56,93, 149, 154 75 195 76 "5 160 NUMBERS. IV. vi. 10 . vii. 3 . xi. 4. 5 XX. 4, 8, II xxi. 9 . xxii. 21 xxiii. 22 xxiii. 24 xxiv. 4 xxxii. 3 36 DEUTERONOMY. 25 76 53 95 38 191 23 213 MS 148 140 1. 44 . iv. 8 . iv. 18 . vii. 20 vii. 22 . viii. 15 xii. 15 .xii. 22 XiV. 4 xiv. 5 59, xiv. 7 . xiv. 8 xiv. 12 xiv. 13 xiv. 14 xiv. 15 xiv. 16 xiv. 17 xiv. 18 32, 126 • 94 • 99 126 • 39 189, 191 121, 186 . 186 53. 179 92, iig, 121, 181, 186 48, 64, 120 45, 137 88, 162 . 113, 136, 217 . . ■ 183 71, 123, 161, 163 168, 169, 211 67, III, 176 27, 124, 206 XV. 22 . xxii. 10 x.\ii. II xxv. 4 xxviii. 29 xxviii. 49 XXX. 33 xxxii. 11,12 xxxii. 24 .xxxii. 33 xxxiii. 17 121, 186 52 195 52, 53 234 84 80 4, i°5 190 19 213 JOSHUA. IV. 4 . ix. 4 . XV. 3 . xy. 32 xix. 6 xxi. 24 xxiv. 12 JUDGES. 1. 14 . IV. 3 . V. 10 . V. 22 . vi. 5 . vii. 12 vii. 21. 26 X. 4 . xii. 12 xii. 14 xiv. 5 . xiv. 8 . xiv. 18 XV. I . XV. 4 . 196 • "7 126, 190 • 145 ■ 145 121 . 126 23 130 23 132 153 153 48 23 121 2S 144 32, 144 52, 148 . 116 109 I SAMUEL. VI. vi. 7 . '^;.3 • xiii. 18 xvi. I . xvii. 34 xvii. 34-36 xvii. 43 xix. 13 xxiv. 2 xxiv. 14 xxv. 2 xxv. 20 157 53 23 135 ig6 31 146 72 117 ng 99 116 23 234 LIST OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. xxvi. 20 xxx. 17 90, 106, 171 . . 46 2 SAMUEL. 11. la . viii. 4. xiii. 29 xvii. 8 xvii. 10 xxii. 34 xxiii. 20 168 130 i6o 31 148 121 146 I KINGS. I. 9 . . . .53 1. 33 . . 159, 160 i. 38, 44 . . . 159 iv. 23 54, 62, 92, 121, 186, 194 iv. 26, 28 128 iv. 33 • 35, <34 viii. 63 53 X. 22 . . '. 18, 174 X. 26 . 130 xii. II. I go xviii. 5 • 35 160 xix. 19 . 52 XX. 23 130 xxii. 39 91 2 KINGS. ii. 24 . 31 iii. 4 . 194 iv. 24 . 23 ^•..?7 • 160 vm. 13 72 x. 12, 14 19s XV. 25 '45 xix. 28 132 I CHRONICLES. V.2I . xii. 8 . • 49 . 148, i86 xii. 40 • S3 xxvii. 30 . • 23 2 CHRONICLES. yii. 13 Lx. 21 ix, 28 X. 14 . xi. IS . xxix. 33 xxxi. 14 • 153 18, 174 • 130 . 190 • 115 • 53 • 95 NEHEMIAH. 11. 12 . iii. 3 . V. 18 . xii. 39 35 95 62 95 EZRA. ii. 66 . vi. 9 . vi. 17 . vil. 17 viii. 35 160 • 52 52, 115 52 • "5 ESTHER. viu. 10 viii, 14 JOB. iii. 8 . iv. II . iv. 18, 19 vi. 6 . vii. 5 . viii. 14 xi. 12 . xvii. 14 xviii. 8-10 xix. 6 . XX. 14-16 XX. 16 xxi. 26 xxiv. 5 xxiv. 20 XXV. 6 xxvii. 18 xxviii. 7 xxviii. 18 xx.x. I xxx. 2J xxxviii. 41 xxxix. I xx.\ix. s xxxix. 9-12 xxxix. 13 xxxix. 19-2 xxxix. 20 xxxix. 26 xxxix. 27-30 xl. 15-24 xii. I . xii. s . xii. 7 . PS. vu. 2 . xxii. 6 xxii. 12 xxii. 21 xxiii. I, : xxix. 9 xxxii. 9 .xlii. 1 xliv. xlv. 8 1. II 1.13 Iv. 6 Iviii. II . 128 128, 159 141, 142 145, 148 . 156 . 62 224 204 • 24 . 224 106 • 147 • 19 191, 192 . 224 24 224 . 224 . 156 . 136 . 66 73, 19s 79, 164 . 184 iig, 122 24 . 214 5, 174, 206 • 131 • 153 • 123 • 83 • 36 . 142 104 ALMS. . 148 . 224 52, 54 148 214 197 122 132 I2T 194 92 39 52 77 199 Iviii. 4 Iviii. 5 Iviii. 8 Iviii. 30 Ixiii. 10 Ixviii. 13 Ixviii. 30 Ixxiv. 14 Ixxviii. 27 Ixxviii. 45 Ixxviii. 48 Ixxx. l.\x.\. 13 Ixxxiv. 3 xci. 13 cii. cii. 6 . ciii. 5 . civ. 12 civ. 18 civ. 25, 26 cv. 30 cv. 31 cv. 40 cxviii. 12 cxix. 83 cxl. 3 cxlvii. 9 . 19 190 • 19, 192 198 52 108 77 . 42 , 142 181 100 109 38 42 39 104, 202 209 . 80 203 . 169 . 84 104 '. '. 64, 119 . 141 109 100, 143 . 181 . 32 117 15. 191 184 PROVERBS. v. 19 . vi. 5 . vi. 6 . xi. 22 XV. 17 xvii. 12 xxiii. 32 xxvi. 2 XXVI •3 xxvii. 8 .xxx. 15 xxx. 17 xxx. 19 xxx. 24 xxx. 25 XX.X. 26 xxx. 28 xxx. 29 xxx. 30 xxx. 31 xxxi 15 . I2X . 187 • 15 • 45 • 54 ■ 31 63, 190, 191 . 209 . 132 . IDS • 133 . 184 . 191 . 64 • IS . 64 . 203 • lis • 145 . "5 . 195 ECCLESIASTES. IX. 4 . X. I X. 8 . X. II . xii. 4 . 72 100 191 192 104 SONG OF SOLOMON. 1. 9 . 1. 15 • ii. 8, 9 . 128 • 77 121, 187 LIST OP^ SCRIPTURE REP^ERENCES. ^?,5 II. II, 12 77. 104 yiii. 17 . 192 AMOS. ii. 14 . . 76 ix. II . . 80 ii. 17 . . 187 X. 22 . 79, 80 39. 134 iii. 4 . 149 iv. 8 . . 140 xii. 9 . iii. 5 . 106 V. 2 . ■ 77 xiii. 23 • 139 V. ig . 191 V. n . . . .84 xiv. 5 . . 122 vi. 4 . 54, 91 viii. 14 . . 187 xiv. 6 xvii. II 24, 80 ■ 171 vi. 12 . MIC AH. 132 IS ■MA II. xlvi. 23 • 153 xlviii. 28 • 77 i. 8 . 80 164 ii. 3 . . 66 xlviii. 34 . 140 i. 13 . . 128 ii. 20 . 27, 57. 155 xlix. 16 . 83 i. 16 . . 82 ii. 21 . ■ '7 xlix. 19 . 146 vii. 17 . 224 V. 28 . . 132 1. II . • 52 vii. 18 • 32 1.39 . 39. 164 HABAKKUK. vii. 21,22 52 h. 27 . • 154 x. 33 . . 66 Ii. 34 . . 81 >• 5 • • 140 xi. 8 . 19. 63 . 187 i. 8 . . 128, 131, 221 xiii. 14 LAMENTATIONS. i. 15 . 97 xiii. 21 xiii. 22 59. "5. 135. 164 • 39. 79. 80 i. 6 . iv. 3 . • 163, . 121 165, 220 ZEPHANIAH. xiv. II . 224 iv. 19. . 84 i. 10 . 95 xiv. 23 . 40 V. 18 . . 109 ii.14 . 41, 67, 176 xiv. 29 . 63 iii. 3 . 221 XV. 6 . 140 EZEKIEL , xix. 8 xxi. 7 • 97 47. 128 . 91 . 142 ii.6 . . 189 ZECHARIAH. xxi. 13 vii. 16 • 77 v. 9 . . 206 xxvii. I xiii. 4 . 107 XI. 3 . . 146 xxviii. 28 . 128 xvi. 10 25 XIV. 20 . 132 XXX. 6 XXX. 24 24. '45. 192 24 xvii. . xix. . . 84 ■ 147 MA LAC II I. XXX. 28 • 132 -xix. 2 . • 144 I -t 80 xxxii. 14 xxxiv. 7 . 24 52, 214 xxii. 17 xxvi. 5 . 221 • 97 IV. 2 . 54 xxxiv. 1 1 .\xxiv. 13 40 , 67, 168, 176 164 xxvi. 10 xxvi. 14 . 128 ■ 97 MATTHEW. xxxiv. 14 39, 115, 170 xxvii. 6 • 91 iii. 4 . 49 xxxiv. 15 170, 217 xwii. 14 128, 160 iii. 7 . 192 XXXV. 6 121 xxvii. 16 66 iii. 16 . . . • 76 xxxviii. 14 69, 77, 209 xxvii. 20 • 132 vii. 6 . 45 xli. 14 . 224 xxviii. 15 ■ 91 viii. 20 107 xliii. 20 . 164 XXIX. 3 81 X. 16 . .' 76 190 1. 9 ■ . . 156 xxix. 4 . 98 xii. 49 98 Ii. 8 . • 223 xlvii. 10 95. 97 xiii. 34 . 192 Ii. 9 . Ii. 20 . . 81 . 181 DANIEL. xvii 27 xxiii. 24 . 97 114 lix. 5 . 53, 191, 192, 204 iv. 25, 32 33 52 xxiii. 33 192 lix. 6 . . 204 V. 21 . 24 xxiv. 28 84 lix. II • 77 vii. 6 . ■ 139 xxvi. 34 . 61 Ix. 6 . . . 46 viii. . • "5 Ixv. 4 . ■ 45 MARK. Ixvi. 3 • 45 HOSEA. i. 6 . 49 6i 61 Ixvi. 17 45. 158 Ixvi. 20 160 vii. II • 76 xiii. 35 Ixvi. 24 . 224 viii. I . . 84 xiv. 30 ■ viii. 9 . 25 L UKE. JER, EM lAll. X. 1 1 , xi. II . 52 ■ 76 ii. 24 . 76 ii. 23 . . . 46 xiii. 8 3'. 39 iii. 7 . 192 ii. 24 . . 24 JOEL. X. 3 . 222 v. 5 . . 140 X. 19 . 190 V. 6 . . 140, 221 i. 4 . . • '54 xu. 24 184 •>■ 27 . 106 11. 2-7, 9 . • 154 xiii. 32 107 V111.7. (>'h 77. 104, 207, 209 11. 4 . . 128 xiii. 34 61 2^6 LIST OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. 2 PETER. REVELA TION. XV. 29 . . 116 2 TIMOTHY. XV. 30 JOHN. • 53 iv. 17. HEBREWS. 148 X. 1-6 , 196 xi. 37. 196 X. 12 . . 222 JAMES. ACTS. V. 2 . 156 ix. 36 . . 187 I PETER. xxviii. 3 iy2 V. 8 . 14S 45 IX. s, 10 . . igo xiii. 2 • 139 xvi. 13 109 xviii. II • 157 xviii. 12 • 92. 157 INDEX. Addax, 179 ; habits of, 180. Adder, habits of, 13 ; the Horned Sand Snake, 14 ; Asp of Cleopatra, 14 ; the Cerastes Haselquistii, 14. See Cobra, Cockatrice. Ant, habits of, 15 ; Shakespeare on, 15 ; hybernation of, 16 ; instinct and industry of, 17. Anubis, worshipped as a dog, 74. Ape, habitat of, 18 ; found on ancient monuments, 19 ; sacred to Thoth, 19 ; the Wanderoo and the Hoonu- man, 19. Apiariae, the, 34. Asp, habits of, 19 ; charming of, 20 ; poison of, 20. Asp of Cleopatra, 14. Ass, in Eastern countries, 21 ; she- asses, 23 ; young asses, 28 ; wild asses, 24. Auroch, range and habits of, 214. Baal-zebub, 102. Badger, 25 ; signification of the term, 26. Barton on flight of Kite, 137. Bat, habits of, 27 ; species, 27 ; of Palestine, 28. Bear, 28 ; Syrian, 31 ; ferocity of, 31. Beasts, identification of the term, 35. Bee, Scripture references, 32 ; in Pal- estine, 32 ; wild honey, 33 ; method of keeping, 34. Beetle, 34. Behemoth, identification of, 35 ; the hippopotamus, 37. Bittern, 40 ; species of, 41. Black kite, habits of, 217. Blue thrush, 203. Boar, Wild, 42 ; habits of, 45 ; range of, 45 ; abhorrence of, 45. Bonelli's eagle, 90, Breeze fly, loi. Bubalus, range and description of, 92. Buffalo, Indian, 55. Bulls of Bashan, 53. Bustard, 69. Buzzard, species of, 113. Cage of birds, 106. Camel, names of, 46 ; uses of, 47 ; flesh of, 48 ; hair of, 48 ; character _ of, 50. Caterpillars, references to, 224. Cattle, names for, 51 ; usefulness of, 52 ; wild, 53 ; of Palestine, 54 ; buffalo, 55. Cerastes Haselquistii, 14. Ceylon, probably Tharshish, 18. Chameleon, names of, 56 ; char- acteristics of, 57 ; species of, 57 ; range of, 57 ; colour of 58. Chamois, identification of, 59. Chariot, use of, 130. Cheetah, habits of, 141. Clarke, Dr. A., quoted, 26. Cobra, habits of, ig. Cock, hen, varieties of, 60 ; Scripture allusions to, 61 ; crowing of, 61 ; domestication of, 62. Cockatrice, renderings of the term, 63 ; fables of, 63. Coney, Scripture allusions, 64 ; the hyrax, 65. Coral, meaning of term, 66 ; value of, 66 ; description of, 66. Cormorant, references to, 67 ; habits of, 67. Coryphene, 96. Crane, references to, 69 ; migration of, 69 ; notes of, 69 ; description of, 71 ; used as food, 71. Crocodile, range of, 142 ; habits of, 142 ; worship of, 143. Cuckoo, names for, 71 ; habits of, 71; range of, 72 ; Great-spotted, 72. Dagon, worship of, 98. Dog, allusions to, 72 ; term used as a 238 INDEX. reproach, 73 ; life of in the East, 73 ; in temperate regions, 74. Dove, allusions to, 74 ; characteristics of, 76 ; wild, 77 ; turtle-dove, 77 ; domestication of, 78 ; held sacred, 78. Dragon, allusions to, 79 ; identifica- tion of, 80 ; fables of, 8r. Drayton on flight of kite, 137. Dromedary, 46. Dugong, 26. Eagle, 82 ; sight of, 83 ; character- istics of, 84 ; fable as to renewing its youth, 84 ; Spenser on, 84 ; Glap- thorne on, 87; emblem of St. John, 87 ; species of, 88, 90. Egyptian vulture, in. Elephant, probably ivory, 90. Engedi, 119. Fallow Deer, allusion to, 92 ; identi- fication of, 92. Ferret, identification of, 93. Field-mouse, ravages of, 158. Fishes, allusions to, 94 ; silence con- cerning, 95 ; of Palestine, 96 ; mode of taking, 96 ; species of, 97 ; Dagon, the fish god, 98 ; Sidon, a fish god, 98. Fishing, references to, 96. Fleas, allusions to, 99 ; species of, 100 ; abundance of, 100. Fly, allusions to, 100 ; house-fly, 100 ; breeze-fly, loi ; gad-fly, 102. Fowls, domestication of, 62 ; allusions to, 102 ; species of, 102 ; imclean and clean, 103 ; nesting of, 104 ; used as food, 105 ; modes of catch- ing, 106 ; cages of, io6. Fox, varieties of, 107 ; allusions to, 107 ; habits of, 109. Frog, allusions to, 109 ; edible frog, no; croaking of, iii. Gad-fly, 102. Gannet, 67. Gecko, 93. Gelada, a dog-headed baboon, 19 ; sacred to Thoth, 19. Gier eagle, identification of, in. Glapthorne on eagle, 84. Glede, 113. Gnat, reference to, 114; species of, "5- Goat, allusions to, 115 ; domestic, 116 ; range of, 116 ; uses of, 117 ; skin of, 117; hair of, 117; varieties of, 118; depredations of, 118 ; wild, 118 ; flesh of, 119. Goat-sucker, 161 ; habits of, 162. Golden eagle, 88. Greater Horse-shoe bat, 28. Greyhound, Per.sian, 73. Griffin vulture, 88 ; range of, 89. Gulls, 68. Hamster, habits of, 158. Hare, description of, 120 ; varieties of, 120 ; flesh of, 121. Harris, Dr., quoted, 26. Hart, allusions to, 121 ; habits of, 122. Hawk, references to, 122 ; immigration of, 123. Hen, see cock. Heron, 69 ; identification of, 124 ; species of, 125 ; food of, 125 ; flesh of, 125. Hind, allusions to, 121 ; habits of, 122. Hippopotamus, description of, 37. Hog, abhorrence of, 45. Honey, wild, in Palestine, 33. Hoonuman baboon, 19. Hoopoe, food of, 138 ; habits of, 139. Horned sand i-nake, 14. Hornet, species of, 125 ; appearance of, 125 ; allusions to, 126 ; abundance of, 126. Horse, allusions to, 127 ; uses of, 128 ; Assyrian, 131 ; equipment of, 132 ; shoeing of, 132 ; Syrian horse, 133. Horseleech, allusion to, 133 ; species of, 133 ; description of, 134. Hyena, identification of, 134 ; habits of, 135 ; species of, 136. Hyrax or coney, habits of, 65. Ibex, range of, 118; flesh of, 119. Ibis, habits of, 211 ; species of, 212. Imperial eagle, 88. Ivory, signification of the term, 91 ; allusions to, 91. Jackal, names of, 39, 180 ; habits of, 109. Jerboa, 158. John the Baptist, raiment of, 49. Jonah, the fish that swallowed, 220. Kite, allusions to, 136 ; species of, 136 ; sight of, 136 ; food of, 137 ; flight of, 137. INDEX. n9 Lammergeier, habits of, 88 ; descrip- tion of, 87. Lapwing, allusions to, 137 ; sec Hoopoe. Leeches, 133. Leopard, allusions to, 139 ; range of, 140. Leviathan, allusions to, 141 ; sec Crocodile. Lice, identification of, 143 ; plague of, 144. Lion, allusions to, 144; range of, 145; modes of capturing, 147 ; courage of, 147 ; uses of, 148 ; roar of, 148. Lizard, varieties of, 149 ; green lizard, 149 ; habits of, 150. Locust, species of, 151 ; food of, 152 ; habits of, 152 ; flesh of, 153 ; allu- sions to, 153. Afacacus Silenus, 19. Mandeville on chameleon, 57. Marlowe on the raven, 185. Martin, species of, 210. Mihon on behemoth, 38. Mole, identification of, 154 ; mole-rat of Syria, 155; habits of, 155; range of, 156. Molluscs in Palestine, 199. Mosquito or gnat, 114. Moth, allusions to, 156. Mouse, references to, 157; species of, ,158 ; porcupine mice, 159. Mule, references to, 159; uses of, 160. Night-hawk, references to, 161; identi- fication of, 161. Night-jar, 161. Orycha, description of, 200. Ory.x, 180. Osprey, references to, 162 ; habits of, 163. Ossifrage, 88. Ostrich, identification of, 163 ; re- ferences to, 163 ; cry of, 165 ; habits of, 165 ; plumage of, 166 ; speed of, 166 ; nesting of, 166 ; value of, 167 ; rage of, 167 ; feathers of, 168. Owl, species of, 162. Owl, renderings of word, 168 ; species of, 169, 170 ; references to, 169 ; habits of, 169. Ox, usefulness of, 52. Partridge, references to, 171 ; species of, 171 ; range of, 171. Peacock, references to, 174 ; range of, 174 ; uses of, 176. Peele on the raven, 185. Pelican, references to, 176 ; habits of, 178 ; species of, 178. Pharaoh's hens or chickens, 112. Pig, abhorrence of, 45. Pigeons, wild, j-j ; domesticated, 78. Porcupine mice, habits of, 159. Purchas on the ape, 18. Purple dye, description of, 201. Pygarg, references to, 179 ; species of, 179. Quail, references to, 181 ; habits of, 182 ; range of, 182. Raven, references to, 183 ; habits of, 184 ; superstitions about, 185 ; species of, 186 ; range of, 186. Remora, 98. Roe, references to, 186 ; species of, 187 ; habits of, 187. St. John, eagle emblem of, 87. St. Paul, the viper that bit, 192. Sand viper, 192. Satyr, rendering of the word, 188. Scorpion, species of, 188 ; habits of, 189 ; sting of, 189 ; abundance of, 189 ; references to, 190. Sea-horse, 38. Semnopithecus entellus, ig. Serotine bat, 28. Serpent-charming, 20. Serpent, references to, 190; habits of, 191 ; mode of progression, 191 ; taming and charming of, 20, 192 ; species of, 192. Shakespeare, on ants, 15 ; on chame- leon, 57 ; on cockatrice, 63 ; on cuckoo, 71 ; on the raven, 185. Sheep, mountain, 59 ; use of, 193 ; references to, 194 ; flesh of 194 ; wool of, 195 ; shearing of, 195 ; horns of, I95 ; watering of, 197 ; species of, 197 ; Hebrew terms for, 198. Shell-fish, references to, 280. Sht'phcrds, Eastern, 196. Short-toed eagle, 90. Sidon, worship of, 98. Silk, references to, 157. Skink, habits of, 150. 240 INDEX. Snail, reference to, 198 ; habits of, 198 ; shells of, 199. Sparrow, references to, 202 ; species of, 203. Spenser on eagle, 84. Spider, references to, 203 ; habits of, 204. Spotted eagle, 90. Stork, signification of, 205 ; references to, 206 ; habits of, 206 ; migration of, 207 ; range of, 208. Sucking fish, 98. Swallow, identification of, 208 ; re- ferences to, 209 ; species of, 210. Swan, references to, 2ii ; identifica- tion of, 211. Swift, species of, 210. Swine, abhorrence of, 45. Tawny eagle, 90. Tern, 68. Terrapin, 213. Tharshish, site of, 18. Thoth, gelada sacred to, 19. Ticks, or lice, 144. Topsell on sea-horse, 38. Tortoise, identification of, 212 ; species of, 212. Tristram on jackal, 39 ; on bittern, 41 ; on jay, 46. Turtle-dove, 77. Tyrian dye, the, 201. Unicorn, references to, 213 ; identfica- tion of, 214. Urus, 215. Viper that bit St. Paul, 192. Vipers, habits of, 14. Vole, 158. Vulture, sight and flight of, 86 ; Egyptian, in ; references to, 217. Wanderoo baboon, 19. Weasel, identification of, 219. Whale, meaning of word, 98 ; identi- fication of, 220 ; species of, 220. Wolf, use of in Scripture, 221 ; refer- ences to, 221 ; habits of, 222 ; wor- ship of, 222. Worm, identification of, 223 ; refer- ences to, 224 ; species of, 224. THE END, oxford: HORACE HART, PKINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY. BY-PATHS OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE. *' The volumes which the Committee of the Religious Tract Society is issuing under the above title fully deserve success. Most of them have been entrusted to scholars who have a special acquaintance with the subjects about which they severally treat." Tlie Athemeuin. 1. Cleopatra's Needle. A History of the London Obelisk, with an Exposition of the Hieroglyphics. By the Rev. J. King, Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards. " Mr. King's account of the monument seems fairly full and satisfactory.'* Saturday Review. " In every way interestingly written." — Literary Churchtnan. 2. Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. By A. H. Sayce, M.A., Deputy Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford, &c. A sketch of the most striking confirmations of the Bible from recent discoveries in Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Pales- tine, and Asia Minor. With Facsimiles from Photographs. 3s. cloth boards. "AH who wish to understand the Bible, and all who take an interest in ancient history, ought to procure it.'' — Leeds Mercury. 3. Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill at Jeru- salem. By the Rev. J. King, M.A., Authorised Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund. With Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards. " An interesting little book, well deserving of p»rusal." — Literary Churchniatt. " An excellent and cheap compendium of information on a subject of intense and perpetual interest." — IVatchinait. 4. Babylonian Life and History. By E. A. Wallis Biiii.K, 15. A., Camb., Assistant in the Department of Oriental Anii(|uities, British Museum. Illustrated. Crown 8vo., 3s., cloth boards. "An admirable addition to this excellent series of By-Paths of Bible Know- ledge.' Mr. Budge's method is sound, and his book is worthy of his reputation." Haiurdiiy Review. " A very readable little book, which tells the general reader .ill he need care to know about the life of the old people of Chaldea." — Athenceum. 5. Galilee in the Time of Christ. By Selah Merrill, D. D., author of " East of the Jordan," etc. With a Map. Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards. " Will be of great service to all who desire to realise the actual .surroimdiiigs amid which our Lord spent His life on earth, and will be specially useful in correcting some false notions which have obtained wide currency, e.^., the common idea that Nazareth was a small, obscure, and inunural place." Con^rega tionalist. 6. Egypt and Syria. Their Physical Features in Relation to Bible History. By Sir J. W. Dawson, F.G.S., F.R.S., Presi- dent of the British Association, 1886. Crown Svo., 3s. cloth boards. " This is one of the most interesting of the series to which it belongs. It is the result of personal observation, and the work of a practised geological observer. . . . The questions raised in this little volume are discussed in the light of the most advanced knowledge and of large scientific facuUy, and at the same time with great religious reverence." — British Qitarcerly Reziew. "We know of nothing at all comparable to it as giving a succinct, clear, and constantly instructive account of the geological features of Egypt and Syria in their relations to the Bible, by the hand of a practised geologist." — Record. 7. Assyria : Its Princes, Priests, and People. By A. H. Sayce, M.A., LL.D., author of " Fresh Light from Ancient Monuments," " Introduction to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther," &c. Illustrated. 3s. cloth boards. "A little masterpiece, it presents with scientific accuracy, and yet in a thoroughly popular form, all that is of most essential significance in the realised information respecting that old-world history and life." — Christian Leader. 8. The Dwellers by the Nile. Chapters on the Life, Literature, History, and Customs of Ancient Egypt. By E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A., Assistant in Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum. Crown Svo., cloth boards. With many illustrations. 3s. cloth. "A little book that contains a vast amount of information respecting that historic land, Egypt. . . . The history and explanation of the hieroglyphics and the discovery of their interpretation is lucidly and ably told." — Times. 9. The Diseases of the Bible. By Sir J. Risdon Bennett, Ex-President of the Royal College of Physicians. 2s. 6d. cloth. Sir Risdon Bennett has studied all the references in the Bible to diseases of various kinds in the light of the fullest and best knowledge of the present state of medical science. Such subjects as leprosy, demoniacal po'iession, etc., are carefully considered ; and it cannot but be a great help to intelligent study of the Bible to have the latest scientific view of these and kindred subjects. "We cannot too thoroughly commend this work, both on account of the subjects of which it treats, and for its intrinsic literary worth." Provincial Medical Journal. *' An entertaining and instructive volume, written in simple untechnical language for the general reader." — Christian World. 10. Trees and Plants of the Bible. By W. H. Groser, B.Sc. Illustrated. 3s. cloth boaids. "A useful little volume for Bible teachers and xit3.ii iN s^OFC/ ' -* I4JM » OU I riV** h: 'S^. ^ 10 A ^ l-r» >- k*^ S < rr r-T-i w^ !>■ OjO>' % ^ V ^ -^ .-^