known in Europe before the dictatorship of Julius Cæsar, it might, he thinks, have been common enough in Egypt, as it was a native of Ethiopia, the adjoining country. It may therefore be presumed, says he, that the Israelites, during their long residence in the land of the Pharaohs, were not only well acquainted with it, but might at different times have tasted its flesh.

This inference is rejected, with some show of reason, by the editor of Calmet's Dictionary, who remarks, it is very unlikely that the giraffe, being a native of the torrid zone and attached to hot countries, should be so abundant in Judea as to be made an article of food. The same argument applies to the chamois, which, as it inhabits the highest mountains, and seeks the most elevated spots, where snow and ice prevail, to shelter it from the heat of summer, was probably unknown to the people of Israel. Hence it still remains doubtful to what class of animals the zomer of Moses should be attached, though in our opinion the balance of authorities seems to incline in favour of a small species of goat which browsed in the hill-country of Syria.

The unicorn, or reem, mentioned in the book of Job, has given similar occasion to a variety of opinion. Parkhurst imagines that by this term is meant the wild-bull, for it is evidently an animal of great strength, and possessed of horns. Mr Scott, in his Commentary on the Bible, adopts the same view, and reminds his reader that the bulls of Bashan described by the Psalmist are by the same inspired writer denominated reems. Other expounders of Sacred Writ maintain, that the creature alluded to

by the Patriarch of Uz, can have been no other than the double-horned rhinoceros.*

The wild-ass, or para, celebrated by the same ancient author, is generally understood to be the onager, an animal which is to this day highly prized in Persia and the deserts of Tartary, as being fitter for the saddle than the finest breed of horses. It has nothing of the dulness or stupidity of the common ass; is extremely beautiful; and, when properly trained, is docile and tractable in no common degree. It was this more valuable kind of ass that Saul was in search of when he was chosen by the prophet to discharge the duties of royalty. "Who hath sent out the wild-ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild-ass? Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing."+

The "wild-goats of the rock," described in the chapter just quoted, are supposed to be the same as the ibex or bouquetin. This animal is larger than the tame-goat, but resembles it much in form. The head is small in proportion to the body, with the muzzle thick and compressed, and a little arched. The eyes are large and round, and have much fire and brilliancy. The horns are so majestic, that when fully grown they occasionally weigh sixteen or eighteen pounds. He feeds during the night in the highest woods; but the sun no sooner begins to gild the summits, than he quits the woody region, and mounts,

* Job xxxix. verses 9, 10, 11, 12.

+Job xxxix. 5, 6, 7, 8..

feeding in his progress, till he has reached the most considerable heights. The female shows much attachment to her young, and even defends it against eagles, wolves, and other enemies. She takes refuge in some cavern, and, presenting her head at the entrance of the hole, resolutely opposes the assailants. Hence the allusion to this affectionate creature in the book of Proverbs, "Let thy wife be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe."

The saphan of the Bible is usually translated coney. "The high hills are a refuge for the wildgoats, and the rocks for the conies." But it is now believed that the ashkoko, an animal mentioned by Bruce, presents properties which accord much better with the description of the saphan given in different parts of the Old Testament, than the coney, hare, or rabbit. This curious creature, we are told by that traveller, is found in Ethiopia, in the caverns of the rocks, or under great stones. It does not burrow or make holes like the rat or rabbit, nature having interdicted this practice by furnishing it with feet, the toes of which are perfectly round, and of a soft, pulpy, tender substance: the fleshy part of them projects beyond the nails, which are rather sharp, very similar to a man's nails ill-grown, and appear given to it rather for the defence of its soft toes, than for any active use in digging, to which they are by no means adapted.*

A living writer, who has considered this subject with great attention, gives as the result of his inquiry, that the saphan of the ancient Hebrews, rendered "coney" in the English Bible, is a very differ

*

Appendix to Bruce's Travels, p. 139.

1

ent animal; that it has a nearer resemblance to the hedge-hog, the bear, the mouse, the jerboa, or the marmot, though it is not any of these. It is the webro of the Arabians, the daman-Israel of Shaw, the ashkoko of Bruce, and clipdass of the Dutch.*

The prophet Isaiah, in recording the idolatrous and profane habits of his countrymen, mentions the "eating of swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse." This is supposed to be the jerboa, an animal common in the East, about the size of a rat, and which only uses its hind-legs. There can be little doubt that this is the creature alluded to by the Hebrew legislator when he said, "whatsoever goeth upon its paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you.” Hasselquist tells us that the jerboa, or leaping-rat as he calls it, moves only by leaps and jumps. When he stops he brings his feet close under his belly, and rests on the juncture of his leg. He uses, when eating, his fore-paws, like other animals of his kind. He sleeps by day, and is in motion during the night. He eats corn and grains of sesamum. Though he does not fear man, he is not easily tamed; for which reason he must be kept in a cage.

The porcupine, or kephad, is spoken of in the writings of Isaiah under the denomination of the bittern. "I will make Babylon a possession for the bittern and pools of water." In another chapter, the inspired author associates the kephad with the pelican, with the yanshaph or ardea-ibis, and with

See an article in the 6th volume of the Wernerian Memoirs by Dr Scott of Corstorphine, "On the Animal called Saphan in the Hebrew Scriptures.'

oreb, or the raven kind; and hence a considerable difficulty has arisen in regard to the class of animals in which it ought to be ranked. Bochart had no doubt that the porcupine was in the mind of the prophet when he wrote the description of the Assyrian capital wasted and abandoned. This creature is a native of the hottest climates of Africa and India, and yet can live and multiply in milder latitudes. It is now found in Spain, and in the Appenines near Rome. Pliny asserts that the porcupine, like the bear, hides itself in winter. In a Memoir on Babylon, by the late Mr Rich, it is stated that great quantities of porcupine-quills were found on the spot; and that in most of the cavities are numbers of bats and owls.

The mole and the bat are reckoned among the unclean animals forbidden to the Jews by their Divine lawgiver. The latter is distinctly included under the following description: "Every creeping thing that flieth shall be unclean to you; they shall not be eaten." The legs of the bat appear to be absolutely different from those of all other animals, and indeed they are directed, and even formed in a very particular manner. In order to advance, he raises both his front-legs at once, and places them at a small distance forward; at the same time the thumb of each foot points outward, and the creature catches with the claw at any thing which it can lay hold of; then he stretches behind him his two hind-legs, so that the five toes of each foot are also directed backward: he supports himself on the sole of this foot, and secures himself by means of the claws on his toes; then he raises his body on the front-legs, and throws himself forward by fold