[marg., mules or swift beasts]; and mules' in Esth. viii. 10, 14. The same word occurs in Micah i. 13: "O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast" (Heb. recesh). The word signifies a swift horse' of a peculiar and noble breed, particularly a stallion. It is derived from a verb, meaning to gallop.' (3.) In Esth. viii. 10, Beni-rammac is translated young dromedaries.' It only occurs in this passage, but is the same word as the Arabic ramkah, 'a mare.' The translation should therefore be sons of mares,' young horses.'

ELEPHANT.-Though the name of the elephant does not occur in our version, excepting in the Apocrypha, yet the valued product of that animal, ivory, is repeatedly mentioned. In most passages the word for ivory' is shen, i.e., 'tooth,' but in one place the elephant is really named specifically, for in 1 Kings x. 22 we read: "Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory [Heb. shen-habim, i.e., elephants' teeth], and apes, and peacocks." The word habim (elephants) was long a puzzle to etymologists, but recently it has been shown that the names given both for apes, peacocks, and ivory, in this passage, are Indian words, and actually preserved in the vernacular languages of Malabar and Ceylon to this day. Habba' is also applied to the elephant in

the Assyrian inscriptions.

The expression elephants' teeth' shows that the Jews of Solomon's time were aware of the fact that the ivory was procured from the tusk, not from the horn, of an animal, though we read in the description of the merchandize of Tyre: "The men of Dedan were thy merchants . . . they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony" (Ezek. xxvii. 15). But here the term horn is merely applied to the shape of the tusk, not to its growth, and the expression is literally 'horns of tooth.'

Though Solomon himself procured ivory from India by sea, the Tyrians obtained it, as we see from the passage in Ezekiel, overland, by the traders from the Persian Gulf, the men of Dedan, a tribe of merchant traffickers, settled somewhere in the desert of Mesopotamia. The Egyptians, on the contrary, obtained it principally from Ethiopia, as we learn from Herodotus; and they also paid their tribute to Cambyses and the Persian kings in African ivory tusks.

The earliest allusion to the use of ivory aniong the Jews is in the time of David: "Out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad" (Ps. xlv. 8). But among the Greeks it was in use at an even earlier period, as it is repeatedly mentioned by Homer and Hesiod. The ivory palaces' probably mean boxes or chests veneered with ivory (an art in which the Phoenicians excelled), and in which the robes of the wealthy were stored with perfumes,myrrh, aloes, and cassia.' The great throne of Solomon was made of ivory, and overlaid with the best gold (1 Kings x. 18-20; 2 Chron. ix. 17-19). This was no doubt the work of Tyrian artificers, and is the first large structure on record veneered with ivory. The expression in Canticles, "Thy neck is as a tower of ivory" (viii. 4), seems to be merely a poetical figure not necessarily supplied by the existence of such an actual tower.

In after times the use of ivory became more general among the luxurious. Thus, Ahab made an ivory house (1 Kings xxii. 39); i.e., inlaid the chambers of one of his palaces with ivory-a piece of sumptuous magnificence which was imitated by others. "The houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord" (Amos iii. 15).

Ivory was used also for inlaying couches. Amos denounces woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and lie upon beds of ivory (vi. 4).

"The

The galleys of the Phoenicians had their benches or hatches ornamented with ivory inlaid work : company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim" (Ez. xxvii. 6). Many specimens of ivory ornaments have been found both in Nineveh, especially a sceptre and inlaid tablets, and also in the earliest nionuments of Egypt. The art of inlaying ivory is still practised by the inhabitants of Sidon, whose skill is in high repute at Damascus. Chests inlaid with ivory are still used there, and I have seen a chamber in the house of a wealthy Damascene panelled with alternate veneers of ivory and ebony to he height of three or four feet from the floor, thus illustrating the ivory houses of Ahab, and of the prophecy of Amos.

Elephants were first brought into Palestine by Antio chus Epiphanes, king of Syria, who used them in his war against Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and afterwards against

the Jews. We read he brought into the field "two and thirty elephants exercised in battle and to the end they might provoke the elephants to fight, they showed them the blood of grapes and mulberries and upon the beasts there were strong towers of wood, which covered every one of them, and were girt fast unto them with devices; there were also upon every one two and thirty strong men that fought upon them, beside the Indian that ruled him" (1 Macc. vi. 30, 34, 37). In the battle that ensued, Eleazar, the brother of Maccabeus, valiantly sacrificed himself, rushing under the largest of the elephants and killing it from below, when it fell on him and crushed him to death. Subsequently the elephants are frequently mentioned.

The two species of elephant, the Indian (Elephas indicus) and the African (E. africanus), are well known. The ivory of the former is much inferior in size to that of the latter, and while of the Asiatic species only the males are furnished with tusks, both sexes of the latter, unfortunately for themselves, possess these precious. appendages, and a pair of tusks will often weigh 140 pounds. The Indian elephant was the one employed by Antiochus, and is alone tamed at the present day, though there is reason to believe the ancient Egyptians reclaimed the African species. The two kinds can be at once discriminated by the enormous size of the ears of the African elephant.

FALLOW-DEER. Heb. yachmúr.—The name of an animal permitted as food by the Mosaic law (Deut. xiv. 5), and was also part of the provision supplied to Solomon's table (1 Kings iv. 23). The yachmúr' has been identified with several species of the deer and antelope tribes, but the best critics agree in referring it to a species of antelope well known in the desert districts of the Bible lands, the bubale (Alcephalus bubalis), the ‘Bekk'r el wash,' or 'wild cow' of the Arabs, a species very like the hartebeest of South Africa. The bubale was well known to the ancients, who describe it as something between a calf and a stag: and indeed its short horns, long head, and heavy build give it a very bovine appearance. The Arabian writers were also well acquainted with it, and have left long descriptions, which have been collected and translated by Bochart. It was also hunted for its venison by the ancient Egyptians, and is represented on their

monuments. It is distinguished by the Orientals from all other antelopes, and classed by them among cattle.

The range of the bubale is extensive, through all North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, and across into Arabia, where, indeed, most of the North African desert animals are also found. It lives in small herds. I never myself found it in Palestine, but the Jehalîn Arabs knew it well by its North African name, and assured

me they often obtained it when it came to drink at the streams on the east side of the Dead Sea. In ancient times it was evidently a much more common animal than now; and even in the Atlas mountains it has become nearly extinct since Dr. Shaw in the early part of the last century described it as very common there.

The fallow deer (Dama vulgaris) is very rare in Palestine, and does not appear ever to have been common. In

Arabia it does not exist. A few still are to be found in the wooded glades between Mount Tabor and Lebanon, a district seldom disturbed by travellers. I only once met with it not far from the Sea of Galilee; and Hasselquist noticed it on Mount Tabor. Its teeth have also been found in the bone caverns of the Lebanon. In Armenia and Northern Persia, supposed to be its native country, it is still common. But its need of wood and water must have prevented its extension at any time into the southern regions towards Sinai. It is therefore scarcely probable that it was named by Moses.

FERRET.-The translation in Lev. xi. 30 of the Hebrew anákah, one of the unclean creeping things forbidden as food. It is agreed on all sides that the ferret' is not intended. The Septuagint translates it μvyán, 'shrewmouse.' There are several species of shrew-mouse in Palestine. Three were collected by ourselves, and there are, doubtless, various other kinds. The common shrew (Sorex araneus) is common in Galilee. We found a very beautiful diminutive shrew (Sorex pygmæus), about onethird the size of the common, in the Wilderness of Judæa, and also a pretty silver-grey larger kind (Sorex crassicaudus) in the desert. The Rabbinical writers have identified anakah with the hedgehog, which is common enough in all parts of the Holy Land, but which would. not be classed with 'the creeping things,' but as a small porcupine. There is good reason for preferring the rendering lizard,' or 'gecko,' a species of lizard, to any other interpretation of anakah. See FERRET, Chap. IX., REPTILES.

Fox. Heb. shŵ'al, Gr. åλówŋέ.—The Hebrew word undoubtedly includes the jackal (Canis aureus), as well as the fox (Vulpes vulgaris). Indeed, in most of the passages where it occurs, the jackal, rather than the fox, is intended, as may be seen from the context. The Hebrew shu'al, Arabic jakal, the Persian shagul, and the English jackal, are all the same word.

At the same time, there is another name, iyim, specifically applied by the Hebrews, as wawi by the Arabs, to the jackal. But the two animals are commonly confounded, or spoken of together, by the natives of Syria, though they are perfectly aware of their distinctness.

The fox is common in Syria, and is to be found everywhere, especially about ruins, and, towards even