RHINOCEROS (“UNICORN")—THE HARE.

THE CONEY.

THE name of the animal which the translators of our English Bible render coney, or rabbit, occurs only four times in Scripture. In the two first passages we find it mentioned among the animals which were to be considered unclean; the other two afford us sufficient insight into the habits of the animal, to satisfy us that in rendering it coney," the translators have identified it with one to which it bears no resemblance.

In the Book of Psalms (civ. 18) it is said, "The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the

rocks for the coneys ;" and in Proverbs (xxx. 26), "The coneys are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks." In both passages the

animal is spoken of as inhabiting the rocks, a locality to which the rabbit has no particular affection; delighting, on the contrary, in loose sandy soils, into which it can burrow freely. The rabbit, besides, is not an Asiatic animal, nor does it possess any mental qualities which fit it to be considered " exceeding wise," a term which we find Solomon applying to the animal in question.

Almost all commentators have therefore abandoned the rabbit as the animal referred to; but some difference of opinion exists as to the one which ought to be substituted. Bochart and others advocate the claims of the jerboa. Bruce, however, has pointed out the remarkable coincidence between the habits of the ashkoko, or Daman Israel, as it is called in Syria (the hyrax syriacus of naturalists), and the brief intimations of those of this animal which the Scriptures afford.

This curious animal is found in great numbers in Mount Lebanon. "It does not burrow, and make holes, as the rat and the rabbit, nature having

interdicted it this practice by furnishing it with feet which are round, and of a soft, pulpy, tender substance; the fleshy part of the toes projects beyond the nails, which are rather broad than sharp, much similar to a man's nails ill grown, and these appear rather given for defence of the soft toes, than for any active use in digging, to which they are by no means adapted."

66

"The total length of the animal," says another writer, as it sits, is seventeen inches and a quarter. It has no tail, and gives at first sight the idea of a rat, rather than any other creature. The colour is grey mixed with reddish brown, and the belly white. All over the body are scattered hairs, strong and polished, like mustachios; these are, for the most part, two inches and a quarter in length. The ears are round, not pointed. The upper jaw is longer than the other. It lives upon grain, fruit, and roots, and certainly chews the cud."

"Instead of holes," continues Mr. Bruce, "these animals seem to delight in less close or more airy places, in the mouths of caves or clefts in the rock. They are gregarious, and frequently several dozens

of them sit upon the great stones at the mouths of the caves, and warm themselves in the sun, or come out and enjoy the freshness of the summer evening. They do not stand upright upon their feet, but seem to steal along as in fear, their belly being nearly close to the ground, advancing a few steps at a time, and then pausing. They have something very mild, feeble-like, and timid, in their deportment; are gentle, and easily tamed, though when roughly handled at the first, they bite very severely.

vous.

"The ashkoko is, above all other animals, so much attached to the rocks, that I never once saw him on the ground, or from among large stones in the mouths of caves, where is his constant rendezHe lives in families or flocks. He is found in Judea, Palestine, and Arabia, and consequently must have been familiar to Solomon. David describes him very pertinently, and joins him to other animals perfectly known. The hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the saphan, the word which our translators render coneys. And Solomon says that they are _exceeding wise;' that they are 'but a feeble folk,

holes in the

yet make their houses in the rocks.' And this, I think, very obviously fixes the ashkoko to be the saphan, for his weakness seems to allude to his feet, and how inadequate these are to dig rock, where yet, however, he lodges. From their tenderness, they are very liable to be excoriated or hurt; notwithstanding which they build houses in the rocks, more inaccessible than those of the rabbit, and in which they abide in greater safety, not by exertion of strength, for they have it not, but are truly, as Solomon says, ' a feeble folk,' but by their own sagacity and judgment, and are therefore justly described as wise. Lastly, what leaves the thing without doubt is, that some of the Arabs say that the saphan has no tail; that it is less than a cat; that it lives in houses or nests which it builds of straw, in contradistinction to the rabbit and the rat, and those animals that burrow in the ground."