060 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



said to be very coarse and dry. The meat of a very young camel, how- 

 ever, is esteemed by the Arabs as a great luxury. The camel had many 

 uses in the arts. Camel's hair was used for weaving into cloth. John 

 the Baptist " had his raiment of camel's hair." ' Tents, shields, harness, 

 saddles, and even trunks are made of camel's skin. Two species, the 

 one-humped camel {Camelun dromedarius) and the Bactriaii two humped 

 camel {Cameliis hactrianus), were known in Palestine, the former being 

 more frequent. The camel was the subject of many proverbial expres- 

 sions, two of which are by Jesus, Matthew xix, 24: "It is easier fora 

 camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the 

 Kingdom of God," and xxiii, 24: "Strain out the gnat and swallow the 

 camel." The word for camel is practically the same in most ancient 

 and modern languages. 



Gazelle {Gazella dorcas; Hebrew, ^eJn). — The gazelle (in the Author- 

 ized Version "roebuck," also translated "roe" in the Eevised Version) 

 was allowed as food. ' Jt was provided for the royal table of ►Solomon.'' 

 The characteristics of swiftness and gentleness of these animals are 

 often referred to^ "as light of foot as a wild roe;"-^ "as swift as the roes 

 upon the mountains;"" "The voice of my beloved; behold he cometh 

 leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is 

 like a roe or a young hart."' The feminine form, in Hebrew (^ebiaJi, in 

 Aramean Tahitlui, was often used as a proper name;** for example, 

 "Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by 

 interpretation is called Dorcas." The Arabs call the gazelle tahi and 

 employ it frequently in their love poetry as the image of feminine love- 

 liness. More than twenty species of gazelle inhabit Africa, Arabia, 

 Persia, India, and central Asia. The gazelle of Syria, Egypt, and 

 Arabia is the Gazella dorcas. It is very common in Palestine, esj)e- 

 cially in the Judean wilderness and the Arabah. 



Mouse (Hebrew, Alcbar). — The mouse is enumerated among the 

 unclean "creeping things,"^ " eating swine's llesh, and the abomina- 

 tion, and the mouse." Mice were sent as a plague upon the Philistines 

 for having carried off the Ark of the Covenant.'" jSTo less than twenty 

 species have been found in Palestine. The Mns hactnanuft, which is 

 especially plentiful and familiar, was given as an illustration. 



BIRDS. 



The birds enumerated in the Bible were represented by fourteen 

 specimens. 



The cock. — No mention is made of the cock in the Old Testament, 

 but in the New Testament he is referred to in connection with Peter's 



' Matthew iii, 4 ; Mark i, 6. « Cauticles ii, 8. 



2 Deuteronoiuy xii, 15, 22; xiv, 5; xv, 22. 'Idem, viii, 14. 



3 1 Kings iv, 23. sil Kings xii; I Acts ix, 36. 



■•II Samuel ii, 18. s Leviticus xi, 29; Isaiah Ixvi, 17. 



•■^I Chronicles xii, 8. '"I Samuel vi. 



