THE SHEEP. 73 



And to this the people assented, as is evident from the succeeding 

 verses. The sin, therefore, as it seems, consisted, not in adopting 

 the idolatrous worship of the heathen deity, but in so far conform- 

 ing to it as to set up this symbolical and forbidden representation 

 of the true God, and introducing into his worship, upon this occa- 

 sion, some of the abominations practised by the heathen, chap, 

 xxxii. 6. In the case of Jeroboam, it should be borne in mind, 

 that neither he nor the people forsook the worship of Jehovah. He 

 only made a schism, by separating his people from their brethren. 

 The one worshipped the same deity seated on the cherubim at 

 Jerusalem, that the others worshipped on the cherubim, or golden 

 calves, at Dan and Bethel, though these ultimately became the 

 objects of idolatrous veneration. See 2 Kings xvii. 21. 1 KingB 

 xiv. 9. Hosea x. 5 ; xhi. 2, &c. 



THE SHEEP. 



IN its domestic state, the sheep is of all animals the most de- 

 fenceless and inoffensive. With its liberty it seems to have been 

 deprived of its swiftness and cunning ; and what in the ass might 

 rather be called patience^ in the sheep appears to be stupidity. 

 With no one quality to fit it for self-preservation, it makes vain ef- 

 forts at all. Without swiftness it endeavors to fly; and without 

 strength sometimes offers to oppose. In its wild state, however, it 

 is a noble and active animal, and is every way fitted to defend itself 

 against the numerous dangers by which it is surrounded. 



Of the Syrian sheep, there are two varieties: the one called the 

 Bedouin sheep, which differ in no respect from the larger kinds of 

 sheep in Britain, except that their tails are something longer and 

 thicker ; the others are those often mentioned by travellers on ac- 

 count of their extraordinary tails. The latter species is by far the 

 most numerous. The tail of one of these animals is veiy broad 

 and large, terminating in a small appendage, that turns back upon 

 it. It is of a substance between fat and marrow, and is not eaten 

 separately, but mixed with the lean meat of many of the Arab dish- 

 es; and is often used instead of butter. A common sheep of this 

 sort, without the head, feet, skin, and entrails, weighs from sixty to 

 eighty pounds, of which the tail itself is usually fifteen pounds or 

 upwards ; but such as are of the largest breed, and have been fat- 

 tened, will sometimes weigh above one hundred and fifty pounds; 

 and the tail, alone, fifty ; a thing to some scarcely credible. To 

 preserve these tails from being torn, the Arabs fix a piece of thin 

 board to the under part, where they are not covered with thick 

 wool : some have small wheels to facilitate the dragging of this 



