106 



SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



None but the inhabitants of the mountains engage in the chase 

 of this animal ; for it requires, not only a head that can bear to look 

 down from the greatest heights without terror ; address and sure 

 footedness in the most difficult and dangerous passes ; and to be 

 an excellent marksman ; but also much strength and vigor, to sup- 

 port hunger, cold, and prodigious fatigue. This shows the propri- 

 ety with which the inspired writer calls the dreary and frightful 

 precipices which frown over the Dead Sea, towards the wilderness 

 of Engedi. * The rocks of the wild goats ;' as if accessible only to 

 those animals. 



THE ANTELOPE. 



THIS animal is not mentioned in our translation of the Bible ; 

 but it is generally agreed, that the Zebi, which our translators take 

 for the roe, is the gazelle, or antelope. The former animal is ex- 

 tremely rare in Palestine and the adjoining countries ; while the latter 

 is common in every part of the Levant. Add to this, that the Zebi 

 was allowed to the Hebrews, as an article of food, (Deut. xii. 5, 

 &c.), and scarcely a doubt can remain on the subject. 



The name of this animal, which is from a verb signifying to as- 

 semble, or collect together, is very characteristic of the gregarious 

 character of the antelope, which live together in large troops, to the 

 number sometimes of two or three thousand. The Septuagint, or 

 Greek version of the Bible, uniformly translates the Hebrew word 

 beauty ; and it is so translated, 2 Sain. i. 19 ; Isaiah iv. 2 j Ezek. vii. 

 20, &c. 



