THE HARE AND THE CONEY. 113 



ligiously abstained from it. On the contrary, there are scarcely any 

 other people, however barbarous, who do not consider it as the most 

 agreeable food. 



The English translators, in common with several others, have 

 taken an animal mentioned in Leviticus xi. 6, and other parts of 

 the Bible, to be the coney or rabbit. But, to say nothing against 

 the improbability of this animal being common to Arabia or Judea, 

 there is another formidable objection to this interpretation ; namely, 

 the want of conformity between the habits of the rabbit and those 

 attributed to the saphan (Eng. Tr. Coney) by the sacred writers. 

 * The high hills,' says David, 'are a refuge for the wild goats, and 

 the rocks for the saphans' (Eng. Tr. Conies), Psa. civ. 18. Solomon 

 notices the same fact, in Prov. xxx. 26 : The saphans (Eng. Tr. 

 Conies) are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the 

 rocks.' Now, it is well known, that the rabbit, instead of fixing its 

 residence in the flinty rock, uniformly takes up its dwelling in the 

 sandy ground, and invariably frequents the plain. 



Bochart, admitting these difficulties, takes the saphan to be the 

 jerboa, or leaping mouse ; but Bruce has shown that the only ani- 

 mal which answers to its description, is the ashkoko; or as it is 

 called iii Arabia and Syria, Ganam-lsrael, or ' Israel's sheep.' The 

 following is Dr. Shaw's description of this curious animal 



'It is a harmless creature, of the. same size and quality with the 

 rabbit, and with the like incurvating posture and disposition of the 

 fore teeth. But it is of a browner color, with smaller eyes, and a 

 head more pointed, like the marmot's. The fore-feet are short, and 

 the hinder are nearly as long in proportion as those of the jerboa. 

 Though this animal is known to burrow sometimes in the ground, 

 yet as its usual residence and refuge is in the holes and clefts of the 

 rocks, we have so far a more presumptive proof, that this creature 

 may be the saphan of the scriptures than the jerboa.' The Dr. 

 could riot learn why this animal was called * Israel's lamb.' 



Mr. Bruce's description is very full : we select the following par- 

 ticulars. 'The ashkoko are gregarious, and frequently several 

 dozens of them sit upon the great stones at the mouths of caves, 

 and warm themselves in the sun, or even come out and enjoy the 

 freshness of the summer evening. 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. All over his body he has scattered hairs, strong and pol- 

 ished like his mustachoes ; for the most part two inches and a quar- 

 ter in length. His ears are round, nqt pointed ; he makes no noise, 

 but certainly chews the cud.' After combating the notion that the 

 saphan is the coney or rabbit, Mr. Bruce proceeds to apply the 

 character which the sacred writers give of this animal to the ash- 

 koko. He is above all other animals so much attached to the rock, 

 that this celebrated traveller never once saw him on the ground, oy 

 from among large stones in the mouths of caves, where is his cou- 

 ' 10* 



