i88i] ANIMAL WORSHIP AND ANIMAL TRIBES 459 



experimental verification, and in this connection I hope 

 that the facts may receive the attention of students of 

 early society who are not Semitic scholars. 



I start from Arabia, because the facts referring to that 

 country belong to a more primitive state of society than 

 existed in Israel at the time when the Old Testament was 

 written, and because in Arabia before Islam we find a 

 condition of pure polytheism, and not as in Israel the 

 struggle between spiritual religion and the relics of an 

 cestral heathenism (Josh. xxiv. 2). 



Moreover, the first point is to show the existence of 

 animal tribes or families, and here it is convenient to begin 

 with the Arabs, among whom a very great number of such 

 tribes is found. The following examples are gathered 

 from the Lubbu-l-lubab (Suyuti s dictionary of gentile 

 names), and make no pretence to completeness. 



A sad, lion ; &quot;a number of tribes.&quot; Aws, wolf ; &quot; a 

 tribe of the Ancar,&quot; or Defenders. Badan, ibex ; &quot;a 

 tribe (^Lj) of the Kalb and others.&quot; Thalaba, she-fox ; 

 &quot; name of tribes.&quot; Gardd, locusts ; &quot;a sub-tribe of the 

 Tamim.&quot; Bent Ifamdma, sons of the dove ; &quot;a sub-tribe 

 of the Azd.&quot; Thawr, bull ; &quot;a sub-tribe of Hamdan 

 and of Abd Manah.&quot; Gahsh, colt of an ass ; &quot;a sub- 

 tribe of the Arabs.&quot; Hida , kite ; &quot;a sub- tribe of 

 Murad.&quot; Dhi b, wolf ; &quot; son of Amr, a sub-tribe of the 

 Azd.&quot; Dubey a, little hyaena ; &quot; son of Qays, a sub-tribe 

 of Bekr bin Wail, and Dubey a bin Rabi a bin Nizar bin 

 Ma add.&quot; Dabba, lizard ; &quot; son of Udd bin Tabicha bin 

 Ilyas bin Modar &quot; (eponym of the Beni Dabba or sons 

 of the Lizard). Also the ancestral name of families in 

 Qoreysh and Hudheyl. Dibdb, lizards (pi.) ; &quot; son of 

 Amir bin a c,a a.&quot; Dabdb, a subdivision of the Beni 

 Harith and of the Qoreysh, is perhaps the same thing. 

 Oqdb, eagle ; &quot;a sub-tribe of Hadramaut.&quot; Am, 

 she-goat ; &quot;son of Wa il, brother of Bekr.&quot; The tribe 

 of the Anaza, whose eponym is represented as the uncle 

 of Wa il are probably not different in origin. Ghordb, 



