TAR 



69 



TAR 



it was ordained that the Sabbath should commence on 

 Saturday night. The immediate neighbourhood of Tarra- 

 gona is well cultivated, and yields com, wine, oil, and 

 hemp, in great abundance. The principal manufactures 

 are cloth, coarse cotton-goods, hats, and cutlery, which are 

 exported to all parts of Spain, and to the island of Cuba. 

 TARSHISH v^'Iihnj is a place mentioned in the Old 



Testament, particularly in connection with the commerce 

 of the Hebrews and "Phoenicians. In Gen., x. 4, the 

 name occurs among the sons of Javan, who are supposed 

 to have peopled the southern parts of Europe. (Compare 

 Ps. Ixxii. 10; Isaiah, Ixvi. 19.) In other passages it is 

 mentioned as sending to Tyre silver, iron, tin, and lead 

 I'.zflu/j, xxvii. 12 ; Jerem., x. 9) ; and from Isaiah, xxiii. 

 10, some have inferred that it was subject to the Phoe- 

 nicians. The prophet Jonah, attempting to avoid his 

 mission to Nineveh, fled from Joppa in a ship bound to 

 Tarshish. (Jonah, i. 3 ; iv. 2.) In several passages of the 

 Bible ' ships of Tarshish ' are spoken of, especially in con- 

 nection with Tyre ; and it is pretty generally agreed that 

 that phrase only describes a species of large ship, such as 

 those used in the trade with Tarshish, just as we speak of 

 ' Indiarnen.' 



From a comparison of the above passages, the majority 

 of critics have concluded that Tarshish must be sought for 

 in tho western part of the Mediterranean, or even outside 

 the Straits ; and it has been generally identified with the 

 Phoenician emporium of Tartessus m Spain, a place which 

 would undoubtedly furnish the products said to have been 

 brought from Tarshish. The Phoenician name ' Tarshish ' 

 would easily become the Greek Taprti<ra6f ; in fact the 

 Aramaean pronunciation of ' Tarshish' would be 'Tarthesh.' 

 We have abundant proofs that the Phoenicians had esta- 

 blished an extensive commercial intercourse with Spain 

 at a very early period. 



But there is a considerable difficulty about the position 

 of this Tarttssus. The antient geographers place it, some 

 at the mouth of the river liaetis Guadalquivir), the most 

 antient name of which river they state to have been also 

 Turtessus ; while others identify it with the city of Calpe, 

 or Carteia, near Mount Calpe, the rock of Gibraltar. 

 C Herod., iv. 152; Strabo, p. 140. 14S-ir>l ; Mela, iii. 6; 

 Plin., iii. 1; Pausan., vi. 1U: Steph. Byzant., r. Taprijawof.) 



The best way to explain and reconcile these statements 

 with each other, and with the biblical accounts respecting 

 T;u -.lush, seems to be by taking the latter as the name not 

 of a Dingle place, but of the whole country in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Gibraltar. In this district there may have 

 been more than one city bearing a name like Tartessus. 

 The name survives in various forms in the names of the 

 rock Calpe, of the neighbouring city Calpe, Carpe, or 

 Carteia (for it is written in all these ways), and of the 

 people Carpetani. Tin's statement will be more clearly 

 undei i a reference to the articles on the letters 



< ', P. and T. In confirmation of this view, Strabo states 

 that the country in the neighbourhood of Calpe was called 

 TartessU. 



Respecting the difficulty arising from the conjoint men- 

 tion of Tarshish and Ophir in the book of Chronicles, see 

 OPHIK. 



TA'RSIUS, Storr's name for a genus of QUADRUMANA. 



Geii'i-K ''/<>t/-acter. Head rounded; muzzle short; 

 very large ; posterior limbs very much elongated, 

 with the tarsus thrice as long as the metatarsus. Tail 

 long. 



Dental formula: incisor* -; canines. r; mohus 



1 " 1 U " O 



= 34. 



ilple. '/'.//' w'//\ HllHI'HHHIt. 



I> ".n ,f, linn. Dr. Horsfield remarks, that although the 

 Tarsius from Banca agrees in the essential points with the 

 other species of this .singular genus which have hitherto 

 been discovered, it has no intermediate front teeth, and 

 the exicrior tooth on each side is, compared with the 

 other species, very minute. Counting (with Desmarest) 

 one canine tooth on each side, above and beneath, it has, 

 nays Dr. Horsfield, only five grinders in each jaw. 



'The head,' continues Dr. Horsfield, ' in proportion to 

 the size of the body, is large ; the arch of the forehead 

 rises highs and the occiput is regularly spheroidal. The 

 proximity of disposition and excessive size of the < 

 equally characteristic in this as in other species. The 



Teeth of Tarsius, much larger than the nat. size. fF. Cuv.) 



Front view of the teeth of Tarsius Bancanus. (Horsf.) 



rostrum, or extremity of the face, is short and obtuse ; 

 the nose is slightly rounded, almost flat above ; and the 

 nostrils, as usual in this genus, are pierced laterally. The 

 ears, which from their erect position and their projection 

 beyond the cranium give a peculiar distinctive character 

 and appearance to the other species, in our animal are 

 disposed horizontally, and instead of rising up towards 

 the crown of the head, incline backwards and extend but 

 little from its sides ; the lobes, as usual, are very thin, 

 membranous, semitransparent, thinly beset with delicate 

 hairs ; several tufts of longer hairs arise from the base, 

 where the interior membranaceous lobules are discovered, 

 but in our specimen too much contracted to admit of a 

 detailed description. The neck is very short, and the an- 

 terior extremities have the same proportion to the body as 

 in the other species. The hands are externally covered 

 with a very soft down ; internally they are naked, and 

 provided with several rather prominent protuberances, 

 which, according to the opinion of Mr. Fischer, are calcu- 

 lated to assist the animal in climbing. The fingers are 

 deeply divided and very delicate ; those of the hands have 

 the same proportion, one to the other, as they have in 

 man ; on the feet they are more lengthened and slender ; 

 the third finger is longer than the middle finger, and the 

 thumb is proportionally short. In all the third phalanx is 

 somewhat thickened, and surrounded by a projecting 

 orbicular border, which, in the thumb particularly, con- 

 stitutes a delicate ball, supporting the nail. The nails of 

 all the fingers of the hand, as well as of the thumb and 

 the third and fourth finger of the feet, are triangular, and 

 represent a delicate compressed scale : on the index and 

 middle finger of the feet they are erect, sharp, compressed, 

 slightly curved, and not inaptly compared by Mr. Fischer 

 to the thorns of a rose-bush, constituting one of the esscn- 

 iiaracters of this genus. The body is handsomely 

 formed, and, as in the other species, somewhat contracted 

 towards the pelvis; the lower extremities also have in 

 general a similar character, but the tarsus has less of the 

 extravagant length which is common to the other Tarsii. 



