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EASTERN ETHIOPIA xv 



lake occupies. The face of this rampart-like wall was 

 overgrown with grass, but there were many ledges and 

 rocky platforms jutting from it, forming admirable 

 playgrounds for a curious animal often termed the rock- 

 rabbit. It runs about the rocks with facility, popping 

 in and out like Punch or Judy, or sitting on its hind- 

 quarters like a marmot. One was shot and brought to 

 me; I immediately recognised it as the Hyrax or coney : 

 its common name among the settlers is pronounced 

 and usually written " dassie." The hyrax is especially 

 interesting because it is a puzzle to zoologists. In 

 appearance it is like a rabbit, but when it is more 

 carefully examined four fingers will be found on the 

 front limbs and three toes on the hind. The nails on 

 the toes are more like hoofs than claws, and the soles 

 are fleshy ; these fleshy parts extend beyond the hoofs 

 in front and are abundantly supplied with sweat glands. 

 This peculiar condition of the feet enables it to cling to 

 the rocks much in the same way as the gecko's feet 

 enable it to run across a ceiling. 



Zoologists find it best, although the hyrax possesses 

 many features which are found among ungulate animals, 

 to let it form a sub-order, Hyracoidea, of the great 

 Order Ungulata, which contains the elephant, rhino- 

 ceros, oxen, giraffe, and antelopes. The teeth of the 

 hyrax differ from those of the rabbit ; its molar or 

 grindi ng-teeth display a pattern on their crowns very 

 like that seen on the corresponding teeth of the 

 rhinoceros. The classifiers cannot quite agree on the 

 generic name of this animal ; some would call it Hyrax 

 and some Procavia. 



The coney is widely distributed in Africa and is 

 found in some parts of Arabia and Palestine. The 

 occurrence of this animal in Palestine is interesting 

 because the first mention of it occurs in the Pentateuch : 

 " Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that 

 chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof ; 

 as the camel, and the hare, and the coney : for they 



