REPTILES. 417 



drink their blood with great rehsh. The hzard-tribe are nu- 

 merous. On the coast and in the valleys of Petraea, Burck- 

 hardt saw a species called dhob, that has a scaly yellow-col- 

 oured skin, of which the natives make tobacco-pouches. The 

 largest are about eighteen inches in length, and the tail mea- 

 sures nearly one-half. Another sort of lizard is that called 

 jccko, the saliva of which, falling upon victuals, is said by 

 the Egyptians to infect the person that eats them with lep- 

 rosy. Scorpions are numerous in the deserts, particularly 

 on the confines of Palestine, which they have continued to 

 infest since the time when the Children of Israel " passed 

 through that great and terrible wilderness." Deut. viii. 15. 

 Ali Bey saw a very large one in the great court of the Tem- 

 ple at Mecca. It was of a sallow colour, and walked with 

 the tail bent over its back. Its length appeared to be about 

 SIX inches. Of serpents there are several sorts whose bite 

 is mortal ; though the harmless are more numerous than th*' 

 dangerous. The only kind that is truly formidable is th^'t 

 called bcetarty a small slender creature, spotted black and 

 wliite. The bite is said to cause instant death ; while the 

 dead body is swelled by the poison in a very extraordinary 

 manner. It has been remarked that, in general, life is en- 

 dangered by the wound of such only as have a distinct set 

 of teeth larger than the rest, which serve to conduct the 

 poison. Of this peculiarity the Arabs are aware ; and they 

 scruple not to play freely with these reptiles after the fatal 

 teeth are extracted. In some species, the bite occasions 

 merely a disagreeable itching, which the Bedouins cure by 

 applying the leaves of the caper-tree. Serpents are very 

 common in the Petraean deserts. On the shore near Akaba 

 Burckhardt observed the sand everywhere bearing impres- 

 sions of their passage crossing each other in all directions ; 

 and from the traces it appeared that the bodies of some of 

 them could not be less than two inches in diameter. He 

 was told that the fishermen were much afraid of them, and 

 always extinguished their fires in the evening before going 

 to sleep, as the light was known to attract them. It was 

 while traversing these wilds, " from Hor to the Red Sea, to 

 compass the land of Edom," that many of the Israehtes were 

 destroyed by these venomous reptiles (Numb. xxi. 4-6. Deut. 

 viii. 15), called somewhat inaccurately fiery or flying serpents.* 



* The meaning of the original is " serpents whose b'te causes 



