DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 435 



cacy. The Bedouins of Sinai frequently mentioned to 

 Burckhardt a beast of prey called wober, which inhabited 

 only the retired parts of the desert ; they represented it as 

 being about the size of a large dog, with a head like a 

 hog. He was told of another voracious creature called 

 shyb, stated to be a breed hetween the leopard and the 

 wolf, but their accounts as to this origin are not much 

 to be trusted, their common practice being to assign pa- 

 rents of different known species to any animal which 

 they seldom meet with. The jerboa or Pharaoh's Rat is 

 to be found in great numbers in the sandy tracts among 

 the hills, and on the banks of the Euphrates. Its appear- 

 ance and manners have already been noticed in the Zoo- 

 logy of Abyssinia and Egypt. Its size is that of a large 

 rat ; the upper part is of a light-fawn colour striped with 

 black ; and this dusky hue contrasts agreeably with the 

 fine shining white of the belly. The body is short, 

 broader behind than before, and well provided with long, 

 soft, silky hair. According to Hasselquist the tail is 

 three times longer than the whole body j Sonnini says he 

 never found it much more than half its length. Its 

 thickness hardly exceeds the circumference of a large 

 goose-quill; but it is of a quadrangular and not of a 

 round shape. The fore-legs, which have five toes, are white 

 and short, scarcely extending beyond the hair ; but they 

 are less serviceable in walking than in conveying food to 

 the animal's mouth, or digging his subterranean habita- 

 tion ; hence the name dipus or two-footed mouse, errone- 

 ously applied to the jerboa. The hind-legs are covered 

 with white and fawn-coloured hair ; but its long feet are 

 almost entirely naked. Its motion, especially when pur- 

 sued, is that of leaping and bounding like the kangaroo, 

 which it performs with great rapidity, assisted by its long 

 muscular tail. It is this peculiarity which induced natu- 

 ralists to give this species the name of Mus jaculus, or 

 flying-mouse. The flesh is eaten by the Arabs, and its 

 taste is said to be very little different from that of a 

 young rabbit. 



Domestic Animals. The Arabs rear in abundance all 

 the domestic animals common to hot countries. They 

 breed horses, mules, asses, camels, dromedaries, cows, 

 buffaloes, hogs, sheep, and goats.* Their cows and oxen 



* Strabo must have been misinformed when he excepted mules, 



