CHAP. i. J ARAB LEGEND. 11 



peace *. There is, however, reason to suppose that its 

 emblematic character did not originate in Greece, but 

 that it dated from a far more remote period ; and the 

 tranquillity and habitable state of the earth were an- 

 nounced to the ark through the same token. 



" The Arabs have an amusing legend respecting the 

 Dove or Pigeon. The first time it returned with the 

 olive-branch, but without any indication of the state of 

 the earth itself ; but on its second visit to the ark, the 

 red appearance of its feet proved that the red mud on 

 which it had walked was already freed from the waters ; 

 and to record the event, Noah prayed that the feet of 

 these birds might for ever continue of that colour, 

 which marks them to the present day. The similarity 

 of the Hebrew words ' adoom,' red, ' admeh,' earth, 

 and ' Adm,' Adam, is remarkable. A * man' is still 

 called 'Adam in Turkish. "f 



The learned Bochart correctly remarks, that the 

 Holy Scriptures rarely mention the clean birds, with 

 the sole exception of Doves and Pigeons, respecting 

 which more particulars are to be found than of all the 

 others put together. The extreme antiquity of their 

 domestication may be inferred from their employment 

 in the patriarchal sacrifices ; indeed it appears to be 

 coeval with that of the ox and the sheep : thus, in 

 Genesis xv. 9, the command given to Abraham is, 

 " Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat 

 of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a 



* " Paciferseque manu ramum prsetendit olivae." Yirg. .ZEn. viii. 118. 



" ' Resolve me, strangers, whence, and what you are 

 Your business here; and bring you peace or war? 

 High on the stern ^Eneas took his stand, 

 And held a branch of olive in his hand, 



While thus he spoke 

 f Sir J. Gr. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 401, 2. 



