appendix; 





guage of thefe countries behind Egypt was chiefly Greek, 

 an etymology much more natural and charad'tenftic will 

 prefent itfeif in the word jponfr, a palm tree, whence comes 

 phcenicus, adjective, of or belonging to the palm or date- 

 tree. 



Gabriel -Sionita * fays, the Fennec is a white weafo'r 

 that lives in Sylvis Nigrorum, that is, in the woods of the 

 Melano-Gsetuli, where indeed no other tree grows but the 

 palm-tree, and this juft lands us in the place from which 

 the Fennec was brought to me at Algiers, in Bifcara, Beni- 

 Mezzab, and Werglah. It will be obferved, that he does 

 not fay it is an animal of Nigritia ; for that country 

 being within the tropical rains, many other trees grow 

 befides the palm, and there the date does not ripen ; 

 and by its very thin hair, and fine flan, this creature is 

 known at firfl fight to belong to a dry, warm climate. But 

 to leave no fort of doubt, he calls him Gsetulicus, which 

 fhews precifely what country he means. There, in the 

 high palm-trees, of which this country is full, he writes, 

 the Fennec builds its neft, and brings up its young. Gig- 

 geius tells us, that their fkins are made ufe of for fine pelif- 

 fes ; Ibn-Deitar, that quantities of this fur is brought from 

 the interior parts of Africa, and Damir and Ra^i fay, that 

 their fkins are ufed for fummer pelhTes f. 



After leaving Algiers I met with another Fennec at Tu- 

 nis ; 



• Clem. i. .part i. * Vid. Epift. J. Gail, Angli ad GefWura, 



