144 APPENDIX. 



cumftance ; neither is there any thing in the character of 

 the rabbit that denotes excellent wifdom, or that they fup- 

 ply the want of ftrength by any remarkable fagacity. The 

 faphan then is not the rabbit, which laft, unlefs it was 

 brought to him by his (hips from Europe, Solomon never 

 faw. It was not the rabbit's particular character to haunt 

 the rocks. He was by no means diftinguifhed for feeble* 

 nefs, or being any way unprovided with means of digging 

 for himfelf holes. On the contrary, he was armed with 

 claws, and it was his character to dig fuch, not in the 

 rocks, but in the fands. Nor was he any way diftinguifhed 

 for wifdom, more than the hare, the hedge-hog, or any of 

 his neighbours. 



Let us now apply thefe characters to the Afhkoko. He 

 is above all other animals fo much attached to the rock, 

 that I never once faw him on the ground, or from among 

 large ftones in the mouth of caves, where is his conftant re- 

 fidence ; he is gregarious, and lives in families. He is in 

 Judea, Paleftine, and Arabia, and confequently muft have 

 been familiar ro Solomon. For David defcribes him very 

 pertinently, and joins him with other animals perfectly 

 known to all men: "The hills are a refuge for the wild 

 goats, and the rocks for the faphan, or afhkoko *," And 

 Solomon fays, " There be four things which are little upon 

 the earth, but they are exceeding wife f :" — " The faphan- 

 nim are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houfes in 

 the rocks |." Now this, L think, very obvioully fixes the 

 Afhkoko to be the faphan, for this weaknefs feems to al- 

 lude 



* Pfalm civ. ver. 18. f Prov. chap. xxx. ver. 24. J Prov. chap. xxx. ver. 26. 



