104 ON THE ANIMAL CALLED SAPHAN 
we can derive from its name, is, that it hides itself under a 
cover or roof, — a circumstance which is true of various 
animals. 
In the four places of the Hebrew Scriptures in which it 
is mentioned, it is rendered ' coney ' in the English Bible. 
Julius Bate, a Hebraist of some eminence, renders it ' a 
rabbit,"* which we understand to be another name for the 
coney ; and in almost all the modern Latin translations, it 
is called ' cuniculus," which is a coney or rabbit. 
In support of this rendering, almost all the later Rabbi- 
nical writers may be quoted, such as Baal Aruch, Isaac, 
Gersom, and David de Pomis ; but notwithstanding such 
authority, it may be fairly doubted, whether the Saphan 
of the Hebrew Scriptures be the rabbit or coney. 
That the rabbit " chews the cud,'' has been questioned 
by some ; but that it does not " divide the hoof," that it 
does not " live in solitude,'' that it has " many enemies," 
and is " very defenceless," all have allowed ; though we have 
never heard that it " excelled in wisdom," or " dwelt among 
the rocks." 
Certainly the coney has some resemblance to the hare ; 
and in two passages of the Hebrew Bible, in which the 
Saphan is mentioned, it is coupled with the hare ; but if 
Varro and Pliny among the Latins, or ^lian and 
Galen among the Greeks, can be trusted, there is good 
reason for thinking, that the coney, formerly at least, was 
unknown to Egypt and Arabia, Palestine and Syria. 
When rabbits or conies were first seen by the Phoeni- 
cians, who were an adventurous commercial people, they 
might believe them to be very like the Saphanim ; and, 
therefore, when they first visited Spain, which, according 
to the voice of all antiquity, abounded with rabbits, they 
might call it Saphaniah, or land of the Saphanim ; whence, 
there is a great probability, has arisen Spania, or Hispania, 
