BarstLY CAVV. 
than a Rabbit, .has sweeter flesh, and is an ob- 
je6t of, the chace. Mr. Bruce informs us, 
that these animals inhabit Mount Libanus ; the 
Mountain of the Sun, in Abyssinia ; and, in 
vast nurnbers, Cape Mahomei, on the Arabian 
Gulph, not far to the east of Suez. "We find 
by Alpinus, that they are also inhabitants of 
Egypt. " They are,'' says Pennant, " gre- 
garious ; and sit by dozens on the great stones, 
to bask in the sun, before the mouths of caves 
or clefts in the rocks, their places of refuge at 
the sight of man. They are justly supposed, 
by Mr. Bruce, to have been the Saphan (mis- 
translated the Coney) of Holy Writ. They 
retire into the depths of the clefts, and there 
make themselves a house ; i. e. a nest of straw. 
Neither the Cliristians of Abyssinia, or the 
Mahometans, eat the flesh of these animals. 
The Arabs of Mount Libanus^ and of Arabia 
Petrasa, use them as food. Their flesh is as 
white as a chicken, and free from any ra>nk- 
ness. Mr. Bruce supposes, that Dr. Shaw in- 
tended this animal by his Jird ; but,'* observes 
Mr. Pennant, " as our learned countryman ex- 
pressly says, that his animal has a tail, and tl'iat 
only a little shorter than the Common Rat's, 
wc 
