292 THE NATURAL HISTORY,&c. 
tables for the Ten Commandments, was a faxum 
micaceo fpatofum particulis quartzofis paucioribus, 
in plain terms, a granite, of which Mount Horeb, 
where the miracle happened, confifts, as does 
Mount Sinai , where the tables were formed. 
Moles had learned the ufe of this ftone, for in- 
fcribing letters and figures, from the Egyptians, 
as in Egypt hieroglyphick obelilks are made of 
the fame ftone, and are miracles of art. 
When the Arabians intend to defcribe a beauty, 
they make ufe of feveral fimilitudes. They com- 
pare her face to the moon, &c. &c. Amongft 
others, the moft remarkable and common expref- 
fion of this kind is, when they compare the eyes 
of a beauty to the eyes of a rock goat, (Capra 
cervicapra, Linntei) which is a common animal 
in Syria and Egypt. I think this comparifon re- 
markable, becaufe Solomon in his Canticles ufes 
companions, which are takenfrom the fame animal* 
let us compare the Hebrew text to explain his mean- 
ing. We have therefore no reafon to doubt, but 
that the j Doe of Solomon was this Rock goat. The 
beauty of the animal, its being common in the 
countries where Solomon wrote his books, and 
finally, the cuftom, which has continued to this 
day, and is the fame with that of Solomon, are 
all circumftances which help to confirm us in this 
opinion. 
materia 
