Bible animals : $b being a description of every living creature mentioned in the Scripture, from the ape to the coral.Wood, J. G. (John George)
Religion
Bible animals : $b being a description of every living creature mentioned in the Scripture, from the ape to the coral.
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Animals in the Bible; Nature in the Bible
When the hunter pursues it with dogs, after the usual fashion, there
is often a great slaughter among them, especially among those that are
inexperienced in the chase of the Lion. Urged by their instinctive
antipathy, the dogs rush forward to the spot where the Lion awaits
them, and old hounds bay at him from a safe distance, while the young
and inexperienced among them are apt to convert the sham attack into a
real one. Their valour meets with a poor reward, for a few blows from
the Lion's terrible paws send his assailants flying in all directions,
their bodies streaming with blood, and in most cases a fatal damage
inflicted, while more than one unfortunate dog lies fairly crushed by
the weight of a paw laid with apparent carelessness upon its body.
There is before me a Lion's skin, a spoil of one of these animals shot
by the celebrated sportsman, Gordon Cumming. Although the skin lies
flat upon the floor, and the paws are nothing but the skin and talons,
the weight of each paw is very considerable, and always surprises
those who hear it fall on the floor.
There are several Hebrew words which are used for the Lion, but that
which signifies the animal in its adult state is derived from an
Arabic word signifying strength; and therefore the Lion is called the
Strong-one, just as the Bat is called the Night-flier. No epithet
could be better deserved, for the Lion seems to be a very incarnation
of strength, and, even when dead, gives as vivid an idea of
concentrated power as when it was living. And, when the skin is
stripped from the body, the tremendous muscular development never
fails to create a sensation of awe. The muscles of the limbs,
themselves so hard as to blunt the keen-edged knives employed by a
dissecter, are enveloped in their glittering sheaths, playing upon
each other like well-oiled machinery, and terminating in tendons
seemingly strong as steel, and nearly as impervious to the knife. Not
until the skin is removed can any one form a conception of the
enormously powerful muscles of the neck, which enable the Lion to lift
the weighty prey which it kills, and to convey it to a place of
security.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account