We may, perhaps, throw additional light upon the puzzling question of the fish-symbol by reminding the reader that according to _Genesis_ the first created of living beings, the first type of animal life, was the fish. “And the Elohim said: ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that _hath life_’ ... and God created great whales ... and the morning and the evening were the _fifth day_.” Jonah is swallowed by a big fish, and is cast out again three days later. This the Christians regard as a premonition of the three days’ sepulture of Jesus which preceded his resurrection--though the statement of the three days is as fanciful as much of the rest, and adopted to fit the well-known threat to destroy the temple and rebuild it again in _three_ days. Between his burial and alleged resurrection there intervened but _one day_--the Jewish Sabbath--as he was buried on Friday evening and rose to life at dawn on Sunday. However, whatever other circumstance may be regarded as a prophecy, the story of Jonah cannot be made to answer the purpose. “Big Fish” is Cetus, the latinized form of Keto-κητω and keto is Dagon, Poseidon, the female gender of it being Keton Atar-gatis--the Syrian goddess, and Venus, of Askalon. The figure or bust of Der-Keto or Astarte was generally represented on the prow of the ships. Jonah (the Greek Iona, or _dove_ sacred to Venus) fled to Jaffa, where the god Dagon, the man-fish, was worshipped, and dared not go to Níneveh, _where the dove was revered_. Hence, some commentators believe that when Jonah was thrown overboard and was swallowed by a fish, we must understand that he was picked up by one of these vessels, on the prow of which was the figure of _Keto_. But the kabalists have another legend, to this effect: They say that Jonah was a run-away priest from the temple of the goddess where the dove was worshipped, and desired to abolish idolatry and institute monotheistic worship. That, caught near Jaffa, he was held prisoner by the devotees of Dagon in one of the prison-cells of the temple, and that it is the strange form of the cell which gave rise to the allegory. In the collection of Mose de Garcia, a Portuguese kabalist, there is a drawing representing the interior of the temple of Dagon. In the middle stands an immense idol, the upper portion of whose body is human, and the lower fish-like. Between the belly and the tail is an aperture which can be closed like the door of a closet. In it the transgressors against the local deity were shut up until further disposal. The drawing in question was made from an old tablet covered with curious drawings and inscriptions in old Phœnician characters, describing this Venetian _oubliette_ of biblical days. The tablet itself was found in an excavation a few miles from Jaffa. Considering the extraordinary tendency of Oriental nations for puns and allegories, is it not barely possible that the “big fish” by which