Palestine, or, the Holy Land: From the Earliest Period to the Present TimeRussell, Michael
History
Palestine, or, the Holy Land: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time
Russell, Michael
Palestine -- Description and travel; Palestine -- History
The _fallow-deer_, or yachmur of the Bible, is received among
commentators as the _wild beeve_,--an animal equal in size to the stag,
or red deer, to which it bears some resemblance. It frequents the
solitary parts of Judea and the surrounding countries, and, like the
antelope, is everywhere gregarious. Its flesh is also very sweet and
nourishing, and was frequently seen at the tables of kings.
The _wild goat_, or akko, mentioned in Deuteronomy, is not held
sufficiently specific by naturalists, who imagine that it must be
identified with another animal called by the Seventy _tragelaphus_,
literally the goat-deer. The horns of this species, which are furrowed
and wrinkled as in the goat kind, are a foot or fifteen inches long, and
bend over the back; though they are shorter and more crooked than those
of the ibex or steinbuck. It is not unfrequently known by the more
familiar name of _lerwee_.
Considerable obscurity hangs over the natural history of the _pygarg_,
the characteristics of which have not hitherto been well determined. The
word itself, it has been remarked, seems to denote a creature whose
hinder parts are of a white colour. Such, says Dr. Shaw, is the _lidmee_
which is shaped exactly like the common antelope, with which it agrees in
colour and in the shape of its horns, only that in the lidmee they are of
twice the length, as the animal itself is of twice the size.
The sixth species is the _wild ox_, or thau of the Mosaical catalogue,
which has generally been rendered the _oryx_. Now this animal is
described to be of the goat-kind, with the hair growing forward, or
towards the head. It is further described to be of the size of a beeve,
and to be likewise a fierce creature, contrary to what is observed of the
goat or deer kind, which, unless they are irritated and highly provoked,
are all of them of a shy and timorous nature. The only quadruped that we
are acquainted with to which these marks will apply is the buffalo, well
known in Egypt and in various parts of Western Asia. It may be so far
reckoned of the goat kind, as the horns are not smooth and even as in the
beeve, but rough and wrinkled as in the goat. It is, besides, nearly the
same as the common beeve, and therefore agrees so far with the
description of Herodotus. It is also a sullen, spiteful animal, being
often know to pursue the unwary, especially if clad in scarlet. For these
reasons, the buffalo may not improperly be taken for the thau or oryx,
whereof we have had hitherto little account.[194]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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