El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-10

originally in Greek, and were 1IrSt col
lected about 120 years after the death OF
Christ.
Made Animals a Specially.
One is interested to learn that. like
other oriental potentates of great wealth
and importance, king Solomon the Wise
specialized in wild anim.ls. Within the
palace grounds at Jerusalem, which COM
pTised an extensive walled area. he had
4 zoo, wherein were assembled creatures
of every obtainable kind-lions, tigers.
elephants, rhinOeeroses, -hippOpOtami and
all sorts OF other beasts, together with
an immense variety OF birds and even
reptiles, including. as a matter of course,
! cr0cOdiles and big snakes.
It was fashionable IN those days for
/ monarchs to have such a collection of
/ animals, and one may reasonably sup
pose that Solomon spared no pains to
make his own the finest and most COM
plete in existence. We know from the
! Scriptures that he enlisted for this pur-
! pose the aid of his friend and business
I partner. king Hiram of Tyre-the ruler
of a nearby kingdom on the north, who
had furnished most Of the material and
/ the bulk of the labor for the building
/ of the celebrated temple.
/ Tyre was a Phdenician seaport, 100
miles north of jerusalem; and, as every
/ body knows, the Pheenicians were the
/ great navigators and sea Traders of those
I DAYS. 5000 years ago. Hiram sent his
/ ships to all parts OF the known world
/ even to India; and very likely to China.
! We know that they visited Cevlon; for
4 it has been proved beyond question that
| CeylOn was the "Ophir" of the Bible.
Together with other articles of merchan-
disc they brought back with them from
such distant lands strange animals of
various kinds.
In the 22d chapter OF the first book
OF Kings. We read: For the king (mean-
ing Solomon) had at sea a navy of
Tarshish with the navy of Hiram. Once
IN three years came the navy of Tar
shish, bringing gold and silver, ivory,
and apes and peacocks." Tarshish, one
should understand, was the important
PhOenlclan city on the African side of
the Mediterranean known to the Romans
as Carthage
What the Bible has to say about Solo
mans collection OF wild animals is sup
plemented to some extent by certain
passages OF ancient Hebrew literature
which have recently been studied out.
these passages considered in their re-
latlOn to the scriptUraI text, throw a
good deal OF light upon certain ZOolOgi-
cal questiOns-no notably the sources from :
which the beasts and birds were OBJ
tanned For one thing, 1t is made APP
parent that the peacOcks contributed to 1
the zoo at Jerusalem came from the /
island OF Java; for they are called TUX /
KYIm not a Hebrew word. but the ]
name by which the birds are known in |
Java even to the present day.
Monkeys a Luxury.
APES - meaning monkeys of all I
kinds. were in those days regarded as I
a great luxury. No species of them was
ever native to Palestine, and their i'm
Portatlon must have been expensive.
DOUBTLESS the ships of Hiram brought
manv monkeys from Ceylon-particuiar-
" the bonnet monkeys" which were !
easily obtained. These arc common all
through southern India. even in (
towns where they often pillage the
shops OF the native grain sellers No
body IN that part of the world would
think OF killing monkey. because in
doing so he might unwittingly murder
his own great-gr grandfather.
Hebrew literature of the Old Tesla
ment period. however, says that some
apes were trained to perform as ser
wants TO clean out vessels, and offer
water for the washing of hands" If
TINS be actually true, the description
could apply only TO orangs or chin
panZeeS, which nowadays are taught I
similar tricks, being half human. The I
chlmpanzee in particular is mans near I
est relative on the earth, and anybody /
VINO mas seen one of these remarkable I
ANIMALS performing on the stage viii (
easily reaIlze Its capabilities for such
as those above suggested. In
aSmuch as the ships of Hiram (and if 4
nay be those Of Solomon also) visited {
Java, they might easily have secured I
ioung orangs. while chinpanzees were
'btainable then. as they are today, from
he forests of tropical Africa
1t IS worth mentioning incidentally /
hat ancient Hebrew literature likens !
nan IN old age TO an ape; and there is :
legeno which 1t preserves to the eff !
eel thaI all of the men of one tribe
employed in the building of the Tower I
# Babel were transformed into mon ,
Leys- Furthermore, there is a tradi- I
ION that certain Jews, dwelling at
1laIh. on the Red Sea in the days Of [
layid' went a fishing on the Sabbath '
ma, as q punishment foe the transgres- /
ION, were turned into apes
In the original of the Scripture text v
-bove quoted q Kings x:22) the word h
translated as ivory is "shenhabbin"
5ut recent Investigation has shown f
nat It means elephants. Thus we 7
nov Ihal IneSe pachydermS were in C
Iuded in SolOmOn,s collection. Doubt g
ess, they were African elephants and {
we're fetched from the port of Carthage f
the same species as those used by
ne Carthaginians for war purposes f
90 years later, accompanying Hannibal T
nto Europe and crossing and recross- c
ng the Alps.
Elephants in War. :
About the year rs B. c, we find
Anuochus Epiphanes, king of Syria
sing eIepnanUS IN war against the
eWs- They carried wooden towers
trapped on their backs, each holding
our or five bowmen and singers. and
IS said that intoXicants We're given
o them before going into battle to
ender them furious in order that they
aight carry confusion into the ranks
T the enemy. The officer in command
I this branch of the military service
Tas called the ''elephantarch." The
ews had reyolted against Antiochus
nd the upshOt was disastrous to them,
1r he marched against Jerusalem. pro-
med the Temple with pagan sacrifices,
arrled off the sacred vessels, and
aughtered $4,000 of the inhabitants
the city
It is further recorded that Noah.
hen he built the Ark, laid in large /
ipply of vine branches, in order TO |
,ovide the pair of elephants on board !
ith their favorite food If it be asked !
wv these animals were made captive
ancient times, the answer is that in
l likelihood the method adopted was
lie same as that used today in Africa
day-namely, driving them into great
ms built after the manner Of a stock
lie, and then slipping nOoses of rope
'out their feet and thus reducing
en- to helplessnes. To secure the
'ung ones must have been compare