The Washington herald., 1912-08-11


literature. contemporary with the books
Of the Scriptures. have shed much in
terestins light upon the zoology of the
Bible-especially in regard to certain ami
mails. such as the leviathan. the behe-
moth. and the unicorn. whose identity
has been in more or less dispute.
1t is popularly supposed that the levia-
than OF the Bible was a whale. but for
this belief there is not the slightest basis
In fact. The animal In question was the
crocodile. II proof be wanted, one may
find II in book of Job, wherein II Is
described as having scales which are
shut up together as with close seal. %
which cannot be sundered." and which
neither sword. spear. nor arrow can
penetrate.
One should realize that in 1911. when
the authorized version" of tho Bible
was first published, the study Of natural
history was in its infancy, and many
of the Scriptural animals had never been
heard OF in Europe. Thus the transiators
were much puzzled by the names of some
Of the Scriptural beasts, as found in the
original Hebrew and Greek. They knew
not the crocodile, and with the hippo
pOtdfnuS Iney were wholly unaCQudlntcu
Hence, when they came upon mention
of the behemoth Ia Hebrew word. they
left 1t alone
The fact that this animal was the hip
popotamus is so well established that
nowadays any captive specimen in a
circus Is sure to be placarded with a sign
stating that II Is the behemoth Of
Scripture. But 1t was not known until
recently that the unicorn was the "ad-
I1xr II
sized pony, which was domesticated by
the ancient Egyptians Represented in
sculptured profile on Egyptian monu-
ments. its own horns appear as one
thus giving rise TO the mistaken notion
OF creature with a single horn spring.
ing from the middle Of its forehead. The
absurdity of this idea is shown by
reference to Deuteronomy, where Joseph
is compared to a unicorn. his two horns
being Ephraim and Manasseh.
The unicorn OF the Bible is even to this
day found wild in considerable numbers
in the deserts of Northern Africa II is
white. with brownish-gray neck. and a
heavy tuft of hair on its forehead. al
most black in color, and looks as II
curled by a hairdresser. Egyptian kings
and deities on the ancient monuments
are often shown wearing its horns. which
have the peculiar spiral form that Is
carefully copied In the single horn of the
fabulous beast immortalized in the coat
of-arms OF Great Britain as the antagon-
list of the lion.
The dragons OF the Bible were ike
wise crocodiles. Ezekiel refers TO their
scales and speaks Of their lying out In
the rivers watching for prey. Doubtless
he had seen them by thousands. But the
makers of the authorized version could
not have been expected TO understand
what the creatures were like. They were
not naturaiists, and the task of transla-
tion which they undertook was sufficient
ly difficult In other respects. The books
of the Old Testament. originally written
in Hebrew, were first collected and ar
ranged by the Prophet Ezra about so
B. c. These are the Scriptures SO
often referred to in the New Testament,
containing the Law and the Prophets
The books of. the New Testament were
originally in Greek. and were first col
lected about o years after the death Of
Christ.
One is interested to learn that, like
other Oriental potentates Of great wealth
and importance, King Solomon the Wise
specialized in wild animals. Within the
palace grounds at Jerusalem, which COM
prtsed an extensive walled area. he had
zoo, wherein were assembled creatures
of every obtainable kind-lions, tigers.
elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, and
all sorts of other beasts, together with
an immense variety of birds and even
reptiles. including. as a matter OF course,
crocodiles and big snakes
II was fashionable in those days for
monarchs to have such collections of ami
mails. and one may reasonably suppose
that Solomon spared no pains to make
his own the finest and most complete
m existence. We know from the Scrip
lures that he enlisted for this purpose
the aid Of his friend and business part
ner, 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 Phoenician seaport 100 miles
north Of Jerusalem: and. as everybody
knows. the Phoenicians weres the great
navigators and sea-traders of those days.
1900 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 Ceylon: for II
has been proved beyond question that
Ceylon was the 'Ophir'' Of the Bible. To-
they brought back with them from such
distant lands strange animals of vari-
Gus kinds.
In the twenty-second chapter Of the first
book OF Kings. we read: For the King
(meaning 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
was the important Phoenician
city on the African side of the Mediter-
ranean known to the Romans as Garth
age.
What the Bible has to say about Solo
mons collection of wild animals Is sup
plemented to some extent by certain pas
sages of ancient Hebrew literature which
have recently been studied out. These
passages. considered In their relation to
the scriptural text. throw a good deal
of light upon certain geological aues-
tions-notabiy the sources from which the
beasts and birds were obtained For
one thing. it is made apparent that the
peacocks contributed to the zoo at Jeru-
salem came from the island of Java: for
they are called "tukkiyim''-not a Hebrew
word. but the name by which the birds
are known In Java even to the present
day.
Apes (meaning monkeys Of all
kinds) were in those days regarded as
great luxury. No species of them was
ever native to Palestine, and their i'm
portation must have been expensive.
Doubtless. the ships of Hiram brought
many monkeys from Ceylon-particularly
the Bonnet monkeys which were easi-
ly obtained. These are common all
through Southern India. even in towns
where they often pillage the shops Of na-
tive grain sellers. Nobody in that part
Of the world would think Of killing
becaused in doing so he might