Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/90

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The common animals of the country are often noticed in the Mishnah, including oxen, sheep, goats, camels, asses, and mules, with the gazelle as already noticed. Among wild beasts we find the wolf, lion, bear, leopard ( Arab ), and the small panther, pardulus, which some render basilisk (Baba Kama, i, 4); they were all hunted apparently in Palestine (Sanhedrin, i, 4) which, if we could be certain of locality, would make the survival of the lion very late. The pardulus was perhaps a large wild cat, still found in wild districts. The wolf, bear, and leopard are still to be found.

The pig and dog were unclean (Baba Kama, vii, 7) with the wild boar, which is still numerous (Kholin, ix, 2). A wild ox ( or ) is also noticed (Kilaim, viii, 6; Baba Kama, iv, 7), but whether this was the Reem (A. V. unicorn) hunted by Assyrians in the seventh century or the bubale or bovine antilope is not clear. The latter is the Bakr el Wahash or "wild cow" of modern Arabs. Another doubtful animal was the Coi, which was a wild sheep (Bicurim, ii, 8; Nezir, v, 7; Kholin, vi, 1). It was doubtful whether the Coi was cattle  or game. It is to be noted that Coi is an ancient Turkish word for a "sheep," and that wild sheep are hunted in Cyprus. Probably they were found in Northern Syria at the time of which we treat. Tame sheep it may also be noted wore bells, as they still do (Nezir, vi, 2).

Another wild animal was the "sea dog," which was amphibious and came at times on land ( Kelim, xvii, 13), but whether in Palestine or elsewhere is not stated. There can be little doubt that the seal is intended, which would be familiar to the Jews in the Black Sea and in the Caspian, and which is occasionally found off the Syrian coast, as has been noted in the Quarterly Statement, Palestine Exploration Fund. The Lybian ass like a camel (Kilaim, viii, 4)) was apparently only a large breed of ass from Egypt. The mole rat (Middoth, i, 3) and the