The Taehaitze (.Antilope Darbata).
Eastern Africa contain a number of ruminating ani- mals of the great antelope family ; they are known to the natives under various names, such as pacasse, empacasse, tkacasse, facasse, and tachaitze, all more or less varieties of the word tackash ; they are of consid- erable size, often of slaty and purple-gray colors, and might be termed stag-goats and ox-goats. Of these one or more occur in the hunting-scenes on Egyptian monuments, and therefore we may conclude that the skins were accessible in abundance, and may have been dressed with the hair on for coverings of bag- gage, and for boots, such as we see worn by the human figures in the same processions. Thus we have the greater number of the conditions of the question suf- ficiently realized to enable us to draw the inference that tackash refers to a ruminant of the Aigocerine or Damaline groups, most likely of an iron-gray or slaty- colored species" (Kitto, s. v.). See Antelope.
Bag, a purse or pouch. The following words in the original are thus rendered in the English version of the Bible: 1. D^M, charit', a pocket (Sept. QvXa- koc, Vulg. saccus), the " bags" in which Naaman bound up the two talents of silver for Gehazi (2 Kings v, 23), probably so called, according to Gesenius, from their long, cone-like shape. The word only occurs be- sides in Isa. iii, 22 (A. V. " erisping-pins"), and there denotes the reticules carried by the Hebrew ladies. 2. Dn3, Ms (Sept. fu'lfxnTrTroc, pafjuinrioi', Vulg. saccuhts, saccellus), a bag for carrying weights (Deut. xxv, 13 ; Prov. xvi, 11 ; Mic, vi, 11) ; also used as a purse (Prov. i, 14 ; Isa. xlvi, 6) , hence a cup (Prov. xxiii, 31). 3. 1^3, Mi' (Sept. kuCwv, Vulg. pera), translated " bag'' in 1 Sam. xvii, 40, 49, is a word of most general mean- ing, and is generally rendered "vessel" or "instru- ment." In Gen. xlii, 25, it is the "sack" in which Jacob's sons carried the corn which they brought from Egypt, and in 1 Sam. ix. 7 ; xxi, 5, it denotes a bag or wallet for carrying iood (A. V. "vessel;" compare Judg. x, 5 ; xiii, 10, 15). The shepherd's " bag" which David had seems to have been worn by him as necessary to his calling, and was probably, from a comparison of Zech. xi, 15, 1G (where A. V. "instruments" is the same word), for the purpose of carrying the lambs which were unable to walk or were lost, and contained materials for healing such as were sick and binding up those that were broken (comp. Ezek. xxxiv, 4, 16). 4. 11*121, tseror' (Sept. h- tW/toc, Smt/.i<)£, Vulg. saccuhis), properly a "bundle" (Gen. xlii, 35 ; 1 Sam. xxv, 29), appears to have been used by travellers for carrying money during a long, journey (Prov. vii, 20; Hag. i, 6; compare Luke xii, 33 ; Tob. ix, 5). In such " bundles" the priests bound up the money which was contributed for the restora- tion of the Temple under Jehoiada (2 Kings xii, 10 ; A. V. "put up in bags"). 5. The "bag" (yXwffffOKO- fiof, Vulg. loculi) which Judas carried was probably a small box or chest (John xii, G ; xiii, 29). The Greek word is the same as that used in the Sept. for "chest" in 2 Chron. xxiv, 8, 10, 11, and originally sig- nified a box used by musicians for carrying the mouth- pieces of their instruments, 6. The (3a\avTtov, or wal- let (Luke x, 4 ; xii, 33 ; xxii, 35, 36). Of these terms it will only be necessary here to discuss one application, which they all sustain, i. e. as a receptacle for money. The money deposited in the treasuries of Eastern princes, or intended for large payments, or to lie sent to a government as taxes or tribute, is collected in long, narrow bags or purses, each containing a certain amount of money, and sealed with the official seal. As the money is counted for this purpose, and sealed with great care by officers properly appointed, the bag or purse passes current, as long as the seal remains unbroken, for the amount marked thereon. In the receipt and payment of large sums, this is a great and important convenience in countries where the manage-
BAGGER
61G
BAHURIM
Ancient Egyptian Money-bags.
ment of large transactions by paper is unknown, or where a currency is chiefly or wholly of silver; it Baves the great trouble of counting or weighing loose money. This usage is so well established that, at this daw in the Levant, "a purse" is the very name for a certain amount of money (now twenty -five dollars), and all large payments are stated in "purses." The antiquity of this cus- tom is attested by the monuments ofEgypt, in which the ambas- sadors of distant na- tions are represented as bringing their trib- utes in sealed bags of money to Thothmes III; and we see the same bags deposited intact in the royal treasury (Wil- kinson, i, 148, abridgm.). When coined money was not used, the seal must have been considered a vouch- er not only for the amount, but for the purity of the metal. The money collected in the Temple, in the time of Joash, seems to have been made up into bags of equal value after this fashion, which were probably delivered sealed to those who paid the workmen (2 Kings, xii, 10 ; comp. also 2 Kings v, 23 ; Tobit ix, 5 ; xi,lG).— Smith, Append. ; Kitto, s. v. See Money.