of Israel" (2 Sam. i, 10) ; and in the Song of Songs the comparison is frequently interchanged between the bride- groom and the bride. What can be more exquisite than the compound simile in ch. iv, 6V Ashael, the broth( r of Joab, was "as light of foot as one of the gazelles in the Held" (2 Sam. ii, 18 ) ; and the (Jadites who gatheretl to David in the wilderness were "men of might, . . . whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were as swift as gazelles upon the mountains" (1 Chron. xii, 8). The gentle Tabitha of Joppa, the loving and be- loved (Acts ix, 3G), was doubtless so named because of her beaut}^ real or fancied. The gazelle was per- mitted to be eaten b,y the law of Moses, as it is a typical ruminant. It seems to have even been a standard of lawfid and proper food — " Thou mayest eat flesh, . . . even as the gazelle ... is eaten" (Deuf. xii, 15, 22). Whereas hitherto they had eaten the flesh of their flocks and herds only on occasions of these being oflfered in sacrifice, now that they were aboiit to become a settled and an agricultural people, they might kill and eat their domestic animals with- out an}' such restriction, as freely as they had been ac- customed to eat the gazelles which they took in hLmting. It is [irobable that this animal formed a considerable por- tion of the animal food of the Hebrews, not only in their desert wanderings, but before and after their captivity in Egypt. The venison which Isaac loved, and which Esau took with his quiver and his bow, and which could not be distinguished from kid when this latter was suitably dressed ((Jen. xxvii), was doubtless the flesh of the ga- zelle. To this day. the valley of Gerar and the plains of Beersheba are the haunts of vast flocks of these agile creatures, and still the pastoral Arabs hunt them there and make savory meat. See (Jazelle.
The paintings of ancient Egypt present us with nu- merous examples of gazelle-hunting. Sometimes a bat- tue is depicted, in which all the game of the country is driven before the hounds. In such scenes the great predominance given to the gazelle shows how large a proportion this animal bore to other quarrv. Some- times the capture of the wild animal alive was the ob- ject desired ; in this case it was either trapped or snared in some way, or shot with blunt-headed arrows, and the hunter is seen leading home the gentle gazelle by the horns. Occasionally, too, this was accomplished by throwing the lasso, as wild horses are now taken on the South American pampas. Large herds of gazelles were kept by the Egyptian land-holders in their parks and preserves, like deer with us. Frequently, however, the hounds, which were held two or three in leash, wore loosed after the fleet-footed antelope, and pulled it down by sheer running, the hunter running on foot, which implies that the course coidd not have been long. At present, however, though large herds of gazelles are common enough, anil the sport of chasing them is as keenly relished as ever, no breed of dogs cultivated in the East has a chance of bringing one down in a fair ojjen run. They are hunted by the Aral)s with a falcon and a greyhounil. The repeated attacks of the bird ujiou
Uncbnck (from the Assyrian Sculptures, British Museum).
ROE
61
ROGATION DAYS
the head of the animal so bewilder it tliat it falls an easy 1 jirey to the greyhound, wliich is trained to watch the liiglit of the falcon. Many of tliese antelopes are also taken in pitfalls, into which tliey are driven by the shouts of the hunters. (See Addison, Damascus and Palmyra, ii, 340 ; Kitto, Phijs. Hist, of Palest, p. 392 ; and Burckhardt, iXotes, p. 220.) The group of ante- lopes to which this article is devoted, geiierically named GazMa by some naturalists, is thus characterized : the horns, which are permanent, and present in both sexes, are lyrate, with solid bony cores. The lachrymal sinus- es are distinct and movable,- the interdigital pits and inguinal pores are large. The knees are generally fur- nished with tufts of hair. A dark streak runs through tlie eye. The inside of the ear is marked with lines, oc- casioned by the alternation of bands of white hair; the color of the sides and flanks, some hue of warm brown, is separated from the white of the belly by a dark line. The nose is sheep-like. — Fairbairn. See Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 127 scj. ; Bible Educator, ii, 135. See r)KKi{.
In I'rov. V, 19, tlie word Roe represents the Heb. ?/fla- lali', nP"\ properly the female ibex or youmj she-yoat; here used as an epithet for a lovely woman (Bochart, Bieroz. i, 899; Gesen. Thesuur. s. v. h'J"^). See Goat.
YofXG Roe in the Song of Solomon (iv, 5) stands for the Heb. o'pker, ^SV (from the root aphar', "'S^', to he whitish), the Arabic algophro, which denotes the calf or fawn of a stag (iiil). It occurs in no other book of Scripture, is unknown in the Syriac and Chaldee, and appears to be only a poetical application of a term more strictly belonging to fawn-like animals; for in the above •passage it is applied to couples feeding in a bed of lil- ies— indications not descriptive of young goats or stags, but quite applicable to the Antilo]nne groups which are characterized in (JrifHth's Cuvier, in subgenus X Cephul- ophns, and in XI Neotraipis, both furnishing species of exceeding delicacy and graceful diminutive structures, several of which habitually feed in pairs among shrubs and geraniums on the hilly plains of Africa. And as thej' have always been, and still are, in request among the wealthy in warm climates for domestication, we may conjecture that a species designated by the name of Opher (^E", perhaps alluding to T^S^X, Ophir, or even Africa) was to be found in the parks or royal gardens of a sovereign so interested in natural history as Solo- mon was, and from the sovereign's own observation be- came alluded to in the truly apposite imagery of his poetical diction (Cant, iv, 12). Among the species m (piestion, in which both male and female are exceeding- ly similar, and which might have readied him by sea or by caravan, we may reckon Cephalophus Grimmia, C. perpusilla, C. phikmtomba, all marked by a small black tuft of hair between their very short horns; as also the Xeofraf/us pi/fpnea, or guevei, the smallest of cloven- footed animals; and the madolka, with speckled legs; all these species being natives of Central Africa, and from time immemorial brought by caravans from the interior lor sale or presents. — Kitto. See Hind.