Little, however, can be urged in favor of the rhinoc- eros, for, even allowing that the two-horned species of Abyssinia (/^. bicornis) may have been an inhabitant of the woody districts near the .Jordan in Biblical times, this pachyderm must be out of the question.as one which would have been forbidden to be sacrificed by the law of Moses; whereas the reem is mentioned by Isaiah as coming down with bullocks and rams to the Lord's sac- rifice. "Omnia animalia," says Rosenmiiller {Schol. in. Is. loc. cit.), "ad sacrificia idonea in unum congregan- tur." Again, the skipping of the young reem (Psa. xxix, 6) is scarcely compatible with the habits of a rhi- noceros. Moreover, this animal, when unmolested, is not generally an object of much dread, nor can we be- lieve that it ever existed so plentifully in the Bible lands, or even would have allowed itself to be sutfi- cicntly often seen so as to be the subject of frequent attention, the rhinoceros being an animal of retired habits.
2. Bochart (//icroz. ii,335) contends that the Hebrew reem is identical with the Arabic rim, which is usually referred to the Oryx leucoryx, the white antelope of North Africa, and at one time, perhaps, an inhabitant of Palestine. Bochart has been followed by Rosenmiil- ler, Winer, and otliers.
But w ith regard to the claims of the Oryx leucoryx, it must be observed that this antelope, like the rest of the family, is harmless miless wouiuled or hard pressed by the hunter; nor is it remarkable for the possession of anj' extraordinary strength. Figures of the oryx frequently occur on the FLgyptian sculfitures, "being among the animals tamed by the Egyptians and kept in great numbers in their preserves" (Wilkinson, Anc. Eyypt. i, 227, ed. 1854). Certainly this antelope can never be the fierce indomitable reem mentioned in the book of Job (see Lichtenstein, Ueb. d. A ntilopen des nordl. Africa [Berl. 1826J). See Antelope.
3. Arnold Boot {Animad. Sacr. iii, 8 [Lond. 1644]), with much better reason, conjectures that some species of Urvs, or wild-ox, is the reem of the Hebrew Script- ures. He has been followed by Schidtens (Comment, in Johum xxxix, 9, who translates the term by Bos sylres- tris: this learned writer has a long and most valuable note on this question), Parkhurst (Ueb. Lex. s. v. DX"i), Maiirer (Comment, in Job. loc. cit.). Dr. Harris (Nat. Hist. of the Pible), and by Gary {Notes on Job, loc. cit.).
Considering that the reem is spoken of as a two-horn- ed animal of great strength and ferocity, that it was ev- idently well known aiul often seen by the Jews, that it is mentioned as an animal fit for sacrificial purposes, and that it is frequentU' associated with bulls and oxen, we tiiiiik there can be no doubt that some species of wild- ox is intended. The allusion in Psa. xcii, 10, " But thou shalt lift up, as a reeym, my horn," seems to point to the mode in which the fiorid(e use their horns, low- ering the head and then tossing it uj). But it is impos- sible to determine what particular species of wild-ox is signified. At present there is no existing example of any wild bovine animal found in Palestine; but nega- tive evidence in this respect must not be interpreted as affording testimony against the supposition that wild
UNICORN
639
UNICORN
cattle formerh' existed in the Bible lands. The lion, for instance, was once not nnfrequentl}' met with in Palestine, as is evident frotn P.iblical allusions; but no traces of living specimens now exist there. Dr. Koth found lions' bones in a gravel bed of the Jordan some few years ago; and it is not improbable that some future explorer may succeed in discovering bones and skulls of some huge extinct Urns, allied, perhaps, to that gi- gantic on: of the Hercynian forests which Cajsar (Bell. <!(iU. vi. "20) describes as being of a stature scarcely be- low that of an elephant, and so tierce as to spare neither man nor beast shoidd it meet with either. " Notwith- standing assertions to the contrary," says Col. Hamilton Smith (Kitto, Cyclop, art. " Keem"), " the urns and the bison were spread anciently from the Kliine to China, and existed in Thrace and Asia Minor; while they, or allied species, are still found in Siberia and the forests both of Xorthern and Southern Persia. Finally, though the buffalo was not found anciently farther west than Aracoria, the gigantic Gaiir {Bibos gmirni) and several congeners are spread over all the mountain wildernesses of India antl the Sheriff al-Wady ; and a further colossal species roams with other wild bulls in the valleysof Atlas. We tignre Bibas ciirijhiiis, a sjiecies which is believed to be still found soutli-west of the Indus, and is not re- mote from that of the Atlas valleys." See Wild Bull.
Wild Bull {Dibos cavifronn).
4. Russell (Aleppo, ii,7), Robinson (Bibl. Res. ii,ll'>), and (iesenius {Thesdur. s. v.) have little doubt that the buffalo {Bnbiiliis bujfaliis) is the reetn of the Bible; and this opinion is shared by Umbreit, Hitzig, Ewald, Heng- stenberg, and other commentators. Although the Chain- sii. or tame butfalo, was not introduced into Western Asia until the Arabian con(inest of Persia, it is possible that some wild species {HiiIhiIiis arnee, or B. bntchijce- ?-tis) may have existed formerly in Palestine. See Buffalo.