THE LEVIATHAN OR CROCODILE.

Signification of the word Leviathan-Description in the Book of Job-Structure and general habits of the Crocodile-The throat-valve and its usee-Position of the nostrils-Worship of the Crocodile-The reptile known in the Holy Land-Two legends respecting its presence there-Mode of taking preyCunning of the Crocodile-The baboons and the Crocodile-Speed of the reptile-Eggs and young of the Crocodile, and their enemies-Curious story of the ichneumon and ibis-Modes of capturing the Crocodile-Analysis of Job's description-The Crocodile also signified by the word Tannin. Aaron's rod changed into a Tannin-Various passages in which the word occurs—Use of the word by the prophet Jeremiah.

THE word Leviathan is used in a rather loose manner in the Old Testament, in some places representing a mammalian of the sea, and in others signifying a reptile inhabiting the rivers. As in the most important of these passages the Crocodile is evidently signified, we will accept that rendering, and consider the Crocodile as being the Leviathan of Scripture. The Jewish Bible accepts the word Crocodile, and does not add the mark of doubt.

The fullest account of the Leviathan occurs in Job xli., the whole of which chapter is given to the description of the terrible reptile. As the translation of the Jewish Bible differs in some points from that of the Authorized Version, I shall here give the former, so that the reader may be able to compare them with each other.

"Canst thou draw out a crocodile with a hook, or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

"Canst thou put a reed into his nose, or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

"Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?

"Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him as a servant for ever?

"Wilt thou play with him as with a bird, or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens ?

"Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?

"Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish-spears?

"Lay thine hand upon him, thou wilt no more remember the battle.

"Behold, the hope of him is in vain; shall not one be cast down at the sight of him?

"None is so fierce that dare stir him up; who then is able to stand before Me?

Who hath forestalled Me that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine.

"I will not be silent of his parts, nor of the matter of his power, nor of his comely proportion.

"Who can uncover the face of his garment? who would enter the double row in his jaw?

"Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

"The strength of his shields are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

"One is so near to another that no air can come between them.

"They are joined one to another, they stick together that they cannot be sundered.

"His snortings make light to shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning dawn.

"Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

"His breath kindleth live coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

"In his neck abideth strength, and before him danceth terror. The flakes of his flesh are joined together, they are firm in themselves; yea, as hard as nether millstone.

"When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid; by reason of breakings they lose themselves.

"The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

"He esteemeth iron as straw, and copper as rotten wood. "The arrow cannot make him flee: sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.

"Clubs are counted as stubble; he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.

"His under parts are like sharp points of potsherd; he speaketh sharp points upon the mire.

"He maketh the deep to boil like a pot; he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

"He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.

"Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things; he is a king over all the children of pride."

This splendid description points as clearly to the Crocodile as the description of the Behemoth which immediately precedes it does to the hippopotamus, and it is tolerably evident that the sacred poet who wrote these passages must have been personally acquainted with both the Crocodile and the hippopotamus. In both descriptions there are a few exaggerations, or rather, poetical licences. For example, the bones of the hippopotamus are said to be iron and copper, and the Crocodile is said to kindle live coals with his breath. These, however, are but the natural imagery of an Oriental poet, and, considering the subject, we may rather wonder that the writer has not introduced even more fanciful metaphors.

BEFORE proceeding with the Biblical portion of the history of this formidable reptile, I will mention a few points connected with the Crocodile and its kin. There are several species of Crocodile in different parts of the world, ten species at least being known to science. Some inhabit India, some tropical America, some Asia, and some Africa, so that the genus is represented in nearly all the warmer parts of the world.

They are all known by the formation of the teeth, the lower canines fitting each into a notch on the side of the upper jaw. The feet are webbed to the tips, and though the reptile mostly propels itself through the water by means of its tail, it can also paddle itself gently along by means of its feet. The teeth are all made for snatching and tearing, but not for masticating, the Crocodile swallowing its prey entire when possible; and when the animal is too large to be eaten entire, the reptile tears it to pieces, and swallows the fragments without attempting to masticate them.

In order to enable it to open its mouth under water, the back

of its throat is furnished with a very simple but beautiful contrivance, whereby the water is received on a membranous valve, and, in proportion to its pressure, closes the orifice of the throat. As the Crocodiles mostly seize their prey in their open jaws and hold it under water until devoured, it is evident that without such a structure as has been described the Crocodile would be as likely to drown itself as its prey. But the throat-valve enables it to keep its mouth open while the water is effectually prevented from running down its throat, and the nostrils, placed at the end of the snout, enable it to breathe at its ease, while the unfortunate animal which it has captured is being drowned beneath the surface of the water.

This position of the nostrils serves another purpose, and enables the Crocodile to breathe while the whole of its body is under the water, and only an inch or two of the very end of the snout is above the surface. As, moreover, the Crocodile, as is the case with most reptiles, is able to exist for a considerable time without breathing, it only needs to protrude its nostrils for a few moments, and can then sink entirely beneath the water. In this way the reptile is able to conceal itself in case it should suspect danger; and as, in such instances, it dives under the herbage of the river, and merely thrusts its nose into the air among the reeds and rushes, it is evident that, in spite of its enormous size, it baffles the observation of almost every foe.

The Crocodile is one of the many animals to which divine honours were paid by the Egyptians. This we learn from several sources. Herodotus, for example, in "Euterpe," chapter 69, writes as follows: "Those who dwell about Thebes and Lake Moris, consider them to be very sacred; and they each of them train up a Crocodile, which is taught to be quite tame; and they put crystal and gold ear-rings into their ears, and bracelets on their fore-paws; and they give them appointed and sacred food, and treat them as well as possible while alive, and when dead, they embalm them, and bury them in sacred vaults.

"But the people who dwell about the city of Elephantine eat them, not considering them as sacred."

The reasons for this worship are several. At the root of them all lies the tendency of man to respect that which he fears rather than that which he loves; and the nearer the man approaches the savage state, the more is this feeling developed.

By this tendency his worship is regulated, and it will be found that when man is sufficiently advanced to be capable of worship at all, his reverence is invariably paid to the object which has the greatest terrors for him. The Crocodile, therefore, being the animal that was most dreaded by the ancient Egyptians, was accepted as the natural type of divinity.

By degrees, though the worship of the Crocodile was retained, the worshippers thought themselves obliged to find reasons for their veneration, and some of them said that they considered the Crocodile a type of divinity because it had no tongue, and was therefore an emblem of divine power, which requires no tongue wherewith to speak. "For by a mute and silent way it ascendeth, and bringeth all things mortal to a vocal justice, which speaketh in action, though not in voyce, even as all that is in the Crocodile is action and not voyce."

Some said that they reverenced the Crocodile because it laid threescore eggs and lived threescore years, this being the span of human life. Others, and these give by far the best reason, say that divine honours are paid to the Crocodile because the time of laying the eggs and hatching the young foreshows the annual rising of the Nile, on which depends the prosperity of the whole country. Still there is no doubt that, whatever explanations may have been offered by the advocates of Crocodile worship, the true reason for it was nothing but the terror inspired by the animal.

OWING to the accuracy of the description in the Book of Job, which is evidently written by one who was personally acquainted with the Crocodile, it is thought by many commentators that the writer must have been acquainted with the Nile, in which river both the Crocodile and hippopotamus are found at the present day.

It is possible, however, that the hippopotamus and the Crocodile have had at one time a much wider range than they at present enjoy. Even within the memory of man the hippopotamus has been driven further and further up the Nile by the encroachments of man. It has long been said that even at the present day the Crocodile exists in Palestine in the river which is called "Nhar Zurka," which flows from Samaria through the plains of Sharon. Several of the older writers have mentioned its existence in this river, and, since this work was commenced,