tightly into the larger end, so as to close it completely, and frequently covered, in addition, with raw hide, in order to hold it firmly in its place, while the small part of the pointed end was cut off, and the aperture closed with a small stopper. The old powder-horns which were formerly much used in England, and which even now are employed in Palestine and many other countries, were good examples of this form of vessel.

That the horn was the favourite vessel for carrying oil is seen in many passages of the Scriptures. For example, when Saul was to be superseded by David, Samuel was ordered to fill his horn with oil and go to Jesse's house, 1 Sam. i. 39. The allusion was evidently to a vessel whose ordinary use was the holding of oil. Again, when David named Solomon his son (see 1 Kings i. 39), “Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the Tabernacle, and anointed Solomon," the oil being that which was kept in the Tabernacle for sacred purposes, and the ingredients of which were so carefully chosen, for it was to be an "oil of holy ointment, an ointment compounded after the art of the apothecary (or perfumer), which shall be an holy anointing oil" (Ex. xxx. 25).

The horn of the ram had also a national value, as from it were made the sacred trumpets which played so important a part in the history of the Jewish nation. There is no doubt that the primitive trumpets were originally formed either from the horn of an animal, such as the ox, the large-horned antelopes, the sheep, and the goat, and that in process of time they were made of metal, generally copper or silver.

References are frequently made in the Bible to these trumpets, for which there were different names, probably on account of their different forms. These names are, however, very loosely rendered in our version, the same word being sometimes translated the "cornet," and sometimes the "trumpet." Putting aside, however, these points of difference, we have chiefly to remark the fact that trumpets made of rams' horns were ordered by the Mosaic law to be sounded at certain times, and that their notes formed an important part of the ritual.

Each jubilee year, for example, was ushered in by the blasts of the sacred trumpets. "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound through

Then there was the festival "In the seventh month, on

out all your land' (Lev. xxv. 9). known as the Feast of Trumpets.

the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you" (Numb. xxix. 1).

Perhaps the most prominent instance of the blowing of the sacred trumpet may be found in the familiar passage in the book of Joshua (ch. vi.) in which is described the fall of Jericho. Ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go about the city once. This ye shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns (or jubilee cornets); and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the rams' horns, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.”

Trumpets were also used as signals to the people. "Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem, and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities" (Jer. iv. 5). And on that great and solemn day when the law was given from Mount Sinai the signal to the people was the sound of the trumpet (or cornet, as the word is translated in the margin). "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled" (Exod. xix. 16).

The Hebrew word which is here translated as "trumpet" is "shofar," which signifies also a horn, and is therefore very rightly translated in the margin and in the Jewish Bible as cornet." What may have been the shape of the shofar is evident from the fact that the same instrument is used even at the present day in certain parts of the Jewish ritual. One of these trumpets is now before me, and is shown in the accompanying illustration.

In length it measures eighteen inches, i.e. a cubit, and it is formed entirely in one piece. As far as I can judge, it is made from the left horn of the broad-tailed Sheep, which, as has already been remarked, is not spiral, but flattish, curved backwards, and forming nearly a circle, the point passing under the ear. This

structure, added to the large size of the horn, adapts it well for its purpose. In order to bring it to the proper shape, the horn is softened by heat, and is then modelled into the very form. which was used by the Jewish priests who blew the trumpet before the ark.

RAM'S HORN TRUMPET.

At the present day one such trumpet, at least, is found in every Jewish community, and is kept by the man who has the privilege of blowing it. On the New Year's festival and the Day of Atonement the trumpet is used in the Jewish ritual, and as the ceremonies connected with blowing it are extremely interesting, they will be briefly described.

The trumpeter, who is not necessarily a priest, but may be any pious man selected from the congregation, prepares himself by bathing, and at the appointed time puts on the white shirt or shroud in which Jews are buried. Before the trumpet is blown, a prayer is said, containing many cabalistic names of angels and malachim, or powers. These names may not be pronounced.

The Rabbi then stands, and gives out the names of the sacred tones in their succession. By the kindness of Dr. Herman Beigel, I have been enabled to hear the tones, and to put them into musical notes,-I believe for the first time since they have been used. The tones are four in number, and are called as follows: Tekeeah (the blowing), Shebârim (the repeated notes), Terooah (the note of joy), and Tekeeah-gedôlah (the lengthened blowing). It is not very easy exactly to express on paper these ancient tones, but the following notes will give a good idea of them.

Tekeeah.

Shebârim.

Terooah.

Tekeeah-gedôlah.

These tones are blown in three partitions, in the following

Between each partition a pause is made, during which the congregation join in a prayer which is full of cabalistic names of the angels who have charge over the sacred tones. And, according to a beautiful Hebrew tradition, when the trumpet is blown with the proper rites, each tone is transformed into an angel, who ascends to join his heavenly colleagues, and with them forms a crown before the throne of God. So that, ever since the Jewish ritual was established, every New Year's festival and Day of Atonement send forth their own angels, as additional jewels to the heavenly crown.

The

These tones are the same all over the world, and have been unchanged for countless generations, so that we may be nearly certain that the blast before which the walls of Jericho fell were the four sacred tones which have just been described. reader will perceive that all the tones are simply octaves, blown with more or less rapidity, the short notes of Terooah being taken as quickly as the trumpeter can blow them, and the concluding note well swelled out, until "the voice of the cornet waxes exceeding loud."

The sounds of the shofar are very peculiar and harsh, quite unlike the notes of any modern instrument. In spite, however, of the wild and almost discordant harshness of the instrument, and the abrupt and even startling character of the Shebârim and Terooah, the sound of the shofar has a strangely solemn effect, carrying back the mind of the hearer to the time when the priests bore their rams'-horn trumpets before the ark, and blew the same sacred blasts under the shadow of Sinai.

Dr. Beigel has made a most singular discovery concerning the tones of the shofar. If the reader will blow them on a flute in the exact order in which they stand, he will find that he is

playing a portion of the nightingale's song. This remarkable fact has been communicated to the Chief Rabbi and other Rabbin, who are unanimous in expressing their satisfaction at it. We cannot, of course, venture to say whether the sacred tones were in the first instance copied from the notes of a singing bird, but it is not unlikely that, whether consciously or not, the mind of the ancient composer might have been influenced by tones which he had often heard, and which could be reproduced in the limited compass of the ram's horn trumpet.

The old Rabbinical writers have a curious saying about the ram: "The ram in life has one tone, in death seven." This

they explain in the following way. When the animal is living the only sound which it can produce is the bleat, but when it is dead it is made into musical instruments.

1. Of the horns are made trumpets.

2. Of the leg-bones are made flutes.

3. Of the large intestines are made lute-strings.

4. Of the small intestines are made harp-strings.

5. Of the skin is made the drum-head.

6. Of the wool are made the pomegranates which hang between the golden bells of the High Priest's garment.

This latter sentence explains a passage in Exodus xxviii. 33, which is not very easy of comprehension. When describing the ephod of the High Priest, the sacred writer proceeds to say, "And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof, and bells of gold between them round about." Both the material and the use of the blue and purple and scarlet pomegranates are here left uncertain, but this old Rabbinical saying explains both. They were made of the dyed wool of the sheep, and their use was to prevent the bells from clashing harshly together, and to keep up a sort of gentle chime as the High Priest went about his sacred duties.

It is very true that only six tones instead of seven are enumerated, but we must not be too critical in dissecting an aphorism.

We now come to the important subject, the use of the Sheep in sacrifice.

No animal was used so frequently for this purpose as the