Cony, in the original Shaphan, occurs in;;; . Commentators in general now conclude, on the most satisfactory grounds, that those versions which give Cony for the Hebrew Shaphan are incorrect. The Shaphan in scientific zoology is one of the small genus Hyrax, distinguished by the specific name of Syrian. Externally it is somewhat of the size, form, and brownish color of a rabbit, and, though it has short round ears, sufficiently like for inexact observers to mistake the one for the other. Navigators and colonists often carry the local names of their native land to other countries, and bestow them upon new objects with little propriety: this seems to have been done in the instance before us, there being reason to believe that the Phoenicians on visiting the western shores of the European side of the Mediterranean, found the country, as other authorities likewise assert, infested with rabbits or conies, and that without attending to the difference they bestowed upon them the Hebrew or Phoenician name of Shaphan.
Fig. 134—Hyrax Syriacus
The hyrax is of clumsier structure than the rabbit, without tail, having long, bristly hairs scattered through the general fur; the feet are naked below, and all the nails are flat and rounded, save those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped; therefore the species cannot dig, and is by nature intended to reside, not, like rabbits, in burrows, but in the clefts of rocks. This character is correctly applied to the Shaphan by David.
Their timid gregarious habits, and the tenderness of their paws, make them truly 'the wise and feeble folk' of Solomon; for the genus lives in colonies in the crevices of stony places in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Eastern Egypt, Abyssinia, and even at the Cape of Good Hope, where one or two additional species exist. In every locality they are quiet, gentle creatures, loving to bask in the sun, never stirring far from their retreats, moving with caution, and shrinking from the shadow of a passing bird, for they are offen the prey of eagles and hawks; their habits are strictly diurnal, and they feed on vegetables and seeds.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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