Miscellaneous Back Matter [pp. 472A-RD06]

TlE SERPEN'rT THE APE AND THE NEGRO.
of our friends, whether by ancients or by moderns, are hardly ever in their
favor. There may be a certain degree of cunning, or even of accomplish ment, in the monkey, of whom the tale is told; but, in nine cases out of ten,
the laugh is either at his expense, or he is only saved from ridicule by some
horrible catastrophe. From the earliest ages down to that wanchancie crea ture, Major Weir, Sir Robert Redgaunitlet's great, ill-favored jackanape,
the whole tribe have been regarded as unlucky, meddling beings..
Either, like -Elian's ape, the mimic, in his zeal for imitation, makes the
triflingtliistake of plunging a child into boiling water instead of cold; or it
is taken by the hunter's stratagem of washing his face in its presence, aind
then leaving, by way of a lotion, for the poor animal that has been watching his motions, some of the best bird-lime, with which it dilutes its eyes
till they are sealed up; or a parcel of shell snails are placed round it, in
the midst of which it sits like a fool, not daring to stir for fear."-Zoological
Recreations, pp. 217, 218.
Dr. Clarke says that he does not find "that the serpentine
genus are remarkable for intelligence." It has been seen that
intelligence is not attributed to the nachash; and the received
translation says only that he was more stubtile than the other
beasts.
The Library of Natural History not only corroborates fully
the above quotations concerning the intelligence of the ape
kind,* but gives the serpent precedence as to subtilty over that
variety called the _Malbrouck, thus:
"The most formidable enemy these animals have is the serpent; no other
animal of the forest being able to surprise them, as they are so exceedingly
swift and subtile, and easily climb up and seat themselves on the tops of the
highest trees."-P. 78.
Ard for this quality, subtilty, Jacob seems to have found
the serpentine genus somewhat remarkable. Concerning the
tribe of Dan, hlie says:
"Dan shall be a serpent (nachash) by the way,
An adder (shephiphon) in the path,
That biteth the horse's heels,
So that his rider shall fall backward."-Gen. xlix, 17.
In the received translation shephiphon is rendered "an adder;" in the margin it is "an arrow-snake," and Dr. Clarke
calls it "a cerastes," and says:
"The word shephiphon, which is nowhere else to be found in the Bible, is
tllus translated by the Vulgate, and Bochart approves of the translation.
The cerastes has its name from two little horns upon its head, and is remarkable for the property here ascribed to the shephiphon. The word
orach, which we translate path, signifies the track or rut made in the ground
by the wheel of a cart, wagon, etc. And the description that Nicander
gives of this serpent in his 1Tieriaca perfectly agrees with what is here said
of the shephiphon, it lies under the sand, or in some cart rut by the way. It
is intiniated that this tribe should gain the principal part of its conquests
more by cunning and stratagem than by valor."-On Gen. xlix, 17.
*Pp. 66, 67.
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