38 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

time, have been transferred, so as to denote any distant
place to which such ships went. This would adequately
explain how it happens that the ships which went to Ophir
are called ships of Tarshish in the book of Kings, but in
the later book of Chronicles are not so called, but are said
to have gone ¢o Tarshish, that is, went a distant voyage.
Heeren applies a somewhat similar explanation to Ophir.
He says, ‘It is very probable that this name, like those of
Thule and others, did not designate any fixed place, but
simply stood as a general name for the rich south country,
including the shores of Arabia, Africa, and India.’ In con-
firmation of this, he observes that the word Ophir signifies
in Arabia ‘the rich countries.’ In these explanations, as
respecting the names of Tarshish and Ophir, we entirely
acquiesce. They enable us to conclude that the fleet may
have gone trading to various places, collecting the different
commodities which were required, and relieve us from the
necessity of finding everything in one place.”

The mention of various animals being brought to Solomon
is very interesting when we consider it in connection with
his known attachment to the study of natural history:
“He spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon,
pnto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake