150 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the solemn dedication of the “house of the Lord,” an im-
mense slaughter, in conformity with the feelings of the age,
but not with the spirit which dictated the words, “The sa-
crifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” A great proportion
of the flesh was, no doubt, distributed among the multitudes
assembled at Jerusalem. With heathen nations it was a
custom to sacrifice in acknowledgment of great victories, or
to arrest public calamities, as many as a hundred oxen or
other animals, which was called a hecatomb; but this was
very insignificant compared to the offering of Solomon.
Oxen were evidently used as beasts of burden by the
Hebrews ; for instance, in 1 Chronicles xii. is the following
passage—they “brought bread on asses and on camels, and
on mules and on oxen.” This custom prevails in the Kast to
this day; and they are not only employed in agriculture,
which is, in a certain degree, practised almost universally,
but for riding, particularly by women and aged persons, and
also for drawing the various conveyances of the country.
“ At Constantinople they draw the ornamented arabah ;
wherever the peasantry employ carts, they are drawn by
oxen; in the Tartarian Steppes they draw the moveable
huts and baggage of the nomades; and in India are yoked