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They commonly live on dates; and as it would be troublesome to them to come down one high tree and creep up another, they hang by the tail to the branch of one, and, by swinging that about, take advantage of its motion to leap to that of a second. These the modern Arabs call flying-serpents heie thiare. I do not know whether the ancient Arabs were acquainted with any other kind of flying-serpent."
Calmet enumerates eleven kinds of serpents as known to the Hebrews, the names of which are as follow: Ephe, the viper. 2. Chephir, a sort of aspic. 3. Acshub, the aspic. 4. Pethen, a similar reptile. 5. Tzeboa, speckled serpent. 6. Tzimmaon. 7. Tzepho, or Tzephoni, a basilisk. 8. Kippos, the acontias. 9. Shephiphon, the cerastes. 10. Shachal, the black serpent. 11. Saraph, a flying-serpent.
From these circumstances we see, more distinctly, the propriety of the allusion made by the patriarch to the insidious policy which was to characterize the descendants of Dan in the remoter periods of their history. There is mention made in Holy Scripture of the fiery flying-serpent, a creature about whose existence and qualities naturalists have entertained a considerable difference of opinion.
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