ZEMER (ze'mer), (Heb. zeh'mer), in our version of Deut. xiv :5 is rendered Chamois.
All critics understand zemcr to be a clean rumi nant ; but it is plain that the Mosaic enumeration of clean animals would not include such as were totally out of the reach of the Hebrew people, and at best only known to them from specimens seen in Egypt, consisting of presents sent from Nubia, or in pictures on the walls of temples. The only species that seems to answer to the conditions required is a wild sheep, still not uncommon in the Mokattam rocks near Cairo, found in Sinai, and eastward in the broken ridges of stony Arabia.
This animal is frequently represented and hiero glyphically named on Egyptian monuments, but we question if the denomination itself be phonet ically legible. The figures in color leave no doubt that it is the same as the Kebsch of the modern Arabs, and a species or a variety of Ovis Trage laphus, or bearded sheep, lately formed into a separate group by Mr. Blyth under the name of Ammotragus Barbatus. It is a fearless climber,
and secure on its feet, among the sharpest and most elevated ridges. In stature the animal ex ceeds a large domestic sheep, though it is not more bulky of body. Instead of wool, it is cov ered with close fine reddish hair ; from the throat to the breast, and on the upper arms above the knees, there is abundance of long, loose reddish hair, forming a compact protection to the knees and brisket, and indicating that the habits of the species require extraordinary defense while sporting among the most rugged cliffs ; thus mak ing the name Zcmcr, 'one that springeth,' if that interpretation be trustworthy, remarkably correct. The head and face are perfectly sheep-like, the eyes are bluish, and the horns, of a yellowish color, are set on as in sheep ; they rise obliquely, and are directed backwards and outwards, with the points bending downwards. The tail, about nine inches long, is heavy and round. (See