CARSHENA (NDtra)• The first of the seven princes of Persia and Media who formed the inner council of King Ahasuerus. Flint derives the word from Zend Beggs, slim, and no, a man= Slim-man. t CART (i*V; Sept. "Apa4a). The Hebrew word rendered by our translators in some places by `waggon,' and in others by ' cart,' denotes any vehicle moving on wheels and usually drawn by oxen ; and their particular character must be de termined by the context indicating the purpose for which they were employed. First, we have the carts which the king of Egypt sent to assist in transporting Jacob's family from Canaan (Gen. xlv. 19, 27). From their being so sent it is mani fest that they were not used in the latter country ; and that they were known there as being peculiar to Egypt is shewn by the confirmation which they afforded to Jacob of the truth of the strange story told by his sons. These carts or waggons were, of course, not war-chariots, nor such curricles as were in use among the Egyptian nobility, but were not suited for travelling. The only other wheel used by a nomade people (enemies of the Egyp tians) in their migrations. If any of these had, by the rout of this people, been left in the hands of the Egyptians, the king would, no doubt, consider them suitable to assist the migration of another people of similar habits. At any rate, they afford the only attainable analogy, and are for that reason here represented (No. 168).
Elsewhere (Num. vii. 3, 6 ; x Sam. ,vi. 7) we read of carts used for the removal of the sacred arks and utensils. These also were drawn by two oxen. In Rossellini we have found a very curious
representation of the vehicle used for such pur poses by the Egyptians (No. 169, fig. 3). It is little more than a platform on wheels ; and the apprehension which induced Uzzah to put forth his hand to stay the ark when shaken by the oxen (2 Sam. vi. 6), may suggest that the cart employed on that occasion was not unlike this, as it would be easy for a jerk to displace whatever might be upon it.
As it appears that the Israelites used carts, they doubtless employed them sometimes in the re moval of agricultural produce, although we are not aware of any distinct mention of this practice in Scripture. This is now the only use for which carts are employed in Western Asia. They are such as are represented in No. 17o.
vehicles actually or probably used by the Egyp tians themselves are those represented in figs. 1, 2, of No. 169. But they are not found on the monu ments in such connection as to shew whether they were employed for travelling or for agriculture. The solid wheels would suggest the latter use, if, indeed, the same feature does not rather spew that, although figured on Egyptian monuments, they are the cars of a foreign people. This is the more probable, inasmuch as the ready means of transport and travel by the Nile seems to have rendered in a great measure unnecessary any other wheel-carriages than those for war or pleasure. The sculptures, however, exhibit some carts as