The domestic buffalo was unknown to Western Asia and Egypt till after the Arabian conquest ; it is now common in the last-mentioned region and far to the south, but not beyond the equator ; and from structural differences it may be surmised that there was in early ages a domesticated distinct spe cies of this animal in Africa. In Syria and Egypt the present races of domestic cattle are somewhat less than the large breeds of Europe, and those of Palestine appear to be of at least two forms, both with short horns and both used to the plough, one being tall and lanky, the other more compact ; and we possess figures of the present Egyptian cattle with long horns bent down and forwards. From Egyptian pictures it is to be inferred that large droves of fine cattle were imported from Abyssinia, and that in the valley of the Nile they were in general stall-fed, used exclusively for the plough, and treated with humanity. In Palestine the Mosaic law provided with care for the kind treat ment of cattle ; for in treading out corn—the Ori ental mode of separating the grain from the straw— it was enjoined that the ox should not be muzzled (Deut. xxv. 4), and old cattle that had long served in tillage were often suffered to wander at large till their death—a practice still in vogue, though from a different motive, in India. But the Hebrews and other nations of Syria grazed their domestic stock, particularly those tribes which, residing to the east of the Jordan, had fertile districts for that purpose. Here, of course, the droves became shy
and wild ; and though we are inclined to apply the passage in Ps. xxii. 12, to wild species, yet old bulls, roaming at large in a land where the lion still abounded, no doubt became fierce ; and as they would obtain cows from the pastures, there must have been feral breeds in the woods, as fierce and resolute as real wild Uri—which ancient name may be a mere modification of Reem. [REEm.]— C. H. S.
BAR (13), a Hebrew word meaning son, but used only poetically in that language (Ps. ii. 12 ; Prov. xxxi. 2). In Syriac, however, Bar (;..D or answered to the more common Hebrew word for son, i. e., in ben ; and hence in later times, in the New Testament, it takes the same place in the fornption of proper names which Ben had formerly occupied in the Old Testament.
BAR (14). This word, cognate with 11 pare, is used to designate properly corn which has been winnowed or purified from the chaff, and is stored up for use (Gen. xli. 35, 49 ; Prov. xi. 26 ; Joel ii. 24). In one instance it is used to designate corn standing in the field (Ps. lxv. 13). The word may be compared with the Arab...? wheat, the Lat. far, Goth. baris, Ang. Sax. (still retained in Scotch) bere, Gr. oop(35), etc.—W. L. A.