Referring to the articles under the names of these tribes respectively for ethnological and general de tails, we confine ourselves here to the considera tion of their claim to be regarded as giants. This claim there seems an unwillingness in many quarters to admit, chiefly on the ground that the existence of gigantic races of men has not been sufficiently established. If by this it be meant that no evi dence exists of a size equal to that ascribed to Og, king of Bashan, Goliath of Gath, and other giants mentioned in Scripture being possessed by entire tribes, and propagated from generation to generation, the position must be at once admitted. But in asserting that the Rephaim were giants, it is not needful to claim for them a height and size ap proaching to monstrosity. A man six feet and a half high is a man greatly surpassing- in height the average of mankind, and a whole community of men ranging from this height to that of seven fcet vvould be universally regarded and spoken of as gigantic. But is the possibility of such a race incredible or without evidence ? That tallness may be propa gated from father to son no one can doubt ; and that if tall men are matched with tall women a race of tall persons will be the result is equally certain ; indeed it has often been remarked as one of the wise arrangements of Providence, that very tall , pefsons do not incline to intermarry, so that, not- 1, withstanding individual exceptions, the average height of the community remains steady. Wher ever this disinclination is either by compulsion or by usa,ge and family pride overcome, a race sur passing ordinary men in height is the result ; as is seen in the descendants of the grenadiers whom Frederic of Prussia took so much pains to collect and to marry to tall wives, and in the chiefs of the Polynesian tribes (Cook's Voyages ; Williams's South Sea Islands). Tribes of men exceeding considerably the average height are reported by travellers and naturalists ; the Patagonians, whose height varies from six to seven feet, the Guayaquils and Para guas, whose height is six feet and a half, and the Carabees of Cumana (Prichard, Researches, vol. i.
bk. ii., ch. iv. sec. ; vol. v. p. 489). These in stances sufficiently prove that races above the average height exist, and may be propagated ; so that there is no ground for denying the Biblical statement concerning the Nephilim and the Rephaim as physiologically unsupported. There seems truth and point in the remark with which Augus tine concludes his observations on this part of Scripture : Nec mirandum est quod gigantes nasci potuerunt. . . . Quos propterea creare placuit Creatori ut etiam hinc ostenderetur non solum pulchritudines, vermin etiam magnitudines et for titudines corporum non magnipendendas esse sapi enti, qui spiritalibus atque immortalibus, longe melioribus atque firmioribus et bonorum propriis, non bonorum malorumque communibus, beatificatur bonis' (De Civit. Del xv. 23, Opp., vol. v. col. 853, ed. Basil. 1569).
The individual giants mentioned in Scripture are :— Og 011/, comp. brc-, king-, royal in 'Ttcasts ap. Manetbon.), king of Bashan, one of the last (Deut.
iii. ; Josh. xiii. 12) of the Rephaim, who ie bed• stead of iron (or rather perhaps his sarcophagus of ironstone or basalt) was preserved at Rabbath Ammon, and measured nine cubits in length by four in breadth. From this, however, no exact measure of Og's own height and size can be obtained, as these sarcophagi were made much bcyond the actual size of the body they were designed to hold. [Ocl, 2. Goliath (1-0) of Gath, of the tribe of the Anaqim ; his height is said to have been six cubits and a span, and the staff of his spear like a weaver's beam (r Sam. xvii. 4 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 19) [DAym].