carriages for lords and carriages for ladies, while we, says the Babylonish Talmud, interpret them to signify male demons and female demons. Whereupon, if this last is the correct rendering, the question arises, for -what purpose Solomon required them? The answer is to be found in i Kings vi. 7, where it is written, " And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither," etc. For before the operation commenced Solomon asked the Rabbis, "How shall I accomplish this without using tools of iron?* and they remembering of an insect which had existed since the creation of the world, whose powers were such ns the hardest substances could not resist, replied, " There is the Shameer, with which Moses cut the precious stones of the Ephod."
Solomon asked, "And where, pray, is the Shameer to be found? B To which they made answer, " Let a male demon and a female come, and do thou coerce them both; mayhap they know and will reveal it to thee." He then conjured into his presence a male and a female demon, and proceeded to torture them, but in vain, for said they, "We know not its whereabouts and cannot tell; perhaps Ashmedai, the king of the demons, knows."
On being further interrogated as to where he in turn might be found, they made this answer: " In yonder mount is his residence; there he has dug a pit, and, after filling it with water, covered it over with a stone, and sealed with his own seal. Daily he ascends to heaven and studies in the school of wisdom there, then he comes down and studies in the school of wisdom here; upon which he goes and examines the seal, then opens the pit, and after quenching his thirst, covers it up again, re-seals it, and takes his departure. "