And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:
Sent letters by posts on horseback, х bacuwciym (H5483)] - by horses.
And riders on mules, х haarekesh (H7409)] - the steeds or coursers of a fleeter race than the former (Bochart, 'Hierozoicon,' 1:, p. 95).
Camels, х haa'ªchashtaaraaniym (H327), mules; which meaning is further defined by bªneey (H1121) haaramaakiym (H7424), sons of mares. There is no waw (w), and, in the Hebrew text connecting this with the preceding word, as our translators have inserted]. The last word Rammac, which occurs here only in the plural, is improperly rendered "young dromedaries." Rechesh, the word preceding it, which is translated mules" (Esther 8:10; Esther 8:14), is rendered in our English version "dromedaries" (1 Kings 4:28) and "swift beasts" (Micah 1:13). There can be no doubt that it points to some very fleet species of horse; and perhaps, as the swiftest quadruped of Persia, a dromedary may be meant.
The name "camel" and "dromedary" are descriptive of the same animal: if the creature when young promises to be light and handsome, it is trained for 'a swift dromedary,' or for the race, as the syllable 'drom' х dromos (G1408)] signifies, and the strong or clumsy of the breed become the camels or burden-carriers. A camel, with its lead of from 300 to 400 pounds, goes at the rate of five or six miles an hour; while the dromedary, with its rider, will continue rapid running at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour for twenty hours in succession. Burckhardt says that twelve miles an hour is the most rapid traveling a dromedary is known to perform. The business being very urgent, the swiftest kind of beast would be employed; and so young dromedaries also are used to carry expresses, being remarkable for the nimbleness and ease of their movements. Animals of this description could convey the new rescript of Ahasuerus over the length and breadth of the Persian empire in time to relieve the unhappy Jews from the ban under which they lay.