the eyes only, others for the head, others for the AFRICA. teeth, others for the parts about the belly, and CHAP. VI. others for internal disorders.' A plan of medical treatment is described by Herodotus as being practised by the Aegyptian husbandmen. They purged Purging themselves every month for three successive days, practised. seeking to preserve their health by means of emetics and clysters, for they believed that all the diseases to which men were subject arose from their diet.2 generally geometry in the year the land undations. The study of geometry for the purposes of land- Science of measuring originated in consequence of the annual changes in the face of the country, which were ly re-meaeffected by the inundation. The priests of Memphis suring of told Herodotus that Sesostris divided the country after the inamongst all the Aegyptians, giving an equal square allotment to each, and exacting a fixed yearly tax from each allotment. If however the annual inundation of the Nile carried away a portion of any allotment, the owner was required to inform the king in person of what had taken place; whereupon commissioners were sent to inspect the land and ascertain how much the allotment had been diminished, and to reduce the yearly tax to a proportionate amount. Hence, as it appeared to Herodotus, landmeasuring originated and passed over into Greece.3 of the Ae writing. noticed by the sacred, In writing, Herodotus tells us that the Aegyp- Character tians wrote from right to left, and had two kinds of gyptian letters, viz. the sacred, or hieratic, and the demotic, Two kinds or common.* It is evident from this mention of of letters writing that our author is not speaking of the hicro- Herodotus, glyphics, but of the hieratic and enchorial letters. A or hieratic, brief sketch of the three different modes of Aegyp- common, or tian writing, viz. the hieroglyphic, the hieratic, and demotic. the enchorial, will enable the reader to understand sketch of the state of the question. and the General the three modes of roglyphics, I. The HIEROGLPYHIC, or MONUMENTAL WRITING, Acgyptian originated in the natural desire to paint such ob- 1. The Hiejects as were capable of being represented. The including next step was the transition from real represent- pictures re ii. 84. Accoucheurs were women, (Ex. i. 15,) as they are at present. 2 ii. 77. 3 ii. 109. 4 ii. 36. tures repre ideas, and sounds. AFRICA. ations to symbolical, emblematical, or allegorical CHAP. VI. signs, representing ideas by physical objects. The presenting last step was the adoption of phonetic characters to objects, pie- represent sounds by pictures of visible objects. We senting thus have three kinds of hieroglyphics, viz. objects pictures re- represented by pictures, which depicted them; ideas presenting represented by pictures, which were symbolical of them; and sounds represented by pictures, which may be regarded as phonetic characters. If the Aegyptians had thus invented a separate sign for every word, their whole language might have been written in the same manner as the Chinese. This however was not the case; the hieroglyphics were insufficient, and necessity obliged the people to invent other signs. The words were divided, and decomposed, and hieroglyphics were devised for the separate parts of a word. When, for example, they wanted to write the word Ramesses, there existed a word "Ra," and this they expressed by its hieroglyphic character, which formed the first syllable, just as is done in China. But it might happen that there was no such word as "messes." messes." In this case they took the hieroglyphic of a word beginning with m," and added it to "Ra." In like manner they then added the hieroglyphic beginning with "e, and so on. A circle, or ellipse, was then drawn round If, according to this system of phonetic hieroglyphics, we wished to unite the name of Adam, we should seek for a word beginning with “a,” in order to put its hieroglyphic first, and in the same manner should proceed with the following letters. But as there were many hieroglyphics -on the whole about 900-there might be twenty, thirty, or even more hieroglyphics for words beginning with "a," any one of which might be used to express that letter. Thus the Aegyptians had twenty or thirty alphabets from whence letters might be chosen at pleasure. The next step in advance, namely, the selection and adoption of a single alphabet, was made by the Phoenicians. In their system of writing, which was followed by the Samaritans and Hebrews, there was only one sign for every letter. Hence both the Phoenician and the Hebrew contain much that is hieroglyphic. It is well known that the names of the letters have a distinct meaning, for example, Beth signifies a house;" Gimel, 66 a camel," etc. Thus, while the Aegyptians might select any letter beginning with "b" to represent the letter "b," the Phoenicians only used Beth, the hieroglyphic of a house, 2. See Niebuhr, Lectures on Anc. Hist. vol. i. For the hieroglyphical characters of the Hebrew alphabet, see an interesting volume by Dr. Lamb, Hebrew Characters derived from Hieroglyphics. CHAP. VI. the whole to indicate that each of the hieroglyphics AFRICA. enclosed in it must be referred only to its sound, or to the initials of the words which they indicated. This method was probably first applied to proper names, but gradually the Aegyptians learned to unite everything, even ordinary words, and this method was developed more and more. Hieratic, or species of II. The HIERATIC, or sacerdotal linear writing, II. The was a kind of short-hand way of writing the hiero- sacred glyphics, and included in some cases arbitrary charac- writing, a ters in the place of pictures. It appears to have short-hand been restricted to the transcription of texts relating phics. to sacred or scientific matters, and to a few, but always religious, inscriptions. hierogly Enchorial, or common III. The ENCHORIAL, or demotic, or epistolary III. The writing, was a system quite distinct from the hieroglyphic and hieratic, and chiefly included simple writing. characters borrowed from the hieratic writing, to the exclusion of almost all pictured signs.' mode of mer baris. barge, ed of short The merchant-ships of the Aegyptians were made Aegyptian of timber cut from the acacia tree, which in shape building very much resembled the Cyrenaean lotus, and chant bar exuded a gum. Stakes of about two cubits length called a were cut from this acacia, [and apparently set up near to each other, thus tracing out the sides of the intended barge.] Round these stakes were then Hull formcarried stout and long strings of acacia plank, [one planks course above the other,] which joined the stakes jok together. When the sides were thus completed, bricks. cross beams were laid on the top [along the entire length of the vessel, and the result was a rude flat-bottomed lighter lying bottom upwards.] Ribs were not used.2 The seams were caulked inside with byblus. One rudder only was employed See Champollion, Précis du Système Hieroglyphique des Anciens Egyptiens, quoted by Heeren. 2 The Aegyptian river craft here described were flat-bottomed, with vertical sides, whilst ordinary ships consisted of covered ribs set in a keel. In navigating the Nile no inconvenience would arise from the want of a keel; and whilst no convexity of the sides would be required to resist a sea, a larger freight could be carried than in an ordinary vessel of the same draught. Cf. Blakesley, note on ii. 96, gether like CHAP. VI. Generally towed up stream. Down stream were tugged by a the prow, by a heavy stern. manner. AFRICA. and that was driven through the keel. The mast was made of the acacia tree, and the sails of byblus. These vessels could not sail up the stream unless a fair wind prevailed, but were towed from the shore. Down the stream they were carried in the following A hurdle was made of tamarisk and hurdle at wattled with a band of reeds; a stone of about two and steadied talents weight was also taken and a hole bored stone at the through its centre. The hurdle was fastened to a cable and lowered from the prow of the vessel to be carried along by the stream. The stone was fastened to another cable and lowered from the stern. By these means the hurdle, being borne along by the stream, moved quickly and drew along the ship. On the other hand, the stone, having sunk to the bottom, was dragged along at the stern and kept the ship in its course. This vessel was called a baris, and the Aegyptians had a great number of them, some of them carrying many thousand talents weight.' Herodotus also remarks that the Aegyptians fastened the rings and sheets of their sails inside the vessel, and not outside like other nations. We now turn to the animal worship, or Feticism, of the ancient Aegyptians, but shall not trouble the reader with any introductory remarks. Aegypt, according to Herodotus, did not abound in wild animals, although her territory bordered on the considered wild beast region of Libya; but the domestic animals were very numerous, and all, whether wild or domesticated, were regarded by the Aegyptians as sacred. The reasons for this general consecration are not mentioned by our author, because in so doing he would have to descend to religious matters, which Curators ap- he avoids relating as much as he can. Curators, each species. consisting of both men and women, attended upon the animals and fed each species separately; and this office was hereditary. Money for the necessary Feticism of the Acgyp tians. Animals did not abound in Aegypt, but were all sacred, whether wild or domesticated. pointed over 3 3 ii. 66. 4 In Ashantee, the people are divided into the Buffalo, the Bush Cat, the Dog, the Parrot, the Panther, and other families, each family being forbidden to eat of the animal whose name they bear. of parents. expenses was derived from vows, which were thus AFRICA. kept by the inhabitants of the cities. Having made CHAP. VI. a vow to the god to whom some animal was sacred, Maintained they shaved either the whole, the half, or the third by the vows part of the heads of their children, and weighed the hair; and then gave a corresponding weight of silver to the curator of the animals for whom they had vowed. Any person wilfully killing one of the The murder animals was put to death; and if an animal was mal, if wilkilled by accident, the person who caused it was obliged to pay such a fine as the priest chose to impose. Any one however who killed an ibis, or hawk, whether wilfully or accidentally, was obliged to suffer the fatal penalty.2 of an ani ful, punish ed by death, if accidenta but the the ibis, or al, by a fine; murderer of hawk, always exe cuted. Cats sacred to Bubastis, minished by killing the CATS were sacred to Pasht, or Bubastis, who was called Artemis by Herodotus, and is often represent ed on the monuments of Aegypt with a cat's head. Our author says that they would have been much more numerous, were it not for the two following accidents. First, when the female cats littered they no Number dilonger sought the company of the males. Accord- the males ingly the latter would secretly carry off the young kittens, and and kill, but not eat them; and the females, being the cats very fond of their kittens, soon desired to have a rushing infresh litter. Secondly, when a conflagration took place, the cats, carried away by a supernatural impulse, would endeavour to rush into the fire. Meantime all the Aegyptians stood round at a distance and neglected to put out the flames, in order to save the cats, and whenever one was lost the crowd set up great lamentations. If a cat died in 1 We may infer from this passage that the curators belonged to the sacerdotal order. 2 ii. 65. This extraordinary veneration for animals was thoroughly rooted in the minds of the nation. Diodorus tells us that when Ptolemy was still unacknowledged by the Romans as king of Aegypt, and when all the Aegyptians were doing their utmost to propitiate the Italians, and to avoid all disputes which might lead to war, a Roman chanced to kill a cat, upon which a crowd immediately collected round his residence, and neither the magistrates whom the king despatched to appease their rage, nor the general terror of the Roman name, could save the offender from popular vengeance. Diod. i. 83. In the present day the race of Aegyptian cats is by no means diminished, and the inhabitants of Cairo are frequently obliged to profit generally to fires. |