AFRICA. a house all the family shaved off their eyebrows.' CHAP. VI. The corpses of these animals were carried to certain sacred houses and embalmed, and were then buried at Bubastis, in which city the great festival of Pasht, or Artemis, was celebrated." Embalmed and buried at Bubastis. Dogs. DOGS were almost as much honoured as cats, which is very remarkable, as remarkable, as they are regarded as unclean by the modern Orientals, and the name of the dog is a term of great reproach among the Mahometans. Herodotus tells us that if a dog died the family shaved all their bodies, including their heads. These animals were buried in sacred places within their own city. ICHNEUMONS were buried in Field-mice. the same manner as the dogs.' FIELD-MICE and Ichneumons. by the privilege of sending their surplus cat population to the house of the cadi, where a fund is charitably provided for their maintenance. Baskets of cats are thus frequently emptied in the cadi's court-yard without much regard to the feelings of the neighbours. Every afternoon a person brings a certain quantity of meat cut into small pieces, which he throws into the middle of the yard; and a prodigious number of cats may be seen at that hour descending from the walls on all sides to partake of the expected repast. The weak and newly arrived fare but badly, the whole being speedily carried off by the veterans, and the more pugnacious of the party-the old stagers excelling in rapidity of swallowing, and the fighting cats in appropriating; and thus the others only obtain a small portion while the claws and teeth of their stronger competitors are occupied. Wilkinson. 1 ii. 66. ii. 67. 3 ii. 60. Several cat mummies may be seen in the British Museum. A dog was a great term of reproach among the Jews. 2 Sam. xvi, 9; 2 Kings viii. 13, etc. 5 ii. 66. 6 The fidelity and utility of the dog was, no doubt, the original cause of its being regarded as sacred. The Greek and Roman writers supposed that the dog was the emblem of Anubis, and accordingly the Roman sculptors represented Anubis with a dog's head. This however is a mistake. It was the jackal, and not the dog, which was the emblem of Anubis; and no Aegyptian representation occurs of Anubis with the head of a dog. Wilkinson. 7 The ichneumon is 2 feet 7 inches in length from the end of his tail to the tip of his nose, the tail being 1 foot 4 inches long. It is covered with long bristly hair. Sir J. G. Wilkinson tells us that it is easily tamed, and is sometimes kept by the modern Aegyptians to protect their houses from rats, but from its great fondness for eggs and poultry, frequently does more harm than good. According to Aelian (x. 47) it was particularly worshipped at Heracleopolis, where the crocodile was held in abhorrence. Diodorus tells us (i. 87) that the ichneumon rolls himself in the mud, and then observing the crocodile sleeping upon the bank of the river with his mouth wide open, suddenly whips down through his throat into his very bowels, and presently gnaws his way through his belly, and so escapes himself with the death of his enemy. 3 HAWKS were carried to the city of Buto,' where AFRICA. sacrifices were performed in honour of Leto.2 BEARS, CHAP. VI. which were few in number, and WOLVES, which were Hawks. not much larger than foxes, were buried wherever Bears. they were found to be lying.5 6 Ibis. black and The bird called the IBIS was sacred to Thoth, or The bird Hermes, and is thus described by Herodotus. He Two spetells us that there were two species of it. The black cies, the species, which fought with the winged serpents of the white. Arabia, was a deep black all over; it had the legs of a crane, its beak was much curved, and it was about the size of the crex. The other, or white species, which was the best known to man, and resembled the black species as far as regarded its legs and bill, but had white plumage excepting on the head, the throat, the tips of the wings, and the exIn another place (i. 35) he tells us that the ichneumon breaks all the eggs of the crocodile wherever he can find them, not for the sake of food, but from a benevolent motive towards mankind. This story probably arose from the fact that the ichneumon preferred a freshly laid egg, and left it without attempting to eat when he found that it contained the hard and scaly substance of a full-formed crocodile. 1 ii. 67. 2 ii. 63. The shrew-mouse was sacred to Horus. The story ran in later times that Leto, when nursing Horus, changed herself into a shrewmouse in order to escape Typhon by burrowing in the earth. (Antoninus Liberalis, Fab. 28.) Plutarch (Symp. iv. Quaest. 5) says that the animal was supposed to be blind, and was therefore looked upon as a proper emblem of primeval darkness. The hawk was considered to be sacred to Ra, or the sun, but Herodotus says it was buried at Buto, which seems to be an error. 3 The species of bear here intimated by Herodotus was doubtless the Syrian Bear (Usus Syriacus). "Prosper Alpinus," says Cuvier, "attributes bears to Aegypt, but describes them as the size of sheep, and of a white colour," (i. e. the Syrian Bear). This species is mentioned in Scripture. A bear was slain by David, (1 Sam. xvii. 34,) and two she-bears punished the children who mocked Elisha (2 Kings ii. 24). We append a full description extracted from Jardine's Naturalist Library, vol. i. "The animal is of a fulvous white, with large ears, a mane of stiff erect hair on the shoulders: the rest of the body covered with a woolly fur, above which is a longer soft coat of hair. Tail six inches long: claws small stature rather high: in bulk, about equal to the common brown bear: feeds on flesh, but more usually on vegetables." 4 The wolves here mentioned have been supposed to be jackals, but we must agree with Larcher, that the historian of Halicarnassus, an Asiatic by birth, must have known the jackal, which was common to all Asia Minor, as well as the wolf; and if he knew them both, it was impossible for him to have mistaken a jackal for a wolf. 5 ii. 67. 6ii. 74. Cuvier actually found the skin and scales of a snake partly digested in the intestines of a mummied ibis. AFRICA. tremity of the tail, which were all of a deep black. CHAP. VI. The head and entire neck were bare of feathers.' This bird was buried at Hermeopolis.2 Bulls sacred to Apis. Cows sacred to Isis. Burial of kine. BULLS were considered by the Aegyptians to be sacred to Epaphus, or Apis, but were first proved in the following manner. A priest was appointed to examine the animal both when it was standing up, and when it was lying down. If he found a single black hair upon it he declared it to be unclean. He drew out the tongue to see if it was pure as to the prescribed marks, and he also looked at the hairs of its tail, to be quite sure that they grew naturally. If the beast was found to be pure, he rolled a piece of byblus round the horns, and fixing some sealing earth on it he stamped it with his own signet, and it was then led away. Any one who sacrificed a bull that was unmarked was punished with death.3 Cows were sacred to Isis, and were never sacrificed; and they were held in higher reverence, by all the Acgyptians, than any other cattle.* manner. The burial of kine was conducted in the following The females were thrown into the Nile. The males, on the other hand, were severally interred in the suburbs, with one horn, or with both, appearing above the surface of the ground, to mark 1 ii. 76. The first-mentioned species of black ibis may be referred to the glossy ibis (ibis falcinellus) of naturalists. The white ibis was incorrectly supposed by Bilon to be the stork, and by Pocock to be a species of crane; De Maillet even conjectured, that under the name of ibis were generically comprised all those birds which are instrumental in removing the noxious reptiles that swarm in the inundated lands. Perrault then introduced the erroneous notion that the sacred ibis was a species of Tantalus, and was followed by Brisson, Buffon, Linnaeus, and Latham. Bruce was the first to doubt this determination, and to point out the identity between the figures represented on the ancient monuments, the mummies preserved in the Aegyptian tombs, and a living bird common on the banks of the Nile, and known to the Arabs by the name of Abou-hannes. After the return of the French expedition, the question was definitely settled, and by a careful anatomical comparison of the ancient mummies with recent specimens then brought from Aegypt by Geoffray St. Hilaire and Savigny, Cuvier was enabled to identify Bruce's assertion, and thus to restore to science a bird which, after having been worshipped by a nation for centuries, had fallen into oblivion, and was wholly unknown to modern naturalists. Cuvier denominates it ibis religiosa, and living specimens of it have been lately exhibited in Regent's Park Zoological Gardens, under the name of Geronticus Aethiopicus. 2 ii. 67. 3 ii. 38. 4 ii. 41. the spot of burial. After the body had putrified, AFRICA. and at an appointed time, a raft came to each city CHAP. VI. from the city of Atarbechis, which contained a temple of Athor, or Aphrodite, and was situated in the island of Prosopitis, in the Delta. In this raft all the bones of oxen were carried away, and buried in one place.1 killed by No cattle were killed by the Aegyptians, but all No cattle that died were carried away, and buried in the same the Acgypway as the oxen.2 tians. mode of The established mode of sacrificing the animal Established was as follows. The victim was led properly mark- sacrifice. ed to the sacrificial altar, and a fire was kindled. Wine was then poured upon the altar, near the animal, the god was invoked, and the bull then killed. The head was next cut off, and the body flayed. Many imprecations were then pronounced upon the head, and if a market was near, and Greek merchants dwelt in the neighbourhood, the head was usually sold; otherwise, it was thrown into the river Nile, and the following imprecations were pronounced upon it-" May all the evil that is about to happen, either to the sacrificers or the country of Aegypt, be averted, and fall upon this head." These customs, as far as regards the heads of the victims, or the libations of wine which were poured upon the altar, were observed alike by all the Aegyptians in all their sacrifices, and accordingly no Aegyptian would eat of the head of any animal. The disembowelling and burning of the victims were however effected in different ways at different sacrifices. In sacrificing to that goddess who was considered the greatest of all, and in whose honour the most magnificent festival was celebrated, the following practice was observed. When the bullocks were flayed, prayers were first offered. All the intestines were then drawn out, and the vitals were left in the carcase, together with the fat. The legs and the extremity of the hip were 1 ii. 42. 2 Ibid. The statements of our author are apparently incorrect, for bull and cow mummies are frequently met with at Thebes, and other parts of Aegypt. AFRICA. next cut off, together with the shoulders and neck. CHAP. VI. Last of all, the body was filled with fine bread, honey, raisins, figs, frankincense, myrrh, and other perfumes, and over it was poured a great quantity of oil, after which it was burned. The Aegyptians fasted before they sacrificed, and whilst the sacred things were being burnt they all beat themselves, and when they had finished they spread a banquet of what remained of the victims.' Crocodiles. of their nature and habits. 3 CROCODILES were called " champsae" by the description Aegyptians, but "crocodiles" by the Ionians, who considered that they resembled a species of lizard called by that name, which was to be found in the hedges of Ionia. The following was the nature of this animal. During the four coldest months it tasted no food whatever. It was amphibious, though it had four feet. It spent most of the day on the bank, but the whole night in the river, for the water at that time was warmer than the air or dew. It laid its eggs on the land, and there hatched them, and of all living things known to our author, this grew from the least beginning to the largest size; for its eggs were but little larger than those of a goose, and the little crocodile which emerged was at first in proportion to the size of the shell; but when it arrived at maturity it reached a length of seventeen cubits or more. It had the eyes of a pig, large teeth, and projecting tusks, all in proportion to the size of its body. It was the only animal that had no tongue; and as it did not move the lower jaw, it was also the only animal that brought down its upper jaw to the lower one. Its claws were strong, and its skin was covered with scales, which on the the 1 ii. 40. 2 In hieroglyphics it is "hamso," in Coptic, " amsah." The fleshy fat tongue of the crocodile is attached very nearly up to |