Cerastes, for to pie, it is evident- that by the/winged serpents were
originally signified the exhalations from the marshes, sp noxious
in Egypt when-brought by the south-easterly or Typhdnian winds,
against which th f Ibis was -pbserved to' direct its flight and' to
conquer, iaidedvit is true, by the powerful sweeping Etherian winds.
’.Re this as it* may, no animal Was more venerated by the
Egyptians than the Ibis ;• there Was'none, whose history was more
encumbered with fictions. Notwithstanding the rïdiculéthrown
upon i t by*Aristotle, the Ibis-was believed to be so essentially
pure and chaste, as to> be .incapable of any immodest act. The
priests declared* $Söf water to be only fit for ablutions and religions
purposes when the’ Ibis, had deigned to* drink of it.' Y*et by
some unaccountable contradiction Roman autho'rs made of it an
unclean animal. It -is-> heedless^ here to repeat all the fanciful
apd extravagant things said of the Ibis among a ppople whose
credulity,-, superstition, and wildness of -imagination knew nö
bounds!' It was represented by' the priests as a present from
Osiris' to Isis, or thé 'fêrtili®®d soil, and aè such was Carefully
brought up in the temples, those first menageries of hntiquity. It
was forbidden-under pain of.severest punishment,to.kill or injure
in the.least these Sacred beings, and ‘tfeaf; dead bodies éven were
carefully preserved in order t<> secure eternity foi* them. It is well
k n own with what* art the Egyptians endeavoured to eternise
death, notwithstanding the manifest will of nature that we should
be rid of its dreaded images, and that many animals held sacred
shared with «ran himself in these posthumous honours. In thé
Soccora plains many wells containing mummies are rightly Called
birds’ wells, on account of the-embalmed birds, generally of the
Ibis kind, Which they contain. TheSe are found enclosed in long
jars of baked earthy whose opening is hermetically closed with
cement, so that it is necessary to break. them to éxtract the
mummy, Buffon obtained several'of these jars, in each of whiéh
GLGSSY IBIS. 29
there was. a kind q£ doll enveloped in wrappers, of linen cloth,-
and when'* these were removed tb» body fell. in a blackish dust,
but the bones and feathers retained mbre- consdstence, and could
be readily recognized. - Dr. Pearson, sow» of these
jars from Thebes, gives a more minute,description, as does also
Savignyi E< Gepffroy, and Grobert, also brought from Egypt
some very perfect embalmed Ibises, and I have availed myself
of. essery opportunity to examine such as were within my reach,
and especially "those preserved in the Kircheria® Museum at
Rome, one of which, containing, a most - perfect; skeleton, is now
Ibi^ohei’niei' I
* By far the greater .part of* the jar# ©japtain nothing but a kind
of fat black earth, resulting from the decomposition'of the entrails
and other soft parts buried exclusively in them. Each bird is
eftefosed' in a small earthen ja r with a c&ver us^Pfor th^ psii>|i^se#
The body is wrapped up. insevefal layers of cloth,; about* thBee
inches broad, saturated with some r^lnpus substance, besides a
quantity of other layers fixed in their jiWee by a. great many turns'
Of thread ■crossed with mueh art-,*s>Q much indeed that it is by.no
means easy to lay the parts havefor inspection witii#^; injuring
them. Space appears to have been considered of much value in
preparing these, mummies, and every means was aged to Secure
them within the least possible compass^' by bending and folding
the limbs one upon another. .The tmck is twistedisoas to bring
the crown o fth e head on the body, a little to the »left of the
stomach, the ©unved. bill. with its » h iu x ity ®g^»d i# placed
between the feet, thus reachlhg beyond the extremity of the ta il:
each foot with its four “f l aw turned forward, o®e^ bent upward
and eleyated dpi each -side.of the head; the wings brought, close
to the sides, WUcfi ip thei® natural position. In separating them
to discover the interior,'nothing of the* viscera nor a n y o f the
soft parts remain, the bones exhibit nd‘ traces of. muscle or
H I IV.— -JH