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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



and even Thebes, and most of the Egyptian museums possess more 

 or less well preserved specimens of them. One of these mummies 

 was recently opened and drawn by Herr Beckmann, a German 

 (Fig. 4). It was a small harrier, about eighteen months old. 

 There is hardly anything left of it but the bones and the skin, 

 and a few bits of muscular tissue between the teeth, reduced to 

 dust. It had been wrapped in a wide band of coarse cloth glued 



to the skin by a thick 

 layer of bitumen. 

 Over this envelope 

 they had applied a 

 thin mat of dried 

 reed-stems like those 

 which are found on 

 many human mum- 

 mies of the twentieth 

 dynasty and later, 

 fastened by a long 

 cord of braided grass. 

 The animal, thus 

 bundled up, present- 

 ed the appearance of 

 a cylindrical mass, or 

 of a veritable basket 

 of game, with both 

 ends left open. A de- 

 cent shape had to be 

 given to this queer- 

 looking package. A 

 network of fine cloth 

 was thrown over the 

 part which answered 

 to the body, so ar- 

 ranged as to design parallel rows of superposed squares along its 

 length ; a kind of ornament which is found on many mummies of 

 small animals, as of the cat, ichneumons, the ibis, and the hawk. 

 According to usage, the head was covered with a pasteboard mask, 

 in which the physiognomy of the animal was reproduced as far as 

 possible. It was painted a dark brown, except around the eyes, 

 the lips, and the nostrils, which were white. The half-opened 

 mouth showed the points of the teeth, and the ears rose above 

 the head. 



It is to be regretted that objects of this kind have been hith- 

 erto so little studied. A small number of species of dogs have 

 been identified from the ancient paintings, but the different nat- 

 uralists who have occupied themselves with researches of this sort 



Fig. 4. Egyptian Mummy of a Dog with Pasteboard 

 Mask, recently discovered by M. Beckmann. Front 

 and Profile Views. 



