38 SCARAB^ID.^ — DUNG-BEETLES. 



which contains a Scarabseus having the sun for its head, 

 and the arms of a man for legs.^ Another, in the cabinet 

 of M. Capello, is remarkable for having a woman on its re- 

 verse, who holds two infants in her arms.^ Montfaucon has 

 also figured two others, given by Fabreti; and Count Cay- 

 lus has engraved one, which represents a woman's head 

 upon the body of a Scarab. The head is that of Isis.^ As 

 these beetles differ much in form, it may be there are sev- 

 eral species. To the abraxas succeeded the talismans, 

 which were of the highest estimation in the East. 



Carved Scarabaei of all sizes and qualities are quite com- 

 mon in the cabinets of Europe. They were principally used 

 for sets in rings, necklaces, and other ornamental trinkets, and 

 are now called Scarabaei gems,* though some suppose them 

 to have been money. All of these gems, Winkleman says, 

 which have a beetle on the convex side, and an Egyptian 



1 Montf. Antig., ii. (P.t II.) 339. 2 /jjV/. 



3 Fosbroke, Encycl. of Antiq., i. 208. 



* There is now at Thebes an arch-forger of Scarabaei — a certain 

 Ali Gamooni, whose endeavors, in the manufacture of these much- 

 sought-after relics, have been crowned with the greatest success. 

 For the coarser description of these, he has, as well as chance Eu- 

 ropean purchasers, an outlet in a native market; for they are bought 

 from him to be carried up the river into Nubia, where they are 

 favorite amulets and ornaments, as mothers greatly delight to patch 

 one or two to the girdles by short thongs, wliich constitute the only 

 article of dress of their children. Through this very medium, too, 

 it sometimes happens that these spurious Scarabaei come into the 

 possession of unsophisticated travelers, who are not likely to sus- 

 pect their origin in that remote country, and under such circum- 

 stances. 



Scarabaei also of the more elegant and well-finished descrip- 

 tions are not beyond the range of this curious counterfeiter. These 

 he makes of the same material as the ancients themselves used, — 

 a close-grained, easily-cut limestone, which, after it is graven into 

 shape and lettered, receives a greenish glaze by being baked on a 

 shovel with brass filings. 



Ali, not content with closely imitating, has even aspired to the 

 creative; so antiquarians must be on their guard lest they waste 

 their time and learning on antiquities of a very modern date. — 

 Vide Rhind"s Thebes, p. 253— 5. Mr. Gliddon, in an incidental 

 note, Indig. Races, p. 192, takes credit for having furnished this 

 same Ali, some twenty-four years ago (as it woald appear), with 

 broken penknives and other appliances to aid his already-manifested 

 talent, in the somewhat fantastic hope of flooding the local market 

 with such curiosities, and so saving the monuments from being laid 

 under contribution! 



