ANIMALS. 



197 



volutions they make about the body must 

 have been amazing. Those were performed 

 by beginning at the head, and ending at the 

 feet; but they contrived it so as to avoid co- 

 vering the face. However, when the face is 

 entirely uncovered, it moulders into dust im- 

 mediately upon the admission of the air. 

 When, therefore, it is preserved entire,a slight 

 covering of cloth is so disposed over it, that 

 the shape of the eyes, the nose, and the mouth, 

 are seen under it. Some mummies have been 

 found with a long beard, and hair that reach- 

 ed down to the mid-leg, nails of a surprising 

 length, and some gilt, or at least painted of a 

 gold colour. Some are found with bands upon 

 the breast, covered with hieroglyphics, in gold, 

 silver, or in green; and some with tutelary 

 idols, and other figures of jasper, within their 

 body. A piece of gold also has often been 

 found under their tongues, of about two pis- 

 toles value ; and, for this reason, the Arabians 

 spoil all the mummies they meet with, in 

 order to get at the gold. 



But although art, or accident, has thus been 

 found to preserve dead bodies entire, it must 

 by uo means be supposed that it is capable 



tof preserving the exact form and lineaments 

 of the deceased person. Those bodies which 

 are found dried away in the deserts, or in 

 some particular church-yards, are totally de- 

 formed, and scarcely any lineaments remain 

 of their external structure. Nor are the mum- 

 mies preserved by embalming, in a better con- 

 dition. The flesh is dried away, hardened, 

 and hidden under a variety of bandages; the 

 bowels, as we have seen, are totally removed ; 

 and from hence, in the most perfect of them, 

 we see only a shapeless mass of skin discolour- 

 ed ; and even the features scarcely distin- 

 guishable. The art is, therefore, an effort ra- 

 ther of preserving the substance than the like- 

 ness of the deceased ; and has, consequently, 

 not been brought to its highest pitch of per- 

 fection. It appears from a mummy, not long 

 since dug up in France, that the art of embalm- 

 ing was more completely understood in the 

 western world than even in Egypt. This mum- 

 my, which was dug up at Auvergne, was an 

 amazing instance of their skill, and is one of 

 the most curious relics in the art of preserva- 

 tion. As some peasants, in that part of the 

 world, were digging in a field, near Rion. with- 



in about twenty-six paces of the highway, be- 

 tween that and the river Artiers, they disco- 

 vered a tomb, about afoot and a half beneath 

 the surface. It was composed only of two 

 stones ; one of which formed the body of the 

 sepulchre, and the other the cover. This 

 tomb was of free-stone, seven feet and a halt 

 long, three feet and a half broad, and aboul 

 three feet high. It was of rude workmanship ; 

 the cover had been polished, but was without 

 figure or inscription : within this tomb was 

 placed a leaden-coffin, four feet seven inches 

 long, fourteen inches broad, and fifteen high. 

 It was not made coffin-fashion, but oblong, 

 like a box, equally broad at both ends, and 

 covered with a lid that fitted on like a snuff- 

 box, without a hinge. This cover had two 

 holes in it, each of about two inches long, and 

 very narrow, filled with a substance resem- 

 bling butter; but for what purpose intended 

 remains unknown. Within this coffin was a 

 mummy, in the highest and most perfect pre- 

 servation. The internal sides of the coffin 

 were filled with an aromatic substance, min- 

 gled with clay. Round the mummy was wrap- 

 ped a coarse cloth, in form of a napkin; un- 

 der this were two shirts, or shrouds, of the 

 most exquisite texture ; beneath these a ban- 

 dage, which covered all parts of the body, 

 like an infant in swaddling-clothes; still un- 

 der this general bandage there was another, 

 which went particularly round the extremities, 

 the hands, and the legs. The head was co- 

 vered with two caps ; the feet and hands 

 were without any particular bandages; and 

 the whole body was covered with an aromatic 

 substance an inch thick. When these were 

 removed, arid thebody exposed naked to view, 

 nothing could be more astonishing than the 

 preservation of the whole, and the exact re- 

 semblance it bore to a body that had been 

 dead a day or two before. It appeared well 

 proportioned, except that the head was rather 

 large, and the feet small. The skin had all 

 the pliancy and colour of a body lately dead : 

 the visage, however, was of a brownish hue. 

 The belly yielded to the touch ; all the joints 

 were flexible, except those of the legs and 

 f<vt ; the fingers stretched forth of themselves 

 when bent inwards. The nails still continued 

 entire; and all the marks of the joints, both 

 in the fingers, the palms of the hands, and the 

 2 M* 



