382 THE GODS OF EGYPT. CHAP. xxn. 



staying at home. I turned to and sketched in an 

 outline of one of the gods of Egypt. It had a ram's 

 head on a human body. I worked away from eight 

 o'clock in the morning until two o'clock in the after- 

 noon, when I got it finished. I passed the rest of the 

 evening in reading. In the midst of this evil weather, I 

 have been reading a number of books. I have read a 

 volume on the Polar Seas and regions, another on 

 Africa, another on Egypt, another on Nubia and 

 Abyssinia, and I propose to go on with Palestine, 

 Arabia, Persia, India, and New Zealand." 



But amidst all his multifarious reading, ancient 

 Egypt stood first in point of interest. " It seems," he 

 said, " that these old people are not yet properly under- 

 stood by our wisest men, and we fall into many mistakes, 

 and put many constructions on their ancient works. 

 They seemed to have recognised an Evil One or prin- 

 ciple, which they named Typhon a god, Osiris a 

 goddess Isis, and a whole multitude of ' gods many and 

 lords many ' 



" ' Every garden was o'errun with gods.' 

 One, or rather two of the figures which I have stuck up 

 on the wall, exhibit a representation of the union of 

 the Brute and the Human that is, a cat's head on a 

 human body. Cats were venerated in Egypt long ago. 

 There may have been something satirical in this god. 

 Very probably cat-witted people loved then as well as 

 now. Then again, they had their ram-headed gods, and 

 their hawk-headed gods; and, by your leave, we 

 all those sort of living people yet." 



