AND LOWER EGYPT. 2^7 



iume of a description of Western Ethiopia. The 

 author affirms that the Christians have nothing to 

 fear from crocodiles, but that they devour many of 

 the negroes. Superstition holds the same language 

 every where, and here people of discernment will 

 distinguish that of missions. 



In remote times the crocodile experienced a dif- 

 ferent treatment in Egypt, according to the place 

 in which it was to be found. In one part it was 

 pursued with fury and destroyed without pity ; in 

 another it was an object of veneration. The in- 

 habitants of the environs of Thebes and of the Lake 

 Moeris, regarded it as a sacred animal. They chose 

 out one from among tl em which they tamed ; they 

 took the greatest care of it ; its food was pre- 

 scribed and reg'ilated by religious books; they 

 adorned it with ear rings made of gold or of ficti- 

 tious stones, and with a sort of bracelets on its fore 

 feet *, an attire far too elegant for an animal so 

 hideous. 



At present the crocodile is neither destroyed nor 

 reverenced. They are left in peace to impart their 

 musk smell to the waters of the Nile, and to clear 

 them of fishes. Banished to the most southern part 

 oi" Egypt, they assemble there in vast numbers. 

 They are to be seen when the sun is at its height, 



* Herodotus, place above quoted, § 69. 

 VOL. III. s their 



