8 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



the black with the white, as to form a represent- 

 ation of the Moon's gibbosity."* '*The space be- 

 tween its legs while walking was observed to form 

 an equilateral triangle;'* and "the medicinal use it 

 makes of its beak" was thought to be connected 

 with the office of Thoth, who taught mankind the 

 art of curing diseases, and communicated all intel- 

 lectual gifts from the Deity to man. 



Such was the respect paid to this bird, from its 

 destroying the venomous reptiles which infested 

 the country, that any person killing one was pu- 

 nished with instant death t ; and "those priests who 

 were most punctual in the performance of their 

 sacred rites, fetched the water they used in their 

 purifications from some place where the Ibis had 

 been seen to drink." t 



According to Plutarch §, a sow was sacrificed "to 

 Typho once a year at the full Moon:" and the 

 animal is sometimes represented in a boat, in the 

 paintings of the tombs, accompanied by one or more 

 monkeys. This appears to connect it with Thoth, 

 or the God Lunus|| ; and if, as I suppose, the sub- 

 ject refers to the commencement of a new period, 

 being the beginning of the future state of a soul 

 condemned for its sins to migrate into the body of 

 a pig, the relation it bears to the office of Thoth is 

 readily accounted for. The impression that the 

 animal was offered to Typho may proceed from its 



* Pint, de Is. s. 75. 



f Diodor. i. 8.3. Cic. Tiisc. Qunest. v. 27. The same inotlve induced 

 the Thessalians to protect the IStork. Win. x. 2.'3. 



I Plut. de Is. s. 75. $ Phit. de Is. s. 8. 



I) Vide infra, on the Pig. 



