CHAP. XIV. ORIGIN OF ANIMAL WORSHIP. 103 



arose from their great utility in removing those 

 impurities, which, in a cUmate Hke Egypt, ne- 

 cessarily arose from the decomposition of animal 

 substances exposed to a burning sun. The same 

 consideration induces the modern Egyptians to ab- 

 stain from molesting the Vultur percnopterus*, 

 the kite, and others of the falcon tribe. 



The mode of preserving and interring differ- 

 ent animals depended on circumstances. Those 

 which were sacred, w^ere embalmed with great 

 care, and at a considerable expense ; particular 

 tombs were set apart for them ; and funeral cere- 

 monies were performed, according to the con- 

 sideration they enjoyed in the temples of the town 

 where they died. Some idea may be formed of 

 the enormous sums occasionally expended on 

 those occasions, from the statements of Diodorust, 

 who affirms, that the guardians of the sacred 

 animals, in his time, laid out no less than 100 

 talents at a single funeral ; and when Apis died, 

 in the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, the curator spent 

 the whole of the money collected for the purpose, 

 and borrowed from the King 50 talents in ad- 

 dition, to defray the expenses of its burial. 



Many and various theories have been suggested 

 to account for the origin of animal worship in 

 Egypt; which, according to Manethot, was in- 

 troduced in the reign of the second King of the 



* The Rokham, or Rakhaiu ; called also " Pharaoh's hen," or " the 

 scavenger of the Nile." 



t Diodor. i. 84. % Vide Vol. I. p. 2G. 



H 4 



