158 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



This misconception arose from the statement of 

 Herodotus, who has confounded the canal with the 

 lake Mceris; and I believe the real position of this 

 celebrated edifice will prove to be in the spot 

 already indicated by me*, close to the pyramid of 

 Howara. Here remains of granite and limestone 

 mark its site ; and they sufficiently accord, both 

 from their appearance, and from the locality, with 

 the accounts of Pliny, Strabot, and Diodorus. t 



The Hy^na Vulgaris and Crocuta. 



The only representations of the hyaena in the 

 paintings of Thebes show it to have been looked 

 upon as an enemy to the flocks and fields, and to 

 have been hunted by the peasants, who either 

 shot it with arrows, or caught it in traps. No 

 sculpture in the temples, and no emblem in the 

 tombs, furnish the least authority for supposing it 

 sacred, though some have thought it was dedicated 

 to the Egyptian Mars. 



It is very common throughout Egypt ; and the 

 paintings of Thebes, Beni Hassan, and the tombs 

 near the pyramids, show it to have frequented the 

 upper and lower country in ancient times as at the 

 present day. Its Coptic name is p oitc, and the 

 same by which the hieroglyphics ])rovc it to have 

 been known in the ancient Egyptian language. 



The favourite food of this animal seems to be the 



* Vide Egypt and Tliebes, p. 355. f Strabo, xvii. p, 557. 



J Diodor. i. GG. " Uupa rov eianXovv rov uq ti]v Moipihig Kif/7't]j>." 



