CHAP. XIV. CAT AND DOG MUMMIES. 1 67 



substances capable of preserving them, were de- 

 posited in sacred vaults." 



Numerous embalmed Cats are found in tombs 

 at Thebes, and other places in Upper and Lower 

 Egypt. They are frequently accompanied by 

 the mummies of dogs, — probably from these two 

 being looked upon as the favourite domestic ani- 

 mals of the country. They are generally enveloped 

 in the same manner, — the legs bound up with the 

 body, and the head alone left in its real shape. 

 This, from the ears and painted face, readily in- 

 dicates the animal within the bandages ; which are 

 sometimes of various colours, arranged in devices 

 of different forms. Cat mummies were sometimes 

 deposited in wooden boxes or coffins ; but in all 

 cases they were wrapped in linen bandages, 

 which, as Diodorus observes*, were employed for 

 enveloping the bodies of cats, and other sacred 

 animals. 



According to Plutarch t, the Cat was placed 

 upon the top of the Sistrum, **to denote the 

 Moon ; its variety of colour, its activity in the 

 night, and the peculiar circumstances attending 

 its fecundity, making it a proper emblem of that 

 luminary." For it is reported, that at first it brings 

 forth one, then two, afterwards three, and so on ; 

 adding one to each former birth till it reaches 

 seven ; so that it brings forth twenty-eight in all, 

 corresponding to the several degrees of light which 



* Diodor. i. 83. f Plut. de Is. s. 63. 



M 4 



