174 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



of religious feeling, commit a similar act of cruelty; 

 living creatures being given as food to snakes and 

 other animals, frequently for the sole purpose of 

 amusing or astonishing an idle spectator. 



Panther, Leopard, and Felis Chaus. 



These animals do not appear to have been sacred 

 in Egypt, and the two former alone are represented 

 in the sculptures. It is evident that they were 

 merely brought to Egypt as curiosities ; and their 

 skins, which were in great request for ornamental 

 purposes, were among the objects presented by the 

 Ethiopians, in their annual tribute, to the Egyptian 

 Monarchs. Though the Felis Chaus* does not occur 

 in the sculptures, it is a native of Egypt, inhabiting 

 principally the hills on the western side of the Nile, 

 and sometimes extending its predatory rambles to 

 the vicinity of the pyramids. In appearance, it is 

 like a large cat, with a tuft of long black hair on 

 the extremity of its ears, in which, as in its size, 

 it bears some resemblance to the lynx. 



Mouse, Rat, Jerboa, Porcupine, and Hare. 



The injuries caused by mice and rats, in a country 

 like Egypt, were far from suggesting any sanctity 

 in these destructive animals ; though jerboas, from 

 their more sechided habits and smaller numbers, 

 might not have excited the same animosity, either 

 among the peasantry or the inhabitants of the 



* Vide ,sii])rf}, p. KiO. 



