CHAP. XIV. DESCRIPTION OF THE IBIS. 223 



the attribute of the Ibis, which was no less than to 

 preside over and inspire all sacred and mystical 

 learning of the Egyptian hierarchy." Horapollo 

 describes the Egyptian Hermes as " the president 

 of the heart, or a personification of the wisdom 

 supposed to dwell in the inward parts." 



j^Elian's story of the length of its intestines, as- 

 certained by those who presided over the embalm- 

 ing of this bird to be 96 cubits long*, and its ob- 

 stinate refusal to eat any food wiien taken out of 

 Egypt, are among the number of idle tales respect- 

 ing the Ibis.t 



I have stated that it w^as particularly sacred to 

 Thoth, the Moon, or the Egyptian Hermes, and 

 that Hermopolis was the city in which it received 

 the greatest honours. As an emblem of Thoth it 

 was represented standing on a perch ; and the God 

 himself was almost invariably figured wdth the head 

 of this bird. There was another Hermopolis, dis- 

 tinguished by the adjunct Parva, where it was also 

 revered as an emblem of the same God ; and the 

 towai of Ibeum, situated, according to the Itinerary 

 of Antoninus, 24 miles to the north of Hermopolis, 

 was noted for the worship of the Ibis. But all Egypt 

 acknow^ledged its sacred character; and there is no 

 animal of which so many miunmies have been found, 

 particularly at Thebes, Memphis, and Hermopolis 

 Magna. In the former, they are enveloped in linen 

 bandages, and are often perfectly preserved ; at 



* M. Larcher says they were ascertained at the Academie des 

 Sciences to be 4 ft. Sin. French. Herod. Larch, p. 231. ^h'an, 

 X. 29. 



f M. Larcher has also freed it from the imputation o£afch de se. 



