'2'24< THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



Memphis, they are deposited in earthenware vases 

 of conical shape, but nearly always decomposed ; 

 and at the city of Hermes, in wooden or stone 

 cases of an oblong form. 



Some have been found mummied in the human 

 form ; one of which, in the collection of S. Passa- 

 lacqua, is made to represent the God Thoth.* 



Both kinds of Ibis, mentioned by Herodotus, 

 were doubtless sacred to the Egyptian Hermes. 



The Ibis is rarely found in Egypt at the pre- 

 sent day, though said sometimes to frequent the 

 lake Menzaleh, and occasionally to be seen in other 

 parts of the country. Cuvierand others have made 

 considerable researches respecting it ; and that ce- 

 lebrated naturalist brings forward a curious proof 

 of its having been domesticated, from the dis- 

 covery of a mummied Ibis, whose *' left humerus 

 had been broken and joined again.*' For, he ob- 

 serves, " It is probable that a wild bird whose wing 

 had been broken would have perished before it had 

 healed, from being unable to pursue its prey, or es- 

 cape from its enemies."! 



It is probable that many of the heron or crane 

 tribe were looked upon with respect by the Egyp- 

 tians, though they did not receive the same ho- 

 nours given to the Ibis ; and some were chosen as 

 emblems of other Gods, distinct from every con- 

 nection with Thoth. Some were killed for the 

 table and the altart; and the Egyptian chasseur is 



* Vide Pettigrew, Plate 1 3. fig. 6. 

 f Cuv. Theory of the Earth, p. 307. 

 X Woodcut, No. 275. Vol.11, p. 379. 



