246 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, CHAP. XIV. 



to man ; and when they die they are buried in the 

 temple of Jupiter, to whom they are reputed to be 

 sacred." 



These horned snakes are very common in Upper 

 Egypt, but are seldom found as far north as Cairo. 

 I have, however, seen one in the Fyoom, even in 

 the island in the middle of the lake Moeris, which 

 is very remarkable, as they are not in the habit of 

 entering the water, like the asp and some other 

 serpents. The female alone has horns, the male re- 

 sembling it in every other respect. They are both 

 exceedingly venemous ; and from their liabit of 

 burying themselves in the sand, which is of their 

 own colour, they are extremely dangerous. It is 

 perhaps to these that Strabo* alludes when he says 

 that the desert between Pelusium and Heroopolis 

 is infested by numerous reptiles, which bury them- 

 selves in the sand ; unless, indeed, he refers to the 

 Lacerta monitor and other lizards, which live in 

 holes in the sandy soil, and which still abound in that 

 ])art of the country. But Pliny t distinctly points 

 out their habit of burying themselves, when he says 

 " The cerastes have small horns rising from their 

 bodies (heads), often in two pairs, by which they 

 entice birds to them, the rest of their body being 

 concealed." It is fortunate that Herodotus was not 

 convinced of his error, respecting their harmless 

 nature, by personal experience; and Diodorust 



* Strabo, xvii. p. 552. The Tiiitin translation gives " scrpentiuni j" 

 the (irock is " i-pTrtTojv." 



■\ Plin. viii. 23. Aristotle also mentions the cerastes (An. ii. 1.). The 

 snake-catchers of Ei;vpt often l)rini; the cerastes with fonr horns, the 

 two extra pair bein^ cleverly put in beneath the scales. Some are 

 offered for sale with long flowing hair. 



I Diodor. i. 87. 



