CHAP. XIV. SACRED FISH. 249 



served by them to make its first appearance just as" 

 the Nile begins to overflow, they pay especial re- 

 gard to the voluntary messenger of such joyful news. 

 The priests, indeed, abstain entirely* from all sorts ; 

 and therefore on the ninth day of the first month, 

 when all the rest of the Egyptians are obliged by 

 their religion to eat a fried fish, before the door 

 of their houses, they only burn them, without 

 tasting them at all. They assign two reasons for 

 this: one connected with the sacred account of 

 Osiris and Typho (already mentioned) ; the second, 

 that fish is neither a dainty, nor even a necessary 

 kind of food. And tliis seems to be confirmed by 

 the writings of Homer, who never mentions either 

 his delicate Phaeacians, or the people of Ithaca, 

 though both islanders, feeding upon them ; nor 

 even Ulysses' companions themselves, during their 

 long and tedious voyage, till reduced to it by ex- 

 treme necessity." t 



I have already stated my belief that the Oxy- 

 rhinchus was the Mizdeh of modern Egypt t, a 

 species of Mormyrus. It was remarkable for its 

 pointed nose, v/henceits name, a peculiarity easily 

 recognised in one of those represented in the sculp- 

 tures ; though, from the fins (if really intended to 

 be a faithful representation), it would appear that 

 several kinds were comprehended under the same 

 denomination by the Egyptians. § 



* Conf. Clem. Strom, vii. p. 240. f Pint, de Is. s 7 



X Vide Vol. III. p. 58. 



^ That with a pointed nose curved downwards is the JMormyrus 

 oxijrhmclms . Its dorsal fin extends nearly along the whole back, v.liich 

 is the case with the M. caschivc, whose nose is much less prominent. 

 Other Murmijvi, as the Lnbiatm, Angnilloidcs, and Dorsalis, have not 



