ANIJIALS. i^>i 



Most travellers who have been in Egypt have described those 

 of ancient mummies, and have seen the mummies interred there. 

 These catacombs are within two leagues of the ruins of the city, 

 nine leagues from Grand Cairo, and about two miles from the 

 village of Zaccara. They extend from thence to the Pyramids 

 of Pharaoh, which are about eight miles distant. These se- 

 pulchres lie in a fiehl, covered with a fine running sand, of a 

 yellowish colour. The country is dry and hilly; the entrance 

 of the tombs is choke;l up with sand ; there are many open ; 

 but several more that are still concealed. The inhabitants of 

 the neighbouring village have no other commerce or method of 

 subsisting, but by seeking out mummies, and selling them to 

 such strangers as happen to be at Grand Cairo. This commerce, 

 some years ago, was not only a very common, but a very gainful 

 one. A complete mummy was often sold for twenty pounds : 

 but it must not be supposed that it was bought at such a higii 

 price from a mere passion for antiquity ; there were nnich more 

 powerful motives for this traffic. Munmiy, at that time, made 

 a considerable article in medicine ; and a thousand imaginary 

 virtues were ascribed to it, for the cure of most disorders, par- 

 ticularly of the paralytic kind. There was no shop, therefore, 

 without mummy in it ; and no physician thought he had proper- 

 ly treated his patient, without adding this to his prescription. 

 Induced hy the general repute in which this supposed drug was 

 at that time, several Jews, both of Italy and France, found out 

 the art of imitating mummy so exactly, tiiat they, for a long 

 time, deceived all Europe. This they did by drying dead 

 bodies in ovens, after having prepared them with myrrh, aloes, 

 and bitumen. Still, however, the request for mummies con- 

 tinued, and a variety of cures were daily ascribed to them. At 

 length, Paraeus wrote a treatise on their total inefficacy in phy- 

 sic ; and showed their abuse in loading the stomach, to the ex- 

 clusion of more efficacious medicines. From that time, there- 

 fore, their reputation began to decline ; the Jews discontinued 

 their counterfeits, and the trade returned entire to the Egyp- 

 tians, when it was no longer of value. The industry of seeking 

 after mummies is now totally relaxed, their price merely arbi- 

 trary, and just what the curious are willing to give. 



In seeking for mummies, they first clear away the sand, which 

 they may d<> for weeks touether, without finding what is wanted. 



