14.O TRAVELS IN UPPER 



had employed every precaution to prevent entirely 

 their having any, without ceasing to be exposed to 

 the open air. They lived thus for twenty days : 

 but what kind of life ! From being plump, as they 

 were when I caught them, they soon became ex- 

 tremely thin. With their good plight, they gra- 

 dually lost their agility and their colours; the skin 

 became livid and wrinkled, it adhered close to the 

 bone, so that they had the appearance of being 

 dried before they ceased to exist. 



The catacombs likewise frequently serve as a re- 

 treat for the jackals, which swarm in this part of 

 Egypt : they always march in numerous squadrons, 

 and roam around the habitation of man. Their 

 cries occasion much disturbance, especially in the 

 night-time ; it is a sort of yelping which may be 

 compared to the shrill complainings of children of 

 different ages. They greedily devour cadaverous 

 substances and the garbage on laystalls; in a word, 

 cruel as voracious, they are an object of apprehen- 

 sion even to man. 



It is of the jackal that we are to understand all 

 that authors have said of the wolf, and even of the 

 fox of Africa; for, admitting that these animals 

 have, to a certain degree, a relation to each other, it 

 ishowever well known, that thereare neither wolves 

 nor foxes in that part of the world. The name 



given 



