133 



English privateer, and was remarkable for containing 

 only the head, and part of the thigh and leg bones, 

 which were enveloped in folds of fine linen, nearly 

 three inches thick. The linen in some parts was as 

 white and perfect as when first done, and on the legs 

 there was some of the fl^sh still remaining, although, 

 from a moderate calculation, it must have been em- 

 balmed upwards of two thousand years. 



A Mummy of the White Ibis. The White Ibis, 

 though now unknown to the Egyptians, was formerly 

 worshipped by them as a deity, in consequence of the 

 great service which it did them in destroying the vast 

 quantities of serpents and reptiles with which that 

 country was infested. The veneration for them 

 extended even after their death ; for whenever the 

 body of a dead Ibis could be found, it was carefully 

 embalmed, after the manner of the mummies. Mr. 

 Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, mentions his having 

 opened several of them, in which the bones, and even 

 some feathers, were entire. BufTon says, *' he re- 

 " ceived several of these mummies from the bird 

 *' pits in the plains of Saccara ; that the shape 

 ** of all of them was a sort of doll, formed by the 

 *' bandages which incased the bird, of which 

 *' the greater part fell into black dust when the li- 

 *' gatures were removed.^' They are generally pre- 

 served in earthen jars, with the cover cemented 

 down; but sometimes, as is the case in this, put 

 into a kind of coffin made of sycamore, the covers 

 of which were decorated with hieroglyphics, which 

 are yet visible in the one in this Museum. 



A Mummy of the Ihis, opened to shew its con- 

 tents. 



Hasselquist, and other naturalists and travellers 

 who have visited the catacombs of Egypt, say that 



