WHITE ORYX AND ADD AX 23 



Although now unknown in the country, in Pharaonic times the white oryx 

 was an apparently common animal in Egypt, as is demonstrated by its occur- 

 rence in the bas-reliefs and frescoes, where it is represented in a variety of 

 postures and under many different circumstances. In some cases, for example, it 

 is being led by Nubian slaves, in others it is being seized by dogs or shot by archers, 

 while there are other instances in which it is depicted as being immolated for sacri- 

 fice, while in another it is being dismembered by slaves, apparently for the table. 

 Some of the coloured frescoes clearly show that the white oryx is the animal intended, 

 the sabre-like horns being unmistakable, while in one instance the red shading seems 

 intended for the chestnut on the neck. In a few pictures, however, the horns are 

 straight, from which it has been inferred that they are intended to be portraits of 

 the beisa oryx (0. beisa) of Somaliland and East Africa, although, as too much 

 stress should not be laid on the shape of the horns, it may be that all the figures 

 relate to the white oryx. The latter theory is supported not only on distributional 

 grounds, but from the absence in the frescoes of any indications of the distinctive 

 black markings of the beisa. Apart from this point, the evidence of the frescoes 

 may be taken to prove that the white oryx inhabited Egypt, as indeed might 

 naturally be surmised, seeing that the animal is essentially a member of the North 

 African fauna. It was taken alive or killed by hunters, and its meat offered for 

 sale in the butchers' shops of the day, as is demonstrated by certain frescoes other 

 than those mentioned above ; but there was no evidence that it was in any sense a 

 domesticated animal, although specimens may have been, and probably were, kept 

 in confinement for a time. 



Under the third dynasty, it appears, the oryx was known by the general term 

 rau, which might be applied to any animal, either wild or tame, although more 

 frequently to the latter. Under the fourth dynasty the name became particularised 

 by the addition of the syllable hez, signifying white ; so that we have rau-hez, i.e. 

 the white oryx, a clear indication that we have to do with 0. leucoryx, and not 

 0. beisa. On one tomb, however, the animal is designated rau-ma, the syllable 

 ma denoting in a general way any desert beast. Finally, from this terminal ma 

 and the adjective hez was formed the compound ma-hez, i.e. the white beast of the 

 desert, which became the distinctive title of 0. algazel, and persisted without 

 modification till the Greco-Roman period. It may be added that the designation 

 ma is frequently applied to the lion, and gave origin to the Coptic name of that 

 animal. The full and distinctive Egyptian title of the lion was, however, ina-hes, 

 i.e. the enchanting or fascinating beast of the desert (bete fascinatrice du desert). 

 It further appears that ma-hez, the ancient Egyptian designation of the white oryx, 

 is the same word as beisa, more accurately beiza (with the Arabic za), the Sudani 

 title of 0. beisa ; the Danakil name being beiida and the Somali beid. According 

 to a French naturalist, in this name the final consonant is, then, either z, as in 

 Egyptian, or d. As regards the first part of the word, it is clearly composed of 

 two syllables, be-i, ba-'i, and even ve-'i, with, between the two vowels, a sound 

 which has been considered to be the Arabic si'«. It appears, however, that the 

 supposed ain is in reality h, as is shown by a recent transcription of the 

 Somali name bheit. Hence the various forms of the name in tropical Africa 

 appear to follow the types behiza, bahida, behid, beheit. If instead of the 



