2 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMr. 



In preparing it according to the first method, they commence by 

 extracting the brain from the nostrils with a curved iron probe, partly 

 clearing the head by this means, and partly by pouring in certain drugs ; 

 then, making an incision in the side with a sharp Ethiopian stone, they 

 draw out the intestines through the aperture. Having cleansed and 

 washed them with palm wine they cover them with pounded aromatics, 

 and afterwards filling the cavity with powder of pure myrrh, cassia, 

 and other fragrant substances, frankincense excepted, they sew it up 

 again. This being done, they salt the body, keeping it in natron seventy 

 days, to which period they are strictly confined. When the seventy 

 days are over they wash the body and wrap it up entirely in bands of 

 fine linen smeared on their inner side with gum, which the Egyptians 

 f^enerally use instead of glue. The relatives then take away the body, 

 and have a wooden case made in the form of a man, in which they 

 deposit it, and, when fastened up, they keep it in a room in their house, 

 placing it upright against the wall. This is the most costly method of 

 embalming. 



For those who choose the middle kind, on account of the expense, 

 they prepare the body as follows : They fill syringes with oil of cedar, 

 and inject this into the abdomen, without making any incision or 

 removing the bowels, and, taking care that the liquid shall not escape, 

 they keep it in salt during the specified number of days. The cedar 

 oil is then taken out, and such is its strength, that it brings with it the 

 bowels and all the inside in a state of dissolution. The natron also 

 dissolves the flesh, so that nothing remains but the skin and bones. This 

 process being over, they restore the body without any further operation. 



The third kind of embalming is only adopted for the poor. In this 

 they merely cleanse the body by an injection of syrmoea, and salt it 

 during seventy days, after which it is returned to the friends who 

 brought it. 



The account given by DIodorus is similar, if we except the cost and 

 time of embalming. The most expensive way of embalming costs a 

 talent of silver (about .£250 sterling) ; the second, twenty-two minaa 

 (.£60) ; and the third is extremely cheap. The persons who embalm the 

 bodies are artists who have learnt this secret from their ancestors. 

 They present to the friends of the deceased who apply to them an 

 estimate of the funeral expenses, and ask them in what manner they 

 wish it to be performed, which being agreed upon, they deliver the body 

 to the proper persons appointed to that oflGice. First, one who is 

 denominated the scribe, marks upon the left side of the body, as it lies 

 on the ground, the extent of the incision which is to be made j then 



