4 i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



observations as we every day fee in an almanack, in which 

 we cannot fuppofe, that forfaking the obvious import, where 

 the good they did was evident, they : mould afcri.be dif- 

 ferent meanings to the hieroglyphic,, to winch no key has 

 been left, and therefore their .future inutility muft .have 

 been forefeen. 



I shall content myfelf in this wide field, to fix upon one 

 famous hieroglyphical perfonage, which is Tot, the fecretary 

 of Ofiris, whofe function I mall endeavour to -explain ; if ; I 

 fail, I am .in good company; I give it only as .my opinion, 

 and fubmit it chearfully to the correction of others. The 

 word Tot is Ethiopic, and there can be little doubt it means 

 the dog-ilar. It was the name given to the .firft month of 

 the Egyptian year. The meaning of the name, in the lan- 

 guage of the province of Sire, is an idol, compofed of differ- 

 ent heterogeneous pieces ; it is found having this 'iignifica- 

 tion in many of their books. Thus a naked man is not 

 a Tot, but the body of a naked man, with a -dog's head,, 

 an afs's head, or a ferpent inilead of a head, is a Tot. 

 According to the import of that word, it is, I fuppofe, 

 an almanack, or Section of the phenomena in the heavens 

 which are to happen in the limited time it is made tocom- 

 prehend,whenexpofedfor the information of the public j and 

 the more extenfive its ufe is intended to be, the greater num- 

 ber of emblems, or figns of observation, it is charged with. 



Besides many other emblems or figures, the common 

 Tot, I think, has ui his hand a crofs with a handle, as it is 

 called Crux Anfata^ which has occafioned great fpeculation 

 among the decyphcrers. This crofs, fixed to a circle, is fup- 

 pofed to denote the four dements, and to be the fymbol of the 



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