6 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



to discharge the free juices, the brain was extracted through the nose, and the 

 body enveloped in bandages. PL 3, fig. 7, exhibits a mummy with the 

 inner folds. Over these were wrapped other pieces, to the number of 

 fifteen or twenty. The head was covered with a square sheet of linen 

 cloth, which spread over the face and formed a species of mask. Sometimes 

 five or six of these pieces were laid upon the face, the outer fold being 

 painted or gilded, and representing, with some approach towards accuracy, 

 the countenance of the deceased. The legs were fastened together, and the 

 arms crossed on the breast, by fillets saturated with rosin ; and after the 

 entire person had been fully bandaged, with much art and symmetry, the 

 bands were adorned with hieroglyphics {fig- 8). These fillets were, 

 however, usually surrounded by an envelope of peculiar construction. It 

 consisted of linen, folded many times, and stiffened by glue or paste. This 

 was again inclosed in a coffin made of sycamore or cedar, which resembled 

 the mummy in form and size, and consisted of two pieces fastened to each 

 other by pegs or cords, and coated with plaster or varnish. The outside 

 was then ornamented, and marked with hieroglyphics (fig. 9). Remains 

 of these mummies, inclosed in wooden chests or coffins, are but rarely found 

 at the present day. Figs. 10, 11 represent mummies in coffins; fig. 12, 

 side view of the coffin, with the lid. 



Besides human corpses, the Egyptians frequently embalmed their sacred 

 animals, especially the Apis, if it died a natural death, and the Ibis nearly 

 always. They inclosed the body in linen or woollen bandages, over which 

 were fitted fine thread nets {fig. 13). A kind of embalming was followed 

 also with smaller animals, mammalia, amphibia, &c. {fig. 14). 



The mummies were deposited in cellars hewn in the rocks. Many of these 

 sepulchres have been discovered, and are known under the name catacombs. 

 Upon the limestone walls, numerous representations — some in sculpture, 

 and others in painting — are found, indicating the domestic, civil, and 

 religious condition of the people. The pyramids {pi. 1, fig. 1), of which a 

 fuller description will be given under the head of Architecture, were also 

 used as depositories for the dead ; whilst those lofty pointed columns known 

 as obelisks {'pl. 1, figs. 34, 35), were only erected as monuments to illus- 

 trious departed. 



It was considered the greatest disgrace not to be buried with solemnity. 

 But lest the honor of a solemn sepulture should be bestowed upon the 

 wicked, the dead were tried before a court {pl. 1, fig. 1) consisting of forty 

 judges, whose office it was to determine whether the deceased had merited 

 embalming and a solemn funeral, or not. 



In the neighborhood of a group of pyramids at Ghizze, not far from Cairo, 

 stands a gigantic sphinx, hewn from a single rock. It is 143 feet in length, 

 and 62 feet in height. Only twenty-seven feet of it now project from the 

 ground, the remainder being concealed by the sand. The sphinx originally 

 presented the body of a lion, with a human head {pl. 1, fig. 1 ; pl. 3, fig. 

 32 ; pl. 6, fig. 1) ; sometimes the figure of a lion covered with a veil {pl 

 S, fig. 33). At the temple of'Karnak, sphinxes have been found, with 

 rams' heads, lions' bodies, and human hair reaching over the back and breast 

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