1890.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



59 



of cats, even unto tens and hundreds of thousands of cats, cats with- 

 out name and without number. 



Such was the rare archaeological find that fell to the lot of a 

 delving follower of the Prophet, whose luck led him to well-nigh break 

 his neck by promptly accompanying the abrupt descent of his heels 

 into a recess that yawned beneath him. Verily, found he strange 

 company. Row upon row of carefully embalmed quadrupeds, wrap- 

 ped, and tied, and laced in bandages of coarse Egyptian cloth, stained 

 with age, rotten, dry and crumbling. Some five score miles or more 

 from Cairo, upon the eastern bank of the Nile, at a place yclept Beni 

 Hassan, lay this sanctified sarcophagus, compelled at last to open its 

 maw and let loose its secret, a secret so jealously guarded and 

 nourished, and grown fat in very security. Then this fortunate fana- 

 tic sampled the collection, and hied him hither again, with master 

 and servants galore, and by aid of pick and shovel speedily laid bare 

 the forgotten hoard. But these tawny sons of the desert fell foul of 

 their luck, and after rending the swathings from the mummies^ 

 smashed them into fragments, pounded them with hammers and 

 ground them in mills, sprinkled and gladdened their barren soil with 

 the greater portion, rammed the rest into bags, and shipped them to 

 England, there, finally, under the hammer of the auctioneer, to become 

 the property of a manure merchant for the consideration of three 

 pounds, thirteen and ninepence per ton ! ! 



Two consecutive consignments have been received, the second lot 

 realising an advance of a few shillings in price. At the auction, several 

 tolerably perfect heads and quarters were sold in separate lots, bring- 

 ing from two to five shillings each, the gentlemen present deriving no 

 small amusement from the proceedings. We saw there, elderly scien- 

 tists with well-developed archaeological bumps, eager and willing to 

 save from the general destruction such specimens as might be offered. 

 The thoughtful fore-sight of the consignees enable all so disposed to be- 

 come the fortunate possessors of one or more, though many appeared 

 to purchase them merely as curiosities, and under the inspiration of the 

 moment, to be eventually consigned to the oblivion of the lumber room 

 when the craze has abated. 



There can be no doubt whatever that many of the so-called cats' 

 heads never graced the capitate extremities of those animals, and we 

 have been assured by the Rev. H. H. Higgins, the venerable curator 



